Will Still - Official: Sacked

[saintant]

I'm sure he has a few regrets at ever being approached by the shysters at SR despite the pay off he'll receive. I hope he soon gets another manager job and is a great success. This succession of short term managers will no doubt ring alarm bells with others in the game and may put some of them off the prospect of working for SR because it has become a poison chalice under their watch.

[Matthew Le God]

2 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

What is really the stuff of nightmares is that RM is the bookmakers' favourite!!

That isn't a good indicator of liklihood. A few people reading what Alex Crook said and placing a bet could cause that.

[benjii]

Seems like the bookies know something! Rusty coming back!

[West Dean FC Legend]

To make me stop being in the slightest bit interested in football, and especially Saints football, I am going to bet they take on Russ 'you're my best mate' Martin again, because he got the club promoted (just).

[OttawaSaint]

2 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

If it looks like Selles and smells like Selles…

This is really funny if you understand French...

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

He shouldn't be the scapegoat when others were also culpable.

Course he fucking should. He’s the manager, the buck stops with him. He was fucking useless. Where’s all this “nice guy” pony come from? He was like a sulky teenager the past 3 weeks. Good riddance…

Edited 18 hours ago by Lord Duckhunter

[West Dean FC Legend]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/would-be-welcomed-former-rangers-boss-gets-support-for-southampton-job/ar-AA1PFKKu?ocid=msedgntp&pc=SCOODB&cvid=ffbebdbb2be34da79b7254349280dc1f&ei=43

[Raging Bull]

43 minutes ago, saint michael said:

Will be 7 in the last year or so including interims 
 

Martin

interim x 2

juric

Still

another interim

mr x

Time to step up bro @Mr X. We’ve got your back 👊🏻 

[Gloucester Saint]

11 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

This is really funny if you understand French...

That would be setting your stool out 💩 

[Gloucester Saint]

To think that in my first 11 years as a Saints fan, there were only two changes of manager up to Bally succeeding Ian Branfoot.

[Maury Dyer]

List ducking interest. Don't care. Fed up with 5 years of miserable weekends.

Fuck em

[Number9]

Instead of having one manager why not have a committee of managers. I'm quite sure a few of them are still on the payroll.

They can even have a quick board meeting at half time,  not to discuss substitutions (don't be silly), but which manager(s) should be sacked that week and to line up managerial replacement(s).

For good measure, if we were ever winning a game at half time, full time bonuses could be finalised for those with the best suggestions for snatching a improbable defeat from the jaws of an almost certain victory.

Just a thought... 🤔 

[leeham_69]

All the recruitment odds lists are managers out of work. Would love us to proactively poach a good manager we actually want instead of choosing from the reject bin. Ends up costing them the same if you pay out a contract every 6 months.

[saintwbu]

Just now, leeham_69 said:

All the recruitment odds lists are managers out of work. Would love us to proactively poach a good manager we actually want instead of choosing from the reject bin. Ends up costing them the same if you pay out a contract every 6 months.

Like Nathan Jones and Russell Martin?

[Mr X]

22 minutes ago, Raging Bull said:

Time to step up bro @Mr X. We’ve got your back 👊🏻 

I'm available and cheap so that ticks two of their boxes, I know fuck all about managing a team so that's a third tick! 

[Zorba]

FM26 being released this week. 

#Scart Issue

[Fabrice29]

9 minutes ago, leeham_69 said:

All the recruitment odds lists are managers out of work. Would love us to proactively poach a good manager we actually want instead of choosing from the reject bin. Ends up costing them the same if you pay out a contract every 6 months.

Yeah we’ve done this quite a bit actually.

[bugenhagen]

16 minutes ago, leeham_69 said:

All the recruitment odds lists are managers out of work. Would love us to proactively poach a good manager we actually want instead of choosing from the reject bin. Ends up costing them the same if you pay out a contract every 6 months.

 

15 minutes ago, saintwbu said:

Like Nathan Jones and Russell Martin?

I will admit that I thought the same as leeham, because it feels like SR always hires out of job managers.

Then I remembered Nathan Jones, and I completely abandoned my idea/thought process... before I even got to Martin 😄

[Saint Fan CaM]

So out with Still and in with a bloke who SR think can do a job under their system because he’s had some success at U-21 level. Trollope and Lallana still employed. Fuck me they're not going to learn are they? What’s the betting we’ll see the same back 5 and/or the same turgid passing around at the back and slow transitional play football? Very little confidence that SR will be able to get this or any other recruitment decision completed successfully.

