Mark Wotte hoping Southampton can still to hold on to Kelvin Davis (From Daily Echo)

In all honesty it would be a better move for Davis to go to West Ham, might give him a chance of playing in the Premier League again. I think Bart will be our 1st choice (unless he's sold, Ipswich were interested). Never seen Forecast so Poke must be in with a chance too.

Personally, i am glad Mark Wotte is manager, i think he is the best manager we can hope for. The players know him and the fans - i think, like him. Give the man a chance, i said at the end of the season, if he was in charge from day one, we wouldnt have been relegated

Good on You Saint Mark long may you write the gospels!!!

at the moment i dont care who is in charge - i just want a team to support - all the rest can come later

If he remains manager, I give it 6 games until many fans who are now preaching about loyalty will be screaming for him to be sacked.

if mark wotte has been "officially " named manager a deal to sell the club seems almost certain especially as fry said that friday was or could be the end

Davies has been a great servant to the club but any player would be crazy not to make the move to West Ham, a smart move would be to bring in Daryl Flahavan as a replacement born in Southampton a Saints fan also league one player of the season two years ago and now at Crystal Palace with a year left on his contract so we could pick him up on a free I would guess.

What worries me now is the fact that Witte is now due a years salary if he is not the chosen Manager of the new group!
I don't think he's the right man for the job - he didn't seem able to motivate the players.
Perhaps the short spell in charge after Jan the Man was difficult and the "Dutch" culture was too deeply inbedded to change - let's face it there was little passion or anger shpwn on the touchline!
I wish him "Good luck" - excuses galaore until Christmas - no pre-season, new squad, new board - same old moaning fans...relegated by Easter!
SW - call-good, perhaps that should be good call!

St.Yorkie wrote:
What worries me now is the fact that Witte is now due a years salary if he is not the chosen Manager of the new group! I don't think he's the right man for the job - he didn't seem able to motivate the players. Perhaps the short spell in charge after Jan the Man was difficult and the "Dutch" culture was too deeply inbedded to change - let's face it there was little passion or anger shpwn on the touchline! I wish him "Good luck" - excuses galaore until Christmas - no pre-season, new squad, new board - same old moaning fans...relegated by Easter! SW - call-good, perhaps that should be good call!

i see the negative waves have started allready...we havnt got an owner...or a cva.....wotte deserves a chance he was better than porta loo .we also had 3 wins on the bounce under wotte which hasnt happened for quite a while

first poitive move of many we may here about this week, I hope this turns out to be a happy one after all the gloom we have endured.The people who also have been suffering are the back room staff who are not forgotten, and I for one hope it all turns out allright for you all.On a sellfish mode I hope kelvin stays but he would do well at west ham as we all know being the player he is.

wotte has proven to be a decent man, he has yet to prove he is a decent coach. Under the conditions he had to work with last year this is no surprise.
with a -10 to start we cannot afford a bad start with excuses, we need somebody to galvanise with a real fire in their belly.Is Wotte that man? I still trust MLT he was looking elsewhere

it did make me laugh...poeple touting names like strachan keegan etc ...it was pure fantasy...they wouldnt touch the club especially what has happened in recent years..wotte is the best choice here .he took over a team that was used to being the wipping boys of the championship and mark wotte gave them a bit of self belief

Kinky - not really trying to be negative, but realistic. Where is his fire in the belly? It's comforting all his loyalty - but be fair waht other job offers has he had?
I still remember his opening gambit - he didn't exactly endear himself with the majority of fans - re. the protests. I know Rupert Lowe has gone - but I think all the regime under his guidance should now GO!

St.Yorkie wrote:
Kinky - not really trying to be negative, but realistic. Where is his fire in the belly? It's comforting all his loyalty - but be fair waht other job offers has he had? I still remember his opening gambit - he didn't exactly endear himself with the majority of fans - re. the protests. I know Rupert Lowe has gone - but I think all the regime under his guidance should now GO!

i have to disagree with you .if you read between the lines what he said was.. "at the moment we need the fans to get behind the fans not to demonstrate but to be supportive.they are the twelth man (the fans) we need as much support as we can get.that was before the swansea game

As long as he has learnt that total football doesnt work in the lower divisions in England then give him a go. He needs to go out and fill his team with 6ft plus players who are physical and have character, kick our way back into the Premiership then lets look at total football.

MW's record with Saints is as good as Pearson's and he still believes in playing football. It would make a really nice change to see the Saints fans support the manager, win or lose, for a couple of seasons.

