Saint-Fred

This all sounds very very familiar! https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/topic/115069-puel-come-to-the-future/

Fantastic..whilst it's a tough tie..it's better than man city away...

"Footballer doesn't slag off his boss" shocker! Sometimes I wonder whether journalists are just dumb or will write anything to prove they have an inside scoop and spoken to a player...does he really think any player is going to say the current boss is the problem?

Perhaps it's a cry for help? He is probably under immense pressure from a board who are (it looks like from outside) sitting back and just heaping more on him...they don't appear to be helping (he was talking about players in and yet we got one player for example- or they are all abroad in China whilst our first team crumbles) It's probably him needing pills to sleep...

Not saying we didn't have some good players but it wasn't the "incredible" squad some think..of those you mention...kelvin never really did it at the highest level..remember Sunderland? Puncheon is Ok but a palace bit part player.. Morgan's had a torrid time since he left, AOC was he even here in the championships? Sharpe hasn't played in the premier league has he? Fonte Lambert and Lallana are the three who probably made it.. I am not saying the squad wasn't good..it was a very competitive squad in both leagues, no doubt..however what position were we in with Pardew in charge when he was sacked and Adkins came in? I just don't understand why some of our own fans have a downer on Adkins...

As we are doing random, hypothetical stuff...do you reckon people would be calling for MP's head ifwe were 16 points clear at the top of the table?

Lol the "incredible" squad with De Ridder, Fox, Butterfield, Hoovield, Hammond, Kelvin, Guly, Barnard..I could go on naming the players that didn't make it in the premier league in that squad...it was a good team but don't kid yourself that we had a load of premier league quality players in league one and the championship. I am an Adkins fan for what he, as I am for all those players I named above, did to give us some of the best times as a saints supporter...I couldn't give a crap what Adkins has done since then...he is still one of my favourite ever managers.

Of course you are right about the pressure for players..but at is true at every club, Arsenal players are under massive pressure for not achieving the top 4, Morgan is getting booed walking on the pitch, Ronaldo is seeing his ability and looks slipping away with every passing year...it isn't unique to us. the issue for me is why talk about it now? Talking about it now makes it look like MP is trying to deflect blame away from himself, give excuses for the league position, let the players off for being ****e, give the players excuses for half hearted displays...etc etc

This is one of the things I hate most about what our club has become..and a lot of the league TBF. Why suddenly do we need to rest players who will get a week off to recover anyway? It's like no one can play two games in a month now! Play the strongest team FFS, half our problems in the last two years IMO have been due to never playing the same team two games in a row. Man City Players are likely to end up playing twice as many games as our precious darlings so ours don't need a rest. If Romeu gets banned, he gets banned..he can have a rest then..he is going to miss games anyway as he will get booked in one of the next 5 games so what's it matter which game it is? If we don't play him we are just voluntarily making him sit out another game? It's just mental.

Not in the league they haven't...Abraham has 4 and Murray has 8...Abrham may score in a cup game they win 8-1 but his return in the league is pretty poor. My point is they are all much of a muchness...there isn't a lot in the squads...look at Swansea...rubbish, dead and buried but now on an amazing run..same squad, same players..the only difference is the manager. Our squad is no worse than any of those in the bottom 10.

Not sure your point here...Abraham has scored what 4 goals? How many has Murray scored? They are no better than our strikers?

Does that really matter? Bournemouth never got to the top flight ever until recently and they still had fans who enjoyed going each week. The premier league is not the be all and end all!

What is the future? It's pretty bleak, not just for us but for all the also rans... The big 6 will force the overseas rights to be split in their favour and the gap will grow. The fodder will be raped of their stars consistently and the league will become more like the Spanish league every year with 4 teams running away with it and the rest there just as their cannon fodder between games against each other. Financially for the club,staying up will only see Gao benefit..it doesn't affect me.

Kat[thinks] why is my scarf shorter than the others? I wonder if it makes my neck look big? Ralph [thinks] I told Kat we had scammed this guy enough and we shouldn't have come back for more... Gao: "This football ownership thing is easy..my mate bought Tevez and that worked out well too!"

Perhaps he will start lunching with the first team?

100% this...many earn more than the prime minister, lots earn 6 figure salaries a year, all paid for by those earning a 28k average yearly wage.

As you say they don't affect the team so timing is irrelevant. If they have not done the job to the owners satisfaction, why would he wait to sack them? I don't think this is trying to save them from relegation it's "you have not performed..you are out"

I think some of the critism aimed at him is a little unfair. He does try to change things and we weren't defensive enough at times...on Sunday both goals were due to over committing players forward, against Liverpool FFS. Had he not watched the Swansea game? I think his issue is he doesn't know what he wants to see,he has no idea of his best team or formation or way of playing. Therefore we play a sort of "nothing" style..we don't break quickly, we don't defend deep or high. We don't press the ball often. We just go out and play football and see what happens. Tactically he is light years behind any other manager in the league, even the likes of BFS..at least he knows what he wants his teams to do.

Collecting senior people at the club on massive salaries who don't have a clue about how to run a football club.

What does this even refer to? Are we sure he is not having a pop at the fans? Why would he be "disgusted" by a football match? Maybe it refers to what the northam sang?

TBF I don't mind Barton..he may be a **** but a lot of the time he does talk sense. He also openly criticises the Liverpool love in in the media (being a blue) which makes me like him more..

They would have agreed if we paid them what they wanted, the same as we did for VVD. Whether he was worth that is debatable, however our insistence to pay only OUR valuation has cost us players in the past and will in the future. We usually get players late as we hold out to pay what we believe is the right value and that will always carry the risk of being gazumped.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jun/12/oyston-family-treats-blackpool-personal-cash-machine-high-court This lot seemed to manage to take money starlight out of their club! I don't know Gao's intentions but I am sure he will be taking enough to service the debt and a bit for himself each year, however it's not inconceivable that should he want more, there are ways he could take it.

Maybe... http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2311552-why-nfl-teams-dont-tank-for-a-better-draft-position

How very apt!