sadoldgit

Condemn him after 10 minutes is a bit strong. I would just prefer if he showed his manager some proper support. Oh and it didn't take 10 years to find Lowe guilty (guilty of what exactly?). I used to subscribe to the old SaintsList and from day 1 there were people against him because of the reverse takeover and the fact that he wasn't a football man (not that that seems to be an issue with Nicola). If you bothered to read my posts you will find that I have said that if he delivers on his plan - no problem. How is thta condeming him exactly?

Indeed. I am with you on that score! Nice to have some money in the bank and to be looking to buy decent players rather than sell them!

Where did I say no exactly? Jeez, I give up.

So why even bother to reply to my posts Alpine? If they are that pathetic haven't you got better things to do with your time? I know I have and I am going off to do them...but in the meantime perhaps you might like to tell us all what you think that Cortese's new vision of the "Southampton style" of football will be? Tell me again, how many football clubs had he been involved with before his one season with SFC?

I support the manager and the team. If the CEO(s) do likewise, no problem unless there is a problem with the manager and the team that needs drastic action. I think the point where you see the problem is immediately after a defeat or a draw.

LOL, never fails to reel in the big ones

DD, I didn't take issue with that subbing and from many at the game it made sense. But making tactical changes are a gamble and he has made others that have payed off handsomely. You and I both know that mnay people come on and make valid critisicms after a game, and there are others who will go further and suggest that he might not be the man for the job. There is not a single manager on this planet who gets it right every game that is why it is necessary to stand back and look at the bigger picture. Overall last seaosn I would say the bigger picture was bright and pint to better things next season. There are some who have said, despite the reason for optimism, that Pardew should go if we are not streets ahead by Christmas. If you read the coomenst pages online on the Echo site there are people constantly saying he should have already have gone! With regards to James. Pardew did big him up earlier in the season and has just let him go. That indicates to me a man who can change his mind and make tough decisions. Pardew almost got it right last season and he looks like a man who wants to get it right this season. For what he has done and what he says he wants to do, I think everyone, including the CEO, should give him another season with nothing less than 100% support.

And what will that be? Hammering the top sides and losing to the bottom sides? Seriously though, what does that mean? If Lowe had said that he would have (rightly) been laughed at by all and sundry. Perhaps he is a football genius afterall and is going to unveil a totall new style of football to the world next season? 8 up front perhaps? To be honest, if we play next season like we did for long stretches of this season scoring lots of goals as we go, that will do for me.

Fair comment. To be honest I don't take Alpine that serioulsy and most of my replies to him are tongue in cheek because I can imagine him sitting there with a purple vein throbbing in his temple...but it would be nice to have a normal debate and that was what I was trying to have with with Matthew Le God and Delldays. Isn't this a forum where you are supposed to be able to come and discuss issues at the club with other interested parties? There are people on here who seem incapabale of doing that, are abusive and petty minded, avoid questions and wrongly paraphrase anything you say because they are so blinkered and stuck in their own agenda. I hold my hands up and admit I often play devil's advate on here. Why? because there is often rank hypocricy abd double standards. I think more people are now beginning to see that Cortese's behaviour is similar to Lowe's, yet many of the people who detested those traits in Lowe are backing Cortese blindly (much as they did the Wilde Bunch). For what it is worth I think that the people running this club now have much more nous than The Wilde Bunch and Crouch..but can you see my point? In a period when the club should be looking forward with a shared sense of purpose and hope after this season the big issue was was Pardew going? Why? Becaue Cortese chose to let the story run and run and get bigger when he could have stopped it dead in its tracks. Should the club comment on every rumour and press headline? No. Should they have killed this one off weeks ago. I think so. Go back and read the OS piece again. Does it really ring true to you? If you wanted to show your support for someone why not sound like you mean it? The attack on big club names from the past was also worrying. Don't they have a right to voice an opinion about what seemed to be a lack of support for the manager by the CEO? Cortese may well turn out to be the best thing that has hapened to SFC for years, but when someone does not say much, they have to be very, very careful about what they DO say. Obviously my approach touches a nerve with some, and it is supposed to.

It is in a mess Alpine because of the lack of Government funding, but then as you live abroad what would you know about it? Unless, like football, you get all of your info 3rd hand Oh and as Ron says, stop bickering will you? I am supposed to be stalking you remember?

We are having a debate Ron, until the bickerer stepped in that is! I remember the publicised 5 year plan, so why the grief when we didn't make the play offs this year? Does that mean that they were planning to spend 4 seasons in the CCC? I get a feeling the the goalposts were moved at some point. Pardew expected to be judged after 18 months, not unreasonable and I hope that is still the case.

I did say that I have only based my opinion on what is in front of me. In NCs case that is 2 statements and neither of them makes me think that we have a management team working in harmony. I haven't based my opinion so far on what the Echo have to say about Mr Cortese (although Delldays John Samuel did write a very damning piece about him too didn't he?). I agree with Weston, the both of them still have a lot to prove. Pardew has to do it all over again next year but notch it up a bit. Cortese will show us how much he backs his manage in the summer transfer dealings I suppose. Managers seemed to be judged on their last game whist CEOs get longer. It would be good in 10 years to look back and say that both appointmenst have been good and provided stability and success for the club in their time here, however long that may be.

