Farewell Adkins

Football fans are a fickle bunch. Just a few months ago many people were calling for Nigel Adkins to be sacked after a bad start to Southampton’s first season back in the Premier League.

A run of decent results and all that seemed to have been forgotten, which may go some way to explain the shock that most Saints fans are feeling at yesterday’s sacking of Nigel Adkins and subsequent appointment of Mauricio Pochettino.

And that is all that it is – shock.

The knee-jerk reaction, that comes so easily to some, is calling for boycotts and protests. But what will that achieve? Nothing but a split in the fan base, and we would all do well to remember how that feels from the last time.

Nigel Adkins has given the fans an amazing two years, including back to back promotions. He has had some good games, some amazing games and some games when even the most tolerant of fans have questioned his decisions.

Whether it was because he insisted on sticking with 4-5-1 when it obviously wasn’t working, refusing to make a substitution until 85 minutes whilst losing, or dropping Lambert to the bench. At some point, most fans will have looked at the person next to them with a look on their face that can only be described as WTF??

And there must be some people who feel a little bit of relief that Adkins has been ‘relieved of his duties’ now?

Glad in a way that he has gone out on a high, with the fans singing his praises. Not many managers are given that opportunity these days and Adkins could not have been held in a much higher regard in most fan’s estimations, the only way for his relationship to go with them – was down.

Adkins is a nice guy, and nobody would want to end up having to hate him. He needs to be remembered as the man who brought Southampton back to the top flight of English football at the very first opportunity.

Of course the timing of his sacking could have been better, and it is possible that it could have been carried out in a better manner. But nobody knows what has gone on behind closed doors, nobody knows if Adkins was aware of the planned change, or if he was disappointed, maybe, just maybe he was relieved.

Many rumours are flying about, including him apparently being escorted from the stadium in tears, and a note left for the players, encouraging them to continue to believe in themselves. But it has to be remembered that these are just rumours, not confirmed nor denied. Rumours.

 There is also much being made of new signing, Vegard Forren, commenting that he had met the new manager the day before Adkins left.  And Pochettino’s own comments, in his first press conference, that he had been doing his research on the team for weeks.

This makes it easy to make assumptions that Adkins did not know what was going on, and everything was done behind his back. But, remember what they say about that: Asume makes an ass out of you and me.

So, even though it feels like a tiny part of you has been ripped away, even though you are grieving for a loss that you never saw coming, even though you are not really ready to move on. It is time to accept the change and move forward.

It is not the new manager’s fault and it is not the teams fault. They need the support of the fans, now and always.

So get back on the bus, stand shoulder to shoulder and sing your hearts out for the lads.

Together as one!