Fitzhugh Fella

Except of course at Newcastle where the new manager has insisted on full autominy and a veto over who to buy and sell.

Just like the Urban Spaceman (you have to be of a certain age)

On the other managerial thread and worth copying onto this one First post in a while but felt compelled too when the news broke about Garcia last night. As well as being a Saints season ticket holder I've also followed Roma as my foreign team for the past 12 years or so, been out to watch 25+ games and watched every Roma match during Garcia's tenure so I'd like to think I'm well placed to offer a bit of an insight into him. I've seen some on here and twitter who have obviously searched him on wikipedia and seen his win percentage and overall record with Lille and Roma, but there is more to Garcia than just his statistics. So here goes. Garcia had a fantastic start at Roma, picking them up when the club was in turmoil after losing the Italian cup final to bitter rivals Lazio the season before hand. After winning the first 10 games of his first season in charge (a record in Serie A), the team played some great football with Totti and Gervinho linking up very nicely indeed in attack and defensively they were solid as a rock. Roma went on to achieve 2nd place and a return to the Champions League after a 4 year absence. It appeared that Roma had found a very talented and special manager and possibly the man who could one day lead them to the Scudetto. Roma started off Garcia's 2nd season in similar fashion, winning their first 5 games before losing to Juventus in a game heavily influenced by refereeing errors. Roma's performance in that game however suggested they had closed the gap to Juve and that they would fight with them for the title until the very end of the season. Shortly after that game Roma met Bayern in the CL at home and took a 1-7 hammering. From that moment onwards things started to go downhill and it's a defeat that neither the team nor Garcia ever fully recovered from. They soon fell out of the CL and a run of draws against mid table and lower half teams allowed Juve to run away with the title. This poor run of form meant that in the end Roma scrapped into 2nd place on the penultimate day of the season. Not a particularly outstanding achievement given many had considered Roma as title favourites at the beginning of the season after Antonio Conte had left Juve, and 2nd place was the bare minimum expected considering Garcia had by far and away the 2nd best squad in Serie A. During the 2nd half of the season Roma were also hammered by Fiorentina in the Europa League (3-0 down at home at half time in the 2nd leg) and knocked out at the quarter finals of the Coppa Italia, again by Fiorentina. Some real cracks were beginning to appear in Garcia's Roma. Teams had started to work out his tactics and they became a lot easier to defend against. Many opponents would sit deep, not allow space in behind for Roma to counter attack and Gervinho to utilise with his pace and Garcia had no answer to this. He had no plan B and persisted with the same 4-3-3 formation week in week out and continued to play out of form players. Roma played some incredibly ponderous football which became increasingly frustrating to watch, there was no energy or creativity about the team and they would spend most games passing the balls sidewards and back to front without threatening the opposition at all. Another annoying feature of Garcia was his failure to accept responsbility for Roma's poor form, often blaming it on bad luck or injuries. I've read that his lack of plan B and inability to be flexible with his formation and tactics also caused problems during his latter seasons at Lille. This blog written at the time Roma appointed him explained what to expect from and highlighted his tactical inflexibility and hesitance to attempt changes. http://frenchfootballweekly.com/2013...s-rudi-garcia/ Roma started off his 3rd season in mixed fashion, beating Juventus early on but again failing to beat many of the smaller sides in Serie A. They did temporarily manage to claw themselves to the top of the table but it didn't last long. A run of 1 win in 10 included one of the most humiliating and embarrassing results in Roma's entire history. A 0-0 draw followed by a penalty shoot out defeat at home to Serie B side Spezia in the Coppa Italia which was one of the final nails in Garcia's coffin. In the end the vast majority of Roma's fanbase wanted him sacked and we finally got our wish in January this year. Some will look at Garcia's record at Roma and suggest his sacking was harsh, but I can safely say that in 12 years of watching them the football played during his final 12 months is some of the worst I have ever seen them play. It got to a stage where the prospect of watching a Roma game was just downright depressing, because the poor performances just became inevitable and it was obvious Garcia had no idea how to change things. It was a great shame because the way Garcia embraced the club and city early on really endeared him to a lot of fans, myself included. He was genuinely passionate about Roma and come across as a decent guy, and right up until the very end I still harboured hopes that would turn things around. But his tactical stubbornness and inability to be flexible cost him dearly. IF Garcia has learnt any lessons from his time at Roma and can prove that he is able to be flexible then we could do worse. He is a talented manager but with some real short comings that so far during his career he has been unable to address. Be prepared for a good start under Garcia, but if I come back here in a year or two's times to see complaints that he always uses the same formation, keeps playing out of form players, doesn't know how to get us out of a bad run of form...etc then I won't be at all surprised.

