RobM

How successful has that been in recent times, though?

I'd stick with Hughes, if he'd accept it. I wasn't keen on his appointment, but if we could convince him to stay and allow him to rebuild, we'd have a manager who is arguable too good for the Championship and is good enough to solidify us back in the Premier League, if he could get us promoted. Then, it's a decision of how far we think he can take us (ala Adkins after promotion) and what our new plan and objective is. All the other names you can think of lack Premier League experience so would need to be replaced fairly soon after promotion, unless we're willing to take a risk.

Technically very good - good on the ball, decent passing, good control, pretty good tackler, looks comfortable with the ball. Defensively very poor - bad positionally, often loses his man, often unaware of what's happening around him, doesn't head well / often enough, not strong or decisive. He does the tricky things well and the simple things badly. I think he's got the right attributes to become a good CB (not a world class one), but needs a lot more time and experience, plus more time in the gym to get stronger.

All away ticket profit should go into funding grass roots football. It means the bigger the club, the bigger the stadium, the bigger the donation. I'm sure a fair number of away travelling fans would be less angry at ticket prices, if they knew it was at least benefitting football.

I'd be surprised if there wasn't a partial agreement, or at least a frank conversation with Hughes, about staying on next season. I'm not a huge fan of the appointment, but if the football improves, players perform closer to their ability, he keeps us up and doesn't do anything stupid, it would be pretty unfair to kick him straight out. I'm sure he want assurances that it's his job to lose, before agreeing this current contract.

Do you think, then, that where we are now is where we’re aiming to be? Or, do you think we wish to achieve more than one place outside the relegation places? If so, as you know more than me, what is our aim and should our managerial choices support that desire?

Puel had led a fairly bang-average team with limited resources to a very respectable stage in Europe, so I do see the logic and understand what the club hoped would happen. It just didn't work. Pellegrino... goodness knows what they were thinking. They hoped and gambled on him being the next Pochettino, I assume? That didn't work either. But Hughes, he has no track record to suggest he can do anything other than be bang-average. There's nothing, nothing at all on his CV to suggest he can improve a team like ours and take it into regular European football.

Hughes is the definition of the 'anyone but him' attitude. Can anybody imagine international or Champions League winning players looking up to and being motivated to play for a team managed by Mark Hughes? Can anybody imagine players not wanting to move to a bigger club, because they want to stay at Southampton and play under Mark Hughes? Appointing Hughes will, IMO, be a clear signal that we're no longer aiming for regular European football. It will show we're quite content with survival or mid-table mediocrity. If that's what our board want, fine, appoint Hughes as that's exactly his track record. But, if that's the case, come out and admit it and stop selling fans a dream of continuous improvement, European dreams, breaking into the elite, etc. Be honest, tell us we're settling for 'OK' and at least we won't judge him for failing to deliver something the board never wanted.

I think some of the teams suggested here at incredibly ambitious, as there's little chance of the bulk of our squad sticking around. Redmond and JWP won't stick around in the Championship. They're both young with International aspirations and despite the stick they get by some Saints fans, they're highly rated by the footballing world. Hojbjerg came here to establish himself as a regular top-flight league player, so he'll be off. Probably not to an EPL club, but another league abroad. Any other internationals, or players with an expectation of playing in a countries top league, will also go. Same for anybody with big wages or a big resale value. Therefore, say goodbye to Bertrand, Cedric, Lemina, Hoedt, Boufal, Gabbiadini, Tadic, etc, etc.

Or influence. It has been mentioned that Gao is keen on developing the areas around St.Marys. If he, as a random Chinese businessman, attempted to do that himself, he may struggle. I'd bet it's a lot easier as the owner of Southampton FC and as part of your commitment to keeping the football club in the City. The decision, or gamble perhaps, is whether the club is still valuable and influential enough as a Championship club to make that plan work.

The only answer I can come up with, is the club didn't think there was an immediately available alternative who was definitely, without risk or doubt, going to improve our position in the games remaining. Other clubs have changed 'just because' and it hasn't worked - Stoke and WBA look like they're going down, Palace and Wham are starting to dip again, only Swansea look like they'll survive - so if you're going to change, it has to be with a very high degree of confidence that it's worth it. Personally, I'd have made the change before Christmas. ******** to 'saving face' and reputation... the repetitional and commercial damage of relegation will be far higher than any short-fire managerial changes.

Proves the club were right not to offer him a longer contract on big wages.

