Does the fault of Saints on field demise lay firmly at the feet of George Burley.
Back in December 2005 the departure of Harry Redknapp had been greeted with universal relief by the Saints fan base, from the very start of his reign it was clear that he did not want to be at the club and some of his tactical decisions baffled supporters as after initially looking like he might be able to save the club from relegation after a five game unbeaten spell in February/March he only managed to win one league games out of the last seven and we were down.
In December it looked for a long period that Redknapp might be replaced by a Dutch dreamteam, in fact it looked certain with the candidates resigning from his position with a Dutch Eridivisie side and telling the press he was on his way, but all of a sudden Rupert Lowe did a U turn and although George Burley had been cited as a possible replacement for Redknapp he was considered the outsider.
Burley's stock was high, although he had effectively been sacked by Ipswich as they languished in the lower half of the Championship in 2002 after relegation from the premier, he had subsequently taken Derby to the play offs in May 2005 before resigning after a falling out with the club director of football.
Hearts were next and he shocked Scottish football by taking them to the top of the league after 10 games, however this was a short lived triumph as he had already fallen out with the clubs major shareholder and left soon after.
So when he pitched up at St Mary's it was a bit of a shock for several reasons, not least because it was felt that Burley might well get the job of saving a premiership club from a relegation battle.
Rumours of off the field problems were already emerging, but I have to say now that I saw no evidence of them at Saints, Burley's failures at Saints were not down to drinking, but the way he dismantled a decent squad and rebuilt it with overpriced underachievers and for this reason I would squarely point a big finger of blame at him.
When he arrived at the Club, of course we were in turmoil, but in truth no more turmoil than any other club who gets relegated from the premier and has to adjust quickly if they want to avoid financial meltdown, in 1974 when Saints got relegated, it was virtually the same squad for the next two seasons in the second divisiaon, including Mick Channon & Peter Osgood, in 2005 you had to get rid of high earners and quickly if you werent going to go back up.
Therefore when Burley arrived, no one had expectations of even a play off spot that season, but with a big chunk of cash in the bank following the sales of Theo Walcott, Nigel Quashie & Antt Niemi to name but three, the supporters had confidence that Burley would be able to take a decnet squad and strengthen it wisely to launch a promotion bid.
So lets have a look at the squad that Burley had to build on when he arrived after the three big name departures had left
Goalkeepers
Bart Bialkowski, Paul Smith
Defenders.
Darren Kenton, Matt Mills, Chris Baird, Claus Lundekvam, Darren Powell, Danny Higginbotham, Martin Crainie, Gareth Bale.
Midfielders
David Prutton, Andrew Surman, Belmadi, Matthew Oakley, Nathan Dyer. Rory Delap, Adam Lallana
Forwards
Kenwyne Jones, Ricardo Fuller, Leon Best, Dexter Blackstock, David McGoldrick.
OK a little short in the midfield department , but overall a solid squad to build on.
So what did Burley do in the 8 months he had to build his squad before the next season ?
Well granted that there was upheaval in the Club that saw Lowe leave and Wilde & his entourage in, but at this time things looked positive an Burley was given a transfer kitty of £7 million to spend.
But first lets look at the players that Burley let go and in the main it has to be said that if Burley had made it clear that he wanted them, they would have stayed.
Danny Higginbotham, Matt Oakley, Ricardo Fuller, Rory Delap, Matt Mills, were all deemed surplus to requirements and all went on to play in the Premiership.
Add to that Smith, Kenton, Blackstock, & the likes of Dyer & Best who were allowed to go out on loan and you have to feel that this squad was getting rid of players who were good enough to get us promoted, but the real travesty was who was brought in to replace them.
In came Kelvin Davis, Pele, Jermaine Wright, Gregorz Rasiak, Jonh Viafara, Rudi Skacel, Alexander Ostlund, Bradley Wright Phillips, Inigo Idiakez, Chris Makin, Mario Licka.
