Fitzhugh Fella

This question should be aimed quickly and directly at RH. His much vaunted lockdown manual has bombed judging by results.

At long last I feel a bit of pride tonight but some questions need answering inc Sky/Tyler’s appalling commentary, the truly awful decision to send JV off and the lack of VAR to come to right a blatant injustice. The question I would like to ask is - how can a defender tackle without a follow through and if that follow through impedes another player and there is no intent surely that is pure bad luck and no way a red card?

Yes MLT is absolutely entitled to his political views but there are a political views and there are political views. To deny the death of 3 million people worldwide through this pandemic I find abhorrent. To deny the benefits of the vaccine I find dangerous. To think otherwise is sticking your heads in the sand. It’s a great shame he has chosen to besmirch his reputation but that is his choice. However I maintain it massively insulting and disrespectful to anyone who has lost a relative or friend to this disease and no matter how many truly great goals he scored I can’t bring myself to bang the drum for him. It’s my loss I accept but I feel cleaner for it.

Yep: I still regard him as the greatest ever Saints player but I just cannot endorse him when I see Indian bodies piled high in mortuaries with his Covid denying Twitter posts. Sorry to all those who choose to turn a blind eye to his rants (dangerous) but I just can’t bring myself to promote him. Matt has been very supportive to Hagiology and he is a very generous man with his free time etc but he has become an utter idiot. Apologies to all those who cannot bear to see an idol being criticised but life is actually more important than footballer worship.

Really? His Covid denying etc has left me feeling a bit disinclined

I am under the impression the manager has the final say. Could be wrong but in the absence on non footballing people on the Board it’s a fair assumption I reckon.

I would argue that he has had reasonable support in the market and yet some of his buys have not really been that spectacular (Djenepo, Adams, Diallo, Salisu, Danso (farcical)). Not bad but not very good. Certainly not a Mane or van Dijk amongst them. Most teams have suffered with injuries this season so we are not very different and don't forget Ralph boasted when he arrived he liked working with a small squad. He has persisted with players who have just not been good enough (Redmond in particular) and made bizarre selections inc the recent one to drop Forster and not give the young Swiss player who got sent off at OT another chance even though we have been struggling in the middle of the park. Tella looked great when he was introduced but after a cracking game at Sheffield United he was benched. Minamino was a bizarre signing - what we needed was a full back. So Ralph has to take some blame. He was been manager for the worst two results in our 136 year history and couldn't even get a point v 9 man Newcastle. Crucially he doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes and that is suicide in the PL. He is good at communicating with the fans, he has a likeable, credible personality and I wish he was a better manager or even an improving one but sadly I think he is holed beneath the water line and in charge of a ship that might not be sinking but is in peril. Trouble is do we trust the Board to find us a decent manager to replace him. That's another argument I suppose.

Yep. The whole thing has dragged on too long though. It’s definitely become a distraction and I wonder how much his head has been turned by Levy.

I save my admiration to those who want to be at the club and don’t destabilise it. But having said that “twat” was a tad over the top and I will withdraw it. It’s just very frustrating that a local lad at his age is still having his head turned to the detriment of the team.

Ings contract situation has now just entered changing deck chairs on the Titanic territory. Boring, tedious, irrelevant, energy sapping, distracting and just plain irritating. Let him go, he has no allegiance to us whatsoever. That’s his entitlement he needs to get what he can get but it’s time to accept the inevitable and more importantly try and find someone vaguely as competent. He will be missed because he’s a great player (when fit) but we need to prepare for his inevitable exit.

I think Saints will be very prudent to be looking at replacing Ings now, regardless of whether he stays one more year. Personally I don’t think anyone will want to sign him with his injury record and I’m worried we might be offering a good contact to someone who is unfortunately a walking sick note.

I would have more faith if the U18s and U23 teams were doing well but right now our academy is utter crap and Ralph has had nearly 3 years to stamp his philosophy on them. The guy is a charlatan in my opinion but we are stuck with him because our current board who are clueless on football matters decided to entrust Ralph with the kitchen sink and the draining board. And they dug themselves a big hole in the process

No doubt it will be the same old same old. Redmond starts, we lack cohesion penetration leadership etc etc, late substitutes etc etc, another loss with mistakes no lessons learnt, same old same old as we all around in ever decreasing circles while going slowly mad.

