Pards is definately underappreciated by Saints fans, mainly because they hate his personality. He arguably transformed the playing staff from nothing into something more than any other manager. All we had in the Summer of 2009 was a couple of promising kids in Lallana and Morgan and SKD deciding to stay was massive of course. He rebuilt with clever loans at first (Antonio, Trotman) and the crucial buys Rickie, Deano and David Connolly later of course. The January window saw some more key players join (Jose, Barnard) and the form from February to the end of the season was stunning and probably the most entertaining period I can remember in recent years and the JPT win as well.
Adkins crowning achievement is getting us out of the Championship with basically the League One squad.
But that is my point. It was a League One squad in the sense that it had just come from League One, but look at where over half that team ended up. If you look back on it now I think you could argue that Adkins failed by not winning either League One or the Championship.
When did we sign Puncheon? I have a feeling it was January of our first season in League One which makes him a Pardew signing. I did forget those 3. Sharp was signed a bit too late, although his goals definitely helped get us over the line. The other 2 I agree with though.
But anyway enough trips down memory lane. If we sack Hughes I am 100% sure we will appoint one of Allardyce, Moyes or Bruce. The key will be actually getting rid of them at the end of the season if they keep us up and then going back to our old ways of trying to find a progressive manager. Despite all the grief the board get for hiring managers the only one they have really failed with was Pellegrino. So that is one in 6 (prior to Hughes who they had to appoint at the time, ****ed up giving him a new contract though.)
Generous. I’d suggest that needing to sack a manager at any point in the first two years is a failure. So that’s three in three. Not great.
Correct, but it’s the difference between wanting a legacy and wanting a few quid personally. As a fan I will always back the person driving for the first. He wasn’t putting the club at risk, don’t believe that story.
Well depending who/what you believe regarding Puel it was either the players who got him sacked as they didn't like his methods. Or the fans because they didn't like his style of play. I would say the board messed up there by not being strong enough and sticking with him, but don't think they made an error in appointing him in the first place. After all he did make a cup final and finish 8th which looked at on pure performance basis would be deemed a success Pellegrino was a bad appointment. Hughes they did well appointing to stop the rot at the end of last season (so you could argue that was a good appointment I suppose). But they have ****ed up by giving him the job full time. Again if you believe the board listen to the players/fans then you could argue they take some of the blame as well. So I would mark it as 2 in 7 and definitely not bad enough to divert away from our previous practice of looking for the next Pochettino
Put it another way, how many ****s do you think Les gives about sporting success (he probably thinks it might be a bonus) versus his back pocket? Cortese, though greatly remunerated, was the opposite.
Sorry when I say board I mean Les Reed, he was here for all of those (how much say he had in each of them though I have no idea)
Watched The Godfather again the other night. The first one, the masterpiece, not the second which seems to get shown all the time but doesn't come close imo. The resemblance is uncanny. Of course, it tracks not just Michael Corleone's rise to prominence, but also his descent into moral darkness. I may be stretching the comparison a bit here. Not sure Cortese has had anyone murdered, let alone his sister's husband; but he is a banker, not something that should ever be considered forgivable.
