Saints 4 - 0 Hull City!


Great work by Hammill providing crosses in for the strikers, one goal from BWP and a hat-trick for Stern John

Today, Coventry City vs Saints! #12 vs #11 ... COYR!


Coventry City 1 - 1 Saints

Brought back down to earth after that great win

This post has been edited by FauxHawk: Dec 16 2007, 01:14 AM

SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) - Three Southampton directors, including the chairman and chief executive, resigned Monday after potential investors pulled out and bought a rival club instead.

SISU Capital, led by former Manchester City player Ray Ranson, had agreed with Southampton's board in principle in October to take over the League Championship club.

Even though the offer was rejected by major shareholders Rupert Lowe, Michael Wilde and Leon Crouch, Southampton said SISU did not withdraw the deal.

But on Friday, SISU agreed to buy a 71.4 percent of shares in Coventry, with view to a takeover, and ended all its interest in Southampton.

Chairman Ken Dulieu, chief executive Jim Hone and commercial director Andy Oldknow quit after a deadlock with shareholders on the future of the club.

Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC said Dulieu, Hone and Oldknow were recruited in July 2006 by Wilde, a former director and key shareholder.

"The common expectation was that Michael Wilde and his associates would secure the investment of substantial funds to help put the company back on sound financial footing," SLH said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

"Regrettably, the fact that such funds never materialized caused severe and continuous friction amongst the directors of the company."
advertisement

Hone and Dulieu were then invited in March to take over the task of attracting investment and later agreed the deal with SISU.

"The chairman and the departing executives were unanimously of the opinion that SISU's investment proposals offered the prospect of a strong future for the club and would have provided the financial backing necessary for the club to win promotion to the Premier League," SLH said.

SLH said the three executives quit because of a "major difference of opinion between them and certain major shareholders concerning the appropriate way forward."

Southampton is 11th in the League Championship, three places above Coventry.

Source

But I'm wondering, what kind of company is SISU Capital?

Saints have begun the hunt for a new manager after reluctantly allowing George Burley to take charge of Scotland.
It was too good an opportunity to turn down for the 51-year-old who leaves St Mary's after 25 months at the helm.

Burley said: "I am very sad to be leaving Southampton. It will be a big wrench because it is a fantastic club with top facilities, some terrific people, a great bunch of players and magnificent supporters.
"I have had full backing from the board and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here.

"I'd like to thank all the staff there for their help and support while I have been at St Mary's. I am sure they will soon get back to the Premiership where they belong and I really wish them all well.
"However this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which I could not turn down.

"It was a huge honour even to be considered for the post and I am thrilled to have been offered it.
"To take charge of your country is perhaps the highest accolade you can get as a manager and I am really looking forward to that challenge."

Burley took over from Harry Redknapp in December 2005 and immediately set about rebuilding the squad. He got a quick and harsh lesson about the size of his task as Saints crashed 3-0 at Watford in his first game on Boxing Day.
He said at the time there were players who did not want to be there and some who were not what he was looking for.

A major clear-out followed with Antti Niemi, Nigel Quashie and club record signing Rory Delap all seeking their fortunes elsewhere.
And Burley was effectively forced to sell hot prospect Theo Walcott who, as a 16-year-old, would have been able to move for nothing if Saints had not negotiated a £12m move.

It was very much a time of transition for Saints who lost their first three league games under the new boss and then flirted briefly with the relegation zone before finishing strongly to end the campaign in 12th place.
The summer change of regime saw the club splash out £7m on players in a bid to seal a return to the Premiership in the last year of their parachute payment.

They played some exciting football as they finished the campaign strongly with a remarkable 6-0 win at Wolves proving the launchpad for a promotion push.

And they went agonisingly close with only the heart-break of a penalty shoot-out standing between them and a place in the Play-off final at Wembley.
The loss of the parachute payment had a huge effect on Saints who were forced to sell during the summer.

Key departures included two more hot prospects in Gareth Bale and Kenwyne Jones as well as Chris Baird, Leon Best and Pele.
That forced Burley to rebuild for a second successive season but this time a lack of funds and a crippling injury list made the task much harder.

He stuck to his principles of playing an attractive passing game but it was tough to get a settled side with some fans growing impatient at a perceived lack of progress.
But despite more boardroom upheavals, Saints hung onto the coat-tails of the play-off race and are still in a decent position for the new man to launch a promotion push.

They now need to find a strong replacement for Burley who has been freed to take a once-in-a-lifetime chance to take charge of his country's bid for the 2010 World Cup.
His 109 games as Saints manager brought 45 wins, 25 draws and 39 defeats.

His last game in charge was a 1-1 draw at Plymouth and he now embarks on a new challenge with the club's thanks for his hard work.

