Nigel, you really are a star. Incidentally, that's the poem Tony Adams quotes in his book "Addicted".
I wonder how people used to manage and lead before manager workshops existed .For me good leaders have inbuilt and special qualities and on the other hand there are egotistical individuals who strive for a bit of power who should never be unleashed into responsible and leadership roles.Nigel does strike me as an exceptional boss and his fairly brief career as a manager and acheivments to date back this up.I find him engaging and honest and whatever the outcome for him this season he will be held in high esteem from Saints fans in the main.
I too have had both types of boss and there is no doubt that the kind which Nigel epitomises is the most successful. But folks shouldn't imagine that being positive means a lack of steel. You only have to look at his handling of Puncheon. Managers of this quality are incredibly rare and my last boss was just such a person. He is no longer my boss because he has been promoted, which says it all. I hope that NC realises that Nigel is something very special and I am sure that he is the right man for this job.
His handling of Sharp speaks even louder volumes. If ever there was a player that he may have let a little sentiment get in the way, then surely it would have been Billy. He still made the call.
1 ”O freddled gruntbuggly thy micturations are to me 2 As plured gabbleblochits on a lurgid bee. 3 Groop, I implore thee my foonting turlingdromes. 4 And hooptiously drangle me with crinkly bindlewurdles, 5 Or I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurlecruncheon, see if I don’t.” (by Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz; Vogon poetry is of course the third worst in the universe. The second worst is that of the Azgoths of Kria. During a recitation by their poet master Grunthos the Flatulent of his poem 'Ode to a small lump of green putty I found in my armpit one midsummer morning' four of his audience died of internal haemorrhaging, and the president of the Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council survived only by gnawing one of his own legs off. Grunthos is reported to have been 'disappointed' by the poem's reception, and was about to embark on a reading of his twelve book epic 'My Favorite Bathtime Gurgles' when his own major intestine, in a desperate attempt to save life and civilisation, leapt straight up through his throat and throttled his brain. The very worst poetry of all perished along with its creator Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Greenbridge, Essex, England in the destruction of the planet Earth. Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Billy was a strange one...in theory he should have wrong for us and yet he still got goals, whereas JRod is the complete reverse. I think we paid so much for Jay that there is pressure to play him and poor old Billy was the fall guy. I would rather have kept Sharp. Let's hope Rodrigues proves me wrong today.
We have no idea about what the Sharp thing is all about, it may not be for footballing reasons, because that would make no sense at all, pre season he was banging in the goals and gave us no reason to think he would not be in with a shout of partnering Rickie up front, something I would like to see, who knows, he might actually be brought back in time, we could discuss it 'til the cows come home, but unlesss someone spills the beans, we won't know for sure.
Sharp went so late with no apparent warning (according to him) that I think it was for financial reasons. I'm not saying we were desperate before everyone jumps on me...just suggesting that NC may have indicated that something had to give. Though if we're paying Sharp's wages, there may have been another reason.
