Sometimes it is difficult for local journalists to call out the football club they cover, under past regimes at times those that cover Saints for local media outlets have found themselves banned by the club for stating the truth as they see it, Adam Blackmore has shown he has his finger on the pulse.

Football clubs like the local media to tow the party line, if they don't then they sometimes find that they are banned by the club, a decade ago the Daily Echo found itself in just such a position when Nicola Cortese was Chairman, at the time some of the fanbase almost revelled in it, they did not like the Daily Echo's coverage and did not see the wider picture about freedom of speech in the media.

The local media and the football club have to work together, so in the main the coverage is a lot more sympathetic to the club and any given situation, than that you get in the national media.

After all the local journalist usual has a relationship with those he is criticising, that is true with Adam Blackmore of BBC Radio Solent, he covers every Saints game and will attend all press conferences and interview the manager on a daily basis, so his comments after the Brentford game will make that job extremely harder.

But he was only saying what the majority of fans think. whilst I have said from the moment than Nathan Jones arrived at the club, that the supporters should give him a chance before judging him, it is hard to now defend him after 3 months in the job, with few signs of consistent improvement.

It seems to me that everytime we seem to turn a corner, that we turn back round again and that is due to the managers team selections.

I will cut him some slack, we are conceding goals due to sloppy defending, whatever you think of Nathan Jones, there would not be many of his detractors who would suggest that in his pre match team talk that he instructs his defenders to give the opposition a free header at set pieces and corners, but that is what is happening and the manager is not to blame for that, but that is just about the only slack that can be cut.

Adam Blackmore in his article has dissected what he sees as going wrong and i have to say I agree with him.

Jones's press conferences are a car crash, he fires off machine gun style in all areas, he blames everyone for the woes, he is disrespectful to the players, disrespectful for the manager who went before him, that is unfair, Ralph Hasenhuttl had a lot less of a squad to work with over the past 3 years and did so with little transfer budget.

Jones of course inherited a squad from Hasenhuttl, the difference was that he inherited one that did not have the injury issues that Hasenhuttl had in his final two months, in short Jones should have hit the ground running, he didn't, we seemed to have wasted our six weeks World Cup break to get things right.

Jones seems to not know what his best side is, the players who have been brought in in January have not been used to their strengths so far, those already here are in and out of the side, Duje Caleta-Car was a big part of our wins against Everton & Manchester City, yet after serving a one match ban finds himself ostracised and playing in the B team, likewise Lyanco who unlike Caleta-Car at least was still in the squad for Brentford, he too finds himself out in the cold, in their places James Bree a players with no Premier League experience and the returning Jan Bednarek, that sends a great message to the squad.

Likewise his squad rotation, how on earth was Romeo Lavia playing 87 minutes against Blackpool on the Saturday and then on the bench for the visit of Newcastle in a League Cup semi final.

There is very definitely issues between the squad and the manager, a few weeks ago I though we had sorted that out and the team were playing for the manager, but then comes more chopping and changing and any spirit and momentum is lost.

The problem is that there is not time to sort these things out, we need results now, Everton saw the benefit of a managerial change, we should have seen that back in December, we didn't, we now have a situation where it is hard to find a Saints fan who will give the manager time, it seems that might well be the issue with the squad as well, they have given him a chance and do not like what they see.

Rumours from the past suggested that Jones was a bully, a shouter and a screamer and a ranter, you might get away with it in the lower leagues, but not with seasoned internationals in the Premier League.

The truth is we don't know what formation or team selection that Jones will make from week to week and that shows panic, going into Saturday's game against Wolves, it is virtually impossible to get his team selection right, just about the only guarantee is that James Ward Prowse will play, take away the goalkeeper and assuming that Kyle Walker Peters is still injured, that is 9 positions that could not be predicted and that is the problem, we flit from one formation to another and one player to another.

