david in sweden

Good accessment Saints Bobby, I agree. mind you ..there isn't a single foreign manager there (except Gross) .

I find myself agreeing with you AGAIN, Crab Lungs (that admission doesn't make me a prophet BTW- but I agree with your last comment - and it worked. Strachan was the sort of player I loved to hate (because he was so competative) and did well against us. I felt sorry for him when Coventry sacked him, especially as his CCFC chairman sold the team out from under him to balance the boooks and left him with dead-beats and boys! No wonder they went down. I though it was an inspired appointment at the time, and I loved his press conferences from Day 1.

going to sound very controversial, but I don't mean it to be .....but should fans choose a manager..and is the owner/board really forced to listen? After having only 2 managers in a 30 year period..we suddenly set an FL record for most managers in such a short time. So what have we learned..? First...coaches don't always make good managers.Chris Nicholl IMHO..an excellent former player / captain, willing to die for the cause...and he frequently did, was basically good. Everyone makes mistakes he made his share but I think he (CN) did well. Followed by a former coach Ian Branfoot (less said the better). Alan Ball former "everything " did OK before the lure of the bright lights in Manchester. Dave Merrington (probably best youth coach ever at SFC ..Wallaces, Shearer, MLT etc) but failed miserably only just avoiding relegation. Dave Jones situation was " a bit special " and then came Hoddle. No such success record either but..we did a bit better. Stuart Gray, a good coach, popular guy, but no manager. Gordon Strachan generally regarded as best since McMenemy was slated horribly by a section of the fan base when he came and mourned when he left, is now favourite to take over, but probably won't. Glenn Hoddle (so we hear) was ready to take the job back till he heard the fans protest and told RL - no thanks! Then Steve Wigley, another good youth coach.. but patently unsuitable. Sturrock (has managed to keep Plymouth in the CCC,) but was this time was victim of " player power ". Then came.. 'arry, and the curse of Fratton came with him..and afterwards Wise & Bassett...no better, and Burley was better but the Scotland job was too much to refuse. Gorman & Doddsy (no room for sentiment here) and then Nigel Pearson. We survived - really thought he had it, but Lowe sacks him for the " Dutch models " - no comment necessary...so the next question is : Do fans know better than the owner. will our former prejudices make selection harder? OK .. it won't be Keegan, looks unlikely to be Strachan, people are afraid it might be Shearer, and now terrified that it might be Tony Adams ! Surely the team must have confidence in the manager and it's not made easier when fans openly criticise the choice. I know all about democracy (I live in Sweden !), and we are all entitles to an opinion (hence polls), but Markus Liebherr has already put his money where no-one else was prepared to put it, and we must respect his choice - whoever it is. I'm concerned that a " hate campaign " on this board against individuals may create bad feelings within the club before a ball is even kicked and the team will take the blame. Perhaps, as in McMenemy's time we'll find that ..people like you when you win games - regardless of your past or who you worked for before.

sounds reasonable enough to me´, but C is wrong. Marcus Leibherr has stated in interview with French newspaper that he WON'T be buying Kaka! do a quick re-think!

..especially if he can run a lot! can't recall how many people slated Paul Telfer, but the guy had a double set of lungs. Remember stories of him getting back first from the cross country run in pre-season and was in and out of the showers whilst other were crawling back on hands and knees - asking for oxygen ! Much better than some untrained genius who runs out of breath before HT. (Sorry Matt - present company excepted)!

and so ..? I'm a 50 year fan so don't anyone lecture me on the Saints-Pompey feud ! This crops up anytime ANYONE moves from, or to " the other team." Those who hated Peter Crouch when he arrived were soon silenced when he ended up playing for England. There have been many others in the past; both Ron Davies and Mick Channon played there at the end of their careers. (don't hear much heckling about that). Alan Ball MANAGED both sides, but he was praised by fans as both a player and manager...so too... 'appy 'arry R. No player can predict who they may / not play for in the future. Denis Law played for both Manchester sides, and Sol Campbell for Spurs and Arsenal. If it hadn't been for this unfortunate history, we'd be screaming and chanting his name to get an England captain as manager. He did a good job with Wycombe -was it ? ..but couldn't resist the chance of a Premiership club. I feel sorry for him because IMHO ..HR is a very shrewd person and could already see the iceberg in the darkness whilst the rest of the crew were listening to the Pompey Chimes, and used Spurs as a lifeboat. I don't think TA is a bad choice at all, but my heart still says Strachan, whereas Tony Adams knows what it's like in L1/L2 and so a head choice says he's a good bet!. The ones to scream most will be those who were conned by the bookies into putting their money... on someone else !

