Fair enough,I expect the club feel the same (hope) after two emails this week to remind me I've not renewed today I've received a text as well complete with a phone number.And I keep reading on here our "little donations"aren't that important anymore. Yep I will,up the ****ing Saints?
Yeah, up the ****ing Saints mate. Come rain or shine. I'd actually feel quite optimistic about next season with this group of players (and this manager), but **** knows what's going to happen in the summer.
I pay my money because I love football which lead me to loving Saints. If I really believed I was paying money to be entertained then I would decide to look at the teams available in the market place to follow and pick the one that offered me what I considered entertainment. That's not why I pay though. I pay because I support Saints. I WANT and HOPE that we win and play well, but it is not what I demand. I just follow them. My choice and I can't explain it.
Yeh we've all got our own reasons,to be honest I've enjoyed the games I've watched at Hereford more than most (not all) of the ones at St Mary's this season. I don't much care what others want to be honest,it's bleeding hard work travelling as far as we do and I want some excitement / entertainment (call it what you will)for my efforts. Anyway I'll be there again and I never boo.
The people who moan and boo still pay the tickets and support the team in that way. It's just that different people react differently; some like to moan, some don't. I don't think there a difference other than a difference in personality. For example, I'm inherently a person who always looks what could be done better. In a 5-0 win, I would still have some objections - a certain player was not on his level, we squandered a lot of chances ecc. It's just how I am (granted, less now then before). Doesn't mean I support the team less then someone else. We're all supporters, otherwise we wouldn't be here , discuss every little detail and follow matches week in week out.
After today's training game? The first half at least was like a pre-season tournament game with neither side really putting a lot of effort in and strolling around.
Why don't you go and support a top of the table team that wins virtually every week Imps?.... ...Oh, you already do!....
Eden Hazard rates Puel saying he made him the player he is. What the **** does he know about football managers he has only played for the best?
Did you not notice the pace of the first half? It was like both teams were just going through the motions of a pre-season game. I also noticed that their support was very very quiet.........until we scored our second when suddenly they started singing.
You can see how Redmond has regressed under Puel's tutelage too. He's worse now than he was at Norwich.
I tend to believe him rather than rumours which feed off themselves. Even if some players aren't happy with his style or are disappointed not to play more, they aren't showing it in his presence and are still working hard....so obviously not a players' revolt. I found his decision to play such a mixed team yesterday as a sign he is thinking of the future as much as this season....he wanted to give players time and to see them. Its possible he was resting some for the United game, but I don't believe that he would have been that drastic....it isn't an important cup game and you could argue that, if he was worried about his position, he would be better to secure a game he had a good chance of winning. It smacked of a manager planning for the future to me.
I think you're partly right Fran, definitely an element of forward planning involved yesterday. But I think resting and rotation also played a part. From the Liverpool game last Sunday to the Stoke game next Sunday we will have played 5 matches in 14 days, which is reminiscent of the Europa League days, when rotation was a routine thing. Puel was probably confident that yesterday's team were enough to see off Boro, and but for the missed penalty we would have won comfortably enough. Now he has a first-choice team rested and ready for the revenge game against Man Utd, and the far from easy final game against Stoke.
One of the guys in my local works on the ground staff at St Marys and is really ITK. He told us that the club have had two enquiries from French clubs and one from a top London club for Puel's services if we sack him. He also said that Puel's wife doesn't like living in Southampton and is very unhappy about the way her husband has been treated by the media and a minority of the fans and wants to return to France. Puel is under enormous pressure to finish 8th from Les and it is said they don't get on very well not liking each other at all. As if all of that isn't enough there are some unpleasant tensions in the dressing room between certain players and certain players and Puel. To add to the mix Kat has refused to allow any new player purchases until the new owners are in post and has said that in the mean time the player payroll has to be reduced . He said that it is common knowledge around the club about who the new owners will be and that once they have a majority holding they are going to transform the club and that some key figures on the management side will go. This is in part the cause of the tension as Les is also concerned that he is under threat of losing his job. The new owners have been in discussion with Kat for some time and they have been discussing a substantial increase in ticket prices for next season as the gate is fixed by the stadium and more fan income is needed. Figures as high as 50% increase in season ticket prices have been bandied about apparently. Now for the bad news. It has been agreed with VVD's agent that he will be sold this summer and the price has been confirmed with the club who want to buy him who have the whole thing already tied up. Added to that Virgin have decided to end their sponsorship and the club are looking around for a new sponsor which looks as if it could be the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. And finally, finally the probable new owners apparently don't like our strip and have commissioned a designer to come up with some ideas for team colours that are more patriotic comprising red socks, white shorts and blue shirts.
I refer the right honourable gentleman to his previous post about 89.7% of what you read on the internet being made up on the spot.
