I suspect these are possibly the first negative thoughts I've ever mentioned on this forum. I'm one of life's optimists but I really do suspect we've sown the seeds of our own destruction here. Vin
To be fair, it was appointing Pellegrino that destroyed us. We are at the lowest end of the curve, or we were last week. Hughes has no chance, it's a huge ask to turn out form around. he can't lose. Fail and it wasn't his fault, win and he's a miracle worker. If he was appointed at the start of the year I would have been lukewarm at the best. At this point I see this as a significant positive move.
Four ways then: We'll stay up, no cup, we'll stay up with the cup, we'll go down with the cup, we'll go down no cup. #HedgingMyBets
Don't forget though that a couple more games for us also means a couple more games for everyone around us. The fact that we are a point above means the amount of games we have left is irrelevant really. 8 games, 18 games or 2 games. The important part really is that we are not in the relegation zone right now, we are a point above it. Our goal difference is also better than the 3 teams above and below us.
Ok folks it is Fa Cup weekend and yesterday I had to look for some paperwork for Mrs Fats. I found this. In 1984 I was at school and my Year Head was a Pompey fan, so when my mates and I had listened to the draw on the radio, I excitedly scribbled a note with a picture of a radio and a message about going to Wembley. Below is his response, including the front cover photo with cartoon Fats. It is worth zooming in to read the words. I have removed my surname and replaced it with “Fat’s”
Beggars can't be choosers! Our stock has fallen so dramatically that I think we had very little choice for our next manager. I'm afraid that MH was probably the best we could hope for. Being realistic who were we going to attract, with the club in a shambles, no likely investment, threatened with relegation and only a few games to go? MH doesn't fill me with a great deal of hope but let's face it, we could have replaced MP2 with a manaquin from Marks & Sparks shop window swopping one dummy for another and stood better chance of retaining our PL status! This whole debacle is solely the fault of the board inability to act swiftly and decisively when faced with the decision to relieve MP2 of his duties. Many of us saw the writing on the wall just a few games into the season but the board didn't react and carried on with a manager so clearly out of his depth. Nice guy or not he should have gone by Christmas! So beggars can't be choosers!
Just hope things go well for us in the league today....we could end up 19th for instance! I know we will still have a game in hand and we can't predict the future, but psychologically it would be great if both Stoke and Palace lose (or even draw) and we stay where we are. Whatever happens.....a nice win at Wigan would help.
To be fair, it was selling all our ****ing players every summer that destroyed us. Although 5 managers (6 now) since returning to the PL 6 years ago probably hasn't helped much either. Anyway, we're not down yet. I'd rather be us than West Ham (for 100 reasons)
https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/spo...ws/stoke-city-mark-hughes-southampton-1349753 Interesting point made by Hughes about his time at Stoke....he felt that his early success raised expectations and led to him losing his job when things fell away. That is what has happened at Saints....we've had some good years and no longer tolerate being relegation fodder (something we tolerated in the past). After all Stoke aren't exactly pushing up trees since Hughes left. And neither are we after sacking Puel. A case of needing to manage expectations.
