Tom & Gerry

Lowering expectations is a device often used by politicians so that what happens in reality doesn't seem so bad after all. Pay little consequence to what is said, either overly optimistic or overly pessimistic, only what happens on the pitch.

Yes a very fair article. I don't think there is a right or wrong in this. It's only right to sack Ralph if his successor does better and we've had plenty of bad ones. We once had a manager who in his first 4 seasons finished 20th in the top league then 13th, 6th and 9th in the second division and we kept him for 12 seasons. Mad, bonkers , how could you ever get high up in the top league like that. Well he did. His name was Lawrie something. I know times have changed and I'm not suggesting Ralph stays that long, just illustrating the point that whatever you do is a gamble

I remember his first game against Bristol City at Easter 1966. There were no stadium announcements in those days , or certainly not that day so we weren't 100% sure who he was, but he did score an important goal. He used to get quite a bit of stick in his early years but it changed when he scored two late goals against Everton which after a lean spell tranformed our fortunes. We knew then he was going to be a good player.

We didn't sign them because we signed young players instead but either way it will be the strategy that has failed if we have to sack Ralph and will not in any way be a cause for celebration.

In the summer SR took a high risk transfer strategy which meant that this season was always going to be difficult. Anyone can see that at times the team lacks experience and know how in handling some situations. As the young players bed in the situation should improve. Surely people were not expecting a season without setbacks? Of course if the team is near the foot of the table and is not looking like winning matches the manager should change but I think the above should be taken into consideration when judging Ralph. All mamagers have there idiosyncrasies so changing is not guaranteed necessarily to be a good option. In fact there are no good options.

Also his "views" seem remarkably similar to those expressed by Jeff Stelling on Soccer Saturday (what do Saints fans expect with youngsters and no old heads in the team?, who could do a better job with them than Ralph?) Just a coincidence I'm sure.

I'm not sure it is his view. I don't listen to Solent much but I can remember him criticising Ralph's tactics long before most people, and we have conflicting evidence of his view on the transfer window. Perhaps like most of us he changes his mind.

Isn't it the job of a phone in presenter to provoke a response from his listeners? Seems AB did a pretty good job.

I'd like to see us really working on set pieces. It seems to me we don't get enough rewards for the quality JWP provides. If we can't score any other way it's one solution.

If you are going to judge a Saints manager by his record elsewhere, god we've had some terrible managers (Lawrie, Ball, Hoddle,Strachan, Koeman etc)

You can have a whole year of good results but people tend to only remember your most recent ones, added to that when you had your good year no one could actually watch the matches in person and get that live winning experience , and if you lose 2 matches 9-0 that's a lot of baggage on the negative side to overcome. So to an extent Ralf has been unlucky. Does that mean he should stay as our manager, no. You can have great ideas and bags of enthusiasm but in football it just doesn't always work and it isn't working now. Does that make Ralf a bad manager? Some of our best managers failed badly elsewhere - Lawrie, Ball, Strachan, Hoddle - were they bad managers? Thanks Ralf for beating City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs but we couldn't take the downside.

I guess the priority is to get a manager that keeps us up, but how do we get a good manager that stays much beyond a season?

Sometimes Ralph gets it right and sometimes, too often for some he gets it wrong, but that is hardly surprising given the quality of the league. To get results against teams of equal or greater ability you can't always stand toe to toe with them, you have to think outside the box and occasionally be a little unorthodox and also a lot goes on behind the scenes with players that we don't know about. However in this game you are only as good as your last game and that was deeply concerning, but before that we should really have got a point away which isn't bad and the game before that we all enjoyed. So I suggest the sensible way to go is to see how we do in the matches leading up to the world cup break and then decide if we want to make a change. If Ralph were a cat he'd be very much on his 9th life.

That is true

It seems to mw that we have 3 categories of players. Players we want to keep. Players we would sell if a very good offer came in Players we would like to move on. Which category each player is in is only known by the club. The media speculate , often based on what is not said or interpretation of what is said and mostly get it wrong. Agents will try to offer players to other clubs, but it all depends on which group they are in whether a transfer is possible. Of course circumstances can change , as can the resolve of the club, and the categories might be quite fluid but very little of what we read can be taken as true.

For me Broja has too many weaknesses to be worth £30m. His strengths have been nuetralised as premier league defences became more aware of him. To an extent this happens to all young players and how they overcome it decides what value player they are. He may become a £30m player or more or maybe not.

Not surpised they are not happy., perhaps they should look at themselves though. I wonder why we are concentrating on defending hmm.

Yes, if someone makes us an offer too good to turn down, but I can't see that happening ( fortunately or unfortunately) All our players are for sale at the right price but their not all going , are they?

Well yes that is the plan. If you don't like it - SR out - Sunak in. He'd love to run us. Mind you he'd put up ticket prices but bring them down when we've paid off the debt.

When did rosettes die out? I think they might still have been around in '76 and I might have one in the loft.

I don't care what we wear, only how we play, but I wouldn't be seen dead wearing either of them.

Every year we hope to get our business done early and every year we don't. Early this season probably means before August.

Could be a good game of footballl. I don't see why I have to pick a side. Nobody seems to watch football just for the love of it anymore.

We now know that Saints became mathematically safe when they drew with Leeds on 2nd April and got their 36th point. Believe it or not I do understand the point made by some that they were safe much earlier because with so many games left they couldn't help but get the few points they needed however badly they played and not all the teams below them would be able to find the form to get above us. Saints tried their very best to test the first part of that theory to the max and although I believe that the likes of Everton Leeds and Burnley were all capable of getting better results ,they didn't, and so you are right. In fact we are both right but to slightly different questions. It's just that I have a preference for mathematical certainty. Have a good summer and please let me know when we are safe next season so I can breathe a little easier. I am and always have been Tom & Gerry.

Oops, having a bad day