All this media hype is so very illogical, for several reasons. 1. No-one doubts what Nigel has done so far for this club in the 2 and a bit years he has been here. 2. NA and NC are a match made in heaven as far as their vision of the future of this club and the syle of football we should play. 3. There were mistakes made in the summer transfer window in signing a couple of defenders, but those mistakes were not necessarily made by Nigel Adkins. 4. We are stuck with the players we have until the January window opens. Unless Nigel really has "lost the dressing room" big-time there is no-one better than him for getting something out of those players, bearing in mind his inside knowledge. 5. If we go down in May, it isn't the end of the world for the club. We came up 2 years ahead of schedule, so we could still bounce back a remain on schedule. Nigel Adkins would be an ideal person to manage that return, and would arrive back in the Prem with the benefit of that much more experience. 6. If NA does go, who the hell could we get that would buy into the vision and work alongside Cortese?
Far be it from me to accuse you of being deliberately misleading, but you seem to have missed the qualifying clause in the title which changes the meaning dramatically. "Southampton on verge of sacking Nigel Adkins if a suitable replacement is available quickly" Not to mention the subheading: "Nicola Cortese, the Southampton chairman, is seriously considering his options and the position of manager Nigel Adkins but is not minded to make a change unless he can quickly secure a replacement." That gives a rather different impression to your edited version.
If he does go it will be my saddest moment as a saints fan, barring the administration debacle and I've been through two relegations and an FA cup final loss. I'll sing my heart out for him if he's here on saturday, and follow any club he joins if he does go. I wouldn't care if Redknapp took over I can swallow my pride if he did well for us, but I wouldn't stand for it if Di Canio took charge. Either way if Adkins goes I'd want a new manager in place before the next game.
This is a situation where I'm happy for my heart to rule my head - Adkins is my man & I truly want him to turn it around; not droopy, Di Canio, or anyone else whose name comes up from time to time. Will it happen? **** knows, but I don't want to go back to the bad old days of changing managers every five minutes - obviously I wish we were doing better, but we've been in tough spots before & we're still alive & kicking. Hearing the travelling fans singing Nige's name loud & proud last night made my heart race with pride - they were brilliant & it was great to hear.
I gave a thumbs up and said the loyalty is great. I was merely pointing out that the situation is unusual. With regards to Allardyce. He has us ticking along quite nicely thanks.
Is that it now then? Nigel is going to be a "caretaker" until Cortese finds someone? Very sad if that is what it is coming to.
I'm sure that is not it! My guess is he has about six games too turn things around. If we don't win a couple at least we will be adrift and too late for even a spending spree to save us. Saturday is massive!
Just found this gem! Actually funny as **** 'Under the guidance of Adkins, the Saints achieved a club record of clean sheets in one season. Beating the previous record of 19 set by Peter Shilton in the early 80s.' This was in league one by the way.
Precisely why we appointed Les Reed to run the football side of the club. Hard-nosed businessmen like Cortese or Abramovic are notoriously impatient and don't know enough about football to make a carefully thought out decision that is called for when a manager's future is at stake. Some sort of mild autism possibly that makes them incredibly driven, but unrelenting and unwilling to step back and consider. If Reed is happy, then Nigel will probably stay.
The fact is Nigel took over in 2010. When we went to watch us play that season never in our wildest dreams would we have imagined being in the Premier league this season. I remember how tense that season was. Huddersfield wouldn't leave us alone!!! We went to the Championship and no one knew what to expect. Many of us thought we would be bottom half. Adkins achieved the magical double promotion. He's basically a victim of his own success and the team overachieving last season. Perhaps it made him think the defence was better than it is. He could have easily consolidated for at least a couple of seasons in the Championship. He's made his job expectancy shorter by being so successful The defence only let in 46 goals in 46 games last season. Only Reading let in fewer in the whole league. We only let in 38 in league one, fewer than anyone. This brings me to another point. That Hammond and Cork were doing a much better job to protect the defence than they were credited for by the fans and Adkins
Actually, I think he's a victim of the success that Norwich and Swansea had last season but mainly Norwich. We were all thinking if Norwich can get back to back promotions and have a very good season back in the PL, why can't we? Unfortunately it hasn't turned out like that.
To be fair, it looks more like When, not If now It'll be a sad day for this football club when Nige departs
Of course Cortese is concerned about our present position, he is in a results driven job. It's his job to be concerned and to make decisions. However, he has to have a replacement manager who can turn things round. Without that he might as well give NA time and see what happens, so the next few games are not only to save Saints but also to save Nigel's job.
As I said in other threads I feel Cortese has got himself in a corner by saying saints will not be relegated while he is chairman therefore Adkins has no chance of survival if relegation beckons
The only man I would accept to replace him is Rafa Benitez. And even then I would prefer Adkins to stay.
