lordswoodsaints

And there are a lot of 'ordinary' teams in the league so hopefully we will get a few more wins Coyr

Very very good today conducted himself well,really starting to see what he is capable of after stripping back all the other crap surrounding him.

Lallana for me,he was superb followed by any one of clyne,punch,ramirez(2nd half),lambert (2nd half)

Ramirez playing too far off lambert and lamberts getting a bit frustrated with it by the looks of it.

Either Adkins is telling the truth and everything is ok or he is bending the truth to try and diffuse a bad situation and make it a bit difficult for NC to give him the boot. I'd be inclined to believe that they do have a decent relationship and they are both a bit ****ed off about the start we've made and this press release is an orchestrated attempt to keep the heat off of a bad situation and the rumours that follow it, but you can guarantee that if we lose badly against villa the heat will be turned up a few notches and the relationship will be A little more uncomfortable for both of them.

Jeez...that took me long enough to think that sh!t up I don't think I could handle writing another 300 pages of ******.

Looking forward to it but as optimistic as I am about us winning I can just hear the boos ringing around at the halftime whistle if we are not winning.

Tbh....and this is my personal view,I think Adkins was close to getting the boot at the end of the season,the results from January onwards didn't match the results for the first half of the season,basically his tactics got found out and although we ended up getting promoted,it wasn't convincingly and we nearly blew it........now you can butter it up as much as you like but that's the way it was. I reckon that NC got a bit worried by this and had words with Adkins,with the outcome being NC possibly getting too involved in team affairs and transfers and this has carried on into the new season with the whole billy sharp thing and the signings we have made.i think rodriguez was NC's no.1 target in January and billy sharp was the striker Adkins wanted,Rodriguez for whatever. reason wouldn't sign so Adkins got his man so shipping billy off to forest and signing Rodriguez is NC stamping his authority. I also firmly believe that NC had something to do with the new lad coming on against Manu,there was no way in a million years the lad was ready for it,and the game itself didn't justify the change. To me,something isn't right and either Adkins will get the hump and walk or he will get pushed,either way we will lose a decent manager. This is all speculation on my part and I'm not bashing NC in anyway as he has done a fantastic job so far and tbh if this is the way he wants the club to go then I'm happy as long as it brings results and success,I just don't think things are as rosy in the garden as some of you think.

^this for me And to all those that think NC won't get rid of Adkins after letting him 'spunk' £30m on transfers.....well you don't actually believe that those signings were done by Adkins do you? I would guess that Rodriguez and possibly Davis were his choice,the rest were decided by NC. Sharp's departure was also NC (see my other thread) IMO NC will not tolerate failure and to secure his plan for the club he will make swift and possibly unpopular decisions,do you think he is worried about what the press/media think or that he will upset a few fans?.....of course not,his job is to do the best he can for the owners of the club,he doesn't give a monkeys that he's upset a few people on a small football forum,or the editor from the echo. He has shown in past that he doesn't care about sentiment....the spat with letiss,lawrie mac and benali being a good indicator,he also has previous when it comes to making scathing decisions like getting rid of pardew,so why do you think Adkins will get any special treatment?....yes Adkins has done us proud until now but the reality is he will be sacked if he can't handle the premiership,you might think its harsh but I can guarantee it will happen regardless of what anyone on here thinks.

I think we lost our way in the transfer market,left it too late,didn't have a backup if the no.1 targets fell through and panic set in.....I don't know the reasons why this happened and tbh it's not as if we weren't expecting to be promoted as we led the league for most of the season and were nearly always in an automatic promotion slot, Somebody or some persons didn't do their homework/job properly and regardless of the horrific start the league threw at us we are still not fully stocked in all departments and this is going to cost us dear.

More elbow room for us level headed,realistic fans who don't throw our toys about then.

But would wolves have done any better if they hadn't sacked McCarthy?,at least they tried to give themselves a chance.....worth the gamble and all that. I'd hold up spurs as a good example of a club that has maintained their top flight status even though they change their manager regularly,in fact,since we got promoted together in the 70's they have had a total of 24 managers to our 22 and they have been a fairly stable club,maintaining their top flight status,occasionally flirting with the big boys and playing some good football......so I would say that changing your manager is nothing to be afraid of,in fact it should be embraced as sometimes it can do wonders to have a change,so it really is a myth that constantly changing your manager is the wrong thing to do to gain success.

I'm certain that we would lose Ramirez,lallana,lambert,cork,Morgan,ward prowse and maybe even more,that leaves us with older players and fringe players so would mean rebuilding which takes time. Why not put your efforts into staying up,ok we could get a new man in and still get relegated but at least cortese can turn around and say he tried,to actually do nothing and continue flogging a dead horse would be stupid IMO. I don't think cortese is stupid enough to just carry on,I'm certain that he would act quickly if we were badly struggling and tbh I would expect it to be a swift decision. I like Adkins and I am praying that he gets it right because if he does then that means my team is doing well and I'm happy but if he can't sort out the problems then I also expect him to be sacked,that's just football.

