Professor

The off-the-field appointments and the rumours about a DoF post, possibly sometime this season, make the club look very much like a top-tier club in waiting. An ex-Prem manager, very experienced coaches, a proper scouting network and possibly another big name as DoF still to come suggest that Leibherr and Cortese were quite serious when they talked about the five-year plan. Add those personnel to the infrastructure of a premiership stadium, first-class training facilities and a potential fan base of 30,000 and there is every reason to expect a rosie future. All that matters this year is not going down another level, and the new signings, plus returning players should be enough. I was very pessimistic when no signings were announced on the day the transfer window closed, but the subsequent news, in the squad and in the backroom team has changed my view. There is now a potential first 11 that does not have to rely on reserves who are not yet quite ready for the step up, or at least, not too many at once.

The question answers itself. Cortese does not have experience of handling footballer contracts and transfers. The DoF role would be to relieve the chairman, not the manager. No manager can bring in any players he wants without board level approval. What difference does it make to the manager whether that is done by the chairman, or by a DoF, except that a DoF may be more knowledgeable?

Pardew can't go public on which players are not up to first team standard without demoralising them even more, but on the Forum we are not constrained and a lot of views have been expressed already. So, who is not really worth a place at the moment, and who might be brought up to standard with more coaching? My own disapointment is Mellis, who looks like Pardew's one weak signing so far. We've all seen the publicity about Chelsea's academy not doing too well and I'm afraid that IMHO Mellis looks like one of the failures....

Walley Downes will know Graeme Murty well. Its a shame Murty is currently injured, but it must be good for Saints to have them both here.

Logically, it was never feasible for Saints to do a Leeds or a Charlton this season, starting with such a weak squad, even weaker than the one relegated last year. Therefore avoiding relegation has always been the only realistic objective this year. Despite the weaknesses still in the side, mainly the reserve players not so far replaced, the rebuilding should be enough to get to safety. The only doubt for me amongst the new players is Mellis, who looks like another of Chelsea's failed young signings, but with Jaidi and Waigo to come in and Saga back, things should start to turn around this month. If we don't get 6 points in Sept I'll be worried, but I feel we may well get 7 or even 9, so we could be getting close to contact with the bottom teams by the end of the month.

Few managers are fortunate enough to manage a team that is consistently successful, and we constantly see a manager praised for winning promotion who is then sacked a year later for not doing the same again. Pardew is as good a manager as any other but he does have too many inadequate players in his squad. Its hard to say that is his fault when he's only been here for two months. Maybe he should have acted faster to persuade the owners of the need to recruit but if he'd come in demanding large sums of money, he may not have got the job. The team is performing woefully but there are two or three players available, who did not play on Saturday, who may strengthen it. Pardew must know better than any of us on here what the weaknesses and he's bound to make changes within the scope of who he has in the squad. BUt ultimately, he does need to replace the reserve standard players who he is having to still use in the first team. I doubt that he can go public on that without making those players perform even worse, so we do have to wait and see what he does.

Gratitude for saving the club is all very well, but SFC is not just any old football club, it has been a mainstay of the upper division for most of the past 40 years. To see it slip into Div2 would be just too depressing. We all know that 4 points from 6 games is relegation form. At that rate we'd be lucky to make 50 points for the season, which is relegation anyway, even without the -10 deduction. People still talking about the play-offs are in a fantasy. Even an improvement in form will not achieve that. Disapointing is an understatement and its true we have 2 new players to come into the team and Saganowski is still here, but if we don't get at least 6 points from the next four games, things will be looking very black.

Agreed, BUT, shouldn't Pardew have noticed this a bit earlier and explained to the owners what the consequences might be? Maybe there was no one left at the the club to tell him of the lesson from last year about expecting a lot from the young players..........

When Pardew arrived in July, he told us that the club needed a 'couple' of new players and that he would be looking at free transfers first. In the event he has signed 4 players and bought in 3 loans. That seems to confirm that his first impression was a serious under assessment and maybe the owners have taken some persuasion. We don't have enough informmation to apportion 'blame', but unfortunately the squad is still too weak, even with 2 more players to come in over the next week or two. There are 3 or 4 of last years' young players who are out of their depth, but it looks as if Pardew will have to keep playing them, at least until January. If the results don't improve, I'm sure AP and the owners will be the first to know that something will need to be done by emergency loans and in the Jan window.

When you look at the comments on here, what seems to come over is that the new signings are mostly doing OK, and the players left over from last year, especially the younger ones, are still really just reserve team status. This was a truly poor performance. It was Colchester who came closest to scoring by hitting the bar after going down to 10 men, whilst Sainst were hopeless, even when having most of the play towards the end. They struggled to set up real chances, and when they did, they failed miserably to take them. At least we have two more signings to come in, but is it enough to replace the 4 or 5 weak players out there today?

