Article: CONFIRMED: Mauricio Pochettino replaces Nigel Adkins as Saints manager | Southampton FC, Football

LOL. Martin Keown called NC Nicola Cardese!

 

Have to say he stated his point of view, but never slagged Cortese off. And he told off Merson for wanting all Saints fans punished for the action of our Chairman. He also said this had been stewing since the summer. Probably Cortese picked Nigel to get us back to the PL but, doing it a couple of years early, meant he had a manager he didn't have confidence in for the PL. In general, the panel were well balanced in their views (except Merse who is clearly unbalanced).

 

Was all this NC controversy written in the skies yesterday? At approx 8.30ish ALL buses in Southampton ceased to run...strange or what?

 

Yes agreed. I was actually impressed by Tiss and Charlie Nicholas just then. Wasn't expecting that....

 

Snow.

 

What did big nose say?

 

It's unprofessional, if he says he thinks we'll go down then fair enough, but saying he hopes we go down is just a twattish thing to do. Glad Le Tiss ripped into him for it.

 

Why is Merson still hired? Genuinely? He's terrible at his job.

 

Coming from a west ham fan who were clamouring for BFS to be shafted last season because they weren't walking the league how things have changed. Those hard nosed fans who bemoaned the man's tactics, team selections, formations and style of play yet now (meaning winning the play off lottery and seemingly being safe this season) will protect him when other teams question him I can only say one thing.............Hoof off to your own board.

As for Saints, we had a different kind of manager, a managerr who's style of play we loved, who's tactics, formation never came into question until the latter end of last season. That could well be more down to the quality of our squad than the tactics themselves but he will remain loved for a long time for the good times and the beautiful football.

And on a final note, this is football, managers get paid a lot of money, they know the pitfalls and to say Nigel hardly got a thank you from the club? I suspect that his bank manager will think that a contract to 2016 being paid up at Premier league manager's wages is a pretty big thank you.

TBH when you look at how we have changed things from the academy up over the last year, consistent way of playing through all age groups, a modern formation through all age groups and reading about how the new man did the same at Espanyol it makes me think that Cortese had been wanting this guy for a lot longer than November. Maybe he has been on the radar for a year or more and Cortese had been waiting for him.

Either way. Thanks Nigel for 2 and a half years. Disappointed you aren't still there but I'm tired of hearing the clamour against Southampton from our own fans. This club is 3 times as old as NA. It will (hopefully) live on long after NA, NC and all of us are gone. I support Southampton and although shocked and disappointed with this decision nothing can change the fact I have supported Southampton Football Club through the 4 decades.

Do your grieving, get it out of your system but support the club. The club is more than a manager, it is more than a CEO/Chairman. It is more than players. All of those will come and go. The club will always (hopefuly) remain and that should be your passion.

 

It's because all ex pros are experts on football aren't they?.

 

Are there any pictures of him taking training

Plus some classic merson comments


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"I'm not saying we shouldn't have a foreign manager, but I think he should definitely be English."

More words of wisdom from Merson.
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Before Marseille-Liverpool game.*
Jeff Stelling: "Don't sit on the fence, Paul, what chance do you think Liverpool have got of getting through?"
Paul Merson: "I think it's 50-50."

 

I'm sorry but I wil never sing that song.

 

He came up with some reference to his time at Walsall. Only to finish with, but i was rubbish and deserved to get sacked....at least he admits it...

 

The only positive thing I can say about Merson is he isn't quite as inarticulate as Dean Windass.

 

I don't think that means Nigel was not up to it tactically. I think it shows that we were naive in the first half of the season and recent draws with Arsenal, Stoke and Chelsea show improvement. We altered our style to match Stoke, we altered our style to match Chelsea. Nigel was developing quickly along with the team. And in any case not many teams beat the top teams, and especially in their first season back with a squad of players which only 2 seasons ago were playing in League 1. Nigel managed to get the very best out of the players we have. I have no doubt that he will go on to greater things.

 

Public Relations & SFC do not go hand in hand ... the club are terrible

 

Making stuff up now!

And I've never hated Adkins. Just thought he was a bit smirky.

 

I would break this down into two decisions.

The first, sacking Adkins, seems to me to be extremely harsh and unfair on Adkins. The second is to appoint Poch. That may be a disaster but could also prove to be a masterstroke, we just have to wait and see.

 

If West Ham win today I'll welcome you on this forum, if you don't you can **** off ****.

 

Because those clubs who always finish in the top 4 have a huge fan base and a substantial amount of largesse from owners. Financially, we can never compete against Chelsea or Man City - even Arsenal can no longer do this. Man Utd are uncatchable as they are simply the biggest club side in the world and can gaurantee putting 60,000 bums oin seats everyother Saturday. This is why Man Utd are a great club - they have the history, the culture , the money and a manager the directors have kept faith in. Cortese is becoming like a James Bond villain if he thinks Southampton can ever achieve a degree of dominance in the EPL. Even Malandric wasn't quite a deluded as Cortese if he sincerely believes we can make such an impact in the top flight. This proving to be too much of a challenge for "big" clubs like Liverpool, Newcastle or Spurs. They days of Lawrie Mac when we finished 2nd are long-gone and reflective of a different era when there was more parity between clubs. I don't think most Saints fans would honestly expect those kind of days to be repeated. That was the halcyon time for the club.

I think Nicola needs to be more grounded. We need to be matching teams like West Ham, Stoke, Sunderland or Norwich. If we ever achieve as much as a club such as Everton I would be extremely pleased. The simple fact is that we are a "modern" club with financial stablity and an excellent infrastructure. We have no history of competing in Europe and, if push came to a shove, I would expect most Saints fans would much prefer to thrash a decent Portsmouth side in a fiercely contested local derby than play against the likes of cup winners from somewhere obscure in Eastern Europe.

I don't recognise the Southampton that Cortese is trying to create. As I said before, Nigel was so loved because he was the perfect match for this club. We are not league prima donnas and have no expectations beyond playing in the EPL and maybe enjoying a good cup run with perhaps the treat of a final at Wembley at the end. Southampton can never be a "force" in English football. The culture on the South coast cannot support it and to pursue pipedreams that cannot be achieved can only end in ruin as has happened at Fratton Park. For me, I feel there is such thing as "culture" and "tradition" in footballs clubs and the dismisal of Nigel Adkins on the pretext that he can't take the club to the next level illustrates that Nicola has potentially fatally misunderstood the Southampton way of doing things. In no other profession other than football mangement would someone who has achieved what Nigel has done would have been fired. This is the decision of a meglo-maniac and of a chairman who clearly has not appreciated quite how Southampton fit in the national game.