[leeham_69]

1 hour ago, saintwbu said:

Like Nathan Jones and Russell Martin?

That’s true, I’d forgotten Nathan was in a job… maybe blanked it out for my own psychological safety.

 

Russell actually did achieve the main thing he was hired to do, however imperfectly, he was just shit in the PL… so from one point of view kinda supports the point.

[CSA96]

2 hours ago, saintwbu said:

Like Nathan Jones and Russell Martin?

Even Will Still, we were waiting on RC Lens and the appointment was only confirmed after Lens put a club statement out saying they'd signed a financial agreement with Saints to release Still from his contract

[Saint86]

3 hours ago, saintant said:

I'm sure he has a few regrets at ever being approached by the shysters at SR despite the pay off he'll receive. I hope he soon gets another manager job and is a great success. This succession of short term managers will no doubt ring alarm bells with others in the game and may put some of them off the prospect of working for SR because it has become a poison chalice under their watch.

Still quite literally only has himself to blame. Our league position with this squad is embarrassing. Fellows, Azaz, Scienza, AA... he has arguably one of the very best set of forward players in the league to chose from - and more importantly players that are tailor made for his own self declared favourite formation which he refused to play.... Let alone with the likes of Jander, Downes, and Charles behind them - or players like Jelert, Rooerslev, Wellington, Manning etc. This squad should be chasing autos, not only just sat above the relegation by virtue of Sheffield Wednesday imploding.

The mistake SR have made is hiring Still - but still has very little to complain about. He has spectacularly failed.

[Ralph Fastenbüttl]

Like many of you, I loved Ralph the bloke and I'll always be thankful for the great times we had with him. But it's easy to forget how bad it was toward the end, albeit with extraneous factors (but are there not always?). The big frustration with Ralph toward the end was the lack of Plan B, and that's something that's been a common a massively frustrating trait among most of the managers since. Still barely had a Plan A but certainly had no Plan B. And no, swapping from three at the back to ALL THE ATTACKERS most matches is not a Plan B. Selles was like a poor clone of Ralph, warts and all. Mad Nate had some tactical acumen but was rarely able to counter the counters of rival managers, although looking at him this season really does reinforce the argument that the managers are not the problem at all.

Although I fear that we'll never make good under SR, I just long for a manager who is organised and has a solid tactical grasp of the game. They don't need to set the world alight - just someone who can set a team up in a way a squad can understand and adjust his tactics through the course of a game. Kind of feels like the bare minimum, but we haven't had this since fucking forever.

No more gambles. Proven experience and an understanding of the game, please. And a bit of discipline, too - knock these lazy, hapless fuckers into line.

[AlexLaw76]

9 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

I can't even get my head around yesterday. He must have known his job was on a knife edge and he still put that team out. Whatever you think of Martin, at least with that Spurs game he made a desperate attempt to do something different. It was a disaster but he tried to do something. Still? Nope, five at the back and Armstrong as the lone striker. Stick with the same bullsh*t plan that's failed him in every game up until now, is very obviously not going to work again and every fan in the ground can see is hopeless.

Could not agree more. It was just very weird 

[AlexLaw76]

This was a long time coming.

for me, it was the path set after watching us play against Wrexham. Sat deep, 5 at the back, wide open in midfield and defended for our lives (until Moore went off) - alarm bells, against fucking Wrexham.

the certainty of it came against Pompey. That was pathetic, unacceptable and clear as day he had no idea what he was doing. LOL, signing Tom Fellows and playing him is some sort of shit hybrid wingback role (if he was lucky to play at all). Watching Azaz play from the right, or deep in midfield. And in his last game, just continue more of this bullshit. He was, sadly, waaaaaaay out of his depth, and was from day 1.

As per, we had fans clapping along who wanted to keep him no matter what etc. Thankfully, they are wrong, and he has been rightly sacked.

however, I have little faith in SR getting an adequate replacement. This squad wad comfortably good enough for top 6 from the start of the season. We should be good enough to mount a playoff challenge now. I fear that will not be realised as they will appoint some wanky fucktard as manager, or go back to Russell Martin.

