The morning after the day before...

[Badger]

On the topic of Po.. , the new bloke, I simply can't get excited over a manager I've not previously heard of, and one that we know can not communicate directly with his squad.

[Wes Tender]

There are still a few things that rankle with me having slept on it and spent some time researching this new guy Pochettino.

 

I recall well the first time that we had the opportunity to meet Cortese when Markus Liebherr took us over. It was at one of those fans' forums at St Mary's. Cortese declared that the club belonged to the fans and that they were only custodians. It was also clear that they had considered taking us over in the first place because we had a reputation of being a family club, with all the values and attributes that go with it. It is because those values seem to have been ridden over roughshod that I feel so betrayed by Cortese.

 

I admired his ambition and had suspected that in order to achieve it, he would have to be ruthless along the way and that many would be upset by the fallout. But in Nigel Adkins we seemed to have somebody capable of taking us to where Cortese wanted us to be, having gained us automatic promotion in two consecutive seasons and showing signs of adapting to the Premiership with no experience of managing there before. But Adkins was also a promising young manager, skilled in man-management, intelligent and articulate, honest and decent too. There was the prospect that we could grow together with a loyal manager, and replicate the success that stability brought us under Lawrie over many years to come.

 

So I mourn the brutal ending of that dream, realising that Cortese felt that he was not prepared to build gradually, that his ambition meant that he had to have instant results in our upward development, or he would gamble on another throw of the dice and bring in somebody who he felt had the credentials to achieve this quicker transition. But it is a massive gamble. We now have a young dynamic manager, but one who has no experience of English football management, let alone Premiership experience. Added to that, he hardly speaks any English. So how will he be able to employ man-management skills (if he has them), via an interpreter? How will his tactical plans translate themselves? I worry having read about the man, that his tactics are to play hard and in the oppositions face. His team had a very high count of cards, contrasting to our good disciplinary record. How long will that take to work through the system and do we have the cover for suspended or injured players that will follow such a policy? Do we in fact have the type of players to play that way anyway?

 

The mature position is to allow him the opportunity to prove himself, regardless of any doubts that we have about his abilities and I will wait and see how he fares.

 

But nothing on Earth is going to prevent me from chanting Nigel Adkins' name for most of the match on Monday. Frankly I don't care whether it unsettles the team. It will be for the one match and if as I'm certain, the majority of vocal fans also take it up, then a clear message will be sent to Cortese that we are very unhappy about the way that Adkins has been treated and that our support cannot be taken for granted.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

That's fair enough. None of us would want to take your usual role on the forum from you.

 

Shows how hypocritical some of you are though, I'm sure you'll agree.

 

Look forward to my apology on Monday.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

On the topic of Po.. , the new bloke, I simply can't get excited over a manager I've not previously heard of, and one that we know can not communicate directly with his squad.

 

Do you feel the same with players?

[Professor]

Shame, and sad that our club is getting rightfully hammered for this, I got a text last night from a Liverpool fan saying he always liked our club (he did) but now hopes to God we get relegated for what we have done to Adkins, its kind of hard to argue against that stance.

Presumably this Liverpool fan also hoped to God that Liverpool would be relegated after they sacked Kenny Dalgleish last year for the crime of finishing 8th in the Prem. Of course a Liverpool supporter doesn't want to see Saints employing an exciting new manager who might have them breaking into the top half of the table because its more competition for his fading club.Why a Saints' fan should agree with him is the peculiar thing.

[manji]

Lost on the passive types who are happy to be butt fu.cked by the club at every opportunity and tell everyone else that they aren't real fans if they don't get behind the club.

Im not passive and I certainly dont feel butt fu,cked. I think Cortese has made a brutal but intelligent decision for the betterment of the club. Get over your "Princess Diana" hysteria for a moment and think about the games this season. The fiasco with the keepers. The dopey substitutions (De Ridder) and the amount of times we were in a winning position and threw points away. The amount of money we spent and we are only a couple of points away from Reading. Dont forget all this bed wetting whingeing is only a repeat of the fans reaction when we ditched Pardew,how did that go ?

Adkins was a top bloke but had gone as far as he could. Time for a change. I am really excited about our future. My only concern is the reaction of dim witted fans like yourself who havnt thought this through.

