Ted Bates Statue

Yes, I think of it as having beaten Man City, we basically gained nothing out of it in the long-run other than an additional grace period of 2-3 games for NJ. Had we been knocked out then, Selles would probably have been in charge by the Wolves match.

Not sure we're allowed to question the victim's role these days, but it does sound like a lifetime of bad choices came home to roost. https://www.footballforums.net/threads/general-championship-chat.278920/page-44

As fans of a provincial club on the South Coast, we have to put up with this sort of shit commentary on a weekly basis and this is why for my own sanity I only bother with BBC Radio Solent. I can't face paying for other broadcasters' fan bias. It's allowed because it's one of the Super League clubs winning. On the other hand, when it's one of the Super League bastards getting done, I can only raise a smile at one of them taking an absolute waterboarding of their own medicine. Liverpool can have their celebration, but I would love it if they just missed out on CL qualification on the final match of the season. After all, there will quite possibly be more important matters at stake that day 😇

Take out his first match against Wednesday and he's got a 50% win percentage. 😉

As a slight twist on this exercise, I've been glancing at our performance in 2004-2005, as that has until now been my benchmark for a terrible season. Match day 25 back then yielded defeat against Birmingham City on 2nd February. Until that point, we had managed three wins against Blackburn, Pompey and Liverpool, and 9 draws. So, 18 points, which makes us +3 right now by match day. That said, back then, we subsequently went on an undefeated run over five matches. Could do with something like that now.

four points from four? 25% win rate? Yeah I'd take a manager who could do that with this rabble.

Absolutely agree with this, I thought that would be the intended striker partnership when Tall Paul arrived but Che has been injured for a while and won't feature tonight. Fingers crossed he comes back soon as he is our best bet in open play.

They would have played together a few times under Hughes in 2018.

Looks like Che Adams is taking ABK's place on the treatment table. Any word as to when he might return? Bet he regrets turning down Leeds etc to stay with us now.

It was a set-up by @Saint86 paying tribute to an enthusiastic Saints fan from Kenya who used to post on here a couple of years back. I don't normally pay attention to the multiple user types as they only seem to be performing to a select audience, but that one was pretty memorable. I know username sales don't happen, because mine would definitely have been one of the first to be sold to the highest bidder. Bearsy did return recently, spurred on by our form under Nathan Jones. Well spotted, that's excellent sleuthing. While we're on the topic of missing posters maybe you could shed some light on what happened to LeG, the ITK who not only stopped posting but seems to have had all his posts erased from existence too.

Got a decent bit of facial hair for someone in his early teens. It would take me a while to cultivate a patch like that. Reminds me of being at a wedding reception one November's afternoon as a +1 and asking someone on my table what he did for a living. He told me he was studying for his GCSEs the following summer. 🤦‍♂️

I've been looking for the original articles leading up to the unveiling without much luck, but that is the main quote. Only the articles relating the aftermath seem to have survived - https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/1267518.crisis-talks-pledge-over-ted-bates-statue/ In second place, we have this: The spokesman added: "We defy anyone to say that the pictures we saw were not Ted Bates". "We have not tried to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. "That is what we saw and what we thought we would see when the statue was unveiled". Every football club needs their own version of the original Ted Bates Statue, something to cheerily remind them that they aren't so fucking special after all. Sad to think that it no longer exists.

Seeing the name Javi just makes me think of the 'fan' who others seem to have come into contact with. My recollection is that he worked or hoped to work in a local hotel, but I can't find anything with a casual googling. As with the guy who ran Saintsforever, he must have eventually moved onto other teams more worthy of his devotions. Looking at de Pedro's wiki entry it seems he didn't do much at Blackburn and retired a couple of years after. I don't remember the episode but surely it doesn't rival Rudi Skacel's saga.

If we intend to stay up, we need wins and particularly so against our relegation rivals. I don't need to look at the Leeds build-up to tell you that it's not a unique belief among our support. If you think that's strange, you must be surprised by a lot of things.

Definitely interesting to hear and thanks for sharing for those who haven't listened. I do agree with the decision to sack Jones but it does feel like the easy thing to do, blaming the obvious departing scapegoat in Jones. The players were still the ones on the pitch, they can't take all the credit when things are going well against Man City or in the first half vs Wolves, and then lay all the blame at NJ for the capitulation. It does sound plausible that Selles got sidelined for Jones' backroom staff, but if this is genuine, then we can expect a massive upturn in form and we should power out of the relegation zone before long. If only life were that simple. I think the reality is that we don't have a lot of time to make up ground on our rivals, even if it was very encouraging in a number of ways at the weekend. It might be back to earth with a bump if, for example, we only manage a draw against Leeds.

Called it

We have a great record with caretaker managers. Considering he wasn't exactly first choice with Sport Republic's hierarchy, I wish him well but I don't have high hopes for him.

If we're looking at that sort of playing era, look no further than Jason Dodd. He could certainly teach our defenders a thing or two about how to defend, and has good experience on his CV working with youth. Also he still lives locally which is a huge positive, and we won't have to pay too much compensation to prise him from Winchester College. I reckon he could become part of a great double act as co-manager with whoever gets to work alongside him.

Don't listen to him, SFC would never do anything that foolish. For one thing, last summer he said we were in for Nathan Fucking Jones FFS and... oh.

Double over Chelsea incoming

Hypothetically, what about 'tall', and especially if it rhymes with their first name, that surely ought to be permitted?

Call me a Ralph cultist if you like but I haven't ignored this at all. If anything I hope the players fucking hate whoever next comes in, seeing as they liked Jones and they liked Wigley and look how great both of them were.

Reminds me of that time our Director of Football Operations signed his friend as manager, just before handing in his notice to leave at the end of the season. I wonder if Matt Crocker can make room for Nathan Jones at his next role.

Another massive talent slipping right through our fingers thanks to our manager for the moment, when what these young hungry players really need for their development is a run in our relegation-threatened side at the foot of the table. I cast my mind to another shining star of our academy, now free of the shackles of the cult of Ralph, which was so determined to hold his development back and prevent him from gaining a foothold on the fabled pathway. We can now only watch from afar as the career of Alex Jankewitz goes from strength to strength, just as the forum sages predicted not so long ago.

Jones' performance in press conference is completely trivial while his points per game average remains at less than half of Ralph Hasenhuttl's record in the run of games which led to his sacking. Nobody would mind so much if he came from Timbuktu or worshipped the devil, if only he got us onto an even keel. As it is, we are literally twice as bad as we were since we sacked the last incumbent, so it's not entirely surprising that just about anything he says ends up grating on the fanbase.