Edited 8 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[Convict Colony]

guys we are due a fluke pick by now, surely the football gods can't give us another crap one.

[Sarisbury Saint]

10 hours ago, VectisSaint said:

Most of the players didn't play for the last 4 or 5 managers, not many even played for the last one. So this is nonsense.

Where did I say it was the same players ?

[Thereisonlyonemickychannon]

Martin?

NO! 

[AlexLaw76]

I will always reflect on, yet again seeing through a manager early.

But, what cannot be forgotten was how Aflie House sarcastically would get bored and tired trying to explain to Saints fans (who could not understand) how Will Still's 3/5 system was working.

😂

[Willo of Whiteley]

3 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

I will always reflect on, yet again seeing through a manager early.

But, what cannot be forgotten was how Aflie House sarcastically would get bored and tired trying to explain to Saints fans (who could not understand) how Will Still's 3/5 system was working.

😂

Bizarre post, I’d argue up until the Swansea game it was, a win at that point would’ve taken us into the play offs. It was the lack of finishing that punished us.

Three defeats in a row later you can see the players now look completely lost and have a lack of fight.

That’s why the change has been made.

Alfie House is not the problem in all this ffs. 😂

[Weston Super Saint]

9 hours ago, saintant said:

I'm sure he has a few regrets at ever being approached by the shysters at SR despite the pay off he'll receive. I hope he soon gets another manager job and is a great success. This succession of short term managers will no doubt ring alarm bells with others in the game and may put some of them off the prospect of working for SR because it has become a poison chalice under their watch.

I'm sure there are plenty of managers out there who would relish the chance to work for 6 months, then receive full pay for the next 24 to 36 months whilst playing golf in the Algarve.

We'll know which one in the next couple of weeks I'm sure.

[benjii]

13 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Bizarre post, I’d argue up until the Swansea game it was, a win at that point would’ve taken us into the play offs. It was the lack of finishing that punished us.

Three defeats in a row later you can see the players now look completely lost and have a lack of fight.

That’s why the change has been made.

Alfie House is not the problem in all this ffs. 😂

We've been shit all season.

[saintwbu]

14 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Bizarre post, I’d argue up until the Swansea game it was, a win at that point would’ve taken us into the play offs. It was the lack of finishing that punished us.

Three defeats in a row later you can see the players now look completely lost and have a lack of fight.

That’s why the change has been made.

Alfie House is not the problem in all this ffs. 😂

We’ve been good for about 3 different halves of football all season, it’s never worked 

[AlexLaw76]

14 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Bizarre post, I’d argue up until the Swansea game it was, a win at that point would’ve taken us into the play offs. It was the lack of finishing that punished us.

Three defeats in a row later you can see the players now look completely lost and have a lack of fight.

That’s why the change has been made.

Alfie House is not the problem in all this ffs. 😂

Hardly bizarre, we have been very average at the very best. Swansea game is the only one we can really hang our hats on as being a very good performance....and they are terrible

[Mr X]

Is it anyone bar Martin or Martin above anyone? 🤣

can't think of too many times if any a manger has returned to saints and been successful?

Why would anyone in their right mind want the job now? 🤔

[Football Special]

Having given it some time to reflect I do feel quite sorry for Still, I hope he gives an interview and gives full account of his time here as so many things just don't make sense, particularly the system that was different to what he'd used elsewhere. 

Were we the club where senior players had moaned to the owner about the manager? 

For some reason it never felt like his heart was in it. 

His wife has been through some terrible health scares so at least he's financially secure and spend time with her now without having to worry. 

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Hardly bizarre, we have been very average at the very best. Swansea game is the only one we can really hang our hats on as being a very good performance....and they are terrible

that's being generous. I've seen us live, at the game, twice this season plus probably another 5 or so on TV. We've been pretty shit in all of them. Even the games we've won we've got away with it. The games i've been to live gives you a different perspective to on TV where you can really see stuff unfold better than on TV. Hull was absolutely dire, clueless. Blackburn was okay until the game changing subs, those last 20 minutes were an absolute embarrassment at any level of football, that was when i knew Still was out of his depth. 

[Sarnia Cherie]

12 hours ago, OttawaSaint said:

If they bring back Russ then I'm done with this club until they're gone.

Absolutely. My first thought when I read he may be being considered. A sick joke, surely. Even SR can't be that stupid. Can they?

