I fill like a rat on a sinking ship. We somebody throw us a life raft.

I am trying to look for positives out of this but i can't. Would the last person to leave St Mary's turn off the lights.

Well grab a rope and hang on mate, it ain't over yet. Much of this has been forced on Saints by Leon and his mates. its not all Lowe's fault at least the debt he left was sustainable, no one expected the incoming board to be so naive as to double it

A total outrageous move and no doubt either Lowe or Wilde will be soon coming out with their usual SPIN. Where is your £2million Wilde ? We have NO defence and you are selling it off. Why is Wayne Thomas available to sell ?

We are going to be rockbottom within weeks.

milton Road wrote:
Well grab a rope and hang on mate, it ain't over yet. Much of this has been forced on Saints by Leon and his mates. its not all Lowe's fault at least the debt he left was sustainable, no one expected the incoming board to be so naive as to double it

Sorry Leon has got nothing whatsoever to do with this situation. Its all to do with Rupert Lowe and then Michael Wilde.

Get your facts right.

I will draw positives from this if finances allow us to bring in some loanees. In particular 2 full backs and another centre back. If not then this is a real body blow to supporters.
Message to Lowe - If this is a forced sale, or a strategic sale to fund new signings then please come out and tell us asap as the fan base will be upset with this. Attendance will drop further for sure, be a little more transparant and put us in the know, you may be surprised by the response if you are honest.

"We are building a team around young players like Andrew Davies" = LIE

"We are over the worst of the financial problems" = LIE

"I am going to invest £2m into the club" = LIE

"Our structure will attract top quality loan signings" = LIE

Every single thing that comes out the mouth of Rupert Lowe and Michael Wilde is a LIE.

Christ, nobody tells me anything......

Funny how when a couple of dozen people are upset about something the city council are doing the echo leads with headlines of "ANGER!" and "OUTRAGE!". But when hundreds, if not thousands of Saints fans are upset at what's going on at our club, the Echo play it down, or fail to mention it at all.

Good comment Milton Road, this is Leon Crouch's fault. Unfortuantely even thought the man is a Saints fan, he had no idea about how to balance the books. All these players we are losing with their 'High Wages' were bought in by Leon and we couldn;t afford them! Our Player wages went up by over 30% last year, and with the lack of parachute payments it should gone the other way. I'm sorry but Lowe isn't to blame for this, and i for one am glad he's back so we still have a club. COYR!!

Here we go! Loads of wannabe Chairmen know-it-alls. None of you know what is going on in the boardroom! It's never good to sell off the family silver. Do you really think that the board is selling just for the hell of it and to deliberately rile supporters up? Get real people. It has to be done and Lowe is bold enough to be at the helm. Lay off and support for a change instead of the constant criticism. I would like to know how many of you are season ticket holders! Tut tut tut!

Disgraceful wrote:
"We are building a team around young players like Andrew Davies" = LIE "We are over the worst of the financial problems" = LIE "I am going to invest £2m into the club" = LIE "Our structure will attract top quality loan signings" = LIE Every single thing that comes out the mouth of Rupert Lowe and Michael Wilde is a LIE.

Now bearing in mind the club has been working with the bank for a while how did they sanction the buys of Saganwoski, Euell, Thomas, Safri ? Was it allowed against future income ?

What role does the finance manager have in this Dave Jones ? He seems totally incompetent to say NO to Burley when players are wanted.

Dave Jones should be sacked for total mismanagament.

Also considering that Lowe and Cowen have been kept fully up to date with finances over the last two years courtesy of Dave Jones leaking EVERYTHING to them. Why didnt they prompt Jones to put his foot down ?

Did Lowe allow the situation to roll on so that he could come back and think he could act like a 'saviour' ?

Rupert Lowe and Michael Wilde are directly responsible for our current situation.

Is it true in 2006 that Lowe through the share proxy vetoed a share issue that Crouch/Trant where going to buy into ?

These youngsters will not last the distance and are ALREADY showing fatigue.

Give me Nigel Pearson anyday of the week.

