The Odd Guy

Sunday 15th May Southampton v Liverpool

Paul Merson live on Sky:- "The 9-0 record is on....." Yeah, don't we fucking know it. Time to give Ralph his retirement package and tap up Steve Cooper who is doing miracles at Nottingham Forest

Excellent post Harv, I agree with all that.

Well…he can do my laundry anytime then.

Yep, and then you see how well Blackburn have spent that £15m and are now 2nd in the Championship, without AA...

Hootle tootle out.

Ralph Morecombehuttl "I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order."

Ralph trying to outfox Rafa ended up outfoxing himself with that team selection. This is Ralph’s third season, and he still hasn’t solved his defensive problems. Rafa has been away from the PL, lost 4-0 in a pre-season match against Man Utd, but solved his defensive problem against us. There seems to be a built in self-destruct button that goes off in Ralph’s head that he can’t switch off when we are in a winning position. The recruitment team have found players that could help Saints, and seven of them signed by Ralph, were in the starting line up. We can’t keep blaming the players, there is a good team in there for someone to find, but I don’t think Ralph is capable of finding it.

There were. A few good results doesn't hide the fact that Gao is and never was the right investor for SFC and two 9-0 proves it.

Thing is most of us joked about another 9-0 being on the cards but none of us thought it would happen in our lifetime. Judging by Ralph's reaction tonight I think he actually did know that and that is why he won't walk away... this time. There are only two people responsible for the two 9-0 defeats. Kat for selling and Gao for buying. We are stuck with two owners who have no interest in football. They won't lose any sleep over another 9-0 defeat, in fact they probably won't have watched the match or heard the result yet. Gao is the worst owner ever and the FA are just as bad for allowing him to pass the owners and directors fit and proper persons test.

I don't know who Tchaptchet is but it's another 250 trees.

I find a lot of the Daily Echo Saints articles are way behind for news, and nearly all are copy and paste jobbies. Also, no offence to anyone from here that post on the Daily Echo Saints pages but the comment section is by far the worst Saint's football forum(?) I have ever tried to read. Best avoided.

Is Forster eligable to play for us this season? If he is maybe Ralph will give him a few games and put him in the shop window, see if a PL club is tempted to buy our top earner. Celtic can't afford his wages even if we gave Forster to them for free and he won't take a significant wage cut even though it would guarantee him legendary status among the Cetic supporters. At £90,000 a week Forster can just sit it out and neither Celtic or Saints gets his services. I don't think he is bothered either way.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened in 2015, after Corbyn was elected Labour leader, if he had stuck to his principles about leaving the EU. Since the 70's Corbyn was very vocal about leaving the EU and even voted to leave. If Corbyn had stood by his conviction took the initiative while Johnson was still dithering and lead the leave campaign in 2016, would Johnson (a remainer at heart) had lead a remain campaign against him? Fair enough Corbyn would probably of had to give up being the Labour leader but surely fighting for something you have believed in your whole life is better than selling yourself out. Would Johnson have still beaten Corbyn?

All the very best to your Mum. She is in good hands mate.

Staff at St Thomas' have reported Boris Johnson is looking bloated, sweaty, generally dishevelled and talking incoherently. A Spokesperson said.. "It's encouraging to see him look like his old self again."

" Southampton Football Club have been made available for sale less than three years after the Chinese businessman Gao Jisheng purchased a controlling stake in the Premier League club. The Sunday Times understands that more than one broker has been invited to source a buyer for Southampton at an asking price of about £250 million. Achieving an enterprise value of around that level would allow Gao to leave English football at a sum similar to the amount the previous owner — Katharina Liebherr, who inherited the club from her late father — received for 80 per cent of Southampton’s shares in August 2017. Since Gao’s takeover the club have been repeatedly endangered by relegation, finishing 17th in 2017-18, and 16th last season. " The rest of the article is behind a paywall so I don't have the full story. Is there any truth in this? https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/southampton-put-up-for-sale-at-250m-3d57h22zs

Ralph's beard.

Utter madness, mind you it's not unlike when Cortese sacked Adkins really. I can't see the next Spurs manager getting in the top 4 never mind a CL final. I think in the long run Levy will regret sacking Poch. I can see the same decline happening to Liverpool and Man City when Klopp and Pep go.

A handy reminder of Ralph's and the clubs philosophy 3 months ago. Ralph Hasenhuttl has been explaining Southampton’s philosophy in the transfer market and insisted that he remains ‘comfortable’ with the way things work at the club. Saints have championed a strategy over the past years that entails recruiting younger, lesser-heard of players from across Europe before refining them and turning a significant profit. However, this model appeared to shift in recent transfer windows, and as such, the club faced battles to remain in the Premier League. Hasenhuttl is now at the helm and has been discussing how Southampton’s philosophy is carried out. He was keen to stay realistic and spoke to TV2 about the club’s aspirations for the future. The manager said: " We know our philosophy. It’s developing players who can move on to bigger clubs after a couple of years. That’s the way we are, and we’re comfortable with that. We cannot have the same goals as Liverpool and Manchester City. But we can have our goals, and last year we beat some of the big clubs. It means a lot. We learn a lot from it. Either we win – or we learn." Hasenhuttl’s comments will probably anger a section of the club’s fan-base; he is clearly aware of the limitations that have been set at St Mary’s Stadium under the current ownership and has not been tasked with achieving unrealistic feats in his first Premier League campaign. However, it is positive to see that we have a manager who continues to be transparent despite the evident restrictions of a tight transfer budget, and there is now a clear emphasis on returning to the ethos of nurturing young players, which had previously gone awry under the likes of Mauricio Pellegrino and Mark Hughes. Saints fans may want more money spent, and in an ideal world, we would be in a position to finance deals for players who could propel us to competing for the top seven again. https://readsouthampton.com/2019/08/20/hasenhuttl-explains-saints-philosophy-and-it-may-serve-as-a-reality-check/

Thanks, I don't pretend to be in the know or anything like that, it's just an observation and my own opinion which is pretty much how this forum works.

This isn't about Ralph being able to turn things around. The the man looks seriously ill and he doesn't look like a manager that is up to leading the players on some miraculous journey out of the bottom 3 ever. The damage has been done and what we are watching now is the demise of a once good manager who is now finding it impossible to make a comeback from a 0-9 defeat. I don't think Ralph can afford to walk away and I don't think Gao can afford to pay him off. There seems to be a standoff between Gao keeping Ralph to his contractual obligation and Ralph wanting to be paid off asap.

Is there even a person in place that is looking or has found a replacement for Ralph?

Well we gave it a fecking good go. Everton next. Silva could be gone by tomorrow.

Great determination so far. Like to see us surprise City by getting a early second half goal. If we win this and Aston Villa beat Liverpool Brendan Rodgers will be the winner...again.