 Wednesday, 3rd Apr 2013 13:08 This might be a first in Premier League history, but the visiting fans are likely to give the home teams new manager a bigger ovation that them. Back at the start of this season Nigel Adkins was considered something of the messiah at Southampton, you would be hard pressed to find a Saints fans with too much bad to say about him and there were those that went completely over the top and made claims that he was and would continue to be the best manager ever to manage Saints, in truth last summer that was a big claim that had a long way to go before it could truly bear fruition, however that didnt stop some and those same people often talked about how manager and Chairman were working together in tandem and rubbished reports that there was any friction between the pair. Even as Christmas approached and Saints still sat in deep relegation trouble, support for Nigel was strong, Daily Echo Polls usually sat around the 80-90% in support of him and there was a feeling that after a terrible start a corner might just have been turned and just as he had done in the last two seasons, Nigel had learnt well from some hard lessons. Sadly for the ex Scunthorpe boss he would not get the chance to prove that he could keep Saints up, he was unceremonially dumped by the Club without even a word of acknowledgement for his feat of two successive promotions. Now Im not going to glaze over and claim that Nigel would have become the greatest ever Saints manager, he had a long long way to go before getting near that, however it cannot be taken away from him that whatever his faults and there were many in his two promotion seasons, he got us over the finish line and that is what counts in football, without Nigel who is to say that we would not still be in League 1, certainly Championship at best, in his first season he came here when the club was in the bottom 3 and 6 points off even the play off spots, indeed 8 behind second, yes we had a game in hand so perhaps our position wasnt as precarious as some would make out, but we were still playing catch up, a game that we would ultimately win. That momentum carried into the following season and our great start gave us the momentum to keep going when others looked likely to overhaul us, but come the end of the Coventry game Nigel had the right to call himself a Premiership manager. The summer brought whispers of rifts in the camp, certainly Nigel had given a very strange interview after the Coventry game and it has to be said that in hindsight those rumours look to be nearer the truth than most would care to admit. The big question though was how much control Nigel had over transfers and indeed was he being forced to play certain players, as for the transfer side of things, clearly players were being brought in from areas he would have had no prior knowledge and whilst he spoke of needing central defenders and goalkeepers, other marquee signings seemed to arrive. Rumours of his imminent sacking emerged around November as the team struggled, but after a run of good results it seemed he had survived and would see the season out, but just as he seemed to be finding his feet with a great point at Stamford Bridge to make it five unbeaten in the league, he was axed and without even a word of thanks in the club programme. Rumours flew around about his sacking although unlike Alan Pardew there didnt seem to be a smear campaign, purely the allegation that he wasnt good enough to take the club to the next step. But if Nigel thought his next step might be easy he was wrong and as well highlighted in the press he was forced to take the club to a tribunal to seek compensation and to enable him to take another job in the meantime. That job turned out to be Reading, a big disapointment for Saints fans in that for him to succeed in keeping them up, we might be a prime prospect to be the ones that suffered as a result, the Chelsea win has taken a chunk of that away, but the fact still remains that we need the points on Saturday and getting them means that Reading will be needing the last rites before Nigel has got his feet under the table. Reading have got themselves and honest manager who has the experience to do just what they will almost certainly need him to do next year and thats get them promoted, in that they are choosing a man to do the job in hand. So good luck Nigel Adkins I wish you well in all you do in football, you werent the best manager we ever had here but you cemented your name in Saints history and that can never be taken away from you, on Saturday I hope that the Saints supporters rise as one as now they finally have their chance to not only say goodbye to you properly, but also to thank you for just over two years good work. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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