It's never dull supporting Saints. In my time going to games we've lost a cup final, got relegated twice, won a paint pot, got back to back promotions, qualified for Europe twice including beating Inter and going to the San Siro and reached another cup final before a relegation battle this season. Wouldn't have it any other way.
Neither am I but if we get rid of Les Reed and Hughes without replacements lined up for immediate starts (experience says that won't happen) then we will have a huge void at a very important time when we need a big clear out regardless of which league we are in hence I think its one or the other
I think we could do a lot worse than Mark Hughes. He seems both pragmatic and charismatic, not unlike Koeman in many ways. We will need leadership next season, and I think he offers that.
Not in the true sense maybe.........he got his purchase money out. So if he now sells the players for about £150 mil then sells the club for £120 mil that would give him a nice healthy profit all out of China. I’ve just got a suspicious mind.
Yes we could do worse and he certainly is a strong character. My reservations are about the approach to football, but I’ll back him if given the job.
Too late, it's obvious where this is going. Hughes is wildly popular compared to the last two, and the board has no ability to upset the fans again. It's going to be an easy decision. He clearly wants to be here, the fans will want him to stay, the fans don't like the board, the board is going to have a lot of other summer problems without adding a new manager to the list.
there is no finanial gain to be had from getting relegated. Players lose value / club losses lucrative sponsorship / tv income etc... I suspect the take-over and in particular the executives being pre-occupied with this during and after the sale coupled with a wider communication break down were major problems this season. Who is in charge? There's been radio silence all season really. The delay in sacking MP when It was obvious from very early on in the season that he was massively out of his depth is a good example of this break down in responsibilty and decision making at the club. Albeit there are other wider and deeper problems at SFC but MP was a shockingly bad choice and that delay must have been due to some serious communication break down between new owner and the executives. That delay in sacking Pellegrino continues to baffle me. So its a complete mess tho and unforgiveable really as this was all avoidable.
Ok, who's hacked Jonny's account?... Seriously, that is the most concise, insightful and most of all coherant post that you have ever made mate, I would like it 100x if I could...
he's still sat at Wembley Park drinking beer in the sun outside the premier inn. A part of me died that day I was initially sat on those green fake grass benches as you walk down the steps from Wembley Park Tube Station... I was sat there with my ear phones on listening to old 70s saints songs on spotify drinking a few tins of beer from M&S and I was thinking at the time how UTTERLY hillarious it would have been at the time to have a boom box portable sound system to blast out saints songs for the supporters as they walk down the steps from the tube station and see the stadium for the first time. "We are Southampton we play down at the Dell, we're better known to most as just the saints"... there are some funnny tunes from yesteryear
I don't think anyone at the club meant us any harm...I don't think there is any weird plan to strip us of money. I think that there was so much going on that a few important people took their eye off the ball and depended on the fact that we seemed a safe EPL club. You know serendipity where good things happen by accident....well it appears there is also anti-serendipity.
They get paid very large wages to make very important decisions. They didn’t make the most obvious one of all. As I have said before, it’s the staff of the club that I feel sorry for. We should not be in this position. Also, the World Cup will hinder a lot of transfer negotiations - I can see this summer being absolutely horrendous for us, exodus out, struggle to get players in.
Mark Hughes stays if he wants to that is, first decision. A mixture of our really promising (including Bednarek) and partly proven younger players with the senior players who really want to wear the shirt. Austin, Long, JWP, Romeo, Yoshida, McCarthy, Hoedt, Hojbjerg would all be on my preferred list, though some may feel the Championship not quite their cup of tea, IF the worst happens. Others might be added if they feel that bit part egotistic players are shown the door and the atmosphere is more disciplined. I still feel we will stay up!
Koeman was a good manager, Mark Hughes isn't. How Hughes is perceived by fans and the media and how he really is with players, is quite alarming. He looks so passionate on the sidelines, but that's him being like the player he was. Off the pitch, he's quiet, hard to warm to and not confident dealing with players, especially ones like ours, utterly bereft of confidence. I have heard this not only from inside Saints in the past 2 weeks but from someone who worked at Stoke.
Koeman was apparently exactly the same behind the scenes though, no? Numerous falling outs with players were discussed on here. Hughes might not be as good as Koeman was for us, but he still achieved 3 top 10 finishes with a poor Stoke team.
Koeman was a very poor man manager and the atmosphere off the training ground wasn’t great. Hughes is better but he manages and one of his oppos does most of the talking and interaction with players. Players know they can’t take the mick with him during training which is a massive change from the previous incumbent. Training is also at a different level. Would I have Hughes in the Championship..... probably not