[Badger]

I'm sad that Adkins was sacked, I disagree with the timing and think Cortese is a nob for it, but ultimately I think it was the correct decision as NA was an average manager.

 

Two promotions in two seasons suggests otherwise. Presumably you regard Ted Bates as a below average manager then ?

 

NA was a young manager, on a bit of an education in the top flight, but it appeared he was learning/improving and we had turned the corner.

 

Reference my earlier comment :

 

Everton are a good example of what can be achieved by stability and backing a good young manager, something lost on the short-arsed Italian twerp at the club's helm(et).

 

Moyes had less of a track record when he joined Everton than NA does now. Good job he did not join us in 2001, as Saints - under Lowe as with Cortese - would not have allowed him more than two seasons of being average, before kicking him out to find a new plaything.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

Im not passive and I certainly dont feel butt fu,cked. I think Cortese has made a brutal but intelligent decision for the betterment of the club. Get over your "Princess Diana" hysteria for a moment and think about the games this season. The fiasco with the keepers. The dopey substitutions (De Ridder) and the amount of times we were in a winning position and threw points away. The amount of money we spent and we are only a couple of points away from Reading. Dont forget all this bed wetting whingeing is only a repeat of the fans reaction when we ditched Pardew,how did that go ?

Adkins was a top bloke but had gone as far as he could. Time for a change. I am really excited about our future. My only concern is the reaction of dim witted fans like yourself who havnt thought this through.

 

This!

[pap]

But his record in the prem was not disastrous. And there was a clear improvement. Everyone was united, every player wanted to play for him and we was getting better

 

Take a look at this Beeb article. There's a table at the bottom with statistics. Nige doesn't do very well compared with most former Southampton Premiership managers.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21084754

 

Not the complete story I know. I'm sure that there are tons of little anomalies and/or bits of luck that have gone into those numbers.

[stug76]

Cant you read? As i quite clearly said, last week people were prasing Adkins and saying how well we were doing with a squad which was made up of quite a few league one players. This week they are justifying the sacking because we aren't doing well enough with the amount of money we've spent. which one is it? People do seem to have an opinion, but it seems to change depending on what the chairman does.

 

Some people were praising Adkins, some can see the justification for the new appointment. You seem to think its the "forums" opinion rather than a group of individuals and are so intent on being proved correct that you come across as a bit of a bit of a **** in my opinion. Just out of interest, will you be using your season ticket for the rest of the season? If not pm me, OK?

[OldNick]

Im not passive and I certainly dont feel butt fu,cked. I think Cortese has made a brutal but intelligent decision for the betterment of the club. Get over your "Princess Diana" hysteria for a moment and think about the games this season. The fiasco with the keepers. The dopey substitutions (De Ridder) and the amount of times we were in a winning position and threw points away. The amount of money we spent and we are only a couple of points away from Reading. Dont forget all this bed wetting whingeing is only a repeat of the fans reaction when we ditched Pardew,how did that go ?

Adkins was a top bloke but had gone as far as he could. Time for a change. I am really excited about our future. My only concern is the reaction of dim witted fans like yourself who havnt thought this through.

Manji I fully agree but VFTT is not a fool, although at times he disagrees with me and so that knocks him down a peg lol. Many saints fans are decent people and don't wish to see a decent man lose his job. Whether he was really up to it is another thing, but we do seem to worry what other fans think of us. It seems that being graceful losers is more important than being successful at the top. i doubt many Man U fans lose any sleep over being unpopular with other clubs

[Dr Who?]

Still livid and 'saints' fans ate fecking morons. Calling out for stability for years, and we finally get some, start reaping the rewards by playing some pretty good counter attacking football, with the belief returning, and we sack the manager. Sorry but this is terrible timing. Adkins was learning and becoming a good manager at this level. I am gutted, and cannot see any logic in this.

 

Of course I hope he does well, but really do fear for the club now, and straying in the premier league.

[Dig Dig]

Exactly. Plenty on here trying to rewrite history in an attempt to get the situation to work for them.

 

Didn't take long either. Mostly from people who, two days ago would have backed Adkins till the cows come home.

 

I don't get it

[Thedelldays]

who is re writing history...or what ever that is...?

[S-Clarke]

Still bloody embarrassed and so sad for Adkins. No one deserved to be treated like he did yesterday.

