lordswoodsaints

Exactly. The money is in the prem and as long as a club like ours finishes anywhere above a relegation place then that has got to considered a success, it’s harsh, it stings but it is reality for us and the Owners/board will view it like that. The success we achieved on our return to the prem and the following few seasons were a bonus,an unusual, unexpected flirt with the high life, it will happen again but so will flirting with the drop but overall the club will revert to just being a plucky mid table outfit, at the moment the whole setup from top to bottom is disjointed due to some bad decisions, bad management, stroppy players, the selling on of too many good players,stubbornness to admit there could be a few problems and doing things on the cheap or doing nothing. All of these things will eventually catch up with us but it hasn’t been an overnight decline, it’s been a long process of 2-3 years and it will take just as long, maybe more to get us back on an even keel. There are no quick fixes and we might have to get relegated to put things right. We are where we are because of all of the above and we deserve our position, this might sound harsh but at this moment we are not good enough to be a prem team and if we go down then we probably deserve it, the club and us fans have to take a percentage of the blame if we do.

I think you need a reality check, anybody who thinks that our academy is there to serve our team needs to get real, the academy is just a money making factory, just another income stream, and the first team is the shop window. Always has been and always will be. The plan has always been to be a stable mid table team, occasionally flirting with the top 6, occasionally flirting with a good cup run.....and that’s it. We are never going to ‘push on’ we are never going to become Man City or Chelsea, we are just always going to be a mediocre club, paying its bills, not living above its means, producing some good young talent that will be sold on at a vast profit. That is the plan, don’t expect anything else. But we have had a series of setbacks over the last 2 years which have led to our predicament that we find ourselves in today, we flirted with the big boys for 2-3 years under poch and koeman, playing some good football and buying wisely, uncovering a few gems, so this alerted the big boys and they wanted our best players and our managers, it was always going to happen, money talks and if we are not prepared to offer more then people will move on. There is no loyalty, people want money and fame and they are not gonna get it here, the ‘i Wanna win trophies’ line is just a front for ‘I want money’. Puel was not a mistake but his football was boring and frustrating, we got results, he was reasonably successful but his brand of football was bland, pellegrino was virtually unknown and it shows, he is a mistake but stubbornly they will probably stick with him until the end of the season for 2 reasons, money and money. So don’t hold your breath for any big changes, we are just a mediocre club in a bit of trouble and nobody outside of this city gives a rats ass about us, we are just here to make up the numbers and sometimes standing up to the big boys, sometimes flirting with relegation but always selling our best players. It is the real Southampton way!

Looks like they are getting plenty of sleep during the match, I’m sure their inflated wages will comfort them when they walk away at the end of the season into a better paid job at another club.

The way I see it is, the fella is not gonna resign, as much as we’d want him to, he’d be mad to do so from a financial stand point. And for some reason, probably through not admitting you made a mistake and failed, I don’t think they’re going to sack him, I guess they also don’t want to be paying out millions in compensation and even more millions in a journeyman manager who will command big bucks to try and keep us up. I reckon they are just going to keep everything crossed and hope we can scrape over the finish line. Not very forward thinking I know, and it’s a dangerous game to play but it looks like they are willing to play it. I also think we have left it too late to make the change, so the only other option is to stick with him I guess.

His appearance, he looks like jimmy Carr and his lack of tactics, motivation, a plan b, starting lineups and substitutions are just as funny.

Personally I don’t think he’s going anywhere, I don’t know the reasons why but I can guess it’s partly because we can’t attract anybody to take over the **** job that will be left,but if he’s going to go then now is the time to do it, forgetting the cup game, it will give the new man 2 weeks with the team.

No tactics, no passion, no fight, no plan B and no urgency Personally I think we’ve left it too late for a new manager, the players don’t look interested and demoralised, players like boufal are no good at this stage of the season, we need fighters not lightweight luxury players.

Are you ****ing kidding me? I wanted strachan and I know lots of others who did

It’s a celebration of Cyrille Regis today at WBA and this is obviously going to lift the players and the fans. The great man could do us a favour. Ok so I know that if West Brom beat us today we would be in deeper trouble but if this leads to pellegrino finally getting the boot then would you take the loss on the chin? Or would you prefer the 3 points and keep pellegrino for another few weeks at least? Personally, if I had to choose I’d rather we lost today and the fool went, sometimes you have to take a kick in the balls to win a war. Thoughts?

They can’t do anything because they can’t attract a new manager to the club, so at the moment it’s a toss up between keeping pellegrino, limping on and hoping that we stay up or sack him and put a caretaker manager, probably kelvin Davis and pray we stay up. Let’s be serious, nobody I’d beating down the doors to take on the task of keeping us up and if they are it’s going to cost us a lot of money, something I feel the new owners are not keen on spending. I know most of you are bashing les reed but even he gets direction from above,so I guess that the people above are not willing to give the all clear to sack pellegrino

I honestly think that pellegrino is going nowhere, he’s not going to resign, why would he? He’d be a fool to walk away from a few mil, and I honestly believe that we are a bit of a poison chalice for any potential new man coming in, we can’t now spend any money until the summer, we can only loan ourselves out of trouble and any new manager that takes the job will just be another cheap option who will try to keep us up but will be happy to stay if we go down, or a manager that will want big money to try and keep us up but will only be on a short contract that lasts until the end of the season. Are choices are limited, this should’ve been sorted before the transfer window opened and at least a new man would’ve been able to buy a couple of players that he wanted. Unless of course they never wanted to spend money but that’s another story in itself.

