derry

I'd like to see us doing something different. If Lambert is going to play and I don't think he should because his groin injury hasn't healed yet, I'd like to see us inject a bit of pace into central midfield. I personally would like to see Bialkowski in goal but obviously it will be Davis. The back four picks itself for me Butterfield, Fonte, Martin, Harding. The midfield has been a major problem making the buildup slow and lacking pace. Because of that I would do something radical. Chamberlain, De Prado, Puncheon, Dickson, with Connolly and Lambert up front. Everybody playing on their natural side with hard running players with pace from midfield helping out the at the moment immobile Lambert. I know about no defensive midfielder, but that really worked well against Swindon with two of them sitting even at 0-2 didn't it? Schneiderlin needs to rethink his roll and it isn't as a one dimensional strolling square passer and Hammond is way off the pace. In any event they would be on the bench if it didn't work, but somehow I think Rochdale would have their hands full with the pace and again if they are coming to park the bus why do we need two negative central midfield players?

He stll has the Groin injury and is limited in training and struggling to get weight down. Lallana was having pain killing injections (not cortisone) before the match and at half time. I don't know but it could be the same for Lambert. He needs to get it right before he plays again.

The more I think about it the better I feel about it, as long he is a team player and is prepared to be part of the re building without the ego bit. But then I can't see Cortese taking any more with egos

No, Compensation v NDA.

It's nice to see the inevitable change of perspective as information leaks out. The only person that is vital to the future of SFC is Nicola Cortese and by definition the Leibherr family. Alan Pardew or any manager is an irrelevance as far as the continued success of this club is concerned. Whilst the initial kneejerk emotions are understandable, a more hard headed assessment needs to be made. Just over a year ago we were headed for liquidation and saved at the eleventh hour by Markus Leibherr. Cortese was obviously astute and as a Swiss must have been very aware to even know about Saints, their predicament and their availability at a knockdown price. In addition being a close friend of a multi billionaire that would not only buy the club for £13m, but insist that his only condition for buying the club was that Cortese had to run it for him, marks him down as special. We are now in the best position this club has ever been in financially, with multi billionaire backers. Before Lowe we were a hand to mouth private club, with a broken down ground, but run by real gentlemen, hence only two excellent managers in 25 years. The Lowe years in retrospect, whatever the playing side, were a nightmare waiting to happen. Now we have the chance of a lifetime to be really something in the fullness of time and I for one don't want to see that squandered, by the stupidity of people that can't see the wood from the trees. The manager of the club has to be able to work with everybody, it is no good having an ego that gets in the way of co-operation and building the club from the bottom up. In this club the person building the club is Nicola Cortese not the manager. He sees an organisation from the bottom up with all working towards a common goal. Because of that, we don't need an old fashioned dinosaur, we need an intelligent Wenger like manager that sticks to the playing side and works as a member of a greater organisation for the overall benefit of the club. I felt that Pardew was very limited and am not sorry to see him gone. Now a year down the track Cortese with his advisors are in a much better position to chose, what could be the right manager to take us on for years. I am convinced that if Cortese, knowing what he knows now, was presented with the problem he had last year, Alan Pardew wouldn't have got the job. From my point of view, there are things that Cortese has done that could have been done better and differently, but he is also on a learning curve and whilst I didn't like what he did, I recognise that he is far and away the most important person in the club as things stand. The way this club is being built, precludes the one man band manager, it must be a team player who is a footballing manager prepared to build a proper football team backed by the vast support available. There will be no shortage of applicants but very few that will fill the bill. It may yet be that we will have to take a manager from another club who is attracted by the challenge and pay the necessary compensation but I hope that won't be needed. We don't need to throw this opportunity away making hysterical protests about something that is irrelevant.

With so much money going out of clubs to agents etc I personally think it better to exercise control over the budget. If the valuation of a player is objective, the manager wants the player then that should be it, however if the manager just wants the player and the valuation is in the view of the other two football men inflated, the Chairman has to make the decision whether to blow the money or look somewhere else. I think Pardew was banking on buying Antonio but Reading knew that and didn't lower the price. I wouldn't be surprised to see him out of Reading for not a lot of money before Christmas, loan then permanent.

He didn't. Cortese, Pardew, Reed and David Burke (recruitment/scouting manager) were the discussion group to decide on transfers. It requires the co operation of all concerned but the balance can be upset by a manager with a big ego and not a team player, who would IMO be the last person to give an open cheque book to.

With a committee the Chairman can get a balanced view regarding the valuation of a player and not pay over the odds on a managers say so. Antonio?

People should be careful what they wish for. I wouldn't think there are too many people around with the resources to run a debt free club. The day Cortese finds he doesn't want to do this any more is the day we will be put up for sale. Bearing in mind the purchase price there is a better than tidy profit to be had by our present owners. Then the real nightmare could begin, bought by chancers, mortgaged up to the hilt and on a downward spiral. I don't give a damn that a pretty average manager has been sacked, I do give a big damn that this club doesn't pour this marvelous opportunity down the pan by gross over-reaction. Pardew is going to be replaced, Wilkins is probably going to do a Dodd/Gorman for a week or two but from there on in with a proper footballing manager we could well be flying. I don't want to see Cortese decide he doesn't need this crap.

Pardew did it all the time. Why is it that caretaker managers in the main turn out to be useless tossers?

