Southampton are in BIG trouble.

[CHAPPERS]

I'm a bit bored of it all now.

 

[Normal Rob]

Supposedly it was always a 2-horse race between Pinnacle and a Swiss group, so all hope not lost yet?

Jokes aside, I cannot believe there are some so-called Albion fans on here revelling in this situation.

Totally agree - given our own recent history we should be the last to revel in another set of fans misfortune.

I'm a bit bored of it all now.

12 years we've been playing the sympathy card...

 

[Simster]

I'm a bit bored of it all now.

Yes. We need to liven up this thread by posting a picture of that statue of their club legend with his head is so badly mis-shapen that everybody laughed at and they had to re-do it.

Could anyone oblige?

 

[supaseagull]

I'm a bit bored of it all now.

What would have happened if another teams supporter had said that about us over the last 15 years?

I think it's sad...It looks like the fat lady is warming up down the road and I for one am sad as their supporters have been really supportive of us over the same period.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

If Southampton folds it's just more evidence that the FL don't give a f*** about anything but their beloved Premier League.

They will blame the individual club for being mismanaged, but they are responsible for letting all these bloody foreigners into English football as owners and creating an over inflated market for any club trying to become competitive.

Bunch of arse clowns running the game.

 

[CHAPPERS]

What would have happened if another teams supporter had said that about us over the last 15 years?

I think it's sad...It looks like the fat lady is warming up down the road and I for one am sad as their supporters have been really supportive of us over the same period.

What I mean is that I'm bored of all the bloody groups saying they will take over then pulling out and the bullshit about the points deduction being a reason for it and then another group may be interested. I reckon a deal will be done and they'll start the season and all will be well and if not, well, that's the way football is going and it'll be a shame. If another teams supported had said that about us I wouldn't really mind, we fought for our future and won.

 

[Curious Orange]

What would have happened if another teams supporter had said that about us over the last 15 years?

I think it's sad...It looks like the fat lady is warming up down the road and I for one am sad as their supporters have been really supportive of us over the same period.

I have every sympathy for their fans, but it is a little difficult to see how we could help with their specific situation - sending flowers to John Prescott or marching on a party Conference isn't going to make difference.

Thank goodness that we never went into administration back in the gory years...

 

[Curious Orange]

If Southampton folds it's just more evidence that the FL don't give a f*** about anything but their beloved Premier League.

They will blame the individual club for being mismanaged, but they are responsible for letting all these bloody foreigners into English football as owners and creating an over inflated market for any club trying to become competitive.

Bunch of arse clowns running the game.

Why do the Football League love the Premier League, if I were them I'd still be annoyed that they hijacked the 1st Division and then leached all of the money out of the game!

 

[supaseagull]

I have every sympathy for their fans, but it is a little difficult to see how we could help with their specific situation - sending flowers to John Prescott or marching on a party Conference isn't going to make difference.

Thank goodness that we never went into administration back in the gory years...

We did though and that's how Archer managed to buy the club for £56!!!

 

[Easy 10]

If Southampton folds it's just more evidence that the FL don't give a f*** about anything but their beloved Premier League.

They will blame the individual club for being mismanaged, but they are responsible for letting all these bloody foreigners into English football as owners and creating an over inflated market for any club trying to become competitive.

Bunch of arse clowns running the game.

Can't really blame the Football League for Southamptons woes.
They are a classic case of a club falling off the Premier League gravy train whilst still being burdened, well crippled, with a large squad of players on Premiership contracts. They also have the added burden of the huge debt run up to pay for their stadium.

Nobody FORCED Southampton to overstretch themselves. The seeds of their demise were sown once they were relegated and didn't bounce back up. Thats not the Leagues fault, is it.

 

[Curious Orange]

We did though and that's how Archer managed to buy the club for £56!!!

I was thinking more of after the sale of the Goldstone, if we'd gone into administration then... well, we know what would've happened.

 

[Mr Blobby]

They have just sold a player for £1m so that should cover some of the mounting debts on the wage bill.

I have a Saints supporting mate and they are now convinced this is the end. They owe millions on the ground, they are in arrears on salaries again and who knows what they owe to the tax man.

Dick Knight somehow managed to keep us going through the last 12 years exile and that is why his part in saving this club should never be forgotten.

Also thank god for Blooms investment otherwise we could have been saddled with debt they couldnt afford to repay, we dont face that problem now!

All looking good for us, not so good just down the road...

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Why do the Football League love the Premier League, if I were them I'd still be annoyed that they hijacked the 1st Division and then leached all of the money out of the game!

