Sky bet have nigel adkins and paolo di canio has front runners if nige is sacked

[MattyFromLE]

If Pearson does go, whether soon or at the end of the season, then there's only 3 managers I would want.

Nigel Adkins - His back to back promotions tell the story, his sacking was harsh, and he mixes up his formations

Alan Curbishley - Experienced manager, who has had a lot of success; however been out of work a while

Chris Powell - Doing a good stable job at Charlton, has beat us twice this season, and is popular with the fans

Anyone else, then I will boycott.

Curbishley? Hahahahahahahah!

[Bilo]

Nigel Adkins and Roberto Di Matteo would be top of my list.

Neil Lennon as an outsider hasn't managed at this level granted but would instill passion and could do a job at this level imo.

Not necessarily a bad shout.

He'll never achieve anything more than he already has with Celtic and the bigotry he has to face would put anyone off.

The bloke would start here with enormous good will and would certainly instill passion.

This doesn't mean I want Pearson out, decisions like that late in the season go belly up far more often than they go right.

[Libertine Dream]

I'm sure the owners would try to speak to Di Matteo but its a long shot

Adkins

Di Canio - Id have concerns but not like some on here

Lennon - unlikely

Powell

Uwe Rosler

Solskjaer - keeps getting linked and it can't be long before he gets a chance in England

But Pearson is currently the manager and needs our full support, if the owners swing the axe then that is the time to talk about this

[Lambert09]

It's no surprise the players have lost confidence, all the fans think a manager should go because the team is in a bit of bad form. We are still in the play-offs ffs. Pearson is the best thin to happen at Leicester since Oneil and the fans should appreciate his efforts so much more. As a fan you constantly ask for loyalty from players, staff and owners a like so for once can we not offer it back?

[Bluetintedspecs]

If it came down to it, for me it would have to be Adkins t I'm sure with a few defeats under his belt he'd become the next fall guy

[Finnegan]

I wouldn't want Di Canio for his politics.

But anyone who thinks that's the only reason to write him off is as ****ing insane as he is.

Look past offering his own cash to the club or the fact he "says it like it is" or any other sentimental shit, the guy is an emotionally unstable maniac with a history of assaulting and abusing his own bloody players. He's nuttier than a KP factory and loopier than Alton Towers.

Avoid at aaaaaaaaaaaaall ****ing costs.

[The Fox and The Crow]

I agree that there are plenty of reasons to discount Di Canio besides politics, but to me political stance can only be excluded as a factor in the decision if it wouldn't have an impact on the job, club or players/staff. I'm fairly confident that extreme right (or for that matter left) wing politics cannot be considered to be so benign.

[okie fox]

Wasn't he actually doing a Roman salute rather than a Nazi salute? The Romans did do it first!

I should be horrified by this but I'm not. He claims to support anti-racist campaigns so he seems to be more into protecting Italian culture rather than oppressing people of different races.

He also has a tattoo of Benito Mussolini on his arm. This doesn't offend me as much as his West Ham tattoo which does offend me.

How can someone who has a Mussolini tatoo be anti-racist?

[Corky]

Di Canio can stay well away.

Adkins I'd definitely take.

[iancognito]

Irrelevant debate as we still have a manager but......

I don't understand the anti-Curbishley stance, he was at Charlton for years, got them promoted and then established in the top flight. They only went down when fans got too big for their boots and weren't happy with mid-table.

Di Canio - really?!?! To achieve what? Stability? Hahahaa

Adkins - He inherited Alan Pardew's set-up. It was Pardew who got them to the top of the league, recruited all the players etc, Adkins took over after Pardew's ridiculous sacking and just carried on working with Lallana, Lambert etc. He'd probably carry on Pearson's work but if you don't like Pearson's flat demeanour, Adkins is hardly Benny Hill either.

If Pearson was sacked, I'd happily watch us tumble down the league just to have a laugh at the people who wanted him out.

Be very careful what you wish for (see Wolves, Charlton, Ipswich, Portsmouth etc for details)

[coatsworth999]

Di Canio - legend

Adkins - always rated him,even when he was at Scunthorpe.

[Filberfox94]

Before I ask my question - I don't think it's the right thing to do to get rid of Pearson now.

But could some of the pro-Pearson posters please explain why they think he's a "fantastic manager"?

[Filberfox94]

Not saying he's a fantastic manager, however makes no sense sacking mangers with 10 games to go.

Win Tue 5 points from 2nd spot, I would say runners up spot beyond us now but would happily settle for a Wembley final victory in May.

Judge the manger at the end of the season.

Pearson in I trust.

