Sadly, I can't imagine the phone-ins will be any more positive following the next three games we have and that we will probably be rooted to the foot of the table with no points. The mindless yobs and plastic fans will, utterly unjustifiably, be calling for Adkin's head. I'm pretty sure that Cortese will see through them, though, and that we'll come good after that.
One win or even a draw has a marked effect on the table early in the season. There are several teams with only one point above us with worse GDs....totally meaningless at this time of the season...it just makes us feel better temporarily. If we finish 4 games without a point we will have played 3 title contenders and a team that rallyed at the end of last season after a poor start. People who berate the team and Adkins after the last couple of years are making a knee jerk reaction. Thinking that either are not good enough is an opinion, but I think it's too early to make that judgement. I will be bitterly disappointed if we don't get 1 or 2 defenders in, but that is not Adkins fault.
Maybe some are having a knee jerk reaction but I plainly state now we are not good enough in our current form to stay in this league . I said this all summer long whilst at the same time being over the moon we were promoted that our squad needs a new defence to stand any chance of staying there , I remain convinced I am not wrong on this . The lack of purchases in the summer and in the present by Adkins makes me think he thinks otherwise and that scares the **** out of me .
I'm pretty sure Adkins has no say over transfers whatsoever. He seemed to be totally clueless about the whole Ramirez thing when it was bought up in a press conference. Player recruitment seems to be totally down to Les Reed and Cortese, so blame them. If rumours are to be believed, Adkins doesn't even pick the formation, and even team selection is being heavily dictated by a need to comply with 'The Southampton Way'.
Adkins says he works with the recruitment team. I suspect he is involved with discussion of targets, but they will be located and approached by the recruitment team. This is the new way in football and I suspect it is true for most teams apart from where old school managers like Ferguson are still in charge. It must make life difficult because there must be some players that Nigel would like to throw more money at to get (such as Buttner??) and others he'd give a swerve to. When asked about new signings post-match, he thinned his lips and said it would be tireless...not a happy bunny at that moment. However, although he got the job by understanding Cortese's dream of the Southampton way, I doubt that team selection is dictated to him. I bet Nicola would be quite happy with an ugly win next Sunday.
Seeing as Fergusons approach to football has had the odd success you would of thought we would model it a bit more on him ? Liverpool dropped this system last year , Daniel Camolli anyone ?
How stupid can you actually be to be calling for Adkins' head after two games? How thick must you be? It's laughable. I think even if we are to be relegated Adkins will still be the right man for the job, he is on a learning curve.
Find where I have called for his head and I will give you an apology and also fellow fans for being completely stupid .
Barcelona have had the odd success or two as well. Very few managers at the top level nowadays have a large involvement in transfer policy. Even 'Arry at spurs admitted he was more of an interested observer.
So you are saying Pep Guardiola had no saying at all into who was brought into Barcelonas side ? Or Arsene Wenger ? Or Mourinho ? I would imagine they would have some say on purchases ..................
Yes I am saying that Guardiola had very little or no say in transfer policy at Barca. That is a matter of public record and has been how they operate for a long time. I imagine something similar exists at Madrid. Not sure what happens at Arsenal, but I don't think Wenger is solely in charge of transfers (he wasn't when Dein was there anyway, perhaps that's why they've fallen off the pace recently)
So Wenger did not sign Nasri , Song , Walcott , he was just told to accept them ? Mourinho did not sign Ozil ?
Managers don't sign players. Of course they have an input but they have scouts to identify targets and boards who pull the trigger. It varies from club to club how much the manager is involved, obviously senior managers like Ferguson and Wenger will be involved more than others, but it's not like football manager where they are just given a budget of X million and they can spend it on who they like.
I thought racist chanting was an offence! Why didn't you report him to the stewards for them to chuck him out of the ground ensued by a 5 year ban at least? Or do they turn a blind eye in the Northam to such events?
Quite often I feel deeply embarrassed by comments made on the net in various forums and at our games. I really don't get why these people go to our games, if they do that is, when all they do is criticise the players, Nigel and Nicola. We have just had three brilliant seasons after looking doomed. Even the greatest optimist should have known that we will find things a lot harder this season. We all tend to agree on our weaknesses with one or two differences. Guly is a very gentle man as my seven year old daughter will only to happily confirm. He does not deserve the abuse he gets and nor do any of the other players. As supporters it is our job to do just that I would have thought. We will do much better if we all stay on the bus as one.