Ted Bates had some shocking periods in charge and now he is revered. Lawrie Mac got us relegated double quick before winning the cup.

Mark looks a better prospect than any of the other (realistic) names that gave been touted recently. I hope he gets the chance.

Good move,he struggled to motivate certain players that werent self motivated in the first place-give him a chance to make his mark. We have to start somewhere-dont we ?

mgrant wrote:
Davies has been a great servant to the club but any player would be crazy not to make the move to West Ham, a smart move would be to bring in Daryl Flahavan as a replacement born in Southampton a Saints fan also league one player of the season two years ago and now at Crystal Palace with a year left on his contract so we could pick him up on a free I would guess.

Well said and something I have been on about for ages IF Davis was to go. We have a reputation of not signing Saints fans though for some reason ! Over the last few years we have been in a position to buy Wade Eliiot, Sam Vokes and Brian Stock all of whom are self confessed Saints fans. If you had teamed them up with Surman and Flahavan you would have had half a team with a real interest in the club. Sadly all of these players will be playing a lot higher football than we will next season.

no comment but the security words made me chuckle. Sw is have-wind

That actually sounds like a piece of good management for a change, by whoevers in charge at the moment. It is fair to Wotte, it keeps the team going and it still gives the new owners (should we ever see them) the option to change if they want to...

St.Yorkie wrote:
Kinky - not really trying to be negative, but realistic. Where is his fire in the belly? It's comforting all his loyalty - but be fair waht other job offers has he had? I still remember his opening gambit - he didn't exactly endear himself with the majority of fans - re. the protests. I know Rupert Lowe has gone - but I think all the regime under his guidance should now GO!

totally agree,i know it is more important for the club to survive at the moment but this man is not the man for a job,with new owners should come a new manager just to get a new approach to things.I like mark but do not think that it'll be too long before the fans start getting on his back if things go wrong and lets face it he did take us down no matter what people say about him not having much chance,i disagree i think he had alot of chances to get points when we should have but we didn't and we went down.If he is manager then i for one will be extremely deflated.

St.Yorkie wrote:
Kinky - not really trying to be negative, but realistic. Where is his fire in the belly? It's comforting all his loyalty - but be fair waht other job offers has he had? I still remember his opening gambit - he didn't exactly endear himself with the majority of fans - re. the protests. I know Rupert Lowe has gone - but I think all the regime under his guidance should now GO!

I know that this will come as a shock, but jumping up and down on the touchline and foaming at the mouth is not proof of football management skills.
If it were half the Gasworks-end would be manageing Premiership and national teams by now.

GIVE BART A CHANCE. davis is a liabillity go to west ham and see them get relegated. if you read the stats he holds the prem record most goals conceded least clean sheets and least points in a season. when we 1st got him he was awful. our down fall last season was set pieces and it was down to his incompetence ie commanding his back 4 in the box. where are all the skates players goin. rats and sinking ship me thinks !!!!!!!!!!

Captain Swing wrote:

St.Yorkie wrote: Kinky - not really trying to be negative, but realistic. Where is his fire in the belly? It's comforting all his loyalty - but be fair waht other job offers has he had? I still remember his opening gambit - he didn't exactly endear himself with the majority of fans - re. the protests. I know Rupert Lowe has gone - but I think all the regime under his guidance should now GO!

I know that this will come as a shock, but jumping up and down on the touchline and foaming at the mouth is not proof of football management skills. If it were half the Gasworks-end would be manageing Premiership and national teams by now.

i thought mark wotte looked a bit angry after some games.perhaps the man restrains himself out of self respect not everyone is roy keane dummy spitter keegan

Davis will go, why would he stay?

Given proper support and a decent run out, Bartosz Bialkowski is the man between the sticks - he is a very good goalkeeper.

Sometimes the right thing gets done for the wrong reason. His appointment has been oure expediency whereas I believe Wotte has acted in a professional, loyal and dignified way throughout this difficult time. He has been diplomatic and despite the hurt he must have felt at times he retained a positive attitude. His record is not bad and certainly equal to Pearsons. I also believe that if he had been able to sign the forward he had lined up then we would still be in the CCC. Common sense tells me that we need some continuity and stability in our team managemaent and he deserves the job as a reward for his loyalty and also because I believe he is professionally more than competenet to do the job.

What we need to do now is to put an end to the snide comments and sniping that goes on. We as fans have to realise the old regime for with all of its faults has gone but it has still left us with a small cohort of whinging and argumentative fans.

