17 Apr 2018 20:56:01
We're in great escape territory now, and it simply must start this Thursday. What do we all think, biggest game in the club's history? Certainly since we were relegated last time (04/ 05 season I think) .

Although not mathematically impossible, a loss would relegate us in my mind, whilst a draw does very little to improve our situation.

One other thought that has occurred to me, just to discuss something a bit less depressing. Say we win 5 of our final 7 and find ourselves sitting in 17th with an FA Cup in the trophy cabinet (it's a big if, I know) then when it's all said and done. do we have to consider the season a success? I don't know about the rest of you, but I actually think I might have taken that at the start of the season, rather than another solid 8-10 PL finish. Funny thought after the season we've had, but I suppose my point is there is still a chance that we can go into next season with some real optimism and something to build on.

It's actually a real shame that all the doom and gloom of our PL campaign has meant we haven't been able to enjoy the fact that Southampton are in an FA Cup semi final at Wembley on Saturday, and we proved last weekend we have a legit shot at making the final. I don't know about the rest of you but I've been so depressed about Southampton lately that this has only just sunk in to me, and that's a massive shame.

1.) 17 Apr 2018
17 Apr 2018 21:21:42
Totally agree it’s f**ked my year completely
what I would say is that the changes should have been made earlier and we might have had a chance but
After saturdays result I’m not sure Hughes can pull this out of the bag
I hope he does but with the defence being so frail and
Playing with no leadership and confidence it’s not going to be easy
I honestly can’t remember when we played 5 games and won 3 of those
it’s such a long time ago I think the players have forgotten how to do it
All we can do is hope.

2.) 17 Apr 2018
17 Apr 2018 21:46:14
Hi guys

I am trying to be positive but I think it is perhaps too much of a mountain to climb and left too late and I am concerned that being 5 points off safety that we will struggle to close the gap, I really hope I am wrong but Thursday night will be decisive. What really annoys me is I wrote to the club in November criticising MP's managership but let's wait for the end of the season or the axe to fall because I am sure we will all have lots of questions and points to raise . Cory vs.

3.) 17 Apr 2018
17 Apr 2018 23:56:15
Don’t get this win 5 of our final 7 . We have 5 games left not 7 and I do agree that we are all going to Wembley for the day out resigned to Championship football . There is no way ever that regardless of what’s happened this season any results now could be accepted as a satisfactory outcome. It’s been a complete mess from the moment we sacked Claude Puel who may I remind everybody is a PL manager and will be next season.

My buck stops with the board . They hired Puel then sacked him after giving him no chance to prove himself, not saying he is the Messiah but I 100% believe if he was still here we would not being potentially relegated. SFC has after all the effort over the last 8 years messed up big time. I repeat the buck stops at the top .

4.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 07:26:11
5 + 2 in the FA Cup = 7.

Stop with the Puel stuff. We forced him out. So fed up of hearing fans backtrack on that and claim we knew better. Also let's not forget why we collectively turned on him. we were playing bad football and scraping results, which wasn't good enough for you.

Vintage Saint. you wrote to the club in November did you. So what? You honestly think a well run club would pay the slightest attention to a letter like that? That's nothing but ego mate, get over yourself. They won't and shouldn't listen to that.

5.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 09:51:54
yep totally agree with that. the past is the past we can't change it. why the hell would the board listen to a moaning fan? the board knew he wasnt doing well but took to long in trying to give him a chance. if we win the fa cup does that mean we can be in europe and the championship next year?

6.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 10:08:59
123 - agree with your whole post. I think if we beat LCFC, all is to play for and we are in with a shout. lose / draw and I am the same, we can prepare for championship football. Worth pointing out we have Swansea, directly above us to play. Assuming we win that (huge assumption) its game on.

About Puel, I am sick of fans saying we wouldn't be in this position if he was at the helm, this could be right, however just because the fans wanted him gone, does not mean they wanted him replaced with a cheap option who was clearly out of his depth. All the fans were asking is to appoint someone that follows the ethos for the Koemans and Poch.

Just because fans wanted an upgrade on Puel, does not make them at fault.

