CB Fry

Forum member slagging off the Echo for getting it wrong, when they, err, haven't got anything wrong, shock horror. Either that, or I've missed the Martin O'Neil unveilling press conference that you seem to have seen.

I have it on very good authority that SFC training kit with MON's initial's on them have been delivered to his house this morning.

That's rich coming from Mr "remember Lawrie Mac blah blah etc etc blah etc blah". But then that's you all over - pompous and a hypocrite time and time again. Pompous about "money doesn't win anything" one day, pompous about Cortese not spending enough money on the team the very next day. As long as you can be a smug git about it, you'll change your opinion with the wind. Pompous today, pompous tomorrow. ****.

Do you live in LA perchance? Would never have guessed were it not for the LOOK AT ME I LIVE IN AMERICA AND EVERYTHING threads you start twice a week, every week.

Great, great thread. I'm just pleased I'm one of the people that knows because it must be really frustrating for the rest of you.

You'll all be saying I'm right come wednesday.

+1.

Err - what, apart from being in and around the relegation zone for the entirity of Zola's only full season? Curbishley's win record at WHU 41%. Zola, clearly far better manager no doubt about it, had a win ratio of a stunning 29%. Sign him up. Curbishley may not be able to repeat his success at CAFC, but at least he has had some success in his career as opposed to getting a job on the strength of his name and then failing.

So Zola was better than Curbishley at WHU, despite Zola's only decent season was when he had the team and the foundations that Curbishley had left him. But you're upset that Steve Gritt doesn't get any credit for Charlton, despite Curbishley promoting them just the three years after Gritt had left and then establishing them as a Prem club in the following eight years without Gritt. Zola with a full season with his own team not quite as successful as Curbishley for a decade without Steve Gritt. Nice to see you being so consistent.

Sheesh. Consistent Prem mid-table finishes for several seasons on low budgets for two clubs. Time and time again Curbishley delivers. Zola leeched off the foundations Curbs had built - once Zola had a full season you could see how dreadful a manager he really was. Absolutely agree. Would be a great choice.

My favourite bits were the rants of unbelievable self righteous indignation when the current uber-ITK would furiously defend his honour and rant on about what a fantastic favour he was doing us all how dare you question me don't you know who I am blah blah blah etc etc. The same ITK would be proved to be a total bullshiner merely minutes/days later. Great, great days!!

Don't worry about it. It's the usual attention seeking plop-plops we've had on this forum and its predecessors since the dawn of time. Pointless "I know something you don't" posing is an irresistable urge to a certain type of attention seeker. Thankfully 99% of the time they turn out to be delusional or plain full of it so sleep easy.

Is ****shire anywhere near ****fosters?

Yes he did - FF said Pardew would get sacked before Christmas regardless of results, he got slated for it, and Pardew got sacked two days after a thumping 4-0 victory. If it was "common knowledge" FF wouldn't have got the slating he got when he passed on his info.

Phil Brown was an up and coming manager eighteen months ago, which funnily enough was around about when Howe took over at Bournemouth in his first job. Let's not assume that all the current "up and coming managers" will continue to be successful forever, and anyone who had a setback is never going to achieve anything again. Hart, however, is pretty much proven to be toilet.

Fair enough, I'm all for thinking big - but thinking big is acting smart, and I'd say picking fights with your closest media partner is not thinking big, it's pettiness driven by insecurity. The club could sweat the Echo far more effectively by working with them, rather than picking silly fights based on perceived slights. And to be honest that goes for the nationals as well - there's a great story happening at SFC which could be leveraged*. But it aint going to be leveraged by narrow-mindedly thinking "if they want us, come to the official site, we've got photos and everything".

Underwhelmed if I am honest. This man is walking into a pressure cooker and will be expected to deliver promotion, probably automatically, by May. Dragging a team from oblivion to promotion to L1 is dealing with a different kind of pressure for sure, but it sure as hell isn't expectation, which is the key source of pressure at SFC this season. Hey, whoever gets the job gets the job, but Howe doesn't fulfil the criteria for me, like to see someone with big club experience looking for a way back - another Pardew if you will. I wonder if anyone will challenge your info today, FF?!

Hmmm. I work in FMCG Brand Marketing and we all laud what Coca-cola can do in terms of distribution and awareness. We can strive for it, and we can take the principles from it but my brand despite being pretty famous is never going to be Coke. One of the assets football club "brand" has in its credit column is acres and acres and acres of free advertising, locally and nationally. Very low cost, very high value. That is the kind of PR coverage that money literally cannot buy. Walking away from that for control, or for "profit" is simply not a very bright strategy. We are not the Champions League. We are not any league. Anyway, I think we all know this is not a commercial decision or part of a commercial strategy, so it's a bit of a redundant argument. It's about a control thing driven by pettiness and paranoia. Maybe our new marketing hotshot will set him straight.

Well, as long as they let the Echo photographers back in, that's fine by me*.

Yeah, and? As I said, what will be will be. Cortese is replaceable. Southampton Football Club will not die if Nicola Cortese isn't involved in it. I'm not desperate to see him go, but I don't subscribe to the needy messiah worship that has taken over on this forum.

Not really. If Blackpool and Burnley can get to the Premier League, no reason we can't. Cortese is definitely replaceable. If he goes, he goes and what will be will be. They'll still be a Southampton Football Club and we'd be perfectly capable of getting promoted to the Championship. We're not Yeovil or Leyton Orient - we've got a massive fanbase and great facilities and infrastructure, esp for this division.

The ban on photographers isn't a commercial decision, and wasn't taken for commercial reasons, and wasn't taken on the advice on some bright spark from Marketing. One of the first rules of marketing is about "reach" and getting your brand/product in as many faces as possible as efficiently as possible. Intentially withdrawing your "brand" from circulation does not benefit said brand in any meaningful way, especially when said brand is L1 no-mark team every national media outlet can live without for at least two more years. We might be "successful", but the Sun/whoever can run six lines on us every Monday all season with no effect on their circulation. If it were last season, we'd be getting full pages with photos. Oh well. Our marketing bright spark is clearly some kind of genius and will soon be off to Man United or Chelsea as these two, along with every other club in the country haven't followed our revolutionary way of thinking. They must have right thickos in their marketing departments what with us having the expert in his field......

Keegan as manager I really don't think would be too bad. Pretty sure he'd get us out of the division this season with no bother. Not sure longer term, but would be an instant lift.

If you think it is the "perogative of the chairman" to deny access of photos from home matches to the local paper then fine. My view is slightly different - I see the role of Cortese as custodian of the club, not dictator of it. He can make decisions, but if those decisions negatively affect the experience of supporting the club for a significant section of the fan base then no, I don't think "Nicola Cortese's perogative" should swallowed without challenge. It's not much to ask for the thousands of Saints fans reading match reports in the Echo to get to see a picture or two from the match. Really not an unreasonable thing for a fan of say, forty years standing, to be able to enjoy that, especially the older fans who don't go along anymore. So.....Any objection to us turning out in blue at home next season? Or renaming the team the Solent Swiss FC? Or installing himself as manager? When does "Nicola Cortese's perogative" run out in your world, or is he just allowed to do anything he likes, unchallenged, unquestioned, unthinkingly obeyed? But, at 49 years old your response to these things is "it doesn't affect me, I don't care" then no, I don't think you are ever going to grow up. God save us from the Cortese lapdogs.