Wednesday 18th March 2009

Its been six months since I last updated this blog, but after finding out people actually read this blog (thank you Sam, Danilo and Chris) I thought its about time I pulled my finger out and wrote something here.

The last six months have seen some tough times for my beloved Southampton FC. It's looking increasingly likely we'll soon be playing League One football and there really hasn't been much to shout about this season. Three home victories all season says it all and even though I'm an optimist I can't realistically see Saints staying in The Championship (though who knows, great escapes do happen). Today I wish to write about a certain Mr Lowe and why he needs to go.

When will he realise that no one wants his pompus, arrogant attitude at our club? Southampton haven't been in English football's third tier in 50 years and if they do go down at the end of this season Rupert Lowe should do the right thing and step down, but of course, he won't. He's done nothing but divide the fans, something I'm sure anyone who was at Saints vs Doncaster in January will agree with when supporters in all four stands in St Marys started fighting with each other as well as stewards.

There are are football club chairmen (and women) who love football and care about their club, for example John Madjeski at Reading and Delia Smith at Norwich. Its very clear that Rupert Lowe isn't one of these and sees SFC as simply a business venture. Ok, so previous chairman Leon Crouch didn't do a fantastic job at running the club before, but at least this man cares about the club and has often been seen at away games this season (apparently he bought a round for 10 fans in the pub at Doncaster away). I believe that one day, albeit in the distant future, Saints will play top flight football and the sooner Lowe and his cronies go the sooner this will happen.

Mark Wotte hasn't done a terrible job since becoming manager in January, but I can't warm to him for the simple reason he doesn't have a good rapport with the fans and is merely a puppet for Lowe. He showed shocking ignorance a few weeks ago when he said the recent protest marches were "just a bunch of kids". How does he know this? Did he see them? Having been to both protest marches I can say that out of the 500ish that marched each time only 10% were "kids". Mark Wotte should concentrate on the football side, which is what we're all trying to do until the end of the season. At the moment all we can do is get behind the team for the 90 minutes then concentrate on getting these mugs out after the game.

Moving away from Saints now and onto Politics. Like Southampton FC, the economy has significantly worsened since I last wrote here. Figures released today show unemployment figures rising above the 2 million mark for the first time in 12 years and its hard to predict when things will get better. I've been very critical on Gordon Brown and his Government in the past, but will bite my tongue now and not say too much about their latest schemes just in case I'm left eating my words. However, after watching "The Prince of Darkness" Lord Mandelson on Sky News this morning claim "no job centres will be closing", when 3 in London have closed I can't help but feel New Labour are up to their old spin tricks again.

I enjoyed watching the recent Channel Four Political Awards, hosted by Jon Snow and available to watch on 4OD. Vince Cable deserves an honorable mention for picking up the Opposition Politican of the Year award. The crown jewel of the Lib-Dem front bench is one of the few whose reputation has improved rather than been tarnished in this time of economic crisis and with his accuarate prediction of doom and gloom made a couple of years ago if there was to be a coalition Government sometime soon he would have to be Chancellor of the Exchequer.

I was also pleased to see John Prescott pick up the Politics in the Media award for his entertaining documentary The Class System and Me. He seemed to enjoy talking to youngsters who thought they weren't working class because they don't work and watching the man bust his moves on the dance floor is a great comic spectacle. Whether you love or loathe him, few could argue that "Two Jags" puts the entertainment into politics.

Thats all for me for now, need to go for a swim then grab an all day breakfast sandwich, will update again soon.