Nordic Saint

It's too early in the season to judge but it would be nice to see Everton relegated for a change.

Probably a blessing in dsguise. Northampton have been drawn away to Pompey in the 2nd round. Full second round draw Northern section Port Vale v Shrewsbury Town Rochdale v Doncaster Rovers Fleetwood Town v Group F runner-up Blackpool v Mansfield Town Walsall v Bury Lincoln City v Accrington Stanley S****horpe United v Leicester City U21 Group F winner v Oldham Athletic Southern section Group C winner v Forest Green Rovers Gillingham v Oxford United Group D winner v AFC Wimbledon Portsmouth v Northampton Town MK Dons v Group D runner-up Luton Town v Group C runner-up Swansea City U21 v Charlton

We've been in the top flight for 41 of the last 50 years. We finished in the top 10 in 15 of those and our average position the top flight is 11th. We have been in the top flight more than we have been in any other division and we have also been in 14 FA Cup & League Cup semi-finals and 6 finals. As our resident misery, you obviously prefer to ignore the good times.

A Charlie Austin hat-trick, even in a closed door friendly against a team from a lower league has to be one of the highlights of our season so far, and is a massive improvment on our defeat to Wolves Reserves so you can understand why Pellegrino was so happy. Seriously though, Austin should start against Liverpool. Nobody else has looked liked scoring that many goals all season.

Les Reed or Pellegrino? Senior career* Years Team Apps (Gls) 19??–19?? Cambridge United 0 (0) 19??–19?? Watford 0 (0) 19??–19?? Wycombe Wanderers 0 (0) Playing career Reed was on the books as a football player for Cambridge United, Watford, and Wycombe Wanderers as a centre forward, but did not play any League matches for any of the three clubs. The FA and England In 2002 Reed replaced Howard Wilkinson as the FA's Technical Director. During his second spell at the FA he authored the FA's official coaching manual, The Official FA Guide to Basic Team Coaching, but he was sacked by the FA in 2004. Teams managed 2006 Charlton Athletic During his six-week spell as manager Reed managed just one victory, and Charlton were knocked out of the League Cup by Football League Two side Wycombe Wanderers. Reed's spell at Charlton became infamous, as the media attacked him frequently, nicknaming him "Les Misérables" and "Santa Clueless"and he was later voted in an unofficial online poll "the worst manager of all time" Managerial stats Team Nat From To Record G W L D Win % Charlton Athletic England 14 November 2006 24 December 2006 7 1 5 1 14.28%

Presumably 'wrist slitters', 'bedwetters' and 'entitled fans' are fans who actually care whether we win or lose and would, therefore, rather we sold our worst players and kept our best ones, rather than the other way round. I remember someone posting the club's accounts figures on here, which showed we spent more in transfer fees for players over the last 3 years than we received for those we sold so logically you would expect it to be the other way round and as a consequence for us to have a stronger squad, winning more games.

Whereas Paul Mitchell had known Dele Alli since he was 10. Dele Alli started training at MK Dons in 2007, when he was 10. Paul Mitchell was already there, having joined MK Dons as a player in 2004 and he became their head of recruitment in 2010. He recruited Alli for Spurs for 10 million in 2015. David Pleat was never at MK Dons and his last job at Spurs finished in 2004. From 2006 t0 2011 he was a consultant for his hometown club, Nott. Forest. I've recommended players to SFC and I'm sure hundreds of other people have too. It doesn't mean we were responsible for recruiting them from all the other options that were out there. Getting exactly the right player from the hundreds that you are tracking and the thousands that are recommended to you is an exact art, which Paul Mitchell is very good at.

When our head of recruitment Paul Mitchell, who was our real 'Black Box', went to Spurs. We got by for a few months by bringing in signings he'd already recommended but after that we were left rudderless in the transfer market, with Ross Wilson struggling to emulate the success we'd had with Mitchell. Mitchell took Alderweireld and Wanyama with him to Spurs as well as players he'd identified as targets while he was here, like Trippier and Delle Ali. We only got van Dijk because Spurs didn't need him as they preferred Alderweireld. Mitchell's value to a club in the transfer market is remrakable. He brought Mane here for just £11.8 million and Delle Ali to Sputs for just £10 million. They are now worth a combined total of £120 million. He also spotted Pochettino although it was Cortese who went on a scouting trip with him who claims a lot of the credit for that.

