I don't think we were lucky to gain promotions, & I certainly down think we are going down because we were unlucky. I don't think you think that either if I'm honest.
Over 38/46 games, nah, not top three or bottom three enough. I have to believe that, for my own sake.
....only a sith deals in absolutes..... I know where you are coming from, and I never want you to change.
No regrets? Not even sacking the manager who got your promoted twice in consecutive seasons who wasn't even in the relegation zone at the time?
You learn to take the crunchy with the smooth, Lapras, it's part of the lot of a Saints supporter, your lot are the same too (although you have had way more crunchy than we have over the past 60 years!..).
I'd hate to be a Manure fan, one of theirs was bitching on the PL board about not bothering with the Bournemouth match, life is tough being second in the league and in a FA cup semi....
It was a poor and unfair decision by the board without a doubt, but the decision to appoint Pellegrino was arguably a worse one.
I think the rot set in long before Pellegrino; we had some great years after Pochettino left, but that summer, with hindsight, was a defining moment imo. Destiny, like Karma, creeps up slowly, but once the wheels are set in motion it cannot be avoided. Or maybe I'm overthinking the whole fate and destiny thing. We're going down because we're a poor side; we'd be a poor side under most managers though
It was Cortese, to be fair, and he replaced Adkins with an unknown Argentinian called Mauricio Pochettino, who proceeded to take us to our highest ever (at the time) Premier League finish. So, yes, it seemed at the time of Adkins’ sacking a cruel and shabby move, but purely in terms of results, it worked out. I loved Nigel Adkins and still miss his irrepressible good humour, but for a club who at that time had ambitions of Champions League football, he probably wasn’t going to get us to the next level. Of all the ****ing stupid things Southampton FC have done in the last few years, sacking Adkins isn’t anywhere near the worst.
Yes our treatment of Nige was a bit shabby and undeserved, but the result of it was one of the most enjoyable seasons watching Saints I can remember, but then Poch left us all too soon so I have mixed feelings about it really.
Thing is, we all complain about the lack of loyalty shown by players. But we are happy to applaud stabbing a decent man in the back, because his replacement was a success - before said replacement went on to stab us in the back. Karma is a bitch like that.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree it was shabby but I disagree it was a stab in the back, in the sense that Adkins wasn’t expecting it. Anyone who watched that strange, bittersweet interview Adkins gave immediately after the Coventry game that got us promotion to the PL could see he knew what was coming. I’m guessing he knew he would be replaced as soon as the right man came along.
I've always felt Pochettino (or however you spell his name) jumping ship at the first sign of a 'big' club sniffing was karma.
