Fitzhugh Fella

Well Sam is with Stoke in the same league as we will be in next season (and where he has been since he left us) so his name in your list is a bit previous. You talk about coaches who seem him every day (SAA) and yes I would agree with you if I had more faith in the footballing set up up at SMS at present. Not including Juric because he is still getting his feet under the table and surely he hasn't seen enough of SAA yet? He looked good in the Championship last year as a 17-year old and will probably do so next season should he be given a chance.

It's very hard to comment with "full knowledge of the facts" because in recent months SD don't seem too keen on keeping the fan base up to speed. Yes there might be a reason why someone at SMS thinks SAA not worth keeping but I am damned if I can see the logic because to my weary eyes, he is young, promising and he has not been given a decent run in the side for a very long time. To me he looks a better prospect than Edozie and I'd rather see him the squad than Fraser. This decision - while there may be extenuating circumstances (pray tell us) - is baffling and undermines confidence in those currently taking footballing decisions.

We obviously desperately need a striker (Bednarek currently joint top scorer with 2 League goals?????) but so do about 30 other teams and good forwards really do not grow on trees these days. So we are going to have to take a gamble by signing an old crock like Wilson or sign someone from Albania no one has heard of and neither option fills me with much hope. Even someone like Paul Moody, Neil Shipperly or Micky Evans would be a bonus right now because I don't think I can watch more of Adam Armstrong's non-existant ball control.

Has Bamford signed yet?

JJ Morgan played 73 mins for Gillingham yesterday then got subbed

Yea but can our scouting team find them?

For me his treatment has been the biggest crime this season unless there is something going on in the background we don't know about. He has always seemed to be the most promising of our youngsters and yet Martin snubbed him repeatedly. I don't get it. He had a good game vs Cardiff in the League Cup and then was sent into exile.

Had a nasty shoulder injury and struggled after that. Bruce said the injury affected his form

Well said. I doubt anyone is as pissed off as he is. People often forget footballers are human beings.

Do I sense the mild whiff of a Russell Martin renaissance movement getting underway?

Had we not got promoted I wonder where we would be today. Probably in a better position than we are currently, although whether Martin and his style of football would still be popular a moot point.

I keep reading that Saints should "clear out all the dead wood in January" but I wonder if anyone has actually ever managed to sell any dead wood in the middle of January? Not sure there is a long line of managers or DoFs banging our door down all clamouring to get their hands on our "dead wood" either. Similarly, despite what the last poster, Bobsmith says "this could be the best time to strengthen" doesn't hold water because who in their right mind is going to want to join what is quite literally a sinking (fast) ship? The situation is dire and calls for drastic action but judging by the empty Director's Box on Saturday it seems a few of the people capable of taking decisions have already jumped.

Anyone who can score 22 goals in 37 Championship matches (2021-22) cannot be that bad. Are you going on what you have seen this season (in which case I would argue you are not giving him a fair hearing)?

He really is not as bad as people think. I watched a lot of him at Blackburn and given the right support and played in the right position he could still be an asset for us next season. He is a player who thrives on confidence, apparently and at present because of the way he was treated by Martin he is at a low ebb indeed. The only type of player who will come to us this January is an older player on his way down looking for a final swansong or, a young player yet to make it in the PL who fancies a crack. Neither fills me with any hope but we are, because of our position, hardly an attractive proposition. We have a Board who have unquestionably presided over two of the worst seasons in our 140 year history and a recent recruitment record that is literally gruesome. We really do need to get back to basics and regroup this summer, but I fear the new manager will be off when the break clause comes up. It's a shame because off the pitch the current owners seem to have a vision but we lack a real football man in amongst the hipsters.

We try to extend you mean and he finds a bigger club, but the argument is academic as it seems early reports of a 6 month contract were wrong, thankfully.

18 months would have been a good option. How are we going to judge him? If we get relegated will he be a failure? This is the board deferring the problem until the summer imo. I would have preferred something a little more long sighted but we all know what happens when we go down that road. As it is we will have a manager who almost certainly wont be here next Christmas.

If this new manager is only given a 6 month contract it says to me neither side is particularly confident in the other and we will therefore probably be in for another summer of upheaval and looking for a new manager.

slashing odds = slashing wrists

Eking out a draw or two and the odd win won't be enough

I was talking to the mechanic who was fixing my car yesterday. A big Saints fan we often talk football. This season he splashed out on a ST having never been able to afford one before. He told me he's not going on Sunday. I asked if he had other commitments he said no. He just is fed up to the back teeth of "suicide football". He said the tippy tappy football is bad enough but thats not enough to keep him away, however the crass stupidity of just watching us give the ball away in our own penalty area week in week out is hard to accept and is depressing. If only Martin would relent a bit on this it wouldn't be so unbearable. This is the biggest reason everyone one is so bloody fed up at present. We are managed by a robot it seems.

Over the years we have witnessed a lot of low times ie our first relegation under McMenemy, the Branfoot days and then of course the lead up to administration and our fall into the third tier. But I think I can honestly say I have never felt the embarrassment I currently feel as a Saints fan. Other football fans aren't looking at us and saying what a wonderful club Southampton are, they are so loyal to their managers. Far from it. They look at us and our record and shake their heads and say what on earth is going on at your club and I have no answer other than to say we have a manager who everyone inc the owners know is not up to the job and yet we can't afford to sack him. As fans we have no right to expect to be successful, we have no right to see enjoyable exciting football week in week out, we have no right to expect the owners to lash out on big names in the transfer window, but we do have the right to ask that we are not embarrassed to be a Southampton fan.

Err, with the greatest of respect David it might just be a teeny weeny bit late by then.

And you trust the board/Martin to pluck a decent striker out of where exactly?

Unless you are a confidante of Potter you have no idea why he turned down the Leicester job but, even if he can't be persuaded, it does not make sense to not sack a poor manager because you think you can't do better. We are going down with Martin so we literally can't do any worse and do you really want to watch tippy tappy football in the Championship again? You say we are improving. In the immortal words of a certain tennis player "you cannot be serious"? Our first half display last night was awful and Brighton should have been out of sight. Damn right RM is "tweaking" the team - that's part of the problem. No one really knows what his best team is. Finally you say he is "learning". Really? I see no evidence of that whatsoever. I suspect you just made that up to suit your very weak argument. You never were a boat rocker.

At the end of the day why would any prospective owner, be it Marcus or Dragan or Gao buy Southampton FC? None of them had posters of Mick Channon etc on their wall while there were growing up and none of them had stepped inside St Mary's before expressing an interest to buy, so the answer is they purchased SFC with the primary intent of making money. I think Markus got a kick out of it (we all saw that with his camera at the JPT final) and Kat (mainly because of her father's legacy and the interest shown by her son) was keen for the club to prosper. Gao couldn't give two hoots and now we have Dragan who has "become" a supporter but remains first and foremost a businessman who one day will be looking to sell on for a profit. All this means the fans, whose main desires are to see a bit of success and some decent football are inevitably going to be at odds with whoever purchases us, unless we suddenly find a very wealthy Saints fan/owner out there (a la Stoke or Brighton). Unfortunately that is very unlikely unless Steve Grant becomes the new Elon Musk in 10 years. So, the day we became a limited company via a dodgy reverse takeover, was the first step into "losing" our club and then when the private owner era took over we lost it completely. Sad but inevitable the way football is going and has gone. We can all shout and scream (and I am shouting and am as frustrated as the next guy) but at the end of the day the fans no longer have the clout we once had. The days of the Board heeding terrace unrest disappeared the afternoon Ian Branfoot packed his bags.