The 'New Manager' thread

[Chez]

17 minutes ago, Give it to Ron said:

The feed said we were looking to Wall St for 80m to refinance at a lower rate

Cheers. Thank fuck for that. The debt is big enough already without adding to it. Confirms in advance of the next set of accounts that they didn't pay off the debt when they bought the club (as some on here suggested) and a sizeable amount of income will need to be used to pay off the interest each year, never mind paying down the loan.  

[skintsaint]

1 minute ago, Wurzel said:

Somebody has to be brave enough to give them their first opportunity.

but why us?!

TBH, its a big risk but as fans we can't influence the decision, we can only hope it works out.

[Chez]

6 hours ago, skintsaint said:

Can't be true.....

not a chance we pay them £4/5m. His wages are only about £300k a year.

Having said that he did just sign a five year contract (so may be on a bit more now) and it cost Brighton £3m to buy Potter and his staff out of their deal. Will we be bringing any of Jones' staff with him?

Edited 8 November, 2022 by Chez

[saintwbu]

Just need a Jan Bednarek exclusive to the Daily Star now to complete the trio of ‘fucking useless players for us whose opinions should be completely ignored’. Charlie Austin and Nathan Redmond were wanted by not a single Premier League club upon their departure, so I think they can maybe look at themselves instead.

[Charlie Wayman]

7 minutes ago, Wurzel said:

Exactly

There's a lot on here writing him off before we've even announced him because
a) He "failed" at Stoke - most people do and anyway, we're not Stoke. Howe failed at Burnley, Benitez failed at Everton, Moyes and Mourinho failed at ManU, (I could list dozens more) doesn't make any of them bad managers
&
b) He has no Premier League experience . -  Can someone explain how any manager had PL experience until he'd managed in the PL? Somebody has to be brave enough to give them their first opportunity.

Yes but is so obvious that I cannot be bothered.

[skintsaint]

5 minutes ago, Chez said:

not a chance we pay them £4/5m. His wages are only about £300k a year.

might be on a 14 year contract?😅

[Wurzel]

3 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

but why us?!

TBH, its a big risk but as fans we can't influence the decision, we can only hope it works out.

Why not?

Or are you implying that we are such a big club that we should treat other PL clubs as our feeder clubs for management appointments.

If we didn't get him now and 2 years down the line he's taking someone like Fulham or Bournemouth to a top half finish how many on here will be moaning "why didn't we get him when we could?"

[Chez]

6 hours ago, woodsaint1 said:

So the equivalent of what Jones has achieved at Luton. Cheers for that

Very similar records. Potter got Swansea to 10th in the Championship. Jones did slightly better, getting Luton to 6th and into the playoffs. Potter worked out well for Brighton. Let's hope Jones does the same at our place.

[Chez]

3 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

might be on a 14 year contract?😅

Actually its five year deal signed to 2027. Pretty long contract for the Championship.

[skintsaint]

2 minutes ago, Wurzel said:

Why not?

the team is in free fall and personally would prefer someone with decent top flight experience to help us fight relegation. Yes it doesn't guarantee survival but for me makes sense for a better chance of it.

[Dank]

I don't know much about Luton and the possible new manager but I will give him a chance before deciding. Not sure if it's been mentioned already but Nathan Jones was 2022 EFL Championship Manager of the Season. I'm not sure who decided he was the best manager in the Championship last year but that must count for something. https://www.efl.com/-more/efl-awards/2022-winners/

[VectisSaint]

37 minutes ago, Chez said:

Cheers. Thank fuck for that. The debt is big enough already without adding to it. Confirms in advance of the next set of accounts that they didn't pay off the debt when they bought the club (as some on here suggested) and a sizeable amount of income will need to be used to pay off the interest each year, never mind paying down the loan.  

Seems odd to me in the current climate that they think they can find better rates now. 

[FarehamSaintJames]

I imagine the club brief is we’ll give you a bit of money to spend, but the club ethos is young talent to improve and sell on, you’ll largely have to work with what you’ve got.

No big name manager is ever going to say yes to that, as they nearly always want to bring in their own big name players.