There are a few big stadiums with public WiFi, so it's entirely possible to do well. What's in it for the club though? It's a big infrastructure investment for what return? A similar point can be made about mobile networks. They all struggled, there isn't a 'good' one to go for, as dealing with tens-of-thousands of potential devices requires a huge investment, which will be used once a fortnight on average. Why would any company bother?

Why did we let him go out on loan again this season, after a successful loan spell before and having spent pre-season with us? He played a bit in pre-season, but then went straight back out on loan again. Why did we not have, or exercise, the option or recalling him when we desperately needed a goal scorer? Sending him for a full season suggests we don't see him as a viable option. He has done consistently well on loan and he's now at an age where he's no longer 'too young' and has played enough (over 80) games at a reasonable level, so has experience and time behind him. Yet, we still don't play him and won't give him a run to prove himself. He would have still been taken by clubs on loan after 5 or so Prem games. IMO, it's a consequence of the current era of football, where people don't get given a great deal of time to be a success.

For Gallagher to be a success for us in the Prem, he'd need a run of games to get used to the league, style of play and the players around him. He won't get that if he doesn't perform straight away (in fact, based on MoPe's tendencies, he won't get it even if he does perform well). Therefore, he won't get used to the league and become a success. It'll be a pointless circle, IMO. If he moves elsewhere, even to another Prem club, it'll be because they want him and are willing to play him, so he'll get the chance he needs to adapt and perform.

The ideal scenario is to win tomorrow and win as many games as possible afterwards, to get as many points as early as possible, to remain in the Premier League, as there are no guarantees of points in any game. If we're winning, who gives a **** who the manager is? If we're not winning and that doesn't appear to change, sack them and replace them, but don't hope to not pick up the points we desperately need, at a stage in the season where the opportunities to win points are running out.

Good trolling. Staplewood is a rectangle site. On one side, is the A326. On another side, is houses. On another side, is a road and more houses. On the last side, is houses and a school. You'd struggle to expand it by 10%, which would be filling in gaps around the edges and corners.

Although I don't particularly care about a cup run this season, we need to keep the winning feel-good factor going and we're less likely to do that with a second-rate team. The momentum and motivation that comes from winning could be vital for us at this stage. Equally, losing that feeling so quickly after the Spurs game, could set us back again. Therefore, I'd rest a couple (Bertrand, Romeu, Stephens if he's injured) but I'd keep a strong team. It will also give Gabbi a chance to get back to his best and get used to playing with that team. If we're in a good position by the end of the game, then make changes to rest key players.

You're probably right, but the end result is the same - commitment, effort, desire, motivation, spirit, it all drops.

Protest outside of the ground. Support inside the ground. Imagine being a player (or, imagine being a 20-something year old lad), walking out in front of a protesting crowd. How inspired and motivated to perform will you be? You'd **** a brick. Protest, make the point you wish to make, make sure it's on camera (we know how important public image is to the board), but then get into your seat and do everything you can to help, not hinder, what's already a bloody difficult game.

Put this alongside Puel leaving, due to his negative, boring tactics and style, and I wonder if the board believed we had plenty of goals in the team with Gabbi, Austin, Redmond, Boufal, Tadic and others. Therefore, a striker wasn't quite as high priority as fans believed, as a new, positive, attacking manager will bring the goals out. Naivety at the highest level, if so, but might explain things.

A) I would invest time, effort and money in finding a proven advisor who knows what EPL success takes. Somebody to help direct the entire club, as a business and sporting unit. I would give them a short mandate to audit our operation and suggest immediate, short-term and longer-term improvements. B) Nothing, until the last minute. I fear they will trust the internal dialogue that it'll all be OK and trust the process... until it's all but certain we're doomed, proving the process isn't trustworthy.

But that can't be true, as our form and performances were all his fault and they haven't improved in recent weeks.

If it's a choice between Jan and next Summer, I choose Jan. Just get on with it, since we know it's going to happen anyway, so we can start building a team for the longer term. As for who we sell to... whoever pays the most. I don't care, he won't be a Saints player at that point, so why would I?

Calling for MoPe to go is fine, but some of the suggestions on here for his replacement are embarrassing. There is a reason why Strachan, Adkins (however much we love him), Pardew, etc aren’t managing top-flight teams. Koeman would come here to prove he’s good enough to leave for something bigger and better, restarting another managerial change period. He also had some really poor spells with us, let’s not pretend he was perfect. Dyche won’t leave Burnley for a club in such disrepair, when his stock is so high and Burnley are doing so well. Therefore whoever we go for is unlikely to be any more assured of success than MoPe. Last year we wanted ‘anyone but Puel’ because it couldn’t possibly be worse.