7.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 10:11:48
Don’t get this ‘ We forced him out ‘ business regarding CP, I didn’t . The board didn’t listen when the majority of the supporters wanted Pelligrino out for months and months. Puel’s face didn’t fit for some reason. I know we went on a very poor run at the back end of last season which probably gave the board the excuse to sack him but I think it went deeper than that. Krueger came out this season stating we were a small club and we shouldn’t look forward with too much ambition. Finishing 8th and a cup final wasn’t the act of a small club. The problem in my opinion is with the board and the new owner who may have ambition but is basically bankrupt in real terms, crazy business sense. Vintage writing to the club shows the passion of supporters concerned with the demise of SFC in such a short period after all the blood, sweat and tears put in to get us back to the PL. I commend him for that, most people moan and groan but few would actually find the time to contact the club and rightly ask for an explanation and justification for the club’s actions over the past 12 months. I don’t expect he was expecting an answer but just wanted to show them that many were concerned and hopefully not looked upon as being irrelevant which I’m afraid most supporters think they are when it comes to any decision making.

8.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 11:39:06
exactly, if the board "listened" to fans, why didn't they do the same with MP2.

My understanding is that CP answered back, MP2 didn't. doesn't make a difference either way, we are where we are.

9.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 13:25:07
It’s now or never tomorrow night.
Some how they have to figure nd a way to win be it run ugly play for pens I don’t care how.

10.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 14:11:43
Gregg - Because the board probably thought enough is enough and didn't want to make a knee-jerk reaction based on fan pressure again. I'm not saying we were the only reason, but the board clearly would have taken the atmosphere around the club and the huge boos that rang around the ground at the end of the season as a huge factor in getting rid of Puel. Also, you say it's based on the fact that Puel answered back, and MP2 didn't. well first, this isn't pre-school. Second, please let me know where your close insight into the inner workings of our club's hierarchy comes from, and how I can get the inside scoop on all of this as well.

Chris, I have no idea about you personally. I'm speaking generally of course, the fans as a whole wanted him gone. You act mystified by this. have you forgotten how much booing there was at the end of last season? And anyway, who's to say that things would be different now if he was at the helm? The fact that he's done ok with Leicester has absolutely no bearing on what would've happened if he'd stayed with us.

I obviously have no problem with VS writing to them, I'm just saying I would have a big problem if the board changed the direction of the club based on that.

11.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 14:59:12
I understand why a lot of pressure is being piled on this Leicester result, but I’m not sure its win or bust. The caveat to this optimism is that I still don’t think we’ll need 40 points to stay up, but after Huddersfield’s win last weekend, the points target needed for safety has no doubt shifted upwards. 37 points?

Perhaps its because I’m preparing myself for another difficult result on Thursday. We have trouble in defence against ruthless attackers and Leicester have one in Jamie Vardy with an able deputy in Rihad Mahrez. At Stoke, MH failed to plug their leaky defence and so its quite possible that we will continue to concede, though I hope things will improve at least a little in that department.

But now we’re scoring again, there is still a glimmer of hope. After Leicester, we face Bournemouth, Everton and Swansea. None can claim to have the ruthless goalscorers of the top 6 elite and so there is a chance we can win by outscoring these opponents. Its more likely that we hang on to a two goal lead against one of those sides than it is against Chelsea or Arsenal.

Leicester are higher than our next three opponents in the league table for good reason. But they haven’t won for three games now and there is an argument that they have little to play for. After thumping us 1-4 they could be complacent. Under Puel last season, we plateaued at the end of the season and so perhaps Leicester will too. It would be wonderful to go there and get something from the game and I wouldn’t turn my nose up at a draw now to give us some momentum, no matter how slight. That point could be the catalyst to winning the next few games. The players must continue to fight and play with urgency. If we do, survival remains possible no matter Thursday’s result.

12.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 17:30:42
Hi Chris,

Thank you for your support 're my contacting the club. I also agree with saints123 comments that I would not expect the board to act so early or just on a minority reaction. Just ponder on this point for the moment why would you give a relatively unknown and let's face it unsuccessful manager a 3 year contract? I raised this point after MP was sacked and also spend £18m on a forward who was recommended by a manager who was teetering on the brink? . The recent actions by the board over the last couple of seasons go beyond incompetent. Another point to ponder our Chinese owner paid £220m for a premier league club, what is the value of that same club in the championship? I would love to be a fly on the wall in RK's office in the last few months. Re tomorrow night we all hope for for a win but remember the saying hope for the best prepare for the worst. What really pisses me off about this season is that this could have all been avoided and a season of mid table security or better was achievable with better planning, tactics and game management. Sfc this season are an example of total ineptness, crap management at pretty much every level. Let's keep everything crossed for Thursday night and the rest of the season. Coyr.

