up and away

Why do these idiots have to conduct negotiations in the press? Both the S****horpe and Bournemouth chairman were actively trying to push their manager in our direction, why? I can only assume that compensation figures must have been influencing them and they saw this as an opportunity to get paid out on something that was going to happen soon anyway. If Howe continues as he has, someone else will soon be knocking on the door and he will be off. This time all the chairman will see is a bag of peanuts rather than coin of the realm. Bournemouth fans can argue until they are blue in the face as Eddie has already shown where his loyalty lies, now it's just a question of opportunity and price. Adkins will be our new manager next week, I expect. Eddie Howe has never been offered the job. He may well of turned down any further opportunity to accept the job once he was initially looked over, but that's about it. Interesting comment from Adkins yesterday that Saints had behaved "impeccably", indicating that maybe not all the fault lies at our feet. One small concern is Cortese's trip back to Switzerland, if that was to update the Liebherrs and gain agreement for increased compensation, that does not tick the right boxes. If it was nothing to do with the club, that again would be a concern at such a vital time.

As we have seen so many times before, these sources know fook all when it comes to the business end and we keep getting muppets quoting them! All we know so far is S'thorpe chairman has gone public in the negotiations that are still going on. I nor you do not know the compensation level Cortese is prepared to go to and how that can impact players coming in. We may or may not find out at the end of all this and Cortese may well have made an error of judgement, but as yet you know fook all and can't be bothered to wait and see.

Say whaaaaaat? When I was contracting, I was on a 1 year contract. If I left during that time I didnt have to "pay up" the remaining months. Have you ever been employed as a manager of a football club? If you hold a contract then the conditions of that contract are binding by law. Where there are no conditions we have previously seen managers just wait in the wings until the authorities or the clubs sort things out. That normally means what is good for the goose is good for the gander and hence the compensation being similar both ways. It will be Adkins that theoretically has to pay any amount, if at all. I don't specifically know why this is such in football, just when ever this has raised it's head in the past this is what has happened. Remember with Poortvliet, he stayed officially outside the arena until it was all sorted, even though he quit and was here. The same with several similar instances with other managers swapping clubs.

When ever someone is bound by a contract, the terms have to be met by by agreement from both parties when seperating. That means they have to pay up the remainder of his contract should they sack him and he has to pay up the remainder of the contract should he leave. This is nothing to do with paying up the existing contract, that is in stone, this is about monies beyond that amount for which there is no agreement. This is just standard observance of these contracts as done by any other club. So whether you hate Cortese or not, this has nothing to do with it.

i too know someone who works at the club and have heard the same thing...(although, not the particular player involved) Have you looked at Fontes missus, then looked at Pardew? Did she work on some porn site specialising in the elderly?

That is partly true, but what any good team does is to be capable of getting results when not playing like Brazil, that is the common feature of all successful sides, something we were never capable of under Pardew. The base that Pardew built our side around was never going to achieve that because we never had any sound defensive base to the midfield. Again a common feature which highlights this is when we swarm all over teams and can't get the break through. Then eventually our attacking options are not enough to pen back the opposition and when they start to probe our midfield, they find an open door. The system that Pardew has set up with the Saints team is never capable of delivering in the long term. We have clearly seen it is impossible to maintain through a heavy fixture list as you get in League 1 and you require far too many players at their best, it's not an effective use of resources for getting an automatic promotion place, top 6 yes, but only because you have such an abundance of talent in comparison to the opposition. It's going to reward you with those Hollywood games, equally the pub XI.

WE INHERITED A HOUSE OF CARDS FROM PARDEW Go back over last season and there was one underlying problem that kept resurfacing, control of the midfield. In the first handful of games last season we were all over the shop, only fixed against Bristol Rovers at home with Wotton playing in the hole with a 451 (we lost that game, but that was the turning point). This got forgotten eventually because Connolly did so well when we converted to 442 in the second half., which never seemed to work when we subsequently started that way. 451 got forgotten and Connolly injured and we then just bumbled along again. The next big turning point came against Pompey (another game we lost), where we had sufficient quality players on form, attacking and moving to over whelm any League 1 side. I said at the time we would easily beat Norwich if we even played near that level and so it proved to be (even though our previous form was ropey, with Alpine telling me to have a sit down). But equally I said I do not believe we can keep that level of energy and commitment up when having to play 2 games a week. And so this turned out to be with sublime performances sandwiched between the dross of Exeter, Wycombe, Tranmere, etc. This is what we inherited from Pardew, a side that looked like Arsenal one minute, Skegness the next. What Pardew had built was a house of cards, with no foundations for the long term. Brilliant when we had all the decent players on form and combining, but impossible to keep the energy levels required when playing two games a week. Even without two games a week, get players off form and not putting in the performances and you no longer are guaranteed the results. I really thought Pardew would address the issue in pre-season, but it never came up on his radar. Just how was he explaining away those non-performances, especially after the lord mayor’s show?

