Daren W

Fonte out of action due to sports related injury... Alan Pardew named as replacement...

Oh the irony.... pmsl... Please stop whining on a whining thread...

What was your view on Rupert Lowe and his time at Southampton Football club?

Not just that, what's more worrying is the way some posters on here have turned on Pardew. Now apparently he's a terrible manager and we'd struggle to be mid table with him. How we've changed; from the manager who took us to Wembley to win our first bit of silverware in 30 years, to being this messageboard's whipping board... it's really rather shameful...

The fact we've gone from a 4-0 away win to two consecutive home defeats, shipping five goals in the process, is lost on some on here. Somehow some bright sparks have even managed to blame Pardew for two defeats after he'd left And to think people mocked those of us who thought Pardew's sacking had de-railled our season. The club is in absolute chaos, the butt of numerous jokes from the national media and now in a rich vein of **** poor form. Not unretrievable, a good appointment can salvage it all, but right now I'd question anyone who thinks the sacking is anything but a disaster right now...

All of which is leaping to conclusions. The new manager has to be better than the previous one, end of, otherwise we're going backwards. We cannot defend Cortese's decision on the basis that he may get someone better in and the season may get better. It may get worse, has anyone thought of that? What if the Leyton Orient game was a blip? What if, as title favourites, teams come to St Marys to shut up shop and play for a point? Has anyone thought that as title contenders home games are going to be tough? At this moment in time our season has been de-railled. Maybe not permanently but certainly de-railled. We have no manager. We are being ridiculed by the press and the managerial community certainly don't hold us in any high esteem. Why are people in such denial over this?

Again Wes, less of the insults. Not everyone who thinks this decision has de-railled our season is an idiot. You talk about being jumping to conclusions but what are you doing? Jumping to a conclusion, that Cortese will save the day and the next manager will be wonderful. I'm only operating on facts and the facts are that we are lumbered with someone who wouldn't even be our 20th choice manager were he not already at the club. If the decision to axe our manager days before the transfer window closes and 3 games into the season, isn't de-railling the promotion bid, I don't know what is. I'm not saying it's in tatters and hopelessly ruined but certainly de-railled and once again the club is made to look foolish in the eyes of the media and the public... No one will hope Cortese pulls off a managerial coup more than me, if I get one more email about O'Neil being seen at the Jury's Inn I will heave, but until then the situation is dire....

1) We have no manager and the club have stated they have no one waiting in the wings. Dean Wilkins is our manager. Ergo our promotion bid is jeopardy. Hardly hysterical 2) Yes, none of us know why Pardew was sacked and that in itself lends to question the chairman. Is it based on results? Did Pardew ask to speak to Aston Villa? Who knows but without our leadership giving us some reason why we have to believe it is the outcome of the rumours from the tail end of last season. That the team wasn't playing the way Cortese wanted 3) In regards to "I regard those remarks as being hysterical and somebody who has followed football for as many years as you have ought to be able to recollect enough examples of similar situations which have produced positive results to make you a bit more ambivalent about it all." I reply with Steve Wigley and Stuart Gray. It's not as if we haven;t been here before is it? Alan Pardew made this club successful and gave us a winning mentality. A 58% winning percentage and a n 18% losing ratio tells us that Alan Pardew helped get rid of our losing mentality and any manager that comes in will be hard pushed to better that win rate. 4) Square One, how is this, right now, not square one? Yes we have better players which is down to Pardew. You can't just write off his impact on the club by saying that Cortese signing the cheques has progressed the club. The manager has. Now we have to start again/. Mangerless. Square One. 5) Failure to gain promotion is not an excuse to fire the man. He had to build a squad and start with a -10 penalty. Psychologically that was a big hurdle to overcome . Come the second transfer window things started to click and we improved immeasurably but you cannot fire the man because he failed to turn things around completely in one year. This club was in ruins and now we're disappointed to lose a game.... That's in no small measure down the manager. There is obviously something else and we're not privy to it but to sack him on his time with Saints, results wise, makes no sense. I'm dealing in facts here, the club hasn't mentioned any other reasons and the club have stated there is no manager waiting in the wings. Without a valid reason for sacking him and with no successor lined up, those of us criticising Cortese are quite right to do so. Those defending Cortese on the promise that we may get someone better are the ones with their heads in the sand... At this moment in time the club is chaos, I really can't see how you can view it as anything else...

What I would say is hysterical is Meridian's report stating "There are fears for the future of the club..." No there's not, he's a manager, no more no less...

