sadoldgit

No it wouldn't stand up in a court of law, nor would the rumour that Pardew had done someones missus. I wonder where that came from?

If he is a decent manager he is young and the chances are that he will get better job offers. We are a Div 3 club don't forget.

I think he probably did have to do that. His PR to date has been pants and a well timed charm offensive was probably suggested to him as a way of getting fans back onside. It looks like it worked judging by the way people on here are ready to throw themselves behind him, despite the fact that his answer about the sacking created more questions, but still, favour is cheeply bought in the short term. Lets us hope that we can eventually pick up where we left off last season.

You don't see losing matches as a hinderance Nick? Nor the perception, after all of the other ridicule heaped on us of late, that we are a shambles?

I care. Whatever the right and wrongs we have looked like a bunch of amatuers playing at being a football club right now. At a time when we should be united and focussed on winning football matches we are managerless and ruderless. Not the start of the season we expected nor needed.

That was my impression too.

Seems as you say. It is all very well for Adkins to have pronciples but wouldn't you just resign if you wanted to work here so much? We will see. I don't know hat has gone on in either case, what I do know is the the media debacle doesn't help our current plight.

I would have more respect for the man if he just came right out and told the truth. If he said I can't work with Pardew at least you know where you are. All this I had no choice nonsense, yes Nicola, you did have a choice and you chose to sack him!

"I had no choice, it had to be done." Pardew, he swims with the fishes.

I'd like to be able to pay at the gate again. If my match was cancelled or if I didn't have a game on a Saturday I used to jump into my Triumph Herald and head south, pak near the ground and get in no trouble. St Marys is an excellent stadium but as has been said, is sterile. The Dell was a abit of a dump but it was our dump and it staged some of the best players ever to pull on the red and white stripes. Happy days indeed, but sadly football has "progressed."

We rely heavily of Ricky and Adam and to have them both bellow par hasn't helped. There is still a long way to go. Let's hope this is the start of better things in front of goal!

I thought play offs for sure - possibly automatic. Now I don't have a clue. It is certainly going to be harder but ther are still plenty of points to play for. It doesn't help that Lambert and Lallana are not fit and although I hope I am wrong, I am not certain that either Adkins or Howe are what we need. Sill, we shall see....

There is nothing wrong with critisising him or comparing him to Lowe or anyone else. No matter how much you big him up, the questions and issues remain (unless you only see what you want to see of course). It has nothing to do with pettiness, it is all about discussion and sharing opinions.

It is the definition of "wrong doing" that we are interested in.

You are right, it was a clash of egos. His hand was forced by the fact that he couldn't stand back and let a good manage manage. The other events you allude to had nothing to do with Pardew and other players wives. Cortese wanted him out, it is that simple. If he would have been ahppy if AP had taken us up, why didn't he give him praise when he won us the cup?

Surely if he knew what it takes to get out of this league he would not have sacked Pardew?

If he is so desparate to join us why doesn't he just resign? Didn't the club promise us "Wow". You seem to have signed up to the Cortese bandwagon Nick whereas I had you pegged as your own man before?

Why wouldn't he? He just sacked a perfectly good manager after a 4-0 win away.

He fancies the wedge. I hope he gets the job, we shall see how good he really is. Succeed or fail though, he will be minted.

Probably better than wearing a ringpiece.

Why, do you think it hasn't? Really Nick, I think you are popping the happy pills. We have a good squad and had a decent manager. We had a slow start but were making chances and got it together at Bristol. We sack the decent manager and the club turns into a farce. Two managers of lowly status have found reasons not to join us today. Alan Pardew has managed reasonably well in the Premiership and is a memory. The wow factor we were promised has turned into "Wow, what a c*ck up." Perhaps we will go up this season still, but I don't think that todays events have made that any easier.

As Dame Edna Everidge once said to a Tory nob, "If you can't laugh at yourself, you might be missing the joke of the century."

By all means have a pop at my thread Dune, but a troll?

I appreciate that some people are kicking off and that some people are trying to be fair and even handed. However, whichever way you look at it it has not been a great day for SFC. I really hope I am wrong, but I think today's debacle, be it Cortese fault or the medias fault, makes promotion this year more unlikely. Is it a coincidence or has the fact that Markus has sadly passed away means that a steading hand on the tiller has gone and we are now adrift and well off course? And if that is the case, how long before the family get shot of us?

Because it would show him in a bad light. He got rid of Pardew because there was a clash of personalities, not for footballing reasons - and now he is trying to replace him with lesser managers.