NickG

this seems to be the 'in' thing to do. if they want to fair enough but don't personally get it...but I got over Lady Di in about 5 minutes!

Good post. Only those obsessed with boardroom, false rumours and conspiracy theories are likely to disagree. Most are very happy with how it is going - and fans elsewhere will think he has done pretty amazingly so far....

Its pretty simple for me... No, not important at all. How many posts did we used to have on here in the days of Lowe, Wilde, Crouch saying we want to forget about the board, not have then being interviewed and be able to concentrate on football? It seems some are so used to and intrigued by the politics and conspiracy theories that they follow the boardroom more than the players. My preference? Chairman who stays in the background, backs and supports the manager. That seems to be what we have had for the last couple of years and we have gone from signing Ryan Smith to Ramirez! Looking forward to this afternoon...and its not to see what the chairman is up to, or whether he is a sweetie!

over the last few years, most of those have played most of their football in league 1. Do you think if Newcastle or Sunderland or QPR signed those players a few months ago their fans would be excited on their forums at signing 1st team premiership players? No. If their forums are like here they would have been suicidal at their clubs lack of ambition signing lower league players. Personally think most, not all, of your list are good enough for the premiership.

far too logical and sensible for here! The other issue, teams in premiership find it much easier to hold onto talent as well. Adding three or four players for £20m helps and raises expectations - but doesn't suddenly make a championship side (or league 1 side) good enough for a guaranteed easy ride in the premiership. Teams can over or under perform compared to the cost to assemble (e.g. WBA v QPR) but to say the injection of a few players into our squad means we are underperforming is too simplistic, short-sighted and shows a lack of understanding of what it takes to build a premiership squad

Villa Given £3.5m Hutton £3m Vlaar £3m Dunne £5m Ireland £8m El Almadia £2m Bent £18m rising to £24m N'Zogbia £9.5m Westwood £2m Makuon £6m Warnock £8m Lowton £3m Delph £8m Petrov £6.5m Benteke £7m Guzan £0.6m Bennett £2.75m ?? £97m did we pay a fortune more than £97m and have a god given right to be above them? What did our cost to put together, quarter of that?

lost me sorry

If you offered us this two years ago, or even one, every one would have taken it in a shot. Trouble is, human nature is we get greedy. Was listening to one of the football phone ins, the Man City fans saying club is in a mess, crap manager etc because of the Champions League performances and not running away with the league this season. I've still seen some good football at St Marys this season and still reckon we have reasonable chance to stay up. So much in football can go down to luck and confidence - forwards score lucky goal then go on a scoring streak etc. Unfortunately the opposite can happen - if we had an easier start, or maybe bit of luck in last few minutes of Man U game reckon we would have coped with other games better. I didn't go to WHU but Solent were saying we were by far the better side in the first half, WHU boo'ed off, let in goal just after half time and the bad start is remembered and we panic! What gives me hope is that we have bettered / matched supposedly better teams for significant periods - if we were totally out of our depth that wouldn't happen. That counts for nothing if we keep losing - but gives me hope that we will get wins. Ramirez has played two games at home, we have looked good in both. Will we for most home games he plays? Over season think we have enough attacking quality that it will click for some games and we will get easy wins. We are not a grinding out draws type of side! If we just beat the bottom 10 sides at home - (know behind target) we wouldn't be far off safety with nothing else. The spending is bit misleading imho. The vast majority was for Ramirez - who looks worth it! But who also has not played much yet. Our spending was to bring a league 1/championship squad towards premiership. A lot of squads would have cost a lot more than ours to put together, or have many high wage earners. Early December will tell us a lot more.

just checked...nothing on official site. Its only a small minority of fans who want him out, appears NC and footballing world think he should stay at the moment

I think this fact about us spending big is a bit misleading. We have a side that played in league 1 / championship - it needed more of a quick spend than say Sunderland did to prepare for this season. Look at the Sunderland squad and compare what ours cost to assemble. Flectcher £14m Wickham £12m Johnson £10m Cattermole £6m Gardner £6m Campbell £6m Sessegnon £6m Ji £2m mignolet £2m Bramble £1m £65m worth of players and in relegation battle. Got know what some of mid table squads cost to assemble. plus "name" players who would have big signing on fees / wages; Saha - prev £14m player so guess wages big wes Brown - not cheap O'Shea - not cheap

totally agree, hope and think will be ok, but agree even if we get soundly beat can see him staying for few games yet at least

https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_4_8gb http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone5 £239 v £529 less than half price, http://www.compare-cellphones.org/LG-Nexus-4-vs-Apple-iPhone-5 I can live with small memory for better phone (IMHO) for less than half the price!! Puchasing tomorrow...if manage to beat the rush will let you know what its like!

what is Chambers like? He plays RM doesn't he?

