gio1saints

It is that. Of course everybody feels bad - most of the posters are incredibly passionate about Saints. We all want to win not lose. But no need to start off that explanation with a bunch of abuse because another supporter see things differently and especially because they have a different view in how long the change required ( to enable us not just to be a survival specialist but actually, for once, be competitive at the top) will realistically take. Very fair points cannot disagree with that. Picking up on the Lallana part - and hypothetically how it might work : IF (and I think my views on this are well known!😁) RM is relieved and AL is asked to step in as caretaker it would /should probably / almost certainly be with an old hand helping him - or vice versa ( him as right hand man to an older gaffer - funnily enough Roma just doing exactly this …with Ranieri) as this is a relegation battle and hardly anyone decent AND experienced is gonna want to buy a almost guaranteed ticket to the Championship - and heap the iginomy of relegation to their resume. Unless there’s a big wad involved and they are past all that ego stuff of younger managers. Names like RVN are just nonsense imo. And I think Moyes would not take it either even though he’s about the best available out there. Or Southgate eeek! A short term deal basically. Not saying Redknapp age but you know the type I mean. Possibly battlescarred enough to play whatever football is required but no expectation of staying up. This foretells Probably an ugly end to the season with no style of play apparent just changing from match to match on a pragmatic basis according to the opposition. Many here argue we will have an even uglier end to season if we don’t change manager. Thats not my view btw. 😂. Nothing wrong with that pragmatic approach either.Its just not been the pathway of last 16 months There are plenty ways to play football. If and when we go down then the Board can assess whether to make the Lallana appointment permanent - or not. And whether to keep old gaffer- or not. But if you asked me to pick a Manager who knows how to get out the Championship and knows our players inside out and already has their commitment and buy in despite what’s happening at present in EPL - I’d say probably the best ( and most cost effective - that IS important to the biz front forget ) is to keep RM. If he goes second best is Moyes with AL on a short term til end season deal and then review.

QED. Come back at me and say you disagree- but preceding it with this sort of stuff - from you and too many others - is why it’s rare you see a pro RM or optimistic aligned post on here. 👍

Another classic non sequitor for you to look at and sigh…. We did well last three matches last season. If we played same way the 43 before we’d have also done better…..and yet that 3 match style has not set the EPL on fire for us has it? You couldn’t make it up. It ain’t necessarily so as they say ~ but at this stage of the pitchfork wielding party pointing out the inconsistency and illogical nature of some of the posts here gets you nothing but a target on your own back also.

I used to work as the Leader of a public facing organisation. I was the ultimate go to person for complaints. One of the most oft heard tropes of complaining was when the complainer switched the issue from being a personal matter to them to being a matter that “many” are upset about. This was often because the original complainer felt that they needed further numbers to back up the complaint. The more the better and the more likely to get a result . The big clue is when the complainer start to move away from the “I” to the plural “ WE”. The idea being this gives more authority and validity to the complaint or issue. Conversely it also indicated to me the paucity of the original complainers issue- the sooner I heard the “ we” the more I knew the issue was more personal than a class suit for example. In Saints case we have c 30,000 at each home game and countless hundreds of thousands around the world. When using the term “ we” it’s important to note that the original complainer has not got a little mini clubhouse of his own at which they debate proposals such as these but rather that the OPhas made a quantum leap in suggesting that anyone who does not agree with him must be a “ deluded supporter” and “ pathetic” because The WE can mean him and three mates a hundred mates but it certainly does not represent the Saints diaspora. Indeed to even imply one speaks for the diaspora probably qualifies as pathetic and deluded more than the original point. The poster in question may well be correct in his criticism - but to use the “ we” when the last home match the Northam was full behind RM suggests he’s taken rather a leap and got overexcited in his trash talk. And I thought I was the one best known for getting a bit ott at times, this poster seems to spend most or all his time in posts attacking saints in one shape or form. Perhaps he should co side wether he is at the right club it offends him so much?

@manjitotally hear you. When you me Cato and Fab stop posting alternate ways of interpreting our situation this place will become an echo chamber. Yiu are right- you want plenty of likes post RM is a cubt or similar, want to be the next one called that? Argue that nomenclature is not necessarily so and reasonably argue why. Pretty standard though. Most people like to hang out in big groups. It’s safer, even if the big group does not truly represent them. You step out of line you become a target too- as you, I and a few others know to our cost.