Conjecture? We have no manager and the club state they have no one waiting in the wings... I'd define that as chaotic. It's all well and good quoting O'Neil as a possibility but you can't write off my view that this is a bad decision as conjecture and then back that up by what may be round the corner. We have no manager, the transfer window is two away from ending. I'd view this as being a poor decision. Sack him in May by all means but by the end of August with no manager in the wings? I'd say that wasn't the best decision... Name me one available manager that excites you? Curbishley? Brown? Ignore whether or not they're available if their names were mentioned would you bat an eyelid? I wouldn't. Pardew is at the very least a good Championship manager and to better his credentials you need some with Championship/Premership experience and keeping a team there... Both men possibly but neither excite me and if you're honest, if their names were mentioned right after Wembley you wouldn't have given them the time of day... We are at square one yet again, it's not hysterical it's point of fact and made all the more awkward by the fact that people talk and having a chairman that is viewed as "difficult" by the press may well put off some candidates. If you sack Pardew when he's viewed as doing a reasonably good job, what manager would be attracted to job that sets standards that high? And again, where have I stated the season has been ruined???? Never is the answer. Now you're being hysterical...

Sorry, but where did I say Pardew was beyond criticism? Where have I even suggested that Pardew didn;t merit a dismissal? My point is the timing is shocking, two days away from the end of the transfer window and three games into the season. I haven't mentioned Pardew's ability as a manager at all. You've just made all of that up.... And whilst we're at it, what if we beat Rochdale 4-0? You can't base a response on what might happen in the future... The fact is we're starting from scratch yet again and I'm sorry but considering our own history, that's just not on...

Not a problem Wes, and it's welcome that you, unlike others, can vehemently disagree with me without getting personal or rude and offhand... But I disagree, with the transfer window about to close and just 3 games into the season, the sacking is pure, unadulterated folly... It proves that the rumours abounding from St Marys at the tail end of last season were right and Cortese wanted Pardew out were right. The timing means that any manager has to start from scratch and yet again the New Year transfer window will be relied on for that impetus to force us away from the promotion pack. I has thrown the whole season into chaos and we are starting again. That's not hearsay or theory Wes, it's a fact. The club is, in terms of management, in chaos. We are starting from scratch... again... You're right in saying that a good appointment will appease us all and we'll all forget about Alan Pardew if the new man is real head turner but it doesn't detract from the fact that this is a disastrous decision. Finally hitting our stride, we sack the manager. The timing is shocking. Had this been Lowe Wes, you would had been fiercely critical. You can't excuse a bad decision based on who made it...

Report is from May. Cotterill has a job now, employed to take the Skates down....

There are going to be a lot of people on here with egg on their faces. The "In Cortese We trust" brigade who denied that Pardew was being lined up to be sacked last season must be looking rather foolish as it's rather obvious that those rumours were absolutely on the money. It's an absolutely insane decision. To sack Pardew pre season maybe, but to sack him with 3 league games on the clock is madness and it puts any chance of promotion into real jeopardy. Days before the transfer window? I n s a n e... In all honesty, we need to take a look at the way Cortese runs the club as to sack a manager, after a 4-0 away win on game three, tow days before the transfer window closes is just insane. Add to that the alienation of the press and certain other, shall we say, less popular decisions with some sections of the fanbase and you have a real issue....

Good point and thus far one of a handful of posters to offer a reason why. But again, he was squad player for us, sometimes on fire, sometimes terrible (a bit like Puncheon) and it's those instances that people tend to forget. But you're right we are missing a miss a bit of pace.

I don't get this Antonio obsession. Good League One player, no more no less. Reading loaned him to us, saw an improvement and took out an option they were fully entitled to. We've done it to other clubs... it's what the loan system is about. One team gets a player for free, the other gets their player more experience. As it's been quoted before, and no one's taken any notice of, we did the same with Surman and Lalana. Instead of looking at it realistically we get the usual suspects whineying on about how the world revolves around player x and how we're all going to hell in a handcart without him. How on earth anyone can dispute NickG's evaluation of 500k is beyond me. He is a Championship squad player. A substitute. If we weren't loaded, Reading would be selling him right now. They obviously think they can eke more money out of us but as Windmill Arm stated, why pay over the odds for someone we can pick up for free later on? We've played two league games and already the wrist slitters are out in force.... Unbelievable...

