chi saint

Going with the theme of one man running a club of our size. It might well turn out to be an interesting few months when the new boss gets her people in and start to look at how things were run and whether the 'business' element of the club is on a sound footing!

I am assuming this is a wind up....are you writing a fictional novel, in the vein of 50 Shades of Grey based on the obvious vicarious pleasure in relation of the actions of others. Albeit those actions are, from reading others posts, somewhat romanticised with the passage of time. As for your final quote "gone from being the most terrifying away day in England" I assume you are referring to some of the night spots as such as Fridays or Barberella's? I don't wish to cast doubt on your 'experiences' but certainly whilst i'm a proud Sotonian, this exposition doesn't resemble the days you cite.

Who, Who and Who? I think you need to read this back and consider how unimportant this all sounds ha ha

Nothing personal and I know you have given some thought to your post, but in my opinion, and that all it is an opinion of course, but im not sure we need to concern ourselves with being what is termed a 'big club' what ever a big club actually is. Yes of course the Man U's or Cities of this world have the revenue and the profile but I also think they lose something in that there is little reflection of the City they supposedly represent. As for being a 'brave' appointment, again depending on your definition of brave, the new manager possibly brave for taking it on in such circ's or he's been ill advised, but for me sticking with Adkins would have been brave, particularly if we had continued to circle the relegation zone and I for one, no matter the outcome at the end of the season, would have had a lot more respect of Cortese.

Let me tell you what happened (opinion) this has been planned for some time, we are improving, the new boy has got increasingly frustrated with having to wait for us to plunge to bottom of the league and Adkins getting sacked on the basis of poor results. Both he and Cortese have seen the writing on the wall, in that we are improving and have now at least a 50/50 chance of staying up and with another two or so wins we may in the coming fortnight have even been mid table. Therefore Cortese was left with a decision, either f**k off our new boy or press the nuclear button before the situation became even worse. Perversely the 'situation' being we continue to improve!! Hence having expected us to have got thumped on Wednesday night, everything was in place, the train was running along the track, and his hand was forced. Funny old game which can give you such a lift as in midweek and then drop you like a stone as in today. Sad very sad

30th April 2005 Saints v Norwich. Henri Camara scoring in the last minute making it 4 -3 and re-igniting our relegation fight, which ultimately proved unsuccessful but simply the most exciting match I have seen in 37 years following Saints and, and it's a big and, my son Declan was the 7yr old Saints mascot and the whole family turned out for the event. Simoly unforgettable for some many reasons.

Brilliant game, superb pass and move. But the real confidence booster must be the clean sheet!

I understand that some are fed up with the idea of loyalty, albeit if you think about that concept too much you may wish to consider your own self regard, but thats a discussion for another day. Anyway your loyalty has to date stretched to a whole 810 minutes (9 league games) or 34 days, whooa steady there, don't over committ yourselves too much. He gets us promoted twice, has set a fine example (in my opinion) as a modern manager and brought a sense of pride to the club, who others outside looking in, seem to recognise as setting a fine example in many areas, be it youth policy, facilities or business acumen to name but a few, and your prepared to give him a whole 9 games?? Loyalty works both ways, have you recently purchased your first Saints tickets now that were in the PL and this is not what you expected or were promised?. I understand your frustration but if you stick with the game you will find this apart from a few elite clubs, is par for the course. Don't pack it now or swap to another club stick with us. My third post so that's it for tonight:)

If thats a response to me, perhaps lay of the meths before you lay a podgy finger on your key board...just a polite suggestion.

Where's the loyalty? It was a five year plan so were well ahead of that schedule, therefore NA desrves more time. But more importantly than that, do we want to get imersed ina managerial merry go round again. I can only imagione the posts if he had jumped ship last season and taken a more lucrative job, the shouts of disloyalty would have been deafening. Surely relegated or not he deserves our support, or are we fair weather fans, only sticking by someone during the good times. I can only speak for myself but personally im a little proud to have stuck with us through thick and thin and if truth be told I had more of an enjoyable these past 4 or 5 seasons than I have in many years (30+), knowing we were up against it both on and off the pitch. Like a lot of posters on here I thnk something is amiss, not rocket science when you coinsider the results, but it may simply be NA is still learning his trade and we don't have the players to survive, but either way im not sure that worthy of blame, rather I think we should be grateful we are where we are, there's plenty of other clubs who would bite our hand off to be in the PL. So why not set an example and just show unequivocal support for NA and who knows that might, just night make the difference? The other option is join the rest and hire and fire with every bump in the road. I know which road I will be travelling this season.

Did we not have a '5 year plan'? If so then NA has exceeded that by getting into the PL a year early, ergo he should be allowed at least a full season, and were we relegated there is an arguement that he should be allowed to get us promoted the following season. More importantly were not relegated, were not close to being relegated and have all to play for, so why adopt a knee jerk reaction and start the old managerial merry go round?