Likewise substitutions, they are scattergun, I am not going to get into a witch hunt against Theo Walcott, but his contributions or indeed lack of them did not justify his arrival on the pitch after 65 minutes at Brentford, not when we still had the likes of Adam Armstrong and Joe Aribo still on the bench, not to mention Mislav Orsic and Djenepo sat at home after playing for the B team the previous day.

I could go on and on, it is difficult to find anything to say to defend him and I am one at the more reasonable end of the consensus.

The club and indeed the owners may feel that Jones should be in charge for Saturday, they may think that is last chance saloon, but that is a big big gamble, whatever anyone says the atmosphere is going to be toxic, unless we go out and blitz them from the start then the longer the game goes on, the more restless some of the crowd will get, if we go a goal down I think there will be no coming back, the crowd will truly turn and will bring the team down.

I don't particularly agree with that, I think some are going only to see Jones fail and not succeed, I am not one of them, I want Saints to win on Saturday and the crowd turning on the manager is not going to help that, I would urge people to save their protests for after the game.

But having said that I cannot see any benefit with having Jones in charge at this moment, his presence on Saturday will not help the situation, perhaps Sport Direct are trying hard to find a successor, that is highly unlikely before Saturday, but I truly think we would be better with Reuben Selles in temporary charge than Jones.

The real problem is that Nathan Jones is not a leader of men, he believes in the stick and not the carrot, he thinks leadership is about driving people forward, not in the actual definition of the word which is leading them.

In his rant after the Brentford game he has shown, even admitted he is not in control, and that is worrying, very worrying, he has crossed a line with both the players and the fans that is virtually impossible to go back over, the big question is whether that is the same with the board and the owners.

We need a man at the helm who is calm and collected and has a plan he is going to follow. Jones has shown himself not to be that man, both in the past and now, when the local journalist is saying the same things and he sees a lot more behind the scenes than we the fans do, then you know that something is desperately wrong.

Adam Blackmore's comments can be read using the link below.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton

Photo: Action Images

rusle added 10:07 - Feb 7 Spot on. If one word were to characterize Jones’ management of the club since he came in it’s ‘erratic’. We don’t need that. As for his man management, it’s severely lacking. Season professionals who have played at the highest level in the game left playing for the B team the day before and important match. Screaming at Djenepo during a game leaving him perplexed and wondering what he had done wrong (you could see Djenepo’s bewilderment and his shoulders drop. Putting Bree in for his debut away at Newcastle in a cup semi-final - Bree looked like a rabbit in headlights for much of the first half. Leaving out Perraud our only left back after he’d scored twice. Throwing Lavia under the bus in his post match interview. I could go on. The man is not just performing badly, he’s ruining our chances of staying up making us worse that we were. Under Hassenhutl. The two new signings may be the only hope he has of saving his job

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Block8 added 10:10 - Feb 7 Ironically I have a friend who knows NJ personally from his Luton days and he had told me that his biggest strength was his man management, which allowed him to squeeze every drop out of an average squad. This seems to contradict the current situation but it might be that his inability to cope with the bigger egos of PL and international players is causing his meltdown? Having said that if he is unable to get his methods & tactics through to the players then perhaps he is genuinely out of his depth. This may also be the reason why he is chopping and changing so often in team selection, maybe only playing those he thinks he can "trust" over more gifted team mates. Whatever it is and following his erratic interview on Saturday we can only conclude that the starting eleven against Wolves will be HIS team with absolutely no excuse for a poor and tactically inept performance. If his team doesn't show up he should walk!

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SanMarco added 10:12 - Feb 7 Spot-on Nick (although I hope Sports Direct haven't taken over while we slept!) The appointment of Jones was and is a disastrous error. It may be too late now for this season but he should still be sacked now. A new man will have a monumental task but it is still possible. I looked at all of those the BBC was touting for the new Leeds man and they were all far superior to what we have now. SR need to be brave and admit they made a catastrophic mistake.

