up and away

The original post is very poor, there is only one comparison that has any merit, being the leagues games played by Pardew and Adkins this season. What the hell Pardew did to the squad in pre-season I am not completely sure, only the fact he took us backwards rather than forwards. I do know there is work required to get this team anywhere near firing on all cylinders, something Adkins inherited. I am not going to be daft enough to state Adkins will be any better than Pardew until things actually happen. One thing I do strongly believe is that Pardew just did not know the answer to getting this team to play consistently well, hence the need for those special players to dig his coaching and tactical skills out of the mire. The manner in which we played at Sheffield Wednesday and followed by Adkins comments from Yeovil certainly impart the impression that he knows what needs to be done. At the present Adkins is no better than Pardew, but given the choice I would heavily favour Adkins. Because if Pardew could not sort the problem of consistency given all that time and money, I really doubt he knew the answer and would just be playing bingo in the transfer market to get lucky.

Why is it laughable? It is the one known heavy criticism that Cortese levelled at Pardew. Just for good measure, how did so many players come back with injuries and their fitness being worse than last season. Any of this could be true, I just do not know but am sure if Cortese had any real doubts the end of last season, Pardew would have gone immediately. My feeling was that Pardew just did not know the answer to getting the team to play consistently well. With the pressure of having no idea, just creating mounting pressure with a boss he knows will act unless he delivers. I believe Pardew was hanging out for those really special players to take those problems away rather than do it on the training ground and tactically with the players he had.. I am pretty sure Pardew did not know the answer to getting consistent results from his team, as evidenced by his results from last and this season. He just did not know the answer to that consistency, but knowing that could cost him his job at any time. From watching and listening to Pardew last season there is little doubt he did not handle the pressure well at times, escalating the problems. Mind you, I doubt I would have fared any better after all of his experiences.

Get over yourself. If ever you make the amount Wilde did, the first thing you want to do is get that money under your personal holding, rather than the company holding. Just because he left a shell behind really means nothing, as it was then all a personal holding. Wilde was a busted flush because he was only prepared to outlay a fraction of what was required, or could afford. As for growing a pair, go sneak the clip ons out from your wife's handbag and put a nice big billboard up in your garden or work. Alternatively you could promise to underwrite the site for any costs resulting in actions from your post!

Q. Was the club ever seriously close to folding? THERE were a number of occasions when it was exceptionally close to folding and we were always running different contingency plans, none of which were very attractive. Q. Was there any time you lost hope? YES, there was a time when I felt liquidation was almost inevitable and we were almost back to where we started. We did have those dark moments. Q. Can you say at what point in the process they were? IT WAS probably shortly after the Pinnacle bid expired and we were trying to draw the other parties together and we couldn’t meet the wages. These are the views of the Administrator, the person who decides what the next step shall be. When the Administrator says he is that close to pressing the button, there's nothing else to be said.

You don't have to know what is in Cortese's mind, he clearly stated the requirements in the Solent interview. He specifically stated that making the play off's was the top priority. If we gave it our best shot and came up short, so be it. It was the priority, not a must do, because that was out of our control. As for poor relationships with staff, what next, the colour of his tie? You base your assumptions on inconsequentials and gossip, either because you cannot be bothered or it does not suit your position, one lame sog.

You just bury your head to anything that does not fit your agenda. Pardew clearly stated this in the programme notes following getting to Wembley. If you don't have a copy, look in the Echo where they quote the comment. Then listen to Cortese's comments in the Solent interview the following weekend, when directly asked aboout prioritising the cups. As for liquidation, that is what the administrator quoted. Yes, there was another party interested, but he could not afford the expense that came with time for what could easily be another set of tyre kickers. The administrator was hamstrung because he could no longer go on racking up more debt because things had got so far down the road. He had already made the decision to liquidate unless Liebherr came up with the money or anyone else without the benefit of due diligence. We are not talking about a deposit, but the whole amount within a couple of days.

