Russell Martin

[gio1saints]

via bbc sport : 
 

In an intriguing interview with Corriere dello Sport, Carlo Ancelotti explained: "I don't believe in ideologies like Guardiolismo, Sarrismo... I believe in the identity of the team."

Since his return to Real Madrid, Ancelotti has more than ever focused his side on adapting to opponents, creating chaos, forcing errors, pouncing on them.

Russell should study Carlo Ancelotti’s Uber pragmatism style and base himself and our play a lot more on that if he wants to win more matches in the EPL. Vincent Kompsny and Burnley are a good example of what can happen if yiu fail to adapt sufficiently. ( and yes I, Ironically, know that Kompany’s  reward for relegation is possibly to manage Bayern Munich!) 

Edited May 28 by gio1saints

[Tommy Mulgrew]

That’s one of the few of your posts that I have agreed with.  Things are looking up. The future, like the present, is red and white.

I thought Martin had read this forum and based his play-off tactics on our advice but maybe he has studied Ancelotti instead. 🙂

Let’s all be optimistic of having a good season in ‘24/25.

[Osvaldorama]

Whether he’s up to the task tactically or not for PL, I love him as a bloke. His reactions and interviews this weekend have been amazing. What a guy. 
 

Deserves plenty of time and patience next season as he has clearly been learning from his mistakes this season, full credit to him for that. 
 

 

[Guided Missile]

Quote

Premier League was asked to investigate ‘tapping up’ claim over Russell Martin’s move to Southampton
Martin’s former club Swansea are suing him for allegedly helping Southampton to avoid paying a £2 million release clause in full

Southampton obtained confidential contract details about Russell Martin to secure a cut-price £1.25 million deal to recruit him last summer, court documents allege.

A High Court claim lodged by Swansea City, Martin’s former club, reveals the Premier League were asked to launch a “tapping up” investigation into the circumstances of the move last summer. “To the best of Swansea City’s knowledge”, the league’s “regulatory team is presently investigating the matter”, the papers filed last month say. Telegraph Sport understands, however, that England’s top tier is not pursuing the case.

Swansea suing Russell Martin??

[DT]

A teensy bit worried about Russell Martin getting the Brighton job ahead of Potter, who wouldn't be 100% popular after the way he left. Martin has many links to the city and is second favourite in the betting. I hope he stays with us, as losing him now would be pretty difficult to deal with given the unity he has created and style he has imposed. Not insurmountable, of course, but if Potter feels the England job is a better one for him to wait for, eek. At the very least I hope Martin is using this interest to secure a pay rise/contract extension as he mentioned more than once in interviews that he hopes to be here/not be sacked next season. Anyway, he's 9-1 for the job, if anyone wants to ease the pain/cause the Gods to make him stay at Saints.

[davefizzy14]

What an incredible job Russell Martin has done 😊  to get us promoted this way, just feels so good. A gem of a manager. Love his character too 😊 He had to oversee a lot of change last summer to the playing squad and like he said we would have some bumps in the road along the way but we have just grown stronger as the season has gone on. The club record 25 game unbeaten run was amazing 😊 Hopefully he is given a sizeable budget for the summer so we can strengthen in the key positions that we need to so that he can shape the squad to how he wants.

Edited May 29 by davefizzy14

[Dellyears]

Yes, he has overturned the gloomy loser mentality which saw us relegated. On Sunday the team's toughness and resilience, esp in defence was heartening. In so many seasons we would have folded----I very nearly did, in those last ten minutes

[Galway saint]

1 hour ago, Dellyears said:

Yes, he has overturned the gloomy loser mentality which saw us relegated. On Sunday the team's toughness and resilience, esp in defence was heartening. In so many seasons we would have folded----I very nearly did, in those last ten minutes

Football is a funny game 

Against Cardiff and Leicester and Stoke we folded and lacked resilience yet somehow we stopped the decline away at Leeds and built again from there. Sometimes no rhyme and reason for it but by the time we got to Wembley we had resilience in bucket loads. The crux of it was he managed to get the defence back to what it was doing during the unbeaten run and we suddenly looked very solid and compact again. The Wembley game reminded me of WBA away in the league.

 

[West end Saints]

10 hours ago, Galway saint said:

Football is a funny game 

Against Cardiff and Leicester and Stoke we folded and lacked resilience yet somehow we stopped the decline away at Leeds and built again from there. Sometimes no rhyme and reason for it but by the time we got to Wembley we had resilience in bucket loads. The crux of it was he managed to get the defence back to what it was doing during the unbeaten run and we suddenly looked very solid and compact again. The Wembley game reminded me of WBA away in the league.

