Fitzhugh Fella

No HTH

Then while Ankersen is in charge we are royally fucked. God knows who the next boffin will be. Or perhaps Ankersen has wised up or perhaps the owner has wised up about Ankersen?

I think if you read my words you will realise it’s just an educated guess based on a lot of our signings mentioning god in their tweets. Probably reading into too much but I am all ears to anyone who can explain why Ankersen thought Jones was the right man.

Because it would explain the insane decision to employ Jones ie a fellow traveller. I can think of no other reason even though it’s far fetched.

Think you are wrong. If Sports Republic are genuinely in the game to take us forward I am sure they could offer GP an attractive package, even if the journey is likely to start in the second tier. We should be moving heaven and earth to make this happens. But I have no faith in Ankersen. Maybe Potter is not in the right lodge or maybe he’s not a church goer? I don’t know but my faith in us doing the right thing is diminished.

No thanks.

This to me is the most damning fact. Go down fine but make a fight of it.

Yep I agree. Still can’t for the life of me work out what Ankersen was doing. You only had to talk to Jones for two minutes to realise how unsuited he was. Makes me think there was another angle but perhaps I shouldn’t go there.

Going by recent Athletic articles things had deteriorated hugely under Ralph’s tenure

Norwegian newspapers are reporting the passing of ex Saints captain Tony Knapp. https://www.saintsplayers.co.uk/player/tony-knapp/

Why name a stand after a right wing, Covid denying, Putin propagandist?

I know he inherited quite literally a pile of shit but I can't say he has impressed me much, considering the low bar set by his predecessor. The defeat at home to Grimsby in the FA Cup is quite possibly the worst ever in our history if you take the position of the two clubs and the fact we were at home in the 5th Round. (Wrexham in 1974 were I believe in the third tier). Selles has already started to make odd selections (Elyounoussi) and is too cautious considering only wins especially at home are any good to us. To me he's just a poor man's Ralph. Nicer and more popular with the players, maybe, but really not the sort to set the club alight with spirit and fight. We're going down with a whimper, at least in the past there was a little blood spilt.

Yes we know. But are what we have currently any better? Did Ralph give him a decent run? Was he played in his strongest position? Was he properly man managed while he was here? If you ask me the Nathan Tella situation sums up this football club. Clueless on and off the pitch. He must be dreading coming back.

I agree with you in that he has always been very generous with his time towards the fans especially when charity is involved. I also think on balance he is our most gifted player of all time. But the downside is he is not very bright but …….. he certainly thinks he is. Many have forgotten his stupidity in giving the Pinnacle Consortium his support without ever checking their authenticity. Long after I showed him some paperwork that proved they were bogus he continued to insist they were genuine investors. Marcus Liebherr nearly walked away. We would have lost a superb owner who put us back where we currently are. No thanks to MLT. Now he spends all his time on right wing media outlets talking utter shite, some of it quite dangerous in terms of trying to persuade people not to have Covid jabs or denying atrocities in the Ukraine. Yes he is entitled to those opinions but he must realise his unorthodox views have certain repercussions. He blocks people who disagree with him on social media (so much for free speech) and rubs shoulders with some very unsavoury people. In short he has become an embarrassment to himself, the fans that worshipped him and Southampton FC. I was one of those worshippers but not any more. My distaste for his views have sullied my memories unfortunately. Putting players on pedestals usually ends in tears.

Well I had fair bit of (unpleasant) dealings with Cortese (which cost me quite a lot of money) so I felt qualified enough when I say I thought he was a c**t.

Spoken to quite a few players who played under him. Hardly any warmed to him. He never went out of his way to be liked. Some would say that's not a bad thing. I don't. Players will rend to go that little bit extra if they like the guv'nor

If it’s a good thing that the players disliked him and “morale was at rock bottom” then by all means cling to the myth we’d be better off keeping him. In my view, he would have struggled even if we had signed Messi in the summer. He talked the talk with the fans which is why he was liked, but back at Staplewood there was an unhealthy lack of respect. His man management skills were near to zero.

With respect, I beg to differ about him being "shit". I would still pick him over McCarthy. Yes he has made mistakes but quite literally so has everyone (on and off the pitch). He's very young, it's his first season in the PL and he is playing in front of a nightmare of a defence with none of them having any leadership qualities. His kicking is definitely better than McCarthy's who has also done plenty of those "awful kicking straight to an opponent" errors. I know it was only Div 1 last season but the one or two Portsmouth fans I have spoken to absolutely raved about him. Finally this is not the time to drop your 'keeper. What happens if McCarthy makes a terrible gaffe at Old Trafford - we then have two goalkeepers with confidence issues. I accept he is far from brilliant (at this moment in time), but we need to back rather than barrack him (and cross our fingers).

Wash your mouth my son

The back page of my newspaper this morning perfectly sums up the state of football in this country with its two stories. Firstly the FA’s secret endorsement of UEFA’s President (Ceferin) despite the shambles in Paris in the Final and the revelation in a US court that Newcastle’s chairman is a “sitting minister of the Saudi government”. The British footballing public have been utterly screwed by the authorities in charge of our game. It’s all about greed and profit nothing more nothing less.

It’s you who is being dramatic with your claim we were close to going out of business. Trust me that was never going to happen. There were people out there who had enough funds to step in if no one else did. They did not have Liebherr’s wealth but they were well connected and supporters of the club.

Yes we wuz robbed by VAR but that’s not really the point. We were worryingly awful. In fact our last two games under a permanent Selles have been disorganised insipid cluster fucks. The players the coaches, the Board and the owners have all let the fans down and a complete reboot is drastically needed. Assuming SR aren’t going anywhere, Dragan should dispense with Ankersen (the main architect of this carnage), appoint a Board who know how football works and aren’t afraid to stand up and be counted. Clear out all the coaches inc Selles in the summer and appoint a Potter type manager (he may even be available). Then work on the squad. Clearing out all the players who don’t look interested or are only here for their wages. That probably means promoting the youth who will at least have a hunger. The fact that players like Bednarek - who slagged us down when leaving for Villa - are given a starting berth shows how low we have sunk. Build a team around the likes of Jack Stephens ie someone who cares and who wouldn’t be out of place in the Championship. He may make the odd mistake but he sweats blood in the cause and that is what we currently lack. Bree is another who knows the Championship. We have signed too many mercenaries mainly from abroad who see us solely as a stepping stone. Adkins inherited some classy players but he augmented it with solid pros like Hammond, Harding, Sharp and Barnard etc. We had leaders on the pitch in Fonte and Davis. Yes the odd glamour buy from abroad maybe but the core of the team should be versed in the domestic principles of football where loyalty and local pride means something. Not easy I know, but the mess we are in needs major surgery and big sea changes in the way the club is run, to stop the rot. Otherwise we will be in free fall this time next year.

The biggest mistake in the summer was not signing a leader on the pitch. Last night we so lacked direction, organisation and most importantly a pair of bollocks. Someone in the mould of Jimmy Case.

Sounds like you are still in the hope camp?