SW11_Saint

Agreed. Hard to judge on that alone, but doesn’t feel like the type of personality to lead from the front. I’m not confident about his ability to fulfil this role at all. Much may depend on who they bring in alongside him. Sit back now and wait for the SFC ‘spin machine’ to go into action… “this is the best appointment”, “he has the respect of the players” etc. etc.

Yes, I thought of that when the news of his contract length broke. I see JM as being a better fit (whichever division we are in) than Hughes was. Still baffles me why they gave him such a long contract when he clearly wasn’t an ideal fit. Given they are still paying off Ralph and Jones, they won’t want another expensive pay-off hanging over us if it doesn’t pan out. Guess the short-term deal suits both parties. They can reappraise in the summer. Correction: as someone pointed out, I think we DID give Hughes a s/t contract initially. But then awarded him a 3 year contract after keeping us up. Which seems even more baffling, but then that’s Les Reed for you!

Despite having two articles that pillory him today, the Guardian’s Football Pod made the point that his own ludicrous outbursts will sadly now follow him around - possibly for the rest of his career, and possibly to the detriment of his mental health. Hopefully he’ll take some time out to recuperate before returning to football/Luton. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/football-weekly/id188674007?i=1000599393530

Laughed out loud several times when reading that this morning, but none more so than the final speech bubble. Genius.

Misspelling or not, they were one of the first to pick up on this…

Agreed. We were shit in that game. Should have lost. I’d take Selles as a stop-gap if we need to, but agree I think we’d be accepting relegation. Now, if Bielsa was the ‘older head’ alongside him we’d be talking…

Which is exactly why they’ve leaked that!

Rob Edwards at Luton is doing great things… #JustSayin 😉

🤷‍♂️

Oh 🤬hell- please no! Can’t stand that arsehole. It would show that SR know nothing of our history (with him) too… Thankfully I suspect it is bullshit…

I have an element of human sympathy for him, and can’t blame him for taking the job, but he certainly didn’t help himself with his approach or media ‘handling’. He’s a hard guy to like I’m afraid. The blame for this debacle has to lay firmly with Sports Republic - he was wholly unequipped for the Premier League. How they didn’t spot this, his tactical limitations or his character flaws is beyond me. Couldn’t agree less with the point about no one else being able to do better with this group of players - there were plenty of better options available, and anyone of them would have done better I suspect. This is a squad with a lot of potential (goal scoring problem notwithstanding) - that we’ve squandered the last 3 months, and our “easiest” run of games is simply criminal and has likely sealed our fate.

Other way around I think - wouldn’t managed Barca due to his Espanyol links. That said, I doubt he’d refuse it if it was offered!

HES GONE!!!!

Other than not getting a pay-off…

About 1-2 years as I recall?

Why do they need one? (rhetorical).

You almost got your wish - colour tone/wise anyway. They could have done a reverse of that era like the home kit - light blue kit, dark blue middle band. Anyway, best of luck to the artist in updating for this year’s away kit…

Both are infinitely better than what they’ve produced, but #2 with some simple panelling on the sides makes it look SO much better. Why don’t they engage with fans doing these concept kits?!

https://www.footballshirtculture.com/new-kits/southampton-2022-2023-home-kit.html

Pretty awful, looks like a non-league kit. Concept isn’t too bad, but Hummel have made a total and utter hash of the actual design. Even this could have been improved with a few tweaks - would have preferred a v-neck and collar, and thin red panels on the sides would have helped too. Very poor.

If we can find anyone to buy them. If they don’t get similar terms elsewhere (and, Bednarek apart, suspect this group won’t) they may be content to just sit out their contracts. Not sure McCarthy is available is he?

Wise move…

Tickets still available for the womens Euros at SMS (N. Ireland’s base). https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/2022-06-23/tickets-uefa-womens-euro-2022-general-sale-two-weeks-to-go-southampton

Nauseating for you and others, but not for many of us. Oddly I’m not trying to inconvenience anyone, just defending the position that it’s enjoyable if you accept it for what it is, and (IMHO) it’s great that it’s being promoted and gaining traction. But I’ll leave it there. All the best.

I suspect Paddle (whatever that is!) doesn’t have the universal appeal of football, so no shock it doesn’t get as much press exposure…. Or is the issue that women’s paddle gets too much attention, relative to men’s paddle? 😉 Yes of course a low base can result in faster ‘growth’, but that in itself shouldn’t detract that it IS fast growing, again, as evidenced by large gates at a number of clubs, and girl’s teams sprouting up. The US Women’s team losing to a professional boys academy team doesn’t hugely surprised me tbh. Well, maybe a little… It’s a dilemma many women and girls teams face - finding opposition that will test and/or help develop them. Not quite as big a contrast, but Saint’s own Girls RTC (Academy) have a similar issue. Technically they are streets ahead of most local boys teams, up to and including Tyro Div 1, so play in the boys JPL, where they match most teams for technical ability, fitness, tactics etc. but can lose out, particularly at U16 level, simply due to the relative strength and power of a 16 year old boy vs 16 year old girl (back to my point about them essentially being ‘different sports’ for that reason). I don’t think anyone is disputing that the quality of a lot of the women’s football can be ‘iffy’ at times either. Having watched Saints Women in the fifth tier, I can attest to that. But, at the upper levels, it’s decent enough, and enjoyable. The WSL is a comparatively high standard and continues to improve as some of the better players from Europe and America are attracted here. As for it being ‘rammed down (y)our throat’, with respect, I think that’s perception. No need to tune into The Women’s Football Show’ if you don’t fancy it, and women’s football headlines can be skipped past.