Saint Garrett

Matter of opinion. I saw a bloke take on a team that although was low on confidence, they had only just gone into the relegation zone. Jones sucked the life out of the club in the following 3 months. What manager is lucky enough to have a mini pre season, and a transfer window pretty much straight away. He lost 7 out of 8 games playing some of the worst football I've ever watched, and being a complete dislikeable lunatic. I remember being at the cup game, first game back from the world cup, and watching us get completely outplayed by Lincoln City. We only started playing once Walcott came on. Going to Fulham on NYE, changing the system to a 4 at the back at HT and we were the better team comfortably. He then went back to a 5 at the back, we sat on the edge of our box and ended up losing. We should have won that game.That Forest game in January was absolutely appalling, and I think it was still Forest's only away win of the season? We didn't trouble their goal at all, just played aimless long balls to no-one. That was when he should have been sacked IMO. He was kept on because they let him buy Onuachu, who is absolutely shit. He was given a relatively "easy" run of games, Selles was an assistant manager, in his first job, with a team on the floor. Battered and bruised having just lost 7 of the last 8, including one against 10 men after being 1-0 up! He got a few wins against Chelsea and Leicester, and a few battling draws against Man Utd, Arsenal, Spurs, and Liverpool. There is no doubt we didn't perform against the shitter teams but at least we showed a bit of fight. Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion, but for me, it's not comparable really. Ultimately neither were good enough, but for me Jones was a huge part in us being relegated. And ultimately the team wasn't either, but we should never have been cut adrift by as many points as we were in the end IMO.

Re Jones they mentioned back in January/Feb they signed him because he was high on the “aggression” metrics, (I’m guessing this is stuff like closing down, intensity, tackles, pressing etc) and was very good at getting the best out of set pieces. There is no doubt he was absolutely useless for us though. The worst manager I’ve ever experienced

Good to hear them speak. All the article is pretty fair, and none of it a surprise. They’re basically taking responsibility for relegation as they should, and basically saying they now want to be closer to make sure the club succeeds. Think it reads pretty positively tbh, but they need to start getting big decisions right, starting with the manager, and the recruitment this summer.

Yeah I agree mate. Hopefully if it's 20% + buy back clause they can;'t be used in tandem. i.e. if City buy him for the release clause, they don't get 20% cashback. Would be nice to get a player or two in return if we can find the right players, but an older head or 2 might be good for us.

It's nice, but it's not "Saints" for me. I'd like us to go back to a proper red and white stripes, not half and half. Sure others will find this one nostalgic though and it might grow on me.

Surely we haven't agreed to them essentially signing him for ca £30m next summer? Would we be that daft? Maybe... You'd like to think he's too good to not go for big money this summer.

Can't imagine that'll sell out tbh, big away end. I used to live in Sheffield and never used to be a problem.

Not been to Bristol City, Preston or Rotherham so hopefully will be able to do those next year. Hopefully we don’t have any awful Friday night games. The shambles of train situation in this country completely puts me off going away though, and I’m sure it’s impacted some of our home attendances this year, especially with the M3 and Avenue being so slow this year. Hopefully trains will be a bit more reliable next season. Im guessing TV fixtures will be announced about a month before the fixture, so won’t be booking any travel until then. Anyone know how many games were on TV last year for the champ clubs?

JWP does not deserve the majority of the comments in this thread. He’s a top player and top bloke, who has given his all for this club. Deserves a bit more respect IMO.

Swap the red and the white around, and you've got a cracker there.

Looks lovely, swap the white with red, and green with white, and you've got a clsassic Saints kit IMO. SR just might think it's a bit close to 21/22 though. But with thinner stripes, its a YES from me.

He is, however, a young and upcoming manager, who will likely, learn from his experience at Swansea. Too much misery in recent years to be sat here whinging about a manager who isn’t even here yet.

Classic saints for some fans to be writing him off before he’s even joined. Some seem to forget we’ve been relegated and are not the biggest draw right now. He gets full backing from me, seems he’s got the right characteristics to galvanise the club and build some solid foundations. If not, so be it, we’ll find someone else. Time for us to get behind him though and the full project.

Borges?

Yup - cracking player who has a decent chance of going to the Euros next summer I'd think. One we were never going to spunk £45m on, but maybe we need to every now and again.

Is that a surprise? We have the worst attacking players so of course we're going to have the most sideways and backwards passes. Especially if theyre trying to keep the ball. Whats the point in just aimlessy booting it up the pitch to no-one?

Of course, but generally the best teams over the years have had the most possession. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but most of the time, the teams with the biggest possession finish the highest up the league. We need to make sure they bring in the right players to play that way, but I do believe we have a decent core at the club now. With 3 or 4 attacking players brought in this summer, we'll be able to stretch teams which allows us more space in midfield to play and keep the ball.

Assume you haven't been watching City this season, or Brighton, or the Barcelona of 10 years ago. It's about keeping the ball. With intent yes, but keep the ball. If you need to go back then fine, I have no problem with it, I'd much rather we went backwards than give it straight back to the opposition because there is no one to pass to. It becomes far easier passing the ball forwards when you have some quality players in the final third. WHen you have the likes of Elyounoussi, Sulemena, Theo, Djenepo, Armstrong, Mara, Onuachu up front, then it's not a surprise we end up going backwards. You watch some of the best teams in the world and they will go forward and backwards and side to side, and back again, back into midfield, back to defence constantly. Brighton a great example this season and look how impressive theyve been.

Reminds me of the Saints Cov love in when we got promoted to the prem and cov got relegated.

Got an email telling me it’s been sold.

He's been an awful signing for us from the start. Utter waste of money. Thought he's looked ok when we were playing a front 3 with him on the left, but he has zero goal threat. He'll only be an asset next season if we play 2 up front IMO, but I'd be looking to offload him. His missus was definitely looking for houses in Ipswich area, but whether that was becuase of general interest, or whether something is more concrete we shall see.

Away on a stag doo in Germany this weekend, so missing this one sadly, but I’m sure it won’t be particularly enjoyable so maybe it’s good I’m missing it. Stuck tickets on exchange, sold yesterday. Happy days. Hopefully it’s a respectable defeat or better, with a bunch on minutes for the players who will be here next season.

The Northam has been dreadful for years. Itchen North and Kingsland North often are louder than the Northam.

I’m quite excited by this appointment tbh, seems like a great fit for us. Club needs rebuilding from the top down. We have Wilcox in place, a new manager in ready to hit the ground running over the summer. Time to go out and bring in players that fit the system and style. Also, haven’t we had a depressing enough season or 2, to start whinging about a manager who has lost 0 games as saints manager yet…! Give him a chance!

For me, despite him not playing a bunch of games, he’s been class. Agree only other option really is JWP, but I don’t think he’s had a great season at all, obviously hampered by having nothing in front of him.