 

Cortese is an absolute animal, but I'll still be going to the games and getting behind the 11 out there - that's all we can do that will make a difference. Let's make the most of what we've got, and go into this ''new start' (not that we needed one) with an open mind. Who knows what will happen.

 

I'm not going to ever be fickle enough to forget Adkins once we start winning under this bloke though. I don't think I'll ever forget how NC treated him, shambolic.

[OldNick]

Still disappointed, sad, angry over the sacking of Nigel Adkins.

 

 

 

Agreed, I always feared the Premiership would lead to a team of foreign mercenaries - clearly we are now lead by one.

 

Everton are a good example of what can be achieved by stability and backing a good young manager, something lost on the short-arsed Italian twerp at the club's helm(et).

but NC wants to achieve more than Everton. I think Moyes is a great manager but what has he done? I think 1 CL qualification and losing a cup semi final. it could be more but i dont follow them, in fact i have disliked them since 1984

[shirleysfc]

People comparing the win percentages of one of the most expensively assembled League One teams and a La Liga team assembled on a budget are quite frankly spanners!!

Edited 19 January, 2013 by shirleysfc

[Dr Who?]

Im not passive and I certainly dont feel butt fu,cked. I think Cortese has made a brutal but intelligent decision for the betterment of the club. Get over your "Princess Diana" hysteria for a moment and think about the games this season. The fiasco with the keepers. The dopey substitutions (De Ridder) and the amount of times we were in a winning position and threw points away. The amount of money we spent and we are only a couple of points away from Reading. Dont forget all this bed wetting whingeing is only a repeat of the fans reaction when we ditched Pardew,how did that go ?

Adkins was a top bloke but had gone as far as he could. Time for a change. I am really excited about our future. My only concern is the reaction of dim witted fans like yourself who havnt thought this through.

 

Completely disagree, the timing was terrible. If this was done on 5th November it would not have been as bad, but I would still have said we should stick with Adkins. Now we have turned the corner, and we are playing some good football and moving up the league. How is this a change for the better on paper. With hindsight maybe but in the cold light of day it is madness!

 

I just hope it works out, but still leaves a bad taste in my mouth at this moment in time!

 

Please let it all work out well, but for the meantime it has divided the fan base again!

[raucebysaint]

My biggest concern is the talk of a player revolt..

 

It doesn't matter too much what the fans do to protest but if the players feel the same then the last 2 years have been a complete waste and Cortese will remain a tosser. Stay up and build for the future Cortese could be a messiah !!

 

His career too is on a knife edge.

[shurlock]

Im not passive and I certainly dont feel butt fu,cked. I think Cortese has made a brutal but intelligent decision for the betterment of the club. Get over your "Princess Diana" hysteria for a moment and think about the games this season. The fiasco with the keepers. The dopey substitutions (De Ridder) and the amount of times we were in a winning position and threw points away. The amount of money we spent and we are only a couple of points away from Reading. Dont forget all this bed wetting whingeing is only a repeat of the fans reaction when we ditched Pardew,how did that go ?

Adkins was a top bloke but had gone as far as he could. Time for a change. I am really excited about our future. My only concern is the reaction of dim witted fans like yourself who havnt thought this through.

 

The problem with this interpretation is that NA was probably a dead man walking before the chopping and changing at keeper, the questionable subs, the throwing away winning positions etc etc, that NC wanted a change in the summer and that ultimately he wasn't going to give NA a chance to prove himself.

My instinct is that NA would have still been fired even if we were higher up the table.

Edited 19 January, 2013 by shurlock

[mulletsaint]

Why do people just believe we should except what is going on? I cannot fathom why so many fans lack backbone.

 

The Utd fight has been taken to the arena of high finance, hence the "White Knights" or whatever they were called. FC United shows the real manifestation of the fans discontent.

 

Yet again everything is always so black and white isn't it? Sorry VFTT I'm not just picking on you but this seemed as good a post to quote as any.

 

I agree, it's about more than just the sacking of NA. It's about how the club treats its staff and players. People keep saying there's no room for sentiment in football anymore. That's utter rubbish. The fans are the people that matter. Football is a passion. Support for a club is, in most cases, an intrinsic part of our being. If a club f*cks over the fans or players and coaches to which we have an emotional attachment, it hurts. Clubs where this has become the norm become evil places to work and eventually, no matter what success is b®ought there becomes a time when everyone's had enough. Witness the scenes at Stamford Bridge.