So what if he/she got hit? Did they sustain an injury? Did they turn to try to quieten down those mongs hurling abuse at him? if not then they are as much to blame surely. Personally I thought he was at fault certainly for the first and possibly the second. Still can't think of a worse thing to do to a player on the pitch in any match unless of course your that warped and your trying undermine his confidence further, which would be perverse in the extreme. So in answer to your question, that person 'struck' should question themselves, if they were one of the cuplirts they deserve it, if not then they should have prevented it!!!

Problems we have are as follows Little or no width, No over lapping and so little possibility of runs to the corner post which comes as a result of my first point, in that we had no width. Finally and in my view most importantly, no urgency, we play delightful football at times, but that doesn't win you games if you don't get the ball into the oppositions net. I could count the number of times we actually ran at them on one finger. We played it around, some lovely passing but then tried walk it onto the their 6 yard box or more sadly knocked it about at the back then lumped it forward, complete waste of time. We need to set ourselves up to run at the opposition, have them back peddling not coming forward to meet us. Until we have the confidence to take players on im afraid were always likely to come unstuck. None of the above is beyond the relasm fo a good coach, but things need to change soon.

The problem we have and its has been the case in both L1 and C/Ship is that we try to build from the back instead of moving the ball forward at pace. There is a time and a place for retaining the ball across the back and waiting for that incisive pass to present itself. What we lack is moving at speed up the pitch and striking whilst on the move. I think we have superb passing and in particular that fast one touch football at time when in tight corners, some teams don't come even close when it comes to being that comfortable on the ball. But and for me its a big But, the longer you pass the ball about at the back the more time it gives the opposition time to sort themselves out and take up position waiting for the inevitable Saints attack. We need more urgency in our play, we need players moving up field with the ball and drawing player supon them before passing or laying the ball off.

Nah, sorry Guly did well when you consider he was left so exposed they will be calling him Prince Harry if he's not careful. He's not the best player but certainly he worked his socks off and his passing was as good as any and better than some ala Fox.

I booked two Wigan tickets this afternoon. When the graphic showing the stadium came up i clicked on a seating section which then brings up all the seat numbers contained within and those in green are available. Click on the seat and it gets added below until you then continue with the purchase! Simples!!

think that was Svensson against Fulham!

Alejandro Faurlin from QPR when they go down

Like anyone with a degree of ambition you want to climb a mountain and reach a summit, which in this case is getting into the Premier. However whilst of course I want to see us perform against the best, I can say that these last two years have been enjotable not just the winning, but also the atmosphere and the change in attitude in respect of the team, knowing they can beat anyone of their day. Sadly I think when we get into the EPL, well either buy every over priced mercenary b**tard who wants to secure theyre pension with a final pay day and that well be in a relegation scrap from day one. Or well simply be in a relagation scrap. Having witnessed years of that last day of the season excitment, "we wil stay up or won't we"? There is something to be said for it, but I have a nasty feeling if we don't buy the right type of player, by that I mean those that aren't already millionaires and won't be influenced by Adkins, then were gonna go back down. Adkins needs to be in charge and not have a dressing room of players that have no real allegience to the club, and by that I don't mean geographically, but mentally. Take Ricky for instance, I may be naive, but I would hope he feels a certain sense of loyalty to the club and more importantly to the manager for the progress he has made and on Saturday evening playing in the finest league in the world. Still who knows?

Are you for real? Tolerance, really where is the tolerance when you use racist language you muppet. Seriously at school on Monday ask you special needs teacher what the relationship is between tolerance and racism!

Im not a regular user but couldn't get it to load for the 2nd half

Sorry been looking myself, if you do find something post a link as my boy was the Saints mascot that day and although we have pics, don't have any video

In respect of the European Convention on Human Rights the overriding right is that of Article 2 'the right to life' whilst of course it is unlikely to get that extreme when the fans meet outside this would be the over ridding principle and would mean they could dispense with all other 'rights' when the old bill risk assess any match so I am surprised were all let out together.

No i'm sorry but the DVLA wouldn't allow a number plate that long, far too many letters so I have to cast doubt on the sighting!

NA would not have been my first choice, nor for that matter my second or third. But there's no doubt he's a capable guy and for a third tier club, which is what we are, he is more than qualified so we shouldn't be so dismissive nor patronising. My concern, and it should be his, is if we aren't promoted this season will he be out of a job? If that's the message he's been given and I were him i'd stay put, better the devil you know! Whilst of course the players are professionals and ideally the current going ons shouldn't have an impact on their performance on the pitch, it must add to the sense of uncertainty, new manager normally means change of personnel, not just off the pitch but amongst the players. If it is to be NA then please god give him time, NC needs to show some faith (that's not to say he didn't with AP as I have no idea why the dissmisal came about) but let the guy go to work, give him three years and yes if he needs to develop with us then so be it, but this sense of constant change does noone any good least of all the players.