Thetownend.com

I see that Southampton are obviously struggling for funds, they have just done a deal with Spurs over the £5m in add-on's they would be entitled to later down the line on the Bale transfer and taken a settlement, and they also done the same with Arsenal taking a settlement.

Rupert Lowe up to his old tricks I suspect, I'd be surprised not to see the club going into Admin sometime during the season at this rate.

any players we can grab on the cheap then? ;)

The amazing thing going on at Southampton is the contract offers that they have made
to players.For instance,they signed up Lee Holmes on a 5 year deal at premiership wages!

Secondly,Paul Wotton signed from Plymouth and was given a 3 year deal,for a 30 yr old
and paying him 3K more per week than he was on at Plymouth! Last week, they then
get rid of 6 first team and squad players.Total schizophrenic behaviour by Lowe,no wonder
Lawrie Mac has resigned from his club vice presidency,as he wants nothing to do with
the returning Lowe regime.

They have also signed an unknown young keeper from Spurs on a 5 yr deal - who is gettin gthse players in though as the managment team do not know english football so will surely take them time to get to know players that are about and their ability

Struggling for funds is an understatement.  Friends of mine got season tickets a while back for next season and since then they have closed the stand they had tickets in and relocated them to another stand to save money.  They need investors fast or else administration is on the horizon.

Times like this make me wonder how we managed to get so lucky.

Totally agree with your last point. After all the shit we went through, looking at other clubs like Luton, Rotherham etc with the points deductions and all that somehow we came out alright.

It's because the old board really weren't that bad and we were all just overreacting a bit. True Story

What ben said

My dad played was on Southamptons books many moons ago...he cannot believe how they have fallen....theyve had to close a stand for next season just to save a few pounds.

My gramp was at Southampton in the early 50's, could have been a pro-footballer but couldn't give up the fags.

so was dell boy

Dell boy scored in the FA Cup for them didnt he?

Apparantly my grandad was on the books at southampton then.

my grandad once read a book just south of hampton sometime during the 50s.

My dad once wrote "Southampton" down on a piece of paper without any making any errors. I was so proud.

It looks as if they're trying to raise funds with the possible sale of Rudi Skacel to Ipswich.

With this and the sell on clause of Crouchy's move from Liverpool to Pompey,it'll help them,

but for how long?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/i/ipswich_town/7500280.stm

I have a pair of Southampton football socks from years and years ago...

There are 7,000 Celtic fans coming to St Marys for fridays game.The way things are going

Saints fans will easily be outnumbered.

7,000 for a friendly?  Brilliant, fair play to the celts they do have a superb away following, probably due to the fact Celtic fans are everywhere!

**Big Bad Bump**

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/7976473.stm

So the Saints' parent company has been placed into administration and Rupert Lowe has also resigned.

Where will this leave the club itself? They've found a loophole, would the FA immediately close it or punish them anyway?

Does the loophole matter? They're going down anyway!

The likes of Plymouth are doing shite - they can also go down.

It's not clear cut yet - but punishment obviously would.

Could they get docked points next season?

I'm not 100% certain, but I think it works like this for clubs who go into
administration after the "4th Thursday in March" deadline :

If a club finishes in the bottom 3 anyway - they are relegated and start
next season in the lower division on -10
If they finish outside the bottom 3 by fewer than 10 points the deduction
applies this season, so they are relegated and start next season in the
lower division on 0 points
If they finish outside bottom 3 by more than 10 points they are not
relegated but start next season on -10.

I think it'll all depend on the next FL board meeting next week...

They are trying to use a loophole ala Bates to avoid the points penalties, The FL will get them as they did Leeds, so they will almost certainly get the 10 and probably an extra 15 for being shifty, might not be this season though.

I was on saints' books for one year. Surprised it took them that long to realise I was rubbish. Took Palace two years!

The they did sign that ali dia bloke, was it around the same time?

he he, that was after me. They didn't learn their lesson. I played with that Matt Oakley bloke; I thought he was dogsh*te myself, but then what do I know... Hayden Mullins was the worst player at Palace, and he was the only one to make it out of all of our team.

