Hamwic

It might be premature to ditch Hughes. For me the problem lies higher up the food chain and the club's strategy of selling half decent players for hefty profits and replacing them with too many of limited ability. The results speak for themselves and, eventually half decent players will not want to come here regardless of who the manager is.

What has it got to do with supporters? Anyone would think that they paid good money to watch it!

Whether or not there is a clear out from the top down remains to be seen but my feeling is that it will be necessary. Like him or loathe him, Cortese had ambition for the club and that pretty much disappeared when he left. Since then, we appear to have just reacted to events without any clear direction or destination in mind and it is unsurprising that this has been reflected on the field. I am sure Hughes will want to stay if we have the right vision and leadership. Time for Gao Ji Sheng to step up and exert some control.

There is a school of thought in business that people are invariably promoted to their level of incompetence.

On Radio 5 the summariser, Pat Nevin,called it early in the first half; all very well having two up top but you need to get the ball to them. Tadic and Redmond seem incapable on that front. He later identified that our midfield was so easily overrun and offered little or no protection. He might well have added that Cedric, Hoedt and Bertrand seem incapable of defending and the latter was 'unable to deal with the 35 year old Zabaleta. There was also the notable absence of any leader on the pitch. If we go down, many of these players will be off for discount prices so really don't worry too much.

I can't remember such elation at the sacking of a Saints' manager since the Branfoot era. It was a sorry state for the club to have been in and, frankly, the fingers of blame might be better pointed at the senior management and owners who inflicted on the supporters two seasons of the most tedious football I can remember in over 50 years by the appointments of Puel and Pellegrino. I am slightly nervous about who the replacement might be but surely it cannot be any worse. Can it?

I have said it before, if people really want the club to take notice then stop attending for a while. As long as we have an almost full stadium for every home game, the club will be reasonably happy with whatever dross is being served up. What they will not tolerate is the sight of loads of empty seats on live or highlight tv coverage.

Sacking managers frequently will do little for the club's ability to recruit in the future. Theories abound but I am not sure we, any of us, really know what the root cause of the malaise of this seaon and last, is. What will concentrate minds is if supporters stay away in droves. Those in authority will soon react at the sight of swathes of empty seats on either live or highlight television.

If not Big Sam then possibly someone of that ilk. A no nonsense manager who would not tolerate second-rate prima donnas spitting their dummies out when things don't suit them. Much is said about his hoofball style but I didn't see much of that at Palace; instead he obtained good performances from some rather average players. Also, Big Sam often comes with the services of Little Sam.

I'm sorry, that cannot be allowed. Diagonals are not permitted, as well you know. Try that hotbed of Manchester, Highbury and Islington.

Dome that. Good luck with the dissertation.

Useful information, I'm sure, but we still don't know what the final question is.

Thank you. Apology accepted.

Like most of you I recieved the latest missive from the club this morning with the headline quote from JWP ' we need to putit right'. This has shades of one of our relegation seasons when captain Claus Lundekvam was quoted after every, weekly, defeat saying, 'or season starts here' and other such drivel. It begs the question, why don't the team do it on the pitch, during the match and aboud the need for this dreadful PR. After six league defeats out of seven, surely they have had more than enough opportunity to sort it out?

While this is not really the correct thread, I think a response is required. What you, and others who are similarly irritated should do whenever these peurile and offensive posts are made, is to ignore them. The perpetrators will very soon find they no longer have the audience they need to fuel their vitriol.

I don't know if it is any particular style but it is painful to watch. During 50 years as a Saints supporter I don't remember anything quite as tedious with, perhaps, the exception of the Branfoot era. What really irks me is that the rather mediocre players seem reluctant to put in a shift to justify their multi £m wages while I shell out what I can for a 240 mile round trip to witness the dross that is currently being served up. Perhaps if supporters stop attending and buying club merchandise for a while the message might get home. Otherwise expect a lot more of the same.

I don't necessarily hold with the 'Puel out' view but some of our players need to adopt a better attitude. We looked second best for most of last night's game and one or two, seasoned professionals, looked like fish out of water. I have been a Saints supporter for over 50 years and I struggle to remember watching such dire football. I have said before that we will achieve nothing by passing sideways and backwards and we deserve what we get when sides up their game against us. While I agree we are in a cup semi final and 8th in the, poor quality, league I will not be making the 240 mile round trip for home games while we continue to serve up this dross.

Apparently Puel said his on his arrival that his strategy was 'possesssion at all costs', which is fine as far as it goes but we are very close to the basement for scoring goals, (which help to win games), partly due to the low risk approach Saints currently exhibit. It also makes for very boring games. Add the fact that we develop and sell on good players and leave ourselves with the 'also rans' like Redmond, Long, Rodrigues etc. I have supported Saints for over 50 years but it could be a while before I'm tempted to make another 240 mile round trip as long as we serve up this drivel. Rant over.

I cannot be bothered to trawl through five pages of posts and I apologise if someone else has already made the point. At what point do people, including club owners, the FA, fans, sponsors, broadcasters etc. really care as to whether the country's football assets are all Chinese owned? Also, as we have already seen in other sectors, is there really enough liquidiity in the Chinese economy to sustain this massive expansion?

I don't think he was 'muted' at all, but I belive he did have an injury.

Can't be bothered to go through them all but Radio 5's Ian Brown is difficult to listen to with his mispronunciation of players' names such as Cliché (for Clichy), Otamendé and, possibly the worst, Mig-nolet. I am sure there are other, equally annoying commentators.

Jim McCalliog in 1975. Played in the cup final and made the pass for Stokes to score.

Nothing will happen for at least two years while negotiations on a number of fronts are conducted. Saints, and other clubs, will have to focus on 'home grown' or foreign players who have, or can obtain, work permits. It is entirely possible that clubs could obtain dispensation for players already registered. Beyond that, neither I nor anyone else knows.

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Lee Bowyer.

In 2006 I was in Macaua 6000 miles from home, and went to a bar where there was one other customer. Having heard me speak English he joined me at my table and the conversation inevitably got round to, "where are you from?" and he replied, "Portsmouth". My facial expression must have said it all. His immediate response was, "Scummer".