Brian: The right decision?

[winchester_royal]

FTR, from my Hampshire base, I can report that most Saints fans are still very much in love with Nige, and if/when Poch and NC leave they will be a clamor to take him back from us.

They like MP, but their performances/results haven't improved massively since the change was made.

[maffff]

Southampton were the 7th highest net spenders in the transfer market in the whole of Europe

...and they are in the Premier League next season.

They finished 14th meaning they recoup £5,285,434 of that, along with all the extra income through television rights etc etc. It's a gamble that paid off. Jay Rodriguez (who was ridiculed for what he was signed for) developed into a very Shane Long-esque player by the end and looks like he'll be worth what they paid for him. Nathaniel Clyne turned out to be a good signing too.

Gaston Ramirez underwhelmed though.

[winchester_royal]

We've just replaced a man who was very loyal to the club with someone McDermott walked all over in the Championship.

Ah yes, 1 point is an absolute walking over.
In that case, what was Adkins doing to McDermott in the prem before he got sacked by Saints this season

4 points, 1-1 and 1-3.

Get your facts right.

So...by that logic, you think Malky walked all over McDermott that season?

[winchester_royal]

Southampton were the 7th highest net spenders in the transfer market in the whole of Europe

...and they are in the Premier League next season.

They finished 14th meaning they recoup £5,285,434 of that, along with all the extra income through television rights etc etc. It's a gamble that paid off. Jay Rodriguez (who was ridiculed for what he was signed for) developed into a very Shane Long-esque player by the end and looks like he'll be worth what they paid for him.

Gaston Ramirez underwhelmed though.

Ramirez was a Cortese signing anyway.

[maffff]

Ramirez was a Cortese signing anyway.

Which I guess just strengthens what I'm getting at.

I'm happy.

[sandman]

A player with a reputation, who underwhelmed and given to a manager by a know it all owner. Sounds like a familiar.

[Maguire]

Southampton were the 7th highest net spenders in the transfer market in the whole of Europe

...and they are in the Premier League next season.

They finished 14th meaning they recoup £5,285,434 of that, along with all the extra income through television rights etc etc. It's a gamble that paid off. Jay Rodriguez (who was ridiculed for what he was signed for) developed into a very Shane Long-esque player by the end and looks like he'll be worth what they paid for him. Nathaniel Clyne turned out to be a good signing too.

Gaston Ramirez underwhelmed though.

Yes absolutely. I was just giving a possible reason why they might have done better than us this year.

[maffff]

Yes absolutely. I was just giving a possible reason why they might have done better than us this year.

Fair enough mate. It's not just about the amount of money though. It's spending it on the right players and covering the right positions too.

[winchester_royal]

Ironically enough their best players have been those that have been there for a while/come through their youth structure. Players like Schneiderlin, Shaw, Lallana, Puncheon, Lambert...have all shown a greater ability to step up than the majority of ours have done. A shame really, but perhaps shows that winning the league isn't necessarily an indicator of which team will adapt better to the PL.

They did add well though tbf, and I still am in a state of disbelief that we chose Gunter over Clyne.

[KC Royal]

Why is everyone afraid of Leeds? We know they have a good manager obv, but their squad is very average. And before anyone says "ah, but so was ours when he got us promoted" lightning doesn't strike twice. We were lucky to go up, and so would they be. I like Brian, but some of the things that went on in the first two thirds of this season were frankly baffling.

You know they are nailed on for 6 points against us tho!

Completely agree that we were lucky to go up, it's just a gut feeling with Leeds, even if i do have doubts as to how Brian will manage players that aren't really his type of player, Diouf for example. But looking at Brian's record there so far they got 9 points from 5 games this season, an average of 1.8 per game. That would equal 82/83 points over the course of a season which would put them in the running for automatic promotion. It does depend though on who they bring in over the summer and whether Leeds are patient when Brian gets off to his traditional slow start.

Brian did a brilliant job in the championship over 2 and a half years. It could be said that Adkins is a one-season wonder.

[winchester_royal]

Why is everyone afraid of Leeds? We know they have a good manager obv, but their squad is very average. And before anyone says "ah, but so was ours when he got us promoted" lightning doesn't strike twice. We were lucky to go up, and so would they be. I like Brian, but some of the things that went on in the first two thirds of this season were frankly baffling.

You know they are nailed on for 6 points against us tho!

It could be said that Adkins is a one-season wonder.

4 promotions in 6 seasons + Keeping Scunthorpe up in the Champ in his last season there (since when they've gone completely to shit) = One-season wonder

[maffff]

perhaps shows that winning the league isn't necessarily an indicator of which team will adapt better to the PL

Like Hunt establishing himself over Convey? Tabb looking like one of our best midfielders. HRK's development. etc. etc. You just never know.

But fundamentally Adkins had a bloody good (young) versatile team in the Championship. Although a lot of this was there before Adkins and many of the youths blooded in by Judas beforehand.