Pathetic game, pathetic show in the transfer market and I think we have probably left changing the manager about a month late even if he goes tonight. Even if we get a new manager, he’s still got the same players to work with and they are not going to become relegation fighters overnight.

West Ham want him, shouldn’t we be in the hunt? Thoughts?

This is what I was talking about on another thread.... There is a tipping point where people at the club have no control over our fate, we have no attraction to anybody because of our precarious position, players will be reluctant to join us, managers will be mercenary in wanting to join us and the players we have are planning for the future away from us, relegation to them means a fresh start at another club on a better contract so they are happy for that to happen. The manager is crap and no doubt cheap so he is just happy to have a job, he is also here and as the club obviously has no replacement then he won’t be going anywhere soon. Forget about the VVD money, we could have £500 million but because it looks likely that we will get relegated nobody is going to want to come here and the board are certainly not going to buy players or managers on stupid money who will likely be playing in the championship next season. If you are expecting some miracle signing or a great white hope of a manager coming in then close your eyes and carry on dreaming, the best you can hope for are loans or cheap option players, as for the manager, he’s either going to be here till the end or you’ll have kelvin Davis standing in. I hope I am wrong and I hope we get a knowledgeable manager able to get us out of trouble but I really can’t see it .

History shows that there is a stage in the season that the players from a free falling club do not give a rats ass if the club gets relegated or not, they just prepare for it knowing that they will be leaving if the club get relegated and they will just move to another club on a better contract and money than they are on now. It’s a cant lose situation for them .

That’s the longest knee jerk in history, 18 months of knee jerk, I need a new knee to jerk...worn this ****er out

So VVD is responsible for rotating the team, playing crap formations and giving the players instructions not to press? I guess when you are a small club any moody foreigner who spits the dummy rules the roost ?

I remember when there were plans to buy the church next to the dell and turn the whole ground around so archers road and Milton road would have become the wings....jeez I’m old

Was a class player until he didn’t get his own way, then he turned into a brat kid who couldn’t kick a ball, just another moody foreigner who thinks the world Owes him something. If I’m honest I think he’s lost it mentally and it will take a long time to get him back to what he was, I think Liverpool fans will have to wait to see him at his best and I’m glad we got shot of the mug. We only really got half a season out of him, then he was injured and then he was crap so Liverpool are taking an expensive gamble.

Every club in Europe will have noticed that A) we are in trouble B) we now have money to spend so they will be looking to flog us all of their unwanted and unloved donkeys

Weren’t we told that the clubs scouting setup is always one step ahead and that players and managers have already been earmarked in anticipation?

The simple debate is this, puel and pellegrino played boring football, now this can be weirdly forgiven if the results were there but they were not, ok puel got us to 8th but that not the whole picture, saints fans want to see good,exciting football and if that means that we lose or draw a few then I think people will forgive the manager quickly and get on board with his strategy because they are being entertained. The football we have been playing over the last couple of seasons has been dull, grey, boring, non entertaining and now that has led us into a dangerous situation, with a stormy, uncertain second half of a season. Because of that, the club will be preparing for all outcomes which includes relegation so they will be reluctant to spend any of the VVD money on decent players who command decent wages as we could be in the league below in a few months. This also goes for a new manager, pellegrino must be cheap, a new man will command not only big wages but will also want to buy players that will keep us up, this is a gamble of course, and I’m not sure the club have the stomach for it. So, although I’d like to see change, I just don’t think the club are in the mood for knee jerk reactions and gambling but without doubt pellegrino needs to go, but I’m not sure the club are going to see it that way......I sincerely hope they do.

I think what everyone saints fans craves is entertaining, seat of your pants football regardless if we win, lose or draw, football is in the business of entertainment and people want to come away from the stadium feeling as if the players have entertained and given it their best shot and I think the players and the manager can be forgiven if you feel you have been entertained but we still ended up losing. Pellegrino and his team are not entertaining and nor did Puel and his teams, so that is why Puel was sacked and it will also be why Pellegrino will probably manage his last Southampton game in a few days.

You have to ask yourselves what is the reason(s) that we are unable to hold onto decent managers and decent players, and the reasons are a) lack of true ambition and b) unwillingness to pay what other clubs are prepared to pay, its simple, but its a balance, we are a well run club that doesn’t want to get into debt so this is where the limit of our ambition ends. We just have to accept that we are a club who is never going to live above its means and will always be a mediocre outfit, occasionally punching above its means but also occasionally flirting with relegation, managers will come and go, if they are any good then they will move on to a bigger club and if they are crap then they will probably get moved on, we have to get used to this, the best we can hope for is a manager staying around for a couple of seasons if we are lucky. The only way this will ever change is if a big investor feels like wasting a shed load of notes but I wouldn’t hold your breath!

My guess is that he’s been given 2 games, so expect super defensive formations against spurs and united. The fella is a dead man walking but I’m not sure who the right man is to turn this shower of **** into a team of survivors. Good luck to whoever is mad enough to attempt it.