You're clearly no scout Juddie.

definitely not.

This is what will happen otherwise Leeds, Rotherham, Luton, Bournemouth will all start legal proceedings no doubt.

I personally believe the points deduction should be down to how much you've been able to write off in the administration process, as it surely cannot be right the clubs like Leeds can write off debts in excess of £30m, while some of the smaller clubs write of £500k, and still get the same punishment.

But isn't the points deduction more about stopping clubs from living beyond their means, rather than the amount of money they manage to piss away? A club in the Premier League is always going to go down for more money than a club in League 2.

I find it more worrying that the points deduction doesn't really act as much of a deterrent. Maybe its time for them to come up with some better financial controls and more draconian punishments. Automatic relegation if you go in to administration perhaps?

Though they maybe need some way of distinguishing between clubs that get in to the position due to their own incompetence versus outside factors. A club that spends too much on players and salaries should be punished more than a club that loses a major sponsor for example.

what Jonny said.

Clubs are being punished regardless of whether they're in trouble because they've been financially out of control, or simply because they're genuinely struggling and there needs to be something to distinguish between the two.

Even fairer would be if Leeds got a 10 point deduction for any team that went into admin, that might get rid of the boorish gits, and give Bates the heart attack he deserves.

All clubs should be able to prove to the football authorities that they are a going concern at the start of every season, and the the FA/FL should be able to trawl through club accounts to verify this.

Also, if you put a club into admin, you are banned from buying it back again on the cheap like Master Bates !!!

The points deduction for administration came in because of Leicester going into admin, writing off a load of debt after relegation from the Premiership and then going straight back up. Prior to that it was never felt neccessary to heap additional punishment on clubs in financial trouble.

The problem, as we have seen, is that it isnt an effective deterrent. A far better deterrent would be an enforced change of ownership as a condition of remaining in the league after exiting admin.

Far be it from me to suggest that Ken Bates chose to put Leeds into admin to benefit himself rather than out of necessity, but the timing does raise the question. Clearly a 10 point penalty was no deterrent, an enforced change of ownership would certainly have ensured they would have entered admin only as a last resort which is as it should be.

This would also have the advantage that people who have proven themselves incapable of running a football league club would not be able to just carry on exactly as before with the inevitable consequence of going into admin for a second or third time.

Fully agree on that, as there is nothing to stop Rupert Lowe re-buying Southampton back with little or no debt on the cheap.

Andrew,i agree very much with what you say here.Please don't forget that Ipswich were almost
as culpable as Leicester, in the way that they cleared their debts in one fell swoop, by going into
administration.I think it was a combination of the actions of both,that led to calls for action from the
rest of the Football League.


There's been a lot of infighting at Southampton between Lowe and the previous owners and i doubt
if it'll stop for the time being.Lawrie Mcmenemy is so fed up with Lowe and the current regime,that
he won't have anything to do with the club in any capacity whatsoever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSsdfe4Z69g

One of my favourite players.

1:23 is just sick.

Perhaps one of us can construct a similar video of Cox's best goals for us?

I was at the Manchester United game with the chip in that reel. The game finished 6-3.

Every team in England should have a Matt Le Tissier.

About 1996 time he was just unbelievable, the goals he was scoring. Got to the point he couldnt even be bothered to celebrate them anymore.

The Blackburn one is my favourite.

Update.

There is a Football League meeting next tuesday where the Southampton issue will be discussed.
On 5 Live earlier this evening,they interviewed the managing director of Luton.He reminded listeners
that Luton received an innitial 10 pts penalty for entering administration and further punishments
because of "misdimeanours by the holding company." The consortium bought the club from the
holding company and the Trust.Luton and their lawyers are watching any developments with
interest.

Southampton are already pleading to the rest of the league and through the media,not to let one
of the oldest clubs go bust and that any punishment would be "like a dagger through their heart."

Whilst I'm a fully paid up member of the "Bates is a cunt" club, lets not forget that it wasn't Bates that got Leeds Utd in to the financial shit - that was Ridsdale and it happened before Bates was on the scene. Bates buying the club on the cheap isn't really anything unusual and happens every single day in the wider business world.