Very funny - but I hope Russell Martin and all of us continue to fail~ in a positive way because healthy life is all about trial and error. 😁 The embracing of failure - and the supporting of those who dare - is actually a very powerful way to improve - especially the mental side of things - and it’s nothing new and not invented by Ankersen. For example I spent all last season hoping Sam Edozie would take on his right back -by season end he’d virtually lost his courage in that regard - this season I’d almost given up that we have a forward prepared to take players on until Tyler showed he’s not afraid to fail. Yes to be brave with the ball much as that’s apparently something to roll your eyes about on here. Why should it be any different with a Manager? Do we want him to be afraid to fail? He has to dare because Saints don’t have the best players or the most money - and in being daring ( insert stupid or arrogant for those who dislike him personally) that obviously risks failure. Public catastrophic failure. In that regard I can understand if Ankersen has empathy for RM and whole heartedly wishes him to ultimately succeed - it would be a powerful story for everyone who has ever been doubted vilified and abused - on a massive public stage - yet still turned up and ultimately overcame.

You really have a thing about me don’t you. Please put me on ignore if that what you really think. If it’s not what you really think who is the troll?

Understand your point and it’s what many feel so you are in a big majority. If you really want to understand how I see it - not how many others do let’s take that for granted - then I’d like to add that I don’t find this number of defeats and this number of points from a team of this so-so calibre under a newbie EPL Manager, attempting something different, a surprise. My idea of how long it might take to reverse out of the tailspin we were in season before last and start to break into that football aristocracy ceiling is counted in years not weeks. It is not linear either - that’s the ideal but it’s also totally unrealistic. The likeliest trajectory may be more of a roller coaster. So- I’m not a proponent of “ go out and lose on purpose to fulfil some daft principles” I’m simply supportive of our club which i see trying to do something bigger than just survive in the EPL. It’s not working at present but I admire the sentiment and wish them every success. Sainrs( SR) can employ a standard manager play a standard way and get standard results ~ pretty easily. But we will always be little Southampton as a consequence (imo based on our history) and firmly in our place scrapping for crumbs like we’ve done for over a century. We won’t win the league we might get a cup run and we will eventually be back to battling relegation year on year with the bottom ten clubs in the league. Thats not authentic living or competing ~ thats servitude dressed up as football. Fed up of that. Fed up of the built in unfairness of the Leagues system that favours the bigger clubs.

Dear God. Talk about deliberately twisting and misreading my post. Wow. Congratulations.

That’s fair enough Whitey, each to their own. Some find chess exceedingly boring, 5 day test cricket ditto. I’m maybe unusual in my particular appreciating of ( rare) nuances - not the obvious - in those kind of sports and I can see same in the way we play despite the current results. Like you, I’ve watched hundreds if not thousands of Saints matches so I can honestly say I’ve seen the good the bad and the ugly in all different ways with Saints, home and away. Perhaps as I’ve aged and I realise Father Time is catching up with me I’m hoping for something different for Saints than what’s been served the last fifty or so. Because if we do what we always done it’s likely going to end the same way. With tears for Saints fans. Maybe RM is not the answer - but this attitude to bravely stick to your principles surely is. And I respect it more than temporary results.

Nope it’s not happening atm. The strong probability is that SR “ give up”. And my view then is that we will revert to our average of the last fifty years plus that ive been folliwingSaints ie mediocrity. I don’t say it’s the only way really. Miracles happen. But when you’ve watched the best of Southampton fc - and for me that was early mid eighties and it was still not good enough - I do not sense playing on the battlefield of the EPL’s choosing is our best shot anymore. There has to be another way. And it will appear crazy and its advocates will also appear crazy. And it is still incredibly likely to blow up in our fa e as is currently all too apparent. But Saints fans should be proud not angry that we lead the resistance.