[Willo of Whiteley]

I don’t think Russel Martin is anywhere near that shortlist. Probably a lazy media link from Alex Crooks with no substance.

But then again I would expect nothing less from a “journalist” like him.

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I don’t think Russel Martin is anywhere near that shortlist. Probably a lazy media link from Alex Crooks with no substance.

But then again I would expect nothing less from a “journalist” like him.

Surely, you are right here. It would be madness. He would have almost no honeymoon period and the pressure on him from day 1 would be immense. He of course, has the balls to do it and backs himself a great deal.

[Willo of Whiteley]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Surely, you are right here. It would be madness. He would have almost no honeymoon period and the pressure on him from day 1 would be immense. He of course, has the balls to do it and backs himself a great deal.

It was the right time for him to go, having fallen out with most people at the club.

But that season two years ago was fun, and I went to every game largely thinking “are we scoring three or four today”.

[Convict Colony]

7 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Surely, you are right here. It would be madness. He would have almost no honeymoon period and the pressure on him from day 1 would be immense. He of course, has the balls to do it and backs himself a great deal.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Convict Colony said:

😂

You just made me think this might actually happen. We don't fuck about at this club

[scumbag]

31 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Having given it some time to reflect I do feel quite sorry for Still, I hope he gives an interview and gives full account of his time here as so many things just don't make sense, particularly the system that was different to what he'd used elsewhere. 

Were we the club where senior players had moaned to the owner about the manager? 

For some reason it never felt like his heart was in it. 

His wife has been through some terrible health scares so at least he's financially secure and spend time with her now without having to worry. 

Completely agree.

The rot clearly extends beyond the manager, and something is very wrong at the club. I'm not sure it would be his style to whistle-blow (or perhaps he is under an NDA as part of the payout conditions?), but you have to suspect that there are a core group of players that downed tools and sunk him.  They need to have their wings clipped ASAP. I doubt we will want to terminate contracts of course, but we need to get them out, or have them marginalised to the extent that they can't contaminate those that actually want to perform.

We need an arsehole manager I think. 

Edited 8 hours ago by scumbag

[Osvaldorama]

I agree entirely with Alex, we’ve not been good enough for the entire season and this was inevitable. Even pre-season was worrying in how disorganised it was  

Feel sorry for Still in a way though, very clearly underestimated the championship, as many do. (Spors for example). But in this case; the club did have to act. We have been SO bad  

I am unconvinced that anyone can turn this shit show around now though, without spending some more money in January on a striker. 

 

[Fabrice29]

There are people in this thread saying Still was out of his depth and how crap we are who were adamant in May that Will Still would be given 2 years even if promotion wasn’t on the cards. Even arguing that crap football shouldn’t be challenged in the first season. 

Edited 8 hours ago by Fabrice29

[Midfield_General]

24 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I don’t think Russel Martin is anywhere near that shortlist. Probably a lazy media link from Alex Crooks with no substance.

But then again I would expect nothing less from a “journalist” like him.

I’m sure the ‘senior players’ who hardly had to train, were bezzie mates with him and have thrown every manager since under the bus would love him back. THB, Downes, Manning etc. The same ones who have basically downed tools yet again and are as responsible as Still is for how fucking shit we are. 

If they have any influence over the decision-making then I would say there is a distinct possibility that Martin could come back. I wouldn’t rule it out at all. SR really are that weak and might even be dumb enough to see it as a quick fix. 

Edited 8 hours ago by Midfield_General

[Osvaldorama]

We also know, without a shadow of a doubt, that Martin will have learned absolutely nothing from his failures with us and Rangers. 
 

 

[St.JonB]

9 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

There are people in this thread saying Still was out of his depth and how crap we are who were adamant in May that Will Still would be given 2 years even if promotion wasn’t on the cards. Even arguing that crap football shouldn’t be challenged in the first season. 

I was all for giving him time - but with the squad we have I didn't think relegation would be a real possibility.  Still looked completely lost and further away from having a Plan A than he did at the start of the season.  He had lost the fans and players and it was only going to get worse so he had to go.

[Give it to Ron]

15 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

There are people in this thread saying Still was out of his depth and how crap we are who were adamant in May that Will Still would be given 2 years even if promotion wasn’t on the cards. Even arguing that crap football shouldn’t be challenged in the first season. 

Did you realistically expect us to be 20th  under him?