They get all the benefits that comes along with the PL brand name.

If they really, truly wanted to protect all levels of football they'd try and petition for some measures to be brought in to restrict foreign ownership.

It happens in other countries like Spain, France etc.

 

[Easy 10]

I don't know all the ins and outs of whats gone wrong there, but its not foreign ownership that has done for Southampton.
Most of their fans seem to blame Rupert Lowe.

 

[sully]

They get all the benefits that comes along with the PL brand name.

If they really, truly wanted to protect all levels of football they'd try and petition for some measures to be brought in to restrict foreign ownership.

It happens in other countries like Spain, France etc.

The point you appear to be missing is that the Football League don't have anything to do with the Premier League and benefit not at all from the money it generates.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Can't really blame the Football League for Southamptons woes.
They are a classic case of a club falling off the Premier League gravy train whilst still being burdened, well crippled, with a large squad of players on Premiership contracts. They also have the added burden of the huge debt run up to pay for their stadium.

Nobody FORCED Southampton to overstretch themselves. The seeds of their demise were sown once they were relegated and didn't bounce back up. Thats not the Leagues fault, is it.

I agree with what you have said 90%.

My point is that for every foreign owner who puts billions of pounds into a club it puts even more pressue on clubs who can't match that spending power to spend more than they can afford to remain semi-competitive.

That will in turn inflate the market and that will flow down into the lower leagues.

While you say nobody forced the Saints to overstretch themselves I think clubs actually are forced to do that to try and stay in the PL or else when they drop they will be in financial shit.

So I still portion some blame on the FL for allowing the whole balance of the game to be weighted in favour of the super mega rich clubs at the detriment of the game as a whole.

Unfortunately there's no way at present to create some form of equalisation in the system.

 

[Questions]

One part of me sniggers about the Saints plight but then I come to my senses and realised that there for the grace of God and all that.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

The point you appear to be missing is that the Football League don't have anything to do with the Premier League and benefit not at all from the money it generates.

I understand they have nothing technically to do with the PL, but they do have a duty of care to a larger % of English Football clubs.

and they still trade off the PL marketing machine in so far as it putting the spotlight on other aspects of English football.

In the end though it's not the PL who deals with these clubs like Southampton when they fall from grace, its the FL.

Which means there's a situation of one league creating these monster issues and once they are spat out the back they don't give a toss.

Yes the club itself has to be held accountable, but so should the system that in some cases forces a club to extend itself way to much.

But as money talks I don't see any real solution to the problem.

I guess it'll just mean more clubs end up in large debt.

 

[Mackenzie]

The Premiership does appear to be a poison challace, its fine when you're in it but those teams who fall from it seem to struggle when the parachute payments stop...look at Leeds, Forest, Leicester, Norwich, Charlton, Southampton, Palace etc for examples of this......and yet us small clubs all strive for it, and regard it as the promised land!

Perhaps the solution is to be smart with signings and contracts, plan for relegation not survival and take anything else as a bonus....easy to say in practice, but it would take a pretty thick skinned chairman to sell that to the fans!

 

[Easy 10]

I agree with what you have said 90%.

My point is that for every foreign owner who puts billions of pounds into a club it puts even more pressue on clubs who can't match that spending power to spend more than they can afford to remain semi-competitive.

That will in turn inflate the market and that will flow down into the lower leagues.

While you say nobody forced the Saints to overstretch themselves I think clubs actually are forced to do that to try and stay in the PL or else when they drop they will be in financial shit.

So I still portion some blame on the FL for allowing the whole balance of the game to be weighted in favour of the super mega rich clubs at the detriment of the game as a whole.

Unfortunately there's no way at present to create some form of equalisation in the system.

I take your point, but it really boils down to clubs cutting their cloth according to their circumstances. The only way to stop football clubs effectively gambling their futures (like the Southamptons, Leeds, Leicesters, Derbys of this world) is to impose a salary wagecap for each individual club, linking it directly with the clubs annual turnover (which I think is something that was done in the Blue Square Premier and L2). By imposing a rule that that no more than (say) 60% of a clubs annual turnover can go on players salaries, you force clubs to spend only within their means.

The trouble is that in football, ambition and greed are the overriding factors, so clubs at the higher level would never sign up to this. Or if they did, they'd find ways around it, with huge bonuses for players on top of their salaries.

It might just take a "big name" like Southampton to completely go under in order to wake clubs up to the fact that their spending is simply unsustainable.