A positive view of the future is now needed and the fans must get behind Wotte, the team and the new owners. Anyone who still shows the traits of the Lowe era is not helping us as a club to restore the unity and family friendly club we once had. I therefore propose that anyone posting negative or hypercritical comments on the listings should in future be branded a traitor to the the cause.

The pheonix is rising from the ashes don't shoot it down before it has had a chance to flap its wings.

The security word is most apt and it honestly is:

stop-live

Just a thought....maybe the pinnacle group were never going to take over, maybe it was always going to be the dutch. Maybe pinnacle have been in contact with the dutch all along and killed some time for them i.e. 5 weeks so they could get a really good deal? would make sense why pinnacle and jackson pulled out almost at the same time, and we were not supposed to know who our mystery backer was?(because there wasnt one) could this be why pinnacles statement and the FL statements contradict each other? could this be the reason we all started to feel we were being lied to? could this be why Matt Letiss was looking so relaxed playing golf whilst we were chewing our nails to the knuckles? Like i said, its just a thought, but wouldnt it be nice to have a pleasant twist at the end of all this to find that Matt and Pinnacle really did help us??

saint tom wrote:
GIVE BART A CHANCE. davis is a liabillity go to west ham and see them get relegated. if you read the stats he holds the prem record most goals conceded least clean sheets and least points in a season. when we 1st got him he was awful. our down fall last season was set pieces and it was down to his incompetence ie commanding his back 4 in the box. where are all the skates players goin. rats and sinking ship me thinks !!!!!!!!!!

he has the worst stats because he had 4 rubbish defenders in front of him, 4 rubbish midfielders and 2 rubbish strikers, sunderland were awful that year and his confidence took a battering. The season before he was championship player of the year I believe. He was OUR best player full stop, once again he had a rubbish team in front of him but I truly believe Davis is worth 15-20 points a season to anyteam. I do beleive we should give Bart a chance though if he goes. Seriously cant beleive people are critising davis, how short memories do you possess

Nothing to say wrote:
If he remains manager, I give it 6 games until many fans who are now preaching about loyalty will be screaming for him to be sacked.

Nothing to say you are hereby nominated the very first traitor to the the cause.

Change your ways mate and recognise that we are now in a new world and that Lowe and his cronies have gone.

Long live SFC

St.Yorkie wrote:
What worries me now is the fact that Witte is now due a years salary if he is not the chosen Manager of the new group! I don't think he's the right man for the job - he didn't seem able to motivate the players. Perhaps the short spell in charge after Jan the Man was difficult and the "Dutch" culture was too deeply inbedded to change - let's face it there was little passion or anger shpwn on the touchline! I wish him "Good luck" - excuses galaore until Christmas - no pre-season, new squad, new board - same old moaning fans...relegated by Easter! SW - call-good, perhaps that should be good call!

St Yorkie you are hereby nominated the second traitor to the cause.

Change your ways mate and recognise that we are now in a new world and that Lowe and his cronies have gone.

Long live SFC

chip eater wrote:
wotte has proven to be a decent man, he has yet to prove he is a decent coach. Under the conditions he had to work with last year this is no surprise. with a -10 to start we cannot afford a bad start with excuses, we need somebody to galvanise with a real fire in their belly.Is Wotte that man? I still trust MLT he was looking elsewhere

Chip eater you are hereby nominated the third traitor to the cause.

Change your ways mate and recognise that we are now in a new world and that Lowe and his cronies have gone.

Long live SFC

That is the last one I can be bothered to do. From now on anyone posting negative comments should automatically consider themselves a traitor to the cause.

Pride of place though goes to those nominated as the first three traitors. The founder members of the traitors to the cause club.

Lets hope they mend their ways and lose the title quickly by making positive comments.

Give MW a chance he has been loyal. I do not know what the players think but he is not scared to admit he is wrong and change things if they are not working. Unlike, Jan who would not come to terms with one up front, total football with kids will not get you anywhere in the championship. In league 1, if we get there, 4 big defenders and at least one big experienced forward is much needed. Shame Stern John went.

it is not just about he has been loyal it's about getting people excited about saints again and getting them to come to st mary's on a saturday,if we keep wotte in charge this just ain't gonna happen,we need someone who will the lift the place and give us saints fans something to smile about not someone who has been here through the negative times and is probably going to just carry on where he left us last season.i want someone who has been connected to saints in the past as manager

adam1981 wrote:
it is not just about he has been loyal it's about getting people excited about saints again and getting them to come to st mary's on a saturday,if we keep wotte in charge this just ain't gonna happen,we need someone who will the lift the place and give us saints fans something to smile about not someone who has been here through the negative times and is probably going to just carry on where he left us last season.i want someone who has been connected to saints in the past as manager

oh yeah.who do you suggest then.noone will touch us after the last few years .im backing mark wotte

Did anyone hear MW on talksport just before 9 as I had to go into to work. Only bit I heard was that Overseas consortium in talks now and that he is happy to get stuck into pre-season. We have to give him a chance considering the complete mess we are in.

