No it doesn't. I said that it will take time for Still to sort the team out. We may have ro slip down to 20th before we see improvements. Saints will finish up much higher but atill a long way off the play offs.
The parachute payments for relegated PL clubs create a totally unfair dynamic in the Championship. I don't have a better idea but it's plain as the nose on your face that said payments create a colossal advantage. Expectation for a relegated team is always immediate promotion. Always. Suggesting otherwise is utterly bizarre.
Been reading everything with interest. A few comments on how the club/Sports Republic have basically been silent......I've just sussed it, they are so incompetent, idiotic and utterly confusing, they're going to sack him on Friday aren't they?
I mean, honestly, I'm 51 now, so I can't be accused of being either young (sadly) or impatient (some would say I'm a happy clapper). But we're talking about taking our best attacking player off for Jack ****ing Stephens. We talk about getting the crowd behind you, and how important the "twelfth man" of the crowd is. That's correct too. But there is nothing in the world that boosts a crowd's support than bringing on a hugely talented, home grown 18 year old for his debut. That is what gets supporters going (even if you make other mental subs), but no, you bring on Ryan oh let's call him "Wee Man" to make him more amenable Fraser, who has recently had the same impact on football matches as my poetry had when I was 14 on the complete works of T.S.Eliot. Now I really want Will Still to work out. I'd love it. But man, seriously, help us to help you.
I agree with pretty much everything you have said Ian. I have said similar on here about promotion this season and that yeah Still makes some odd subs etc at times, think he is just scared of losing and this then brings pressure on us and we end up conceding and either drawing or losing. This seems to be a recurring theme with managers since the end of Ralph's time here. Pre SR Ralph was good, post SR Ralph and everyone else bar Martins promotion season(he nearly fluffed that) have struggled and been very cagey, not able to get a tune out of players who really should do better. I don't understand it myself but there has to be a link, are the managers being controlled by SR to play a certain way, to play certain players? Makes me think that changing the manager will not make a jot of difference, just as it has not for the other changes we have made mid season. I think this season was always going to be a struggle and needs to be seen as a reboot season. Still needs time to implement his ideas and sign some more players in January and the summer and then judge him on next season. Who do you think SR would appoint if they sack Still? I highly doubt it will be any of the names that people mention on here.
LTL We were the second worst team in Premier League history last seaaon and our best players have been sold. I cannot understand why some aupporters believed we were a shoo in for promotion. I get the business of parachute payments and recognise the investment in new players. The new squad has only been assembled for two months. It is madness expecting a new team to click immediately and even more so when our strike force has not been improved. This is my only criticism and it is down to SR. If Downs had been as good as out scouting staff believed, we would be around the play offs. I think we will cash in on Downes in January and add a new forward. I don't see this as a problem that sits on Still's doorstep. Judge Will Still in May and not after 3 months ! In most people's jobs , this is still the probation period. Bringing a new manager in is not the solution albeit sacking Juric now looks rash. I think he was probably a good coach. If anyone needs to go , it is SR. They are more culpable.
Sunderland struggled to even make the playoffs last season, changed the majority of their first team over the summer, and are now flying in the Prem. I get that there should be a bit of a hangover, but we gave ourselves the ideal tonic in the Wrexham win. We should have kicked on from there. Even forgiving the odd bad performance, we should have won twice as many games by now.
I truly believe they will get lucky one day, and hire the right manager. Only worry is where we will be by then.
Another worry is how long will he stay should his achievements with us attract the attention of a 'bigger' club?
I hear what you're saying, Ian (I'd had a couple of beers for the first time in ages last night!), and no, I don't think we are or were a shoo in for promotion - as Leicester and Ipswich are proving, it ain't that easy, and we are ten times more rotten than them. But we should be doing an awful lot better, and there should be some kind of recognition by now of what it is we're trying to do, in patterns of play etc. I do think he's had some horrendous luck added to that (not least in terms of injuries etc) but the substitutions he's making alone are absolutely mind-bogglingly strange, and continually make us ten times worse. You're right, in a normal job this would be a probation period, but probation periods are there to work out whether or not someone is up to the task in hand before fully employing them. If football had probation periods, he'd be on his way now.
Any idea whether clubs put clauses in manager contracts these days, e.g. no pay off if sacked within first year? You’d like to hope so given how often managers are sacked, but then would they sign if we tried doing that? Wonder how much it would cost us if we got rid.
I'm going to give my 2 cents worth if it's worth anything. The problems at Saints go beyond Will Still. I believe there is a cultural problem at Saints that doesn't make the club much fun to play for. I also think someone high up in the club hierarchy is interfering in the playing side hence the odd substitutions. Will Still is doing it because he has to. The players aren't sure who is in charge. I suspect it's Rasmus Ankerson who is interfering. We've had so many managers under Sports Republic. Why have none of them worked out? Even incompetents get it right by accident eventually. Juric should have worked. Martin should have done better if his methods were challenged at the club. We can sack Will Still and get someone new but the results will be the same and Saints will get a reputation for being unmanageable. I
Blackmore has alluded to interference from Rasmus on more than one occasion; I've suspected it for years to be honest - 3 at the back is 100% a directive from those above. Why else would every manager turn back to it?
I said as much about interference in my last post, I'm not sure how much or how it would even work, but I feel there is some truth to this. The football has not been great to watch but Still has a really hard job on his hands. Do people forget that this is a club that have been relegated twice in 3 seasons? I think certain players are also still affected by Martins tactics which then causes confusion. Not sure why more people can't see that this is all about fixing the team and the mindset and that Still is actually doing for the most part a good job. Trouble is he will be aware of the feeling of the vocal negative fans who hounded out Jones and will now possibly do the same to Still. I've seen this many times over the years, it's like some people just want the next shiny big thing! Still isn't a sexy Poch or even a shouty Pardew, he is quiet and is almost certainly even more reserved than when he arrived due to results and crowd noise. Doesn't mean he isn't a great coach, but many just don't want to give these people time. Say what you want about Jones, he did well before us and he's doing well after us, he's a good coach. We are the problem. Puel was a good coach, how do people know that his tactics weren't going to get a bit more exciting, they don't, they just wanted him out! People seem to want instant success which for the most part is not realistic.
I genuinely find it hard to believe that there is interference from above relating to team selection etc. Just seems like an easy and convenient answer to why we're rubbish but not actually likely at all imo. The truth is more likely to be that the club is rotten from top to bottom.