Anyway, the dumb fools who bought season tickets on the back of my false promises of a brighter future for the club must be sick!! Ha Ha.
Yes I do feel a bit sick but this is my club and I support them through thick and thin. It is surely time that instead of constantly taking a pop at the club we should all pull together and get behind the lads. We are playing some great football at the minute and have only narrowly lost to teams that will be in the mix at the end of the season.
SO STOP ALL THIS NON STOP NEGATIVITY AND START SUPPORTING THE MANAGER AND TEAM. COYR

Ben Towers wrote:
Good comment Milton Road, this is Leon Crouch's fault. Unfortuantely even thought the man is a Saints fan, he had no idea about how to balance the books. All these players we are losing with their 'High Wages' were bought in by Leon and we couldn;t afford them! Our Player wages went up by over 30% last year, and with the lack of parachute payments it should gone the other way. I'm sorry but Lowe isn't to blame for this, and i for one am glad he's back so we still have a club. COYR!!

You should have gone to Specsavers Ben!

oh what joy we sell our top defender
when it is obvious we are still weak at the back. we are going to be the laughing stock again.
well done lowe and wilde you total morons.
this season already looks doomed for disaster!!!

Dear Diary,

Feeling rather good about myself today, managed to sell that Davies chap, note to self, next time I see Leon, must tell him never to show ambition by signing a player with Premier League experience.

Mikey was rather miffed, but hey, who's in charge here?

Watched the A Team earlier, not anything to do with the football, but the show with BA in it.

I base my running of the football club just like Hannibal always said...

'I Love it when a plan comes together'

Get Mikey on board, bring back Andrew, sell the fans some more cloudy information on the state of the finances...I make that Pimms O'Clock!

MMMMMWWWAAAAHHAHHHAH

HAA!!!!

The_Shotster wrote:
Here we go! Loads of wannabe Chairmen know-it-alls. None of you know what is going on in the boardroom! It's never good to sell off the family silver. Do you really think that the board is selling just for the hell of it and to deliberately rile supporters up? Get real people. It has to be done and Lowe is bold enough to be at the helm. Lay off and support for a change instead of the constant criticism. I would like to know how many of you are season ticket holders! Tut tut tut!

Oh yet another Lowe apologist. Funny how you never ever meet these people in real life isn't it? I've had a season ticket all my adult life and know many fans, but none of them like Lowe or support his actions.

No doubt you think selling our best player is a good thing! Well done Mr Lowe sir, you've done yet another wonderful thing for SFC and saved the club single handed. Here's my PIN number and feel free to sleep with my wife.

I love you Rupert.

Depressing news, but it's probably going to get worse. Expect Surman and John to be next out the door, while the likes of Euell continue to cost us dearly for no return and now Skacel has gone and got himself injured in a reserve game, so we're not going to get anyone to take him off the wage bill and we're strapped with sheling out £12,000 a week for his so-called services.
The only ray of light is that Pompey got tonked something rotten by Chelsea, and that poor old Bournmeouth are in even bigger sh*te than we are....

It is obvious this club has been run to make the shareholders money. It is a well known fact saints have never broken the wage barrier and with all of the money made from transfer dealings, how can we be in so much financial trouble? Whilst we were in the Premier league it has become obvious that Mr Lowe and his merry men have milked the profits and have left the club to rot. He seems to think that we can produce the likes of Bale, Walcott, Bridge and sell them on for millions every year to balance the books.

Clive wrote:

Ben Towers wrote: Good comment Milton Road, this is Leon Crouch\'s fault. Unfortuantely even thought the man is a Saints fan, he had no idea about how to balance the books. All these players we are losing with their \'High Wages\' were bought in by Leon and we couldn;t afford them! Our Player wages went up by over 30% last year, and with the lack of parachute payments it should gone the other way. I\'m sorry but Lowe isn\'t to blame for this, and i for one am glad he\'s back so we still have a club. COYR!!

You should have gone to Specsavers Ben!

I used to work for Specsavers!!!! Ha Ha!!

As a Fan, I'm sick of hearing the lines stating we're in financial trouble. It means nothing. I want actual proof that the decision to sell this player was necessary, I want actual proof that the cash was needed immediatly - and that the short sightedness of two losses, largely due to sloppy defensive mistakes - and warrants the sale of a solid defender. Shows us the books Lowe - show us the projected income and warrant these player sales.