 

I wonder if the fact that those three games were at the end of 9 games in less than a month, we seem better the more time he has to prepare a team 

A very successful season, actually think best way to go up

[ErwinK1961]

Just listened to a segment where they were talking about the ‘5 rules’ that are in place for a new manager at Man Utd.

One of those rules is the style of play is being set by the technical director… Mr Wilcox.

We know RM has his preferred style of play, but I wonder if the tactical flexibility he has shown during crunch time is because he isn’t being dictated to by a DOF? 

Probably giving too much credit, but thought it was interesting.

[Saint Gifford]

This is the circle again, new ideology, new money new managers, the gen of players new ownerships as I said in a previous post a few days or so ago.

Give it to him, chalk and cheese compared to the best welsh manager European football has ever seen. 
 

I have changed my mind from this time last season, held himself very well. Changing room cleverly believes, just need to be carful over the summer with incomings not rocking the boat. 
 

Fair play to him, but Adkins went double and lasted weeks on returning to the Prem. 
 

Having said that the old guard of managers are probably recognised as had their time now. 
 

Football is moving on like everything does. 
 

Im happy to get behind him, something I didn’t think I would, and not just because of promotion. He has definitely brought stability to us. Prem is a plus and a result of a job well done  tbf. 

 

 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, ErwinK1961 said:

Just listened to a segment where they were talking about the ‘5 rules’ that are in place for a new manager at Man Utd.

One of those rules is the style of play is being set by the technical director… Mr Wilcox.

We know RM has his preferred style of play, but I wonder if the tactical flexibility he has shown during crunch time is because he isn’t being dictated to by a DOF? 

Probably giving too much credit, but thought it was interesting.

That’s an interesting thought 🤔

[gio1saints]

https://x.com/saints_analysis/status/1796552064631267648?s=46&t=l5Q4mkKSxz5qdVtggXqogw
 

Nice analysis of RM on X c/o some insightful person at saints_analysis. 😁

[tttdcs]

On 29/05/2024 at 11:08, DT said:

A teensy bit worried about Russell Martin getting the Brighton job ahead of Potter, who wouldn't be 100% popular after the way he left. Martin has many links to the city and is second favourite in the betting. I hope he stays with us, as losing him now would be pretty difficult to deal with given the unity he has created and style he has imposed. Not insurmountable, of course, but if Potter feels the England job is a better one for him to wait for, eek. At the very least I hope Martin is using this interest to secure a pay rise/contract extension as he mentioned more than once in interviews that he hopes to be here/not be sacked next season. Anyway, he's 9-1 for the job, if anyone wants to ease the pain/cause the Gods to make him stay at Saints.

Our Wembley win cost me enough at the bookmakers, worth every penny. No more funds for this bet 🙂

[DT]

Latest I have heard is he'd like to end up at Brighton one day but not now. Swansea stuff is messy.

[Sir Ralph]

On 29/05/2024 at 23:14, Galway saint said:

Football is a funny game 

Against Cardiff and Leicester and Stoke we folded and lacked resilience yet somehow we stopped the decline away at Leeds and built again from there. Sometimes no rhyme and reason for it but by the time we got to Wembley we had resilience in bucket loads. The crux of it was he managed to get the defence back to what it was doing during the unbeaten run and we suddenly looked very solid and compact again. The Wembley game reminded me of WBA away in the league.

 

If anything some of this related to reverting to 3 centre backs and the better base this gave the team to work off. I’d be surprised not to see this at the start of next season which could influence our transfer window needing 5 decent centre backs

[SNSUN]

36 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

If anything some of this related to reverting to 3 centre backs and the better base this gave the team to work off. I’d be surprised not to see this at the start of next season which could influence our transfer window needing 5 decent centre backs

So shoehorning Stephens in worked! 😀

I'm happy for us to keep using 3 CBs but they need to be 3 good CBs but we need a new CB and that CB must be first choice. As mentioned in recent reports, Joe Rodon would be perfect. Then we'd have THB, Rodon (or first choice other), Bednarek, Stephens and Charles or Lawrence as a 5th choice. Does ABK fit into that? I'd rather not due to his injury record but it would save us money - but I do think we'll bring in one new CB.