Would you take Puel back? PUEL PUTS THE FUN BACK INTO FOOTBALL Leicester defender Danny Simpson says new boss Claude Puel has put fun into his Foxes role.

It's taken Kat's bank account to the next level.

Reed has been very good at the PR game, taking the credit when anything goes right at the club and deflecting the blame onto managers and players when anything goes wrong. That's why it's very hard to trust him.

I've never really trusted him and I doubt that the managers or players do either. He is like a cuckoo in the nest. The staff turnover since he arrived has been phenomenal. Most of our talent has disappeared to other clubs and we now seem to be left with a pool of players and coaches who are only still here because nobody else wants them: https://www.sportlineng.com/2016/07/12/les-reed-southampton-best-pool-midfielders-premier-league/

I'd have liked to see us get Nuno Espirito Santo but as it's reported he's turned down Everton, it doesn't look like there is much chance now. Anyway, before we recruit our next manager, we need to get our former head of recruitment, Paul Mitchell, the man who discovered Pochettino, back. I wouldn't trust Wilson and Reed to find another manager.

Whether we would or would not is irrelevant. There is no way he or any of our previous managers, especially those who like to be in total control of team affairs, would work under Les Reed again. He fell out with all of them. If, howver, Reed retires on his 65th birthday next month, I'm sure he and many other of our former coaching, scouting and admin staff would consider working here again. I'm not sure the success we had when Koeman was our manager was largely down to him, however. The players signed by our former head of recruitment, Paul Mitchell, the man I would like to see replace Reed, were the real key.

We really do need him.

If we replace Forster, but keep the same goalkeeping coach I am fairly sure that withing a few months, the new goalkeeper will be playing no better than Forster. The root problem is in the coaching setup at the club, with poor coaches, like Watson, Black and Jaidi, being allowed to stay at the club and becoming ever more influential, even when managers change.

I thought that when I went to see Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in Hyde Park this summer & Linkin Park at the O2.

An even greater priority is a decent goalkeeping coach, otherwise we'll see any new goalkeeper going the same way as all of the others at the club.

We don't need Schneiderlin. It's a position that doesn't need filling. Anyway, he is very overrated by some Saints fans. Lemina is better.

Kieran Dowell

The reason we got him, which is well documented, was that Mitchell and Cortese scouted and selected him and they're not in charge of our recruitment any more. By the way, Kat must feel an enormous sense of gratitude to Cortese for choosing this club and setting it up for success and Mitchell for finding the star players which helped turn her father's 13 million investment into 200 million for her, and she's still got 20% of the club. That has to be one of the most profitable football investments ever.

It's your hero Les Reed who sacks the managers, not the fans. Although he was considered an unisnspring appointment, most of our fans think that with the depleted attacking options he was left with, Puel had done enough to at least deserve starting this season as our manager; Les Reed didn't.

You mean he was the one who sold our exciting players, Mane, Wanyama and Pelle? I don't think so. I'd hardly call the players Puel was left with, Long, Ward-Prowse, Redmond, Hojbjerg, Austin, Davis etc 'exciting'. The heart had already been ripped out of our exciting team before Puel arrived. He was left with nothing exciting up front. Also, I wonder how many of these pages Watson and Black carry around are from the Les Reed coaching manual, and not from the new managers?

There is nothing particularly embarrassing about being a Saints' fan. We are, a bit like Birmingham, a club with a long history of underachievement, whose fans have fairly low expectations but continue to turn up regardless. Any player who reads this forum would see that a sizeable percentage of our fans aren't particularly bothered whether we win, lose or draw or even what division we are in, as we should 'know our place', (which is a bit lower than fans of other clubs would expect from a club with a fanbase as big as ours). We won our only major trophy more than forty years ago and understandably any ambitious player who wants to win trophies leaves us at the earliest opportunity, so it's hardly surprising the passion seems to have gone both on and off the pitch. A little bit of overdue success, like winning another cup final, would bring the passion and belief we had in the late 70s and early 80s flooding back. Fans of most other clubs tend to see us as being a fairly loyal lot under the circumstances.

I assume Les Reed is responsible for both the players and the manager. If they succeed, Les will certainly get the credit; if they don't, it will be their fault.