[KC Royal]

Why is everyone afraid of Leeds? We know they have a good manager obv, but their squad is very average. And before anyone says "ah, but so was ours when he got us promoted" lightning doesn't strike twice. We were lucky to go up, and so would they be. I like Brian, but some of the things that went on in the first two thirds of this season were frankly baffling.

You know they are nailed on for 6 points against us tho!

It could be said that Adkins is a one-season wonder.

4 promotions in 6 seasons + Keeping Scunthorpe up in the Champ in his last season there (since when they've gone completely to shit) = One-season wonder

I meant in the Championship only but completely forgot about Scunthorpe so massive error on my part there

[winchester_royal]

perhaps shows that winning the league isn't necessarily an indicator of which team will adapt better to the PL

Like Hunt establishing himself over Convey? Tabb looking like one of our best midfielders. HRK's development. etc. etc. You just never know.

But fundamentally Adkins had a bloody good (young) versatile team in the Championship. Although a lot of this was there before Adkins and many of the youths blooded in by Judas beforehand.

Indeed, which shows (for me) that he is capable of building a team that we'll be able to build on if we manage to go up. He also showed at Scunny that he is capable of getting gritty in that league too.

[Maguire]

Possibly something to do with where players are in their careers, not sure. Getting promoted with a group of up and coming players v players who are getting toward the end of their careers.

Eg. Doyle, Kitson, Lita, Sidwell, Harper, Hunt, Shorey, Sonko all at their peak the first season in the Prem

vs

Roberts, Leigertwood, McAnuff, Gorkss, Harte, all title winners but getting toward the end of their career and taking the extra step up was a bit much.

[winchester_royal]

Yep, too often over the last 3 years we've gone for ST stop-gaps rather than LT solutions. I don't blame Bri for that, given his budget constraints, but just like he takes the credit for the short-term upturn I'm afraid he also has to take the flak for the lack of foresight.

He did a gr8 job for us for the most part though, and would probably have done a fine job next year, he just never showed himself to be capable of really building a team in the way Coppell did back in 05/06

[maffff]

And one of those promotions was immediately following relegation with Scunthorpe. He also won back to back Championships with Bangor

It's his fault we ended up with Marcus Williams, he managed to make him look like a footballer

His career as a timeline:
Bangor
May 1993 appointed (League of Wales)
1993/94 Won the League of Wales
1994/95 Won the League of Wales
February 1996 - quit (he left because they left in the early stages of the Welsh cup, was reinstated because of fans anger and left permanently two days later resigning due to disagreements with the club’s owners over team selection and playing style.). 63.79% win rate.

Member of the Welsh Premier League Hall of Fame and he got Bangor into the early stages in Europe.

Scunthorpe
December 2006 - appointed (League One)
2006/07 - Promoted from League One to the Championship (won the league - the first time they had been in the second tier for over 40 years).
February 2007: League One Manager of the Month
2007/08 - Relegated from the Championship to League One
2008/09 - Promoted from League One to the Championship (via playoffs)
Led Scunthorpe to the Football League Trophy (JPT) final in 2009 where they lost to Luton.
2009/10 - Stayed up in the Championship (5 points clear of Sheffield Wednesday)
September 2010 - left to join Southampton. (41.71% win rate)

Southampton
September 2010 (appointed - League One)
2010/11 - Promoted from League One to the Championship (runner up)
April 2011 - League One Manager of the Month
Winner of the final quarter of the Castrol LMA Managers' Performance table 2010–11 season (Southampton)

2011/12 - Promoted from the Championship to the Premier League (runner up)
2012/13 - Looked on course to keep Southampton in the Premier League
January 2013 - sacked. (54.03% win rate)



One season wonder.

[winchester_royal]

Another FTR..Saints fans are surprised we're not more excited about having him and think he'll take us straight back up.

Not that they know much about anything mind..

[Extended-Phenotype]

Southampton went up with better, younger individual players. We might have gone up with the better 'team' but we needed quality to compete in the top flight - our boys didn't step up, our manager didn't adapt and our owner didn't invest.

Sacking Brian when we did in order to keep us up would have been stupid. Sacking Brian when we did in order to give the new gaffer time to assess his squad and better prepare for the coming season was a good decision, if you believe Nigel Adkins to be the better manager and Reading's ambitions have outgrown Brian's ability.

[creative_username_1]

Yep, too often over the last 3 years we've gone for ST stop-gaps rather than LT solutions. I don't blame Bri for that, given his budget constraints, but just like he takes the credit for the short-term upturn I'm afraid he also has to take the flak for the lack of foresight.

He did a gr8 job for us for the most part though, and would probably have done a fine job next year, he just never showed himself to be capable of really building a team in the way Coppell did back in 05/06

Every body bangs on like there is a long term solution. How do you know how a player is going to play in three years time 4fs. I couldn't really tell you whats going to happen next week with any accuracy. I'm fully behind Adkins and pretty bullish about next year but lets wait and see

Shirley there is a massive element of luck with a number of youth team players coming through at the same time. I can't think of any club that has consistently done this (and then managed to hang onto them if they're lower league). Same at international level