What a smack in the face for Saints fans. Who's to go next? Good job the current board wasn't around a few years ago as Le Tiss wouldn't have made two seasons in the stripes!!
OK, let's wait and see what loan signings come in (very soon I hope!) – we desperately need someone in to take the pressure off Killer – it is totally un fair and foolish to depend on the hero without suitable and capable back-up.

TomSaint wrote:
As a Fan, I'm sick of hearing the lines stating we're in financial trouble. It means nothing. I want actual proof that the decision to sell this player was necessary, I want actual proof that the cash was needed immediatly - and that the short sightedness of two losses, largely due to sloppy defensive mistakes - and warrants the sale of a solid defender. Shows us the books Lowe - show us the projected income and warrant these player sales.

The accounts are freely available and just last month a trading warning was published to the stick exchange.

In other words, the club HAVE REPEATEDLY provided cold, hard evidence of the financial mire it finds itself in.

SFC - RIP

LOWE AND WILDE OUT!!

Did anyone else hear the rumour that before Lowe and Wilde came back, we were 14 days away from going to the wall??

I bet all we will hear out of the club is that Davies refused to play and wanted to leave and that Saints won't keep players who don't want to be part of our "revolution".

It will be more spin to turn Davies into the bad guy. I am so sick of listening to the nonstop stream of B.S. that comes out of St Mary's. I really want to support my team and ignore off the field stuff, but it's almost impossible when you know the people running your club are only in it for themselves and treat supporters with utter contempt.

Well at least now Rupert can get his lawn mowed.

Rupert what nailed SFC financially was getting relegated. This happened because as soon as a player was performing well and his value went up we sold him. This is a lesson you should have learned. So far this season only defeats. We are woefully short of fullbacks and central defenders. Rupert, if you do behave in the way you did when we were in the Prem. then we will certainly get relagated again. With crowds of 10,000 or less. How does that help financially exactly.

No mention in this story or on OS as to whether Anthony Pulis is coming the other way?

Ben Towers wrote:
Did anyone else hear the rumour that before Lowe and Wilde came back, we were 14 days away from going to the wall??

Started by Lowe's PR cronies I would imagine.

The_Shotster wrote:
Here we go! Loads of wannabe Chairmen know-it-alls. None of you know what is going on in the boardroom! It's never good to sell off the family silver. Do you really think that the board is selling just for the hell of it and to deliberately rile supporters up? Get real people. It has to be done and Lowe is bold enough to be at the helm. Lay off and support for a change instead of the constant criticism. I would like to know how many of you are season ticket holders! Tut tut tut!

When you aim at the rat, beware of the vase.

Message to Rupert Lowe - If you care about the supporters then set up an interview with the media in the next 48 hours and explain what you are doing.

Dutch Amateur Manager wrote:

milton Road wrote: Well grab a rope and hang on mate, it ain't over yet. Much of this has been forced on Saints by Leon and his mates. its not all Lowe's fault at least the debt he left was sustainable, no one expected the incoming board to be so naive as to double it

Sorry Leon has got nothing whatsoever to do with this situation. Its all to do with Rupert Lowe and then Michael Wilde. Get your facts right.

How is it Lowes fault that board room and player salaries rose to unsustainable levels at a time when he was not at the club?

I have supported Southampton through thick and a lot of thin …. But today has finally taken the biscuit; Southampton FC’s “Totting Up” of various disappointments has sent me over the edge, to come to the conclusion that I have had enough of supporting Southampton football club.

I never thought I would say it, but I am out, I am finished with Southampton FC, I am officially boycotting the club.

Having always managed to accept the mixture of disappointment and anger felt most weekends as our team concedes yet another late goal to draw or lose a match when we play our style of 80 minute football, always throwing the points out the window in that last 10 minutes that all of our opponents seem to continue to play for, I recently found that this anger and disappointment creeping into my weekdays as well, when I read stories such as the recently entitled “Jan Clarifies Situation” what does this clarify exactly? That Davies wanted to leave? That his agent wanted him to leave? That he would not be going anywhere as he was one of our best players? That Jan wanted to see him play before making a decision? All of this was apparently “Clarified” …. Well it was this morning as he sealed his move to Stoke City, which I add I was more than pleased to read about on our official site that this was Stokes 5th signing of the summer, that they have spent over ten million on new players and that he will now be building up fitness to play for his new side, how is this relevant to Southampton supporters? It says nothing about justifying the decision or why it was made or how much profit the club made from the deal to put toward this 4 million I hear we need to find from somewhere ….

