Dark Munster

Ah yes, CB Fry's childish put down for something he doesn't agree with. You obviously think winning the cup and going down is better than survival. I think the opposite. Guess what, neither of us are wrong. It's called an "opinion". Google it.

Survival. If Markus was in charge I'd say Cup, because we'd have an owner who'd probably bankroll us enough to bounce back fairly quickly. But with Mr. invisible in charge who doesn't appear to have a clue (or money to spend) I reckon it would be a long time before we come back. The chasm in wealth between the PL and the rest is only getting larger. I could see us doing a Coventry.

Kane. Wasn't there a rumor a way back that we were eyeing him (before it dawned on Poch that he was good?)

Indeed. Let's hope they can surprise us and beat Wigan.

Only if he's playing well. If not, he'll probably cement a spot and Austin will have to warm the bench. Don't forget who our manager is.

We did score at home to Be'er Sheva (1-1). We also smashed Sparta at home and beat Inter. We went out on the away goals rule. And strikers not getting many goals was probably due to the fact that Pelle and Mane were sold without being adequately replaced.

I like it. If he isn't going to get sacked, bring in someone who can help out with some of the managing duties. Pearson would be great. He can take care of the sports fitness part. And also be in charge coaching/tactics of the defence, midfield and attack. Pellegrino will be in charge of everything else.

“The other day against Liverpool at half time we didn’t deserve to be 2-0 but football is about to have efficiency and not deserve." - The Clown

They play extra time? Yes completely unfair for the away team. At least they could then make away goals count double after 120 mins.

I wish this paragraph could be made a sticky. The players are mainly to blame for his sacking. Just like they were when Luggy was unfairly booted out, and that sacking and his disastrous replacement is scarily similar to what's happening now. And yes, if we had (justifiably) beaten Utd I doubt the players would've been so revolting, and Puel would still be with us. Of course he'd still have to contend with Reed's incompetence in the transfer market (particularly regarding strikers), so would probably need to continue to grind out "boring" results to compensate for strikers that can't score (or in Austin's case is a sick note), much to the ire of a certain segment of the fans.

This, this indeed. And it's so bloody obvious to most of us, why the **** can't/couldn't Reed and co. see it too? And this blindness by those idiots goes back 4 windows (ever since Pelle and Mane left). And don't get me started on the goalkeeping situation.

Just like the position we finished last year?

Yes, I'd say we have, at best, a top 8 squad with maybe a cup final thrown in. Someone who could achieve that would be more or less getting the best out of the current lot, especially with the chronic lack of goal-scorers. However with a semi-decent manager the squad should not be any where near the drop zone, and anyone who has us in the bottom three is clearly a clueless muppet.

Here we go again.

There's always tomorrow.

I agree the vitriol against those who voted to back him is out of order.