When Cortese kept Pardew on, it was with the full intention that Pardew would be here for the season to deliver promotion. I was impressed that Cortese made that decision, bearing in mind that in any other business Pardew would have been out the door immediately he stated that he had prioritised the cups. The one and only directive from Cortese was to prioritise the league, an instant sacking offence for going against that in any other industry. But Cortese took stock, looked at the good and bad of Pardew and committed him him for the following season. I thought that was the correct decision, Pardew had done enough good to warrant a further stay and I was behind that decision because it made sense. I don't know why Pardew got the sack, but it was clear by a very early stage that Pardew had got several things wrong. The fitness and injuries were unacceptable and our main weakness from the previous season had not been addressed. We had a poor start against a couple of weak teams and although I would have given Pardew a handful more games, I don't know the full picture. Something else has reared up from Staplewood and done for Pardew, though I get the feeling that without all the other failings Pardew had showed at the start, he could well have stayed. I was prepared to wait and see how Pardew got on with the "special" players he was looking for, but equally I was not viewing it as a disaster that he went. And lets get something else straight from the administrators own words, if Liebherr was not there, liquidation would have directly followed. No, we would not have completely disappeared, but you would have to of searched in the lower reaches of the Blue Square to find us. You can point to faults with Cortese over other matters and I doubt you will get an argument. The only argument is that these faults are absolutely minor in the big picture, something that will disappear completely with a run of winning games.

Even when you have most of the answers, you can never be bothered to take things to the next logical step and work things out. This idyllic word of just staying happily in the CCC is just not there. You will get all the average to half decent sides come and pluck any emerging talent before you have time to find out if he has a middle name. Get into minor financial problems and every pikie with a £1 in their pocket will be taking us on to the next level. A **** or bust throw of the dice that has about the same allure of the lottery. When I look at the financial side, season tickets are cheap and considering the money that's been pumped into the club, more than most clubs dream about. Try booking a ticket at Oxford and getting £5 deducted for the pleasure. Just because clubs pass these 3rd party booking costs back to the buyer does not mean they are trying to make a profit from the exercise. So those who cannot afford to buy a season ticket unless on instalments will have to wait until next year because a thieving load of bastards don't give a **** about them. Go next door to Reading and have a look at their prices! This from someone who has been bank rolling the club for years off his own back. When you look at people like Madejski throwing tens of millions away and having prices to cover running costs, let alone get them back in the Premier, you really need resetting into the real world.

A lot of sense there. Looking rationally at the situation, the prospects under Markus were more than any team in the lower leagues could ever dream of. At present Liebherr's family have extended that dream, with the slight concern that it was not their original vision. Even so, you would have a queue of lower league fans stretching along the motorways across England wanting to exchange their right arm for what we are left with. We are still so lucky, undeservedly so when I see the graciousness of some fans. I am not sure whether Pardew was right or wrong to hold out for that special player/s that definitely will make the difference. From his robust defence of this policy in the media, I am pretty sure it was his own position. One thing I am sure Pardew knew, was that his team had a weakness in not being able to produce consistently and I don't believe he knew the answer, otherwise he would have been targeting specific areas. It appeared that just getting sufficient quality players on the pitch looked his main target, something you cannot really argue with if the quality was sufficient. When things go wrong for us it is usually because the central midfield goes AWOL. A consistent fault that Pardew never understood fully or tried to effectively correct. I don't expect Adkins to make the same mistake. In appointing Adkins, Cortese definitely left me believing he is dealing with the direct problem in hand, getting out of League 1. Once that is accomplished, we then address the CCC!

It's difficult to understand, but Pardew clearly stated in the programme notes (quoted in the Echo) after getting through to the JPT final, that he had "deliberately prioritised the cups". Directly following that Cortese gave his Solent interview stating that the league was the top, top priority. Going on to say that sanctioning of our January spending was solely in line with that aim. If you look at all the top teams, Saints consistently put out the strongest sides, with Leeds changing out 7 players when they played us at home just prior to mid-week legs. Our basic problem was the fitness required to get results, we just could not consistently string 2 games a week without our performances suffering. And if you prioritise on the cup game, it will come as no surprise that your chances in the following league game will diminish. What's even more difficult to believe is Pardew's comments after the Bolton game, stating "it was not a priority game but we treated it as such anyway". I found that comment very strange but as we beat Bristol Rovers easily on the Saturday, it never resulted in a negative impact.

