Just so long as it is good interesting stuff and nothing to unsettle us. I get very nervous and easily upset these days. I need reassurance and gentle stroking.
Ah QPR away, I used to look forward to this fixture back in the day when I followed Saints all over the country (back in the carefree days of singledom!). My mate had a sister who lived in Richmond and a group of us would travel up on the friday before the match and hit the pubs of West London and stay overnight. This was in the days of the old plastic pitch at Loftus Road and the match itself would be a bit of a farce, but I recall battering them 4-0 on one occasion and taunting them with the chant "QPR...ha ha ha!". We always seemed to get good results there, lets hope that we can again on saturday.
Just setting off again to spend another day doing media work - but when I get some free time, probably tonight, I'll share what I can.
Tadic says he's fully fit and likes a week between games so hopefully he will play better this weekend. He needs to get back to the form he was in when he joined or I think he's going to find himself on the bench with all the completion there is up front now.
Safe travels to those heading to Loftus Road. One of my favourite grounds. Great day there when we won 3-1 in El Sackio
Serbs use Julian calendar, so to them Christmas falls on 7th of january. I have no idea why this should be relevant, but there you have it. Maybe someone thinks of a suitable joke.
Depends what you want to hear about, really! Did you mean the Cortese/Adkins stuff or something else?
Ohhhh!!! I know your hands are tied for some things but share everything you can please on everything
Oh I'll share it. Adkins and Cortese fell out because Cortese wouldn't allow me to be Nigel's assistant. He couldn't bare the thought of a snappier dresser being in the club.
- Rather unsurprisingly, several players were signed with Adkins not even knowing talks were ongoing until completed (Yoshida, Forren, Mayuka, Ramirez, Lee) - Once we made the PL, Nicola became even more (yes!) of a control freak and continually tried (I've no idea if he was successful) to influence selection and transfers - In the case of Tadanari, NA found out on the coach back and kicked off - Adkins was told to play Lee for 'commercial growth' - which never came - Has been more growth due to Yoshida than Lee - Sharp was farmed out on Cortese's request and Adkins was told to just coach the team and deal with it - Nigel became very paranoid and it was painfully obvious around the club - Adkins knew he was fighting a losing battle in the PL, it was a case of seeing how long he could stay on the horse - He was very self-conscious and worried about how he came across in the media but didn't like doing interviews - Cortese had the media suite ripped out and re-fitted when we went up to the Premier League, only to visit Man City on the opening day (just days after we finished our suites) and decided he wanted ours to be similar to theirs, so ordered them to rip the brand-new and never-used suite up and start again - He never said 'hello' to the executive stewards during his stay, although they did every matchday without fail - He used to make all other club staff get in a separate elevator to him, he always had to go on his own - On the topic of elevators, his modified plans for Staplewood included a glass elevator to take you to his office... yeah, really - Les talked that idea away - He changed the plans so many times the costs doubled (as we knew) - He started telling architects where walls should go and how the structure should be - Kept scrapping contracted work and then refusing to pay other people - One company changed the carpets and had to take Saints to court, only to get the money the day before the case - The girls in high-heels selling programmes was his idea - He was excessively prickly with some media, yet at the same time clearly hypocritical in his behaviour with others (White, Smith, Ashton) - He was also flying his 'favoured few' around in private jets and wining and dining them on club books while preparing to use them for spin against KL - Besides Nicola... Koeman is very calm about the rest of the season - Ronald says we don't have the experience of our rivals, but we can only gain it from participating - He tries to help by talking about his experiences and trying to assist, but ultimately until you do it for yourself it makes no sense - Wants players to ignore the media, the crowd, all the speculation and just stick to the plan and we will succeed - Les has told him there is no pressure if we don't make Europe, this is all part of a longer plan - Pushing ahead with continued development to Staplewood, next step is improving the facilities for the youngsters and their schooling - Cheering on the English sides so they have to play as much as possible - I fully expect us to sign Vilhena fairly promptly in the summer - I expect to see Clyne and Schneiderlin leave, regardless of league finish - I personally don't see Toby remaining at the club - Osvaldo is earning in excess of £70k per week - There is no way Osvaldo will ever return - He is banned from Staplewood, although the incident was not as bad as Ashton made out in the Mail - Ronald knows Southampton's standing in England, it takes time to change perceptions, many years - but we can do it - If players choose to leave because they think the grass is greener elsewhere, that is up to them - but he will replace them and keep us progressing - Koeman said the club's success is not due to Adkins, Pochettino, himself, Liebherr, Reed or any one person - it's a huge team effort across many years - Everyone should be recognised for their work in taking Saints from L1 to PL - but we must realise it is the structure that enabled our mobility - Jay's future is up in the air - understandably, due to interest and also Saints current position and his contract - Koeman has already said he wants Elia and Djuricic on a permanent basis, and he tried to talk Toby into a January move - Money to spend in the summer, plus what the club can generate in sales - Ronald doesn't get close to anyone in the British media, he's very business-like - very personable but when the interviews are done, he goes quickly - Media very fond of Koeman, he gives good quotes and is engaging and open - Mauricio used to hang behind and offer drinks and chats with the media - (for 1 hour after the Sunderland cup loss) - MP went round to all the media after the game at WHL this season to catch-up with them - Adkins was the same but used to clam up as soon as someone turned a camera or microphone on - Nigel was a bit of a 'yes man' to Nicola, and as many of us speculated, he was only ever seen as the man to get Saints out of L1 - He wasn't meant to be the one to take us to the Premier League Couple of other things but best saved for another time.
I wouldn't go that far! A couple out, and a good few in - good news from it is we'll continue to be self-sustaining and not have to go to KL for a handout again. I'm just glad we have Koeman and Reed primed and ready this time, and Krueger knows what we're dealing with too - nothing like last summer. In many ways, Clyne & Schneiderlin are possibly the last big players of the Cortese era - which sounds weird, when you think.