The only issue with 3 CBs is it blunts our attack more - we need two good wing backs to help with that formation so a new LB/LWB would be perfect. (Not that I think we'd go for him necessarily but Sessegnon would fit the bill). That said perhaps grinding out wins like we did against Leeds next season is the best way for us to stay up.

[Galway saint]

9 hours ago, SNSUN said:

So shoehorning Stephens in worked! 😀

I'm happy for us to keep using 3 CBs but they need to be 3 good CBs but we need a new CB and that CB must be first choice. As mentioned in recent reports, Joe Rodon would be perfect. Then we'd have THB, Rodon (or first choice other), Bednarek, Stephens and Charles or Lawrence as a 5th choice. Does ABK fit into that? I'd rather not due to his injury record but it would save us money - but I do think we'll bring in one new CB.

The only issue with 3 CBs is it blunts our attack more - we need two good wing backs to help with that formation so a new LB/LWB would be perfect. (Not that I think we'd go for him necessarily but Sessegnon would fit the bill). That said perhaps grinding out wins like we did against Leeds next season is the best way for us to stay up.

Thought fraser was good in that LWB role at wembley 

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

10 minutes ago, Galway saint said:

Thought fraser was good in that LWB role at wembley 

Me too

[Badger]

On 03/06/2024 at 10:10, DT said:

Latest I have heard is he'd like to end up at Brighton one day but not now. Swansea stuff is messy.

If he is given the opportunity to speak with Brighton, or has an offer from them I think he’ll go. 
 

If that is something he wants then it’d be mad to turn it down. His stock is at it’s highest having just got a promotion, but a poor season, possibly the sack, relegation, the opportunity might not rise again. 
 

That said, the Swansea situation might muddy the waters. 

[LordHester]

16 minutes ago, Badger said:

His stock is at it’s highest having just got a promotion, but a poor season, possibly the sack, relegation, the opportunity might not rise again. 

He's a 38 year old, who's been a manager for 5 years. Is he really just going to take a job now because his stock won't rise any higher? I'd be surprised if he wasn't aiming slightly higher for the rest of his managerial career.

[DT]

41 minutes ago, LordHester said:

He's a 38 year old, who's been a manager for 5 years. Is he really just going to take a job now because his stock won't rise any higher? I'd be surprised if he wasn't aiming slightly higher for the rest of his managerial career.

He is from Brighton and his sons are in the city. As is his academy. These don't count for nothing

[Badger]

58 minutes ago, LordHester said:

He's a 38 year old, who's been a manager for 5 years. Is he really just going to take a job now because his stock won't rise any higher? I'd be surprised if he wasn't aiming slightly higher for the rest of his managerial career.

I should have qualified that as : his stock is at the highest it has been in his career to date 

Agree that age is on his side, and with a sound season or two keeping us up  it will increase. But there is the danger of a poor season and he won’t be the sought after up and coming young manager any more. There have been several who thought they might be on the up after a promotion but then went downhill pretty fast (Billy Davis for one, Heckingbottom another). 

[LordHester]

19 hours ago, DT said:

He is from Brighton and his sons are in the city. As is his academy. These don't count for nothing

Of course they count for something, but that's not the point the OP was making.

[rallyboy]

Would it be fair to say that RM has relied on a football philosophy that should translate into results even better with really top class players?

If so he must make the next Chelsea shortlist in the autumn.

That's presumably why Kompany got the massive promotion after a season of failure on the pitch - Bayern have looked beyond the 5-0 defeats, whether they are right or not is still to be decided.

[Dusic]

11 minutes ago, rallyboy said:

Would it be fair to say that RM has relied on a football philosophy that should translate into results even better with really top class players?

If so he must make the next Chelsea shortlist in the autumn.

That's presumably why Kompany got the massive promotion after a season of failure on the pitch - Bayern have looked beyond the 5-0 defeats, whether they are right or not is still to be decided.

Bayern are never going to be in the poaition of having one of the worst squads in their league so yeah they are obviously looking at the style of play, media handling, player coaching etc more than specific results which have no clear context to them.

Juat like it was obvious we hired RM due to clear implementation of a style of play, ability to unite squad etc and knew with better players he would finish higher than 10th.

[Badger]

Brighton heavily linked with a young German coach.

Surprised that he would be ahead of RM in their list. 

[SaintsFan86]

53 minutes ago, Badger said:

Brighton heavily linked with a young German coach.

Surprised that he would be ahead of RM in their list. 