The way in which Bates acted was out of order though and there is still ongoing court cases over it, as it appears he got up to some well dodgy shit to help push it through in his favour.

Wouldn't be the first time the little club got screwed over by the FA though would it.

If the similarities between Luton and Southampton are significant and the Saints get away with it or are given a lighter punishment then I would imagine the majority of any football fan that cares about the subject will protest.

I can't see the Football League letting Southampton get away with it, they'll change the rules and back date them if they have to. At least the Football League have some bollocks in dealing with this kind of shit, if it was the FA they would just bottle it as usual.

One of my all time favourite footballers. Can watch his goals over and over again.

but fuck me was/is he ugly !!!

Hate Southampton, hate Le Tissier, I hope they go bust and get booted out the league.

Any reason why? How can anyone hate Le Tiss, a footballing genius!!

dunno why I hate le Tiss. I think it was just that I found him to be a lazy cunt of a footballer. As for southampton, mainly due to them always stealing our youngsters.

Fair enough. You can't argue that despite being a lazy cunt he certainly had the talent to make something happen and was very loyal to the Saints - something we rarely see these days.

he certainly was loyal and had an eye for the spectacular goal. But he is still a cunt :D

 
Never sure it was loyalty, more like he was afraid of moving away from what he knew, and tbh he was the big shark in the small Dell pond, which he probably wouldn't have been at mot other top flight clubs, he was given the licence there to do whatever he wanted, which would have been knocked out of him at say Liverpool.

And he has got a very big nose.

What got done to Luton and Rotherham was grotesquely unfair and doing the same to Southampton wouldn't make it more right. The problem is, as Andrew says, that the FL punish the wrong people, ie the club and hence the fans/players rather than the chancers who put them in this position. Wouldn't be at all surprised to find out this is just a phoenix flip scam like Bates pulled at Leeds - ie put the holding co into admin then a "new" consortium emerges from the wings to buy the club as an asset from the remains of the holding co for a nominal fee (£1 being the favourite). Then the holding co gets liquidated, and along with it any debts the club owes the holding co. Then looky here, turns out the "new" consortium is actually a couple of front men who "decide" to appoint Messrs Lowe and Wilde to the "new" board of the suddenly less indebted football club. If that does turn out to be the case, under current regs, the FL would almost certainly wallop Southampton the club. What they should be doing as a start point is ensuring that Lowe, the former directors of Luton and their ilk are never allowed to be involved in football again. In any capacity.

And some form of system of personal bonds, to be foreit on this kind of eventuality, might be more effective in deterring the cut'n'shut merchants of the football boardroom world.

At a lot of clubs the fans are as much to blame as the board as they all have un-reasonable expectations. It might be the board that sign the contracts to bring in players they can't afford in an attempt to get promotion, but the fans don't complain or argue until it all goes wrong.

Southampton are my second club (my dad and brother are big supporters) and I've been to loads of their games. But they've gone in to administration, their finances are a mess and they need to be punished the same as every other club has been over recent seasons.

Not that the points deductions have any real effect though. They need to put rules in place to stop clubs getting in to financial difficulties in the first place - more open accounting to start with and then financial controls on debt levels. With harsh penalties if they don't play by the rules - demotion to League 2 for example, banned from cup competitions etc.

But again, that punishes the clubs, the fans and the players when the people actually responsible for the mess just walk away scot-free. And, worryingly, free to do the same thing to another club.

This is the crux of the problem in my mind, that the football authorities have failed to come to grips
with over the years.Personally, i've always felt sorry for all of the clubs which have had points
deductions, from a fans perspective and have wanted those individuals to be held to account.

It's not just Bournemouth,Rotherham and Luton who have suffered recently,think back to Wrexham
and all of the shenanigans that went on there, with an owner who wanted to sell the ground to
developers and then to walk away.Back in the 80's we saw a similar thing almost happen with
Fulham and QPR involving one particular individual who jumped from one club to the other.

As a side note,this weekend Luton are taking almost 40,000 fans to Wembley for the JPT final.

