Graffito

If you are listening Mr Wilde, this is welcome. I will be bringing my family along rather than buying just a single ticket.

Keith Harris talks to David Conn - take a look at this and see if Saints tick any of the boxes. (It's not just about Wham by the way). http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/nov/12/premierleague-westhamunited

Is this a Billy Davies post in disguise? I must have been watching a different team last Saturday.

I was and have been critical of Redknapp for his performance as Southampton Manager, especailly his public critcism of his players. However, I have re-evaluated based on the information that has come out since he left. First there was the newspaper interview in which Simon Clifford stated that Lowe wanted SCW to take over as Manager when we got relegated but then Woodward got cold feet and said he'd like to observe and learn before taking the role. To me this is credible. It explains Redknapp's comment at the time about being surprised he wasn't sacked. It explains Redknapp's comments during his Saints tenure that he was only keeping the seat warm for someone else. Second, the lack of adequate transfer funds during the first season in the Championship. Third, are the comments by Dave Bassett about RL always trying to get Redknapp to play the youngsters, which he always resisted (except against Mansfield to disastrous effect, presumably to make a point) In the light of this information and seeing what Redknapp has been able to achieve elsewhere with a few bob I can see why Redknapp appeared so de-motivated and how we may have missed our best opportunity of getting promoted.

OK you said force the Board to listen or go under, whatever "go under" means. I can see a certain logic to a mass boycott forcing the Board to resign (I know you didn't say this) on the assumption that there is a credible alternative ready and willing to step in which satisfies lenders. As far as I am aware there isn't. So, if the Board doesn't listen, you force it to go under. If the Board goes under isn't there a danger the club goes under with it? Bit of a high risk strategy isn't it?

You won't force the Board to resign. They'll sack the manager.

Couldn't agree more. To me, indeed to any parent, this is so obvious we shouldn't need reminding. To the person that raised the issue of how much footballer's earn....sorry, it's a complete red herring and if you don't know why consider what motivates you and demotivates you at work. For instance, should cheering and booing be introduced to all work places in an effort to improve performance? To the person that raised the restaurant analogy...we're not all "customers".

I think you've got this about right. Win, lose or draw there's over reaction on here. Yesterday's performance was pretty similar to the others I've seen this season. A bit of power and backbone in key areas would make all the difference to this young team...but oh yeah I nearly forgot, we're skint.

Wasn't he a fullback in Holland's world cup squad of 1978? You know, the one that lost in the final to Argentina. I thought our fullbacks did ok yesterday. Centrebacks less well.

I go back a long way too MOG (beyond Jeff Kenna). I intended to say "recent years".

Mick, your right about the fullbacks. Gareth Bale aside we've been short of decent fullbacks for years. My thoughts were Skacel left and Cork right. The midfield looks promising but I do think we need in central midfield a ball winner and, above all, leader.

Don't throw the babies out with the bath water. Three good quality older heads at centreback, centre midfield and up front to give backbone. Three players away from being a good side.

Lowe should stay out of the dressing room before someone puts him in the medical room.

"From the BBC article on 'arry getting the freedom of the city tomorrow:Maybe they could just name the end of it after him instead" Like it. On a similar note, did anyone see MOTD2 last night? Did Adrian Chiles call him Harry Redkn*b or was I hearing what I wanted to hear?

"the rot was due to too many mediocre players - and that was due to 10 managers in 10 years" My view as well. Too many poor appointments and too many mediocre players. The two things are linked. The move to SMS was a good positive move but I agree with another poster in that the club should allow the fans to personalise the ground.

I like the shop analogy, which is appropriate because RL views Southampton Football Club as a business. However, as fans of a football club we're not like consumers of other goods or services and tend not to shop elsewhere. Fan loyalty is like gold dust to any football club or business. Any football club should be moving hell and high water to protect it's loyal fanbase, especially with corporate income down and likley to fall further. Yet what the current regime has done is alienate the core fans who are voting with their feet. It beggars belief.

"Sorry all this about no money etc is fine but how come we can afford Forecast, Gasmi, Pulis, Robertson, Smith then"? They've been signed as ready made replacements in anticipation of the higher earners and better players being sold in January or going out on loan.

There has to be a better way of cutting costs than sending our best striker on loan to a rival club. What about closing a bit more of the stadium, after all a lot more of it will be empty at this rate allowing some big fat savings on overheads. Or maybe Mr Lowe would be willing to forego his salary and take payment in share options. After all, when we get back to the Premier League the share price is certain to rocket. Alternatively, is it too much to ask the club to shift the strategy just a tad towards ways of increasing reveue. It could make a start by not p*ssing off every last one of us at every opportunity.

"Nicky Homes you've got wooden legs". You don't hear that one much these days.

He did coin the expression bouncebackability though...for this he should be commended... He "liked the smell of the dressing room" too and now he's been sacked. He'll be disappointed with that.

From what I've heard and read of last night's performance, the players responded to JP following the defensive howlers against Watford, he played arguably his strongest side and the tactics contributed to a creditable away draw. All positive.

" The Directors are aware that this is clearly not sustainable and are concentrating on reducing costs,.." Cutting costs is the easy bit. Increasing revenue is the hard part. Great vision, poor execution, alienated core support, declining revenue.

Organising a defence and defending set pieces ought to be the easiest things to coach and to fix when they go wrong. You wonder what on earth the coaching team does all day on the training pitch. Likewise, surely we had Watford watched? Their most "creative" tactic was placing the big bruiser at the back on our goal line when they had a throw in within throwing distance. As an aside, so much for the multi ball system when we had a referee that allowed Watford to delay throw ins until the great lummox trundled up the pitch.

Agree we need more backbone but how do we get the winners needed in those positions to make this a decent team when, of course, as we all know, we're skint? The alternative is that the manager instills it into the players we've got. I remember Peter Taylor (of Clough and Taylor fame) when asked on TV once what he looked for in signing a player, identified the ability to pass the ball. When pressed on the importance of the will to win he said he and Clough weren't bothered about that because they could put that in the players. It's down to JP to put the winning mentality into the youngsters. Can he do it? Having said that Clough reckoned (to my mate when on holiday in Mallorca a years or so before he died) that the best signing he ever made was Dave Mackay who he persuaded not to retire and around whom he built his title winning side. We need another Bally or Jimmy Case. That's down to RL and MW.

Here's defintion: "Total Football" is the label for an influential theory of tactical association football in which any player can take over the role of any other player in the team. It was pioneered by Dutch football club Ajax Amsterdam. In Total Football, a player who moves out of his position is replaced by another from his team, thus retaining the team's intended organizational structure. In this fluid system, no player is fixed in his nominal role; anyone can be successively an attacker, a midfielder and a defender. Total Football's tactical success depends largely on the adaptability of each footballer within the team, in particular their ability to quickly change positions depending on the situation. The theory requires players to be comfortable in multiple positions, hence it puts high technical and physical demands on them."