Topcat

People understand when someone is sacked for poor performance. But when it is not done for those reasons the new appointment and the decision taker are tainted by the action.

Delldays, it is widely perceived that Adkins had extensive support from within the team. Several openly stated how shocked they were. If a popular team leader is suddenly removed and someone unfamiliar to them takes over, it does cuase a dip in morale. The question is how short will be the dip. A win tonight would remove that dip and help players move on ... the same with supporters.

Yes and the random money has judged that the change has made our chances worse. The bookies follow the money.

Yes, IF several new players come in that the new Manager wants.

GlasgowSaint raises the most important facts we are facing. A point a game is probably what we need to stay up. Anything less and we will probably go down and Cortese's decision will be widely ridiculed.

The one thing Cortese got right is that he had found Adkins replacement before he fired him. But to disrupt team morale at this point just seems to be stupid. He will need to beat Everton tonight to turn around the dip in morale.

You left out his "stunning" record as Charlton's manager.

At least one bookmaker has shortened the odds on us being relegated after the change of Manager and Everton are evens to win tonight. These are independent people risking their money on the impact of the change.

What I would like to see is a thorough evaluation of the finances of Southampton based on a pessimistic scenario of getting relegated. There are reliable reports that Cortese has loaded £20m+ of debt onto the Club and assigned future ticket sales to fund it. For the statement at the top of the thread "Cortese has invested well" to be justified, it would have to be on the basis that any debt could be funded in the short to long term based on scenarios that include relegation.

Fitzhugh Fella, your post at the top of this thread ignores one key commercial problem. A business funded to a large extent by customers cannot afford to operate in a way that is offensive to the moral beliefs of a large part of its customers. Starbucks felt the heat on that and Ratners dissappeared. The Club now has two main suppliers of cash, Sky and the customers, the Markus money has stopped.

If only that was the facts. The true picture is that this season there has been very little inward investment to fund the Club and the Club has borrowed a very large sum £20m+ backed by next seasons ticket sales. If we did go down at the end of this season we may have a dangerous financial meltdown.

Delldays, Newcastle hired Pardew as a sacked manager from a L1 club, but I agree there would only be a couple of clubs as English Managers in the PL are a minority of appointments these days.

Nigel should wait until May and see what jobs become available. He should not take the Blackpool job as it is a small club with little money and another volatile chairman. By May Nigel will probably have half the Championship clubs at his door and a couple of PL Clubs. Maybe he should consider a move abroad, to widen his appeal in the PL if his family circumstances permit? If he does wait until May, our next Chairman may even re-hire him for a new drive into the PL (dreaming!)

duplicate

Makes a lot of sense from the known facts. But the change has increased the chances of relegation in the short term from a slump in form delivered by a shell shocked team. I hope my forecast is wrong, we need a lot of luck now. Yes in a thread last year - probably around Aug/Sept/Oct 2012 as a guess.

Delldays, WGS took a couple of PL seasons to get us into the top group. Adkins record in the last 10 PL games is very respectable and getting a point off Arsenal and Chelsea gave us hope. Also there are doubts that Adkins had a large say in the signings made since he joined.

You are wrong David in one key aspect. Adkins delivered success to Saints and his win % record is up with the best we have ever had. Adkins was not just a nice guy, he was a successful nice guy.

I agree, Cortese got lucky with Adkins with the first change, but it was a close run thing, 9 wins in final 10 games in Adkins first season was extraordinary and lucky. We do know that the owners are not putting in large sums anymore. That massive loan financed out of future ticket sales is another Rangers type disaster waiting to happen if we are relegated. That conclusion does match the known facts. Unfortunately if Cortese has got it wrong we could be facing financial meltdown next season. I hope Cortese gets lucky for the 2nd time. Cortese's lucky appointment with Adkins has reinforced his personal view that he is a brilliant CEO/Chairman feeding his vaity, added to the "Napoleon syndrome".

This decision on Adkins was almost inevitable. We have an over confident Chairman wallowing in his tactical genius in sacking Pardew and picking a new Manager who delivers 2 back to back promotions. So Cortese will have had his judgement reinforced by the outcome of the Pardew sacking. The share holders are of course happy with Cortese as he has increased the Club's value from L1 to Premiership - probably a 400% to 500% improvement in value. However, if we get relegated the debt burden based on future ticket sales etc etc may bring about a financial melt down. Let us hope not.

To try and understand what is behind this strange decision it maybe best to look at Cortese's words. "for the Club to progress and achieve our long-term targets a change was needed...... Mauricio is a well-respected coach of substantial quality who has gained a reputation as an astute tactician and excellent man manager. I have every confidence that he will inspire our talented squad of players to perform at the highest possible level. He also shares my belief that the most successful clubs are built by nurturing young players through a development system that provides a clear path to the First Team, thereby creating a culture that keeps them at the Club for the long term. " Some key words are "nurturing young players through a development system that provides a clear path to the First Team .... long term". Is it the problem over the 4-5-1 vs 442 system that Adkins has sometimes used? Is it a problem with Adkins not wishing to throw in another youngster into the team? That is where I suggest people look into.

How about one of our full back reserves.

This 433 system is not due to NA not wanting to compromise, he is under instruction to play the 433 by Cortese as advised by Reed. Please stop blaming Adkins for this stupid approach to tactics.

I agree with SW11_Saint's points. Just one problem. "We need to be able to change our tactics to suit the occasion." I agree but you overlook the problem that Adkins HAS to play the 433 formation so his tactics are constrained by this bone headed approach that the Club are enforcing.

After yesterday he should never play there again. He was responsible for the 2nd and 4th goal through bad positioning being outside of the attacker. I would rather have a kid with some speed that has played as a full back than have Yoshida there.

MOsaint thanks for more facts on the awful Les Reed. He had been here only a few months before Pardew's role came under threat. Now look at how Pardew is doing wonders with Newcastle. Many of the better players that we have are due to Pardew and not recruits from Reed. Yet Pardew ran recruitment (from a zero base plus youngsters) and the first team.