I'm deeply shocked, I heard rumours of the sacking five or six hours ago, although they were growing with intensity, I just couldn't believe them. You may well be a bloody minded hard nosed businessman, but I've agreed with all of your decisions.....up until now. The sacking of Nigel Adkins is tragic, I've rattled my brain to try & think of a more undeserved sacking in the world of football....& lets face it, there has been many! But, I can't think of one that is as bad as this. The man had achieved two consecutive promotions, but he didn't dine of them, he fought harder because of them. He stayed true to the clubs beliefs, he remained loyal to his own. He inspired players that maybe didn't have the required talent, he brought on youngsters who hadn't had a chance. If Ted Bates were around, I think he would have said there wasn't a better man for the job. God, this feels terrible writing this, I've never doubted any decision you have made, but I just keep shaking my head in disbelief, is this really happening, this week, now? Have you not seen what has be going on, not just in match days but behind the scenes as well? The guy is loved here, he's credited most recently as being the motivational source of our recent run. Just this week players came out & said they have never worked with someone so positive, its infectious, its infected our group, its why we haven't been losing games, they all believe in him. I hope the squad are not taking this as badly as some of us, if they are we are in real danger. The timing is so inexplicable, we've been so high this week, a fantastic win on Saturday followed by the most spirited away performance at one of the big clubs we'll likely to see this season (I'd say that's a given now). The football world will frown on you, & there is nothing we can do. So do expect other clubs to stick the knife in, that's the nature of the game when you are involved in a multi-million pound relegation battle, we are now an easy target. Talk about giving your rivals a massive lift. Saying all that, sitting here with my heart ripped out, I can't turn my back on my club & I've never booed a Southampton player or staff member. But we all live by our actions, & we all pay for our mistakes, I hope after seeing all the feedback you still feel you have made the right decision hiring Mauricio Pochettino. Time will tell & there will be little places to hide. The King is Dead, Long Live the King.
I do think that if supporters continue to support the team as they were before and back Pochittinho as much as they backed Adkins when he joined, we'll finish higher in the Premier League this season. I think Cortese thinks we're going to be safe and is going for more than just safety. A gamble yes, but at least he has the balls to do it - some might view it as gambling with their loyalty. The manager has a good background and we have to stick with him now. I would have kept Adkins, even if he'd seen us relegated but what has happened, has happened - life goes on.
He's done his job. Almost without exception everything he's done has benefited us. Why all of a sudden, is his judgement suspect? It's because Nigel Adkins is such a nice guy. Like all of you, I'm disappointed with the sacking, but Cortese has shown us on more than one occasion that he knows what he's doing.
The sacking is just a savage act of butchery! There is absolutely no dignity in the course of action taken by Southampton FC this morning. Looks like Cortese is trying to outdo Roman Abramovich!!! It may well rebound on him!!!
There are alot of threads, & this thread was indeed not required, it was more about letting myself spill something out rather than depressingly reading other threads. Selfish, yeah, feeling a bit selfish today. I don't want people to turn on our chairman, but I fear his decision might well of made the rest of the season a much harder up hill battle. I'm glad you lot are coming to terms with it so quick, I'm going to take a while on this one, & not through choice. Maybe I put a little too much prominence on the word respect, maybe I'm a tad old fashioned, it just does not sit right with me.
Nigel is a man with style and deserved better than this, remember when Cortese tried to lure him away from S....thorpe and Nigel refused to move unless an adequate compensation package was installed. Class pure class unlike the actions of Cortese this day IMO.
Shocked, surprised, stunned. There is no doubt it is harsh decision, and I am sorry to see Nigel go. I loved that man. But Cortese has earnt my trust and loyalty. If he thinks this is for the best, that this will take us to another level, then I accept his decision. Only time will tell if it's a good decision or not. I don't need any proof that it's a harsh, cold-hearted decision, but I'm not yet convinced that it's a bad one. Remember that the sacking of Pardew seemed harsh at the time, but ultimately Cortese was completely vindicated. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here. It's clearly being going on behind the scenes for sometime. The new guy himself has said that he's been researching our squad for some weeks now. So it's not like Cortese has looked at a draw away to Chelsea and said "right, that's just not good enough, he's got to go now". Unfortunately, 1000s of fans wont be as understanding and accepting as me - and I can completely understand why, by the way. I am not looking forward to the atmosphere at home on Monday night. They're going to angry, and consequently not behind the team. I can see Everton ripping us to pieces as a result. Goodbye Nigel and thank you. I'll miss you, I'll miss you a lot.
He has done too much good to be labelled with that **** Trix, but he has made a bloody big mess today. By all means stay and wipe your feet in the mess though, we'll get plenty of that over the coming weeks.
Havn't seen you here recently now your lot are getting found out. Lucky you got your points on the board early...