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kenis added 10:13 - Feb 7 It may be an unpopular view but I think we would have been better off keeping Ralph, Jones has benefitted from Lavia being back fit as well as the new signings Ralf didn’t get. He would have used those 5 weeks getting everyone working together in his 4-2-2-2 system or a 4-2-3-1 variant. Jones should go as soon as a suitable replacement is lined up and surely it’s only a lack of such that is keeping him in his job. I don’t think Bielsa is the answer because his approach is complete change of coaching staff and would take time for the players to adapt to. We can’t go backwards with Ralf (if he’d even want it) and Dyche is unavailable (and would probably have turned us down even when Ralf went let alone now…) Surely Sports Republic or the club have potential candidates from across Europe or further afield that aren’t household names in england but have a better track record than Jones across more than one club and who can command the respect from elite level players.

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kenis added 10:16 - Feb 7 Would we take Benetiz? Would he be the right man to keep us up?
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SanMarco added 10:22 - Feb 7 Sorry to comment again so soon. kenis: I don't think it is an unpopular view to say we might as well have kept Ralph if we were going to replace him with this clown. That doesn't mean it was wrong for Ralph to go - just that we should have picked a better replacement (and let's face it that could have been just about anybody available).
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highfield49 added 10:27 - Feb 7 I think you're right Nick. The owners need to show some decisive leadership and hand the role to Ruben Selles for the Wolves game. Jones needs to be treated the same way as he has treated several players and removed from the squad until such time as a proper leader and coach can be identified. The last thing we need this weekend is for the ranting egoist to be anywhere near the sidelines disrupting the team performance. I'd go so far as to say that our chances of winning against Wolves are going to be hampered by his presence.

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SaintPaulVW added 10:34 - Feb 7 I read Adam's posts on twitter. I agree they were excellent and summed up the situation we are in. I think as with player recruitment Sports Republic tried to get a potentially developing star early. Recruiting a lower league manager based on stats is all well and good but if they can't adapt to the massively increased expectation, media scrutiny and international players and their agents they won't make it. Unfortunately, Jones doesn't appear that he can. SR need to bite the bullet, leaving Jones in place until the end of the season is going to create a toxic atmosphere. COYR

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SaintPaulVW added 10:47 - Feb 7 PS I was a 'Ralph in' man but he looked burnt out at the end. Things move fast in the EPL and I think most teams had sussed how to beat the 4222 with our personnel. Ralph did wonders with no money and little back up but almost 4 years in a highly competitive league would be a big ask for anyone For me, it was the right decision to change but unfortunately the wrong candidate appears to have been selected. This can be put right.

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mattlegod added 11:03 - Feb 7 I was also willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt but he does nothing to instill confidence whatsoever. He needs to stop talking about and trying to ride the wave of his "previous successes" - quite frankly there aren't any and he only comes across deluded as if he is trying to convince others of his existence in the post. If he comes across this way to the fan base then its only going to be worse for the players to have any respect. I thought the "Southampton Way" was to have a leader over the whole club, making sure that all our teams (U18, B team and academy) are forging on the same direction to ensure we have natural progression and selection - if this guy cannot manage the first team and instill confidence in all, then there is no chance of him having any impact on those coming through the ranks.

