Whitey Grandad

Ok, so not ‘diametrically’ different but halfway to it. So are you implying that Ralph is as bad as Puel? That 9-0 was a joke and if you had been there you would have shared it with the rest of us. As to the other games, they were good to watch. Winning isn’t everything and certainly not why I pay for my season ticket. Otherwise I wouldn’t be supporting Saints.

Nobody has mentioned this in the media so I went and checked ‘Law 5 - The Referee’ “The referee may not change a restart decision on realising that it is incorrect or on the advice of another match official if play has restarted or the referee has signalled the end of the first or second half..”

Isn’t that what diametrically opposite means?

I don’t have to justify that he was boring. You have just attempted to do that. Describing it as boring doesn’t begin to describe the absolute torture of that home season.

Is the correct answer.

Once Mason has blown the whistle the ball is in play. Why he blows it again is anybody’s guess but since the ball has been in play when he does so he cannot possibly bring them back for the free kick to be retaken. Dropped ball on the edge of the goal area is the only legitimate procedure but then he would look really stupid. Oh

I would like to add that our terrible run over the last two months owes a lot to the constant changes to the team, enforced by COVID and injuries and an unbalanced transfer window.

That is my view too. I had hoped to write Puel out of my memories but I think I can understand where the diametrically opposite view come from. For those who only watched our results on ‘Teletext’ from afar or who went predominantly to away games it probably looked like a decent season. Those of us who had season tickets and had to sit through the most unspeakable boredom were pleased to see the back of him. I would be interested if the Puelophiles on here could let us know which of these two categories they fell into.

Isn’t that what loans are for? To give them more experience, not that warming a bench goes far to helping that.

That’s my position too but it’s easy for me of course. We should open up everything as soon as possible. As one who has been (partly) vaccinated I don’t mind mixing with those who aren’t.

Monday 8pm?

Yes... but at the moment getting a COVID vaccination is not an option for a lot of people. They couldn’t buy one even if they wanted to.

‘Deserves’ is not the word that I would use but if we can’t trust/risk him here then when can we?

He’s prone to lapses in concentration as much as anything. But who else have we got?

That’s great news. Please pass on our best wishes from all of us.

If nothing else we can treat it as a part of his training and experience.

See you in court

There are exceptions to these general rules of course, all sorts of anti-discrimination laws can apply. The general view seems to be that discriminating on account of vaccination status might very well need to be determined in the courts. By the time that happens the whole crisis might be over.

I have some sympathy for the argument that it is not fair on those who cannot get or are prohibited from getting a vaccine to exclude them. The same applies to families of course.

A very fair and balanced summary. I hoped I had forgotten that season under Puel but wasn’t that the one where we had a much better away record than home? I seem to remember a similar debate with diagonally opposite views at the time. Those who only went to away games would probably think he was fantastic but those of us who had to suffer at home took a different view. ”Played well but were unlucky to lose” applies as much to Ralph as anybody else. We’ve been unlucky lately. Stick with him.

Ouch

Quite right. They don’t care about civil liberties whilst they are keeping us under house arrest.

There’s no need for the abuse. It was only the League Cup final. Getting to that cup final was the only thing that Puel ever achieved in my view. I never went to any of his games watching where we were in the League table, to be brutally honest. Did you personally go to his homes games?

No, not boring but I still don’t see what a beer garden has to do with your experience. And we lost comfortably. “Shouldn’t have lost” is extreme wishful thinking, yet somehow we managed to lose. Sure, we played well a couple of times under Puel but not very often, and that is my point. Did you go to all the home games that he managed?

That sums up most of our time supporting Saints.