13.) 18 Apr 2018
18 Apr 2018 19:06:04
Any club from where we were to where we are now would be totally confused with who ever makes the final decisions at the club because they haven’t been up to a premier league standards
Otherwise why would we be where we are now
This league is competitive but we assumed it as easy and got complacent with our organisation behind the Scenes
Thinking every signing we made would be making the club and owner millions
The problem that has cursed us is the inability to hold on to these players and managers who have been successful
we all knew this bubble would burst at some point but I for one didn’t predict it so soon
I hope these players have the fight and heart but so many clubs are fighting and picking up points where as we’re not
Fingers crossed for tomorrow
UTS.

14.) 19 Apr 2018
19 Apr 2018 07:22:42
VS - It's standard to give 3 year contracts to managers, and it doesn't exactly prevent you from getting rid of them as soon as you want to. Look around, clubs don't have a hard time firing managers. If he had been successful and we'd signed him to a 1 or 2 year deal, you'd call them incompetent for that. I think you're being incredibly harsh there and nitpicking something which is actually fairly irrelevant. The reason he stayed so long is 100% not because of the length of his contract.

15.) 19 Apr 2018
19 Apr 2018 11:59:27
123 - thanks for pointing out its not pre school, I need that confirmation. Believe it or not, it is not just pre school where people answer back, it happens in all walks of life

In terms of the information, I am not going into much detail but I do speak to a former player quite regularly through mutual friends, not that I need to justify myself to you. It seems odd to me that you often ask for proof or how we have an insight into the club, whilst not providing any evidence yourself, such as claiming providing 3 year contracts to managers is standard and questioning what is and is not relevant - perhaps you think you are god,

Anyway, fans were booing in December for MP2 to go, the board acted in March so they can't listen to fans as much as you think. let's all hope for a win today!

16.) 19 Apr 2018
19 Apr 2018 18:07:51
Yes but it's only pre-school where people are thrown out of the classroom for answering back, as you suggested with Puel. Everywhere else it is expected that senior people have opinions and push for them.

I never said the board listen to fans constantly as a matter of policy. But surely you can't say that the boos and negative atmosphere weren't related to the decision to sack Puel? If I was in the boardroom and had fired Puel based on that pressure, only to see the boos start up again when we have a bad patch, I'd have probably said enough is enough also and not listened.

I don't have to provide evidence for an opinion, and nor do you. The vast majority of what I say on here is opinion and I present it as such. I don't claim to know what's going on, I make comments based on the knowledge I do have, and try to justify them. But people on here love to talk about the inner workings of the club like they're in every board meeting.

But since you're going to nitpick something I said to try and say I'm a hypocrite (even though I was speaking generally, saying its extremely common in football and hardly a sign of an incompetent board), here you go:

Puel - goo.gl/qRM3m9

Koeman - goo.gl/PPp1ZZ

There you go, our last two managers were both signed to 3 year deals and nobody cared.

So please, don't expect to say anything you want and have nobody ask you to justify it on a public forum.

17.) 19 Apr 2018
19 Apr 2018 21:14:43
I have no issue with being challenged, but re read what you posted and if you are honest with yourself you may conclude that it was a somewhat petty way of asking, when you could have simply just asked outright, instead of implying I wasn’t repeating something I was genuinely told. At no point did I hint to know much at all. Even if that isn’t the case, I too could have been speaking from my perception, much like you can’t possibly know what VS would say if a 1 or 2 year contract was offered.

Anyway it is more interesting to have differing views, I love reading some of the stuff on here, but I couldn’t say I agree with it all.

Yes you’re right, you have proved 2 managers have signed 3 year contracts. I don’t recall disputing this, just pointing out that there are plenty of managers that sign shorter and longer terms for various reasons, such as Hughes.

18.) 19 Apr 2018
19 Apr 2018 22:33:13
You're right it was a bit petty and that was based on the fact that people, not always you, keep doing this. They make these wild statements about the club's board that are so unsubstantiated. I'm fed up with it, but I do apologise for taking out my general frustration on you specifically.

