Adkins : Five years on

Five years since Nige was hired. The club is going to publish a full interview on Monday at 6pm.

https://amp.twimg.com/v/311e66e5-9484-4eed-a58e-794f24ca2594

Classy on both sides, I reckon.

Isn’t this a bit of an odd thing to do :confused:

Originally posted by @Bathsaint

Isn’t this a bit of an odd thing to do :confused:

I can see why you may think that, but personally, I am happy that the club is recognising Nigel. He struggled in the Premier League, but was instrumental in getting us up. Now I’ve seen people make the argument that A. N. Other manager would have done the same with Southampton’s relative riches, but that’s academic. Nige did it, was treated fairly shabbily on the way out, so I am glad the club is doing this.

Odd?

Maybe. But a nice way to set things even.

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I felt he made a poor career move with Reading. I hope he can build up his reputation again but it looks like he has really fallen down the pecking order in the bright young manager stakes. It would have been interesting to see what he could have done with us if given a bit more time.

No argument with that. He had a lot of sympathy from the footballing world, was known for his back to back promotions at the time and his uncivilised push out of the door. He could have, and should have, bided his time, took some time to reflect and picked a better gig.

I was so Angar when he was sacked! But it worked out for the best I spose. For us, at least.

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I went slightly mental for a few hours, but then started to see the cold hard logic of the decision. By the time we were standing up to the league’s big boys, I was mostly over it. Football fans. Fickle, innit?

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I was well fucked off, when we sacked him. I just could not get my head round it. We had just come back from 2-0 down at the Bridge to 2-2 and nearly won it. Everyone felt the momentum was with us… Then sacked!

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The decision to sack him was made well in advance. I felt the same, but at the same time, the respect or fear accorded to bigger teams was disappointing. I still think about those comments made immediately after the Coventry game, when we finally secured promotion. Parting of the ways.

I think Cortese always knew Adkins may have difficulty in stepping up. Nowt wrong with the bloke, but I think that Cortese suspected he didn’t quite have the stature for the big stage, gave him a go anyway and made a final decision when results were in the crapper.

Aw, sweet.

I still miss Lambert and Lallana. I can’t help myself!

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To be fair to Nige, he was stitched up by Reading. Huge promises of substantial investment following a takeover which was delayed and delayed and, when it (sort of) happened, these big promised sums never materialised.

A top man and a true gent

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Nice little video, plenty of happy memories - and kind of cool to see myself on there too.

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Just watched it and it brought a tear or two to the eye. Lovely, decent man. I am glad the balance has been redressed after the shabby way he was disposed of and it was a nice touch to invite him to the Villa game last year. A true Saints legend.

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There is a couple of Reading fans at the office. Both feel the same really. Had players sold form underneath him, no money to bring anyone in and was essentially made to play kids.

It was a tough gig, they both have pretty high opinions of the bloke. Not sure that can be equated to the whole of the Reading support base, but it’s the best I have.

Similar to pap I loved the bloke. He brought a genuine optimism to the club that had been lacking for a long old while. His enthusiasm seemed infectious. I too was severely pissed off when he was sacked, think I may indeed have thrown a bit of a tantrum about it. Fair play to Cortese, it probably was the right decision. It was cold, but it was probably for the best interests of the club. Still feel it could have been handled better.

As SOG says above, Nige is a true Saints legend. No doubts about that in my mind. Will always ‘love’ the bloke for what he did whilst here.

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Hello Nigel!

i watched it and I liked it and it made me feel emotional and I did a cry.

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He just comes over as such a decent bloke. Great video.

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Wasn’t aware of this, and extra knowledge is always appreciated. Yay, we’ve got more football posters :cool:

I’m really pleased that the club took the time to recognise his achievements, and I reckon that might have been the best piece of video that the media team have ever chucked out. Huge props to everyone that was involved in the decision.

What was apparent is his love for the club, and you can see he’s gutted. We are the one that got away in his eyes. We’ll never know if he’d have weathered the storm of his inaugural Premier League season with Southampton, but that is a long overdue sendoff.

Top work, club. Thank you Nige.

His team fucked me over tonight for winnings of £400… Bollocks!

Mugs game!