Source

Burley's gone He was a decent manager, had his ups and downs with the club....I wish him well coachin Scotland

FAC

Saints 2 - 0 Bury

We got Bristol Rovers next By far the easiest among the 5th round draws

Saints 0 - 1 Norwich

Waaa..was so bz during CNY, came back and see results going the other way

PS- Nice figurines u got there pirates

Yay, Saints on TV again! last time I saw them on TV was the FA cup match against Newcastle (which we lost)

Hope we win, coz Bristol is a league beneath us anyways and it's LIVE!


most prob at home...pirates where r ya watchin anyways?

Watchin the match, looks like bristol had more of the ball than us...and to lose to a deflected free kick... aihs...y la everytime Saints play live on TV, wont win one..

their sad football is making me even sad-er

A slight consolation would be that we were not the biggest upset by Bristol Rovers in the FA cup, coz Fulham got knocked out by them as well...Well, i guess out luck aint as terrible as Liverpool's....


BTW, yesterday's match looked bloody messy , Saints players losing the ball all over the place, and if it weren't for luck, we would haf lose 3-0 or sumthing, since Bristol had like ,all the best chances.... anybody watchin the match would just say " typical football by a championship club" but i believe yesterday's performance was really rubbish.

wow, he just joined the forum this year

Hey, we got a new manager already!

Nigel Pearson( Newcastle's former caretaker manager)

News

Nigel Pearson has been appointed as Saints manager in the wake of Saturday's FA Cup defeat at Bristol Rovers.
The former Newcastle assistant boss today signed a rolling contract taking over from caretaker duo John Gorman and Jason Dodd who are 100 per cent behind the appointment and will stay on as backroom staff.

The 44-year-old is a very experienced coach who has come through the Football Association coaching ranks working with every age group up to the Under 21's and recently stepped down as Newcastle assistant manager following the arrival of Kevin Keegan.
Saints chairman Leon Crouch has acted swiftly and decisively to bring in a new man following a run of four defeats in five games.

He was quick to pay tribute to caretaker duo John Gorman and Jason Dodd who took over following the sudden departure of George Burley.
They were given the role for the foreseeable future following a positive initial response from the players.

But Saturday's shock Cup exit has prompted the club to make a change with the team in danger of slipping into a relegation battle.
Crouch said: "We are very grateful to John and Jason for all their hard work and their passion after taking over in very difficult circumstances.

"They did everything they could and they must feel as hurt as everyone else at the club by Saturday's result.
"It was clear that the uncertainty of the management situation was having a detrimental effect on the players and so we have decided to bring in a new man.

"Pearson is a top quality coach with plenty of experience and good contacts in the game. He is also a disciplinarian with a strong work ethic and I believe he will inject new impetus into our campaign.
"He was a top defender in his time and has a good coaching and managerial pedigree at Stoke, West Brom, Newcastle and with the England Under 21 squad.

"I believe he is the right man to steady the ship and get us moving up the table once more. He is a winner and he will instil that mentality in the players."
Pearson made his name as a gritty defender with Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough before carving out a strong coaching career.

He began as manager of Carlisle and kept them in the Football League against all the odds at the end of the 1998-99 season. He signed on-loan goalkeeper Jimmy Glass who unforgettably came up for a corner and scored the injury-time goal which kept Carlisle up at the expense of Scarborough.
From there he joined Stoke as right-hand man to Gary Megson and was kept on when the manager was sacked later that year.

He then worked for the FA for two and a half years as part of the national coaching set-up.
He was involved with every England youth team from the Under-16s to the Under-20s before leaving to become assistant to Bryan Robson at West Brom.

When Robson was sacked, Pearson stood in as caretaker boss winning three of his four games before Tony Mowbray was appointed.
He was linked with a return to Hillsborough but instead took over from former Saint Kevin Bond as Newcastle Number Two in October 2006.

He recently stepped down following the departure of Sam Allardyce and the appointment of Kevin Keegan but recently began working with the England Under 21's as assistant to Stuart Pearce.

Source from Saintsfc.co.uk

Lets hope he gets a winning start to his new job here.
He may be our 2nd Stratchan

pish... lost to Plymouth 0-2

Sorry for the no show for so many weeks...Stress + Assignments forced me over to kopitiam to release stress laughing at the posts XD


Anyways, so many ups and downs past few weeks

But we beat Bristol..Amazingly XD

Wah, we messed up other ppl's chance of promotion...We need the points too..for survival...

Waaaaa....things are getting worst

---

Added on May 4, 2008, 11:08 pmSaints 3 - 2 Sheffield Utd!!


We survive !! Stoke drew with Leicester!

This post has been edited by FauxHawk: May 4 2008, 11:08 PM