Now take a look at the players that departed, almost all of them are still playing at a level higher or equal to the position Saints were in at the time of their departure, in the case of Higginbotham, Fuller & Delap they have enjoyed mostly Premiership careers.
Then take a look at the new signings, history tells us that with the exception of Kelvin Davis, none of them were better than the players they were replacing and whilst we got little in for those leaving we spent over £7 million on a bunch of misfits, if this isnt an example of poor management then I dont know what is.
If Burley had hung on to most of the leavers and then made one or two key signings, then you have to say that Saints would probably have got automatic promotion and had a squad that would have been good enough to survive in the premiership with just a little more tinkering.
But it wasnt just his transfer record that did for Burley, it soon became clear that our team spiirit was not what it should be, players were constantly being dropped and reinstated, he just didnt seem to know what his best side was, Kenwynne Jones was constantly rotated with BWP, Idiakez soon found himself out of favour and shipped out on loan and perhaps more bafferlingly, Rasiak despite being top scorer in the division with 17 league goals found himslef dropped, he would score only two more all season including a vital last minute strike at Derby in the play offs.
At the end of the season Saints made the play offs, but the feeling was that it was in spite of Burley not because of him, we used a total of 31 different players in the season and of all his pre season signings the feeling was the only one who had really made an impression was Rasiak and he had been ostracised.
By mid March Saints promotion push looked finished after a home defeat to Colchester, Burley's squad were floundering some had been replaced already but fate lent a hand and it was those players considered second string plus a handful of loan signings who dragged Saints into the play off, Marek Saganowski & Danny Guthrie were big loan signings, but it was the likes of Andrew Surman, Leon Best, Bart Bialkowski who came in from the cold and created a spirit that had been sadly lacking.
The following season Burley was at best disinterested, in the opening game Saints were walloped at home by Palace and many felt that Bialkowski had been hung out to dry by his manager who knew that his side were in tatters before a ball had been kicked, Saints had enough quality still at the club to initially keep out of the relegation scrap, but the decent players already wanted away and it was clear that it was only the fact that the cash strapped Saints could not afford to sack the manager that was keeping him in the job.
The Scottish FA came to our rescue by wanting him as Scotland manager, even paying us compensation to boot, however Burley was living on reputation, a reputation gained by perhaps three good seasons in a fifteen year managerial career, he was sacked after only 3 wins in 14 games from that job and a subsequent tenure at Palace this season saw a record almost as bad leading to the sack once again.
Some will say its harsh to blame Burley for subsequent events at Saints and indeed many of them were beyond his control, but what Burley did at the club was dismantle a squad that was good and had a mixture of experience and potential and replace it with mercenary players who were not a patch on those he had replaced, he took a pride out of those youngsters, many of whom came through the academy and showed them that football is a mercenary game, we are still paying the price for that now.
I dont accuse George Burley of anything bar the total debacle he presided over, it wasnt a question of money, no other team spent £7 million in the Championship in 06/07, it was a case of a manager who given a chequebook decided to workin a way he had never had to before, Ipswich fans will tell you Burley's demise at Portman Road started when he had money to spend, a source close to Saints told me that Burley needed to be managed himself, and that the problem was that no one did that during his tenure here.
Im sure though that Burley does not feel that way,that he feels that he knows best, that he is a football man and that football club Chairmen know nothing about the game, truth is that in any line of business, the most succesful people listen and take advice, they might not always follow it, but they listen all the same in case there is something there that they can learn from, Burley was given a free reign and in one foul swoop toook his reputation as a canny football manager down several notches, that is why today he sits unemployed rather than with a club at a level far higher than Saints.
I wish George Burley all the best, Im sure he is a decent man, if he comes back and rebuilds his career then i will be happy for him, but I will never forget the damage that he did to this club, not blatantly obvious at the time, but with the benefit of hindsight undeniable.