Jones wasn’t even in my thoughts. I thought we’d have gone for some obscure Scandinavian or Europe. The Mainz manager and RB Salzburg were talked about quite a lot.

One thing that is a bit different from the past decade or so is that we’ve always been a club that keeps everything behind closed doors, and in the past few months there seem to be all sorts of leaks and negative press left, right and centre. It just seems a little off that Ralph was sacked and a couple of hours later Jones has effectively been offered the job.

It could be good planning, but I hope it’s not rushed.

[Chez]

26 minutes ago, Dank said:

I don't know much about Luton and the possible new manager but I will give him a chance before deciding. Not sure if it's been mentioned already but Nathan Jones was 2022 EFL Championship Manager of the Season. I'm not sure who decided he was the best manager in the Championship last year but that must count for something. https://www.efl.com/-more/efl-awards/2022-winners/

getting Luton into the play off with a very small wage bill no doubt was a major factor. He improved them from 23rd (when arriving) to 19th, then 12th the following season and then 6th last season.

[Chez]

17 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

It just seems a little off that Ralph was sacked and a couple of hours later Jones has effectively been offered the job.

It could be good planning, but I hope it’s not rushed.

They will have been considering a change for a few weeks. They took their time to make that decision. Never easy to sack a manager, but that time taken will have given them an opportunity to get their ducks in order. Posts on here suggest they talked to him in the summer, so they already did their due diligence, so to speak. Once they fired Ralph there was no point in hanging around. They made the call to Luton and  it was Luton that revealed it to the press, not Saints.

[Weston Saint]

1 hour ago, Give it to Ron said:

So am coming round to Selles is the tactical brains, Jones is the man manager something Ralph allegedly wasn’t good at.

I have no idea if he was or not and the utter garbage The Athletic us trolling out at moment is typical gutter snipe journalists .

Lets not forget we lost 10 of last 13 games last year. We have won 3, only 1 at home the bar is very low and some want Ralph back? Sacking him wasn’t wrong it’s who they are replacing him with could be we just don’t know yet.

Good point.

[Atlanta Saint]

56 minutes ago, VectisSaint said:

Seems odd to me in the current climate that they think they can find better rates now. 

I was thinking exactly the same thing, 6 months ago would have been a much better time to refinance. 

[Saint NL]

We've had 24 hours to come around to the idea of Jones taking over.

Now the shock has worn off, I am starting to see the logic behind it. He's a man manager, someone to pick the players up and build confidence. Which is exactly what we need. 

Strikers need confidence, Che has those purple patches each season where he scores a few, you see his confidence and it looks like hes a real player.

JWP looks like a shadow of his former self, he needs an arm around the shoulder to get over his World Cup omission.

The young players need someone to keep them going.

 

Don't get me wrong, there are certainly better managers out there, but maybe this appointment can work. People are bemoaning his long ball tactics, but we are deep in the shit. Staying up is top priority and if we have to grind out some points playing ugly football then so be it.

 

[beatlesaint]

2 hours ago, OldNick said:

got a feeling that was taken out of context, but I like what you did there. I still would love him to be at Saints. For me he added excitement and did some great things. Inc being player of the season. Anyway, you like many others have had your way and we have the skills of Moi to behold instead

No, unless you are accusing the author of the article taking it out of context it’s not as anyone who’d read it can testify.

Sorry I hounded Redders out and ruined your excitement that he added Mr ! 🤭

[OldNick]

5 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

No, unless you are accusing the author of the article taking it out of context it’s not as anyone who’d read it can testify.

Sorry I hounded Redders out and ruined your excitement that he added Mr ! 🤭

I find it hard to believe that Redmond just said  "Did I actually do anything" ( your quote) there must have been more than that, surely? 

It made it conveniently amusing for the anti Redmond crew, but to me I feel that quote was taken out of context. As I haven't read the article I cant be sure of course.

