CLUB captain Jason Dodd says the Saints players should shoulder some of the guilt over the axing of Steve Wigley.

Dodd is sad to see a man he respects highly leave Saints following Wednesday's dramatic arrival of Harry Redknapp as the fourth manager of 2004.

"I'm very disappointed," said Dodd. "I've known Steve for years and years before he became a manager so I'm really disappointed - a bit guilty.

"You think 'could I have done more, could I have done this or that?'

"I hope all the players feel a bit guilty because it is down to us. He couldn't have prepared us any better, we've just not gone out there on a Saturday and performed."

Many supporters expressed their doubts about Wigley, but Dodd is adamant that the former reserve team manager and director of youth could not possibly have done more.

"There's no doubt Wigs will find somewhere else and very quickly because the sessions he put on were fantastic," he said.

"As I said, we just couldn't take it from training pitch to match pitch.

"He got us prepared for the game and he could not have prepared us any better. From our point of view we just did not go out there and perform.

"If you saw us on the training ground, we worked very hard and it was sharp and good stuff.

"But for some reason, we couldn't bring that to the match pitch and that is why we are in the position we are in. We have got to take some of the criticism because obviously if we are winning games, Steve Wigley is still here.

"But the bottom line is that this does happen in football and you've just got to get on with it."

Dodd says the players would love to see Wigley stay.

"We don't really know what Steve is going through, you never know what went on," he said. "The players would love for him to still be here. The sessions that he put on and the dressing-room were fantastic."

Redknapp will be Dodd's 12th different manager since he joined the club under Chris Nicholl in 1989.

He admits it is always a bit strange to begin with. "From my point of view, I'm in the same boat as everyone else," he said. "A new man comes in and everybody is on edge - at the end of the day that's what happens in football.

"It's strange and we don't really know how it will go.

"None of the players have worked under the new manager before and it is just what other people say to you about what he is like.

"You are on egg-shells a bit to start and it is a strange scenario.

"You are going to get players that were in the side who will be a bit edgy, because it is a new man and players that were not in the side who thought they were never going to play who will think 'I've got a chance' and might up their game."

Of tomorrow's game against Middlesbrough, Dodd knows it presents yet another chance to finally kick-start the season.

He added: "There's been games when we have thought we could push on, but we haven't. With Christmas and New Year coming we can spring on from there. "If we get two or three wins we can be right up there."