This is not that unusual for the scan to fail to identify the problem, that's why having an exploratory at that time would still make sense. My original point to all of this was that the decision was given to let the body try and heal itself with rest and physio, fair enough. But I am having difficulty in understanding why he played 90 minutes of a meaningless cup game in midweek, only to break down a few days later in the league. I am not disputing any of the information you have put up, what I am discussing is the best use of that information! It may well be that there would be no difference in this particular example, but no one knew that for sure at the time. I cannot see over loading the knee to the maximum at that stage as a cohesive plan, given the original direction taken.

Who is arguing with the medical experts? I can't remember Lallana kicking a ball pre season, sure he never played in Switzerland, so we are talking about something known about way before the start of the season. It would not surprise me if this even goes back to last season. Anyone with just minimal common sense can take that medical advice and say it's a no brainer to have the exploratory done immediately, no disruption if nothing is wrong. That puts him in line to start the season, if more surgery is required then he loses 2-4 weeks, rather than 6-8 weeks out of the squad.

There was a ManU program on Fergie a while back with a similar situation, same sort of medical advice. Guess what, he told them to get the can opener out and get in there now for a look. He never seemed to mind if the player had a limp on holiday, whether it was justified or not. It's as if a manager had never come across injuries and their impacts before! That was a really dumb move.

Yep, this was not a plan B, this was get players on who could follow plan A. I always felt Schneiderlin flatters to deceive but the problem is compounded by Hammond going completely off the boil. I would like to see both central midfielders changed out for a game or two, but who with? I can't see the players in the squad capable of changing that around.

I thought he was great when we first got him, it was a toss up at the time who was more important to the team, Hammond or Lambert. Ever since he has been on the slide to where we find him now. Just why oh why did we release Gillett without even trying him in his correct position. It can't be because he is in a higher league that things are working well for him?

There has been something awry since pre-season. We should never have so many unfit and injured players. The way Lallana's injury was handled was just amateur, along with several other fitness aspects. The wait for better CCC type players has added to that cost, one we will only be able to settle once we do actually get in the loans. I would not argue that I expect we would be doing better if Pardew had stayed, but I would definitely argue that there was sufficient evidence to show we would be on for an automatic spot, not even sure about the play offs.

If you have never heard THIS before, enjoy!

I know what you mean, but Pardew was very intelligent and spoke a lot of sense until the pressure started to bite, which did not take that long.

Were we ever that fit under Pardew? We certainly had some superb performances, but that was always sandwiched in with non efforts that cost us any chance of the play off's.

It seems pretty clear that Cortese was prepared to pay the going rate but no more. As the offer never came off the table and Eddie or your chairman has never said the job was offered , what is the problem? In the words of Adkins before Eddie had decided the interview was too much, "Saints have behaved impeccably". Now if only a few others could restrain themselves and stop trying to foist their manager in our direction, so much the better. You are wiser in the knowledge Eddie wants to leave, just a question of money and being offered.

You must check under the bed every night for undue interference, because most of this is coming from your own imagination. Just because Lowe gave Poortvliet a list of players that could not be used if they insisted upon their playing bonus or could be relied upon to still be there, it's not interference when the club is free falling towards administration, it's common sense. As with Cortese when he tells his manager that the top, top priority is promotion, nothing else really matters. The fact Cortese is Italian and we sign players from that country does not mean interference, especially when the manager knew all about the player for ages before hand and was singing his praises. The fact the manager kept explaining to the press he wanted to wait until the quality players became free on he transfer market, rather than jump in immediately sounds very much his own idea when you look in detail. Adkins is the very practical solution to the job we have in hand, to get out of this league. A proven commodity who I expect will take a very practical approach of getting out of this league. Not planning for a CCC squad, but primarily of getting out of this league. No idea how he will turn out long term, but perfect for the job in hand.