I accepted the disappointment of relegation, I took the disappointment of missing out in the playoffs, I accepted selling off all our better players last year, I took the managerial changes, I accepted the decision to can the takeover bid, I took decision to not retain the services of the man who kept us up, I accepted the new radical decision to put an unknown Dutch coach in charge in his place, I even started to believe in the official site propaganda regarding the new ground breaking set up involving youth in our first team …. But now I see what it really is … it is just a better way to get our young players in the shop window. Surman to Reading next is it???

As I clear away the Saints memorabilia from my desk at work, pack away the replica home, away and third kits at home, take down the Southampton FC mirror, bin the old ticket stubs of games gone by and delete my career as Southampton FC boss on the PC, I ask, “Where does this tunnel end?” “Where is that buggering light people talk about?”

Livid and disappointed “X” Southampton fan.

Tracey wrote:

Dutch Amateur Manager wrote:

milton Road wrote: Well grab a rope and hang on mate, it ain't over yet. Much of this has been forced on Saints by Leon and his mates. its not all Lowe's fault at least the debt he left was sustainable, no one expected the incoming board to be so naive as to double it

Sorry Leon has got nothing whatsoever to do with this situation. Its all to do with Rupert Lowe and then Michael Wilde. Get your facts right.

How is it Lowes fault that board room and player salaries rose to unsustainable levels at a time when he was not at the club?

I agree, he is doing a great job.

Keep selling Rupert we Believe in you

Ben Towers wrote:

Clive wrote:

Ben Towers wrote: Good comment Milton Road, this is Leon Crouch\'s fault. Unfortuantely even thought the man is a Saints fan, he had no idea about how to balance the books. All these players we are losing with their \'High Wages\' were bought in by Leon and we couldn;t afford them! Our Player wages went up by over 30% last year, and with the lack of parachute payments it should gone the other way. I\'m sorry but Lowe isn\'t to blame for this, and i for one am glad he\'s back so we still have a club. COYR!!

You should have gone to Specsavers Ben!

I used to work for Specsavers!!!! Ha Ha!!

I know, and how crap you were there, hiding away in your little back office not doing very much!

looks like Surman to Reading for £2.5 million is the next one out, according to Portaloo we will still need to save another £2 million before Sept 1 so who will be leaving after him? I just hope there are 3 teams in a worse state than us but I can't see who they might be, looks like Div 1 or administration.

I never thought I'd hate you
Half as much as I do
And I never thought I'd feel this way
The way I feel
About you
As soon as I wake up
Every night, every day
I know that it's you I hate
To leave the club I pray

It must be lowe, lowe, lowe
It must be lowe, lowe, lowe
No points lost no points gained
Lowe is insane

(to the tune of Madness it must be love)



Fans you gotta let me know
Should Lowe stay or should he go?
If you say that he should stay
I think I need to go and pray
So you got to let him know
Should Lowe stay or should he go?

Always tease tease tease
The clubs finances are on its knees
One day is bad, next is bleak
So is Rupert Lowe just a freak
Well come on and let him know
Should Lowe stay or should he go?

%*%* off Lowe %*%* off Lowe

(to the tune of The Clash Should I stay or should I go)

and finally one for Svensson:

Cause this is Killer, Killer time
And no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike
You know it's Killer, Killer time
You're fighting for your life inside a thriller, Killer strike

Now that we have sold him for a knock down price the important thing is did we get all of the money up front and is there any sell on clauses

Osama Bin Laden wrote:

Tracey wrote:

Dutch Amateur Manager wrote:

milton Road wrote: Well grab a rope and hang on mate, it ain't over yet. Much of this has been forced on Saints by Leon and his mates. its not all Lowe's fault at least the debt he left was sustainable, no one expected the incoming board to be so naive as to double it

Sorry Leon has got nothing whatsoever to do with this situation. Its all to do with Rupert Lowe and then Michael Wilde. Get your facts right.