 

Having said all that there is some wisdom in what DBS says. I've had a few run-ins with him in the past but that doesn't mean I can't see if he makes a reasonable point. I think vitriol aimed at anyone directly before kick-off, during the game and at the final whistle could have a negative effect on the players and thus our season. With the fixtures we've got coming up we could easily slide back into the bottom three. With Adkins the fans would probably have stayed on-side, however things could get rapidly out of hand given what has just happened.

 

An organised protest outside the ground, banners and chanting of NA's name would be more in the spirit of the man himself and less likely to effect the atmosphere in a negative way. Let's face it, as others have said Cortese won't give a flying f*ck so I'd rather any protests were aimed at showing our support for Nigel, a man that himself was always upbeat and positive no matter what.

[S-Clarke]

My biggest concern is the talk of a player revolt..

 

It doesn't matter too much what the fans do to protest but if the players feel the same then the last 2 years have been a complete waste and Cortese will remain a tosser. Stay up and build for the future Cortese could be a messiah !!

 

His career too is on a knife edge.

 

I think the players are professional and I can't see any revolts coming from their side. Guys like Davis will be worth their weight in gold at the moment, keeping everyone on-side and prepared as he's done for the last 3 years as club captain.

 

I'm more than a little uneasy at the lack of any English coaches though.

[Professor]

To judge Adkins' performance it's important not to be decieved by the two promotions while he was here and this so called, turn around in results since November.

The promotion from L1 was made with what was effectively, Pardew's team, whilst last season, the automatic promotion from the Championship was almost thrown away with a run of weak results from the end of Nov 2011 through to the end of Feb 2012. This season the improvement of only losing 2 league games out of the last 12 has to balanced against only winning 2 games out of the last 10. To stay up a club needs a good proportion of wins, not just avoiding defeat with draws. I wonder if it was the home defeat by Sunderland just before Xmas that may have sealed Adkins' fate as far as Cortese was concerned.

[OldNick]

The problem with this interpretation is that NA was probably a dead man walking before any of the charges you make (the chopping and changing at keeper, the questionable subs, the throwing away winning positions), that NC wanted a change in the summer and that ultimately he wasn't going to give NA a chance to prove himself.

My instinct is that NA would have been fired even if we were higher up the table.

you are probably right. I think we should get the Solent interview up that NC did at the time of AP?. In it he laid bare his plans and in it he stated how he was going to make a structure at the club that made sure if a manager went the club in general was not in upheaval. He did not wish to get to the stage where managers upped and left leaving the club to start agian. i suspect there were other things in that interview that may be revealing now about his longterm vision.

[Sour Mash]

Im not passive and I certainly dont feel butt fu,cked. I think Cortese has made a brutal but intelligent decision for the betterment of the club. Get over your "Princess Diana" hysteria for a moment and think about the games this season. The fiasco with the keepers. The dopey substitutions (De Ridder) and the amount of times we were in a winning position and threw points away. The amount of money we spent and we are only a couple of points away from Reading. Dont forget all this bed wetting whingeing is only a repeat of the fans reaction when we ditched Pardew,how did that go ?

Adkins was a top bloke but had gone as far as he could. Time for a change. I am really excited about our future. My only concern is the reaction of dim witted fans like yourself who havnt thought this through.

Not sure how you can say Adkins had taken us as far as he could, when we've been constantly moving up the table in the last two months, improving all the time and have just been one of only 3 teams in Premier League history to come from.2-0 behind at Stamford Bridge.

 

If you're not 'passive' are there any decisions made by the club in the last 3 years that you don't agree with?

[mulletsaint]

My biggest concern is the talk of a player revolt

 

I don't think there's likely to be a revolt as such but you have to worry as to whether NA's selection of new signings was in some way a nail in his coffin. If, as some posters have suggested, Cortese has a plan of who he wants to play, then some iconic players such as SRL could find themselves on the bench more often than not and that could seriously effect the dressing room and give more fuel to the ire that many fans already feel.

 

While NA often played players out of position or left them on the bench at odd times I believe you can see that he was trying to react to different challenges and opposition. We don't want Mauricio forced into playing the same team no matter what.

