Alan Pardew will get a warm welcome from the Saints crowd, but lets not let it dilute the passion.
One of the key features of our revival over the past couple of games has been how the crowd have used their support of Nigel Adkins to provide a focal point of getting behind the team and urging the players on, at QPR even their fans commented on how our travelling army kept behind the manager throughout and the faith we had in him in comparison to their support or lack of it for Mark Hughes.
Before the Swansea game I talked about the need to focus on supporting the manager and in doing so creating a wall of positive support for the team and that holds up for the forthcoming game against Newcastle as well, the only problem is we have a dilemma.
That dilemma is Alan Pardew, no matter how much we admire Nigel Adkins it cannot be denied that the foundations for where we are now were built by Alan Pardew, it was he who signed Rickie Lambert and a large chunk of the side which won us back to back promotions, indeed alongside Lambert in this seasons squad are Pardew signings like Jose Fonte, Fraser Richardson, Danny Butterfield & Jason Puncheon add some of the players that were in Pardews side but not signed by him and you can see a pattern of continuity emerging that every good football club should have.
But the dilemma for Saints fans is as much as they want to thank Pardew for his work here on his first return and therefore chance to let the fans show their appreciation, the fact is we dont want to let it dilute the great support we have, perhaps the right time to truly thank him will be at the final whistle, but that would be unfair, so we must strike the right balance between a very warm welcome and then getting down to making the next 90 minutes very uncomfortable for him and his team.
If we get it right then it can be very positive, but what we dont want is it to become a millstone around the teams neck, lets show Alan Pardew how much we appreciate him and then lets show our own manager and players how much they are appreciated now and indeed just how much they will be appreciated even after they have left.
Alan Pardew did a great job for Saints, sadly he didnt get the chance to finish the work he started, he deserves our applause and then lets give him 90 minutes of hell, then after the final whistle showing him again how much we appreciate where we came from.