Without Jaidi and Murty in the back four, I can't see us keeping a clean sheet. We should be stronger in midfield and we do have Lambert's presence up front, but with Rasiak gone, Saga away and Papa Waigo not able to play today, the scoring options are still limited. The new signings, together with holding on to Schneiderlin and Saga might boost the confidence factor but for Colchester, so will the Boothroyd appointment. Looks like a score draw to me 1-1 but in the circumstances I'd see that as a good result, as the team can only get better as the better players come in, or come back, over the next week or so.

If the bids for MS/MS were close to the window closing, it would have been too much of a weakening of the squad with no time to replace. If they still want to go, and offers come in Jan, they might still be off, but the difference in the club now, is that no player is irreplaceable. As things stand, most people would say they are both well worth their place in the squad, but they also give some stability at a time of change, since they are two of the few regulars from last season.

Could saga still go on loan, or does AP now have him until Jan at least?

Dear Pancake, without wishing to state the obvious, today was not a normal day. Any other day, I would agree with you, but if today was not special, why were fans logging on to this site all day, and why are several people expressing frustration and even anger? No signings on this day surely are news.

On a crucial day such as today, the absence of news, except the Poke loan-out is appalling (imho). It isn't necessary to give details if there are uncertainties, but just to say negotiations are happening, or have fallen through, either inwards or outwards, would not have breached any confidences. Finally a statement at 5pm to sum up and an update on the Jaidi position. If the OS can't be properly used to inform fans on this day, what is it for?

If there has been a signing and the OS has simply not reported it, the OS editor should be sacked - but can't believe that is what has happened. Pardew said to The Echo he wanted 3 players, so if he hasn't made a signing he is not doing his job. As for Jaidi, who we are told can be signed after the window because he's a free agent, if he is so good, how is it no one else seems to want him? Could this be the beginning of the pressure on Pardew? How important will the next result be crucial for him?

The difference this season is that we have no debt, so money should be available whereas last year there was none. We do not have an owner or chairman who knows more about football and maybe that is showing. The signings are good, but have they made the team stronger? - Harding for Skacel; Lambert for Stern/Rasiak/DMcG; Hammond for Surman. Its 5pm, do we have a better squad now than it was when the team drew at Stockport on Saturday?

Saturday's Echo said Pardew was looking for another "couple" of signings before the window closes today, but if not, loans during the emergency loan window.

After the Millwall and Northampton games and the signing of Rickie Lambert, my expectation was high mid-table, just short of the playoffs. Since then I see a bottom four struggle until Xmas. After that depends on whether Leibherr and Cortese flash the cheque book in the January window.

The 'laughable' decisions are made by match officials who are trained in their jobs, are doing their best in difficult, snap second, situations, and who, unlike managers, are impartial. Without them football could not take place, yet they constantly get abuse from players, managers and fans. What the experienced manager should know is that once the game is over, complaining about the ref will change nothing, but maybe the manager finds it easier to complain about the ref than to accept the shortcomings of his team.

According to today's press (Times Monday) Pardew is likely to face disciplinary action from the FA for his 'we wuz robbed' comments and criticism of the ref at Stockport. As an experienced manager he should have known better, and he shouldn't overlook that it was his team's failure to score a second goal and their failure to keep control of the ball in the final stages, that resulted in the draw. Ref's decisions go both ways and too many managers only see the ones that favour the opposition. Its disapointing that Pardew behaved like one of them when he has previously said there will be no excuses. He's doing a good job for SFC, although maybe hasn't been able to get enough transfer budget out of the owners, which may not be his fault, so lets see him get on with it, without blaming referees.

In the bottom three as at 1st September, having got only one point more than the lowest achieving club, Brighton, is not acceptable performance. This is not just down to the team manager but the fault lies with the combined management of the club and the team. Marcus and Nicola should recognise that the quality in the squad may have been overestimated and the need for new players, underestimated. Rather than try to apportion blame, lets get on with putting it right! Give AP the tools and he will do the job.

The referees' job is made harder by the amount of blatant cheating by players, and that is encouraged by managers who blame the ref for decisions against their team and rarely admit to errors that favour them. Pardew has gone public to say, "we were robbed' but according the Kelvin Davis he also told the dressing room that they 'probably let the ball come into the box too much towards the end..". Its a pity he didn't say that to the press as well, because it was poor play by the team, booting the ball out of defence instead of try to hold possession, and they shouldn't be cushioned when they've made a mistake.

I don't think this is quite true, Hypo. Charlton had no momentum from last season, any more than Saints had, and although they may have kept their squad, we are supposed to have strengthened ours. In defence we lost Skacel and JPS but have Murty (til this week), Trotman, Harding and Thomas. In midfield we lost Surman, but have Harding. Up front we have Lambert instead Stern, Saga still there against the loss of DMcG. The signings all look like improvements so the weakness must have some other cause, and thats what people are trying to find by comparison with Charlton and Leeds. Splashing the cash should not weaken your side, so is it the players who have not been replaced? Is it the team selections? Is it the tactics? Is it fitness?