The Kraken

Not quite the way I recall it. He was given a great deal of autonomy under Markus and a bag full of cash, he was constantly saying things like “we will always break even, we won’t lose money like lots of other clubs”. Turned out when Kat took over that we had substantial loans and the club was losing plenty of money. And so he was told to get finances solid or get out, he did the latter. He was a mental little man but, oh my, he had an excellent record for recruitment of managers.

According to the counter protesters, they also don’t like the agitated flag wavers inside either. This is a message I received on it. All I can say is that I walked past the protests a couple of times and both sides were absolutely chock full of bellends who should know better. Southampton Stand Up To Racism – Statement on the closure of Ceno Bar The closure of Ceno Bar is sad news for Portswood, and for the workers and residents affected. It is important, however, to be clear about the context. Highfield House Hotel has been home to asylum seekers since 2020. During those years, local businesses — including Ceno Bar — operated alongside it without incident. What changed was not the presence of asylum seekers. What changed was the emergence of the far-right group calling themselves “Southampton Patriots”. Over recent months, their repeated demonstrations outside the hotel — often two or three times a week and lasting for hours — have caused serious disruption. Local residents have experienced noise, intimidation and disturbance. Police time and resources have been repeatedly diverted to manage alcohol-fuelled protests that brought tension into a residential area. This environment has consequences. Footfall drops. People stay away. Businesses suffer. It was deeply unhelpful that far-right activists were reportedly allowed to use Ceno Bar as a base, reinforcing the perception that the protests were being tolerated or enabled. Many local people understandably chose not to frequent the venue as a result. Attempts to blame asylum seekers or the hotel for the bar’s closure are misplaced and unfair. The facts are clear: Ceno Bar traded successfully for years alongside the hotel. Its decline followed the start of sustained far-right activity last summer. Portswood is a diverse, welcoming community. Residents and businesses want peace, safety and cohesion — not division, intimidation or racism. Asylum seekers are part of our community and deserve dignity and respect. Racism and far-right agitation have no place in Portswood.

Misguided Weapon is the better sobriquet IMO.

I just watched the Old Firm Derby, Rangers came back from 1-0 down at half time to win 3-1 at Celtic. The ex a Celtic pundit afterwards was lamenting that the new manager instantly brought in a 3 CB system and it just isn’t working. And despite being 2 goals down and chasing the game, he changed nothing. Danny Röhl meanwhile made a tactical change at half time and the difference was night and day. The difference between a flexible manager, and one wedded to a system. Sounds familiar.

No. That was West Stand iirc.

Either that or pissed again.

Another lurker 🤣

Sorry, I’m obviously being a bit dim but why is that a Rachel Reeves thing? In slightly relevant news…..My folks have both had flu lately and it’s hit them harder than Covid ever did. From what I read a couple of months back, it’s a bit of a new variant that came about after the mass production of the winter supply of vaccine. I know my parents are older but to see them today when they’re both still recovering from it, it’s absolutely battered the pair of them.

Alpine stopped posting well before you “started”. Who were you before?

Gav/Alex pack your bags son.

I know that it seems easy to say it like that but if you think about it, it isn’t. Eckert went from having a secure gig with the youngsters to being put as head honcho (temporarily) into a Championship job. A “caretaker” is most often a short term thing until a new manager is brought in. Caretaker until the end of the season is a long time, and if he had done that it’s harder to see how he would just pick up his old job with us again. Ergo, he’d be agreeing to a likely dismissal in a few months time. Also, players are a notoriously fickle and delicate bunch who want long term security themselves by having a manager they think will stay around. I think the club probably made the best of it at that time given they had decided on Eckert and not a recognised manager: give him a contract so it looks a bit secure, then if they bin him at the end of the season he gets a year in compensation.

This is reasonable. With hindsight, you get the poll result we see now, and rightly so. Back when he was appointed, while it wasn’t an inspiring appointment, it kind of made a bit of sense, at least to give the team some short term stability and let him see out the season. We had seen an uptick in performance and results, like you say it became difficult for them not to appoint him. That said, I remain convinced (as I was very early on) that he was the number one candidate from the beginning.

I would, but I don’t think it’s the 3 CBs on their own that are the problem, it’s compounded by deploying 2 defensive minded CMs in front of them. When Jander came on I hoped for something more going forward but he did exactly what Downes and Bragg had been doing for lots of the game, dropping really deep and taking the ball off the centre back. Sometimes the CMs dropped back to be literally our deepest players. Just means we get a lot of possession but the out ball is more difficult because we have fewer options further up the pitch. I dread to think what Shea Charles will be like when he gets back but I doubt under this manager he’ll be given as much license to drive into the box as we saw him do earlier in the season. For me, it’s so much not the personnel as it is what the manager is getting them to do (or not getting them to do). We are much more reliant on a bit of brilliance from an individual player rather than grinding the other team down and creating chances. Tom Fellows was a livewire but it was mostly only the last ten minutes or so where he more consistently got the space to get right up the pitch and run at the defender.

Well almost correct, Jelert came off in the 59th minute. That was absolutely abject for most parts. We finally managed to be a bit positive in the last minutes of injury time, but in general that was a really poor game and outside of Leo or Fellows doing something on their own we’re just so pathetically passive going forwards. The 3 CB thing and 2 holding midfielders is just killing creativity.

Dear me. Azaz and THB miss absolute sitters.