No need to be surprised, RM will have told Brighton he won't be leaving Saints.

[CB Fry]

Honestly it's just SaintsWeb paranoia that is making Russell Martin walk out on us to go to Brighton.

They won't want him, he won't go. Not going to happen.

[Toadhall Saint]

39 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Honestly it's just SaintsWeb paranoia that is making Russell Martin walk out on us to go to Brighton.

They won't want him, he won't go. Not going to happen.

Yep - you only need to look at their last couple of appointments. Brighton like to be a little avant gard (sp).

[The Cat]

15 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

Yep - you only need to look at their last couple of appointments. Brighton like to be a little avant gard (sp).

I thought that was described as trying to be "too clever" on here?

Quite amusing really because that's how the club and Martin were described multiple times throughout the season yet it turns out they were clever enough.

[Miltonaggro]

6 hours ago, CB Fry said:

Honestly it's just SaintsWeb paranoia that is making Russell Martin walk out on us to go to Brighton.

They won't want him, he won't go. Not going to happen.

Absolutely, he’s nailed on for United, it’s written in the runes…

[Greenridge]

On 05/06/2024 at 13:22, Badger said:

If he is given the opportunity to speak with Brighton, or has an offer from them I think he’ll go. 
 

If that is something he wants then it’d be mad to turn it down. His stock is at it’s highest having just got a promotion, but a poor season, possibly the sack, relegation, the opportunity might not rise again. 
 

That said, the Swansea situation might muddy the waters. 

Like that bloke who got Burnley relegated and ended up at.... Bayern?

[Badger]

1 hour ago, Greenridge said:

Like that bloke who got Burnley relegated and ended up at.... Bayern?

The bloke from Burnley also had quite an impressive CV from his playing days.

Rightly or wrongly this will is likely to have influenced Bayern’s selection.

Probably not a good comparison. 

[CB Fry]

1 hour ago, Greenridge said:

Like that bloke who got Burnley relegated and ended up at.... Bayern?

Just like Koeman to Barcelona. They haven’t got the job because of their managerial record.

Do you reckon Rob Edwards from Luton is in the frame for the Real Madrid job? hE gOt tWo mORe pOiNtS than Burnley 

 

 

[ErwinK1961]

2 hours ago, CB Fry said:

Just like Koeman to Barcelona. They haven’t got the job because of their managerial record.

Do you reckon Rob Edwards from Luton is in the frame for the Real Madrid job? hE gOt tWo mORe pOiNtS than Burnley 

 

 

Are you telling me 29 caps for Scotland means nothing anymore? FFS

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 hours ago, CB Fry said:

Just like Koeman to Barcelona. They haven’t got the job because of their managerial record.

Do you reckon Rob Edwards from Luton is in the frame for the Real Madrid job? hE gOt tWo mORe pOiNtS than Burnley 

 

 

Edwards won't get the Real job as the board will be split over whether to go for him or the pound for pound best manager in Europe, and former Luton boss, Nathan. 🙂

[Saint Fan CaM]

RM will eventually leave Saints - it happens a lot to many teams. Why? Because the club can’t match the aspirations of the Manager or the Manager fails to achieve expected objectives of the club. Guaranteed this will be the case with RM…the question is, how long before one of those scenarios plays out? The summers transfer business will be very telling.

[goodymatt]

https://x.com/fabrizioromano/status/1800061334244983240?s=46&t=7raSKCMt6LV8RJ1C2d39WQ
 

Looks like Brighton have found their next manager. Hurzeler is only 31yo and just got St Pauli promoted to the Bundesliga. You’d imagine Martin would have been of interest but we can put that minor worry in the bin now and see if some stability in the dugout helps us this season.

[Saint_clark]

Been sitting on saying this until the joy from the playoff final died down a little. 

But Martin needs to remember he's never managed in the Prem. Some of the comments he's made after promotion and a couple before worry me, he seems to be under the impression that because he's reached the Prem that proves he knows what it takes to compete there - he doesn't. 

He's made comments about not knowing why we loaned Stephens out the season we got relegated - we know why. It's because he isn't good enough for the Prem. 

He's made comments that Smallbone is going to be a "top, top player for this club" - anyone see Smallbone running our midfield for years in the Prem? I don't. 

I am seriously worried about his ability to judge whether players are good enough for the Prem. 

