Tom & Gerry

Why go for a Manager who's stock is so low, who couldn't motivate players when things were going badly. We should go for someone who's stock is on the rise like that Leicester Fella. Alternatively we could give a Manager a reasonable length of time to find out if he is actually any good or not.

Any one remember trying to work out goal average and how much better or worse ours was to the teams around us?

Didn't Derek Reeves get 4 that day? He was a sort of latter day Charlie Austin that I think we got from Bournemouth Gasworks but I might be misremembering. A sad day to see the end of the Football Echo. I will probably never read about East Cowes Vics again. Reeves 4 Paine1

Last Saturday was the last ever edition of the Sports Pink. It went out with a whimper and hardly anyone noticed. It is surprising that it lasted this long given the access to news these days via the likes of Sky, Radio Solent and the internet but back in the day it was the only information you could get on the day of the game other than the score. My ritual like many others was to run down to the paper shop (Newsagent to you young uns) in Woolston at six pm where a crowd would be gathering (bigger if we had won). We would expectantly wait for the van to arrive (how did they get it out so quick) and the kids would all rush for the honour of carrying the batch of papers in to the shop where they would soon sell out. I can still remember a report from 1960 that began "What a great and glorious day it has been for Southampton" after Third Division Saints won 5-1 in the cup at First Division Man City. It was such writing that helped make a 10 year old a Saints fan for life.

When are these difficult games coming? Nearly drew at Man City Should have beat Arsenal Where are these teams we should be fearing?

David Prutton's not bad funnily enough.

I think De Gea is making all the rest look bad. Well done Fraser in the last few games and well done the coaching staff.

The critics want us to play more centre halfs and more defensive midfield players, drop forward thinking players like Tadic and Redmond and then attack more. Totally muddled thinking. They are out of their depth.

Why do people want us to play more defensive midfield players ? I thought we were supposed to be not attacking enough?

Old news, the glass is half full again.

Yes but quite a lot on here haven't got the patience to wait that long.

In the same way that all countries have weapons. It is the one thing that we have that is equal to all other teams so we should use it wisely. Our business model helps us but we are in a fickle business. Like all investments if you sell ( sack) too soon you might miss out on profits (higher league position) later.

Perhaps I should more accurately have said that returns on investment in football are unpredictable and the less money you have the more unpredictable they are. So we have to accept if we wish to remain solvent there will be bad times as well as good. The only other weapon we have is time ( for players and managers) and we should use it wisely.

At the end of the day money always wins. Saints have made a gallant attempt to get there with talent and when the money men came they tried to reinvest in potential and infrastructure, but the returns on investment in football are very small indeed whoever invests (Les Read) and whatever the infrastructure (Staplewood/ black box) so the only way to overcome that is, yes you've guessed it, plough in loads more money. Success lasts as long as the money does and if you try to buy it with money you haven't got it eventually ends in ruin.

Just trying to be realistic in the current climate. If it were possible I would give him much longer.

In this league it is a phoney war until Christmas. The league starts in earnest in January. I would review the situation then

Bit much to blame him for the whole year

So a Manager new to this league has made mistakes. If he has anything about him he will learn and the more mistakes he makes the more he will learn. Instead of following the sheep in this throw away instant success society why don't we try to build something to last. That means giving him more time than this. a

How is that so different to most other teams in the division? I don't notice many teams coming to St Marys and playing attacking football. The much lauded Dyche didn't win an away game all last season, totally clueless. Did Burnley sack him? Look where they are now and it's not playing attacking football away from home as we know. Was Saints performance at Brighton so different from Man U's at St Mary's other than they kept the lead?

How do you know that it was he that instructed the team to park the bus ? I don't think he wanted the team to play like that. Do you think that's how he said he wanted the team to play when he was interviewed? Maybe the players have been brought up to be risk averse and getting them to be more adventurous takes time. Neither of us know for sure. There is risk either way but for now sacking the manager is the greater risk because it almost certainly leads to decline. In the end we'll appoint an Allardyce to keep us up end up like Bolton, Blackburn, Sunderland, West Ham and Palace.

May be not but the principle is the same. It would be much better for the club if the current Manager could turn things around and he has a better chance of that with encouragement not stunts to under mine him.

Seeing as sacking Managers frequently usually results in diminishing returns as the new man has to pick up the pieces of several previous incumbants failed visions don't you think it might be a more sensible idea to get behind the Manager and players and see if we can right the chronic lack of confidence caused by a lack of goals that is the main problem we have which goes back to last season. If we scored some goals for instance the spotlight and pressure would be off Forster as his odd fumble wouldn't be noticed. If we lack confidence it doesn't matter if we play 3 at the back or 2 up front the result will be the same and the fans can give the players confidence by getting behind them rather than attacking them. We once had a manager who was out of his depth and didn't have a clue for over 2 seasons . He was so clueless that he went on to win the FA Cup, promotion,Get to a league cup final,2nd in the league, Europe and sign the European Footballer of the year. Give him some time.

Pretty good for a team that until 51 years ago had never been in the top division and for which the promised land was just to get there. How expectations change,

A lack of confidence leads to safety first football. Safety first football leads to a lack of confidence. Which came first the chicken or the egg? We need to get out of the rut or eventually we will start playing risky all guns blazing football which will end up in us getting hammered. Some on here have forgotten and others don't know how hard and unforgiving the Premier league is.

I well remember his goal at Plymouth which wasn't a classic, in fact it was the opposite of a classic - he miss hit it and the keeper dived over the ball - but it was of vital importance in the history of the club.