The Kraken

If he's anywhere near the player he was with us previously this would be a fantastic signing.

Looks like Wednesday are in trouble again.

Nonsense. Speak to most people external to Saints and they'll mostly think that Pardew did a good job for us last season. Loads of my (non-Saints) friends were completely amazed when he was sacked, and won't look too far beyond the media embellished stories that Cortese is a bit of a nut. Spin works both ways in termination of employment and, with Downes and Murdoch going too, AP and them will simply claim that it wasn't possible to work with the current owner's impossible procedures. It's exactly the same with Burley, he was a busted flush here but outside that was well thought of and went on to land the national team job. He completely failed there but still got the Palace job. Pardew comes across very well, is media savvy (despite his previous "r4ped him" comment) and seems an intelligent man. I think he'll get snapped up by a Championship team in the next few months. And most will remember him for doing a good job in very difficult circumstances here; I believe his managerial reputation will have been enhanced by his stay here. And you only have to look at previous stories from Martin Samuel etc who will stick by managers and paint a contrary picture against the "arrogance" of football chairmen to see that his media image won't be too affected by his ultimate dismissal.

Get drunk again.

I'm sure he is assessing them, and giving them all a fair chance to prove themselves, which is as it should be. I just get the opinion (rightly or wrongly) that he's been told he can only work with what he's got. It really wouldn't be anything monumental to say "with David Connolly injured we're really light in terms of support up front", yet all we receive are platitudes of how the players all have smiles on their faces and how upbeat the whole squad is. If we don't get at least 2, and I think we need 3, players in the next 2 to 3 weeks I can really see us struggling. Morgan and Hammond can't be too far away from a suspension as it is, chuck in an injury as well and we have no central midfield.

Completely agree with that part. Screaming hysterically in June that we hadn't signed players was premature. It was proven "right", but only in as much that no players at all were signed to fit the positions that the manager had identified, just Guly who provided something new while solving none of the previous squad deficiencies. And I totally agree with the gelling argument, its in no way an issue for 2 or 3 players coming in to the team. I still maintain that the squad in its current guise should have been able to kick off the season much, much better than we did. We may be turning a corner but once again it's left us playing catch up. Whether that's a failing of the manager, the sports science dept, the CEO, who knows, but I believe the whole club must hold their hands up for a collective failure. Since Adkins has come in I've become a little worried that the club have gone very quiet on the potential for incoming transfers. I know they're always very quiet about such things, but since his first couple of days in the job Adkins has very much resisted from suggesting that the squad strength needs addressing. I still think we're 3 players short, in the areas that Pardew identified in pre season, and the fact that we are still no closer to getting those players now leaves me worried that it will actually happen. Injury/suspension to Morgan and/or Hammond leaves us extremely deficient, the same up front.

He was, and he did comment himself on how much fitter he became at SFC, both because of training and nutrition; but why let facts get in the way of a good rant? To be fair to leftback I do believe that the club as a whole need to be apportioned the blame in this instance, though Pardew is not immune from a share himself. I'm sure we'll never publically find out the true ins and outs of what happened, but I do find it strange considering Pardew was so vocal in identifying the need for 3 more players that our suppoosed transfer committee could/would not get together to make this happen, and instead brought in Guly who fitted none of the three squad places identified by the manager. The signing of Dickson was also very strange, given that (behind Lambert) Harding was up there with the best performers last season and Mills looked ready to break through as his deputy. It all points to a complete breakdown between the departments; the system will only work if all the different departments are capable of working together, and clearly that didn't happen. That we got pre-season fitness so badly wrong is a shameful indictment on our sports science department. With an ex physio at the helm now, hopefully that side of things can be rectified and ensured that it never happens again under his charge.

I tend to agree with this. Pardew was (rightly IMO) afforded the first 10 games to get his squad together and turn around our fortunes. He's therefore judged on the subsequent 36 games, for which I think he performed very, very well. Despite the fact that our squad is much better now than when Pardew took over, it's only natural that Adkins will need some settling in time. Clearly not to the extent that Pardew needed, but certainly 4 or 5 games until he really understands the team, can start to get them to the fitness levels required, and instil some confidence. A point dropped to Yeovil is disappointing; of course it is. But I'm not one to point at individual results in judging the overall performance of a manager. We will have some freak results over the year, Leeds last night is just one example of how stupid football can be at times. However, a point away is nothing to be sniffed at, and I just can't be overly critical at any time of drawing a league game away from home. Losing yes, but avoiding defeat, not so much. Adkins seems to be getting there; as he should with the quality of squad we have. But he's now had his bedding in time, and from Saturday onwards I think is when we should really see how HIS side shapes up to last year's. I (and I'm sure most others) still maintain we're 3 players short of a squad to challenge, and this also needs to addressed asap.