[UpweySaint]

I'm sad that Adkins was sacked, I disagree with the timing and think Cortese is a nob for it, but ultimately I think it was the correct decision as NA was an average manager.

 

Two promotions and fiteenth average? Where would a "good" manager have had us then?

[Foxy]

I understand the sentiment and agree it was strange at best, however these things happen and there are more important things in my life I guess that allow me to react to this situation in a rational, calm and reflective manner. Nothing I say or do will change the decision - the only reason to dwell on it would be to use the situation as a platform to cause trouble. Some people like doing that - it's how they get their kicks.

 

That's pretty much the way I see it. I spoke to a couple of Spanish colleagues yesterday and for what it's worth they think we have achieved something of a coup in brining in Mauricio. Whatever people's views on the manner of the change I don't see how MP can be made the but of people's ire, least if all because he happens to be from Argentina.

 

As for the language thing, well I am pretty sure that the Barca and Sporting players found Bobby Robson's version of English pretty tricky - I did

[UpweySaint]

To judge Adkins' performance it's important not to be decieved by the two promotions while he was here and this so called, turn around in results since November.

The promotion from L1 was made with what was effectively, Pardew's team, whilst last season, the automatic promotion from the Championship was almost thrown away with a run of weak results from the end of Nov 2011 through to the end of Feb 2012. This season the improvement of only losing 2 league games out of the last 12 has to balanced against only winning 2 games out of the last 10. To stay up a club needs a good proportion of wins, not just avoiding defeat with draws. I wonder if it was the home defeat by Sunderland just before Xmas that may have sealed Adkins' fate as far as Cortese was concerned.

 

A team pardew had near toe foot of the table. NA turned them around. The same side, without major additions, went up through a very competitive championship. Just look at the sides in that league throwing money around and getting nowhere. Look how long its taken Cardiff to even look like getting out? We were 15th and in good form, we've had injuries, a difficult run of fixtures and yet were really on the up and january would've only helped that.

 

But heck let's not let all of that get in the way of the fact he's not a s****y foreign coach who promises to play some "new attacking football" which has been such an alien concept to us under NA ... hold on a minute ...

[tttdcs]

On the topic of Po.. , the new bloke, I simply can't get excited over a manager I've not previously heard of, and one that we know can not communicate directly with his squad.

 

 

and he even looks like Nasty Nic

[Polaroid Saint]

I don't think there's likely to be a revolt as such but you have to worry as to whether NA's selection of new signings was in some way a nail in his coffin. If, as some posters have suggested, Cortese has a plan of who he wants to play, then some iconic players such as SRL could find themselves on the bench more often than not and that could seriously effect the dressing room and give more fuel to the ire that many fans already feel.

 

While NA often played players out of position or left them on the bench at odd times I believe you can see that he was trying to react to different challenges and opposition. We don't want Mauricio forced into playing the same team no matter what.

 

Good post. We need to judge for ourselves, not take what posters on TSW think.

One poster on here will tell you that NA got the boot because he left out GR for away games and then another will tell you that now NA is gone, RL will be left out of away games. When both instances have been true all season. Often to universal puzzlement.

Pwersonally, I very much doubt that NC has ever 'picked the team' in the same way Albert Escher didn't dig the tunnel. It's possibke, for whatever reasons, NC has more faith in MP, so will let him do what he has been employed to do.

[Saint137]

I'm genuinely shocked by the attitude of some of our fans, admittedly a vocal minority.

 

Setting aside football there is a fundamental moral wrong here. A fellow human being who has done nothing wrong and who hasn't been given a chance doesn't deserve to be treated this way. I really want no part of it but I love my club. It's the powerlessness that gets to me most. Mate said his feelings about this are the same as when he was fighting for custody of his kids and access rights. It's like watching a loved one suffer and you can do nothing about it because to do anything is to cut off your nose to spite your face. You're over a barrel with no way out.

 

Thing is, the man himself would tell us to find the positive, control the controllables, and go forward together as one. It's just bloody hard to do that. As with the dark days of Lowe and administration I tell myself that the club goes on forever whilst the people there are merely temporary custodians. I want to protest but have no way to do so without hurting the club, and the club is everything. We have no way of getting rid of C**tese and he is all that is wrong with the club. We don't need to run things the way he is doing in order to be successful. This is not a business where you need to **** on your employees, sell your grandmother, and be ruthless in all you do. I had great respect for the man when he came in, and the eulogy he read for Marcus. By doing this to Adkins in this manner he has destroyed that respect as clearly they can't be the actions of the same human being. He has revealed his true nature in doing this.