And yes fans like yourself have affected my enjoyment as you made it unpleasant for him to play

[Convict Colony]

Stoke v Luton streams will appear here around 30-15mins before kickoff tonight 

https://soccerstreams100.io/event/eng-2/luton-town-at-stoke-city-live-soccer-streams/643286

 

[beatlesaint]

Just now, OldNick said:

As I haven't read the article I cant be sure of course.

No you can’t so make up your mind from the complete paragraph - 

Everything was all inside stuff,” says Redmond. “I played left 10, right 10, right striker, left striker. There were times when I would come off after games and think, ‘Did I actually do anything?’. I just felt like I’d run for 90 minutes and pressed.

So I didn’t repeat it for comedic value as you suggest although most, obviously not you, will see the irony in the statement!

[Miltonaggro]

Just now, Convict Colony said:

Stoke v Luton streams will appear here around 30-15mins before kickoff tonight 

https://soccerstreams100.io/event/eng-2/luton-town-at-stoke-city-live-soccer-streams/643286

 

Thanks CC, will be interesting viewing. 

[Dell McDellFace]

According to Talksport, betting is suspended because the odds on it being Nathan Jones are so high now. No surprise after what's been revealed on social media.

It's not so much that I'm underwhelmed, but:

• I would rather we went after someone who isn't currently employed as a manager (isn't this what we used to pride ourselves on).
• I don't mind someone who has strong Christian Faith, but I'm not a fan of people who have to refer to it so much out of context and make such a big thing of it. It's hard to find an article about him that doesn't mention it somewhere!

As others have said, we should give him a chance to show what he can do, but fans and owners are notoriously short of patience in this respect and if he doesn't turn things quickly, he will soon be operating under pressure.

[LeBizzier69]

5 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

No you can’t so make up your mind from the complete paragraph - 

Everything was all inside stuff,” says Redmond. “I played left 10, right 10, right striker, left striker. There were times when I would come off after games and think, ‘Did I actually do anything?’. I just felt like I’d run for 90 minutes and pressed.

So I didn’t repeat it for comedic value as you suggest although most, obviously not you, will see the irony in the statement!

I was done with Redmond during that game in lockdown, when he was stood 5 yards offside looking right across the backline - not a hint of effort or even paying attention to the game happening around him. 

[OldNick]

3 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

No you can’t so make up your mind from the complete paragraph - 

Everything was all inside stuff,” says Redmond. “I played left 10, right 10, right striker, left striker. There were times when I would come off after games and think, ‘Did I actually do anything?’. I just felt like I’d run for 90 minutes and pressed.

So I didn’t repeat it for comedic value as you suggest although most, obviously not you, will see the irony in the statement!

Thank you for that, it gives more context to the bit you put up. Hence the laughing emojies you received. I cannot see where he is wrong in that, and totally understand his frustration. The same frustration we all feel, whether a fan of him or not. RH played a dogged pattern of play that made us rarely on the front foot and not allowing us to really break out quickly. I do hope you also agree with my thoughts on that 

[OldNick]

4 minutes ago, Dell McDellFace said:

According to Talksport, betting is suspended because the odds on it being Nathan Jones are so high now. No surprise after what's been revealed on social media.

It's not so much that I'm underwhelmed, but:

• I would rather we went after someone who isn't currently employed as a manager (isn't this what we used to pride ourselves on).
• I don't mind someone who has strong Christian Faith, but I'm not a fan of people who have to refer to it so much out of context and make such a big thing of it. It's hard to find an article about him that doesn't mention it somewhere!

As others have said, we should give him a chance to show what he can do, but fans and owners are notoriously short of patience in this respect and if he doesn't turn things quickly, he will soon be operating under pressure.

I think NJ's problem is that the fans are underwhelmed already and so he has to start well or he's / we are in bother

[Dman]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

Very similar records. Potter got Swansea to 10th in the Championship. Jones did slightly better, getting Luton to 6th and into the playoffs. Potter worked out well for Brighton. Let's hope Jones does the same at our place.

Potter was also a massive success in Sweden though. Came with a lot more pedigree. 

To be honest, my issue with Jones isn’t his history. Stoke aside, he’s a fantastic candidate on that front.  

