I suppose that "one day" is an inevitability Fran but when did he say this? And why on earth do you think that WBA would turn his head?
It was in his Player interview and remember that is edited. He said sometime in the future there could be a time he'd leave and he hoped it would be done in the right way. Remind you of when he came from Scunthorpe? The thing that worried me was it was a strange thing to say in the middle of an interview about such a wondrous day. I cannot imagine why anyone would want to leave Saints personally for any other club in the world, but has Adkins fully moved down here? If anyone can calm my paranoia, please do.
I know what you mean about that line in the interview. Every time NIgel is interviewed about an upcoming game he gives the same interview, not because he can't be bothered to engage with the interviewer or to just speak in cliche, but rather because he really means everything he says about the quality of his players, the work that they do, etc. He has always deflected any question about how well he has done personally with the standard "we have an important game on Tuesday..." approach but now that the season is over and the goal achieved, he couldn't deflect the question in that way. His answer seemed to be an honest appraisal of the life of a football manager, ie that they are only 5-6 poor results from being in trouble. Knowing how Pardew was sacked for a poor start last season and also the ambitious plans for the club laid out by NC, the pressure will be on next season. it has also been suggested by others on here that knowing that some players are not going to make the cut next season he was subdued by that, I don't know. I honestly can't see him leaving unless it was to a dream job which he couldn't refuse, such as Liverpool or more likely because he found that the pressure of management costs too much personally at some point. I am sure that he was being very sincere but I do wish he hadn't said it. This summer I want a nice steady evolution of the club. A few good signings, players who understand the whole "on the bus" mentality. Perhaps a couple more in January, everyone fighting for the right to make the first 11. No nasty shocks, thank you!
My guess is all he was doing was pointing out that in the Premier league managers don't have a long shelf life. If we start badly next season there will be morons calling for his head and we know that NC has a plan which certainly would not include relegation. That said I'm hugely confident that we will make the right decsions over the summer and as Swansea and Nowrwich have done we can have a great first season back where we belong! WE ARE PREMIER LEAGUE!!!!!!
Thought he summed it up very well on Radio Solent this morning, when asked about his comments. He did also point out that it had been on the end of a few hours of interviews on Saturday. But he wants to stay for as long as humanly possible. Is that long enough Fran..? Or would nothing less than eternity suffice..?
