New Manager Debate

[hypochondriac]

38 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Nope.  Couldn’t give a fuck.

All I'll say is a significant percentage of saints fans would disagree with you. Twitchy is the definition of a cunt and a significant reason for that is his history with the great unwashed next door to us. 

Edited 4 hours ago by hypochondriac

[Saint NL]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

If he plays 5 at the back, I think a little bit of me will die

I think we all know which little bit.

[Sir Ralph]

5 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Yep he had reasonable success for a season at Bournemouth (with some dodgy bits in between) and a good season at Wolves. He then had a terrible season at Wolves resulting in his deserved sacking with the vast majority of Wolves fans thinking he was a nice bloke but not up to it. None of them wanted him back when he was linked recently. 

Fair enough. From what I heard Wolves lost a few players during that time but it obviously didnt end well. I wouldnt mind Carrick or Robins or O'Neill but I wont be celebrating too hard if any of them are appointed. We need a poll - Keep Will Still or have GON! The issue with appointing him is that some sections will be on him if we dont start winning asap

Edited 5 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[tdmickey3]

6 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

Fair enough. From what I heard Wolves lost a few players during that time but it obviously didnt end well. I wouldnt mind Carrick or Robins or O'Neill but I wont be celebrating too hard if any of them are appointed. We need a poll - Keep Will Still or have GON! The issue with appointing him is that some sections will be on him if we dont start winning asap

How can we have that poll? Still has gone... 

[stfrancisofbenali]

3 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

I'm not avoiding anything! I didn't consider it relevant to the discussion since I never disputed that a managerial choice would be a gamble. What I said was that the response to someone saying they don't want O'Neil of "who do you expect Zidane?" is ridiculous which it is. You are aware I am sure of a number of realistic managers we have been linked with, many of whom I would rather have here than O'Neil. That does not mean I am asking for someone completely unrealistic. 

If you want to go off on a tangent and debate something I haven't disputed then six managers we could conceivably get that I may not even be a huge fan of but I would prefer to O'Neil: 

Hassenhuntl 

Carrick 

Corberan 

Robins 

Wagner 

Carsley

 

I'd strongly go for Vieira if there is even the slightest chance of tempting him.

[saintant]

13 minutes ago, James G said:

He is flexible, I've read. He's played 6 or 7 systems over the years. It's counter attacking football though

Ok but I thought Will Still was going to be flexible but he stuck rigidly to 3 centre backs, Eckert does it for the 21s and did so against QPR. It's almost as though it's being led from someone higher up than the manager.

[Sir Ralph]

6 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

How can we have that poll? Still has gone... 

Thanks for helping me with that

Edited 5 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[trousers]

[Badger]

3 minutes ago, trousers said:

Pretty damning for many people 

[The Kraken]

And there it is.

[Badger]

Of those available, Carrick seems the most credible option.

And I’m not convinced he’s the answer. Just hope Spors uncovers the right one whilst conducting his search in Germany. 

[Chez]

26 minutes ago, James G said:

He is flexible, I've read. He's played 6 or 7 systems over the years. It's counter attacking football though

If your team is worse than the majority of opponents, won't the football have to be counter attacking?

[tdmickey3]

13 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

Thanks for helping me with that

I like to help the not very bright so you are welcome 

[Badger]

6 minutes ago, trousers said:

If that is spread on the internet as it probably will be then you’d expect Spors and co to pull the plug.

Shame for the media team who’ve been working overtime to produce something to pleasantly ease him in. 
 

They’ll have to rework it now. I suggest a title of ‘GON with the wind’,

 

(subtitled - fuck off you dirty skate bastard)

[hypochondriac]

16 minutes ago, stfrancisofbenali said:

I'd strongly go for Vieira if there is even the slightest chance of tempting him.

So you accept that there are realistic suggestions out there that are better than O'Neil and that fans not wanting O'Neil are not asking for a manager like Zidane ?

[Chez]

1 minute ago, Badger said:

If that is spread on the internet as it probably will be then you’d expect Spors and co to pull the plug.

Shame for the media team who’ve been working overtime to produce something to pleasantly ease him in. 
 

They’ll have to rework it now. I suggest a title of ‘GON with the wind’,

 

(subtitled - fuck off you dirty skate bastard)

If they have already given him the job, then 'Gone in Sixty Seconds' might work

[Badger]

To be honest, I’d overlook his previous Pompey connections, but don’t particularly want him as he seems crap, and by reputation so is his style of play. 

[stfrancisofbenali]

2 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

So you accept that there are realistic suggestions out there that are better than O'Neil and that fans not wanting O'Neil are not asking for a manager like Zidane ?

Of course there are other realistic options out there (although not sure Vieira is actually realistic!) and no-one knows if they will be better than O'Neil. My original point (perhaps worded clumsily) was that a lot of the names being suggested by the fanbase (Lampard, Rodgers etc) aren't realistic and that dismissing O'Neil out of hand because of his Pompey links when he might well be the best man for job at the moment is idiotic. I think there is a big risk in appointing him but if he steadies the ship and gets us climbing the table, the Pompey links will be forgotten quickly.

[tdmickey3]

Will this thread need to be named New Manager Debacle at some point or is that just hindsight based on previous examples ?

[Toussaint]

I've heard his preferred formation is 7 3 1  - with 5 cb's, he was a frequent visitor  to Epstein Island - allegedly (or it could have been Hayling Island, I always get those two mixed up,  but that's not the point), he sold state secrets to China, he hates kittens and small children and he used to play for Portsmouth.

[saintwbu]

56 minutes ago, SaintMinion said:

He is not popular there according to my Boro mate, he admitted in his book that he deliberately got booked and suspended so he could watch the Ryder Cup, when a Boro player.

Yeah I remember reading that too tbf - so he’s a skate, a crap manager, and a bit of a twat as well. What could go wrong..

[Toadhall Saint]

4 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

I've heard his preferred formation is 7 3 1  - with 5 cb's, he was a frequent visitor  to Epstein Island - allegedly (or it could have been Hayling Island, I always get those two mixed up,  but that's not the point), he sold state secrets to China, he hates kittens and small children and he used to play for Portsmouth.

All minor misdemeanours apart from the last one. Life sentence stuff 

[saintwbu]

I seem to remember Paul Hart being strongly rumoured to take over after Pardew and the JPT game that took place that night was basically one big anti-Hart parade and they went for Adkins. Maybe similar could happen tomorrow towards O’Neill, but expect there’s not enough life left in the fan base to bother at this point.

[Hopper]

Honestly, I'd be surprised if the appointment wasn't German or from the Bundesliga.

Edited 4 hours ago by Hopper

[saintwbu]

1 minute ago, Hopper said:

Honestly, I'd be surprised if the appointment wasn't German or from the Bundesliga.

Maybe this is all to make us grateful for the more obscure name that is coming instead - we’ll take whoever isn’t GON

[woodsaint1]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

He kept them up, then took Norwich into the play offs. If that’s considered doing nothing of note, I think you’re in for a disappointing couple of years.  

Conveniently leaving out the period between where he led Schalke on a record run of 18 games without a win. Also took over Young Boys who were going for their 4th title in a row, but was sacked when they were 15 points adrift.

So yes, we would be in for some disappointing years if we appointed him

[Osvaldorama]

1 hour ago, DellBoys said:

Exactly it’s just a job and we need the best person available to fill it. I’m not saying he is the best person but he can’t be overlooked just because he supported Pompey when he was growing up. 

Yes he can. 
And he should. 
 

I do not want him in a million years. Would be a terrible appoint 

[woodsaint1]

Just think our fans hate appointing UK managers 😂. We would much prefer an exciting european unknown, who after some quick wikipedia and athletic research, will tell us we've got the best young manager going 

[hypochondriac]

4 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Yes he can. 
And he should. 
 

I do not want him in a million years. Would be a terrible appoint 

O'Neil should not be overlooked just because he played and supported pompey. There's plenty of other reasons too.

[DT]

I think O'Neil would be really great. But will he leave Celtic?

hahahahah

Got to laugh at the moment, Saints being managed by such twats. I'm looking at you, Rasmus, you dim-witted, egomaniacal, 'I'm such a TEDTalk star', 'reinventing football', deluded, bellend.

[saintant]

33 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

I've heard his preferred formation is 7 3 1  - with 5 cb's, he was a frequent visitor  to Epstein Island - allegedly (or it could have been Hayling Island, I always get those two mixed up,  but that's not the point), he sold state secrets to China, he hates kittens and small children and he used to play for Portsmouth.

You were ticking a lot of boxes but I have to draw the line at the last point.

[Saint86]

Is GON being linked so that everyone will accept eckert?

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

2 hours ago, bangkoksaint said:

GON doesn’t excite me and I’m pretty ambivalent to his appointment. But honestly people need to get over themselves regarding his Pompey connection. It was the same for Crouchy in the season we got relegated first time from the PL. We will never know but if people had embraced him a bit more maybe he’d have scored enough goals to keep us up. It’s just football 

Bad example with Crouch. On the whole my recollection was that he was up for it and the majority of Saints fans liked him.