Reckon that is pretty close to our best 11 and best shape. The two positions I could see changing at Lambert and Puncheon. With Jay-Rod / Mayuka / Guly / Lee / Rowe? / Isgrove? competing. Personally, if RL isn't scoring, think Jay-Rod could offer more. Happy to stick with team from Saturday for next week - but wouldn't be disappointed to see possibly Jay-Rod and Guly for Puncheon and Lambert - won't make me popular on here!!!

one of the very worst players I have seen in many years watching saints. over weight, inflated opinion of his ability and pretty poor!

on one hand its all about opinions... ...on the other, you see this and realise that some pr1cks are too thick to properly develop an opinion. FFS manager replaces player with cramp, with a player who does well when he comes on. Pathetic, whinging, ignorant idiots.

if had achieved two promotions first, was very well thought of, and given hope with good performances - certainly. But many threads on that... So no media / ex pro etc think he should be replaced or someone else could do better?

Genuine question... Have you heard any ex-pro, tv or radio presenter, pundit, journalist saying he should be sacked? I listen to radio 5 and talksport a lot - joys of too much driving with work. Everytime it is discussed every says he should stay. Richard Keys said we would be mad to sack him, the ex-pros say similar. Benali says he would love him to stay and best man for the job - change unlikely to improve chances of staying up. Heard Newcastle, WBA etc fans ring in saying same. Not heard one person in media say think he should go. Even Cortese thinks he should stay! The echo gave him 78% backing. Even in poor first half against Spurs St Marys were singing their support of him. I know people have different opinions - some on here genuinely think he should go, some have strange agendas. But aside from some frustrated posters on here have you heard anyone saying they actually think he is out of his depth / failing? I haven't.

Lol! My sons arguing as both want to go and are discussing songs to show their support for Nigel. Like every pundit, presenter, ex-pro, fan of another club in phone in;s, even Cortese etc -they think he has done good job and should stay!!

I strongly agree with the issue of what we are lacking, but strongly disagree that Hammond is the solution! I feel we have been short of a real strong character in midfield for a long time. Energetic, physical, vocal - who will carry the team when play goes against us. The type of player that other teams dislike... Jimmy Case, Chris Marsden, Dennis Wise, Robbie Savage to name a range of abilities. I thought / hope Hammond was going to be this when we signed him in league 1. I was disappointed. He did ok, but not exceptional. He was looking weak compared to Morgan and Cork last season. I would be surprised if he ever played in the premiership...hope he does but don't think he is good enough. I rate Morgan highly but he is not this sort of character. I wonder if maybe he should play further forward. Not sure the Cork, Davis, JWP can offer us this either. Ramirez fulfilled some of this role against Villa. At times you could have argued he was playing CM, coming deeper and deeper, wanting to get the team playing. Not sure if we have the solution in the club...maybe Cork as he matures?

I still think we should keep Nigel. Every programme on talksport or radio 5 I have heard has had the presenters and guests saying he should stay. Richard Keys just said it would be ridiculous to sack him. Francis Benali thinks he should stay. Every fan from other clubs ringing in thinks we would be silly to sack him. Cortese thinks he should stay!! apart from a minority on fans in polls and a few vocal on here, has anyone in football or media said they think he should go? I remember Alpine saying anyone but Burley......that worked out well didn't it! I said then careful what you wish for...unless you are confident you will get better... So far, not heard name that jumps out as likely to be an appointment for us and would be better than NA. I unless something bad happens behind the scenes I think NC should next look at results end of November and not before.

Francis benali's views Really hopes we stick with NA Good manager best man for job Chopping and changing won't help or give better chance of staying up Rumours of stuff behind scenes just rumour Every ex pro, pundits, presenter, other club fams on phonw in, all say should keep him

Lol, will take the evidence of two very successful seasons as evidence that you writing him off as bad manager was wrong. As opposed to underperforming, marginally, in handful of prem games proving you right. Talksport discussing of now. Saying good manager, sacking would be panic and knee jerk. Good manager and still best option in my view.

Hammond? In premier league? If you think thats the solution I won't be eagerly waiting your player assessments!! Lol

that argument is both flawed and boring now. Wotte got us relegated, never showed he had it in him to be successful for us. Adkins has given our best win ration and fastest league climb in a lifetime. He has given us two successive promotions ffs. We are struggling, their are problems with defence, gaps left hand side etc. He has shown that he isn't a million miles off in that his team have performed very well for a decent amount of the time in hard games this season. The short bursts of goals against / lack of concentration have cost us. I find in a real shame and disappointing that people on here are showing such a lack of respect and appreciation of him and want to cast him aside as soon as the going gets tough. Of course this is a results game...if we don't win over next few months something has to give but I am yet to hear a sensible suggestion of how / who would improve things. More ashamed of our 'fans' on here than our goal difference. Real lack of character. Luckily it seems to be just here, rather than in real world and at the ground. Even in first half of Spurs game the more mature fans at the ground were singing their support of Adkins. This immature we lost so need a new manager is embarassing. Rant over...