Pardew is the main responsibility as to why we are playing like this at the moment. I don't want to be too hard on the players because it is not entirely their fault, but our shape goes completely and we don't end up attacking or defending with two banks of four. We get stretched out in a line across their or our 18 yard line, leaving space to counter attack or strike from just outside the box. Admittedly it was not so obvious with Pardew, but nigh on as bad and the basic fault that causes all our problems. Get the amount of attacking players we have on the bubble and their defence cannot cope, get out of shape and dont put in the quality and our arses are left bare. Bearing in mind the players we did not have available and the form / fitness of others, what muppet believes Pardew would do that much better. If we were to sit back defensively and let them come onto us a bit, the prospects could be different. But at home where we have to try and generate the pressure it is a repeat of the previous games. For the moment I would go 451 and use Fonte as the holding midfielder in an attempt to plug up the holes and give us a base to play from.

Mark Dennis always brings a smile to my face, even though I would not class him above a pikey. My most enduring moment was of him getting caught in one of the suites, stuffing sandwiches into his pocket. Mark is well worth the price of a pint, but anyone who seriously considers what he is saying needs adjusting.

Where do you get all this sheite from? If you cannot figure out that Cortese had TOTAL control previously, there's no way you should be let outside unless clinging to your mum's hand. He realises the impact of having to sack a manager at this position in the season, something specifically highlighted in the OS article. I don't care if you eat humble pie or anything else you stuff down your neck, you know fook all about what and why things are happening. Cortese would not have done this unless he felt it was in the best interests of Saints, even allowing for the short term damage that would accumulate.

? Pardew clearly stated this previously, no lies or deceit, just a strategy that was adopted. Until everything pans out, it is still difficult to decide whether this has cost us or not. With the right loan player/s, that bad start can easily be over turned with greater overall gains possibly to come. Our present situation is a bit more difficult due to injuries and we will have to sort this out through loans. The quality of which will decide whether this action is correct or not. Pretty sure this was Pardew's idea with his explanation to the fans and request to have faith.

I get the feeling that Cortese would sacrifice "playing the Southampton way" , just to get out of this league. He knows he's in a hole and his one target will be to select the manager who maximises his chances of getting out of this league. That's why I can't see him going for big names without experience of this league or at least the CCC, it would just be too big a risk. Eddie Howe could well turn out to be an excellent choice, but also very risky and would be in the "have a punt box" for me, should others drop out. There should be no risks with the remote possibility of someone like Zola putting his name forward, let alone the Hart's, Southgates, etc. There are managers out there with the track record who Cortese would feel very confident to confident (going down the line) about doing the job, like Pearson, Warnock, Lambert, Davis, Adkins, O'Drisscol, etc. I doubt Warnock would even consider the idea, Pearson and Lambert look like the timings just wrong for them to apply, but Davis possibly might after all the conversations he has had with his board in the press. Otherwise, Adkins looks very much the stand out.

Your persistence with "Pardew a dead man walking" does not make sense. For this to be true, Cortese would be perfectly happy to blugger up this season on a whim. When Cortese came to the decision to keep Pardew on, it was done on the basis that he would be here for at least the season and see us home to the CCC. This is the unerring short term target Cortese has in front of him and nothing will distract him. Having to replace a manager at this particular time would be Cortese's worst nightmare, something he would have pre-empted with only a gut feeling, let alone someone he was lining up to kick into touch. I don't believe anyone knows what Cortese has or will do, he just does not confide in anyone, or anyone leaky. You may well know where he has been, who he has spoken to, but you are only guessing as to where he is going from there.

I still believe there there are some questions remaining here. If Lallana had a keyhole inspection at the end of last season, it's not unknown for him to be ready for training by the time he comes back from holiday? If there is more required, he would be out for longer, as the 6 weeks now. Either way I can see this as a win win situation, with Adam having a slight stiffness in his knee during the first week of his holiday as the worst scenario? And again the full 90 minutes against Bolton does not make sense at the moment? I am not trying to say there is any cover up here, but this does not seem the best plan of action regarding the failure to do an inspection or the subsequent over use when in pain?

