Bloody hell, player power is getting beyond the joke, whatever happened to the good old days when the manager was the "gaffer"?. I'll be very frustrated if we start again with a someone new, it will mean new players a new system and all continuity lost. I'd be interested to know what expectations the board had for this season, because it is very likely that we will finish in the top ten again (possibly above the last season's Champions) with a major cup final, the only real major disappointment was the EL. Will this mean that the five year plan starts again?, Puel must surely have reached the target for intregrating academy players into the first team and there is no guarantee that a new manager will be as successful with them.
Player power started when they began earning more than the manager and became large financial assets.
In my opinion getting rid of Claude would be a tragic waste. I don't just think, "hey, let's give him a chance", I actually believe in the guy, and am convinced that given the opportunity he will have a lot of our supporters (many of whom are utter mugs anyway) eating humble pie. Talk to anyone who is genuinely familiar with French football and they will tell you how highly regarded he is over there. To the supporters that boo (not many of those on here, I know), where the effing hell were you in League 1 anyway, you pathetic plastics? Bugger off and support Chelsea please. Okay, rant over.
Pretty much what you'd expect then, really. The takeover rumours are unsettling enough for us fans, how must the players and staff feel?
How much of the booing was directed at Puel anyway. Fans didn't want Gabby to go off, but made sure to cheer Long and Sims on (though they may have been too different groups of fans). The booing at the end was probably directed at the team as much as Puel. I know when we have played well and won, I am cheering the players, not the manager. The only occasion I would boo is if I genuinely thought the players couldn't be arsed and that has never happened. Some fans keep throwing this at players and it is remarkably rare....the players do want to shine and do want to win strangely enough. Having a poor game doesn't mean that you didn't run out with hope in your heart (to paraphrase).
The booing at the end of the game was for the team as a whole. Surprisingly I know a couple of the guys that booed. When I found this out I let them have it with both barrels. They reckon they were booing because of the way we played. They maintained there was no passion from the players. Also they felt Puel substituted the best players on the field!! I wasn't there so I couldn't argue about that......although as I said they felt my wrath over the booing.
Chelsea have enough supporters as it is, so it is a no from me. You can satisfy some of the supporters all the time. you can satisfy some supporters some of the time but you cannot satisfy all the supporters all the time.
Within that booing element, there are bound to be one or two anti-French sentiments, so a poor SFC performance gave certain fans an excuse to vent their distaste of Puel and things that are French. Let them also voice their distaste towards our lovely politicians on June 8th.
Some fans are booing because they don't like garlic, runny cheese, croissants, 2CVs, the Eiffel Tower, Charles Aznavour, Berets, Stripey shirts and twirley moustaches? Shame on them. I think fancy dress for last away game should include most of these things although I understand the Tower may be difficult
My dad bought a 2CV once. Probably the most shameful thing he ever did. Well, it wasn't even a 2CV, it was Citreon Diane, which was kind of like the Ghia version. Anyway, it was bloody embarrassing. I still haven't quite forgiven him.
I think that is not to understand the technology that motivates French car design. Some of the most innovative cars have been French, particularly Citroen.
I was very surprised to hear the level of discontent at the end of Saturday's game. Admittedly it was a poor performance and goals have been lacking at St.Mary's for most of this season, but for a comfortable mid-table team that regularly plays attractive football and is missing some key players, there didn't seem to be enough to justify such a large chorus of boos. I'm not sure if some/all of it was aimed at Puel himself but from what I have gathered some Saints fans are extremely sceptical of his management and feel he should be replaced in the summer. From my perspective I feel he needs at least one more transfer window to build the squad he wants and implement more of his ideas. The squad is in need of improvement in some areas, but the foundations are very much there. Having watched Southampton on television on several occasions this season I have rarely been disappointed by them, although Puel can set his stall out defensively at times. His team selections have become much more consistent since they went out of the Europa League, and several players can lay claim to having had a fairly impressive season, although that end product has been lacking at times, particularly from open play. My only concerns regarding personnel are Boufal (he's the record signing but spends his entire playing time dribbling down blind alleys), and Forster (is it me is he not playing that well at the moment?) Thanks for all your responses. It seems that most of you are behind Puel and as always, his detractors are simply a vocal minority.
