Chez

Really good point. From what I have seen of Mavididi this season, he hasn't been in the form Scienza has.

He made a brilliant save when Manhoef went clean through. Theyt were 2-0 up at that point. There was another decent save later on from a half volley shot just on the edge of the box, but it was at him and a good height. The highlights don't show any other saves. He had no chance for their goal. Hard to tell from highlights, but to me Leicester looked a little ponderous, but came alive a couple of of times on the break which we saw a lot in their promotion season. Mavididi's goal was a screamer, but he dithered a bit before that, which makes me wonder if he has refound his form of two season ago. I wonder if Winks will sit in that pocket of space that Armstrong used to good effect on Saturday. Nothing to fear here, but it's the kind of game we need if we are to challenge.

Just looking at MLT stats and in the first season under Branfoot, he scored just 6 goals from 32 league games, down from 20 and 19 goals from 35 games in the proceeding two seasons. The memory I have, and I am guessing others might too, is Brantfoot completely ruined MLT's game. However, In 92/93 he did score 15 goals in 42 games, which is not too bad. In my mind MLT disappeared completely under Branfoot, but that obviously wasn't entirely true. He then scored 25 goals in 38 games in the 93/94 season, which suggests MLT was pretty effective if the side as a whole wasn't. However, Branfoot was sacked half way through that season. Only 9 goals came under Branfoot and 16 goals under Alan Ball in which won 7, drew 4 draws and lost 6. Quite a few pens, but he was brilliant in that run in under Ball.

Branfoot wasn't the youth coach at Saints before he became manager. He had been the assistant manager at Crystal Palace when we appointed him Saints manager. I think you mean Lew Chatterly, who was the useless twat that allowed Darren Eadie and Jamie Cureton to slip through out fingers when he came in as youth development officer when Higgins was removed from his position. Chatterly had worked under Branfoot before at Reading, and when Branfoot joined Saitns, Chatterly got a quick promotion to assistant and then of course was our caretaker manager when Branfoot was sacked.

I assume the players will have been asked by journalists "what has training been like with Tonda?". What do you expect them to say? He picks the side. Players aren't going to criticise the incumbent. They will want to be positive. In general, players will be positive, especially after a couple of wins. That's not some sort of SR PR campaign, its just normal answers to standard questions. I think you and a few others on here massively overestimate SR. I doubt they have had a single meeting to discuss the need a PR campaign to ensure fans are cool with them appointing Tonda. They aren't that clever or organised.

I'd love to see that video, if it had existed. Would all of his goals have been recorded on film though? It's just before my time, so not sure what was and wasn't on MOTD etc.

Surprised he hasn't train with the players, which will be largely ball work, and then done extra fitness work in the afternoons. I guess he has also had to move back from Spain to England, which takes a bit of time if they don't have a player relocation liaison/service these days (not sure).

Likewise. Not watched it for a long long time...not having a video player hasn't helped. The number of amazing goals is just ridiculous. Unbelievable in fact. I know 93-95 were his stand out seasons, but I love watching his goals from when he was younger. That 89-90 season was bloody brilliant.

Ya. Das is a good point.

I didn't realise they had made it into the play offs or they were so far away. That's him out then.

As "manager" Potter he secured 10th place with Swansea in the championship, then as head coach, 15th, 16th (both 41 points) and then 9th (51 points) with Brighton in the PL. His stock was certainly very high at that point. Having failed at Chelsea and West Ham, is another PL side really going to offer him a job? Possibly, but we might present the next best thing. I don't know if he is the answer, but it does feel like a good fit. Obviously he is comfortable managing abroad, so that widens his options, assuming the Sweden job doesn't continue, but maybe he is someone we are interested in, but couldn't do quickly?

FAB is a focus group not an independant supporters group that need to take minutes and report back to the masses. Maybe you should set up the Saintsweb independant supporter group Trousers. I'm happy to propose you as chairman. After which you can contact the club and ask them for a meeting. You can take minutes and then post them on here.

they spent a fair amount in the summer, so if they only loan a striker in January, that works for me.