My concern is his alleged style of play. It looks no different to Big Sam or Dyche, just without the experience. 

Let’s also be honest, he’s just a really uninspiring appointment, British appointments generally are. 
 

Let’s hope he proves us all wrong. 

[Convict Colony]

11 minutes ago, Dell McDellFace said:

According to Talksport, betting is suspended because the odds on it being Nathan Jones are so high now. No surprise after what's been revealed on social media.

It's not so much that I'm underwhelmed, but:

• I would rather we went after someone who isn't currently employed as a manager (isn't this what we used to pride ourselves on).
• I don't mind someone who has strong Christian Faith, but I'm not a fan of people who have to refer to it so much out of context and make such a big thing of it. It's hard to find an article about him that doesn't mention it somewhere!

As others have said, we should give him a chance to show what he can do, but fans and owners are notoriously short of patience in this respect and if he doesn't turn things quickly, he will soon be operating under pressure.

All these comments about his religion are hilarious.

Its like people are worried he might convert them by being overtly religious.

Dont forget Jesus dined with prostitutes so maybe Nathan is onto something 

Edited 8 November, 2022 by Convict Colony

[100%Red&White]

16 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Stoke v Luton streams will appear here around 30-15mins before kickoff tonight 

https://soccerstreams100.io/event/eng-2/luton-town-at-stoke-city-live-soccer-streams/643286

 

 

15 minutes ago, Miltonaggro said:

Thanks CC, will be interesting viewing. 

Who would have thought a couple of days ago that anyone in Southampton would be watching Stoke v Luton on a wet dreary Tuesday night? 

[Convict Colony]

6 minutes ago, 100%Red&White said:

 

Who would have thought a couple of days ago that anyone in Southampton would be watching Stoke v Luton on a wet dreary Tuesday night? 

Hate to break it to you but I've watched Luton a few times this season to banter with my Luton mate about.

Quite enjoyable but expect a terrible 0-0 tonight now saintsweb is watching.

[Dark Munster]

8 hours ago, Baird of the land said:

I can definitely see the attributes Sport Republic like in him, given his success at luton punching above their weight.

Think any manager would have been a gamble as they would either be (an existing prem failure(gerrard), a unproven in the UK continental manager (pellegrino etc) or a successful manager in the championship with no prem experience. Let's just hope Ankerson's judgement is much better than our recent history of choices. Hoping he ends up being a Strachanesque manmanagement success story rather than a Luggy disaster.

 

Good grief, here we go again. Luggy wasn’t a disaster. His point per game average was 1.23 and that was often with many players out injured. Better than most of our useless managers and more than enough to keep us up. If you want to talk about disasters you’ve got plenty to choose from. Wigley, Sourpuss, Gray, Saggy, the Clown, The 2 Dutch jokers, etc etc

[Toadhall Saint]

6 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Hate to break it to you but I've watched Luton a few times this season to banter with my Luton mate about.

Quite enjoyable but expect a terrible 0-0 tonight now saintsweb is watching.

Mate if Luton don’t win by at least 10 playing like Brazil of the 70’s then Nathan Jones is a big no from me. 😉

[Turkish]

12 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

Good grief, here we go again. Luggy wasn’t a disaster. His point per game average was 1.23 and that was often with many players out injured. Better than most of our useless managers and more than enough to keep us up. If you want to talk about disasters you’ve got plenty to choose from. Wigley, Sourpuss, Gray, Saggy, the Clown, The 2 Dutch jokers, etc etc

Results wise sturrock wasn’t a disaster but it Kind of emphasises the point others have made about having the respect of the dressing room. He didn’t have it, he was considered a bit of a joke  figure mainly because he was scruffy and overweight. So to those who say why wouldn’t Jones have the respect of the dressing room, it’s not guaranteed Sturrock didn’t and he had a good playing career. 