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mattlegod added 11:06 - Feb 7 I truly do believe we have a talented squad following the recent investment. It would be a crying shame to see them fall apart with many leaving due to relegation. Act now and keep them together with a true leader and I do believe we would have a bright future.
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Kingsland34 added 11:17 - Feb 7 Look you now, this Jones boyo is no Saint, would be better in his cottage than be compromised at St. Mary's. As mad as a Hatter their saying, keeps picking Leeks instead of Daffodils. Indeed for his goodness, the poor soul should get on his front foot back to his Fathers, recuperate, then reset his algorithms and become the best football manager in Luton again.
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Farlow added 11:31 - Feb 7 But he,s the doughnut who brought in Bednarek and changed the central defence. Go and go quickly.
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landsdownsaint added 11:51 - Feb 7 I still can’t believe we got rid of RH for this guy , we had some dark moments during Ralph’s tenure but we still had respect from other managers /fans , we have become a joke , I realised this turning up on site Monday morning
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JoeEgg added 12:01 - Feb 7 I have to say that the current situation is barely believeable! I thought at last we had some defenders that could work together and defend, with the occasional blunder admittedlyl, but learning fast , gaining in confidence and certainly improving . All this progress has been reversed by management and the thanks these defenders got was to be made to stand aside , welcome Mssrs Bree and Bednarek to the 1st team, while they enjoyed a spell in the B team! Sports Republic have spent good money and at last we have some goalscoring forwards which should encourage us to get out there and be aggressive and win matches by actually scoring goals! We were surely moving in the right direction? Nathan Jones, at a time when unity, positivity and consistency were required, has created a toxic atmosphere of mistrust and despair. The damage done to any existing team spirit or confidence about our survival prospects, has been enormous and unforgiveable. Last week-end's Premier League results involving teams at the bottom, should remind us that we are in a scrap probably until the very last fixtures of the season - Bournemouth and Everton showed they will not go down without a fight! Brentford and Brighton have demonstrated the benefits of having the right man at the helm. There may still be time to save our position in the Premier League. I believe we have a much better squad than most of the teams contesting relegation - hopefully there is a 'great man' somewhere with the experience and expertise to take on the challenge, thrive on it, rally the troops and the fans, and lead us to a mid table end of season position? Apply now before its too late!!!!!!!!!!

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davidargyll added 12:44 - Feb 7 What was most interesting about this idiot Jones’ press conference after the Brentford game was saying that in effect he gave the players too much of say. But that is surely disingenuous at best, an outright lie at worst. Because surely coming into a team and with five weeks to work with them (let alone the month or so since), you would get to know the squad individually, establish what they like and don’t like and make the best of what you’ve got. That surely shows he is lacking in the basic man-management skills that he reputedly has loads of. And as for the best in Europe, words fail me… And RE THE CHAT ON THE SAINTS WEBSITE THIS EVENING WITH THE BOARD, COULD SOMEBODY PLEASE ASK THE FOLLOWING: PRECISELY WHAT DUE DILIGENCE DID THEY DO ON JONES? DID THEY FOR EXAMPLE SPEAK TO STOKE? OR WAS THE WHOLE THING BASED ON ANKERSEN’S BLACK BOX? I think whatever the answer, ANKERSEN’S POSITION AS DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL IS NOW COMPLETELY UNTENABLE. AND IF I WAS SR I WOULD HAVE TO CONCLUDE THAT THE VALUE OF MY INVESTMENT IN SAINTS WILL GO DOWN MASSIVELY IF/WHEN WE GO DOWN WHICH IT WILL IF HE AND HIS METHODS REMAIN.

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DellBoyWally added 13:41 - Feb 7 My first two words when I heard of Jones' appointment were What? and Why? Neither has been answered! Marcelo Gallardo. Who, I hear you ask!! In 8 years in South America he won 14 trophies. Pep Guardiola rates him in the top 3 managers in world football. Luiz Felipe Scolari, who managed Brazil to their 5th World Cup win, reckons he'd be perfect to manage Brazil. He's available and apparently keen to manage in Europe. Get in there!!! Nothin Jones is driving our club to the Championship as he was doing with Stoke till they, wisely, got rid. SR MUST follow their lead and send him on his way. Ruben Selles and the rest of the coaches would be better left to get on with the job rather than bring in another small-club nonentity. Only a "proper" manager should be brought in if one is available. And willing to take on a sinking ship.