In the case of Southampton, the majority of their financial problems were caused by the board that took over when Lowe was forced out. The fans played a major role in forcing Lowe out of the club which makes them partly responsible in my book. Again, its the demand and expectations of the fans which play a major role in a lot of clubs downfalls.

Most of their financial problems were well rooted by the time Lowe was forced out. Granted, the board that took over didn't help matters and may well have exacerbated them in some instances, but don't kid yourself it was a well run serene ship of state until the nasty men got rid of Rupert

The merchant mariner in the crows nest on the Titanic who shouted,

"Icberg straight ahead!"

was from Southampton. 

Have Southampton hit the iceberg yet?

Icberg? You sure he wasn't from Yeovil?

It is little known fact that the crewman shouted "Icberg straight ahead".

Had he shouted "Iceberg straight ahead", it would have not caused confusion and they would have steered round the iceberg.

Truly, an avoidable tragedy.

Um he did shout "iceberg straight ahead" I'm lost.

Whooooshhhhh!

At a Footaball League meeting this afternoon, they have decided to set up an independent
inquiry into Southampton's finances,before any punishment is decided.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/7987968.stm

Deducted 10 points today I see.

from BBC

Southampton will be relegated from the Championship after being docked 10 points by the Football League.

The penalty comes after the club's parent company went into administration in recent weeks.

Southampton are currently four points off safety with two games to go and will be deducted 10 points if they beat the drop.

If they do not avoid finishing in the bottom three then the points penalty will take effect next season.

More to follow.

Maybe more punishment for next season too?

can;t wait for this game next season. Now all we need to do is stay up. :D

Let's hope they end up in the bottom 3 anyway. It would be nice to start next season with a 10 point advantage over someone.

Haha, "all we need to do"!

Southampton were last seen around these football division waters in 1960. A possible away day to either Bury or Exeter or both is going to hit their fans hard!

I was never quite sure why Leeds got the extra points deduction for their administration, something about the way they exited administration or the amount they paid people I guess.

Though if Southampton don't find a buyer / investor to take them out of administration quickly it won't really matter as they will fold. There were suggestions they didn't even have the cash to play the last two games of the season, though if that did happen I'd imagine the FA / Football League / PFA will stump up the cash so the games would be played - no way they would let a club fold and have to strike out their results this late in the season.

The Football League statement said: "At its meeting today, the Board of The Football League reviewed the report of the independent forensic accountants commissioned by The League to examine the circumstances at Southampton Football Club, together with external legal advice as to the interpretation of The League’s regulations.

"The report, by Grant Thornton, set out in detail the various inter-relationships between the four different group companies at Southampton Leisure Holdings Plc (the Holding Company).

"The conclusions were based both on the content of the annual accounts published by the Holding Company, which include the Club, and other information made available to Grant Thornton as part of their enquiries.

"The Board noted that Grant Thornton reported that toward the end of their enquiries co-operation with them was withdrawn.

"The report concluded, among other things, that:

1. The Holding Company has no income of its own; all revenue and expenditure is derived from the operation of Southampton Football Club Limited (SFC) and the associated stadium company.

2. The Holding company is solvent in its own right. It only becomes insolvent when account is taken of the position of SFC and the other group companies.

3. The three entities (the Holding Company, SFC and the stadium company) comprise the football club and they are inextricably linked as one economic entity.

In light of all this advice, the Board concluded that an administrator had been appointed in respect of the Club or part of its undertaking or assets.

Accordingly, it was left with no alternative other than to invoke its ‘Sporting Sanctions’ regulations and apply a 10 point penalty to the Club. The other provisions of The League’s insolvency policy also become effective.

As the insolvency event occurred after The Football League’s deadline of the fourth Thursday in March, the points deduction will take effect either:

1. In the current season, if Southampton avoid relegation to League 1; or

2. Next season, if the club does not avoid relegation."

Fry denied that the club and administrators had not co-operated with the League investigation. "The point regarding non-co-operation is not accepted," the administartors' statement read.

It is quite obvious that they are in administration.