 

Part of me agrees that Nigel was learning as he was going along, but so were the players and the rest of he staff. They were doing it together as one as that is the best way to learn. And they were doing OK and in the final reckoning would have scraped by. If you accept he had to go then fair enough, but do it in the right way for the right reasons. This is only sport, not life and death, and the impact of a club failing is very small in the grand scheme of things - thousands of jobs or lives are not at risk here. Why succession-plan months in advance? You might do it at a big corporation but this Is Saints.

 

On Monday night what I'd like to do is tell ****ese exactly what I think of him. My initial reaction was that I couldn't set foot in St Mary's again with him in charge. Thing is, I know Nigel would say to get behind the team, they are all that matters here, as is your love for your club. Rise above the filth and know that eventually it will be washed away. It's just bloody hard to do. As fans we have to take the moral high ground and given that its on Sky I feel a vociferous protest before kickoff is needed, followed by 90 minutes of all out support for the team. Remember, the club is everything.

[SW5 SAINT]

I do wonder if the thinking is that this new guy will attract a different type of player to the club. All that prevarication with Forren made me think.

[shurlock]

you are probably right. I think we should get the Solent interview up that NC did at the time of AP?. In it he laid bare his plans and in it he stated how he was going to make a structure at the club that made sure if a manager went the club in general was not in upheaval. He did not wish to get to the stage where managers upped and left leaving the club to start agian. i suspect there were other things in that interview that may be revealing now about his longterm vision.

 

My question is how far the summer window strengthened NC's determination to get rid of NA? How many knock-backs in the transfer market, not least in the CB position, did we suffer because NA wasn't high profile enough - as opposed to the handicap of just being a newly promoted side. Nixon's suggestion that NC wanted 'sexy' is also part of this subplot.

IMO, the Ramirez interview remains very revealing - not one mention of NA other than GR had just met NA and found him to be 'funny guy' and everything about the vision for the club as it was sold by NC. Perhaps that was the tip of the iceberg of a much bigger problem for NC.

[OldNick]

I'm genuinely shocked by the attitude of some of our fans, admittedly a vocal minority.

 

Setting aside football there is a fundamental moral wrong here. A fellow human being who has done nothing wrong and who hasn't been given a chance doesn't deserve to be treated this way. I really want no part of it but I love my club. It's the powerlessness that gets to me most. Mate said his feelings about this are the same as when he was fighting for custody of his kids and access rights. It's like watching a loved one suffer and you can do nothing about it because to do anything is to cut off your nose to spite your face. You're over a barrel with no way out.

 

Thing is, the man himself would tell us to find the positive, control the controllables, and go forward together as one. It's just bloody hard to do that. As with the dark days of Lowe and administration I tell myself that the club goes on forever whilst the people there are merely temporary custodians. I want to protest but have no way to do so without hurting the club, and the club is everything. We have no way of getting rid of C**tese and he is all that is wrong with the club. We don't need to run things the way he is doing in order to be successful. This is not a business where you need to **** on your employees, sell your grandmother, and be ruthless in all you do. I had great respect for the man when he came in, and the eulogy he read for Marcus. By doing this to Adkins in this manner he has destroyed that respect as clearly they can't be the actions of the same human being. He has revealed his true nature in doing this.

 

Part of me agrees that Nigel was learning as he was going along, but so were the players and the rest of he staff. They were doing it together as one as that is the best way to learn. And they were doing OK and in the final reckoning would have scraped by. If you accept he had to go then fair enough, but do it in the right way for the right reasons. This is only sport, not life and death, and the impact of a club failing is very small in the grand scheme of things - thousands of jobs or lives are not at risk here. Why succession-plan months in advance? You might do it at a big corporation but this Is Saints.

 

On Monday night what I'd like to do is tell ****ese exactly what I think of him. My initial reaction was that I couldn't set foot in St Mary's again with him in charge. Thing is, I know Nigel would say to get behind the team, they are all that matters here, as is your love for your club. Rise above the filth and know that eventually it will be washed away. It's just bloody hard to do. As fans we have to take the moral high ground and given that its on Sky I feel a vociferous protest before kickoff is needed, followed by 90 minutes of all out support for the team. Remember, the club is everything.

