This won't go down well with Saints supporters, but according to various sources the Southampton hierarchy are not planning to sack Russell Martin just yet, but the big question is why !
Various media outlet including sportsmole.co.uk are claiming that the Southampton board are not yet ready to sack to sack Russell martin
They say that "the South Coast club are in "no rush" to part ways with Martin and would like to see how the team progresses over the festive period."
This as you can imagine will not go down well with the Saints supporters, but the real question that Southampton CEO Phil Parsons, his board and indeed Sport Republic, should be asked is just why they are willing to give Russell Martin more time.
It is clear to everyone bar Russell Martin and now it seems Phil Parsons hat is going wrong with Saints season, Russell Martin's 100% possession football game, where the ball is passed whether it is along our own goal line or wherever is not working.
IT is not working because Martin does not have the quality of player to play to this level, yet he still continues to persist with what is pure folly, he is keeping on doing the same things and every game see's yet more points dropped as goals are conceded due to errors caused by applying the game that he is insisting on.
So if Phil Parsons wants to persist with Russell Martin he should have a good reason why he is doing so, let us be blunt here he should need to see that things are going to change and the fact is that Russell Martin is not willing to adapt and compromise any of his possession football beliefs.
So if we keep Russell Martin and see how it goes over the festive period as is being suggested that is a total of 5 Premier League games ending with the home game against Brentford on 4th January, that will take Saints to having played 20 games, one over the half way point of the Premier League season.
So what will change in these next 5 games, will Russell Martin suddenly change his tactics ? he has shown no inclination to do so, so far, even playing effectively our 4th choice keeper as he is better with his feet than the 3rd choice keeper, when you think of it in this way, things are even more bizarre.
Will our players suddenly find that they can play this game after all and suddenly we are passing it around like Manchester City ? Probably not I would suggest.
Will the opposition suddenly stop working out that to beat Saints you just sit back a little and then press us quickly and see us pushed into mistakes, here I will not insult 9 year olds by suggesting that even they can see where Saints are going wrong this season, there are far younger fans who can spot this.
So why are we gambling that results will change, when absolutely nothing that has been the cause of these bad results is going to change.
We are going to just base keeping him on the basis that he has just been a little unlucky.
All joking aside though, even if we take an optimistic view point and we get 5 points from these 5 games, the same number we have so far, that will leave us having to get at least 22 points from the remaining 18 games to even stand a chance of staying up, that is a tall order whatever way you look at it.
There are those that may say that we are looking at the bigger picture in keeping Martin and looking at him as being the perfect manager for the Championship next season, there are those that will say this with a positive viewpoint and it seems that Phil Parsons and his camp fall into this bracket and there are those that will say it with a far more sarcastic take on the situation.
But if this is the route we are taking, just what is the point, in 20 months time assuming that we get promotion, we will just be in the same position we are now, Russell Martin about to repeat this season again.
So decisive action has to be taken now and I say this to Phil Parsons, tell us why you are keeping faith with Russell Martin, all we hear from St Mary's is silence, with every defeat you alienate the fanbase from the club, but I suspect that you cannot do this as you have no logical reason to keep faith with him, there are those that will attempt to ridicule you by saying that you do not have a background in football, that your background is in vacuum cleaning (Yes I know Dyson isn't a vacuum lol) what do you know about football ? but you played at a good non league level with Woking and so you know the game.
That being the said then why do you sit there in silence and say nothing ?