I was thinking more of if you look at the team that got from League 1 to the Premiership they were all here prior to Pardew or he signed them. He built that team that everyone loved so much, I can't think of a player Adkins signed who was a regular in it, apart from Danny Fox who was ****ing ****.
I'm probably forgetting someone though
Pards is definately underappreciated by Saints fans, mainly because they hate his personality.
He arguably transformed the playing staff from nothing into something more than any other manager. All we had in the Summer of 2009 was a couple of promising kids in Lallana and Morgan and SKD deciding to stay was massive of course. He rebuilt with clever loans at first (Antonio, Trotman) and the crucial buys Rickie, Deano and David Connolly later of course. The January window saw some more key players join (Jose, Barnard) and the form from February to the end of the season was stunning and probably the most entertaining period I can remember in recent years and the JPT win as well.