I hope that NA grows with us and stays with us. I want us to have stability again. Our Chairman has ambition not just for progression and the financial rewards that brings, but for us to become a great footballing side (the Southampton way of doing things). If he and Nigel continue to see eye to eye, this dream could be achieved.
This debate could rumble on for ages , but quite frankly Adkins wins because he is Saints manager atm and has been fantastic since arriving. Don't worry what Pardew could have done - we'll never know so it doesn't matter. Just get behind Nigel because he is tactically fantastic.
I'm on the Adkins bus. i didn't like Pardew before he came to us and nothing I saw changed my mind. I must, however, thank him for the JPT. Our Nige thinks like a saint. He has the right mentality for us. I hope that he doesn't get poached by a so called bigger club and I hope for the same with Poyet and Brighton. Look at Bornmuff since Eddie Howe left. They have gone downhill and he is not the success he was. I would like to see Nige stay with us for many years and lead us to being a successful championship side with a possibility of premiership success. COYS
Eddie Howe is that good..........with your squad my mum would have got you promoted..... lets see how much pulling power he has in the summer?
Pards did very well for us last season, but I find N A's enthusiasm infectious, and he certainly seems to have a happy and positive squad in the building (sorry). Lets hope he can see us over the finishing line this time and see what can be achieved in the Championship because I feel with him at the helm we will be right up at the sharp end of the table next term too!
I think NA is alright. He annoys me in his interviews. Too many cliches. I do think Pardew was more to the point. I don't understand why people think Pardew had a disaster start to this season? He was in charge for 3 games. Plymouth at home, Leyton at home and Brizzle away. W-1,D-1, L-1. 4 points from a club that always starts slowly is good in my eyes. I felt we were very unlucky against Plymouth. Didn't see the Orient game and we stuffed Bristol. I think we probably would be better off with Pardew as we wouldn't of had the transistion period where we lost quite a few points. If NA started from the start we would be up with Brighton already.
Lets see how much pulling power Lee Badbuy has... I'm sure Mr Mitchell will give him a sizeable sum next year to spend Eddie Howe - he's had one good season managing a league 2 club, hardly ''that good''
I find it very hard to believe that Pardew would have managed to better 92 points. I'm fairly confident that we still would have finished 2nd or 3rd, but I don't see how we'd have done any better. 92 is a superb points tally. I do accept the argument that we turned on the style better under Pardew than under Adkins - there were numerous occassions under Pardew where we seemed to score for fun, and just blew the opposition out of the water - but we did finish with the best GD in the league this season. So we clearly weren't that boring or toothless. In particular we had a superb run of goals over the winter period, where we really did look miles too good for L1. As many have said, it's very hard to compare. The circumstances are completely different. One managed under almost no pressure, the other managed under immense pressure. It didn't matter where you looked summer, or what you read, Saints were meant to get promoted this season. Moreover, the 5 year plan said we had to get promoted this season. Lee Clark, Gus Poyet, Darren Ferguson - none of them had that sort of pressure on them this season. I think Pardew did a great job. But I think Adkins has gone an even better one. To tweak DTLW's ratings slightly, I would give Pardew 8/10 and Adkins 9.5/10. (The away defeats to Tranmere and Walsall are the only reason Adkins doesn't get 10/10 for me - but they are such minor points, and ultimately didn't cost us automatic, that he only loses the smallest of margins)
I think that is a fair summation for me. Although to say one manager was better, is better, than another is a question of judgement and how they are judged. 92 points has in the past been enough to actually be promoted as champions. It was not that Brighton were a better team than us just that they were more consistent by one more game. how Pardew would have done in the season is mere conjecture. Judging by his start and his preseason not too well at a guess, although perhaps under him we may have picked up as well, again conjecture so it would be wrong to compare in that sense. NA changed the style of football asked and got different players to play different roles and brought a couple in to develop and fitted them into his system. Pardew in comparison was a lucky manager as every one he brought in seemed to bring the goods with them. Maybe 50% of N A's proved a success straight away which is a bit worrying. Although it could be argued that the right players were not available when he could enter into the transfer market. So on his choice of loans and purchases the juries still out. He really does have the opportunity to make the team his now by bringing in his own players. So I am wondering if you are likely to see perhaps some surprises go, to make way for other players. By that I don't mean oxo or Lallana or the like. As in truth apart from a couple the whole team is/was Pardews.
Pardew last season under the circumstances I was impressed , however only winning 2 games in the 1st month of this season I wasn't impressed. Fair play to NC...tough decision to get rid of AP so early on. Lookin back, shows we got a great man steering the club in the right direction. NA..in all honesty at the beginning I was unsure but I was patient for him to settle down. And look what he has done and took us to in his first season! Hats off to the guy, he dropped his beloved irons for the south coast and got us promoted. Top man, top manager!! Nigel Adkins Barmy Army!!!
I loved the first season under Pardew, the football was exciting but we did struggle at a few away games, and even though the start of this season was poor under Pardew I still belived he was rthe man for us! Then NA was brought in to replace him and I was not impressedm I went to the MK Dons away and we looked allful and I then had real doubts that we would turn it around in time and that it could well be the playoffs for us! But now we have won promotion and with the team looking like they have the courage of lions and nerves of steel I just can't see that Pardew would have been as good as Nigel, all credit to AP he put together a great side but nigel got more from them then Pardew could of Ding ding
