CB Fry

Experts on this forum were convinced he was a world beater only last season, and that it was an absolute disgrace we let him go. That's still correct isn't it lads?

I think I could hear the Old Trafford faithful chanting for Graham Potter at the end there.

Not on Swansea twitter feed (or Saints) so feels a bit premature

Correct. He's not a bad manager but in five years time he'll be just another Curbishley type. He probably will get a shot at a bigger club - a step up like Everton or Villa or whoever - but then back on the merry go round. That said It's not impossible he could take over from Southgate because he has that nice-boy manner about him. A "more of the same" candidate. Despite what some on here think, he will know he is not going to be Manchester United manager: England is his most likely big job opportunity. But as it stands he is on track to finish above Ralph Hasenhuttl for the first time in his entire career so congratulations Graham, it's absolutely breathtaking what you've achieved.

You think Graham Potter was in/should have been in the frame to take over at Manchester United this season. You think Brighton to Villa or Everton is not a step up while simultaneously saying that finishing 15th with Brighton is an amazing achievement that justifies the manager taking over at Manchester United. You can't understand how both of those concepts cannot be true at the same time. If Brighton are the same level as Villa then how is Potter finishing 15th so great, when Villa finished 11th that same season? If they're the same level then Potter underperformed. Right? So, there's not that much to discuss. You're just wrong.

Sorry this is just drivel now. So you're saying Brighton finishing 15th/16th under Potter is some amazing achievement that justifies him taking over at the biggest and most famous club in world football. You also think it is unreasonable to expect Brighton to finish mid table because of their resources. But at exactly the same time you are saying that Villa and Everton would be a "sideways" step even though last season they managed to finish 10th and 11th last year with no help from Graham Potter at all. So why can't we expect Brighton to finish 10th if all those clubs are all at the same level? Quite frankly I have no idea what point you are trying to make. Everton and Villa are such an obvious step up from Brighton, and Brighton to Manchester United is such a ridiculous step up I don't know why it even needs explaining. For someone who likes to make out he's some all-knowing football stats genius you don't half come out with some embarrasing bullshit.

Rodgers finished a lot fucking higher than Brighton is the point. And had extensive big club experience at Chelsea before that. Nuno higher. Pochettino higher. Ralph, higher. The point is you started off by saying that you are surprised that Potter isn't at a "top, top club" already. ie: now. ie: a big club job last summer. You then backtracked on that, deciding that "top, top club" mean Leicester or West Ham (riiiight) and then started blathering that Potter should have been the Manchester United manager, showing a significant lack of grasp on reality. He was never getting that. I've not changed my position. He's only ever got to bottom six, he's never even finished above us. Its not a "surprise" that he isn't at a "top, top club". It's normal. Bottom six is all he's done. If he gets Brighton top ten then yeah, he's in the frame for Villa or Leicester or Everton or similar if things go wrong at one of them. None of which are "top top clubs". And next year. Not now.

But you could say that about a manager doing well in League One. Brendan Rodgers, Like Nuno and Poch all took smaller clubs to the top ten. I don't think its that much to ask to expect Potter to do similar before he goes to a "Top, top club".

Yes he might do: Pochettino finished 8th, not 15th/16th. Like Nuno who finished 7th (twice). That's pretty much the only point I'm making. If Potter finishes somewhere decent, and he is on track to do that, then next summer he could be in demand (Villa/Everton/etc). TWar is saying he is "surprised" he is not at a "top, top club" already, like now. Having finished only ever in the bottom 6, I say no, it's not a surprise, it's pretty normal.

Sorry this is just bollocks. At the end of the day you don't get a job at a "top, top club" (your words) by being good with a shit level players, and ooh hasn't he don't well with the squad he's been dealt, and ooh he finished 15th once. Being Man United manager is not really about making poor players good. Its not about scraping up with relegation level players. Its about trying to win the league with a team of multi millionaires. It's a different skill set and its not some accident or outrage that Graham Potter is not currently the manager of Chelsea, United or Liverpool. Your sneering derision at Nuno "oh he just got good players and turned them into a winning team" is exactly why he would have been considered for a job at the next level up. Thats kinda what you need to do.

So when you said "top, top job" you meant West Ham and Leicester? But they have not had a vacancy, so not sure why you are so surprised Potter isn't managing there yet. Potter basically needs a stand out season in the Prem first. You know, finishing top eight once or twice. You know, like Nuno.

Yes, that is the type of career trajectory he's on. You don't finish 15th and 16th and then suddenly get a top 6 Prem job. Absolutely insane stuff from Twar yet again.

Jesus wept. Nuno two 7th place finishes with a newly promoted team. Potter two bottom 5/6 finishes, below us both times. Nuno deserved a "top top club" more than Potter did. He's having a decent season now, but it's hardly some great scandal he hasn't moved on yet. The idea that Graham Potter was ever going to be given the Manchester United job this year just shows the difference between looking at spreadsheets and looking at real life. Give over.

Like who? His previous two seasons in the Prem he's finished below us.

But the Gary Crosby/Andy Dibble one was given.

Lord D likes to give it the "chicks" and "jocks" and "pinkos" but you'll be hard pressed to find a more snivelling grovelling doff-your cap conformist anywhere on the forum. Bow, scrape, scrape, bow. Newcastle can't have done a thing wrong because rules rules rules and our betters know best.

I think the 2m is not people who have officially tested positive but an extrapolated number based on sampling. It's from the Office of National Statistics rather than an NHS record. I don't think we'll ever record 2m positive cases because the capacity to actually process that volume of tests not there.

Nice passive aggressive tone in the club statement. Personally gutted as a I am visiting family this weekend and this would have been my first trip to SMS since the pandemic, I've done a few aways but not a home yet. Jeees.

The SaintsWeb forum is not full of officials and playing staff of Newcastle or Southampton football clubs either, so not sure what you're expecting.

You'll have to show me at what point Forster is "holding the ball with both hands".

Here's a fucking clue lads. When it happens no one will need to come on here and post "any news?"

It doesn't say "evidence" it says "a sign" and it is.

Ball changed his tune on it after it all went tits at Man City - when he joined he did all the "I'd walk over hot coals for this job" stuff, the same as he did when he took over at Saints. Once it went wrong he played up the sob story of how he never felt wanted at the Dell, he didn't want to leave honest he didn't. He only went for a massive pay rise to work for his old mate Franny Lee because Guy Askham didn't return a phone call one time. Absolute horseshit. That said, the season and a half under Ball, post Branfoot will always be one of my all time favourite periods as a Saints fan. Just fantastic stuff. It's one of those magic periods where a new manager comes in and Bam the whole world changes. It was unreal. A shame it ended how it did, but to be honest it probably would have petered out anyway - as history shows he wasn't a particularly good manager anywhere else.

Let's just say one man's "he kept us up" and "he guided us to safety" is another man's "we were in the relegation mix for the entire season he was in charge and we finished 17th, staying up, just, on goal difference". It may not have been handled great but it would have been insane to keep him in post.

He was manager for the entire season - so it's misleading to say he came in and saved us from relegation. He took over a team that had finished 10th the season before.