The sole reason for hiring him was to keep them up. His contract is only until the Summer and includes a bonus if they escape relegation. However holding him entirely responsible when he was employed with only 8 games left and the club in 17th place seems a bit harsh. Its the sort of thing Pouchy would do.
Pouchy is @Free-Dor. A Pardew defending man of high standing and riches. He eats Prawn Sarnies and blows off silver haird ex Premiership managers for glasses of Barolo.
Yeah selling our best players was always going to catch up with us in the end, I think Reed started to feel untouchable and got too complacent. We've completely ****ed up the past 3/4 windows but I still think our squad is one of the best down there but appointing Pellegrino was a mistake and giving him so much time completely ruined us.
He hasn't been on for ages. Think he must be on a beach somewhere for Easter, eating prawn sarnies. We should ask brb to 'edit' his profile while he is gone
No I haven't been on a beach. I just had some very pressing appointments with alcohol. I can't see how Hughes can be blamed for Southampton. I think he's a ****e manager, with a decent eye for a player. He'd make a good scout. However when you take on the challenge of a relegation threatened side you are always at risk of not getting the famous bounce and it not working out. Particularly when you take it on from November onwards - the records not great. Recent history is littered with those trying and failing to turn round a sinking ship. A quick look since 2008 when we last went down: Benitez Marco Silva Steve Agnew Remi Garde Chris Ramsay Neil Adams Felix Magath Ole Gunnar Soksjaer Nigel Adkins Mark Hughes Terry Connor Brian Laws Iain Dowie Alan Shearer Interesting that 60% of the sacrificial lambs have been British. That percentage will go up again when you add in Pardew, Hughes and Lambert were to fill the three slots this year. The difference is the likes of Hughes, Benitez, and Silva (Pardew, Hughes have previously been relegated and fall in a similar bracket) but went to secure good opportunities and done fairly well. These guys just keep going to the well however with relegation sides. As we have seen with Hughes and Pardew, if you keep getting put in that situation you won't always get out. If a manager likes Benitez, with his track record, can't do it, then I think it is fair to say its a stiff task. So for all those that use the bounce to get out of trouble, there are plenty who use it and don't have that success. I mean you could say that the above is a very poor list of managers on the face of it and that is why they failed. However I don't think Rafa is a poor manager by anyone's judgement. Nor Marco Silva. Its interesting when dropped in the same situation as the others, they had similar outcomes. Some of the above had longer than others but anything from the end of November onwards looks like a game of chance. The difference is the likes of Hughes, Benitez, and Silva have managed to secure fairly good opportunities afterwards. The others were not so lucky and forever tainted.
