Wave Goodbye Perhaps? Tonda Eckert and Saints turn their sights towards West Brom at St Mary’s under the lights on a Tuesday. If you look at current form then Saints have three home wins in a row and West Brom have seven away defeat in a row but as we all know, Saints are and have historically been the team you want to play if you are on a shit run.

Championship Golden Boot Here I Come Birmingham City, freshly promoted out of League 1 are the visitors to St Mary’s this afternoon, in a game where we find out if Tonda Eckert can deal with the adversity that we happened upon last week at Millwall. Friday morning arrived with reports beginning to do the rounds that Tonda would be given the permanent job, which is what happened in the evening, with him signing a deal until the end of next season, which is when the parachute payments run out, so Sport Republic have put all the eggs in this particular basket.

As First Halves Go, That Was Alright Leicester City under the lights at St Mary’s. What could possibly go wrong? Before Leicester fans start crowing too much about previous victories against us, they would do well to remember that they have been in the same division as us for the last four years as both clubs have gone down, up and then down again and now find themselves with expectations of competing near the top of the Championship this season.

Last Time at St.Mary's - Anthony Taylor Had an Obstructed View Leicester City under the lights at St Mary’s. What could possibly go wrong? Before Leicester fans start crowing too much about previous victories against us, they would do well to remember that they have been in the same division as us for the last four years as both clubs have gone down, up and then down again and now find themselves with expectations of competing near the top of the Championship this season.

Expect Shit Like This if Charlton Win About halfway through the international break it became apparent that Saints were not going have a permanent new manager in charge for today’s visit to Charlton Athletic, and that interim boss Tonda Eckert would still be in place and locking horns with a certain Nathan Jones. The irony is that in a week where we’ve been talking about Sport Republic managerial appointments and generally how crap they have been, Jones was of course the first managerial appointment by Sport Republic, championed by Rasmus Ankersen for his metrics accrued with his Luton town side in the Championship that Rasmus assured us were going to translate to the Premier League.

"Which One of Us is Doing This Thing Then?" November international break is tranditionally a managers graveyard but Saints couldn't even give the Will Still project until then before pulling the trigger. Even the best intentioned 'long-term project' will hit the rocks if the results are poor and the expectations are high in the short term, especially when the fans have had enough of losing over a long period and turn on the board in a very public way in a home game.

What Could Have Been One of the most important qualities you can have as you navigate your way through life in general or through life as a football fan is that of perspective. Perspective is something that gets completely lost these days, with social media being the way it is and patience at an all-time low. It can always be worse for other people or in this case, other clubs or fanbases.

Behold the Messiah This evening‘s game against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road has taken on new significance with Saints decision to part company with Will Still on Sunday evening. It’s funny really. He was always going to get sacked once “Sport Republic go out of our club”, rang round St Mary’s on Saturday, because Sport Republic were always going to do something as a result of being the brunt of all the criticism.

Three defenders and a keeper, one striker, goal Following the double shit shows on the road in Bristol and Blackburn, it’s time for a return to St Mary’s to play Preston North End. We played them last time in the Championship and they were absolute shite as we won easily by 3-0. Oh for that today. We were supposed to play them earlier on in the season of course, but the game was cancelled because of the fire in the warehouse behind the Chapel End.

Jhonny Viafara.... he's had worse days Like this one... When I looked at the two games we had coming up this week, away trips to Sheffield United and Derby, I set a target four points and was of course expecting the Sheffield United game to be the more difficult one, despite The Blades being lower in the League table. The target has been revised though because having won at Bramall Lane, we don’t want to waste that by dropping points today.

Who's Number 9 Baby!!! When Sheffield United lost the playoff final against Sunderland last season, a series of events were kickstarted that have led us to where we are today with Saints visiting Bramall Lane. Firstly, Sheffield United‘s new owners decided that 93 points and a narrow playoff final defeat was not enough and they wanted to bring in their own man as manager, so Chris Wilder was sacked.

Have some of that! Middlesbrough visit St Mary’s in rude health, four points clear at the top of the league and I would expect, reassessing their ambitions for this season. Having been in the Championship since 2017 and having parted company with Michael Carrick at the end of last season, I expect they were looking for a season of consolidation but when you start the season with five wins and a draw out of six under manager Rob Edwards, sights tend to get readjusted.

"And now Hugo, I've got to pick between those two goalkeepers?" Middlesbrough visit St Mary’s in rude health, four points clear at the top of the league and I would expect, reassessing their ambitions for this season. Having been in the Championship since 2017 and having parted company with Michael Carrick at the end of last season, I expect they were looking for a season of consolidation but when you start the season with five wins and a draw out of six under manager Rob Edwards, sights tend to get readjusted.