When you get chairman trying to be clever like this, it just ends up tieing the club in knots, and making it all much harder to sort out for a new buyer. To be honest I didnt think a takeover at Swindon would happen because there just seemed to be too many hurdles put in its place.

The League are quite right to enforce it. Discourages all the holding company nonsense.

Southampton are going to appeal.

...and they're going to lose.

and probably get more for appealing [/over-cynicism]

For definite after Leon Crouch (one of the clubs recent chairmen) stuck his nose in....


I really hope they aren't stupid enough to appeal as the Football League tend to take a pretty dim view of it, most likely outcome is they will end up with an even harsher penalty which they will fully deserve. Even more stupid as if they don't agree a CVA (which they probably won't if they owe HMCE money) the Football League can refuse to renew their membership (or refuse a transfer to a new company) for next season.

I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned, but I heard ex-Chairman Leon Crouch on Five Live earlier - essentially he struggled to explain the differential between the holding company and the club and then, possibly accidentally, said that they had set up the holding company to avoid a points deduction should they need to go into administration.  So essentially they tried to use a legal loophole to gain an unfair advantage on the rest.  It could be argued that it is legal, but it would be difficult to argue it's sporting or ethical merits.

To coin a horribly romantic cliché - is this what the game we all love has come to?

I listened to that interview on the BBC website. Its hilarious, as was the interview with the administrator. Both of them contradicting themselves continually and totally failing to explain how the two entities are totally separate and independent of each other. If you read the annual accounts of the holding company it talks about; income from player sales / TV / match day etc and looks exactly the same as the accounts of any football club. Except of course its not a football club and has nothing to do with a football club, according to them. Complete and utter bollocks.

They havnt got a leg to stand on with this. Rightfully decucted 10 points.

Good. I hate Southampton.

Can we steal Nathan Dyer and Wright Phillips off you please ;)

Dyers off to Swansea I believe.

I have thought for a long tiomethat the Football league should insiost that all majority shareholders & directors should pay the league a bond on taking up their postion. That bond would pay interest, & would be refundable when they relinquish their position. For majority shareholders it would be a % of the amount paid for the shares & for directors a flat fee.
It would be forfeited should they be found to have been guilty of mal administration (or appointing general managers who are guilty of mal administration).
If something like that were in place I'm sure we wouldn't have had the likes of Carson Bowden & Diamandis wrecking our club

Oh come on, I don't think Bowden did much wrong. In fact, I don't think he ever did anything at all apart from post on message boards.

He never bought me a pint in the Gluey!

You could say the same for Carson, tbh, except that he didn't even post on messageboards. Where Bowden more than Carson takes blame is in his frantic efforts to prop up the old board. And impersonating an ice cream

Don't forget the plans that he never got out of his head ?

Whatever happened to him as he seemed to dissapear of the face of the earth once they sacked him

I saw him at Paddington a while back

did he get you an ice cream?

That must have been difficult to bear

:D

Did you ask him if he ever managed to get the plan's out of his head...must be hurting him by now being stuck in there

I hate you.

Is this him ?

http://mike-bowden.deviantart.com/gallery/#

Bowden's an absolute penis. I enjoyed the free drinks though. Cheers Mr Whippy!

What would an un-absolute penis look like? Or a vaguely absolute penis?

Just curious.

He was a non exec director of the hospital in Bath. Went up aganist somebody important and lost badly. He made it personal and got stung. Prick, althuogh saying that he was great fun at STFC. That night when the old gang did their meet the public was classic. Whippy was the star of the show by an absolute mile - "even my oppoenents respct me" - fuck do they, you cock. 

Back to Southampton, there was a report yesterday in the Non League Paper, that they've approached the Conference just in case they go bust.

Also, there is a report yesterday that a multi-millionaire from Guernsey is reported in buying the club, but he's mates with...Rupert Lowe !!!

So, Rupert could be going back. That will really please the Southampton fans !!!

Perhaps it'll be 3rd time lucky for Lowe.

I wouldn't be suprised to see attendances drop significantly if Lowe becomes involved again.

they will get under 10,000 acerage next year if they are in our division.

That's a lot of land.  :D

Absolute means it's final and needs no further discussion.

