Yesterday's events left me in a very depressed mood which was not lifted by the signing of a new centre back or positive comments about our new manager nor was it helped by the fact that I heard the news while travelling to attend the funeral of a dear friend. It has however set me thinking about how we all feel about our club and a quite clear mismatch between the values of many of our fans and those of our chairman. Over the last few months I believe we had slipped back into being the fans of the old Southampton FC. We all still saw our club as a friendly provincial club that was not going to set the world alight. We had one or two good players and we played attractive football. We could on our day turn over one of the top sides and on another get a drubbing from a struggling one. As the season developed it looked like we were going to just about survive in the Premier League but that it would probably go to the wire. We were satisfied with that and it is what we have come to accept. The old days and the Saints of old were back and we had slipped into our familiar comfort zone. What we had all forgotten was the ambition of our chairman. He sees Saints very differently to many of the fans who maybe just didn't believe him or thought it was just words or him daydreaming when he talked about where he saw Saints in the future. But that is not so. Nicola has a vision and he is going to make sure we achieve it. It has taken the shock of the dismissal of Nigel to shake us out of our apathy and to make us think that we are perhaps in the embryonic stages of something that is beyond our imagination. In organisational culture theory it is often said that a shock or surprise event is needed to move an organisation from its former culture into a new and very different one. Well yesterday's news was just such a shock for many. Today I have at last realised that Southampton FC has become a very different football club to the one I have supported for over forty years. I have to ask myself whether I share Nicola's vision for the future or if I hanker for the Saints of old. If I wish to remain a Saints fan it has to be the former for the latter is no longer in existence. So it has to be thanks Nigel Adkins and good luck to you and welcome Mauricio Pochettino.
Sums it up really well Godders. At the end of the day we are Saints fans not Nigel fans. Loved the bloke and will be grateful forever but time to move on and up!
Godders... Nice post... I guess it sums up a lot of what I've been trying to think over the last 24 hrs or so. The obvious overriding emotion from yesterday has to be shock. Shock at the manner in which our beloved Nigel was dealt with, shock that it's an unknown manager, shock that it's been going on behind the scenes for a few weeks apparently... Bit as you rightly state.... Shock that our club has quietly succumbed to become a ruthless power house in the making. We will never know if things would have been different if Markus was still around, the old romantic notion in my mind says that Nigel and Markus would have been inseparable, etc but we will never know. So I guess as fans of that romantic notion that we like to associate with what was once "our" club, we are guilty of sleepwalking a little... Taking all stories of stadium redevelopment and champions league with a large pinch if salt and a kind of non belief.... Time will tell if this is right for us and I hope to high heaven it is. I think the biggest thing I can hope is that whatever he does, NC takes a minute to look skywards and think "what would Markus do" and "is this right for the club"? What happens yesterday pains me, but like it or lump it, the blood that flows through me is red and white forever..... I take a large sigh before I once again say "up the saints"..... Lets gets behind the boys and in that I include the new man at the helm.
One of the best posts I have seen on this forum Godders. Sums it up perfectly. I liken Saints previously to a girl low in confidence and self esteem. The ones we love would always leave, except that ugly fella with the big nose. Now we've lost weight, got a new wardrobe, read a self-help book and were in charge of our own destination. Step back, this bitch got swag. Haters can do one
While typing one of my rambling posts on the Echo Forum I typed, it's like a Dr Who re-generation! I have since thought a bit more about it and it isn't such a daft analogy, not all of the Doctors regenerations have been better than the previous one, Sylvester McCoy for example! What will this one be like?
That's fine if you're happy to fall for a cold hearted bitch with no loyalty just because she looks good on your arm. That other girl had soul. Give me her any day.
I was just about to post along the lines of Godders' summary, though I think he has put it far better than I would have. What I would add, and where I do think nc is at fault, is that he is not communicating his targets and vision clearly enough. What did he expect of the coming season? Is it about results, style of play, our ability to attract top players, integration of youth players etc. major change in any organisation is easier to accept when the context is clear.
I think we know by now that NC won't play the media game. I think his vision is clear he wants OUR club to be a self sufficient top PL side playing in Europe. He thought rightly or wrongly that Nigel could not deliver that.