Some years ago we moved and put our quite desireable flat up for sale. After nearly 3 months the whinging creep of an agent hadn't found a single buyer ! We changed estate agent, result; (she) was a very positive person with a good attitude and found us a buyer.... in a week! .If Keith Harris had the assignment for so long ..how come he couldn't have found a solution?. Was the asking price too high ..or were they just not up to it ? Considering Fry gave Pinnacle the chance, and they baled out ..I think he handled the new bid very well and finalised things in very good time. Welcome Markus Liebherr ........tough Mr. Harris, why not re-examine your working methods - 'cos they don't. Last year, you might have sold a Championship team and saved us from the drop. Fry has done a good deal. Stop complaining - you had your chance.

I think he's more ITK than a lot of people, but even I guessed we needed 4-5 new signings before August. It's along, tough season ahead. Look at our injury list already in September LAST season . M.Svensson OUT Powell OUT Thomas OUT....... plus a number of the promising Academy lads, too. ...not to mention Ollie's red cards and assorted suspensions. We need the squad players in depth to last out the season. defenders and midfielders NOW ..and more strikers in January.

I'm pretty sure he won't be...UNLESS it's an established name like Strachan, Keegan or Hoddle. Hull hung on by the skin of their teeth, and West Brom. didn't ! Their managers did great jobs to get the up but weren't capable of keeping up the pace at the highest level.

I am certainly not a Lowe lover, but I think we were at least solvent when he was " deposed ", and the replacement Board took us into overdraft situation. After Lowe returned, Barclays drew in the overdraft level, hence the drastic economic measures to reduce the bank debt. Loaning out players, closing parts of ground etc, He made a series of serious mistakes but I don't think he's totally responsible for that one !

yeah ..why not ? if the Strachan / Shearer / Keegan lottery doesn't work out. At least he's proved himself in this league - even if he didn't start with -10.

.....who are probably re-vamping unresolved stories from the weeks editions.

Thats always been my point Chris, In the lower leagues the requirements are different and in L1, skill may take a second place to more muscle in the back line and the long ball game played on a ploughed field. Because the Premiership has so many European " carrots" to go after, teams have to totally " re-think " for a Euro-style, which is something that many British managers are unfamiliar with. Another reason why the England squad is so poor is because foreign managers choose foreign players who CDAJFU and ignore home-grown talents, who in consequence don't get to play so often in the Prem.

Good observation Michelle, There a few games scheduled for the Reserve/Academy sides, everyone must have a run-out in pre-season games, and occasionally we find a diamond !

Sentiment is a bit more than that. Of course he's pensionable age, but his whole life has been the Saints and if he can still do the job efficiently he should be aöllowed to continue. Alternative is he spends the rest of his active days sat in front of the TV with a six pack ! ......no way. If the spirit of the Saints means anything it's also about honouring those who have honoured us with their sweat.

Last season was a major setback for the Academy lads, as many of them were thrown in the deep end and sank without trace. Bad management allround. RL should never have entrusted leadership to men who had only trained lower league sides, and thrown in " boys " to CCC games. Historically, all our good youngsters came into; improving or successful sides and took time to fit in. Even Alan Shearer wasn't a first team regular until the second season after his epic Dell hat-trick v. Arsenal, and Channon before him had taken two years to become regular. There arer half a dozen very promising Academy lads but they need support from experienced professionals who can lead / teach them by example. (Nick Holmes / Osgood )-(Steve Williams / Alan Ball)-(Steve Moran / Keegan) That way it works. Hope our new manager can get the balance right first time.

