Ted Bates Statue

On the other hand, what happens if we win, and by celebrating I mistakenly give the impression of being a member of an imaginary cult?

I think it helped settled me down, more importantly.

https://www.hampshirelive.news/sport/football/football-news/southampton-lavia-bella-kotchap-update-7730211 Lavia back in training, the sooner he can come back the better.

If someone can start a rumour that we're interested in him, perhaps Villa will feel obliged to give Gerrard a new contract?

Oh but he did a TED* talk once, so he must be a genius. *TEDx actually

Looks like the perfect fit for us, then.

I wish we were like Nottingham Forest. Look at them playing 4D chess. We couldn't even afford to sack our chief scout for getting beaten by Stoke to signing Delap.

Christ. One transfer window and he's had enough of us already. I thought it was bad enough when we were good and haemorrhaging staff. Oh well. Thanks for landing that striker we desperately needed. On the positive side, that means at least someone this side of September thinks we actually had a decent transfer window. Maybe there is hope for us after all

As someone still on the fence about the current situation, you make a very strong and compelling argument for a change. It just has to be the right one. I don't agree with your closing couple of sentences, but certainly at this rate it will be touch and go. I'm sure Sports Republic won't accept allowing the situation to continue beyond this month.

Many sports have trouble with poor decision-making at umpiring level but it seems only football tolerates tantrums at the ref. Rugby draws the most comparisons, although I have a suspicion that this has a lot to do with the referee being the only one on the pitch who has a genuine grasp as to what the hell is going on during a rugby match, so in those circumstances the players are more predisposed to defer to the man in the middle. Conversely you have football where every idiot has a different opinion and is confident enough to be vocal about it. The attitudes to football refereeing are determined at the top. There is too much leniency towards poor behaviour, which forms a vicious circle with incompetence as they know on some level that the anger is warranted. I remember there was talk of tightening standards in the PL at the start of a season around 15 years ago but nothing came of it. An image of a young Rooney going berserk at the ref springs to mind. It all trickles down the pyramid and grassroots, as shown in the article and sydney_saint's observations. If there was serious will to change things, I reckon it would change pretty fast. I'm aware that sin bins were being trialled at grassroots level before the pandemic but haven't heard much since then. Guessing that we are still some way off from using them in the professional game. Even without resorting to orange cards, if the PL really wanted to elevate its image beyond the occasional 'best league in the world' taglines, then an overhaul of refereeing talent followed by a zero tolerance stance could really shake the sport up for the better.

Any word on his return? It must be nearly six weeks by now, and also six weeks since we took any points from a game. Too bad our other three regular midfielders don't seem to be up to it unless they're playing alongside someone with a fraction of their experience.

Only just saw this so apologies for the late review. I would be interested to know where you get this info from as I find most websites (e.g. Wikipedia) include cup statistics in managers' records, which doesn't create a fair comparison. I have an issue with one calculation - while Hasenhuttl has slipped some way from a record better than Pochettino's two years ago, his record above has omitted our two wins this season, which means that as of this weekend, his win percentage at 31.5% has only just reached parity with the forum's favourite martyr Claude Puel. Some might find it fitting if Hasenhuttl loses his job after achieving the same win rate. I only hope that this time a decent appointment is lined up, if and when the trigger is pulled. Having said that, your conclusion is a fair one.

Article written on the day he was officially confirmed, after weeks of ITK discussion on here, no less. Tedesco is an out of work manager, formerly of Red Bull. Again, mentioned on here first but it doesn't take a genius to link his name. Only time will tell whether he is a genuine candidate. We have less inside information these days.

I don't think there's any new information that we didn't know already. It doesn't take a genius to write the first sentence, based on our last three matches, all against relegation rivals and taking zero points. A few years back the Telegraph used to be Les Reed's mouthpiece, but this merely looks to be a re-write of Monday's article in The Athletic.

I was referring to managers' PL history which @Mr X raised in his previous post. I didn't think anyone would bring up Pellegrino's impressive 100% record in the FA Cup (against Championship standard sides) alongside his Premier League stats of 5 wins in 30 matches as a valid comparison of a manager's ability. It's a bit like people citing Adkins as winning around 50% of all his matches. Don't get me wrong, I respect his time with us but without looking it up, he must have been on around a 25% PL win rate which I think is a rather more accurate reflection of his ability.

Last time we attempted something like that was when we lost Fonte and Van Djik and brought in Martin Caceres to fill a seat on the bench. Still way above Hughes and Pellegrino. I think we need to be prepared for things to get worse before they get better, RH must surely be on borrowed time having lost three on the bounce against direct rivals but the trigger might not be pulled for a few weeks. My guess is either the World Cup interval or they might wait to see if Lavia can bring some improvement when he returns from injury.

I blame Ralph, he forces out all our talented coaches just like he did with Danny Rohl.

Exactly, which is why the co-commentator asked pointedly in the first place. Because it's a load of bollocks. *although they may have been trying to make a sauce pun which went over my head at the time.

After last night I am all set to boycott the tournament.

Just broke his goal drought with England U20s against Chile (Edozie also scored). Possibly for the best that we didn't go all out to bring him in, at this point in time.

Only 90%, you think it was that low? Now that you mention it I would be interested to see the Puel Out poll.

I'm looking forward to withdrawing my emoji when you hit 24. The lord giveth and the lord taketh away.

Pathetic for larger clubs to moan about replays. If they want to scrap replays at earlier stages of the Cups, if scores are level after 90 mins, they should award the tie to the lower-ranked side instead of going to penalties. That would concentrate minds as to how seriously the top clubs want to progress, and it rewards the lower club in similar fashion to achieving a replay. If the Champions League clubs can't beat a minnow without a penalty shoot-out, why do they deserve to go to the next round? And for what, more Champions League group stage nonsense? Or pointless friendlies in Asia or America? Also floated in the same vein of conversation is the ridiculous idea of relegation playoffs which nobody will want to watch, because as we know, all the teams at the bottom of the table are rubbish and Sky can hardly bear to put them (us) on TV as it is! If they want to spice things up in that sort of fashion, I look forward to Euro qualification playoffs between 4th-7th place to decide between the last Champions League spot and the Europa places. There you go, 3 more games to meet the '39th game' crowd and I can suggest an 4th match between the losing semi-finalists to decide which unlucky loser gets Euro Conference football. Of course they won't go for either idea because it's too risky for the bigger sides. But I guarantee you it would make things a hell of a lot more interesting than whatever tripe they end up proposing instead. Forget about All Star matches or moaning about cup matches being too difficult.

The first person who told me back in July that Poch was considering a return to Saints was a Spurs supporter, who claimed a few minutes later that he knew all about the Apollo moon landings being faked. Even he stopped short of arguing that Poch was rubbish. I think that answers your question.