I don't fully understand the position with Lallana, especially as we know what an important player he is to us. Bearing in mind this is a long term niggle, why did he not have exploratory surgery during the off season? Nothing wrong and he would be unaffected by the time he came back from holiday? Then knowing he is still carrying that niggle, why play 90 minutes against Bolton? Something just does not add up with Lallana and I would like to hear the full explanation from the medical staff.

I am sure Blackmore does have good contacts in the club, he's a very amiable guy. What I don't believe is that Cortese has a close contact that would comment. I expect there will be some things that can be picked up by just working around Cortese, but a lot of that will involve guess work. If it was up to me, I would keep waving increasing amounts of notes under Billy Davis's nose until he starts hyperventilating! I can't think of anyone better for the next couple of years, after is another issue.

This from a CEO who has not bothered with a shirt sponsor for this year? Cortese's main focus is on promotion and that level of cost does not really come into it. I said this last season, that IF Pardew asked to speak to another club, he would be gone immediately and I can only see that being underlined now. It's a plausible theory but no more than that, until someone spills the beans. The one small bell this does trigger, is when news of Pardews sacking came to light, this Villa angle was highlighted on a non Saints site very early on. Something definitely happened in regards to the training ground or set up, but I cannot as yet see that as being sufficient on it's own. Lallana's injury may have been a tipping point should facts now point to bad management. Cortese had committed to Pardew in terms of time and resources and I feel it would be more than those first two bad league results that did the damage. If Cortese felt there was a slight chance of having to replace Pardew at exactly this time into the season, I firmly believe he would have been gone before the end of last season.

I don't think that at all but I suspect that many of those who would abuse and crucify him based on unsubstantiated hearsay probably are. You only have to look at the posts trying to imply that Cortese was interfering in team affairs and transfers being his choice, Waigo being the classic example. Even when informed Pardew knew all about Waigo from an Italian dof at West Ham and was still his choice, that gets totally over looked in the continual ****** being spouted. Followed by MLT thinks Cortese is a ****, when all Matty said was that a training ground rift does not make sense in getting rid of all Pardew's management immediately. Escalating into MLT has the perfect right to call Cortese a ****, never mind what anyone says. Quickly followed by this being a Cortese master plan irrespective of results. Done at such a time to produce maximum self inflicted damage to the club and it's promotion challenge. Please, just a smidgen of common sense or fact finding, but trying to twist anything to form an argument you support, just takes us back to the Lowe days.

I am afraid you are wasting good **** trying to cool these numpties down. All MLT said was that the rumours spread by the Echo in the first place did not seem logical. The Echo then take that quip and come out with the headline "Le Tiss hits out at 'bizarre' claims" Then pad the story out with another load of biased rhetoric to give the impression of something completely different. What a total load of ******, backed up by those who stand firmly behind MLT's decision to say this, even though it was nothing of the kind.

Even when you do know something, what you actually glean from it comes to very little, about the square root of that famous stately home. Last season Pardew ignored Cortese’s instructions on prioritising the league, something that came very close to getting him the sack. Prior to the end of the season Cortese reviewed the situation and looked at the alternatives. After all of that he felt it better to continue with Pardew, believing he was the best candidate of what was available to take us forward, forgetting the bad and highlighting the good. Now Pardew may not have been too happy after getting feedback from outside about this, but that was his own fault for making that dumb comment in the programme notes about how he prioritised the cups. After all of this and even Liebherr believing Pardew should go, Cortese stuck with him. He was assured he would be starting the season and the job was his as long as he performed, along with a full transfer budget and control of the first team, which was indeed the case. Anyone who claims they know that Pardew would be sacked before Christmas is either dumber beyond belief or party to Pardews intention to actually create such a position. You want us to believe that Cortese deliberately set this up to sack Pardew, knowing full well the damage it would do to the clubs chances of promotion? Something the club fully understands and underlines in the decision to sack Pardew? You can’t even disguise this as some master plan by Cortese, because it makes absolutely no sense from that angle. I stated at the time Pardew may well go before Christmas, but it would have nothing to do with this load of ******. Cortese would not have given Pardew all pre-season, a full budget, only to sack him just before the transfer window closes. This is the last thing Cortese wanted and something he would have been desperately trying to avoid. The intention would have been for the manager who was here at the start of the season to see us through to the end. This could not have come at a worse time and precipitated by some recent event which has brought this about, not some long term idiotic strategy designed to do maximum harm to our promotion chances. The transfer policy of waiting for the right players is something Pardew argued strongly for in the press against the unrest of many fans. The success of transfer panel seems to be working well, even though some are trying to invent the position of Cortese trying to fob players onto Pardew. Just because Cortese speaks Italian, we get the muppets claiming Waigo was a Cortese selection, even though Pardew knew of him before he even became the Saints manager.