How is it Lowes fault that board room and player salaries rose to unsustainable levels at a time when he was not at the club?

I agree, he is doing a great job. Keep selling Rupert we Believe in you

Why do you want Lowe to keep selling?

When you say you agree Lowe is doing a great job exactly who are you agreeing with because I never claimed he is doing a great job.

Aaron wrote:
I have supported Southampton through thick and a lot of thin …. But today has finally taken the biscuit; Southampton FC’s “Totting Up” of various disappointments has sent me over the edge, to come to the conclusion that I have had enough of supporting Southampton football club. I never thought I would say it, but I am out, I am finished with Southampton FC, I am officially boycotting the club. Having always managed to accept the mixture of disappointment and anger felt most weekends as our team concedes yet another late goal to draw or lose a match when we play our style of 80 minute football, always throwing the points out the window in that last 10 minutes that all of our opponents seem to continue to play for, I recently found that this anger and disappointment creeping into my weekdays as well, when I read stories such as the recently entitled “Jan Clarifies Situation” what does this clarify exactly? That Davies wanted to leave? That his agent wanted him to leave? That he would not be going anywhere as he was one of our best players? That Jan wanted to see him play before making a decision? All of this was apparently “Clarified” …. Well it was this morning as he sealed his move to Stoke City, which I add I was more than pleased to read about on our official site that this was Stokes 5th signing of the summer, that they have spent over ten million on new players and that he will now be building up fitness to play for his new side, how is this relevant to Southampton supporters? It says nothing about justifying the decision or why it was made or how much profit the club made from the deal to put toward this 4 million I hear we need to find from somewhere …. I accepted the disappointment of relegation, I took the disappointment of missing out in the playoffs, I accepted selling off all our better players last year, I took the managerial changes, I accepted the decision to can the takeover bid, I took decision to not retain the services of the man who kept us up, I accepted the new radical decision to put an unknown Dutch coach in charge in his place, I even started to believe in the official site propaganda regarding the new ground breaking set up involving youth in our first team …. But now I see what it really is … it is just a better way to get our young players in the shop window. Surman to Reading next is it??? As I clear away the Saints memorabilia from my desk at work, pack away the replica home, away and third kits at home, take down the Southampton FC mirror, bin the old ticket stubs of games gone by and delete my career as Southampton FC boss on the PC, I ask, “Where does this tunnel end?” “Where is that buggering light people talk about?” Livid and disappointed “X” Southampton fan.

What a shame it is coming to this.
I havent got your guts to walk away.
I hope and pray one day our upset and dejected fanbase will return.
Im sure you will get knocked and battered on this site as not a real fan but there comes a stage where enough is enough.

If the player wanted the move, may be back up north, or he seen what is to unfold at this club. Then still a big worry in some ways, and slightly understandable.

But if to sell for the money, and to weaken our defence...you are a total pratt Lowe!

You can hide behind debt too much. You obviously want no chance of any size of success on the pitch sooner rather than later. This is a big costly miss calculated action by the board if this is the case.

Ok so Davies is gone. Im as gutted as every saints fan it surely would of been one of the best central defences in the league! But if it means we dont have a 15 point deduction for going into administration then I was rather he was sold. You only have to look at the cost cutting measures in the last few months to realise we are in serious brown stuff!! Corners of st marys closed, staff being laid off all over the club, the lack of transers (schneiderlin transfer has to be questioned 1million euros??)

I do feel it is time as saints fans we wake up and smell the coffee this is how it is going to be for the next few years unless we manage to gain serious financial backing! Staying away from st marys only makes the problem worse. We finally have a team that looks proud to wear the shirt is playing excellent football at times. Surely a mid table finish and to stabilise the club this season would be a right result after last season. Lets get some quality loanees in and back the boys!! COYD

I was going to watch the Birmingham Cup game but I can't be @rsed. I don't need another dose of disappontment and despair.

Everyday i read comments about people upset that we're selling players, and that we should be signing this player and that player... Does nobody remember that we were all told that the company had massive debts built up over the last 2 years and that we'd have to strip the club?? As a Saints fan it's a totally crap situation but, players come and go, that's football... we'll be back where we belong but it's gonna take time. I for one was really impressed with Saturday's first half performace, and reckon that Jan will ge there given time - COYR!!

