Rupert Lowe Returns!!

And if you find your gums recede every time you smell the garlic, but you can't check your reflection in the mirror, go and make an appointment with your Doctor.

 

thought he may have gone for Ramsbottom Utd

 

..and this http://www.ducks.org/hunting/duck-calling/8-calls-every-duck-hunter-must-master

 

Not one of those calls was what was needed - a bugger off call.

 

That prick is still on my list.

 

Doing a bit of research I came across a couple of historic articles relevant to the Lowe period:- http://www.wsc.co.uk/the-archive/906-Grounds/4011-from-dell-to-debt /// http://www.southampton-mad.co.uk/sngl/ed23/all_about_saints_new_home_21524/index.shtml

 

Fascinated to read this post. The League set-up is a bit wierd in the Evo-stick divisions but Garsforth would appear to be three divisions below the Second Division and heading in the wrong direction! Fascinated to see that the Northern Premier League has two First Divisions which are split "North" and "South." To put this is context, I also like to watch Winchester City and they are in the equivalent league albeit a South-Western version of the Soutehrn premiership. The average attendance at the moment for Winchester seems to be around the 120 mark although the team has recently lost some of the better players and Guy Butters (frequently the subject of many an amusing article in the old "Ugly Inside" fanzine) left as manager to join Eastleigh's set up.

Having done to a few matches at the Den Plan, I would have to say that I have a huge amount of admiration for the staff involved with football at this level. The Winchester set up is financed by one local businessman who saved the club from extinction about five years ago as I understand things. When you work out the likely income on a match day then it is clear that backing a team like Winchester City (who were, incidently founded one year before Saints) it is clear that something like this is a labour of love. Therefore, I wouldn't be too critical of Rupert Lowe in this respect although to suggest that he is capable of bringing professional football within 20 years to a team like Garsforth is pure fantasy. For me, Lowe was capable of good things but I think his failings were well in excess of his achievements. I can't see the Garsforth saga as being a long one for Lowe but at that level of football I think it is good that the game is capable of being sustained. His inability to really understand football will always be fatal to any undertaking he has within the sport.

 

no, no. I could do with someone to fetch my canapes at half time.

 

Have you given your butler the day off?

 

I won't take him to games, as his uniform doesn't have any red in it.

 

Garforth are at the equivalent level to Winchester although it's not entirely straightforward comparing North and South football (basically there are more clubs in the South, which is why Conference North is basically anything above the M4).

Yes you are right that it is not a very profitable enterprise but at least there is more money in the Southern League compared to where Winchester were last season. A lot of money was spent assembling a team (+ management) to escape a league made up largely of local sides paying not much more than petrol money, in pursuit of the Southern League carrot. The most notable of course was Jamie White who earned more than most players 3/4 divisions higher, which is clearly the level he should actually have been playing at as he scored 54 goals in 42 games. Salisbury City bought him for a "significant sum" and he is top scorer in the Conference South now (and top of the table).

 

Goodness, that reads like an old forgotten nightmare. I'll give Lowe credit for being there and managing to come up with a 32,689 seater stadium for £30M, but it was too small then, it is too small now and most certainly will be too small for a club with ambition. What it did back then was keep Saints in the status quo, which meant they were actually going backwards. Something that Rupert Lowe failed magnificently to realise, but was plainly obvious to any aware Saints fan of the time, and I don't say that with hindsight. I knew that from day one, and so did a lot of others. I'll give St Mary's one thing though. It's cute and it's ours.

To give Lawrie some credit, he dealt with some real old outdated people. The boardroom of Saints was still back in the 1960's and the City Council were still wondering what to do with the old 1960's Bannister Court Speedway Stadium site, now that Top Rank and their Suite were going to quit.