All very laudable but if NC did nothing and NA got us relegated we would be saying why did he do nothing?

NA is a good man, not that i could gain much from his interviews as he never really said much different each time.

[Whitey Grandad]

I do wonder if the thinking is that this new guy will attract a different type of player to the club. All that prevarication with Forren made me think.

 

The problem is the chairman. Is he putting off potential new appointments? You can offset bad management style by paying lots of money, otherwise all you'll get are 'promising young talent' who see us as a stepping stone to greater glory. This also applies to Nigel.

[It's There]

There are still a few things that rankle with me having slept on it and spent some time researching this new guy Pochettino.

 

But Adkins was also a promising young manager, skilled in man-management, intelligent and articulate, honest and decent too. There was the prospect that we could grow together with a loyal manager, and replicate the success that stability brought us under Lawrie over many years to come.

 

This sums up how I feel- I post rarely, but avidly read the forum- I feel really sad today, and believe it will backfire on the club...but what can we do about it, as fans? Deep breath.

[Lord Duckhunter]

I'm genuinely shocked by the attitude of some of our fans, admittedly a vocal minority.

 

Setting aside football there is a fundamental moral wrong here. A fellow human being who has done nothing wrong and who hasn't been given a chance doesn't deserve to be treated this way. I really want no part of it but I love my club. It's the powerlessness that gets to me most. Mate said his feelings about this are the same as when he was fighting for custody of his kids and access rights. It's like watching a loved one suffer and you can do nothing about it because to do anything is to cut off your nose to spite your face. You're over a barrel with no way out.

 

.

 

Does all this moral outrage apply to players ditched and moved on or just Managers?

[Milton]

Top post

I'm genuinely shocked by the attitude of some of our fans, admittedly a vocal minority.

 

Setting aside football there is a fundamental moral wrong here. A fellow human being who has done nothing wrong and who hasn't been given a chance doesn't deserve to be treated this way. I really want no part of it but I love my club. It's the powerlessness that gets to me most. Mate said his feelings about this are the same as when he was fighting for custody of his kids and access rights. It's like watching a loved one suffer and you can do nothing about it because to do anything is to cut off your nose to spite your face. You're over a barrel with no way out.

 

Thing is, the man himself would tell us to find the positive, control the controllables, and go forward together as one. It's just bloody hard to do that. As with the dark days of Lowe and administration I tell myself that the club goes on forever whilst the people there are merely temporary custodians. I want to protest but have no way to do so without hurting the club, and the club is everything. We have no way of getting rid of C**tese and he is all that is wrong with the club. We don't need to run things the way he is doing in order to be successful. This is not a business where you need to **** on your employees, sell your grandmother, and be ruthless in all you do. I had great respect for the man when he came in, and the eulogy he read for Marcus. By doing this to Adkins in this manner he has destroyed that respect as clearly they can't be the actions of the same human being. He has revealed his true nature in doing this.

 

Part of me agrees that Nigel was learning as he was going along, but so were the players and the rest of he staff. They were doing it together as one as that is the best way to learn. And they were doing OK and in the final reckoning would have scraped by. If you accept he had to go then fair enough, but do it in the right way for the right reasons. This is only sport, not life and death, and the impact of a club failing is very small in the grand scheme of things - thousands of jobs or lives are not at risk here. Why succession-plan months in advance? You might do it at a big corporation but this Is Saints.

 

On Monday night what I'd like to do is tell ****ese exactly what I think of him. My initial reaction was that I couldn't set foot in St Mary's again with him in charge. Thing is, I know Nigel would say to get behind the team, they are all that matters here, as is your love for your club. Rise above the filth and know that eventually it will be washed away. It's just bloody hard to do. As fans we have to take the moral high ground and given that its on Sky I feel a vociferous protest before kickoff is needed, followed by 90 minutes of all out support for the team. Remember, the club is everything.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

Two promotions and fiteenth average? Where would a "good" manager have had us then?

 

By Premier League standards he was an average Manager, no more. Excellent Championship and League 1 though.

[Whitey Grandad]

By Premier League standards he was an average Manager, no more. Excellent Championship and League 1 though.

 

Far too soon to comment on his Premier League record.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

Far too soon to comment on his Premier League record.