I continue to be amazed by the amount of negativity and people saying they are finished with the club.
I can't believe that Lowe would sell Davies or Surman if we did not need the money. If anyone was willing to pay for Skacel, Euell, Thomas or even John then they would have been first to go but unfortunately they will want too high wages to make them appealing to other clubs.
So its a choice of selling some we don't want to sell to make sure the club stays afloat and does not get and administration points deduction.
From the first two games then we are short in defence but we have also played two of the best teams in the division. I will start to worry if we do not get 2 or 3 wins in September with the fixtures we have as those are the teams we need to be beating

Stay positive as all the negatives don't help the team or anyone except Pompey fans

Yorkie wrote:
I bet all we will hear out of the club is that Davies refused to play and wanted to leave and that Saints won't keep players who don't want to be part of our "revolution".

It will be more spin to turn Davies into the bad guy. I am so sick of listening to the nonstop stream of B.S. that comes out of St Mary's. I really want to support my team and ignore off the field stuff, but it's almost impossible when you know the people running your club are only in it for themselves and treat supporters with utter contempt.

It came from a northern source (not the echo, not sms) that at the weekend Davies was watching the Stoke game. 1st game of the season and the lad was not at sms - tell you anything???
I am sorry to see him go, i liked him, i rated him, i thought he could be a big player for us, but if the lad wants prem footie and we cant afford the reported 10k a week he was on (which i think its obv we cant) then what else did you really think would happen??
How many of you actually go to games?? I have a season ticket, did in the prem, have in the championship, will whatever happens, because i support my team and not those who run it. Whatever my opinion about Lowe et al i am there, supporting them and doing my bit by letting them have my money.
WHERE ARE YOU???? (most of you posting on here i mean). Dont you think it is about time you got off your back sides, got down to sms and supported them. The only way we are going to get out of this financial mess (regardless whoever created it) is to put funds into the club. Otherwise we can sit here and moan all we like but if the club goes to the wall the fans can take some of the blame. The club cant run with armchair fans, it needs to fill the stadium, sell the shirts etc. Do you care or would you rather moan and moan and moan (sadly the answer is looking all too obvious!)

ps some good comments are on here from those who can see the wider picture!

I'm sick to death of hearing the self proclaimed "real" supporters saying we need to get behind the team and club dispite all the negativaties that go on at our club....SHUT UP!!!! I appriciate what you are saying but whilist i will continue to support my beloved club maybe if we caused a bit of uproar instead of just letting people like Lowe and Wilde (who i hate more)tell us lies and rubbish we'd actually get somewhere...if Pompey sold all their best players they'd cause out roar down there...we just take it to "support our club". When is it gonna stop?????? We need to do something though i'm not sure what but please something...i fully support anyone in a Saints shirt but this club is dieing so keeping quiet can't be the option anymore...Surman will be next...forget who's fault it is, what we should've done when Strachan was the boss, why we went down...we are down and are sinking...wake up you "support the Saints whatever" fans and realise something has to be done...

I am devastated with the news that arguably the best player in the world has been forced to leave our club. I am bitterly disapointed with the clubs recent actions, and as far as im concerned if Berbatov is worth £30 million, then Davies was worth at least £19 million!

Yawn!! Good Call!!

You don;t hear the players complaining about player sales, they just want the chance to prove themselves! I thyink i must be one of the few 'Fans' on hear (and i use the term loosely) that is exited by our new crop of players, i'll even go as far as to call them future stars! :-) We'll be ok this season, and then next we'll hopefully have a little money to go that step further - COYR!!

It's another dark day but we are a club without any money and we have to sell to raise some! I know that this is England so everything is always someone else's fault, but the facts are that the players on the pitch have underperformed in recent years so we've been relegated and lost revenue.

Yes - we've been mismanaged but let's not look backwards forever. It's a great club and we can rise again but unless the fans get behind the club, we will never stop the demise. Saying "I'll never go again" while Lowe is at the helm is fine but that is your decision. The club is bigger than any one person and the only sure way of killing it is if the fans stop going - at this time more than ever. Please keep your poison away from other Saints fans and not post your vitriol on this board.