Just one small problem, Pardew stated he already knew of Waigo, even before he joined Saints. Pardew continued: "Papa Waigo comes to us from Fiorentina and he's highly recommended. I spoke to Gianluca Nani, the General Manager at West Ham and he said that he would be very surprised if we pulled off the signing. "We've managed to do it though, and now Papa has a platform here to really push on. He'll offer real pace and athleticism to our front line, and we're looking forward to seeing him today (Friday). If his work permit comes through he could be available for Saturday. Alan Pardew is predicting 'chaos' when new loan striker Papa Waigo N'Diaye finally makes his long-awaited Saints debut… Sounds plausible, if you want to believe in absolute ******

So you will up his dislocated shoulder and broken legs with a complete set limbs smashed to pieces. I would stop messing around with the preamble and go straight to nuclear Armageddon.

No one wants him to fail Alps, but be honest, that post by Up & Away was a bit creepy wasn't it? Not that different to many of our committed supporters. Most successful businessman I have come across are focused to the point of minor obsession at least, it is what drives them. That does not mean that the social aspect is completely over looked, but normally comes second place to Saints. If you think Cortese is creepy, just have a look at the other side of that coin to find your own profile.

Cortese has two contentious issues he has never had to deal with before, fans and their reaction, the unpredictability of a competitive results based environment. I am concerned for Saints and Cortese in what the future holds. From my brief encounters with Cortese, I know very little apart from the focus, but snippets coming back from his wife are a concern. He is very driven for Saints to succeed, even to the point of obsession. In his mind he knows he is totally committed to Saints and has told the fans, so there is nothing further that needs explaining. With everything else just getting in the way of the job he has in hand. The problem is with this level of commitment is that life cannot continue to revolve around this one aspect at the expense of others. Should things reach meltdown for Cortese and the Liebherrs have to start again, I doubt we will get another who wants to take us to the highest step. I would fear that the relationship, drive and expectations from any new relationship with the Liebherrs would not be near the same. Cortese can tap into Markus Liebherrs thougts that no one else can in getting that point across to the family. He has never had to deal with the uncertainties of relying upon football results as a measure of success or the stupidity and whims of football fans. Combine this with the drive and nerves that does not allow him to eat until late afternoon on a match day, you are starting to get an idea of what makes the guy ticks. Cortese is too focused for his and Saints own good and what we have been seeing appears a byproduct of his intense desire for our success. I was impressed that Cortese decided to keep Pardew on last season. He must have come close to sacking him then, but reviewed everything and his options and decided at the end of last season to go with Pardew for the next season. That showed me he was prepared to accept his own personal ire / disappointment for the good of the club. Myself and I believe the majority of fans thought Pardew had shown us some exceptional football that needed consistency to justify staying on (but not unprovisional backing). When it comes to the sacking of Pardew, I don't believe any training ground incident alone would have been sufficient to sack Pardew, if he felt he could guarantee promotion. I felt there was more than enough to sack Pardew without that and was just the straw to break the camels back. Our performances were poor for what looked like a team made up of last years players of league 1, unfit, injured and tactically short. We seemed really badly advised on Lallana, give him an exploratory op at the end of last season and he could just have been back for the start of training if nothing was wrong. Nothing lost if it required further work and further recovery time. But to take a chance and then subject him to a full 90 minutes in a nothing cup game showed no logic what so ever. Combine that with Pardew's statement "it was not a priority game, but we treated it like one anyway" was asking for a pay off. Cortese is obsessed with Saints being a success and because that's all he thinks about, he finds it difficult to undestand why others cannot understand this. He has no ego regarding these matters and just finds the press an inconvenience to the job in hand. These traits give you the imperfect CEO that we have in Cortese, but I believe we will be worse off should we lose him and why I am prepared to cut him an unprecedented amount of slack.