To get relegated from the premier league would be a disaster for this club,you seem to overlook the fact that the squad have now tasted premier league football and are on good money because of it.if we were to get relegated then they won't hang about,they will be very happy to get cherry picked by another club who would be willing to continue to pay them good money,they won't hang around through sentiment. You would probably also find that the liebher family would withdraw the significant funding that they have been giving generously up until now,ok we will have the parachute payment but that didn't help us the last time we were relegated,in fact we really struggled with life in the championship. Staying in the premiership has to be the priority,nothing else matters and if that means parting company with the manager then so be it......cortese knows that and he's no fool,if the results are still not good enough by nov/dec then I expect nothing else but Adkins to be sacked,this would give the new fella time to turn it around and also a transfer window to bring in some decent players. What is the point in struggling on blindly hoping that he can get it right.

I can't believe there are so many who would cut their noses off to spite their face. I don't want Adkins to get the boot but staying in the prem is more important than anything,more important than Adkins keeping his job or redknapp getting the nod. To sacrifice your premiership status just because you don't like redknapp is madness,i don't really give a monkeys who's the manager as long as we stay up,we have all had enough stress as supporters over the last few years to just throw all of the good work out of the window because of stubbornness and prejudice. If Nigel is unable to turn it around then it's 'thanks for the good times,there's the door' I'm afraid,he is not bigger than the club and our premier league status......I would hate to look back at the end of the season after relegation and think to myself that we had a chance to do something about it and nothing was done. I think some of you need to grow up and stop throwing your toys about when you don't get your own way. Wether you or I like it or not,football today is all about the money and the prem is where the money is.

What a load of crap,how do you know this? We have spent big money,it may be the case that we couldn't attract the players needed because of other factors.....my guess is that we are just not an attractive enough club with an unknown manager to attract the players needed.

Brad friedel could be available soon,still a very good keeper even into his 40's

Just been looking at some stats on his last outing in the prem for Sunderland 2005/06 and he played 33 games conceded 52 goals and kept 3 clean sheets As a comparison - Man city 2 - 1 Sunderland Sunderland 0 - 1 Wigan Sunderland 1 - 3 man utd Arsenal 3 - 1 Sunderland (Davis didn't play) At the moment he has conceded 14 goals in 4 games. Obviously all of the goals conceded for us and Sunderland are not all his fault.

I'm with this,Nigel should be given a chance but to maintain our premier league status there needs to come a cut off point when cortese says enough is enough and gets rid,if it's too late then the new fella won't have enough time to turn it around so IMO if we are still floundering by November then it's time for a change. Staying in the premier league is paramount,we have all been through too many emotions over the last few years to throw it all away because of sentiments and stubbornness. If he does go then we need to employ the best available manager with the most premier league experience and that man is redknapp.

I don't know how old you are but he is certainly not the best manager I've seen in my lifetime....lawrie mac,strachan,hoddle even good old Chris nicholl are definately better,Alan ball got the best out of players and everybody's favourite hate figure (not mine) twitchy redknapp are all better. Don't get me wrong Nigel is good,but he lacks in certain areas and unfortunately the things he lacks combined with the shortcomings of our squad are being exploited by teams and if he doesn't learn to compete with what's at his disposal (like lawrie mac) and constantly switch tactics (like hoddle) and get the players fit enough to play the whole game (like strachan) then he will be out of the door. Hes done well to get us here but By a long shot he is not our best manager.

As some have suggested on this thread that us fans are acting like spoilt brats because we are not getting something from the games we have played,well we have been told to expect great things like champions league football and big plans so it's no surprise that people are getting the hump when we can't even compete in our own league let alone the champions league. If you aim high with a faulty gun you shoot yourself in the foot.

I think to make a judgement on the rights or wrongs of wether or not Adkins should be given the boot,we need to look beyond the 4 defeats and the lack of points,we need to scrutinise the fact that we have conceded 15 goals (a few of them being og's),the starting lineups,the substitutions and the tactics and IMO the decisions have been amateur like and sometimes baffling. I think we also need to go back to the second half of last season and although we got promoted we didnt do easily and the cracks began to show towards the end,and IMO I think he would of been shown the door if promotion wasn't achieved. On the plus side we have been scoring goals and we have shown we can compete in short spells,we have also played some good football at times but if we can't stop leaking silly goals then we will be in trouble for most of the season. He deserves his chance to get it right but not at the expense of our premier league status,that has to remain at whatever cost so a time will come when Adkins will get the sack if he doesn't get it right sooner rather later and no matter what we all think of the decision it is out of our hands. I want him to be given a chance but I also want to see us playing in the prem next season and for a long time after.

Adkins didn't seem so upbeat about things in the post match interview as he usually is...maybe the reality of the task is beginning to bite.

What has this got to do about anything that happened today? If I could be bothered I would trawl through the tinternet and try and find a story or two about us finishing second in the league behind Liverpool or the signing of keegan......they were glorious times but they also have no relevance to our current predicament

You can bang in as many goals as you want but if you can't keep them out at the other end it's likely that we will lose