MARTIN LING: How well would Southampton need to have done to save Nigel Adkins?
FOOTBALL is a results business so we're told.
But I don't think many managers in the game ever thought they could be sacked for success!
Most people reckoned that Neil Warnock was hard done by, getting the push at Queen's Park Rangers after taking them into the Premier League for the first time in 15 years.
They were struggling a bit, but surely Neil deserved the chance to try and keep them up.
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It was a long time since Spurs had done as well as they did under Harry Redknapp, for all the good it did him there.
And winning the Champions League wasn't good enough for Roberto Di Matteo to keep his job at Chelsea.
But this season events at Nottingham Forest and Southampton have left everyone shaking their heads. And that's putting it politely.
I think I'm right in saying that Forest had just beaten Leeds 4-2 and moved to within a point of the Championship Play-Offs when they sacked Sean O'Driscoll on Boxing Day.
But even that decision paled when Southampton showed Nigel Adkins the door last week.
After all, Nigel had taken Saints from League One to the Premier League in successive seasons. And after a sticky start, which I don't think surprised anyone, he'd got the team on a little run which hinted that he might well keep them in the top-flight.
The rumours that all wasn't well at St. Mary's have been doing the rounds for months, even after the job that Nigel had done there.
But one question keeps coming to my head – where would Saints have had to be for Nigel to keep his job? Pushing Man Utd for the title?
In light of what's happened, would even that have been good enough?
MANY congratulations to our League Two rivals Bradford City, for their amazing achievement in reaching the Capital One Cup Final.
Is there another country in the world where a team from the Fourth Tier could knock three Premier League clubs out of a major competitions and get to the final?
LASTLY, I've been 'on the wagon' during January, raising a bit of money via the 'Driathlon'.
It's been hard work at times, but one benefit is that I've lost a stone in weight.
I'm half-thinking about carrying on after the end of the month, but my missus is worried that there might be nothing of me left!
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