Good post albeit the message depressing. For me Ralph is holed beneath the water line. How long will he keep us afloat? The ridiculous thing is he is virtually unsackable which is not really a healthy situation. Maybe a shakeup to football in this country has come at a good time for us.

The moment I saw Redmond's name on the team sheet I knew Ralph has to go. Has he not learnt anything?

Your first 3 words dissuaded me from reading any further. Mate, with the greatest of respec,t you must be blind.

You ask why people can’t stay level headed. Fair enough but then you bring death into the equation?

Don’t worry the B team are ripping up their League, plenty of youngsters to fall back on. It’s all a bit shambolic to be truthful. Perhaps he’s not the messiah after all ?

It would be a better move to do away with offside. It was introduced in Victorian times to stop Old Etonians leaning against the opponents goalpost smoking a pipe waiting for the ball to be lumped towards him.

How anyone can think Redmond is worthy of a starting place is utterly beyond me sorry. He epitomes everything wrong about us at present.

We’ve only had two owners to be fair. I think fans don’t understand the concept of being owned by an individual. We can’t demand their removal like we used to with Lowe. He was accountable to the shareholders and the bank whereas Gao answers to no one in this country. And to add perspective there are a lot more dodgy owners out there who would do more harm than Gao by potentially asset stripping. I hate the fact we seem hamstrung financially and are having to compete against clubs with so much more financial clout but raging against Gao solves nothing. The manner of our defeat today really is worrying. I was and probably still am in the keep Ralph camp but not by much. We are going to have to cope and deal with the fact there’s no magic money tree and we need a manager who can work on a shoestring and wheel and deal. Not convinced Ralph is that man I am afraid. A loss next weekend is unthinkable but have the players got what it takes? They are mentally fragile with little leadership on display.

I know where you are coming from but the most influential man at the club (football wise) is the manager. Responsible for player recruitment (he has a veto); tactics, player selection and motivation. With success comes praise which he got in bucket loads earlier in the season but this recent run with 4 points out of 36 tells its own tale and as you know time is one commodity few flailing PL managers get.

If he isn’t better than Redmond then the poor lad really is in trouble.

If Redmond doesn’t play we have every chance of 3 points, if as I suspect he will start I may we’ll go for a long walk on the Common as I simply cannot watch him any more.

I think Ralph is here for the forseeable as he has made himself virtually impossible to be sacked. Not only would it cost a lot to pay him off but the whole club's much-vaunted plan drawn up by the manager over the last 12 months would have to be shredded. Although Turkish claims I have a personal vendetta against the manager that is not true. Up until Xmas I was full of hope and confidence but this last 2 months have been the most miserable I can remember. He has made so many mistakes. Letting Valery go (yes I know he doesn't rate him but he's better than nothing) and if he didn't rate him and Vokins to go into the season without full-back cover on either side is mad. Then we have Ramsay, awarded a new contract at the weekend but overlooked for a player out of position. Doesn't add up but either way it is criminal our lack of full-back cover. Ralph's blindness when it comes to Redmond is glaring. Redmond has been very poor for a long time and yet he is hardly ever dropped. It's all very well pointing to our injuries. Yes it has been dire, but other clubs are suffering - one of the nationals compiled a chart last week of all the PL clubs who have missed players through injury and we were approx half way with Palace the worse off. Plus Ralph went public in saying he prefers to work with smaller squads. A bit premature. He has a lot going for him, he "gets" the fans and they "get" him. He knows his PR, he works hard, takes an interest in the youth (unlike all his predecessors except Mo Po), and I believe him to be a very committed workaholic. He has a great relationship with the Board too, but despite this something is seriously wrong. Even if we did sack him who would come in and steady the ship? The only name I can think of is Eddie Howe but there are plenty out there who say he is over rated and he ultimately flopped at Dean Court. I think our only hope is to grit our teeth and pray he somehow stops the rot, but should we lose against Sheffield the klaxons should start to sound big time. Beating Bournemouth might kickstart things but I can't see us winning a semi-final against strong opposition the way we are at present anyway. It's all a little depressing especially with Bertrand and Ings looking to leave a sinking ship.