If Southampton are relegated from the Premier League this season, I for one won’t be shedding too many tears.

Nicola Cortese jumped on the ‘foreign is best bandwagon’, bringing in someone who must be better purely on the basis that his name is harder to pronounce- James Calvert

Up until a couple of weeks ago I had a soft spot for the Saints. They appeared to be a well-run, progressive club with a young and talented manager committed to playing decent football.

But after the way the club treated Nigel Adkins, my respect for them has almost entirely evaporated.

Let’s get this straight: A manager gets you back-to-back promotions, leads you to 15th place in the Premier League, suffers just two defeats in 12 games, comes away from the home of the European Champions with a 2-2 draw, and you sack him?

In what alternative universe is that a justifiable course of action?

Then, to add insult to injury, why not let him find out about his dismissal via the television instead of face-to-face? The icing on a particularly unpalatable cake.

Not for the first time, Southampton’s chairman, Nicola Cortese, has shown himself to be a ruthless, calculating, emotionless man who has no natural love or affection for the game of football.

Worse that that, by doing his dirty work in such an underhand way, he showed an abysmal lack of respect for the very man who took his club to the promised land of the Premier League. In fact, his desperation to stay at the top table provoked him to stab that very man in the back.

Can you believe that Adkins didn’t even get a mention in the match day programme for the Everton game? Not so much as a footnote to thank him for his efforts or a little paragraph wishing him well for the future. It was like he had never existed.

To make matters worse, in replacing Adkins, Cortese jumped on the ‘foreign is best bandwagon’, bringing in someone who must be better purely on the basis that his name is harder to pronounce.

I have nothing against Mauricio Pochettino at all. But he is a manager with no experience of English football who was fired by Espanyol in November with the club bottom of the Spanish league with just nine points from 13 games.

But he’s Argentinean. So he must be better than Adkins, right? Of course he must.

What sort of a depressing message does this send out to all those young English managers in the lower leagues who dream of emulating Adkins’ achievements: doesn’t matter how well you do for your club, ultimately they will get rid of you to make way for a foreigner.

If Pochettino fails to keep Southampton up then I will, of course, have some sympathy with the club’s fans, who obviously had no say in the decision.

However, that sympathy will be somewhat tempered by the fact that they weren’t exactly up in arms over Adkins’ dismissal. Other than a bit of pro-Adkins chanting during Pochettino’s first game in charge last week, it was pretty much business as usual for them.

I know if a manager had taken my team from League One to the Premiership in consecutive seasons and then been replaced with little justification, I would have something to say about it.

But then again, maybe I give a little bit too much importance to values like respect and loyalty.

Adkins is a young manager with a bright future ahead of him. He will be back in the Premiership sooner rather than later, provided this whole experience hasn’t put him off football entirely.

As for Cortese, I can’t find the words to describe how much I hope this decision comes back to haunt him.

A hazardous encounter

Watching Eden Hazard kicking the ball boy on Wednesday night was one of those draw-dropping moments that football throws up from time to time.

In fact, in terms of shock value it was almost up there with the time Eric Cantona karate-kicked that Crystal Palace fan.

However, once the dust settled it became quite obvious to me that the incident was being blown out of proportion. Hazard was wrong, absolutely, and he deserved a red card for his actions. Even if he was trying to kick the ball you don’t take swipe at someone lying on the floor.

But that ball boy was hardly Mr Innocent in all this, was he? For a start, at 17 he is not so much a ball boy as a ball man. And the fact that he tweeted about his time-wasting abilities before the match showed his true intentions.

The player and the ball boy apparently apologised to each other after the game and that’s that as far as I am concerned.

A startling incident and one that certainly got plenty of media coverage. But little more than a storm in a tea cup in reality.

Bradford Phil their boots

Bradford City’s fairytale journey to the League Cup final is not just a triumph for the club itself but for every team that plies its trade in the lower leagues of the English game.

On Tuesday night Phil Parkinson’s team became the first club from the bottom division to reach the League Cup final in over 50 years. And, in doing so, they gave every fan of every smaller club in England a dream to cling to.

The real beauty of this particular fairy tale is that Bradford are going to be walking out at Wembley entirely on merit. Not only have they fought through from the very first round of this particular tournament, they have knocked out Wigan, Arsenal and Aston Villa on the way. One Premier League scalp could be written off as a fluke, but three is most certainly not.

When they went into the second leg of their semi-final against Villa, the entire football world (with the obvious exception of the home fans) was willing them to do the unlikely and hang on to the lead they established in the home leg.

And, despite being under siege in the first half, they did just that, growing in confidence as the game wore on and coming within the width of the crossbar of avoiding defeat.

Getting to the final secures Bradford’s future for years to come. Although they were once a Premier League club they have struggled financially for years, almost going out of business on several occasions.

But, as I said, this is not just a victory for one club but for all those clubs who spend their time rummaging around in the lower divisions of the game. As unlikely as it is, and as rarely as it may happen, there is always a chance of the dream coming true.

You have to feel slightly sorry for Swansea, who have been equally impressive in their own run to the final. Under normal circumstances, many neutrals, myself included, would probably have wanted them to go on and win it, especially if it was against one of the big boys.

However, I think it’s fair to say just about every football fan in England (let’s not forget Swansea are a Welsh club) will be wanting Bradford to finish the job off at Wembley.

After all, this isn’t just about the League Cup anymore is it? There’s a European place up for grabs as well.

And who on earth wouldn’t want to see Bradford in the Europa League…?

Appleton of their eye

Can someone please explain to me exactly why Michael Appleton has suddenly become English football’s must-have manager?

The 37-year-old is now on his third club of the season, having been head-hunted twice in a matter of months.

First he moved from struggling League One club Portsmouth to Championship side Blackpool, an understandable step up for him and a reasonable appointment by the Championship side.

But then, just a few weeks later, he was tempted away from his new job by Blackburn, who saw him as the ideal man to become their third manager of the season.

I understand that Appleton is young, eager and enthusiastic. And having worked under Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes, Roberto Di Matteo and Roy Hodgson, he does have some decent grounding. But that doesn’t change the fact that he has only been a manager for a year and hasn’t exactly set the world alight in his fledgling career.

At Portsmouth he only won 13 of his 51 games in charge, although he obviously wasn’t helped by the club’s ridiculous financial situation. Yet at Blackpool, a secure and stable team with some excellent players on the books, he only managed two wins out of 12.

So far at Ewood Park he has maintained his streak of averageness, with a defeat and a draw in his first two games.

The way things are going, if he can scrape together a few more games without a win, he could be in line for a move to the Premiership before the season is over.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade