New Manager Debate

[AlexLaw76]

5 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

They are desperate to give it to him, you can tell. They are absolutely chomping at the bit.

But they are scared of fan reaction.

So they'll delay it. Hope he keeps picking up results, then they have the ammunition to do so.

If he stops picking up results, starting at Charlton, they'll flap and appoint Tony Mowbray until the end of the season.

You watch.

Basically there was zero point in sacking Will Still. Absolutely no point. If this was there direction, then they should have just backed him properly.

So spot on.

the club nudge unit will be in overdrive this week. Little pieces here at there talking about how great it is behind the scenes, Blackmore and House telling us how sensible it would be to give Eckart another few games as there is “no rush”.

incredible, but entirely predictable.

Edited 2 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[qwertyell]

[Lee On Solent Saint]

29 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Literally had a job at another EFL club a few years back. Laugh emoji.

Not as manager though

[Greedyfly]

Mess

[Lee On Solent Saint]

3 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

So spot on.

the club nudge unit will be in overdrive this week. Little pieces here at there talking about how great it is behind the scenes, Blackmore and House telling us how sensible it would be to give Eckart another few games as there is “no rush”.

incredible, but entirely predictable.

Yep. Players saying how much they are enjoying the training, how they are all pulling in the same direction. Utter fuckin morons.

[Convict Colony]

[AlexLaw76]

Ole wants to be at the wheel again…

million miles ahead of Hungry Eyes

Edited 2 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[Toadhall Saint]

15 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I see the propaganda has started with Azaz and other players now coming out saying how good he is 😂

SR must have been overjoyed that we managed to scrape a couple of wins, they always wanted this guy to get it

It's like clockwork this, linked with O'Neil, few leaks, fans oppose it

Club releases PR pieces about how good current novice manager is from players

Appoint underwhelming manager, fans disappointed but glad it's not O'Neil

 

 

Where is this reported Turkish? Not seen it.

[Lymington Saint]

Article on BBC website says that SR will keep Eckert on as interim manager for the time being and kick the decision down the road. Has the ring of truth about it. So if it doesnt go well then they will bin him.

[Tommy Mulgrew]

Quote from bbc website:

Southampton interim boss Tonda Eckert is expected to remain in charge of the club on an interim basis for the time being.

Despite reports the German was going to be made Will Still's permanent replacement, it is more likely he will continue in his current role.

Prior to the international break, Eckert, 32, won both of his matches as interim boss, beating QPR and Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship. 

"What I do think is that after two wins he has a shout," BBC Radio Solent's sport editor Adam Blackmore posted on X, external.

"But it more than likely could depend on the next three-game batch after the international break for which he could well still be in interim charge.

"Saints have spoken to candidates but they can afford to be patient with Eckert's good start and it allows them time to see the market develop so it's highly unlikely anything imminent occurs either way." 

After the international break, Southampton have three games in the space of a week as they travel away to Charlton and Millwall either side of welcoming Leicester City to St Mary's.

[AlexLaw76]

So obvious they want TE to get the job. It’s pretty sickening 

[Football Special]

1 minute ago, Tommy Mulgrew said:

Quote from bbc website:

 

Southampton interim boss Tonda Eckert is expected to remain in charge of the club on an interim basis for the time being.

Despite reports the German was going to be made Will Still's permanent replacement, it is more likely he will continue in his current role.

Prior to the international break, Eckert, 32, won both of his matches as interim boss, beating QPR and Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship. 

"What I do think is that after two wins he has a shout," BBC Radio Solent's sport editor Adam Blackmore posted on X, external.

"But it more than likely could depend on the next three-game batch after the international break for which he could well still be in interim charge.

"Saints have spoken to candidates but they can afford to be patient with Eckert's good start and it allows them time to see the market develop so it's highly unlikely anything imminent occurs either way." 

After the international break, Southampton have three games in the space of a week as they travel away to Charlton and Millwall either side of welcoming Leicester City to St Mary's.

I can see us losing those 3 games , hoping Romeu basically takes over giving out instructions to his team mates and at least Charlton will be missing James Bree 

[EBS1980]

37 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

If they got spooked with GON due to fan reaction, hiring Hungry Eyes won’t be too far from a similar reaction when we fail to win the next home game.

it can’t be him. It just can’t

it is like they want it to be him…the club act like a shit government nudge unit!!!

 

It sounds like they are waiting for someone to become available?! I get not rushing the appointment but there is a vacancy surely if a manager is interested they will make themselves known now?  Unless they aren’t currently out of work but might be soon?

[hypochondriac]

26 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

They are desperate to give it to him, you can tell. They are absolutely chomping at the bit.

But they are scared of fan reaction.

So they'll delay it. Hope he keeps picking up results, then they have the ammunition to do so.

If he stops picking up results, starting at Charlton, they'll flap and appoint Tony Mowbray until the end of the season.

You watch.

Basically there was zero point in sacking Will Still. Absolutely no point. If this was there direction, then they should have just backed him properly.

Great post that's exactly what will happen.

[S-Clarke]

4 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

So obvious they want TE to get the job. It’s pretty sickening 

It shows that they also have no idea about football if they consider those two wins, which the local journos now seem to be proclaiming as a good start, as any form of benchmark.

They were shit. QPR particular was non-league quality from us. How we played in the final 15 mins of that game would have scared me away from any manager.

[pimpin4rizeal]

Appointing Elkhart would be last straw for me .. some of the mistakes sports republic keep making are just bewildering and 90 percent of fans would do better .. who would think it’s a good idea to have baz as first choice gk do they not watch us ??

cf position been shit for years yet we fuck that yo again and rely on a broken Ross Stewart .. and now we are about to follow the great form line from gray wigley selles and all the other failures that got promoted like it’s gonna be ok this time 😧

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, S-Clarke said:

It shows that they also have no idea about football if they consider those two wins, which the local journos now seem to be proclaiming as a good start, as any form of benchmark.

They were shit. QPR particular was non-league quality from us. How we played in the final 15 mins of that game would have scared me away from any manager.

I noticed the “good start” comments.

Start of what?

and the performances were just the same as we have seen previously.

[gecko]

SR playing an absolute blinder on this one.

Float GON to really wind up the fan base, then float the completely inexperienced interim u21s guys to get the fan base even more worried 

We'll all be well and truly blindsided when they pull someone decent out of a nowhere in a couple of days.

It's genius (I hope), and almost certain to happen

[Mboto Gorge]

29 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

So spot on.

the club nudge unit will be in overdrive this week. Little pieces here at there talking about how great it is behind the scenes, Blackmore and House telling us how sensible it would be to give Eckart another few games as there is “no rush”.

incredible, but entirely predictable.

Yep , this has already started happening. Very convenient that both Blackmore and House have both started posting subtly positive pieces about Eckert and saying the club are in no rush. It’s almost as if the club are using them as a propaganda mouthpiece….,

[Miltonaggro]

33 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

They are desperate to give it to him, you can tell. They are absolutely chomping at the bit.

But they are scared of fan reaction.

So they'll delay it. Hope he keeps picking up results, then they have the ammunition to do so.

If he stops picking up results, starting at Charlton, they'll flap and appoint Tony Mowbray until the end of the season.

You watch.

Basically there was zero point in sacking Will Still. Absolutely no point. If this was there direction, then they should have just backed him properly.

It's essentially deju vu, Selles mk 2. - the level of ineptitude and inability to learn is frankly remarkable.  I am sure that Ankersen and now Spors assume they are accelerating promising careers, providing golden opportunities, whereas in fact they are destroying them!

[bangkoksaint]

I’d like to see a poll on whether ST holders will renew if we appoint TE, he stays for the season and we finish mid table. 

[Mboto Gorge]

If he’s appointed it’s surely time for the fanbase to properly turn. This is a total pisstake 

[EBS1980]

Just now, bangkoksaint said:

I’d like to see a poll on whether ST holders will renew if we appoint TE, he stays for the season and we finish mid table. 

Judging by how long our managers last he won’t be in charge by season ticket renewal time 

[West end Saints]

I feel there is a lot of luck in manager appointments - you score / win and players start to think your methods work, confidence increases performances increase. 

I don't know whether we should keep the caretaker manager in place, as I don't know much about him but are not totally against him as

1) don't know enough about him

2) he has the initial wins for a confidence boost 

3) I am not seeing any name on here that is both realistic and popular

4) none of the names jump out as exciting or guaranteed promotion 

5) as well as lots of failures there are loads of success stories about managers in their first mgt post

5) bit of a light hearted comment, but with a degree of truth - I wouldn't want any manager who is willing to come here.

 

So I am happy to keep an open mind 

[HarvSFC]

So disappointing, yet entirely predictable. As I said earlier in the week, we have the exact same record as Reading did from their first 15 games back in 2011-12. Everything is still to play for, even if it does seem near impossible now and we should be aiming for the top. Yet, SR are gambling it all on a rookie coming good, when all of their gambles so far have been disastrous. Back in the day us fans used to get things wrong. There would be decisions that the club made that would seem on the face of it a bad one, but would go surprisingly well. These days, the fans have always been correct, e.g. the Martin, McCarthy, Stephens extensions, most of the signings. They're taking punts and they aren't working out. We need guarantees.

On top of this, we used to be such a forward thinking club at our most successful. There was a good quote from Les Reed who said he had an ongoing list of target for any eventuality. But, we always seem to be so reactive these days. We had half a year to prepare for this season, and other than the managerial appointment we did most of our business in terms of selling and buying in the last three days of the transfer window. Still had an awful record, not just once the season started, but the football was also tedious and dull during pre-season. Certainly in the last three weeks, after a winless October, which included being thrashed by Bristol City and beaten by a relegation contender in Blackburn, any other club would have started working on drafting a list of names just in case the poor form continues and we need a replacement. But, it's as if they only started working on a list of names last week.

In football there are managers who can manage teams to win every week, dominate matches and win titles and there are managers who are able to manage their teams to grind out results. At the top level, David Moyes, Roy Hodgson, Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis are good examples of this. Both Moyes and Hodgson failed in their big moves to United and Liverpool because they couldn't coach a team to dominate, as they are expected to do. Allardyce was dumped at a bigger club in Newcastle and I can't remember Pulis ever being given the chance. I think Still fell under this bracket. He had only managed clubs who were always underdogs, where it's acceptable to play a back five, just as it was against Liverpool at Anfield. But, he couldn't coach a team to dominate matches and overwhelm the opposition with their attacks. A back five doesn't allow this, as once the momentum shifts, we have so far been unable to regain control. So far in his managerial career at senior level and the U21s Eckhart has been playing similar tactics, and we were very fortunate to once again beat a weak QPR when we did, as I said that wasn't a sustainable performance and more often than not we'd lose giving that amount of chances away while creating nothing.

Eckhart needs to do something with the U21s first before he gets promoted to the seniors, it's another case of the club overpromoting from within when they aren't qualified enough for the title they're being given.

Finally, this two week window was the perfect time for a new manager to come in and bed in their tactics properly before we face Charlton. Any good manager would be able to do that over two weeks. Instead, if and when Eckhart doesn't work out, we'll be seeking a new guy for December, a fairly busy period where we have six fixtures and pretty much a match every three days, so good luck with that.

The anti-SR songs were loud and clear against Preston. This really would be the final straw if they get another gamble wrong. 

All we as fans want is for the club to show some ambition and we haven't done so for a long time.

[West end Saints]

2 minutes ago, bangkoksaint said:

I’d like to see a poll on whether ST holders will renew if we appoint TE, he stays for the season and we finish mid table. 

Probably exactly the same number if we appoint Carrick, O'Neil, cocorban and finish mid table.

[Hawkswood]

Just got home from work and seen the news.

What. 

A fucking.

Joke.

 

 

Useless pricks

[Britannia]

He’ll want to take the job as opportunities may not come around often, but it’s really too much pressure at this point in his career with the club and squad in the state it’s in.

I’m not so worried if the manager is decent so much as I’m worried that the players will turn against him.  They did with Will so why wouldn’t they with another young manager.  Maybe his man management skills are better.

It is still possible that he’ll be great.

Edited 1 hour ago by Britannia

[Gloucester Saint]

7 hours ago, Zorba said:

👏 👏 👏  👍 

[aintforever]

So it looks like they are going from appointing someone on the basis of having one OK season at Lens to appointing someone because he has won two games of football.

You couldn’t fucking make it up.

[Willo of Whiteley]

Will Still and Russell Martin not looking like bad options now 👀🤣

[Maggie May]

We need to take a step back here.  The claims from Crook and Blackmore are nothing more than conjecture and opinion. Nothing concrete to suggest Ekhart is getting the job in the long term. 

[Nolan]

I have no problem at all with a manager with a 100% record taking charge of the next game. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

6 minutes ago, Maggie May said:

We need to take a step back here.  The claims from Crook and Blackmore are nothing more than conjecture and opinion. Nothing concrete to suggest Ekhart is getting the job in the long term. 

But you just know its going to happen 

[Saint NL]

Someone here would have been very proud of that one.

[Wade Garrett]

37 minutes ago, bangkoksaint said:

I’d like to see a poll on whether ST holders will renew if we appoint TE, he stays for the season and we finish mid table. 

Nope.  SR will have taken the piss once too often for me.  Sick of those wankers.

[Farmer Saint]

Sorry, what's the issue here? If he continues to win games surely he's a good option? Who do we know that's applied that we'd prefer to have in charge for the next game?

[saintant]

56 minutes ago, EBS1980 said:

It sounds like they are waiting for someone to become available?! I get not rushing the appointment but there is a vacancy surely if a manager is interested they will make themselves known now?  Unless they aren’t currently out of work but might be soon?

No, it sounds like they are hoping he gets decent results in the next 3 games which look fairly tough. We have Charlton away led by Mad Nate who will be desperate to put one over on us. Then it's Leicester at home and we always really struggle against them. Last of the three is Millwall away and they currently sit 6th so must be doing something right. If Eckert manages a minimum win and two draws I think SR will let him carry on.  Anything less and they may be forced to bite the bullet and bring someone in but a degree of damage will have been done depending on how bad the results go.

[die Mannyschaft]

3 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Sorry, what's the issue here? If he continues to win games surely he's a good option? Who do we know that's applied that we'd prefer to have in charge for the next game?

As long as Saints keep winning the players will be living in the Limelight!

[LGTL]

I was told weeks and weeks ago that Eckert was the long term replacement for Still. Long before he was sacked. Unfortunately, I think I was the first person to mention his name on the manager thread after putting two and two together and lo and behold, look what’s about to transpire.

That’s always been an absolute fact. They expected Still to get poached by a bigger club in 2 or 3 years (lol) and had a ready made replacement in Eckert. This is 100% completely and utterly Spors man. He is desperate to appoint him and it’s no coincidence that House, Blackmore et al are starting to send out the propaganda. I can’t see a way in which he doesn’t get appointed. 

[CB Fry]

6 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Sorry, what's the issue here? If he continues to win games surely he's a good option? Who do we know that's applied that we'd prefer to have in charge for the next game?

Give him the job permanently then, if he's a such a good option. Commit.

Bimbling about giving a manager maybe-two-more-games-or-maybe-three-more-games-or-until-we-lose-and-then-panic is no way to run a promotion campaign for one of the richest clubs in the division.

I was naive enough to think they would have someone in place in this week 1 of the break. I should have known better.

[SaintsfanSwindon]

1 hour ago, EBS1980 said:

It sounds like they are waiting for someone to become available?! I get not rushing the appointment but there is a vacancy surely if a manager is interested they will make themselves known now?  Unless they aren’t currently out of work but might be soon?

I wonder if it may be Farke they want?

[saintant]

13 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Sorry, what's the issue here? If he continues to win games surely he's a good option? Who do we know that's applied that we'd prefer to have in charge for the next game?

Well he's younger than Will Still and from what I can gather he's also never played football professionally. He's far less experienced than Still at management yet, because he's scraped a couple of wins, we are expected to meekly submit as SR make an even worse decision than their last one. We were told Still wouldn't work because his lack of a playing career would mean our little wallflowers wouldn't respect him and here we have someone who will be in the same boat. If it happens it's madness.

[Challenger]

9 minutes ago, LGTL said:

I was told weeks and weeks ago that Eckert was the long term replacement for Still. Long before he was sacked. Unfortunately, I think I was the first person to mention his name on the manager thread after putting two and two together and lo and behold, look what’s about to transpire.

That’s always been an absolute fact. They expected Still to get poached by a bigger club in 2 or 3 years (lol) and had a ready made replacement in Eckert. This is 100% completely and utterly Spors man. He is desperate to appoint him and it’s no coincidence that House, Blackmore et al are starting to send out the propaganda. I can’t see a way in which he doesn’t get appointed. 

As soon as he does the results will drop off and we will be right back at square one.

[Turkish]

10 minutes ago, LGTL said:

I was told weeks and weeks ago that Eckert was the long term replacement for Still. Long before he was sacked. Unfortunately, I think I was the first person to mention his name on the manager thread after putting two and two together and lo and behold, look what’s about to transpire.

That’s always been an absolute fact. They expected Still to get poached by a bigger club in 2 or 3 years (lol) and had a ready made replacement in Eckert. This is 100% completely and utterly Spors man. He is desperate to appoint him and it’s no coincidence that House, Blackmore et al are starting to send out the propaganda. I can’t see a way in which he doesn’t get appointed. 

That’s makes perfect sense and is good planning. Unfortunately they didn’t back on Still being so shit and the work experience guy taking over after 3 months 

[Convict Colony]

I'm quite fatalistic on all this, employ someone whose been sacked a couple of times but has a name or promote a guy whose inexperienced but the SD thinks he has great potential and has worked at some good clubs.

Last 2 games we've had lucky wins, the football and decision making still looks muddled and slightly russball but maybe that's him using the right tactic for our shit players.

Hopefully over international break we see some cohesion and maybe different style but if the weeks are wasted and we come out as changed as a Nathan Jones team then we are fucked for this year.

 

[hypochondriac]

16 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Give him the job permanently then, if he's a such a good option. Commit.

Bimbling about giving a manager maybe-two-more-games-or-maybe-three-more-games-or-until-we-lose-and-then-panic is no way to run a promotion campaign for one of the richest clubs in the division.

I was naive enough to think they would have someone in place in this week 1 of the break. I should have known better.

Indeed. This really is their last chance and I expect there will be a full on revolt if things go wrong with this appointment yet they don't even have the balls to commit to it and own the decision. Completely gutless.

[Hawkswood]

1 hour ago, West end Saints said:

I feel there is a lot of luck in manager appointments - you score / win and players start to think your methods work, confidence increases performances increase. 

I don't know whether we should keep the caretaker manager in place, as I don't know much about him but are not totally against him as

1) don't know enough about him

2) he has the initial wins for a confidence boost 

3) I am not seeing any name on here that is both realistic and popular

4) none of the names jump out as exciting or guaranteed promotion 

5) as well as lots of failures there are loads of success stories about managers in their first mgt post

5) bit of a light hearted comment, but with a degree of truth - I wouldn't want any manager who is willing to come here.

 

So I am happy to keep an open mind 

What about my post confused you ?

[hypochondriac]

All these PR pieces in the echo and on social media are nauseating and obviously planted by the club. Just pathetic.

[AlexLaw76]

4 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

All these PR pieces in the echo and on social media are nauseating and obviously planted by the club. Just pathetic.

How many days before Romeu is quoted saying how wonderful he is on the training pitch...