But still. come on. Hughes was a short term appointment with about 8 games to go; clearly that is completely different to bringing someone in over the summer who you think of as a long term solution. Surely you can't honestly think there's any comparison there. That's the argument of a man who just can't admit when he's been proved wrong.

As much as I was a little over the top in my tone before, your tone in saying "you're right, you've proved 2 managers have signed 3 year contracts" in that dismissive manner is just such an underhanded tactic in a debate. I showed a pattern, and if you really want me to go out and find more examples I will. I'm not exactly making a bold claim here in arguing that it's nothing out of the ordinary to bring a manager on that kind of deal.

So yeah, I've had enough of conspiracy theories about the board. I've had enough of the hypocrisy, and the selective memory. We boo the team for finishing 8th, clearly a huge factor in the manager being sacked, and then turn around and criticise the board for doing what we wanted done. Because make no mistake, the balance of opinion on here was very much in favour of sacking him, and the reaction on match day overwhelmingly so. We demand the board spend money in January, and shout that if they don't then relegation is guaranteed. They sign an 18 mil striker, and 2 months later we say that makes them incompetent. And what's more, we actually have the nerve to say they should listen to us.

19.) 19 Apr 2018
19 Apr 2018 23:18:43
No conspiracy about the board 123 they just don’t have a clue what they’re doing, I think most of us can’t understand how things have gone so disastrously wrong in such a short space of time. It is mentioned often that you can’t sell your best players without suffering the consequences. My reaction to that is we have nearly £50 million pounds worth of players recently bought that can’t get on the pitch . Why is that? I can’t think of any other club below the top 6 that can boast that unfortunate situation. Mark Hughes is fighting what looks like a losing battle, no time to sort anything. So this board conspiracy thing carries no weight with me, they run the club and if they couldn’t see the writing on the wall months ago they shouldn’t be there.

20.) 19 Apr 2018
19 Apr 2018 23:40:42
I will happily admit when I am wrong, in fact a lot of what you say makes complete sense and I have said as much on a couple of occasions. I honestly mentioned Hughes as an example that contracts vary from the short to the long, nothing more but yes there probably was a tone to the message, apologies.

I am more frustrated with this evening. A point gained? I can’t quite understand why we didn’t go for it more at the end, but I guess only time will tell if it is actually 2 points dropped.

21.) 20 Apr 2018
20 Apr 2018 15:10:41
Completely agree on yesterday's game. We had to win and I find it so worrying that Hughes didn't seem to have recognised. It felt like we were simply accepting our fate!

22.) 20 Apr 2018
20 Apr 2018 15:23:51
Chris - I'd say that's a mixture of bad player purchases the last couple of seasons, strange squad selection and the fact that we've had a lot of money to spend relative to the clubs around us (i. e. Brighton, Huddersfield, Swansea, Stoke etc. ) because of a few good years.

But yes, I've never said the board don't deserve criticism. Of course they do, but let's get real when it comes to criticising them for things we've completely made up, and for things that every single board in the league would do. Player sales, purchases, tactics etc. is all fair game - the intricacies of board meetings, for me, is not. That's all I'm saying - criticise all you like when it comes to things where we actually have the information available to pass judgement on.

23.) 21 Apr 2018
21 Apr 2018 11:40:51
I totally agree with you 123 and all the talk of lining KL's pockets and running off with the profits was just crazy talk from so called supporters. My take on this is that any other business collapsing in front of you for months would have changed the leadership from board level down to address the situation. I think most things started to go wrong when we were looking for a new owner and for many months nobody was actually steering the ship. If Markus was still the owner the board would have been sent packing before any crisis worsened. The board won't step down if there is no one to make it happen.

24.) 22 Apr 2018
22 Apr 2018 20:15:00
I don't think many organisations would respond to a few bad years by ripping apart the structure that got them there in the first place, as you and most others suggest is required. What they would do, and we have thus far failed to do, is tweak it and really think about what works, what doesn't, when did things stop working, and what changed since it did work.

Think this thread is probably dead now so not expecting a response, but that's my take on our situation as far as the board are concerned. No need to tear everything apart, but an honest re-assessment of where things have gone wrong is clearly needed.