Saint Fan CaM

Given the objectives set by the club - Prem football in 5 years - I would be employing the person best qualified to succeed in the job by achieving that task, regardless of any other attributes. An incidental to this would be some consistency and stability which history tells us is a pre-requisite to continued improvement and success. Simple eh?! If this cost even substantially more money (e.g. to get MoN) then I would say spend it, as the primary objective shoud always take precedence.

Don't be thick - that's exactly what it tells us if the negotiations are on-going. If Adkins felt NC had been unreasonable or unprofessional then he could have said "no thanks". The fact he still wants the deal to go through says everything we need to know about who has been professional in all this and they don't come from Scunny.

So basically Adkins has not dismissed Saints then and still wants to join? And that tells us that he wants us more than we want him perhaps and that NC is the white man in the negotiations - the Scunny Chairman is looking a bit unprofessional frankly.

Absolutely on the money FC - can't believe the girly twerps on here.

This. Delighted that Cortese has a pair and operates in a proper professional manner, even though this runs against the grain of the old-school croakers in the UK game.

So, you've not heard of the standard business practice of short-listing? And then short-listing again? Nothing to do with brinkmanship FFS - it's just normal practice to whittle the field down until you get the most suitable candidate. If NC feels he's being taken for a ride then he has every right to pull any offer, provisional or otherwise.

Next one will be thinking, ah yes I'm now 2nd best to Adkins FFS!

Oh. Results will tell all. Hope he's still with us come 1st Jan. 2011.

Got to say I feel the same way about Shearer, but would like a good assistant alongside him.

OK - so in terms of the "much more width" thing, who do you think in the current squad will be able to deliver that for Adkins? Lallana - a bit injured and not really a winger as such. Alex O-C - best possibility maybe. Puncheon - can he reach the byline or indeed find another Saints player? Holmes - not fast enough now and cannot get into 1st team. Running out of options now....

Excellent post. Too many posters are thinking - we're better or Scunny are better in terms of Adkins management. It's more about SUITABILITY at a given point in time.

True - but that was then and this is now. Purely based on results, right now I would have Pearson over Adkins no question. However, clearly if Pearson was not able to work with the present set-up then he would not be right for the club.

Thanks for saving me the trouble looking up the stats - you're absolutely right. And not only did he turn the team around, he gave the supporters someone to believe in - for the first time in a decade, pretty much the whole of SMS was right behind the Manager and when he was kicked out by Lowe most fans were appauled.

Woah, hang on there...Saints are NOT massively underachieving YET (although the results have been poor since AP left). The season's not over! You're right - we've no past experience of Adkins at Saints, however we do have past precedence with the strategy of appointing more managers in a given season than you could shake a stick at. And I am highly sceptical that (despite his 'success' at Scunny) he has a good enough CV at this point in time to do the job needed here right now. You're right of course - he may be our best manager yet. In a history littered with Managers that have failed to impress or have not lasted the course with the CEO, the question is will Adkins turn out to be another McMenemy or another Sturrock? Has he got the balls to stand his ground when we lose some key players, when we're not achieving the results expected, when we're looking more like relegation fighters than promotion candidates, when the fans are on his back? The expectations of this club are far greater than Scunny (with respect to Scunny). We shall see - good luck to him.

And some people need to find some perspective. So what you're advocating is that if Adkins gets us out of this league, but then either relegates us back to L1 or leaves us close to relegation (per Scunny), THAT will be a sign of success?!?! And then if (as per Scunny) he does not improve our position, NC will need to sack him and get another Manager to get us out of the nPC, THAT will be a sign of success?! Ad infinitum. Nigel Pearson was in a completely different position - he came (from the Prem) into a weakened, poorly functioning team at the foot of the CCC and he turned things around IN LESS THAN ONE SEASON! We were desperate - out of money. He was our Adkins at that time - he has gone on to prove himself to be capable at another club also in nPC, so you could say he has achieved greater heights than Adkins. Look - Adkins has done a great job at Scunny in the FOUR years he's been there - I applaude him wholeheartedly - but that's not Saints - we are a totally different proposition. The squad - the supporters - the CEO's vision and plan to get to the Prem in a short space of time. Based on past experiences it's got failure written all over it - I desperately hope not - but that's how I feel right now and I guess only time will tell.

Care to state what he's achieved in relation to our supposed 5-year plan? Oh yes, that's right...he's got them into the nPC to the point where they just missed relegation back to L1 last season by a whisker. OK, so he's had some limited success, but he's hardly set the world alight and "superb" is not a term I would use. If it's really him, then yes he deserves our support...he'll get it from me. However I am underwhelmed and frankly, all things taken into account, I expect him to fail.

This is how I feel too - good post. However, I might point out that this is the Echo we're talking about - since when did they get any exclusive about incoming staff at SMS in the last few months? I find myself hoping that this is a mistake and Cortese is appointing someone who has seen more success than the mighty pinnacle of managing to just escape relegation from the nPC.

Mmm, it is not true to say that just because Adkins managed to get Scunny promoted on a shoestring, he will be able to do the same here with 'better' players. In fact I truly hacked-off seeing this myth bandied about on here. Fact of the matter is, a particular type of manager and managerial approach will suit a particular squad make-up. Saints squad is effectively nearly all Pardews boys selected to do a job for his approach, tactics and strategy. To look at it from another direction, Adkins success has come about by applying his 'way' with a completely different squad make-up. Why should it work with Saints squad? I'm not confident atall that it will. Then of course there's the question of motivating and galvanising support. Instant success will be expected I dare say.

Mmm, debatable? Perhaps they were collectively better than their sole parts due to a certain Mr Pardews influence. It's something that has quietly concerned me while everyone else is creaming themselves over a new manager like kiddies in a sweet shop - what if the new manager can't reproduce the same chemistry with this bunch of players? NC won't sanction too many new loanees, which means whoever comes in has to work with possibly damaged goods. And before anyone says - "nah, that can't happen", think back to the Prem and indeed then the CCC, because the scenario has happened several times over the last 10 years to incoming managers needed to obtain new players and the squad getting bloated with mediocrity. It could be a horrible case of deja vu on the horizon rather than fresh hope. Just a thought.

Can't believe NC would appoint Adkins - too low key.

OMG! With Brown at the De Vere and MON in a rented house in Winchester, you know what that means don't you?!?!? It's a MON/Brown dream-team appointment.

January?!?! If we're not in the top 6 by Xmas, it will be a new Manager choosing how to spend a January budget!

Shearer/Pearson double act. WOW.

Howe would not do anything to convince me of the clubs ambition. Adkins would be slightly better, but by no means would I be excited about the future TBH. We need some experience - Zola/Clarke would be very good indeed. MON better still of course.

Fonte demonstrates how hard he is by exhibiting how to trap a ball using just one's genitals. "It's taken years of practice and dedication" he later commented.