S-Clarke

That's sad.

It was confirmed to solent via the club, they announced it earlier.

Exactly...

All backroom staff have left. Crosby, Wilkins and Stannard. He keeps referring to ''we'' in his interviews, again - not sure if that's just translation glitches, but I wonder if he already has his team with him.

Don't read anything into that, besides a lot is going to be lost in translation over the next few weeks. And at the end of the day, NA was always the same. Cards close to chest, don't reveal anything. I'd be very, very surprised if Forren was our only addition. In fact I'm now expecting a fair few, but I'm not sure where the money is coming from.

I think it's the wrong time to even be thinking about ''new starts'' - but, here we are. Who knows at the moment, we all know very little of the guy. He will need to hit the ground running. One things for sure, if we're relegated now then there will be hell to pay. He sounds promising though from what I've read, and people close to him in Spain can only speak highly of him which is a positive. Will be interesting to see what other additions we make this window as well, as this will define how good our 2nd half is.

He has a very simplistic view on the world of football transfers on the whole, so don't be surprised.

Tis' true. I think, as fans, we can't let the way Adkins was sacked cloud this appointment. Obviously, he needs to hit the ground running fairy quickly for this to be deemed an almost acceptable decision, but he looks to have decent attributes to him. Just not keen on his lack of English, and also the fact that the other backroom staff have been sacked as well. The players could well find themselves in a little bit of limbo, which is what worries me.

I doubt either, tbh. I'd imagine he was identified by the scouts after being presented by the management a list of attributes required in a CB.

cringeworthy.

Appreciate your input. He does, indeed, look a very food signing. Pleased that he's left footed as it fits in with the position we need to cover. Could work well with Jose.

Sometimes a change just freshens things up. I don't know the ins and outs of Espanyol, but I know that time and time again that one bad season doesn't make you a bad manager, and one bad season doesn't make you a bad player. You see it countless times. Player A is awful at Club A. Gets a move to Club B, and he's great again. Manager is **** at Club B, gets a move to Club A and turns it around. He's obviously shown promise in the past, but himself and the club drifted apart that season and the relationship soured. That's all I can gauge from it. I don't know a great deal about this guy if I'm honest.

It was odd hearing the poem he recited on Solent earlier on, then realising..we're not going to hear any of his inane ramblings anymore. Such a nice bloke, will be a big miss.

Yep. Makes more sense regarding that link now as well.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21084201 within this interesting BBC article.

Cortese wants sexy now that we're in the PL, and Adkins was just not sexy enough for him and he didn't feel he was ''sexy'' enough to attract the players he wanted. That's what I think anyway, incredibly harsh.

An interesting sub-plot for Southampton fans is the potential summer arrival of talented Espanyol midfielder Joan Verdu, a creative playmaker widely regarded as the Catalan club's best player. Verdu, 29, is out of contract at the end of the season and has not agreed a new deal, with the club struggling to find funds to pay him as they seek to reduce their debts. A host of clubs across Europe are known to be keen on securing his services for nothing in June. Considering his history with Pochettino, it's fairly safe to add Southampton to that list of suitors.

I don't agree with the decision, I think the way it's been done is horrific. I'm embarrased about it. But what good is protesting going to do? As you say, we can't change it. Cortese won't give a ****, he doesn't care - he's shown that time, and time again. Just support the club, support the players and try to accept the new bloke. We can let this change derail the club, or we can rally around it and try to salvage something. Protesting, in my opinion, will not salvage anything. It'll just make the entire situation worse.

He is a complete mentalist tbf.

What's the point? Just accept what's happened has happened, there's nothing we can do to change it. What we can do is potentially make the whole situation worse. I don't agree with the decision, but I'm still going to support my team. Sod protesting.

And to add to that, his replacement has been ''researching us'' for the last few weeks. There are ways to go about things, and this isn't the way. I'm stunned at people who are accepting this and just going ''Oh well''. Jesus, he's been treated like a **** for achieving 2 promotions.

NC will continue to sign all players.....

It just doesn't look right, at all. Does it?

We will play exactly the same way we have played this year. There is a club philosophy for all levels to play a certain formation primarily, but obviously have the scope to change it. He will follow the philosophy of the club.

It must be a bloody comfortable fence you sit on.