Retrieved from http://sotonians.com/chat/dear-ralph-cc-les#latestvisit © Rallyboy 2018, All rights reserved. Hi Ralph, Just thought I’d drop you an email as you were out of town yesterday, I think we need to catch up... That was a lovely picture of you and the owners watching the Winter Olympics on TV, I particularly liked the way you all had freshly unfolded identical scarves draped on you by wardrobe assistants, it really gave you the common touch. Early results from exit polls suggest that social media post increased the feeling of the Marching Together concept by 1.7% and offered potential scarf sales of 4% - great stats and a win-win. As for the game, hopefully you turned over after the ice hockey and caught a bit of it. Disappointing but not surprising was the general feeling around the arena, though there were also good shouts for feeble, gutless, error-strewn, lacking in cohesion, embarrassing – sadly no one mentioned Marching or Together. I gave your regards to Virgil as you asked – he was able to have a chat with me behind the goal during the second half as he had literally nothing to do, he looked lovely in high-viz orange. It has to be said, and please don’t take this the wrong way, but with the performance being a 'slight disappointment', I was surprised to see the four of you gurning like circus clowns as you watched it, the rest of us were less amused. And I have to say, while the stats for brand-awareness across Asia and the US are excellent, for a franchise built on the Soccer experience of Les, and yourself, one of the world’s greatest Ice Hockey coaches, we do look incredibly out of touch in the actual 'sporty' competitive bit. Having been around the brand longer than you guys I have an insight into how a season can look in the third quarter, and I don't know how to break it to you, but this one isn’t shaping up terribly well… I don’t want to alarm you, but in 2005 I saw a roster heading for relegation, and this season looks like a nod to those guys. Back in the day they’d got to a cup final, lost it, lost their way and some managers, and then went down without a fight. Some might harshly observe that this isn’t a team we have now, it’s a frigging 2005 tribute act. The class of 2018 has little fight, no threat, the offensive line is never given the ball, the midfield receivers can’t even pass to each other, we have a pair of defensive linesmen who are a goal threat in both boxes, and every week they all meekly climb aboard a bus that has Relegation written boldly in big black letters on the destination board. Now if you think that is being alarmist I need to point out, my pants are dry, but I know what relegation looks like and smells like, you can sense it - and this team stinks of relegation. There are 26,000 people who’ve seen it before and recognise the signs, and another 2000 who are too young to have suffered it before, but they will get the whiff of Championship football sometime in the next ten weeks. Change the manager people shout, even when it is individual errors costing points - so we have a problem. If I could compare the franchise to the Titanic, which I think I can, people have been pointing at the iceberg since we were twenty-five miles out. There’s a guy who points at it every season and has been wrong for the last nine years, even he will be correct this time. We are now a mile away and closing rapidly, so appointing a new helmsman at this point would be like bringing on Steven Davis late in a game and thinking that will turnaround a two goal defeat. A new boss might be able to stack deckchairs, tune violins or sort out evacuation procedures, but we are now at a stage where he’ll struggle to avoid the actual impact. It’s just about too late - the last chance saloon now has less beer on tap than the Rockstone and the Fat Lady is halfway through the first verse of that appalling Saints song you insist on playing at the stadium. So what can we do? It might improve matters a little if we dropped the pictures of players cheerfully training and talking about positives after defeats? Maybe lose the 'gurning clowns look' as you watch the games, and instead you could have a crisis meeting with the manager and coaches an hour after the game, and ask them what the **** you have just witnessed? I suspect the fans would like to see some passion, some fight, a little sign that someone other than themselves actually cares. I realise you're busy at the moment, but as soon as the Ice Hockey final is done, perhaps you could sit down with Les and see if he’s noticed that things are going a little bit 'Charlton'. It might also be an idea to hold off the old rallying cry Hollywood speeches for a bit, they don’t sit well with a fanbase who can see what is happening before their eyes. Ditto the unwavering support for the manager thing. Finally, I don’t know if you’ve heard of Rupert Lowe but I’d hate your career to be remembered in the same way. Sorry to sound a bit down about things but when no one turned up yesterday after half time, even the most dedicated franchise supporters wonder what the **** is actually happening? Anyway, great news on the Asia brand-awareness figures, love to Kat, good luck with it all - see you soon. RB PS Don’t wear any mustard cords, or tweed – and don’t get confused by my Titanic reference and appoint an ice hockey coach - and for god's sake don't answer any questions about radio stations or catering until I've briefed you.

Whooosh!

Perhaps many of them are a bit sheepish after realising they were wrong about Puel? That could take the sting out of their fury against his clown replacement, even though it's now legitimate.

Come on, everyone's entitled to their opinion. Even if it's wrong.

Gray was popular too. I'm seeing a pattern here.

Where do you come up with that conclusion? a) Reed appointed two decent managers prior to this clown, b) it would take an incredible amount of work to find someone as bad, let alone worse, than the current clown, and c) Reed presumably won't make the same mistake of looking for a Pochettino clone who's Argentinian, from the lower part of La Liga, and with the same first name, initials, age and quality of hair.

That's the main problem, he can stick with the clown comfortable in the knowledge that he can jump ship and retire to Benidorm at the end of the season if we go down.

Here's a maths equation that sums it up for me: Pearson > Hughes = Silva >>>> Strachan >>>>>>>>>> Current Clown