Ben will get his cock out for pints if you're curious.

I didn't mean I was Ben-curious.

Or are you suggesting that Ben might have a vague penis? Or vaguely has a penis?

I'll get a vague penis out for pints.

Will you get an absolute penis out for vague pints though?

no. that would be silly.

P(o)int taken.

Three ships have left Southampton and never returned, The Titanic, The PremierShip and the ChampionShip!

Arf!

Britannic?

Any advance on 4? :)

Is the SportsmanShip still about?

sailed long ago :(

Along with WorkmanShip and CitizenShip.

in the brown stuff... no buyer found and the deadline has passed...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/8055407.stm

I like Sloppydraws comment on the 606 snippet.

Hardship is till there. Apparently they were passing buckets round at their last home game to try and raise some money to pay the wages. That is just plain sad.

No pay for May.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/8072132.stm

Must be bad if one poster is suggestting they merge/ groundshare/ with Pompey.

Well, that pretty much shows their story about not being linked companies to be utter cod shit.  Why would a stadium company have any bearing on a football teams players being paid?

Did they ever claim they weren't linked? I don't remember them actually having said that. Their argument was always that the legal structure they used meant the club itself wasn't in administration and that the league rules specifically state its when the club itself goes in to administration that the points penalty comes in to play.

They thought they were being clever, everyone else thought they were morons - fortunately this included the football league who didn't let them get away with it. I still think they should get an extra penalty for deliberately structuring their company for this specific scenario, which one of their ex-chairman admitted to in an interview.

They still have potential buyers. They aren't at deaths door yet.

Bad times for Saints, what with Pompey being bought by some loaded Sheikh, kind of rubbing salt into the wounds.

Salt and Sheikh if you like.

Good Work sir.

They didn't claim there wasn't a link, clearly they were going after the view it was a group of associated companies.  My point was that they spent a fair bit of time bleating in the media that the Holding Co and the football club were very seperate entities and the Holding Co going into Admin did not effect the football club (hence why they argued against a points deduction).  It's pretty clear the football club and Holding Co were one and the same if they can't pay wages.

Thats a Diamandis scum type scam. He hasn't surfaced on the south coast has he !?

Good if he did.









Washed up in the channel.

 Unless Soton get their act together, it'll be Sheikh and Vac...

To me this looks like the gravest situation any club has been in for quite some years.

Even when we were at deaths door, the sums were usually small enough to mean that someone could plug the holes.

Worst since Wimbledon I reckon, hopefully Wellyn Garden City or any other towns won't be stealing a FL registration this time...

Beg to differ we were 24 hours from going under when the new guys finally signed, & Diamandis was still trying to play silly buggers. Remember, AF had pulled out just before then. That was our darkest hour & it was far more acute than Southamptons plight

I'm with Phil - for Southampton not paying their staff for a month is a massive financial crisis. For us, it was our business model for 5 years!

Apparently Le Tissier's consortium are still interested after all.

It can't be that bad for them, a week ago their manager said there was no desperate need to sell players.

And according to BBC now have a 21-day period of exclusivity to negotiate a purchase which has enabled the wages to be paid after all (presumably cos Le Tissier's guys put some money in to pay the wages). So, not quite so bad after all. Anyone smell the whiff of bullshit and brinksmanship about all this?

There's not even been a mass exodus of playing staff. As jonny mentioned they've said there's no desperation with only Saganowski and Rasiak being allowed to find clubs to free up wages.

One of the tabs was reporting today they might accept 400k for Dyer rather than the 500k they were looking for so they can pay wages over the summer. But again, he was going anyway and it's hardly firesale stuff

Rather Saints position than Stanley's

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/accrington_stanley/8074065.stm

Though they seem rather relaxed about it all.

Accrington are keepin' it real.

If they perish, and with Chester in administration - who would replace them? I guess it would be Chester with a -10 point deduction.

Or worse, Oxford!

Signing for Swansea on Monday

Or worse, Oxford...

Apparently the breaking news a consortium have just agreed a deal to buy Southampton...dont know much about it but no doubt we will find out pretty soon.