Hercules Grytpype-Thynne wrote:

chip eater wrote:
wotte has proven to be a decent man, he has yet to prove he is a decent coach. Under the conditions he had to work with last year this is no surprise. with a -10 to start we cannot afford a bad start with excuses, we need somebody to galvanise with a real fire in their belly.Is Wotte that man? I still trust MLT he was looking elsewhere

Chip eater you are hereby nominated the third traitor to the cause.

Change your ways mate and recognise that we are now in a new world and that Lowe and his cronies have gone.

Long live SFC

That is the last one I can be bothered to do. From now on anyone posting negative comments should automatically consider themselves a traitor to the cause.

Pride of place though goes to those nominated as the first three traitors. The founder members of the traitors to the cause club.

Lets hope they mend their ways and lose the title quickly by making positive comments.

May I second all your nominations. The time for snide back-stabbing (if there ever was one) has gone.

The time to get behind the team, the staff, and (dare I say it) hopefully a new board one hundred and ten per cent has well and truly arrived.

If we can keep him it would be some good news he was great last year. Still keep optimistic because we might be in trouble but at least we aint had 12 players walk out on the club like pompey ha ha. Unstable club from your own players!!!!!!!!!1

same here, its the only viable option

When we first went into adminstration I said whoever came in would look at the 10 point deduction and put MW in charge. The rest of you were dreaming of WGS or KK.
How right I was

Fides wrote:

Hercules Grytpype-Thynne wrote:

chip eater wrote: wotte has proven to be a decent man, he has yet to prove he is a decent coach. Under the conditions he had to work with last year this is no surprise. with a -10 to start we cannot afford a bad start with excuses, we need somebody to galvanise with a real fire in their belly.Is Wotte that man? I still trust MLT he was looking elsewhere

Chip eater you are hereby nominated the third traitor to the cause. Change your ways mate and recognise that we are now in a new world and that Lowe and his cronies have gone. Long live SFC That is the last one I can be bothered to do. From now on anyone posting negative comments should automatically consider themselves a traitor to the cause. Pride of place though goes to those nominated as the first three traitors. The founder members of the traitors to the cause club. Lets hope they mend their ways and lose the title quickly by making positive comments.

May I second all your nominations. The time for snide back-stabbing (if there ever was one) has gone. The time to get behind the team, the staff, and (dare I say it) hopefully a new board one hundred and ten per cent has well and truly arrived.

I dont beleive its negativity, I think its a taste of realism, I dont mind if you call me a traitor for being slightly annoyed about what has happened so far. there is no new board yet, and no definate sings it will so my apologies on behalf of everyone who is a little frustrated at what has happened so far and are venting their frustration on here. Doesnt make me less of a Saints Fan. COYR SFC till I die...

Mark Wotte, has a decent record in comparison to recent managers.

He also faced up to Lowe and publicly stated that he would only take the job on his terms. Which told me at the time that Jan PV didn't.

I felt that we were close to staying up at one point last year. The only time it felt like we had a chance was under Wotte (with the exception of on the train back from Reading!)

god i hope these security words are a sign: fair-sale
COYR

Has the league table always had us at -10 points, or has that changed today?

St.Yorkie wrote:
What worries me now is the fact that Witte is now due a years salary if he is not the chosen Manager of the new group! I don't think he's the right man for the job - he didn't seem able to motivate the players. Perhaps the short spell in charge after Jan the Man was difficult and the "Dutch" culture was too deeply inbedded to change - let's face it there was little passion or anger shpwn on the touchline! I wish him "Good luck" - excuses galaore until Christmas - no pre-season, new squad, new board - same old moaning fans...relegated by Easter! SW - call-good, perhaps that should be good call!

I agree Wotte is a clueless manager.

The "must win" Charlton game comes to mind where the 2 central midfield players were playing as an extra forward and an extra defender.

On 64 & 73 mins he changed the 2 wide midfields (Adam & Drew) and brought on players who played closer to the touchline (Smith & BWP).
A TOTALLY CLUELESS decision.

What he should have been doing was getting the 4 in midfield to play closer together, with the fullbacks giving the width.