It seems like the latest tactical fad. We were pulled part last night by crosses from the byeline, good old fashioned play which we are unable to do. We are too narrow and don't have enough movement, interchange etc. I found out yesterday that we don't practice set plays either defensive or offensive. We need a proper footballing manager to pull this team together and refocus on movement, width, and slick set plays.

A ludicrous decision to sign a right footed central midfielder and play him left midfield. Especially so when Schneiderlin's only offering was strolling around and passing sideways and back even at 0-2. Neither central midfielder made much attempt to get up with the strikers especially as Lambert still has the groin injury aned really should be rested. The changes we made were bizarre, Puncheon should have been moved wide left, Chamberlain wide right, Barnard replace Lambert and Guly replace Scneiderlin to give it a go. Instead we stayed with two sitting midfielders and the immobile Lambert and went three at the back. I think Guly showed enough last night to be an attacking asset in central midfield.

It appears Bill, that all the appointments in the development structure have come through Reed. It could wll be that Ron is on to something here and that Reed is coming up with compatible recommendations so that the foundation structure is topped off seamlessly with appointments that can work together.

Coppell was the first choice and was on his way down to sign the contracts but had second thoughts and decided to go with his original plan and take time out of football.

IMO it's for the best Duncan. I've never hidden the fact that I felt that Pardew was over rated. I didn't like the way we played, despite the fact that this strong squad was always capable of getting results. I have always felt that he was inhibited, safety first, and didn't get the best out of the team. I think Cortese is on the right track and is focussed on where we are going. I think recent happenings hastened Pardew's departure. I think it was more to do with style and players plus compatibility than results.

I understand it was Pardew, Reed, Burke together with Cortese.

Now Pardew has gone, could that open the door for Waigo to return.

I think you are right Bert. This manager will be the one to take the five year plan, Markus's dream and the Southampton style forward. There will be no short term appointment. I personally am comfortable that this decision has finally been taken, whatever the final reasons that made it necessary. I have never liked the narrow way we play or the incessant balls from the goalkeeper belted long. Until we change this we won't regularly defeat teams that set out to stymie us in defence.

Eddie Howe, Sean O'Driscoll, Lee Clarke, Nigel Adkins, Danny Wilson would all do a good job this year but I think Cortese is now looking for the manager for the rest of the five year plan so this may take a little while yet.

He doesn't seem to be shedding any tears.

At the end of last season there was speculation that Pardew was going to be sacked. Pardew even expressed doubts when asked about his future. There was a concerted campaign through the Echo not to sack the manager. There was obviously dialogue between Pardew and Cortes which led to Cortese issuing a statement not only confirming Pardew as the manager to take us forward but also announcing that in future we would be playing a more compelling and attractive style that would in time become known as the Southampton style which Pardew was going to take forward. Cortese appointed Les Reed to an influential post as head of development and proceeded to put in place a bottom up structure at Staplewood to take forward his plans. There was a committee formed to look at future signings, Pardew, Reed, Burke and Cortese. It would appear as time has gone on that there was a difference in opinion between the new structure and the first team set up. At the start of this season it was probably thought that there would be an attempt made to introduce the new style initially in pre season then in the season proper, however there has been no change and Pardew and his coaches continued to play as last season. I think this together with the poor pre season and a pedestrian start brought things to a head. Duncan at the beginning of the month talked about Waigo coming back but there was no way that was going to happen with Pardew as manager. If there was a row as reported over signings that would be no surprise. If as reported there were tactical resignations by the new development scouting regime this would have brought matters to a head. Pardew's relationship with Cortese was at best believed to be arms length and if the above scenario was true there really were only two decisions available. Sack the manager or accept the resignations of a very important part of the club. I think that Pardew was limited and safety first and was not the manager to take us forward. I like the idea of a more compelling style and feel that this was a big issue with Cortese and the people he had brought in but was possibly being undermined and ignored in the first team set up. I want to see a winning team but I don't like the way Pardew has his teams play. I also think that Markus and Cortese brought up watching, Swiss, German or Italian football weren't enthralled by the style on offer, hence the more compelling style remark. I am not surprised Pardew has gone but like others I don't think this was planned but brought to a head by a clash over style and recruitment this week. I look forward to a new manager that has demonstrated the ability to manage and motivate successfully together with the commitment to the style that the club require.

I think the doctors advice was that he couldn't see anything wrong with it. The next step was to have a look so definitely 4 weeks out. Alternatively give it a go and see if it breaks down, if it does, out about 6 weeks. The pain killing injections to play weren't mentioned to Weston. The decision taken to give it a go was the correct one, however I have talked to a lot of old professionals who bitterly regret having injections over injuries so they could play. They are now paying the price with arthritic knees etc.

Sums it up nicely.

That was before the Plymouth game. We were surprised to see him play. It took four games to break down. But I wonder if the pain killing injections just masked it and eventually the pain came through. It would be much better for him if he hadn't had the injections and found that he couldn't play because of the pain, then had the exploratory op. I hope that the original undiagnosed injury hasn't been made worse through playing with injections.

It would help if you could read. The post was about the low key pre season followed by four competitive games which has now got us going. The pressure we created was real, the so called clear chances were few and far between. There were a lot of blocked shots by a massed defence but we didn't overload any of the defences decisively to create clear chances.