----------- 10th highest spenders in the country tells me they backed him also, did they come out and slate him after we lost at home to brighton..or the first ten games..? NO do they ever really talk much in the press..? NO how hard is that to grasp.? No they don't talk to the press much, but the only time he did before it was seemingly critical of the league psotion (and by association the manager's job). His statement on the OS also was hardly inspring (or totally honest it would seem from what Pardew was saying). Get over the money thing will you. How do you know that Pardew did no ask for more and that those players would not have made a difference? How do you know that Danns would have come if offered more money and that if he had, that we would have made the play offs? Neither of us knows what goes on behind closed doors but you seem to have already decided that you know exactly how much support Cortese gives Pardew. Why did Ward and his club think he was coming here? Why did that deal not happen?

I am only doing what you and Delldays do. I read stuff I run it through a thought process and I run some of my thoughts on here because apparently this is a forum where you can exchange views with others. Like everyone on here, I do not know the full facts. I am debating with what I have or what I think I have. And whilst I am not a judge I do work for the criminal justice system!

His personality has been discussed by plenty of people on here. Perhas you need to expand your redaing or what you chose to focus on. I will give you a helper though because it might even be on this thread. And this comes from a conversation I had recently with a lady whose son works at SFC. Apparently Cortese does not like to be addressed directly by the staff. Sound like an open, down to earth, approachable guy to you? Now if that is not the case, fine. But I have mentioned that a few times and no one has come back and said no, that is not the case. His spat with the Echo. A reasonable response to a newspaper breaking a story already in the public domain or a dummy spitting exercise because he hadn't got his own way? Or am I making these things up?

So what? There has been a storm on here before when the CEO has not allowed the manager to buy the players he wants. For example Starchan wanted to spend £9m on 2 players and dummies were thrown out of pramas when that wasn't allwoed to happen.Do we know that Pardew has got every player he wanted? Why are prepared to back someone blindly? That happened before with Wilde and Crouch. Look where that got us. As I keep saying, if Cortese delivers, no problem. In the meantime, can't we ask questions?

Still under the sea?

Okay I shall ask you too. From what was in the public domain, do you think that Pardew had the full confidence of his CEO last season and if so, why didn't Pardew apparently feel that he did (judging by his comments). I don't know what happened with the ward deal other than his club thought we were buying him and at the last minute we bought a cheaper option.

Get behind the manager FFS. You are Alpine in disguise aren't you. Where have I ever said that I want Lowe back? What is the matter? Is it okay to have a pop at one for his problems with the press, apparent ego issues, no knowledge of football etc but not another? Have you seen any posts from me saying I want Lowe in and Cortses out? And you accuse me of making things up? Tell you what, I don't want to upset you anymore than I have apparently have already. Give me a list of people I am allowed to comment upon and those that I am not. By the way, if you scroll back a few posts I said that Cortese delivers there will be no problem. Do you have an isue with that comment?

It seems that the likes of McMenemy, Le Tissier and Keegan also thought that Cortese was less than 100% behind the manager too DD. Tell me why you think that was? I know you think that I am "weird"...perhaps you think these people are too? One big conspiracy theory. We are all making things up. Another question...Ward or Seagrove...which one would you prefer in a Saints shirt? Which one did NC buy?

There is a big difference between a poll and what people write. The original thread said not if Pardew should be sacked but when. There plenty of people on here firing off opinions about when he should go next season if we aren't clear at the top too. Perhaps you spend too much time underwater? The stuff that goes on here is daily banter and there will always be a section of the forum that aen't happy with a manager no matter what he does. My issue is with the CEO and his apparent lack of support for the club manager. Would you say that he has been fulsome in his praise and support for Pardew this season? Other than his carefully written piece on the OS can you point to any other comments that would led you believe that the two of them are working in harmony? Doesn't this bother you? (ps I already know the answer to the last one )

You trouble me DD, you are rapidly turning into AS. Of course Pardew (or any manager) makes mistakes and of course people can question them. What I flip over is people suggesting that he should be sacked because he makes a few. You were one questioning his job after only a few games weren't you? Yep, I hold my hand up. I flip at that short-term knee-jerkism. (ps, there are others who have also questioned NCs behaviour so far)

And waht should you support your manager, because if you read any management training book it will tell you that is a good thing to do if you want a committed and strong team, working together to achieve a common goal. Demotivated, unappreciated people tend not to give you 100% and why sould they if they think you do not rate them? People who know football better than anyone on here, felt that Pardew did a really good job for Saints last season. It worries me that Cortese didn't appear to be in that camp. His statement also worries me. It is very clear from pardew's statemenst that he did't feel 100% supported by his CEO. so why prentend is his (Cortese's) statement that they were best buddies? Lowe had many faults, but he did support his managers in public when he had to, even if a few days later they were out of the door. People want to know that management teams are pulling together, even if behind closed doors they are not. THis club has a tough job next season. It needs everyone pulling together. If Pardew thinks he might be out of a job come Christmas is that really condusive to building a strong club/management team???

You are quite right FC. It is just my opinion. That is what we do, come on here and share opinions. My opion up to a coule of weeks ago was formed by what littel he "puts out there" and I understand that he needs to be here longer before he can be properly judged. However, it didn't help my perception of him when I was told by a Saints fan (who hated Lowe by the way) that he son works at SFC and the Cortese does not like to be addressed directly by the staff and is not popular there, that we may have another CEO with an ego bigger than St Marys. Of course if he delivers, no one will care. If he doesn't, we may have another bout of witch hunting a la Lowe going on! I am pld enough to remember the days when people only talked about the players. Then the managers became as big if not bigger, and nowdays it is the "suits" who get a lot of attention. Inter did a great job last night and through the whole season, but who got the headlines? A bloke in a suit, not a bloke in shorts. Football is a big business now. All you hear about Blackpool's success is £90m. The money men will be sniffing arond that aready. CEOs are as newsworthy as players nowdays.