LuckyNumber7

Personally couldn't give a flying one that he's not a 'name', how often do we see the bigger names flop in management. Jones has been quietly doing a really good job in the lower leagues and has earned this shot at the PL. Unlike some better known managers who might only come here for the paycheck he seems very driven to succeed and make a name for himself. It's time all Saints fans unite behind him and the club and start hopefully looking towards brighter days, it feels a long time since we had anything to be positive about. Welcome to Southampton Nathan and good luck, you'll need it!

It's clearly not bullshit as Luton officially stated they have granted us permission to speak to him. It's highly unlikely Saints will make any official statement until the new manager is announced. I suspect if anything Saints are a bit annoyed that Luton made it public.

Do us all a favour and go back to supporting Luton then? I'm sure you'll be delighted they can now get a good manager in after the terrible job Jones has done.

Have you ever seen Conte interviewed, most of the time he's a bumbling mess (partly due to language, granted) yet is one of the most highly rated managers in Europe. Intervies are just for fans, how you speak in them and how you communicate to the players are two different things and by all accounts Jones has got the players at Luton running through brick walls for him. Whether he can do that with PL players remains to be seen but I don't get the feeling we have a load of big egos in our young squad, and if the reports are true about most of them being unhappy with Ralph's hands-off man management then Jones' style could be just what's needed to get them all onside.

No he didn't, Gerrard was long gone when Rangers got to the final last season. Gerrard did a decent job in a two team league before flopping at Villa. Jones has done an excellent job on a shoestring budget in the Championship. He wouldn't be my choice but I'm not dead against it either, let's give the guy a chance before declaring him crap.

Considering they were in L2 when he first took over and last season got them to the Championship playoffs, on probably the smallest budget in the league, yes he has done a superb job at Luton. He wouldn't be my choice but let's at least give the bloke a chance rather than slating him before he's walked through the door. I think some people's expectations when talking about the likes of Emery and Frank are too unrealistic and whilst I don't like the narrative from the club that we're just so lucky to be in the PL, we are not a very attractive proposition atm, especially to those already in a good job. The thing that concerns me most about Jones is the potential style of play but right now just getting results and turning our form around is all that matters.

Typical when this news breaks that the forum is playing up so much. It's a sad day but undoubtedly the right decision. When Ralph arrived he was like a breath of fresh air and lifted the mood and atmosphere around the whole club. Re-engaged the fans. Did a brilliant job in keeping us up through some tough times and largely with his hands tied behind his back. However I think aside from the occasional good run, things have never really been right since the 9-0 against Leicester and I think that left a big mental scar on him. Over time his character has changed to an increasingly forlorn figure and his tactics have become too cautious, the opposite of his original remit. Our problems are certainly not all down to Ralph but things have just become very stale and I think he ran out of ideas on how to fix it. So a parting of ways is best for both Saints and Ralph. One thing you can say about him is that he genuinely appeared to care and always tried his best. I wish him all the best in his future career or retirement if he chooses that. I suspect he'll need a bit of a break regardless. Our next appointment is crucial, we need someone to come in and have the type of impact Ralph did originally. A tough ask with a squad largely full of Championship standard players.

Interesting read but not sure why it hurts you so much. I love the fact the PM is a (genuine) Saints fan.

I feel for him as he has a good attitude and is clearly trying, but sadly he just isn't good enough. He's basically the new Shane Long in that he runs around a lot and is a bit of a menace but you need so much more than that in the PL. He rarely even looks like scoring. He needs to move on in January for both his sake and ours.

I know you're trolling but what a load of bollox! The whole point of these loans is for the player to hopefully develop and come back better, which it appears Tella is doing. As for the bit in bold, he's not Burnley's player so it's not their decision to make.

This Chelsea Man Utd game has been utter dross.

Judging by your posts before the match you weren't expecting any of those things, but hey any excuse to moan and slag off Ralph... I think we can all agree we weren't brilliant last night but neither were we as bad as some are making out. I'd love to see us playing attacking free flowing football and winning games 3-0 but realistically we don't have the players capable of that. Despite the number of shots Boscombe had I never felt that worried about them scoring and in the end thought we saw the game out quite comfortably. In fact we had the better chances to score again. And Bournemouth may be a bit crap but they were still unbeaten in their previous 6 games. I still think we need a change of manager but ffs enjoy the wins when they come. With or without a new manager we have a largely Championship standard squad so it could be a while before the next one.

Same old proven shite then. Why not give the likes of Edozie, Mara, Ballard a go, they couldn't be any worse than the likes of Elyounoussi. Even Djenepo started the season promisingly and now can't get on the pitch.

And yet are still below us. They have been utterly dreadful every time I've seen them this season. Last night it took them until just before the hour mark to have their first touch in the Brighton penalty area.

Bournemouth unbeaten in 6 games. We haven't won in 5 games. Quite clearly gonna be a Saints win, that's how it works right?

Not been impressed with him but he's been better the last two games. Really needs a clean sheet.

Tbf I'd take Solanke over any of our shower, but I agree with your overall point. Our whole attack is Championship standard. Ralph needs to go but I'm far from convinced anyone else is going to come in and do any better until we revamp the attacking positions, and I don't just mean a striker. God we are so awful to watch, no identity, no belief, no quality. The worst thing is I almost don't care any more.

I'm hoping he's been misquoted or it's been taken out of context, as that's really not a good look from the club's owners. Just compounds the current negativity with everything else that's going on.

That's the case at every Premier League ground, it's nothing new at all. In fact our fans are incredibly timid and passive these days compared to most PL fanbases. For context, over the last 6 and a bit years since Koeman left, our home form has been absolutely dire. In that period we have won only 36 out of 118 home games in the PL, over an extended time frame we have been utterly turgid and devoid of belief and that has filtered down to the fanbase, and I say this as someone who until very recently was very much a 'Ralph in' guy. It's been a long time since supporting Saints was any fun whatsoever, yet we're arrogant for a few moans and groans? They are lucky that's all they're getting, at most other clubs it would be worse but I think apathy has long since taken over. I think the vast majority of Saints fans realise our place and just want to see a team that we can really get behind, that gives it's all and is competitive. Right now we're playing and acting like a lower league team that's out of it's depth in the PL. I'm 39 and for all but 7 of my years supporting Saints we've been in the top flight, so to keep getting told by the club's own hierarchy and it's mouthpieces how grateful we should be just to be in it and how small we are is pretty galling. The whole club reeks of a lack of belief and ambition like we don't belong here, I'd like to think SR would change that.

Erm, we beat Leicester actually. Personally I'd go with a 4-3-3/4-5-1 as we really need to shore up the midfield area. Djenepo Che Aribo Diallo AMN JWP Perraud Salisu ABK KWP Bazunu

Ah my bad, fair enough. I still stand by the point though he was only here because of Cortese and his stock has risen hugely since. He has no deep connection with the club or reason to come back.

Absolutely no chance. He was here for less than a year so it's not like he ever had a really strong connection with us. He left for Spurs because they are a much bigger club with far more chance of success. He can hold out until a bigger job is available. Why on Earth would he want to join us for a relegation battle with a squad full of kids?

Glad I don't have a ST any more, feels like the club would be a lot happier if SMS was just filled with away fans. Never known a club treat it's own fans with such contempt.

I saw the first half of the Stoke game yesterday and Smallbone was pretty anonymous at best. Their fans don't seem too impressed... https://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/305919/smallbone

I don't think I'll ever be able to forget the image of him kneeling for BLM. Just sums the guy up for me, seems to be trying too hard to jump on whatever bandwagon will make him popular at the time. Plus I can't stand his whiny voice. Comes across as very insincere to me.