The last week has been a difficult week for Southampton Football Club. I have resisted blogging about every game - I am still a Season Ticket holder - but this week's events demand a comment.
A week ago we beat Bristol Rovers emphatically 0-4. Apparently Saints dominated the entire game and could have scored more. On Monday at 08:21, a Press Release was circulated stating that the Manager, Alan Pardew and virtually all of the coaching staff had been sacked for failing to meet the targets set. Whilst there had been much speculation for some months that this was on the cards, the reality of it actually happening was a hammer-blow.
On Tuesday night, Saints began defence of the Johnston's Paints Trophy and lost 0-2 at home to Swindon Town. Hopeful that the defeat had allowed all reaction to Pardew's departure to be expressed, the faithful turned up again at St Mary's yesterday hopeful of a good result against lowly Rochdale. It was not so much the fact that Saints lost again by a 0-2 margin, it was more the manner of the defeat, some inconsistent refereeing and a shockingly poor Saints performance that rubbed salt into the wounds of Liebherr's untimely death and Pardew's brutal sacking.
Saints best player was the just 17 year-old Alex Chamberlain. He has skill, speed, strength and a desire to score that was lacking in his colleagues (except perhaps for Schneiderlin - the next youngest). Why then was he substituted? I have never been a fan of Jason Puncheon, but his performance yesterday was woefully poor - yet he stayed on for the whole 90 minutes. Jose Fonte was out-muscled for much of the game by Rochdale's hulking forward and it was a spat with him that allowed the second goal to be scored - an extremely well-taken shot.
I left with 10 minutes to go - I couldn't bear to watch. It was like seeing a maimed animal staggering around that should have been put out out of its misery. I was half-way up The Avenue when the final whistle went and the boos resounded from the radio commentary. A sad day.
Rumour has it that a new, high profile, Manager will be announced soon. Let's hope we can regain some stability, some notion of where we are trying to go and a freedom from 'targets' so that we can once again enjoy supporting our team.
COYR