Why is this even news? Job Centres are there to help you find a job, and if this blob-faced weirdo can't work out for herself that she looks a complete disgrace and totally unemployable, then she bloody well needs telling.

So, let me get this right. In the summer there was almost common consensus that our squad was short of 3 players for a proper tilt at the title. Since then we've lost Lallana, Lambert looks unfit, we know Barnard is being nursed through an injury, Connolly is injured, Martin is injured, Richardson is injured, Jaidi looks very old, and other players are out of form. And despite that, because Adkins is in charge, there's now no hurry to bring in new players? Confused? You bet I am. Sure, I unnderstand that Adkins has to work with what he's been given and get the squad to play to potential. But that doesn't detract from the fact that the squad is very light in some vital areas, and those areas need addressing asap IMO.

Am I missing something here, as I've seen this posted more than once. Frazer Richardson: "On 6 July 2010, Richardson signed for League One club Southampton for an undisclosed fee, in a deal reportedly worth £450,000." Ryan Dickson: "On 10 June 2010, it was reported that Dickson had signed a deal to join League One rivals Southampton, with the transfer fee to be agreed at a tribunal. At the tribunal, the fee was set at £125,000 with a further £25,000 for every 10 appearances Dickson makes for Southampton on 10, 20, 30 and 40 appearances. There will also be £25,000 due if Southampton win promotion within three years together with a 20 percent sell-on clause. Danny Butterfield: Free transfer

Which would be handy if we had someone who could fill in for him at right back. Apart from a left footed Dan Harding, we apparently don't.

I blame Alpine Saint. He's gone all too quiet. Which is strange, as we seem to be losing more than ever. Colour me confused.

Exactly right Jonesuu. Unfortunately I think some people still labour under the misapprehension that the world is full of benevolent Abramovich-type figures who are going to come in with "investment" and throw money at the problem without looking for a financial return. Not going to happen, I'm afraid. And as I stated earlier, given what we've previously been through I'd much rather exist within our own means that go for broke with another renegade bunch of chancers who are just as likely to push us back into financial meltdown than take us to the Premier League.

Nope, I just can't agree with any of that I'm afraid. If there's anything our previous financial mismanagement has taught us, it's that we mustn't get ahead of ourselves and live beyond our means. So as much as Cortese has made a few controversial decisions (and of course a few mistakes), the only proper way for us to progress is by spending money that we make from the fanbase, and not by some mysterious "investment". As a club we make more than enough money to justify all of the following: employing one of the best managers in the league; pay transfer fees for the best players in the league; and afford the wage demands of the best players in the league. Staying within our budget should, with adequte management, see us rise back to the npc. From there, who knows, but I'd much rather see us with a stable future living within our means than sell out to another Wilde-bunch collection of chancers who will hock us up in debt all over again just to win over a few fans and go sh1t or bust once more.

I don't think we'll ever find out why players weren't brought in; at least not in public, anyway. What we do know is: The previous manager identified the need for a new central midfielder, a right midfielder to replace Waigo/Antonio, and another striker to complement the existing 3. A trial was given to a CM (Carter) who has since signed for a club in the NPC. We heard a few more utterances from the manager as the pre-season progressed that hopes were still of new players coming in. A player was brought in on loan, not fulfilling the criteria of the 3 missing positions idenitified by the manager. With several misigivings surrounding who actually made the transfer, said player has since hardly featured for the club. The manager and his backup team were fired. However, the caretaker manager insisted that he hoped to still bring in new players. But as the end of the tansfer window approached and then past, no new signings were made. The caretaker manager then admitted " we tried to sign a few players but it just didn't happen". Whoever's fault it was (and as I said I believe that publically we'll never find out), that just adds up to a catalogue of transfer failure over the summer. The squad was cleared of the dead wood at the start of the summer in order to refill it with quality, and all that happened was that we solved our right back problem. I still maintain that this squad should have been perfectly capable of making a much better start than we have, but that doesn't detract from the fact that we are stillat least 3 players short of the squad we need for a whole season. And the longer we go without the more our general malaise will continue.

