seems about the right timing and reasoning for him to lose his job following to defeat to a little club. It’s about time we cost a United manager their job again. The only worry about that is, last time it turns them into a dominating force
But if the jungle drums are right, they'll come for Ralph. The board have a cunning plan. We're going to lose 9-0 and Ralph is safe for another year. Also become the first Premier League champions to have suffered such a defeat, and give Sky et al something to discuss other than the fact that little Southampton might be quite good.
I think the Utd fans would be very underwhelmed if the Utd board went for Hassenhuttl over Poch. To us, Hassenhuttl is a saviour and a genius. But to Utd fans he is nothing more than another plucky lower-club manager, a la Chris Wilder, Sean Dyche, Eddie Howe, and so on. If Hassenhuttl is already getting mentioned for these bigger jobs though, blows my mind that Eddie Howe was ignored for so long. Is there just a f*cking conspiracy against Southampton FC or something?
He is mentioned quite frequently, although The Athletic ran an excellent article explaining why he wouldn't want to go anywhere soon. I don't think Howe was ignored. He had a failure on his CV and his management of Bournemouth raised some questions at times. I think Saints fans have to recognise that any player or manager worth their salt is going to use us as a stepping stone. I can live with that if they give a few years of committed service to the club (Mane, for eg) and don't throw a wobbler (Lallana, Van Dijk). Lovely guy though Ralph doubtless is, and as committed as he appears to be currently to building a legacy there are two things to remember. The club's lack of ambition has cost us before - even St Lawrie had enough eventually - and that the likes of Man Utd will come along with buckets of money. All we poor sods can do is enjoy the good times when they come around.
I refuse to ‘like’ this post. I think Ralph will stay here for another couple of seasons at least, barring any disasters.
Sliced bread is pretty handy for those who are less than adept with a bread knife, or too lazy to wield one. Can’t think of any similarly practical uses for an Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. And shouldn’t he be managing Arsenal, with a name like that?
Me too. @One of yer Norvern Saints makes several pertinent points, all of which I refuse to acknowledge apply to Ralph; he’s not like all the others, he wants to repay the faith the club have shown in him, and enjoy the adulation of the crowd on European nights next season
I just hope Ralph is odd, and stays for years! He certainly seems very happy and challenged by his role, and the scope that it allows him. Lets just all hope that we can really push, and, maybe, just maybe, we will have better backing in the near future to supplement what he is rightly doing, and allowing a pathway again to the academy players.
Your prerogative, LTL, I didn't post it to draw likes, and actually blindly hope the same. Put my apparent pessimism down to 62 years of following Saints. I would love to believe that he'll stay and build in the way that Lawrie did. Just this time, let's hope the board have the balls to back him
I saw a snip earlier that only 3 players have scored more goals against United than Walcottt. So now I'm even more optimistic about a 3-0 win today (head says 1-1 though....). The only down side today is that whilst the media is betting on a United win, most of our fans see Saints as the favourites. It's going to be euphoria or a deep gloom come 4pm.
Let's hope it's Ralph's way of building not Lawrie's (no disrespect intended). Lawrie excelled in picking up quality players in the twilight of their careers. Ralph only picks players who he can improve - hence the '24' age limit. That said, he has surprised even himself by being able to improve older players like Ings and Walcott so he is still flexible.
Going for a closely fought 2-1 victory for the mighty Saints, maybe time for another JWP special and Che with the other, he likes scoring against Mancs.
I think that Ole has been cut a huge amount of slack purely because he was such a popular ex player but I really can't see him completing the season. Moyes did a better job there as it stands.