[sisi1992]

If NJ was 100% coming to us then surely he wouldn’t be taking charge of Luton’s game vs Stoke tonight? 🤔

[DT]

6 hours ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

Again, I’ve never said I’m in the know, and I’ve said the entire time it is my opinion 😂

Blimey what a pleb. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Literally all I’ve said the entire time is I don’t see him leaving before the World Cup period.
I think what made him get sacked sooner was the drubbing at the weekend, the lack of urgency and energy in that team too, and how the goals were walked into our net with no resistance.

I have never claimed to be in the know. I’m just not one of the nut jobs who demanded he be sacked after the Everton and Wolves games, which at the time were a disappointment but not an “oh shit” moment in terms of a bad run of form or whatever 🤦🏻‍♂️

(Literallly) just one example. Note use of authoritative tone as if has inside information (not just opinion). Warning. includes capitals for emphasis or something:

👋

Love, pleb.

 

  On 29/10/2022 at 23:19, FarehamSaintJames said:

Ralph isn’t going anywhere.

We haven’t got a good squad. This is SR’s business model, buy children and hope it works out. It isn’t working out.

But SR will not be forking out another £50m this January.

If any money is spent it needs to be on a backbone like Newcastle did last January, but it won’t happen, because now one will be forking out £10m on the crap in our squad like Diallo, Walcott‘s wages etc.

Too many on here think real life is like FIFA where it all happens over night at the click of a finger.

RALPH ISN’T GOING ANYWHERE.

(FYI, I’m sick of the way we’re playing, setting up etc. The players need to grow a pair, they aren’t good enough. Simple as).

[Miltonaggro]

32 minutes ago, 100%Red&White said:

 

Who would have thought a couple of days ago that anyone in Southampton would be watching Stoke v Luton on a wet dreary Tuesday night? 

Duress - research purposes

[Saint NL]

25 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

Mate if Luton don’t win by at least 10 playing like Brazil of the 70’s then Nathan Jones is a big no from me. 😉

On the contrary, if they only turn up in the second half, can't score and generally look disinterested then I'll know he's going to fit in.

 

[GDog07]

11 minutes ago, sisi1992 said:

If NJ was 100% coming to us then surely he wouldn’t be taking charge of Luton’s game vs Stoke tonight? 🤔

I’m sure, unless I am mistaken, that nobody at Southampton FC have came out publicly and stated that Jones is the definitive man they want. Luton Town made it public by stating that they’ve agreed to let them speak to Jones. Again, I stand to be corrected.

It’s obviously why his name is all over the press and being talked about on here and on the sports shows and stupidly short with the bookies, because he’s the only guy that we are supposedly interested in. I remember Nuno being stupid favourite with the bookies for the Wolves job earlier this season until he or they didn’t want to make the move after all.

I should think that there must be more candidates that have not been made public knowledge, unless he is 100% our guy without holding talks, which would be a strange way to do business.

[Miltonaggro]

5 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Results wise sturrock wasn’t a disaster but it Kind of emphasises the point others have made about having the respect of the dressing room. He didn’t have it, he was considered a bit of a joke  figure mainly because he was scruffy and overweight. So to those who say why wouldn’t Jones have the respect of the dressing room, it’s not guaranteed Sturrock didn’t and he had a good playing career. 

This is right and in many ways frustrating at the time for supporters as Sturrock seemed to be holding his own in terms of results, certainly not our worst appointment but once the senior players had it in for him that was that.  This is a worry when comparing Potter to Jones in the current situation as seem completely different characters (Swansea also a decent sized just relegated Premier League club when GP brought in). Potter thoughtful, calm and pensive, Jones animated, excitable and heart on the sleeve, the former mentality probably gets you more leeway in the Prem.  Can't imagine setting fire to a ping-pong table will gain the respect of likes of Ward-Prowse and our Man City and Chelsea starlets.  If he's appointed of course hope he tears it up, but at the moment cannot see the fit.    

[kyle04]

39 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

Wigley, Sourpuss, Gray, Saggy, the Clown, The 2 Dutch jokers, etc etc

Sounds like a surreal version of Trumpton.