I agree with this. Up to mid June this year we were making all the right moves; we'd solved the right back problem, signed a very promising left back, the manager had stated that he was still looking to add to the squad in a number of key areas, and we'd cleared out a lot of the dead wood in the squad. Since then we've had 1 more player who filled none of the key areas positions previously identified, and seemingly have a squad of injured, unfit or demotivated players. Adkins has two major jobs to fulfill; first of all, get the current squad up to fitness and playing to some sort of form. And secondly, bring in the 3 players we need to actually provide the squad depth required for the course of the season. It's all the more friustrating as the full extent of our current malaise was so very avoidable.

I don't think the Antonio/Waigo factor was in any way influential to Holmes lack of chances. As opposed to Puncheon who is left footed but has typically played on the right as he cuts in, Holmes is a bit more of an old fashioned left winger. As a consequence it was a direct fight between Holmes and Lallana for the left sided spot; Lallana barely missed a game last season so it was only natural that Holmes was going to play second fiddle to him for so long.

There were occasions last season where we played a midweek cup game, then at the subsequent weekend league game would "only" get a draw. That led some to conclude that the cup runs had a detrimental effect on our league form (despite some of the league games being away games, where a draw perhaps wasn't a bad result). It also negates to take into account that the cup games allowed squad members to come into the team to keep sharp, when the likes of Fonte, Puncheon etc were cup tied. We certainly didn't downplay the cups, with Pardew always playing a strong side. However we had a good run last year with very few injuries, and I never bought into the suggestion that the cup run had a directly negative impact on our league form.

Indeed. In fact Portswood has now got quite a lot of options for decent food. As previously mentioned The Crown for good pub grub, Ceno has a restaurant menu and bar menu, both of which are very good. Ghandhi is a very nice curry restaurant, but you also have Kohinoor (part of Kuti's chain) which is immense and also Natraj which is very good. You then have Sara's Thai restaurant which, for my money, is much better than Thai cafe in Oxford St. Trago Lounge is also ok, more along the line of pub grub. Also, the Gordon Arms serves the best burgers in Southampton, hude homemade efforts the size of a cricket ball. You also have La Baronia (Mexican, pretty good) and Mango Thai, which is lovely.

Yet more talk off the pitch and not on it. Hammond was garbage today, and for him to prattle on about having a smile on his face really p1sses me off. I saw nothing at the ground today to put a smile on my face, in fact almost everything Dean Hammond did today made me feel disappointed to have a Saints captain so utterly inept and out of the game. Please, please Nigel Adkins, remove this ineffectual waste of space and bring in someone who can dominate a midfield. Hammond keeps shirking it and hiding from being the skipper we need.

I thought he was dreadful today. Really very poor. But then we have no-one better to come in and take his place. And Morgan was equally anonymous. In fact we were below par everywhere today, but epitomisied by the lack of drive and desire in central midfield to take charge and get the job done.

Being as the Echo fully promoted this whole get together, I can only assume (and hope) that they will continue their balanced reporting by including a full report of the entire meeting both in tomorrow's Sports Echo and also Monday's Echo. Fair and balanced reporting, and all that. Actually, if anyone was there for the apparent fiasco it would be nice if they could drop the Echo an email and report on what actually happened.

And by the way, apparently after the Liebherrs made their previous public statement it was accepted by SISA. As reported on the BBC online: Clive Foley from Southampton Independent Supporters Association welcomed the announcement. He said: "The club needs stability. There was tremendous feel-good factor last season. "This has obviously been a major shock. We need to get back to the hard work of being a football club."

No, I don't like what they said. Which is why I wrote a letter of my own and sent it to the Echo, outlining my problems with the statement. And I don't believe the Liebherrs owe us anything more than the statement they have already provided. They now own the club, so I don't see why any comment they make should come from anywhere but the club itself. Also, they are still grieving a lost loved one and I find it enormously distasteful that pressure is being put on them in this way.