Badger

As we were told by Swansea fans.

He gave a smile when asked if their first goal 'encapsulated our season', and denied that it did. Then went on to say players working hard and are so brave. "If they carry on like that they'll be alright ". Does he seriously believe that shit ?

... and where he's been for the last 18 months under RM ?

Thought this might wake up the Woke lobby. But has there been a song on this topic at SMS/The Dell before ?

He's escaped the abuse and wrath of the fans to date. A little bit of booing after a poor performance at home to Rotherham last season, and a few cheers when McCartthy 'goes long'., then he gets prickly in interviews. Compare that to Jones who was subject to 'Nathan Jones, your football is shit' after about four games. Agree with the second part, should have gone after any of our earlier failings, Leicester, Bournemouth, Wolves.

I suspect it’s more that none of the preferred options want to go near the job.

Leicester fans didn’t like Enzo, didn’t like Cooper. Saints fans of course don’t make a habit of constantly disliking managers.

I felt genuinely sorry and embarrassed for Nathan Jones. He was clearly out of his depth and struggling with it. For that reason I was reluctant to join the abuse towards him in the stadium. Martin on the other hand has in my view enjoyed a charmed life at Saints, on the back of more articulate interviews and promotion. But he has brought the failures on himself with style of play, and deserves all the abuse coming his way for his refusal to adapt. Rasmus also - on par with Lowe when it comes to deserving the flak. Just a shame we don’t have the fan base to deliver it nowadays.

Not sure how you explain that to them in a fairly innocent way that they’d understand. But good luck with it when they repeat it when they get home in front of Mum, Gran or the vicar. You can probably expect a call from the ‘Woke Police’ soon as well.

Not sure on that. Especially if Rasmus has anything to do with the selection.

Second reference I’ve seen to it, but what is the relevance of Albanian flags ? Seems a tenuous one, but what am I missing ?

It seems he sees himself as some sort of crusading football evangelist. Billy Graham on the training ground and touchline.

A 2-0 win v Frank Lampard’s Coventry (if it happens)will then be held up to defend keeping RM in place until January. No matter where we are in the table

Clearly a thought out and articulate response Gio but sorry can’t resist:

Yes, it was Spurs. I remember the goal as was at the game. Had forgotten it was under Sturrock though. Had some good results under him. Thought at the time it was a shame how it fell apart for him. Perhaps it was doomed to fail, as his appointment was also shrouded in a bit of controversy on the back of the Hoddle debate. But a better manager than the history books seem to suggest.

Excellent penalty taker, only MLT and Lambert were more reliable in later years

Was that under Sturrock?

David Peach a really under appreciated player when we look back and select our teams. Close thing between him and Mark Dennis for me, Peach was outstanding throughout the 70’s really. Shame his best years were in Division 2, and wasn’t around for the Keegan years with us.

He got us winning away and scoring goals ! Winning 3-1 at Man City, and 4-1 at Wolves stick in the mind. I know Man City weren’t the team that they are now, but still impressive. We’d have done a lot better sticking with Luggy than going down the route we did that season.

Good point. But he was still a player at this stage. Think he might have matured a bit by the time he became a manager ( and I did say we’d had some knobs as managers before anyone points out some of his later other failings …)

Yes, some fair points made. Obviously a generational thing, but I'd rather a manager who got on with the job, and did it well.

Regarding Blackmore , he was quite outspoken when Jones was manager. Quite why he saw fit to come ‘off script’ and so outspoken but now tow the party line is intriguing. He has questioned RM a couple of times and got a prickly response but perhaps taking aim at Rasmus really could put him on collision course with the club and limit his access.

Brentford fan up there in August said ‘Ankersen managed the spreadsheets’. But I think we guessed that.

This sort of thing doesn’t help his cause. No objection to him having a private life, but it should stay private. Bloke’s an egotist. Full of himself, with little justification. Some managers can be arseholes, and braggarts (Clough in his early days, and Mourinho spring to mind), but they had a track record of results first. We’ve had some knobs as managers in the past, but can’t think of any who’d see themselves on social media like this. Not Hoddle, not Branfoot, both had a bit more self respect no matter what their other shortcomings.

A good question. Given our league position you’d have hoped there might have been some good use of time on the training ground. Not jetting off, that should be a reward not a right. But then time at Staplewood might have interfered with Lego’s own getaway. Glad the fucker has his priorities sorted.