Sheaf Saint

First chance to us. Adams off target with a header - not a straightforward one to be fair.

Liverpool vs Southampton (abrnetwork.net)

I think a lot of people have. There seems to have been a general assumption from many that because he's only ever managed Luton and Stoke he must be shit, without bothering to understand what specific traits and qualities he has. I'm not expecting miracles, but even just a minor improvement here and there will pay big dividends right now. We've played some good stuff at times this season and there is talent in the squad, so it won't actually take much to flip those 1-0 defeats round and turn them into 1-0 wins instead (although this may depend on who we sign in January, of course). I'm feeling more optimistic about the rest of the season now than I was this time last week, that's for sure.

Been watching The Peripheral on Prime. First 5 episodes available now. Starring the utterly gorgeous Chloe Grace Moretz, it's a very slick and stylish near future (and more distant future) thriller that's not especially easy to follow but very enjoyable. Highly recommended 👌

14.32% of a very small sample of Saints fans on an internet forum. Regardless how low that might look, it still doesn't equate to 'nobody' does it. I voted unsure, because I had never heard of him before this week and I'm obviously not privvy to whatever information SR have based their decision on. But I trust they have done their due diligence and that this isn't just a cheap, spur of the moment decision. Looking at some of the utterly moronic comments I have seen so far from those opposed to him, let's put it this way: I'm really fucking glad these people aren't actually the ones being charged with making this decision.

It wasn't a corner

Not sure where you get 'NOBODY' from...

In fairness, it was a welcome thread before one of the mods changed its title. Sorry but I just don't see any comparison between this appointment and Steve Wigley. He was a coach whose only managerial experience was in the conference with Aldershot, and was given the job as a quick and easy option (because he was already employed at the club) after a knee-jerk sacking of the previous incumbent by a chairman who admitted he knew more about hockey than about football. There was literally nothing in his CV that suggested he was even remotely capable of doing the job. This appointment is absolutely nothing like that.

Cheers for this. Makes me a little more optimistic that this could be a masterstroke. There does appear to be a glaring contradiction in his post though. One one hand he says NJ will relish the chance to develop raw talents, but then further down he says that he's really not big on youth development. So which is it? I'm sure this will have been discussed with SR because a manager who will work with and develop the youngsters would surely have been a pre-requisite in their search to replace Ralph.

Welcome Nathan. And good luck, because you've definitely got your work cut out turning this squad into one capable of getting consistent results. Ignore the naysayers who think we shouldn't have appointed you because you're not a big name and don't have PL experience (like that actually counts for anything). As long as you can motivate the players and communicate your ideas and work ethic to them, and get us playing decent football again instead of the timid, turgid crap we have been served up for most of this year, I don't care what your background is and you have my full support until such time as you prove yourself unworthy of it.

Will there be ET or go straight to penalties if it's a draw?

I wondered that but then who is playing RWB? No obvious candidates in the lineup.

Well at least Moi has finally been dropped.

And yet they are still sat in 9th, only 2 points outside the playoff places. If he can get a team to grind out results and be comfortably top half despite a lack of firepower up front, surely that is exactly what we need given the current limitations of our squad?

I think he has qualities, which RA and the board obviously admire. As to having quality - in the sense you are asking - that remains to be seen.

Yeah that was my take on it. He was choosing his words carefully because nothing has been confirmed yet, so the shoulder shrugging thing was just a way of showing that he doesn't know what's happening and doesn't want to commit to saying anything that might come back and bite him if he ends up staying there. Nothing to be concerned about IMO. He's obviously ambitious, saying he wants to manage in the PL either with Luton or with another club, which is a good sign IMO because he's obviously very driven. I just think he was being cautious not to be disrespectful to his current employers, and really there is nothing to read into here because he was put on the spot by the interviewer and obviously tried hard not to say anything that could be misconstrued either by either set of fans.

And Brentford wouldn't have appointed Thomas Frank either. Look how that's turned out for them. Now, who was it that made that decision again? 🤔

Of course it's a bit different (I don't work for a local council BTW), but the principle is still the same. Respect has to be earned. I would rather we had a conscientious manager who works hard to earn the respect of the players than an arrogant one who assumes he will get it just because of his playing reputation. From what little I have read about Jones, he appears to be the former.

Think we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this. Out of interest though - what makes you assume Jones wouldn't command respect just because he hasn't played or managed (so far) at the top level? Plenty of successful football managers have had less than stellar playing careers, and simply being a good player doesn't mean you will make a good manager. I have an awful lot of respect for my manager at work, but he's never done my job and has no technical understanding of it whatsoever. What makes him effective and able to command respect is his ability to communicate and motivate people. I've also worked for many people in the past who have been promoted to management positions just because they were good at doing the hands-on work, and who turned out to be awful managers because it's an entirely different skill.

Well he apparently moves in mysterious ways. What concerns me is when we lose and NJ has the easy get-out of just claiming it's all part of God's plan.

Like I said, I don't know enough about Jones to judge myself, but SR have clearly done their homework on him and see something in his approach to man-management that makes them believe he would be a good fit. I would much rather they did that than spunk a load of money making a knee-jerk 'big name' appointment just to appease a few fans. Those kind of appointments never end well. Everybody has to start somewhere. Just because Jones hasn't yet proven himself in the PL doesn't mean he isn't capable. It's a gamble, I agree, but it's one that could pay dividends. I just don't see any way that Gerrard would actually be any better for us right now.

That makes no sense whatsoever. You would rather take a manager that has proven he can't manage in the PL (and probably wouldn't want the job anyway because little old Southampton are below his station) over one who hasn't yet had that chance? I know very little about Nathan Jones, but if SR really have been watching him for a while and have approached him before then they obviously see something in his skillset that makes them think he would be a good fit for the club's philosophy. Give me that over a failed PL manager with an over-inflated ego who has thus far traded solely on his playing reputation and would ditch us for a bigger club at the very first opportunity any day. Just because he's never managed in the PL before doesn't automatically make him a worse option.

Gerrard? Are you serious? He's an appalling manager who has only been given jobs purely because of his reputation as a player. He was a hopeless failure with Villa and was rightly sacked. What on Earth makes you think he would be decent for us?

There was a rumour recently that we had more than one deal lined up to bring in attacking players towards the end of the window and SR had sanctioned the transfers but Semmens blew them at the last minute by trying to haggle on the agreed fees. No idea if it's true or not, and can't remember who posted it, but it seems plausible. We know that large bids were placed fir Delap and Gakpo, and there's simply not a chance that anybody in the upper echelons of the club looked at our attacking options in late August and thought "they will do" and actually chose to go into the season so woefully short of firepower.

So he blamed God for him giving away a penalty in the playoffs?