[The Cat]

22 hours ago, goodymatt said:

https://x.com/fabrizioromano/status/1800061334244983240?s=46&t=7raSKCMt6LV8RJ1C2d39WQ
 

Looks like Brighton have found their next manager. Hurzeler is only 31yo and just got St Pauli promoted to the Bundesliga. You’d imagine Martin would have been of interest but we can put that minor worry in the bin now and see if some stability in the dugout helps us this season.

Hipster choice. They are just trying to be clever blah blah blah.

[Dusic]

16 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Been sitting on saying this until the joy from the playoff final died down a little. 

But Martin needs to remember he's never managed in the Prem. Some of the comments he's made after promotion and a couple before worry me, he seems to be under the impression that because he's reached the Prem that proves he knows what it takes to compete there - he doesn't. 

He's made comments about not knowing why we loaned Stephens out the season we got relegated - we know why. It's because he isn't good enough for the Prem. 

He's made comments that Smallbone is going to be a "top, top player for this club" - anyone see Smallbone running our midfield for years in the Prem? I don't. 

I am seriously worried about his ability to judge whether players are good enough for the Prem. 

Smallbone? I think he can be a decent PL player, absolutely has the atttibutes.

Martin played in the PL for a few years. He isn't going to be naïve about the quality of the league.

Stephens loan - I know where you are coming from but I think he is saying you need good characters at the club, whether they are regulars or not. Stephens is clearly committed and a leader. He would certainly have been more useful and more of a positive influence over the season than Caleta-Car or Lyanco for example.

Edited June 11 by Dusic

[CB Fry]

22 hours ago, goodymatt said:

https://x.com/fabrizioromano/status/1800061334244983240?s=46&t=7raSKCMt6LV8RJ1C2d39WQ
 

Looks like Brighton have found their next manager. Hurzeler is only 31yo and just got St Pauli promoted to the Bundesliga. You’d imagine Martin would have been of interest but we can put that minor worry in the bin now and see if some stability in the dugout helps us this season.

Brighton are the perfect football club who make perfect decisions and have already achieved more than Southampton ever have or ever will.

Yet another 100% correct decision from Brighton. They don't make mistakes, they will invest and grow and invest and grow and get better and better and better for ever and ever.

I wish we were Brighton.

[goodymatt]

24 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Brighton are the perfect football club who make perfect decisions and have already achieved more than Southampton ever have or ever will.

Yet another 100% correct decision from Brighton. They don't make mistakes, they will invest and grow and invest and grow and get better and better and better for ever and ever.

I wish we were Brighton.

Sometimes you can try to be too clever. I’ve seen it all before when a team has a sustained period of success and touches that glass ceiling (not just Saints!). Start to believe your own hype and the downward trend follows.

They have got so much right recently and this may well be another success, but when your club is at its highest status ever, I think you need to take advantage of that and attract an experienced manager that can help take you to the next level. Look at what Emery has done at Villa as an example of an experienced and proven (at the higher levels) coach, delivering in breaking through the glass ceiling for Villa last season.

[Kenilworthy]

17 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

Sometimes you can try to be too clever. I’ve seen it all before when a team has a sustained period of success and touches that glass ceiling (not just Saints!). Start to believe your own hype and the downward trend follows.

They have got so much right recently and this may well be another success, but when your club is at its highest status ever, I think you need to take advantage of that and attract an experienced manager that can help take you to the next level. Look at what Emery has done at Villa as an example of an experienced and proven (at the higher levels) coach, delivering in breaking through the glass ceiling for Villa last season.

Being hailed by the media as a model of how to run a club is a sure sign of impending disaster. It happened to Saints in 2003 after the cup final, then again after the Koeman/Puel era.

[notnowcato]

1 hour ago, Saint_clark said:

Been sitting on saying this until the joy from the playoff final died down a little. 

But Martin needs to remember he's never managed in the Prem. Some of the comments he's made after promotion and a couple before worry me, he seems to be under the impression that because he's reached the Prem that proves he knows what it takes to compete there - he doesn't. 

He's made comments about not knowing why we loaned Stephens out the season we got relegated - we know why. It's because he isn't good enough for the Prem. 

He's made comments that Smallbone is going to be a "top, top player for this club" - anyone see Smallbone running our midfield for years in the Prem? I don't. 

I am seriously worried about his ability to judge whether players are good enough for the Prem. 

Fuck me, how selfish of you to sit on this revelation.

 

[notnowcato]

1 hour ago, CB Fry said:

Brighton are the perfect football club who make perfect decisions and have already achieved more than Southampton ever have or ever will.