I am not too unashamed to have welcomed Redknapp as I honestly thought he had the nous to save us. To be fair he might have had Lowe appointed him a month or two earlier but it was bound to end in tears.

Sometimes St C posts some good stuff but perhaps he needs to concentrate on more quality less quantity.

Bump X 2

Players need to be bollocked we all know tha,t but the skill lies in the manner in which the player is bollocked. I have heard a rough transcript of what Koeman said and it was pretty unpleasant and humiliating especially for a young player, who at the time was being treated by the physio. Tell a man off by all means but don't humiliate him. Targett may have had a poor half (they all did) but to single him out in such a way makes Koeman a bully in my eyes.

Bump

Can the Mods make this a sticky for a few days please?

Sad to report that ex-Saint Tony Byrne died yesterday aged 70. Tony played for Saints between 1964 and 1970 making 101 starts, 13 sub appearances and scoring 3 goals. A Republic of Ireland international he was a versatile left-sided defender who was often picked by Ted Bates to man mark George Best. He was a lovely chap who I remember would often take time out after training to coach us kids in The Dell car park. He wound down his career at Hereford (Terry Paine brought him with him) and Newport. All thoughts go to his family.

Thanks Florida Martin All makes sense but a bit of a worry.

If I was an Everton fan I would be starting to develop an inferiority complex. The longer this drags on the more I would be thinking he doesn't really want to be Goodison's next messiah. This is almost Pompeyesque in its schadenfreude

I prefer managers that get results and have a shred of decency

No I must admit the negative stories about RK only really started around the time of our mid-season slump. I was aware he had a degree of apathy towards the Academy but as Terry Paine told me that was always the Barca way of doing things ie the first team players were always kept aloof and apart. I assumed RK was just following this tradition having been schooled in the Barca way. I was aware that this was not in keeping with the club's overall strategy and was causing tension. I think what we have all read today is the club's version of events and it suits their purpose. I am sure Koeman would tell another story and as CB Fry points out in a result driven business Koeman has delivered.

Well we all know there are two sides to every story but Even as a cynic I am inclined to side with the club's version. RK changing agents at a crucial time was strange but now I can see why if you take this explanation at face value.

I am pretty sure JS's post is pretty spot on at least as far as the club sees it as a couple of things tally exactly to what I have heard. I would also add I am 99% certain that this post originated directly from the club. With Koeman back tomorrow the release of all this info - which adds up pretty much - is perfect timing. Tomorrow or Tuesday will be interesting!

Indeed - Koeman made a particularly harsh verbal assault on Targett in front of the whole dressing room, blaming him for everything that had gone wrong in the first half and saying he epitomised the reason why he would not pick any U21 players, they were all c**p like Targett.

Well I can 100% vouchsafe the Targett part of the story -it happened during half-time in the Leicester A dressing room

On form and with a sensible head on him he is virtually unplayable. 50m at least he is a proven Prem goalscorer, he is young and knows where the net is. Priceless

I honestly don't know but I think we will soon find out by the length of time it takes us to appoint a successor- if it's more than a day or two it will show Koeman's departure was not expected.

Not really, at the time the players were apparently a bit bemused by it, but looking back now with hindsight, it could be construed as the management preparing them for a possible regime change. As I said on another thread earlier, at the time of Kelvin's testimonial I know the general consensus in the boardroom was that RK would not extend so putting 2 and 2 together my take is contingency plans were already being considered.

The club

At the season's end the players were briefed to expect a harder tougher regime next season.

I am afraid that the players respect him even less. I know Howe has no pedigree to speak off but everyone has to start somewhere, even Ferguson, and Howe's potential, personal circumstances etc etc while, not being the exact fit, comes closer than the likes of Moyes Hughes Martinez etc. The Premiership remains our bread and butter and Howe is a young Premiership manager.

This is v similar to what I heard from an impeccable source (not a player) and the club have known for more than a fortnight he was not going to extend. Why Reed released that interview I have no idea. Many of the players don't rate Koeman. He is aloof and interacts little at training. His brother is more highly rated and liked. At half time in the away game at Leicester he nastily and publicly castigated and belittled Targett in a manner many present thought unacceptable. Although he has done well for us and the fact his departure will rock the boat for a while, I am none to sad he is going and as I said before and not too many of the players will be particularly bothered either. Howe would get my vote as he is not likely to want to move too far and we need managerial continuity if we want to maintain our recent growth.