The next home game (Palace) he got the midfield players to play closer together but IMO it was a WEEK TOO LATE. It was as if somebody who knows about Football had a chat with him during the week.

A good manager should be able to see what is going right and wrong for his team on the pitch in that 90 mins and not rely on somebody to put him straight after the game.

WOTTE OUT.

saint tom wrote:
GIVE BART A CHANCE. davis is a liabillity go to west ham and see them get relegated. if you read the stats he holds the prem record most goals conceded least clean sheets and least points in a season. when we 1st got him he was awful. our down fall last season was set pieces and it was down to his incompetence ie commanding his back 4 in the box. where are all the skates players goin. rats and sinking ship me thinks !!!!!!!!!!

A LIABILITY??? I dont know who you thought was in goal last season but he didnt look like a liability to me. He was the most consistant player we had and if it wasnt for the 4 numpties in front of him we would have been in a more reasonable position. If it wasnt for KD last season would have been even more of an embarrasment than it was. This is the reason why we need to keep him.

Why are people slating KD? He was our best player by far last season, if it wasn't for him, I believe we would of been relegated long before we were!

kinkyboots70 wrote:

adam1981 wrote: it is not just about he has been loyal it's about getting people excited about saints again and getting them to come to st mary's on a saturday,if we keep wotte in charge this just ain't gonna happen,we need someone who will the lift the place and give us saints fans something to smile about not someone who has been here through the negative times and is probably going to just carry on where he left us last season.i want someone who has been connected to saints in the past as manager

oh yeah.who do you suggest then.noone will touch us after the last few years .im backing mark wotte

how do you know noone will touch,people just presuming again with no actual facts

MW was under contract as academy director for another 12 months so he has to be paid whatever. Being in administration we cannot employ another manager anyway, even if anybody any good is interested in what at the moment is a no win job. Therefore there is no option other than to give the job to MW. Until a takeover happens its MW or nobody.

adam1981 wrote:

kinkyboots70 wrote:

adam1981 wrote: it is not just about he has been loyal it's about getting people excited about saints again and getting them to come to st mary's on a saturday,if we keep wotte in charge this just ain't gonna happen,we need someone who will the lift the place and give us saints fans something to smile about not someone who has been here through the negative times and is probably going to just carry on where he left us last season.i want someone who has been connected to saints in the past as manager

oh yeah.who do you suggest then.noone will touch us after the last few years .im backing mark wotte

how do you know noone will touch,people just presuming again with no actual facts

fact is this. We are no longer a stable club that has solid foundations in place. We dont have a lot of players left and we seem to continue to have a split fan base. Attractive much....

Getting back to the Echo topic ...
I would have thought that out of contract players could not play for us even in a friendly. This is not about being paid but insurance. Is it not the case that all players are insured against injury (for their benefit and ours) and that this cover will cease at the end of a contract?

brennothornhill wrote:

Fides wrote:

Hercules Grytpype-Thynne wrote:

chip eater wrote: wotte has proven to be a decent man, he has yet to prove he is a decent coach. Under the conditions he had to work with last year this is no surprise. with a -10 to start we cannot afford a bad start with excuses, we need somebody to galvanise with a real fire in their belly.Is Wotte that man? I still trust MLT he was looking elsewhere

Chip eater you are hereby nominated the third traitor to the cause. Change your ways mate and recognise that we are now in a new world and that Lowe and his cronies have gone. Long live SFC That is the last one I can be bothered to do. From now on anyone posting negative comments should automatically consider themselves a traitor to the cause. Pride of place though goes to those nominated as the first three traitors. The founder members of the traitors to the cause club. Lets hope they mend their ways and lose the title quickly by making positive comments.

May I second all your nominations. The time for snide back-stabbing (if there ever was one) has gone. The time to get behind the team, the staff, and (dare I say it) hopefully a new board one hundred and ten per cent has well and truly arrived.

I dont beleive its negativity, I think its a taste of realism, I dont mind if you call me a traitor for being slightly annoyed about what has happened so far. there is no new board yet, and no definate sings it will so my apologies on behalf of everyone who is a little frustrated at what has happened so far and are venting their frustration on here. Doesnt make me less of a Saints Fan. COYR SFC till I die...

I give honest opinion, don't lecture me about being a traitor, I know all about you, Count Jim has turned queens evidence and sold you down the river. (

Would be a massive bonus for us to keep king kelvin between the sticks player of the season and a true saints legand but all the best to him if we cannot keep him and he will be sadly missed.

no player is going to turn down premiership wages,saw micheal poke playing for torqey.Looks good,Lets rebuild come back stronger.