Ted Bates Statue

Next fixtures look interesting - our next matches are against two of the three sides above us with games in hand. Not to count chickens before they hatch, but if all goes well we could be top of the table by mid-November. Smart money says we won't, but we can hope.

Jesus Christ, Redslo you know NOTHING about poor performance. I wish I was redslo.

This basically sums it up for me. The feeling that the club has joined this league insufficiently prepared insofar that we are dead on arrival. Bloody hell, Luton gave it their all last year but we can't even scrape two points together by All Saints Day. And we are still leaky against Championship sides as we have seen in the EFL Cup.

Not to comment on individual posters but this thread is about our next manager FFS If you want to desperately tell everyone that he looks a bit like a lego man and you hate him, or conversely to claim he is going to lead us to footballing salvation then you need to find the correct thread.

He's taken a lot of criticism for having done nothing in his sub appearance but my understanding is that Will Smallbone was injured soon after he came on last weekend. Unfortunately as all five substitutions had been made, the only choice was for him to remain on the pitch. Maybe Lallana might have been better option but I think he's taking a lot of flak for the crime of having been unlucky.

Any love for Tall Paul this week? I don't think I have ever commented about him before, but my stance until recently was that we had three managers look at him including Nathan Jones who signed him, and none of them thought he was a genuine option up front in the PL so I had written him off. But it sounds like he had another decent cameo appearance so I expect he will be starting games for us before long.

Even the magic dossier is too good for us now. It's being harnessed by England these days.

This is you, but you don't know it yet

I remember people frothing at the mouth when Sven joined, but they all shut up after we smashed Germany away. Nobody over here seems to mind Grealish and Rice ditching Ireland to play for England. Speaking of Martin I find it mad that he played for Scotland but he actually admits that one of his biggest football memories growing up was supporting England in Euro 96.

I liked the one after Newcastle of RM threatening Adam Lallana. Suspect it will take on an extra dimension when he turns out to be our replacement manager.

Exactly. Performance in the league is basically unofficial seeding for cup competitions. Forget about winning cups if you're in a lower division or hoping to avoid relegation, but once you break the top 10 and you don't slip up before the quarter finals, then you have a chance of doing something that will be remembered for generations. It's no coincidence that both cup finals in the last 25 years came when we finished in the top 10 and I still think of how big those missed opportunities were when we failed to reach even a semi-final under Pochettino or Koeman. It's been a long time since I felt we could beat anyone on our day.

I was thinking the same and was wondering why he didn't show up on the Saintsplayers website. @beatlesaint has the correct answer, Zhu Yifei won a competition as did Swanborough for the RM XI. https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/penalties-decide-eight-goal-extravaganza

Hughes made Hasenhuttl look like Jurgen Klopp. Hopefully our appointment will be more along the lines of Ralph, Poch, Pearson or Burley in terms of getting us closer to safety. Also, Claude Puel is available 😉

The question is, who is he being replaced with

Managers are like flies on shit for a PL club on the lookout for a new broom. The trouble is we are shit and as you say, not sure that we're attractive enough for someone decent to give us the lift we need.

Easy to mock but other teams are doing the same to an even greater extent. I went corporate hospitality at another ground recently and they're getting loads of revenue off people who want to watch a bit of live football with their tapas in a trendy bar. If the club can extract greater revenue to keep up with the rest (preferably without raising the price of my cheap seats in the corner) and invest it wisely in the squad, then that's good news in my book. Personally I draw the line at queuing up and buying a pint in the stadium. The match ticket cost can present more than enough punishment on its own.

I'm truly disappointed that nobody has suggested Tuchel this time around.

I've been thinking for over a year now that it's only a matter of time before one of the basket-case big 6 clubs swoops in for him. Why are Aston Villa allowed to have nice things?

Worth a shout. I think he will go far, but probably not with us. Didn't he leave here under a cloud?

Good to get your perspective, as ever. It's been a grim start to the season.

I haven't been yet, but from photographs they seem too low to be of any use. Building regs say staircase railing height should be 900-1000mm and balconies at 1100mm height, but I believe there is no standard for stadium safe standing. I think 1100mm would be comparable and sensible, but obviously it's cheaper to use less aluminium (and paint, for that matter)

Weren't we able to phase JWP in a great deal more, considering he wasn't quite as highly rated as the others mentioned who we played as often as we could in the relatively small amount of time they spent with us? Having said that, after they left us neither Bale and Walcott were exactly first names on teamsheets at their new sides. I don't think a few months playing Championship football at that age would significantly affect a footballer's long-term career prospects.

Surely they must realise the match is in two days, as opposed to two weeks' time.

Don't forget it's also a case of his shoulder being in the right place.

I think he had a serious budget by our standards, and I expected more from him. Funnily enough, I felt that the forum was unusually patient towards him in a way that hasn't really been seen with others. The win percentage thing is a classic argument, but of course Burley's record was better than managers like Strachan or Hoddle as they were managing us at a higher level. Definitely better than Dodd and Gorman though, but I think the stats tell us more about them than GB.