The OS statement fully accepts that the timing could not be at a worse time and goes on to state the decision has not been taken lightly. So it's pretty certain that this has all been weighed in the decision to get rid of Pardew. The belief that this gives any credence to FF's post is ridiculous, Cortese would never picked such a damaging time to do this deliberately, all the intentions were for Pardew to stay. Something has happened recently, something major that makes Cortese believe that he cannot work with Pardew even in the short term. And as Cortese had total say when Markus was here, there is absolutely no justification in stating it's any different after his death. In fact the opposite could be said as I am unsure how much involvement Cortese has had with the remainder of the family. The statement on the OS is categoric, they know this is not a good time or that changing managers help promotion. This has not been taken lightly and done so with all these considerations. If Cortese even guessed this was a situation that would raise it's head at this particular time, Pardew would have gone long before the start of this season.

I don't think Cortese has another manager lined up, we will soon see on that one. I would not mind betting this has sprung up after the Bolton game and Cortese can no longer trust Pardews word to prioritise the league. When Cortese laid it out that the league was the top, top priority and that he did not spend all that money in last seasons window for the cups, that is very clear. This season the league would have been the top, top, top, top, priority, considering how much failing to gain promotion cost last season and the further amount we will be spending this season. I really cannot believe how dumb Pardew has been. In the elation of the win over MK Dons to get to the JPT final he stated in the programme notes that he had prioritised the cup (something the Ehco picked up on and quoted). This was then probed by Solent in their interview with Cortese the following Saturday in which he laid it out very plainly without getting into a direct slanging match with his manager. To then hear you manager after the Bolton game to say, this was not a priority game but we treated it as such, has to be dumb beyond belief for everything that has gone before. It will be over some aspect of this point which found Cortese's boot sliding up Pardew's arse. Although the poor start against poor teams never helped, I doubt Cortese would have not let Pardew continue, unless he felt their working relationship was irretrieveable. Pardew only has himself to blame here!

When you consider all the upheaval we had last season when Pardew came out and said he prioritised the cups, this is not that great a surprise. I said at the time, in any other industry Pardew would be gone immediately for that one statement. What Pardew had to do to take the club on was to show that he had his priorities right this time, otherwise how can Cortese trust him? After the Bolton game he came out with this strange statement "We are disappointed we lost, but in terms of the schedule we have in front of us, and the priorities, this wasn't the priority game, but we certainly treated it as such." When you look at the team played and the minutes on the pitch, it made no sense for a game of no priority. Then what could have been the deciding factor, Lallana's injury. I don't know exactly what is going on so never commented previously, but as far as I understand this had been a niggle for a while now. If that is the case, the decision to play him for 90 minutes against Bolton may be seen as a major faux pas. I don't know if Pardew's statement after the Bolton game was deliberately designed to get him the sack, but bearing in mind everything that had gone on before, it's either that or stupidity in his choice of words. The other point that may have come into the reckoning is the upcoming JPT and if Pardew had hinted at doing another Bolton, that would certainly have been enough.

I think 3 points today are absolutely vital for AP to stay in position; I could very easily see a defeat meaning the end of his tenure. So for that alone I'm doubly hoping we can put in a performance today and put some points on the table. I think Cortese is a lot more patient than you give him credit for. You only have to look at last season to see that. If we were to lose today, it would not surprise me if Cortese started viewing what alternatives he might have, but I really do not feel he would act for a few games more. But I do not see it coming to that as I expect Saints to put in a performance that will put that idea to bed until the next defeat. I fully expect Pardew to have it all sorted and the team put in a very solid, professional performance.

The OP has some merit when you are looking at managers who inherit players from other regimes or are forced due to finances to take a chance or the best of a bad job. Your pants are completely around your ankles when you have had over a season to gel your team and more money than all the other teams put together. So if the players are not performing, it's because the manager is not motivating them or not using their skills tactically to their best, or they should not have been bought in the first place. Either way it all comes back to the manager. It could be that he is just unlucky, then who wants an unlucky manager? There's been some dumb defences put up for poor performances, but this one takes the tin.