Southampton have not made a good start to the season, and with just 4 points from their first 9 league games, they must be considered relegation candidates this year, after getting successive promotions under Nigel Adkins, who came in to replace Alan Pardew two years ago last August.
Alan Shearer – will he want the Southampton job?
Alan was linked with the opening at Blackburn Rovers, but will not get that job, and the latest we heard was that the Indian owners were going after a big name personality – Diego Armando Maradona, although whether he would be very good in England as a manager we have out doubts – although the entertainment value would be very good if the World Cup two years ago is anything to go by – when he managed Argentina.
Southampton have not done well in the league but the 3-0 defeat on Tuesday night at Leeds United in the Capital One Cup could have put Nigel’s job in danger, and once again Alan is being linked with the manager’s job, at another of his former clubs.
However, it could be better for Southampton that they are out of the Cup since presumably they don’t want to repeat what Birmingham did a couple of seasons ago and win the thing by playing their first team in the competition, and at the same time being relegated from the Premier League.
Alan came in on April Fool’s day in 2009 on his white horse to try to save his local club from relegation, but despite trying with everything he had, he was unable to save us, and collected just 5 points from the 8 games, and he’s been back at the BBC on Match of the Day since then, in the coziness of the BBC studio.
Alan did want to stay on as Newcastle manager, but once we heard he had demanded £20M for new players after our relegation, it was obvious he’s not the kind of manager owner Mike Ashley was after, given the revenues the next year were cut by more than half and Mike was unwilling to spend big money on Newcastle.
It seems that Southampton will not make an immediate move to fire Adkins, who has great record since joining the south coast club in September two years ago – 110 games played, won 63, drew 19 and lost 28 – for a win percentage of 57.27.
But there are signs that Chairman Nicola Cortese is getting a little nervous, because obviously the club wants to stay in the Premier League this season – and they should be a Premier League club too.
But turning to Shearer, who has much less experience than Nigel Adkins could be a risky move, although we’re sure the Southampton fans would welcome Shearer back with open arms.
Alan does have 8 games fighting relegation with Newcastle, but just think what happens if he takes over and they get relegated – that wouldn’t look good.
But if Alan is willing to be at Southampton and really wants to get back into management, and we have our doubts on that, Southampton are a great club, and it would seem an excellent place for Alan to resume his so far very short career in football management.
But he’d have to give up the comfort of that chair in the BBC studios and enter the real world of football – and it’s not easy in football management, that’s for sure.
What do you think?
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9 comments so far
archaeomag
Nov 1, 2012 at 8:43 AM
Comment #1Will they want him?
Blaydon-Toon
Nov 1, 2012 at 8:44 AM
Comment #2Great players do not always make great managers …. Tough first managers job to take on. Think Shearer needs to earn his stripes in the championship first get some much needed experience ! Living in Ipswich there was a lot of people banding his name about for vancancy but in reality that is just as tough with them being rock bottom and devoid of any real quality which is a shame as Newcastle and Ipswich have a lot of mutral respect with the Robson connection
archaeomag
Nov 1, 2012 at 8:59 AM
Comment #3Owners/Clubs turn to x-players when they are desperate to appease the fans after a period of failure, it buys them some time, . .
Ben3arfa
Nov 1, 2012 at 8:59 AM
Comment #4Blackburn have already appointed Henning Berg . Funny seeing more continental managers in the Championship nowadays
archaeomag
Nov 1, 2012 at 9:12 AM
Comment #5Henning Berg – ex-player , management experience, no baggage – fresh start; first vaguely rational thing the Venkis have done.
Transfer Sage
Nov 1, 2012 at 9:14 AM
Comment #6Be a great move for shearer.
Southampton have a fairly wealthy owner so he will get some support in January.
Also after their start everyone expects then to go down so if they do its not just his fault. He can’t lose really.
Other countries like Spain, France etc give young managers jobs often and back then to succeed.
The problem is the silly money on offer in the premier league the next few years makes survival vital for all teams in comparison with other countries.
chris_g
Nov 1, 2012 at 9:26 AM
Comment #7So, as I understand it, nobody really knows whether or not Southampton are looking for a new manager, and furthermore, nobody knows if they would even be interested in appointing Shearer if they were looking for somebody to replace Adkins. And finally, nobody actually knows whether or not Shearer would be interested in the job in the unlikely event that it was offered to him. But in spite of all that, Ed has seen fit to write this article with a headline that says:
“Alan Shearer About To Get Back Into Management”
El Sleeve
Nov 1, 2012 at 11:10 AM
Comment #8i have a soft sport for southmpton since my room mate at uni supported them. they are incredibly well organised club and what they achieved in two years, like norwich is outstanding achievement. I remember when Jose Fonte left Palace to go to Saints in League One he dropped down a league, citing the reason that the were more likely to get to the prem first.
Sacking a manager who knows his team is mad, mad because they made two successive promotions under him, obv theyre gonna struggle this year, but they should stick with him
BarcelonaMag
Nov 1, 2012 at 11:57 AM
Comment #9Can’t see why he would want all the grief of football management: being slated in the press, criticised by fans, the stress and strain of it all. I’ve heard him refer to himself as “the luckiest man in the world” when talking about what he does for the BBC. Stay where you are, Alan. You couldn’t be better off. Besides, he’s always sounded half-hearted when he talks about getting into management.