Not just being pedantic, Beddy, but 76/77 was a bit of a disaster. Channon went and we just didn't live up to the promise we thought was evident when we won the Cup. It was 77/78 that Lawrie finally got us out of Div 2 - further proof of your substantive point that the Board kept faith with our greatest manager - to date!
Has Nigel gone? Oops, nope - just another pointless and speculating thread which is pre-mature to say the least.
Must point out that Holloway was a different scenario. He was told that the wage ceiling would remain at £10k and given that it is no surprise he remained in the job going down. Still I am in the Nigel stay even if we go down camp because I think it will be more beneficial in a few years time than get a 'stepping stone' manager just to keep our heads above the water season after season for the next years only to go down anyway. As for Benitez rumours and people saying he would be good. Come on, is his boring boring defend defend counter fit in with the Southampton way. As for SK. Would you really be surprised if he is still manager in a week's time? Really? If that happened and judging by the polls there would be Angry 'Cortese Out' mobs outside of St Mary's I'm sure. We would be back to the bad days in an instant and Cortese knows it!!! Liebherrs would sell now if they were going to sell. A Premier club no matter how many points they have is worth double a championship club in terms of $$$
After all he's done for you, giving up on him now is disrespectful, and pretty unfair to the guy. At least have faith in him until xmas.
He would have to go before that as a new manager would have to access the squad , having said that a cursory glance is enough to access our defence is crap so maybe 26th December .
I'm positive and dont think we'll be relegated but FLT you're bang on as usual andif it should happen I thoroughly agree with you.
It doesn't matter what us as the fans think, Cortese will do what he thinks is best for the club. With the new TV deal starting next year staying up is an absolute must because of the sums of money involved. Cortese see's it as a business and if he feels that Adkins isn't going to mainatin our Premier League status he will get rid and say thank you very much for the last two years. Nigel has had to have these conversations with a number of players over the summer who he deemed not good enbough for the Premier League, so in a cold hearted way its not unrealistic to expect Cortese to have that same conversation should the results continue. I think stability is the way forward and the club should support Nigel after the job he has done personally but with this huge TV deal I think the green eyed monstor is going to prevail unfortunatly.
If we lost Nigel, it would ruin all the happy feelings at the end of last season. Who could forget an emotional Nigel trying to get away from an interviewer to join his team? Not a reason to keep a manager but very sad. I want NA to be given more time....too early for a knee jerk reaction.
Every ambitious football club CEO currently looking for a top manager must be watching developments at St Marys very closely. We would be absolute idiots to even think of sacking Nigel.
Imo biggest load of tosh you've ever written, If we get relegated with the amount of money Nige has spent then he 100% has to go. What would be the advantage of keeping him?
Nigel is a quality manager, the finest two examples being his record number of home wins and the amazing winning streak to clinch automatic promotion from league 1. Although he has made some mistakes he has admitted his fault and claimed full responsibility. Which is impressive but even more than that I have been staggered by Nigel's tactical courage this season, starting JWP, having Lambert as an impact sub twice (to immediate effect both times), blooding so many new players, subbing Lambert, subbing fox at half time against villa and switching clyne, starting Hooiveld after his woeful form etc. I love his conviction and think that he will do what he thinks is right regardless of the consequences which is how it should be. However I think Nigel has placed too much faith in his footballing principles and has not been willing to compromise beautiful football for the sake of results. When he stated we will play 4-3-3 at the end of his post match interview I felt like that inflexibility will cost us points. Stating 4-3-3 as an ideal that should be followed is an escape from reality, and unless Adkins alters this approach I feel the team will continue to underperform.
A balanced analysis, which is why it stands out on this thread. You put it better than I could, but in a nutshell the game's not up yet for Nigel. However, it would be naive not to accept that he's on notice until things improve. That's just the way things are in the 21st Century.
