Nordic Saint

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.

If we keep the same goalkeeping coach. I'm not sure that buying another goalkeeper will solve the root cause of the problem.

The same as he's done with all the other goalkeepers at the club: made him hesitant and error-prone. The reason Forster has kept his place is that the others are even worse. Watson is a real problem.

You can say it but we wouldn't and, after starting Long up front for several games, in which he never looked like scoring, Pellegrino has realized that, which is why he very sensibly replaced him with Gabbiadini.

McCarthy makes some real howlers, including one to gve away a goal in his last game for the U23s. Palace fans were glad to see the back of him. "Crystal Palace goalkeeper Alex McCarthy has apologised to supporters after his costly slip in their Premier League defeat to Liverpool. The 26-year-old hadn't started a league game for the Eagles since September following a string of uncertain performances but was brought into face Jurgen Klopp's men after Wayne Hennessey failed a late fitness test." https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/i-didnt-mean-to-slip-alex-mccarthy-apologises-to-crystal-palace-fans-after-costly-error-a3196806.html

Heading was one of the many things he didn't do much: tackling, shooting and long passes being others. He averaged 1 goal every 13 games, which for an attacking player (inside forward as he was known in those days) was pretty poor. He had a stuttering run and looked like a middle aged dad playing football. It's hard to believe he'd only just turned 27 when he joined us. He was one of those unathletic people who would't get into professional football nowadays but in the 60s it was a much slower game. I think it's fair to say, fans rarely take to attacking players who don't score goals.

Well, that's hardly surprising as they were appointed by the same person. The next manager would very likely be the same too.

Sharp is a real goal scorer. He's averaged a goal every 2 games throughout his career. We could see him in the Premier League next season if Sheffield United get promoted.

Did you see them on the Lost in a Dream tour at Southampton Guildhall? I thought they were good. I'm going to see them again at Portsmouth Guildhall next month. They've got a better support act for the A Deeper Understanding tour: The Barr Brothers. Their new album, Queens of the Breakers, is worth listening to.

A league table of best run clubs would be different every season. This season, so far, I'd say these 5 would be above us: Wolves, Man City, Tottenham, Watford, Burnley... If we manage a 5th consecutive top 8 finish, youd have to say over that period we'd be one of the best; if we end up getting relegated, we wouldn't be. I'm not sure the club has been as well run this season and last as it was in the previous 3. We'll see. Football is a results driven game. The Boufal goal has certainly made us all feel more optimistic.