[LVSaint]

3 hours ago, Wurzel said:

Exactly

There's a lot on here writing him off before we've even announced him because
a) He "failed" at Stoke - most people do and anyway, we're not Stoke. Howe failed at Burnley, Benitez failed at Everton, Moyes and Mourinho failed at ManU, (I could list dozens more) doesn't make any of them bad managers
&
b) He has no Premier League experience . -  Can someone explain how any manager had PL experience until he'd managed in the PL? Somebody has to be brave enough to give them their first opportunity.

b. Managing at the top for the first time is best done when they've just gone up with a promoted Championship team (they're hitting the ground running)....or they've had top flight experience in a foreign league. (Basically, not taking Luton to 8th with hoofball and Jesus on their CV) 

It is extremely underwhelming and a huge gamble. It's not like we've just had our manager poached for being too good, we are a bad team, in trouble. 

Not writing him off and I pray (I know he will be) that it's a success, otherwise we're fucked.

[Toadhall Saint]

2 minutes ago, GDog07 said:

I’m sure, unless I am mistaken, that nobody at Southampton FC have came out publicly and stated that Jones is the definitive man they want. Luton Town made it public by stating that they’ve agreed to let them speak to Jones. Again, I stand to be corrected.

It’s obviously why his name is all over the press and being talked about on here and on the sports shows and stupidly short with the bookies, because he’s the only guy that we are supposedly interested in. I remember Nuno being stupid favourite with the bookies for the Wolves job earlier this season until he or they didn’t want to make the move after all.

I should think that there must be more candidates that have not been made public knowledge, unless he is 100% our guy without holding talks, which would be a strange way to do business.

Luton said we could talk to him after there game at Stoke.

[Miltonaggro]

2 minutes ago, kyle04 said:

Sounds like a surreal version of Trumpton.

Supporting Southampton is like a surreal version of Trumpton!

[saint in Den Haag]

58 minutes ago, Dman said:

Potter was also a massive success in Sweden though. Came with a lot more pedigree. 

To be honest, my issue with Jones isn’t his history. Stoke aside, he’s a fantastic candidate on that front.  

My concern is his alleged style of play. It looks no different to Big Sam or Dyche, just without the experience. 

Let’s also be honest, he’s just a really uninspiring appointment, British appointments generally are. 
 

Let’s hope he proves us all wrong. 

Dman

i know where you are coming from and i think his style of play at the moment with Luton is probably more direct, but everything I have been reading suggests that he is very adaptable and will choose the formation or approach depending on the scenario. he does have plan A and a B and a C

With luton in L2 and L1  - by all accounts they were playing very attractive and very fluid in a 442 diamond shape. he did this cause in his mind he had the best fullbacks outside of the championship. but since getting into the champ (with Luton) he recognised the diamond could not work and technically maybe his team were not quite on par with other teams so has gone to a high press and direct route currently.

rightfully we can keep bringing up his stoke experience  - but the one thing he learnt was to be flexible. he tried to enforce his attacking diamond onto Stoke but they did not have the fullbacks on the CMs to make it work. he accepts he should have chosen a style that just got points first before trying to change style later on. the last link is a good read by Ryan Shawcross on his Stoke stint - still comes across as positive (somehow)

so he may well start defensive and cautious with us because the aim is to get points  - but hopefully he will adapt a fluid attacking approach if we can climb out and be more safe

i am still sceptical cause it is a big risk - but am gradually coming round to him - still a risk mind, but really hoping he can make the players click and put confidence back into everyone.

hope this helps alleviate some concern

https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/sport/football/luton-town/luton-boss-happy-to-change-formation-if-it-keeps-town-in-the-championship-2899499

https://wizardsofdrivel.com/2019/01/10/shine-on-you-crazy-diamond-nathan-jones-footballing-philosophy-and-stoke-city/

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ryan-shawcross-nathan-jones-diamond-6163373

Edited 8 November, 2022 by saint in Den Haag

[GDog07]

1 minute ago, Toadhall Saint said:

Luton said we could talk to him after there game at Stoke.

Yeah, they agreed to it and made it public.

if they hadn’t made it public knowledge, do you reckon he’d be 1/33 favourite with the bookies to join us and all the press, radio shows and us on here talking as if he’s signed on the dotted line already?