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IWOZTHERE added 14:06 - Feb 7 Nick, you mentioned Selles to perhaps step in for Jones? That's had a few mentions, but was there any truth in the rumour that he was the one chosen ages ago to succeed Ralph at the end of his contract?... If so, surely, he would have come in when RH was sacked?
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saintmark1976 added 14:30 - Feb 7 I’m not a fan of Jones but will say that our current problems are not all of his making. Whilst Jones appears not to have covered himself in glory in the short time he has been with us, all he has done in accepting the offer of a job from the board is to attempt to better himself and his family. Please step forward any of those amongst us who would have done any different. In my opinion the majority of responsibility for our current situation rests with the board in not removing Ralph at the end of last season. Had they done so they would have had all summer to have recruited a better candidate than Jones. My preference now would be to put Jones on gardening leave (not least for his own mental wellbeing) and to bring in a caretaker manager until the end of the season. Nigel Adkins knows the club and is well liked by the fans. Whilst he may not save us from relegation ( then again who will at this late stage?) at least we will depart the Premiership with some degree of unity rather than the outright rancour and distrust that currently exists between the clubs owners, management and fans.

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Staycalm added 15:02 - Feb 7 Jones's interview last Saturday did us all a big favour, as any lingering doubt about whether he was the right man to manage Saints was there for all to hear. Clearly he is the wrong man for the wrong job. Talking about 3 years to build a team demonstrates that alone, and surely tells SR all they need to know. All the other whinging isn't going to win over the players or the supporters. He needs to go now. We could do a lot worse that have Jo Tessem take over for the Saturday match. He is almost in dispair and disbelief during his commentaries!! Perhaps Benali would help him out. At least the fans would have something to cheer. If SR stick Jones, St. Mary's could become like 'Goodison on steriods' on Saturday.

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underweststand added 15:23 - Feb 7 I am not alone in repeating that the difference between the top of the Championship and the bottom end of the Prem. is more than just 4 places, but more like climbing Mount Everest - in footballing terms. The proof of that is the ongoing cycle of relegations and promotions every other year. Norwich, Bournemouth and now Burnley up and down like a jo-jo but the reality is that the Prem. is a shock to the system for players and managers. Forest came up - and after spending 120 million on 20+ players, plus another 20 million pounds in the window. They may look safer now but I wouldn't bank on their staying up. Survival was the keynote of Ralph's time in charge and aside from a few stand-out results it was no better than the dire period under Claude Puel, but we learned to accept that. Nathan Jones has some right to boast about his achievements at Luton, (given the obvious limitations of Luton's budget and the standard of his players), but that was not the summit of Everest, but merely one step beyond the base camp. It takes a special sort of chemistry for anyone to manage people in any walk of life, but taking teenagers out of someone else's B team, and throwing them into a Prem. squad doesn't make them Prem. players overnight, and when coming up against World class opposition are devoid of guile, experience and often forget which way they are kicking. I agree with Nick that NJ deserved a chance, but taking over a new squad-brainwashed into Ralph's 4-2-2-2 formation - and re-programming them into different line-ups every other game must be as confusing to the players, as it is to the fans. That must be one error that the Board must take to heart as a serious lesson. Sadly I feel that Jones may already have gone beyond the point of no return in his Saints career, and rather than blame him for everything that has gone wrong, I feel most sadness for the club I have lovingly supported through thick and thin for more than 60 years will once again be in turmoil and the obvious target of negative media attention and derogatory comments until the day when that last chance of survival has finally passed. A convincing win and lots of goals on Saturday may trigger a revival, but whatever sort of miracle is needed for that must come ...and come PDQ.

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YosemiteSaint added 16:05 - Feb 7 Call me gloomy, but the table shows that we have fourteen losses, and thus that pretty much _every_ game we play from here on is a must win if we're to avoid relegation. In light of this mountain to climb, I don't see us staying up. NJ is a poor excuse for a manager. But he's a symptom of a larger problem: a board that hasn't made the right decisions at the right times. They waited to long to get to this point, and we're still far from the finished article. I don't see us getting out of this mess; it's too late. The question now has to be what Southampton FC actually _is_ going forward. In other words, what do we do now to put our best foot forward for the remainder of this season in the Prem and for next year in the Championship? Removing NJ is the first order of business, I think. Replacing him with a sensible manager we can back here and in the lower league seems a pressing priority.

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