for_heaven's_Saint

Perhaps, being an ex-goalkeeper himself, Adkins will coach the 'keepers?!

Not exactly about having a 'plan b' but found this article, written when S****horpe were last in the Championship, which gives a fairly detailed profile of Adkins' early management career. http://soccerlens.com/nigel-adkins-profile/6223/ Unfortunately the punctuation doesn't show up properly, but here are some of the more interesting bits related to his style of play and management: Style of Play Adkins has a rigorous approach to football management, and frequently varies his tactics based on opposition strengths and weaknesses. Although he has only been managing at league level for two seasons, and has managed in two vastly different divisions during that short time, certain patterns have emerged with regard to Adkins’ preferred style. At Bangor, Adkins created a team which played from the back, with a more patient style. He used strong midfielders and created chances from both clever passing moves and through placing a strong emphasis on wing play and crossing. During his first season as S****horpe boss, Adkins had two main focuses: set pieces, and defensive discipline. He knew from his previous time with the Iron that they were a real handful going forward, and continued to favour young, enthusiastic, and pacy forwards (Keogh and Sharp, Beckford and now Paterson). However, it became necessary to shore up a leaky backline, which he promptly did by conducting extra training sessions with the brief of stopping opposition goals from set pieces, and retaining defensive discipline until the last (United had been conceding late goals on a regular basis). Defensive soundness was the key to Adkins’ early success, and it is telling that in a season in which the club won the league with a massive 91 points, the player of the season was Steve Foster, and the club only let in 35 goals all season, the best record in the division by some length. Adkins also worked assiduously and ardently on attacking set plays, and whilst The Iron have not been known for their attacking flair, either in the title-winning canter or in the relegation scrap – one of the few charges we can level at the man – his side outperformed all others in League One in terms goals scored from set pieces. A great percentage of United’s goals this season have come from dead ball situations, and the club can expect to continue in this vein now that Grant McCann is fit to deliver. Management style Adkins is a very passionate and popular manager who treats his players with respect and sensitivity and generally eschews the spotlight. Hardly the hairdryer type, he is evidently very approachable, as shown from his time as a physio, when his players would use him as a “shoulder to cry on” and pick his thoughts when they had problems. He is also very much a thinker, and can be clearly seen to be attempting to mould together his own particular philosophy, lacing together disparate strands of knowledge – his full UEFA A badge, his physiotherapy qualifications, his sports psychology diploma, his business and finance degree, and his experience from the Warwick Business School “applied management in professional football” course, which can count the likes of Mark Hughes, Aidy Boothroyd and Paul Ince amongst its graduates – to offer his players and his club a holistic service. As Adkins told the Daily Mail: ” All of it is put to use […] Knowledge is valuable. Everything is relevant to somebody. It’s all about finding a trigger to get the best out of that individual”. A “modern” manager, he is not afraid to try new things to motivate his players, as we can demonstrate with an anecdote. At the beginning of the season, one of his players suggested, with some temerity, that they mightn’t be able to cut it at Championship level. Adkin’s response? He cut a film, intersticing shots of the players’ title-winning season with scenes from the movie Gladiator, to demonstrate the power of resistance and positive thinking.

I wonder if he'll favour Mills at lb/lm having worked with him at Scunny.

lol at the caption

FFS....

I wonder if still playing at 39 will be quite common by then...

And a stupid c*nt of a fan.

If we had no money, we would have got a manager who was out of a job and not paid compensation.

A cream cheese bagel from Bagel King- top notch.

Well said.

This sounds like something off of 'The Day Today' or 'Brass Eye'!

Can we please get the bloke's name right FFS!

I'm very much looking forward to him. Think his style of play will be a breath of fresh air.

S****horpe 0-2 Bristol City He can't even win as Scunny manager FFS

Lol, I'm not sure if you're joking or not, but either way it's funny.

Just listened again and I don't think it could be much clearer that he wants to come here. The amount of times he praised us, the club, the stadium, the fans, the history, he sounded like he loves us.

He's dying to become our manager IMO

'ONE OF the most incredible day's in the history of S****horpe United appears to be finally drawing to a close after Iron boss Nigel Adkins held a sensational press conference to confirm that he DOES still intend to become the new manager of Southampton.'

**** off

We're pooooooooorr

A blast from the past to add to the laughs!

Which bookies took a five grand bet?

Come on then ITKers, what the f*ck is going on? This is beyond a joke now.

This. He's a clown.

Paul Merton certainly seems to think so http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/rogerb/jokes/HIGNFY.txt