AGREED ! Belgiansaint. In fact ...were it not for the World Cup victory (in extra time) 1966, England would have no more to crow about than; Scotland, or Northern Ireland for that matter. YES, we have produced some exceptional playing talent over the past decades; Linaker, Shearer, even Channon in his prime. Shearer and the young Michael Owen but there has never been any depth in the England squads over the years. England always failed in sight on the winning post - because of our inability to train players to score from the penalty spot. Successful English managers are few are far between in this period and the most successful (Brian Clough) was one of the most highly-criticised. See the top Premiership sides and look for ENGLISH managers ! (not many). In fact the Scots have supplied most of the success. Busby, Ferguson, Dalglish have all won the League and Cup trophies. Europeans like ; Wenger and Benitez and Hiddinck have chipped in, too. Our last English National manager (MacLaren) wasn't even a successful club manager. His English predecessors; Hoddle, Keegan and Venables who all had good careers proved no better at the task. So......who are the English managers who really make it ? Last seasons most successful ENGLISH managers were ;.. 'appy 'arry R. and Roy Hodgson - neither of whom filled their sides with ENGLISH players.¨ Patriotism is fine ..but who are the heroes we are seeking after ?

Trust " The People" to get it wrong! In reading their article you'd think that Pinnacle had made the takeover not Markus Liebherr.... (However if true - a lot of people will have lost their stakes on a Strachan management team. - another coup for the Bookies ? )

With all-h*ll ready to break loose next week; new manager, new names and new signings ..the hardest adjustment will be for the fans. There is little fear of player-power revolts we've seen in the past; with Strachans early departure and the Sturrock revolt. Most of the players are fairly new to the club. Kelvin Davis was a Burley signing 3 years ago and most of the other senior players are newer than that. The older ones have been through other club upheavals, and so have seen it all before. The Academy lads are usually in the background of club politics and there are very few barackroom lawyers there I'm sure. We (thankfully) still own SMS and so it's only the die-hard fans who have any " instituitional memory" of the past decades. WE have to adjust to the new regime with the memories of ; Rupert Lowe and Souness resignation. The David Jones drama, Hoddle's defection, Strachans success and un-timely departure. The subsequent game of musical chairs in the managers office. Wigley, Sturrock, ' appy 'Arry and the relegation. Burley, Pearson and our "double-Dutch " experiment. Highly traumatic for us, but most of the players weren't involved emotionally in the same way. Sanity has (hopefully) returned. Monday morning is the first day of our new life. A clean sheet without an overdraft. Hallelujah ! Let's hope all our fans (young and no-so young) put the evil past behind us and take the opportunity to start over again. COYR !!!! David Cross Stockholm Sweden (a 50-year fan).

1) I don't think there were 11 players available who even turned out for Saints regularly last season, so the results aren't really important. 2) Very few players have played together before so no " mind-reading " between players who know each others play style. 3) If I read reports correctly, Wednesdays game and partly yesterdays were better suited to water polo ( yes I know we play in all weathers) but trying to put a team of partially-fit players together and expecting to see creative football isn't high on the agenda. It's a pre-season fitness exercise. 4) We actually seem to have taken the lead in these games...and were leading 1-0 till last min.at Totton, and 2-0 at Salisbury and conceeded late goals..yesterday a goalie-blunder and Ollie " got us into another fine mess..." 5) The collapse in play seem to have come when using the Academy lads in the second halves of games, whereas the "strongest sides" put out in the first 45's with established names seem to have done OK. All things considered it's not a total write off so far, as we still haven't seen much of Thomas, Saga, Euell and Powell. The rest are untried teenagers , some of whom (thankfully) show some promise. EXPECT the new manager to buy some tougher central defenders, and do something with the strike force. There's plenty of bodies available to choose a midfield from. I'm neither suprised or disappointed. In the past, good pre-seasons have led to disasterous starts,we now see we are still at the drawing board stage.

OH ...those corners you mean !!!!!

I think he (Fry) had gone along the same road the rest of us had, but after the Pinnacle deal flopped there didn't seem to be a viable alternative. He couldn't go on forever and but for a suitable Plan B, he's had no choice, but to wind up the company. Thank goodness for our " White Knight " from Switzerland.

I don't think that having spent +/- £15 million on buying the club that ML is likely to be influenced by the actions of a bookmaking firm ! To say that Strachan WILL become manager BECAUSE we've stopped taking bets on it ..is no indication of the frame of mind of the owner. Bookies are there to take the punters money, and it's not so often we get it back, I think it's a scam by the bookies firm. Although indeed I would like to see Strachan appointed (certainly before many of the names I've seen mentioned so far)... I don't think I'd react to the frenzied betting storm, even if it was generated by our faithful fans. I previously posted that ..much as I'd like WGS to become manager...let's be prepared for another decision.. otherwise there will be some bitter words for whoever (else) gets the job, if it's NOT Strachan.

bookies favourite maybe, but doesn't mean he's positive to the idea himself !