Billy Davies has proven you don't need time to gel. Although he's been manager there before a lot of players have left and joined since billy left and he's got them straight back in the play offs. For me Nigel Atkins would be the right choice to take us up whether it's this season or next I think he would be the right man for the job.

[LCFC_FAN_1995]

He'll go Leeds.

[nathan.]

Pearson's a better manager than both Imo . Adkins got lucky with what Pardew had already built at Soton just like Laudrup at Swansea. Di Canio will go the same way as Keano once the novelty wears off.

[Filberfox94]

Adkins won't come he's on gardening leave and has no power to join any club until after his tribunal when that will be then it could be in 2 weeks or 6 months.

Pearson in I trust

[Happy Fox]

Honestly can you see him adapting to management in the prem should we get their? I am not saying he won't get an opportunity at that level at some-point in his managerial career but his stubbornness and ineptitude to think outside the box makes him a bog-standard championship manager at present and that is his downfall. His shortsightedness and decision to play hoofball tactics after we were playing free flowing football to great promise is costing us being in the playoffs after we were in a great position to push on and get in those automatic promotion spots and establish a gap.

Hope the Thais can make a decision sooner rather then later if we want to salvage our season otherwise next season for promotion but with a new man in charge. I thank NP for his first spell but that is all it should of been, the saying never go back has never been truer imo.

[Steve_Walsh5]

I know someone who played under Di Canio at Swindon. None of the players really liked or got on with him, he never gave them days off.

He doesn't sound like a bloke we need or want at this club. He'd end up doing more than bad in my opinion.

[Bilbo]

Honestly I try to respect other people's opinions but Jesus Christ - Di Canio? Are you kidding? This topic has reached new levels of embarrasing for Foxestalk.

[MattyFromLE]

Just been reading some stuff on twitter. We are 1 point ahead of where we were at this point in our last play-off season. Our league position compared to last season is also vastly improved. If we do lose, we don't lose by much - still a loss is a loss. So defensively there is absolutely nothing wrong. Our problem is going the other way. We still have a good goal difference, best defence in the league and are holding onto a play off place by the scruff of our necks.

Lose on Tuesday and i'll fear for Pearson's job even more. I don't think he's done a lot wrong, other than the last few weeks but. Can we really judge him just on the bad performances alone? Your review at work would be based on 12 months, not a 6 week period when you weren't performing. Many will say "football is a results business". Yes it is, quite rightly. Results over the season have mostly been good. This recent form is temporary as we've seen how good we can be.

Let's get behind 'em for this last push and evaluate where we are, depending whether we're PL bound, or staying in the Champ.

[Bilo]

I seriously think Di Canio would just be another Martin Allen, able to get away with bizarre antics in the lower leagues, but would be found out at all levels in the Championship.

Adkins would be a good appointment but he's unusual in that he's unfairly out of work. Most unemployed managers are unemployed for a reason.

[Col city fan]

Just been reading some stuff on twitter. We are 1 point ahead of where we were at this point in our last play-off season. Our league position compared to last season is also vastly improved. If we do lose, we don't lose by much - still a loss is a loss. So defensively there is absolutely nothing wrong. Our problem is going the other way. We still have a good goal difference, best defence in the league and are holding onto a play off place by the scruff of our necks.

Lose on Tuesday and i'll fear for Pearson's job even more. I don't think he's done a lot wrong, other than the last few weeks but. Can we really judge him just on the bad performances alone? Your review at work would be based on 12 months, not a 6 week period when you weren't performing. Many will say "football is a results business". Yes it is, quite rightly. Results over the season have mostly been good. This recent form is temporary as we've seen how good we can be.

Let's get behind 'em for this last push and evaluate where we are, depending whether we're PL bound, or staying in the Champ.

Have you read the finances and Pearson's future thread Matty?

It does kinda put things in context.

Staying in the Championship, financially, is almost unthinkable.

God knows what squad we'd have next season.

It also shows how Pearson's hands are somewhat tied.