I see the Pinnacle (Le Tiss) consortium have just pulled out of the proposed deal. Could be others in the waiting but the administrator was getting a bit twitchy over the weekend.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/8126822.stm


http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/4463596.Another_twist_/

What are best holdings up to these days :)

The Pinnacle Group using the Football League and the 10 point penalty as a reason to pull out sounds dodgy to me, more likely just an excuse rather than the real reason. The Football League have just applied the same rules they have to every other club over the last couple of seasons, did they really think it would be different for them?

I think the Pinnacle Group had the point of view of that as it was not the actual football club going into admin and instead the holding company, the club should not have the 10 point deduction. They didn't want to takeover with the deduction so tried to persuade the football league to axe it. Obviously that was never going to happen.

They knew the situation when they started their bidding and went through due dilligence.

Ok with -10 points it would be unlikely they could have a promotion season first time round but get the club stable and then push on in season 2

Strange goings on, one day a club really will go to the wall, I think Southampton will be saved somehow probably by some dodgy consortium though

There have been severe doubts about the funding with the Pinnacle Group and their reliance
on a North London business man,who didn't seem to have the necessary funds available.

There are still 2 or 3 parties interested in them tbh. Apparently they need a buyer before the start of next week though.

There's more to Pinnacle pulling out than meets the eye, methinks, I don't buy that  it's just because of the 10pts issue. OK, it might be infuriating as a point of principle etc but it's hardly a deal breaker is it?

And I do wonder whether some of the "Saints to go bust on Friday if buyer not found" hype is trying to smoothe the way for an otherwise unpalatable bid that will be presented as "the only alternative to going bust". Equally I suppose it could just be the administrator doing his job and trying to put a bit of a rocket up the nether regions of the supposed interested parties. I'm just not used to administrators actually doing their job properly :)

Indeed, as the points deduction is already in place, so its not like its come "out of the blue".

I have a few Saints supporting mates that did think that Le Tiss was going to become Le Saviour but I think they didn't quite have the financial backing they were banking on.

What's Jim Little up to these days?

Saints fans have been deeply unhappy with the role of the Adminstrator,whom they feel has been
totally out of his depth.

It certainly looks as if the Pinnacle Group were reliant upon the funding of one person,which i mentioned
in a previous post the other day.

As to the 10 pt deduction, let's remember that was for entering Admin and if and when they exit Admin,
they may face a further deduction, a la Bournemouth and Luton.

They will face another penalty if they have not paid off the taxman in full.

That's my understanding.

You may well be right.In essence 10 pts is unlikely to be the final pts deduction.

The quotes that i've seen from the FL,with regards to their meeting and correspondence
with the Pinnacle Group,were that ponts deductions are non negotiable.

The Football League rules say you need to exit administration via a CVA and if you don't they can kick you out of the league. In practice they don't and instead give a bigger points penalty. HMRC come in to it as they now have a policy of blocking all CVA's for football clubs, as they're pissed off with so many owing them money. Even if they get a decent offer of repayment (or even full repayment) they still block it, out of spite.

So if Southampton (or any other club in administration) owe a sizeable amount to HMRC, when they exit administration they will get a bigger points penalty.

*BUMP* Takeover now done - sold to that Swiss bloke:

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~1716797,00.html

So they've got the big cheese in, but what will be the Swiss role?

Is that the group who hs John Batchelor involved as well??? THough he was part of teh group chucking in 12m?

No, it's the Swiss lot. John Batchelor's never put money into anything other than his own pocket.

And what will happen to the turnover ?

Seems they were fighting against the clock to get the deal done but personally I think the guy's cuckoo

I think I'll just watch.

Would he rather be in tokyo? Listening to thin lizzy-oh?

Or watching the Sunday gang in Harajuku?

"We all dream of a pot of Nazi gold, a pot of Nazi gold, a pot of Nazi gold ....."

:)

got no manager no more. Mark Wotte has been sacked

That means Southampton have a former-great-player-now-rookie-manager lined up

Matt le tissier!!

If the consortium have ambitions I think you may see Gordon Strachan go there again.