Im sorry but my verdict on this is going to upset a few people.  

One thing is for sure, the downfall at Southampton Football Club started when the board of directors allowed George Burley to continue in a job where his heart clearly wasnt in it, of course some will make the excuse that Burley was placed in an impossible predicament where boardroom infighting meant that the fans didnt see what was going on behind the scenes and that he did not have the funds to fight a promotion battle, well neither did half this division but they dont find themselves in the predicament that we do !

The rot continued as power changed hands and the new board who replaced the executives found that the situation was solved for them when Burley was courted by Scotland, so what did they do ? they sat on their hands and hoped that the situation would sort itself out, well it didnt and in a panic move they appointed Nigel Pearson.

Pearson initially seemed to do a good job, he brought some discipline back to a squad and started to get the confidence back and we were all willing to give him the time to succeed, however it is becoming quite clear that Pearson is a great coach and has some good ideas and says the right thing, but he hasnt made a success of the job to hand.

When he arrives saints had 38 points from 31 games a poor total but keeping them just above water, two wins in the following 12 games in a total of 12 points is worse than relegation form in this years championship and has seen Saints dip accordingly.

Harsh yes, of course Pearson was left with not a lot to work with and he has brought in several players who have added to the squad, and i would be the first to admit that without Perry, Lucketti and Richard Wright we would already be down, but today against Burnley was a stark reminder that just getting in a few players is not enough.

Im sorry Nigel but Im not prepared to sit back and watch Stern John and Bradley Wright Phillips perform so badly over 78 minutes and hear any excuses about it.

Anyone who has watched Saints this season will be well aware that neither are exactly playing well.

In the case of Stern John yes he is scoring, but apart from his one goal a game he does little else, and Im sorry Nigel but Im not prepared to watch Bradley WRight Phillips a striker who sice he scored at barnsley in December has managed 1 goal in 18 appearances, I can accept to some degree that you may want to start him, but for gods sake giving him 78 minutes is unacceptable !!

Burnley came along and mugged us today, in truth we didnt deserve to lose, but we certainly didnt deserve to win, we didnt do enough to win and the manager didnt lead by example and make the right selections to give us that chance, we have got behind the team, we have got behind the manager, but every fan in that ground knew today that the team selection was wrong and that we failed to rectify it with enough time to make a difference.

I may be harsh today and emotion may be clouding my judgement, I dont think so though, its not asking too  uch for a manager to get more than two wins in 12 games and its not being unfair to accept no excuses when I have had to watch a strike force woefully lacking in virtually everything remain unchanged till 12 minutes to go.

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