Brown envelope Bagpus though. On day 1 he came in with a negative attitude and said off the bat it'll be a miracle to save Saints I feel really impacted the team that season. 

[Saint86]

Whoever we hire will have less support than Ralph would have done, and will be coming into an atmosphere of significant fan discontent - it's a shame that it won't be Ralph really, as amongst the fanbase, he is likely the most popular name mentioned so far by some distance, is a good manager, and would have settled a lot of issues with some initial positivity and zero tolerance in the dressing room... He may be getting on and eyeing up the Austria job, but I would have thought there was a chance at a deal for the rest of the season as a minimum.

Something in the rumours that SR won't swallow their pride when it comes to him (and the shit show decision making since)? It is still odd to me that he came all the way to England to see a former colleague and chose to do that whilst watching an evening saints game at the same time - has to be something there for the club from his side at least.

Edited 3 hours ago by Saint86

[CamSaint]

20 minutes ago, Hopper said:

Honestly, I'd be surprised if the appointment wasn't German or from the Bundesliga.

Bristol City's current manager got FC Koln promoted from Bundesliga 2 last season and was then promptly sacked! So other clubs have shopped in that market recently (although he had also had Championship experience, having managed Barnsley for a year in 2019-20).

[Hopper]

5 minutes ago, CamSaint said:

Bristol City's current manager got FC Koln promoted from Bundesliga 2 last season and was then promptly sacked! So other clubs have shopped in that market recently (although he had also had Championship experience, having managed Barnsley for a year in 2019-20).

Yeah Struber seems to be doing a good job there. I'd just imagine that Spors would back himself and his knowledge of that market to try and bring in someone like Struber who shows high potential.

It's not what many would want to hear as proven would obviously be better but the 'proven' options are pretty dire right now...

[RedArmy]

1 hour ago, trousers said:

If he’s actually been interviewed or shortlisted it’s an insult to Saints fans. 
 

Do not let him anywhere near this football club you utter cunts, SR. 

[notnowcato]

7 hours ago, trousers said:

"Once a project manager.... " 😁

This explains a lot! 😉😇

[coalman]

I feel we need one of those rarest days when the sun shines on a dog's ass for SR to hire a decent manager as opposed to the utter dog's ass they're going to make of it. Again.

[hippo]

5 minutes ago, Hopper said:

Yeah Struber seems to be doing a good job there. I'd just imagine that Spors would back himself and his knowledge of that market to try and bring in someone like Struber who shows high potential.

It's not what many would want to hear as proven would obviously be better but the 'proven' options are pretty dire right now...

Tonda Eckhart was part of his staff at Barnsley FWIW. 

 

[Matthew Le God]

The Telegraph article today links Michael Carrick.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2025/11/07/gary-oneil-next-southampton-manager-wolves-u-turn/

[Hussar Saint]

1 hour ago, trousers said:

I can hear the "Agent Gary" taunts from the fish fookers already....... 

[Wade Garrett]

2 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

All I'll say is a significant percentage of saints fans would disagree with you. Twitchy is the definition of a cunt and a significant reason for that is his history with the great unwashed next door to us. 

Big deal.

[Convict Colony]

If we appointed Oneil would be just a matter of time like how Benitez went at Everton

[Convict Colony]

9 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

The Telegraph article today links Michael Carrick.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2025/11/07/gary-oneil-next-southampton-manager-wolves-u-turn/

Michael Carricks agent links him to Saints job to Telegraph journo

[Convict Colony]

27 minutes ago, Hopper said:

Yeah Struber seems to be doing a good job there. I'd just imagine that Spors would back himself and his knowledge of that market to try and bring in someone like Struber who shows high potential.

It's not what many would want to hear as proven would obviously be better but the 'proven' options are pretty dire right now...

I agree but prefer Hans Gruber, he's german, good at planning and he seems to know the Japanese market as well.

[Wade Garrett]

3 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Michael Carricks agent links him to Saints job to Telegraph journo

I would like Carrick.  Would be respected by the players on the strength of his excellent playing career.  Did a great job turning Boro around as well.

Also the added bonus, for Hypo, apparently he fucking hates Pompey 😉.

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

I genuinely don't understand how Gary O'Neil can be considered a better option than Michael Carrick?

Then again, I don't understand most of the decisions the board make. 

[Morse]

Not O'Neil ffs!  He's a Skate, but he's also not that good. We can and should do better. 

[Convict Colony]

I know its fashionable to write off Bundesliga 2 but didnt Fabian Hurzeler (Brighton mgr) get recruited on the basis of a great season and getting them promoted he left a couple of weeks after.