Yet another 100% correct decision from Brighton. They don't make mistakes, they will invest and grow and invest and grow and get better and better and better for ever and ever.

I wish we were Brighton.

To be fair; Bloom's record in recruiting managers, Sami Hyppia aside, is pretty fucking impressive.

Edited June 11 by notnowcato

[Dman]

15 minutes ago, notnowcato said:

To be fair; Bloom's record in recruiting managers, Sami Hyppia aside, is pretty fucking impressive.

That's a bit of a myth. 

Bloom took over in 2009 and these are the managers since then; 

Roberto De Zerbi	20 Sep, 2022	Present
Graham Potter	20 May, 2019	07 Sep, 2022
Chris Hughton	31 Dec, 2014	13 May, 2019
Nathan Jones	22 Dec, 2014	31 Dec, 2014
Sami Hyypia	07 Jun, 2014	22 Dec, 2014
Oscar Garcia	26 Jun, 2013	12 May, 2014
Gus Poyet	10 Nov, 2009	24 Jun, 2013

So 'pretty fucking impressive' means Potter & De Zerbi.  

Also, lets also not ignore the fact that they've lost all of the key people who'd have been making those decisions over the past few years..

Edited June 11 by Dman

[Dusic]

53 minutes ago, Dman said:

That's a bit of a myth. 

Bloom took over in 2009 and these are the managers since then; 

Roberto De Zerbi	20 Sep, 2022	Present
Graham Potter	20 May, 2019	07 Sep, 2022
Chris Hughton	31 Dec, 2014	13 May, 2019
Nathan Jones	22 Dec, 2014	31 Dec, 2014
Sami Hyypia	07 Jun, 2014	22 Dec, 2014
Oscar Garcia	26 Jun, 2013	12 May, 2014
Gus Poyet	10 Nov, 2009	24 Jun, 2013

So 'pretty fucking impressive' means Potter & De Zerbi.  

Also, lets also not ignore the fact that they've lost all of the key people who'd have been making those decisions over the past few years..

Poyet got them promoted from L1 to the Championship and Hughton got them promoted to the PL and kept them there initially.

Jones was a caretaker for a couple of games so actually 4/6 have done an excellent job which in modern football is a pretty impressive ratio.

Their key has been the long term role of CEO Paul Barber who is very experienced in football and has been the constant there since 2012. In that time we have had Reed, Kruger, Rogers, Semmens (and Ankersen) and now Parsons doing that role.

[gio1saints]

I’ve tried to anticipate some worst case scenarios for Saints- and Russell. Long thread so turn away now if you hate these type of posts. Here’s one scenario : 

 

No wins by mid- late September and all this conjecture about if he will be poached to be overtaken by a  “who will be our next Manager” thread. 

It’s not some amazing revelation that we will probably struggle - with whoever is in charge.  It’s very very likely - but also predictable that an impatient and growing mob will not be able to control themselves or their anger- which will be directed at him. And SR. 

RM will take full responsibility as a Leader should, but it will be nasty and personal - as usual. This forum will be sick with the volumes of personal abuse being written. 

 It won’t matter how we lost, the style of play or any of that bravery stuff. Or even if there are signs of improvement. There will be NO acclimatisation to the EPL time allowed. It’s likely to be instant results or out.

That hypothetical scenario may not be too far off the truth, and indeed might be bookies favourite if one could bet on such negative eventuality.

I ask myself is that what we really want to see this season? How can it be avoided? 

IF RM does not start winning immediately would SR & fans persist with loyalty? Flip a coin. Wait til Xmas probably. But some fans (you know the ones) will prob demand he’s out sooner. 

It’s a tough gig going up and even just surviving but I think there’s an equal chance Saints are going to make it harder if the chose to twist rather than stick with RM.

In the subsequent scenario that’s he gone by Cmas or sooner we could end up with a three manager season: 

Hypothetical Manager #2 might be more of the same - a 30year old from Portugal, the Bundesliga or some obscure but done well lately La Liga team - and after he’s failed and is sacked a rescue mission exercise to recruit #3 Potter or similar might take place. Or they might go straight to a Potter type. 
 

My current evaluation ( subject to change and results of course) is that the chances of RM making it past Xmas are less than 50% - imo. Much less than 50% if we are averaging less than 1pt a game or much more than 50% if we average 1.5-2pts per game and are at top end of the league at Xmas.