I said, as context, Nuno Espírito Santo was hot favourite, 1/20 with the bookies to take back over at Wolves a month or two ago, but either him or the club decided against the move and that didn’t materialise.

I’m suggesting, he’s only deemed as the hot favourite, because nobody else has been mentioned by the press as a contender or come out publicly, as Luton Town did with Jones, as interested to take charge.

Wouldn’t make sense that nobody else of any pedigree is interested in managing a club currently in the EPL. That said, unless he’s been our “lined-up” manager to take over from Ralph for an age, like a manager-style “black box.”

[Dusic]

1 hour ago, Saint NL said:

Staying up is top priority and if we have to grind out some points playing ugly football then so be it.

 

I don't think our squad has the players to really play ugly football that is effective. We have a squad to be energetic and front foot (in most positions aside from attacking midfield).

Our best chance of success IMO is to get back to outrunning the opposition, play dynamic, quick football and actually being nasty to play against as Ralph often said.

We have massively lost that and it was what made us good when he had out best spells under him.

If we try to turn into a really direct, win the 2nd balls, defend deep type team we will definitely go down as our recruitment has not been tailored to that style.

Edited 8 November, 2022 by Dusic

[miserableoldgit]

10 minutes ago, saint in Den Haag said:

Dman

i know where you are coming from and i think his style of play at the moment with Luton is probably more direct, but everything I have been reading suggests that he is very adaptable and will choose the formation or approach depending on the scenario. he does have plan A and a B and a C

With luton in L2 and L1  - by all accounts they were playing very attractive and very fluid in a 442 diamond shape. he did this cause in his mind he had the best fullbacks outside of the championship. but since getting into the champ (with Luton) he recognised the diamond could not work and technically maybe his team were not quite on par with other teams so has gone to a high press and direct route currently.

rightfully we can keep bringing up his stoke experience  - but the one thing he learnt was to be flexible. he tried to enforce his attacking diamond onto Stoke but they did not have the fullbacks on the CMs to make it work. he accepts he should have chosen a style that just got points first before trying to change style later on. the last link is a good read by Ryan Shawcross on his Stoke stint - still comes across as positive (somehow)

so he may well start defensive and cautious with us because the aim is to get points  - but hopefully he will adapt a fluid attacking approach if we can climb out and be more safe

i am still sceptical cause it is a big risk - but am gradually coming round to him - still a risk mind, but really hoping he can make the players click and put confidence back into everyone.

hope this helps alleviate some concern

https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/sport/football/luton-town/luton-boss-happy-to-change-formation-if-it-keeps-town-in-the-championship-2899499

https://wizardsofdrivel.com/2019/01/10/shine-on-you-crazy-diamond-nathan-jones-footballing-philosophy-and-stoke-city/

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ryan-shawcross-nathan-jones-diamond-6163373

Had me with the Plink Floyd reference.....I'm in!

[The Kraken]

4 hours ago, Give it to Ron said:

The feed said we were looking to Wall St for 80m to refinance at a lower rate

I seem to recall the original loan had interest of something huge like 9% pa, so not really a surprise you’d want to get lower than that!

[FarehamSaintJames]

Oh DT 🤦🏻‍♂️ I’ve never been the known or claimed to be.
I didn’t think he would go at that point. That Newcastle game was the turning point, as I’ve said.
I mean I don’t really know what you want me to say really 😂

Anyway. 

1 hour ago, OldNick said:

I think NJ's problem is that the fans are underwhelmed already and so he has to start well or he's / we are in bother

Couldn’t agree more with this. I’m underwhelmed by it, but then I couldn’t see the club shelling out another £6-7m a year contract on someone high profile who would then want to bring in their own new team.

He’s got to get the players playing better very quickly or parts of the fan base will turn sooner rather than later.

The good thing is that with this break he’ll have time on his side to try and make them better and lay down his tactics, style etc. Let’s face it they’ll possibly be maybe three max that go to the World Cup, if they’re lucky. 

Edited 8 November, 2022 by FarehamSaintJames