Well done Godders, at last a semblance of logic and rather less of the melodramatics. We all like NA and his stock is high and will no doubt get higher; one day when he returns with his team, he'll probably turn us over. As has been stated elsewhere, I believe Cortese thought NA was having problems attracting new signings but that's conjecture. I personally made very careful note when he sacked Pardew immediately following a 4-0 away win I have been attending saints games for almost 40 years and have seen quite a few comings and goings, I have no doubt NA will be regarded as one of the great saints managers, I think that's the best way to think of him. Now I'm hoping Senor Pochettino is going to be another Hoddle who I rated very highly (regarding football matters) but only time will tell, certainly a baptism of fire with the immediate run of fixtures. Whatever, on Monday there should be no booing the TEAM especially when the game is in progress, IMO of course. Am going to stick my neck out and say the new man will do better than Branfoot and Redknapp !! ONWARDS AND UPWARDS COYS
Haha, got a giggle from this, very freudian ! Remember those girls keep ugly fellow's with big noses in business
At last a well thought out response to what was a shock to many but not all , Adkins came across as a decent hard working enthusiastic man but let's be honest lacking in experience at the top level both as player and coach ,some may say he was learning and may develope into a top manager but Cortese has been consistent from the outset about his vision for the club and as godders states I think many thought it was a pipe dream and the saints we have known and supported for many years would amble along the same old way but be financially secure ,well it seems our chairman who was the driving force behind our being saved from extintion has meant everything he has said and mediocracy is not his bag ,I have supported saints for 50 years now and can't say I ever even dreamed of saints winning the league title ,cup success yes titles no so for me it's a concept hard to imagine but if that prospect becomes a reality I think the majority of fans would lap it up,what would you fans prefer the old days of survival on last day of season or fighting for the title ? Totally different mind set ,one which who knows we may have to get used to under Cortese .Southampton premiership and European champions ,just dosnt sound right ,but could it
I believe this new girl will have more bling and get more attention from the other guys. I'm going to feel good being with her, but in reality we have little in common.
Godders this is what I've said on a couple of other threads. Our Chairman ha more ambition than any of the fans. Good post that puts more detail and thought than the previous comments I'd made.
I agree with Godders analysis and I have always known that the old adage, "there is no room for sentiment in business" is a mantra dear to Cortese's heart. Those who's question whether a football club should be run like any other business need only look down the road and elsewhere to see what happens when you don't run it on that basis. The bills have to be paid and budgets set. The club wasn't bought by ML as a rich mans plaything. It was an investment and bought as a project to build a stable club playing great football. I didn't much enjoy yesterday. But I think that those who question Nicola's motivation are well wide of the mark. I have yet to see a single decision which indicates short-term thinking or a desire to asset-strip. I think it's also obvious that he is not on an ego trip. Question his judgement if you want, not his motivation, he wants the best for the club. And he is not in the habit of making serious mistakes. I am quite certain that Saints will be a top ten side. And when the financial chickens come home to roost, maybe a lot higher than that.
I think Godder's post raises the interesting point re: Organisational Culture Theory. Yes surprise or even shock can shift the culture, but such a move does come with inherent risks. 1. Sacking a successful manager who had the respect of those who worked for him is likely to lower morale which in turn can lower output. 2. There are key personnel in any organisation and will they be on board with the cultural shift? For example, will those advising Shaw see this as an opportunity to 'cash in'. 3. There is also the question of stability, when an organisation deals in an underhand way, some might call it ruthlessness some might call it unethical; it creates uncertainty, a sense of anxiety. Rarely do organisations perform well in such circumstances for any length of time. There are several more risks involved in what Cortese has done, but perhaps the main point would be that the shock/surprise decision can be seen not only in Organisational Culture Theory terms but also as a straight forward 'speculate to accumulate' business decision. That the right man was available to take the project forward. In such circumstances you have to assess the current state of the market and is disturbing stability when 3 points above the relegation places a risk worth taking, or a risk that had to be taken? Finally, is this still my club? How long before the family deem Cortese profligate, who is he actually accountable to? Emotionally it is still my club, as a soap opera that has been fairly central to large part of my life since my first visit to the Dell in 1957 it has become parody. Perhaps it always was, but this morning I feel more disconnected than in the days of Branfoot.
Interesting post St Godders. I've been rethinking what it is to support the Saints since yesterday, such is the shock. I've also been thinking about the few times that TSS has mentioned that he feels that we are going to become a very different club, such is Cortese's ambition. Not sure if he has bought this up yet, but similar sentiments to what you are saying regards to leaving little old Saints behind.