[Dan LCFC]

http://www.itsbeauti...ins-sacked.html

Good points about Adkins

Adkins also spoke often of “the Southampton Wayâ€, yet he had guided the club to successive promotions largely using a 4-4-2 formation. His favoured variant was a 4-4-2 diamond formation (which many fans were suspicious of). A brief flirtation with 4-2-3-1 around Christmas 2011 ended when the striker Billy Sharp was signed from Doncaster Rovers and paired with Rickie Lambert. Although the talismanic Lambert was occasionally used in a slightly deeper role thereafter, it was 4-4-2 that was Adkins’ default tactic, and it was to 4-4-2 that he returned after a chastening 4-1 defeat to West Ham at Upton Park. The Saints had enjoyed the better of the first half without really threatening, and after the match Adkins was asked by local radio whether he had considered a switch to 4-4-2, amid strong rumours that the manager was being told which players to pick and how the team should be set up (Lambert had surprisingly been missing from the starting XI). “We’re gonna play 4-3-3†Adkins repeated several times in response, almost as though reciting a mantra. Then came “The Man in the Glassâ€. In a slightly surreal press conference in the lead-up to the following game, at home to Tottenham, Adkins recited - in its entirety - The Guy In The Glass, a Dale Wimbrow poem which emphasises the importance of being “true to yourselfâ€. Saints lined up in a 4-4-2 against Tottenham - and chased shadows until a switch to 4-2-3-1 in the second half. By that point, they were already 2-0 down.

Undeterred, Adkins against went with 4-4-2 in the next game against West Brom at The Hawthorns. “It’s not about formations,†he told the media “it’s about getting the better players on the ballâ€. His team were comprehensively outplayed in a 2-0 defeat, and what were referred to as “crisis talks†with Cortese followed.

Having survived that meeting, Adkins reverted to 4-2-3-1 and the team embarked on a good run, beating QPR and Newcastle and having the better of draws against Swansea and Norwich. Marquee signing Gaston Ramirez became increasingly influential, playing behind Lambert in the “number ten†position. After a 1-0 defeat at Anfield though (incidentally the only defeat the team have suffered thus far this season when playing Ramirez through the middle of a 4-2-3-1), Adkins went back to 4-4-2. This brought a win over a wretched Reading (who also played 4-4-2), but also an insipid defeat against Sunderland. Suddenly Ramirez - comfortably the club’s record signing - was being deployed on the left wing and becoming peripheral. Even a return to 4-2-3-1 at Fulham on Boxing Day didn’t see Ramirez return to the middle of the pitch until the second half. Steven Davis - a neat and tidy box-to-box midfielder - surprisingly started as the ten. Cortese spent weeks agreeing the deal for Ramirez, which was considered a huge coup for Southampton. He cannot have been happy to see his crown jewel marginalised. Another, less expensive signing was that of Zambian forward Emmanuel Mayuka. Mayuka was recently (perhaps spuriously) voted the world’s 85th best player in a newspaper poll, but has hardly played since arriving from Swiss side Young Boys.

Taking the above into account, it seems obvious that there has been a disconnect between board and first team manager. Whether it is right or wrong that the board should influence selection and tactics, the model that Southampton have adopted involves continuity of tactics and style of play. Adkins is far from a long-ball merchant but he has been willing to abandon short passing when he has deemed it necessary to do so. The recent fixture at Stoke saw the Saints have less possession than a Stoke team that finished the game with ten men, as they adopted a more direct approach, presumably in an attempt to fight fire with fire. Even if this had been successful though (the match finished 3-3 as Saints squandered a two goal lead), it is inconsistent with the stated aims of the club as a whole. If Adkins - who, in the Southampton’s continental structure was merely a middle-manager - was defying the board and flying in the face of “The Southampton Wayâ€, his employers probably regarded him as insubordinate. Whether this mode of operation is right or wrong, Adkins was surely on borrowed time the moment he deviated from the script.

The irony of that is I think Adkins has made a lot of the mistakes Pearson has. For example the most effective player Ramirez (Knockaert for us) wasted in a wider role.

[Fox in exile]

I think all the talk of new managers is disrespectful to NP who IS our manager and deserves out unconditional support x

As a fan you have the choice if you don't like Pearson and the team he selects STAY AT HOME and get off the players' backs - by definition as a supporter we are there to SUPPORT the team not slag them off. We travel from Dorset to watch Leicester and I am always stunned at the negativity in the ground. It is easy to support a team that is always winning, it just requires a bit more faith when things aren't going so well. Let us do our bit as supporters and leave the team to Nigel Pearson - another manager now or in the next 12 months would be madness

[MattyFromLE]

Have you read the finances and Pearson's future thread Matty?

It does kinda put things in context.

Staying in the Championship, financially, is almost unthinkable.

God knows what squad we'd have next season.

It also shows how Pearson's hands are somewhat tied.

I've had a skim through, and it does seem that way doesn't it? I think for that reason that, they'll keep Pearson. They know that between him Steve Walsh and Craig Shakespeare that they can spot good, young footballers for lower wages and values, also - should they sack Pearson, they'd have to pay to end his contract, as well as negotiating with another manager.

We're down, but certainly not out. I'd love us all to get behind him and the team, even just for 12 more games.