 

Possibly...

[Saint Billy]

One thing that won't change is that we still won't be able to understand what our managar is banging on about in his post match interview..

[Dr Who?]

Would have been nice to see at the end of the season we stood. I think 12th. He will manage in the premier league again, and I hope we get to play his promoted Blackpool team. Wherever he goes he will be a great manager for them.

[Psycrow]

 

I have an open mind about MP whilst being angry/gutted about NA

 

And this is the important thing. MP had done nothing wrong. He just accepted a job.

 

It sounds like MP is very talented. We know how it finished at Espanyol, but he has to sell 10 of his first team the previous summer. The finances there were a mess. Hell, S****horpe weren't exactly top of the table when NA took over! And I can remember people being in uproar over that.

 

The devil's advocate in me is thinking, what a great way to change a manager! Every other club wait until the team is in a bad run of form, in danger of relegation or whatever failure is for that particular team, fire there manager and then are managerless for a few games until the new guy comes in. And often that new guy is only from a limited available pool of managers. But we have headhunted the man we want, have obviously been in talks with him and players he wants to sign for quite a while, he's brought straight in to succeed a successful manager with a good squad and he has time in the transfer market to bring in players he wants.

 

Logically, that's how all clubs should replace their managers, its just not the done thing.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm gutted for Nigel. I really feel he could have brought us a hell of a lot further and think he will do that for a different club. But part of me thinks the logic is sound.

[Turkish]

Some people were praising Adkins, some can see the justification for the new appointment. You seem to think its the "forums" opinion rather than a group of individuals and are so intent on being proved correct that you come across as a bit of a bit of a **** in my opinion. Just out of interest, will you be using your season ticket for the rest of the season? If not pm me, OK?

 

So the justification for doing it right now is what exactly??? Please explain as i'm failing to see anyone make a convincing argument about it.

 

As for the season ticket, i will actualy be missing some games after march, nothing to do with what is going on at the club though. But i'll give my ticket to someone that doesn't think i'm a bit of a **** thanks all the same.

[UpweySaint]

By Premier League standards he was an average Manager, no more. Excellent Championship and League 1 though.

 

To be fair he had done rather better then average at his FIRST attempt with a newly promoted side still with the remnants of a league one squad

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

And this is the important thing. MP had done nothing wrong. He just accepted a job.

 

It sounds like MP is very talented. We know how it finished at Espanyol, but he has to sell 10 of his first team the previous summer. The finances there were a mess. Hell, S****horpe weren't exactly top of the table when NA took over! And I can remember people being in uproar over that.

 

The devil's advocate in me is thinking, what a great way to change a manager! Every other club wait until the team is in a bad run of form, in danger of relegation or whatever failure is for that particular team, fire there manager and then are managerless for a few games until the new guy comes in. And often that new guy is only from a limited available pool of managers. But we have headhunted the man we want, have obviously been in talks with him and players he wants to sign for quite a while, he's brought straight in to succeed a successful manager with a good squad and he has time in the transfer market to bring in players he wants.

 

Logically, that's how all clubs should replace their managers, its just not the done thing.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm gutted for Nigel. I really feel he could have brought us a hell of a lot further and think he will do that for a different club. But part of me thinks the logic is sound.

hmmm. It doesn't look like he just "accepted a job" though does it? He has been happily plotting with Cortese for past few months. You say he is talented, but I would hazard a guess that you hadn't even heard of him before yesterday. No matter how talented he is or isn't, I really fail to see how anybody can lead a group of men whose language he doesn't speak.

[pap]

To be fair he had done rather better then average at his FIRST attempt with a newly promoted side still with the remnants of a league one squad

 

Such as? How many genuine league one players do we have in our side today? You can discount Schneiderlin and Lallana straight away. Fonte dropped down a division to join us. The one player that we signed from a League One team still pulling on a Saints shirt today is Rickie Lambert. After his exploits in the Championship last year, there's absolutely no way he can be regarded as League One standard, or indeed, any of the other players that excelled last year.

 

We started with a proven Championship squad, same as everybody else.

Edited 19 January, 2013 by pap

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

To be fair he had done rather better then average at his FIRST attempt with a newly promoted side still with the remnants of a league one squad

 

After spending £30m? I disagree. He had done alright at best.