Not bizarre, you just don't have the fecking intelligence to understand it. Your reply just shows you for what you are... Now you're just doing what you usually do when you lose an argument or act like thick twonk .. you run and hide... For what it's worth I'd rather be OTT or offensive than a sad, bitter, thick, bigotted, blinkered , thick little troll who lives to get attention because he's probably so ineffectual or dull in real life and revels in the "notoriety" he gets on here... Sorry DSM, ban me, please but I just had to get that off my chest... Phew, feel so much better for that....

Oh right, so you accuse me of likening Cortese to a Nazi but we'll forget about that one shall we? Erm... No, actually, I won't...

Talk about overreaction, you and Alpine of all people, talking to me about overreaction! Oh the ****ing irony!! I notice you deliberately took out this part of my post... "It may be a bit over the top for such a small issue but..." Read the ****ing post, the quote is being used in the context that people like you don't give a **** about certain things that are going on the club because it doesn't affect you. One day the club will do something that does affect you and people such as me won't care a stuff about you ... To take the quote and then try to portray me as someone trying to compare Cortese to a Nazi is ****ing brainless, lazy and a desperate attempt to deflect attention from the fact that people like you don't give a stuff about anyone other than yourselves... Amazing how people continually ask for proof from one side of the fence whilst blindly accepting the other side as absolute...

Now doubt Pompey fans were saying this not so long ago.... A whole lot of people posting a whole lot of vitriol at Pat, asking for proof, without even considering there might be any element of truth in it. Am I the only one seeing the irony in blindly denying any truth in the rumour and then demanding proof?? Pat, you have provide some proof before posting such claims as the atmosphere on this board at the moment means you probably need 90 minute HD video footage of the incident before anyone believes you...

If that were the case then that would be twice as bad. To ban someone because they occasionally write for the Echo would be appalling... If Nick were refused a season ticket because of the Silverspoons fiasco then I can accept that and I believe that an explanation and apology should be forthcoming to those who felt ripped off by the event. If it's because Nick exercised his right to express his an opinion and been refused a ticket on those grounds then we should all be very worried indeed...

Am I the only one here wondering why people are so quick to criticise the Echo and yet even quicker to criticise some posters for apparently jumping to speedy conclusions in regards to Cortese??? A newspaper has been banned, are people that blinkered that they can't see that's a very bad thing? I'm stunned to see people so entrenched in their views that they can't see that some very poor decisions have been made? Are people that determined to have a go at the likes SRS and FF that they can continually slag them off on here for their perceived attitude against the club and yet blinkeredly refuse to listen to anything they say? Somewhere near the middle lies the truth. That yes the club was save by Cortese and yes we owe him a massive debt of gratitude but that doesn't excuse some very poor decisions. Banning a newspaper, stopping installment plans/half season tickets despite promising they would be kept, refusing a fan a ticket and yet a month on still not telling him why, at what stage do people ask questions about the club???

""They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for for me and by that time no one was left to speak up." It may be a bit over the top for such a small issue but for all those people who seem to think that as if doesn't affect them then they don't care, remember that one day something will happen that will affect you and some people won't give a **** either... There's far too many smartarses on here passing juvenile comments on installment plans/half season tickets, who don't go to many games and, as it doesn't affect them, feel entitled to mock those who it does affect.... You may not like Nick Illingsworth but please don't come crying to me when the club does something that ****es you off as I just won't give a stuff...

Must sign Frimpong , if for no other reason than I want "Emmanual Frimpong" on the back of a shirt. Surely the best name ever....

I;m not going to argue with you Alpine but if you're going to accuse me of having a sense of humour bypass then please make sure we can all see you're being "funny". I see nothing funny about a swipe at sections of the fanbase on lower incomes. Every comment you've made on installments mentions whether or not they can afford a season ticket which quite frankly is none of your business. If people go without something else so as to afford football that's their choice. If they expect and indeed have been promised, two different ways to pay, then that should be upheld. Sorry but when you're talking about things being "rocket science" please tell us all what the difference is between a whole season ticket and a half one??? Installment plans aside why was the half season ticket abolished when the only people it will affect are the ones on a lower income. It'll get more people to buy full ones? Erm, no it won't.. I know of dozens of people who have not renewed because the club gave them two months to find nearly £400 Another thing you've said that annoyed the crap out of me was telling people they should "prioritise" and that because they might be on a lower income perhaps they shouldn't even think about season tickets... People are annoyed because they were promising in the ****ing fans charter!!!!!!!! You seem to conveniently forget the club made a promise, broke it and then claimed that it was "last season's promise" I'm not going to argue with you on this but think of the people this affects before commenting...