Glad you didn't write the advertisement for the position. Let me try: Head coach position in one of the worlds strongest leagues. Potentially the highest paid English club manager job outside of the PL. Currently has an underperforming side, allowing any improvements to reflect well on the new appointment. Squad incudes both experienced and young talent. Manager is well backed by board and owner in terms of funding for new players. Money will be made available in January to refresh the squad through loans/signings. Experienced pro in Romeu just joined the side. Excellent training facilities/stadium. Decent academy to help with long term prospects. Positive and friendly supporter base...

Can you point me to this comment from Parson in the fans forum, because I don't recall him saying that. If he didn't say it, then what other evidence is there of them making decisions based on the mood of the fans?

I think Phil Parsons said something along the lines of 'it was brutal for Russell Martin with 30,000 fans calling for his head'. But I don't recall him saying anything about them being happy to keep him if fans had wanted him. Maybe your memory is better than mine. Ultimately, fans disgruntlement will probably mirror what board and owners feel. I think they sacked him because they felt results were not going to change. I agree. If they appointed O'Neil it would have showed that they felt he was the best man for the job. There is an assumption he hasn't been appointed because of the fans chant. But maybe the club didn't feel he was right for them or vis versa. Perhaps I am being naive, but when you have £200m invested in a club do you really allow fans to dictate how it is run?

Likewise. Great player, but hasn't he been underwhelming all at the clubs he has been at?

I think there might be an overestimation of the importance of fan opinion on the decisions the club makes. Will Still wasn't sacked because of the anti SR songs at the PNE game, they sacked him because we weren't wining games and playing like a team devoid of any confidence and going nowhere. The club needs to get promoted. The impact on the business if we don't is massive. Do you really think a poll on saintsweb with less than 400 votes is going to sway their decision? I've no idea what the plan is, but it could easily be that there just isn't a suitable candidate or they haven't been able to persuade the guy they want to take the job...so Tonda continues. The lack of announcement would then be because there is nothing to announce. I keep reading that they are "desperate" to appoint Tonda. How do posters know that?

It might be our decision, but if he is not getting games, maybe the player and/or his parent club want to cancel the loan. It might be out of our hands if the loan contract requires he plays a certain number of games. I don't think I have seen him. Is he actually a left back or right back?

I imagine we'd all be concerned by his injury record, but be hopeful that he could lead the line and be that focal point we have been missing. i guess it matters little now he is unavailable, but is there a little more context to those stats perhaps? In 24/25 he didn't start a game - which in itself is concerning perhaps. He came on 17 times, mostly for less than 20 minutes and didn't score. He wasn't an impact sub in terms of goals, that's for sure. The season before, he was on the bench for most of the first half of the season and didn't score. When Leeds had him starting games in the second half of the season he scored 7 in 17 games.

Eckert isn't going to do the head coach job long term on his u21 coach wage. Once he has done it for a while (I'm not sure how long) then returning to the U21s becomes a demotion. he might be fine with it, he might not.

It's little wonder managers don't want large squads as players out of the side are never going to be impressed. I'm not sure Still dropping certain players caused his downfall. It may be part of it, but I think it was more a failure to create a structure that got us playing well, creating chances and winning games. If you are winning, no one gives a fuck what the guy out of the side has to say, but lose week in week out and non playing players are empowered. I'm not sure he lost players leading to losses. I think there was just an erosion of confidence and then everyone and everything was lost. This is why what the likes of Russell Martin and Gareth Southgate (for England) did should not be underestimated. It's really difficult to get players onside and create an environment that sees everyone pushing in the same direction. Whether Tonda or whoever can do that from this position, I don't know.

If the players fully believe in what the manager is trying to do, fine, they will accept criticism, even if they have lost some games, but if they think he is talking shite and they have no clue what he was trying to do, then it's obviously going to be harder to accept.

I think this is the issue for a lot of managers/head coaches. Some of the players simply don't respect them enough to take criticism from them. If a manager is few years into the job, they will have by then won games and the players will be happy to listen. However, new managers that are losing games are going to be doubted and that doubt and potential disrespect grows with every defeat. If a manager comes in fails to articulate his ideas and his methods don't bare fruit immediately, he is done for.

Interesting article about Celtic being linked to Columbus Crew manager Wilfried Nancy. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cdegj67p1z2o I wonder if he was on our radar and would a championship side like us be attractive to him?