We both know the answer is zero. But I hope you understand my point, which is that with FFP and the Premier League the way it is there remains ZERO chance that we can even aspire to becoming one of the aristocratic teams of English ( and world) football. Saints fans can aspire to win promotion to the EPL and then struggle to stay in it - maybe a Cup run, that’s what we have to describe as success. And we have done that quite well over the years. The season we do even mildly well ( say, mid table EPL a Cup Final, we will then sell our best player(s) to the big clubs. Big clubs, who by virtue of ring fencing their monopolistic baked in position via the FFP rules solidify there position further. The results of the matches barely matter anymore as it’s a foregone conclusion. The days when you might see a Huddersfield Leeds or a Derby, a Notts Forest or a Southampton battling for the title are over , finito. So, SR own a business to make money but know that we won’t win the league or anything like that. The cover story is that with this extreme style of play under RM we may be able to make up for all the rest of the barriers to getting up there. The theory goes that if you carry on playing by the big guys rules you will just get the same results we always get - Saints one big cup in a hundred years no league winners trophies…..George Orwell paraphrased fascism as a jackboot smashing into one’s face, forever. Playing the way the others play is the same as agreeing to have that jackboot smashed in our face, forever. It means continuing Being Saintsy like we have been all the time not win anything etc. Playing the way RM asks is 99% going to give the same result - so my view is what’s the loss? I don’t consider relegation as a purely negative setback if that’s what happens. It can be effective negative feedback to improve and refine the system he espouses.Defeat and Losing is often the best form of learning. His way of playing “ Russball” is not even new, just a slightly more exaggerated version of what many clubs already do anyway- but at least he believes if the players master it there is a chance we can win league win cups. My view is we can always return back to mediocrity like we have been practically ALL our history - but I’d rather be outstandingly bad in the cause of being outstandingly good and stay that good than just a forever also ran mediocrity struggling from year to year. I know many will disagree and suggest we will go down multiple leagues and the club will fold etc etc. We’ve been there too btw so I don’t have fear of playing Walsall away in Div2. I have more fear of not trying g to escape the net that we and most the other teams are trapped in. Our freedom and integrity is more important than obsequiousness to the EPL. That under SR and RM we have a set up still prepared to fight the system should be a matter of pride ~ not disgust and fury from supporters.

Classic straw man argument. (a) I agree it has been demoralising for supporters. (b) it has ( often) been fucking dreadful (c) but where the fuck - apart from your insinuation have I said that it’s not? This part of thread is only saying at times bit unlucky. Fuck me, you see my name and make up whatever lying shit you like as a response don’t you?

Ryan Manning had a perfectly good shot on goal, which went in, disallowed. Both wolves goals were clear fouls. Another day that’s 0-1 Saints. Yes we’ve been Lacklustre at too many times and totally so in certain matches- and absolutely we’ve been toothless. Strikers been shite. But that’s not the issue of the post. I just saying we also been a tad unlucky. Should not cause too much consternation amongst those reading. Few correctedRef decisions we in bottom five still with the other four not very good teams - but not rock bottom as we are.

We been unlucky a few times. That’s cost us 4-6 points.imo. Thats it. You disagree? Ok. Perfectly fair. But 19 shots at Newcastle and no goals? Three diabolical Ref decisions v wolves? We are so unlucky at times this season that there’s no green to rub off anymore. I’m not saying alls great, But not everything about Saints is as bad as some here keep saying. Barely anybody pipes up to say so. Dont mistake that silence for everyone agreeing with all that’s said anti RM on here.

That’s your opinion Whitney. I pointed out maybe 4-6 points could have been for us but for bad luck.. There is nothing getting straight about whether I have to accept your opinion, that we deserve nothing, it’s just an opinion. I think we’ve been a bit unlucky. At times. Thats all. It’s not the reason we are bottom but it’s part of it for sure. “Putting me straight “ in your usual manner does not make your opinion more right. “ Getting what we deserve “ is similarly an opinion. I do not follow your opinion nor need putting straight on it. It is so easy to be black and white about our situation bottom of league fall points when there are obvious nuances to the picture. Nuances I point out but often get drowned out by the it’s all bad crowd.

I love Le Tiss. He was the BEST player in the league when at Saints. The BEST. And the system still fucked him and Saints over not playing for England. You so wrong and you don’t really understand me at all if that’s what you think.

No, I’ve always supported Saints passionately - even the 90’s. If anything what I hate- and this is with the benefit of five decades supporting Saints hindsight, is that I was ( or perhaps more accurately AM) still conditioned to feel grateful for being slightly better than a relegated team ~ as a Saints fan ~ while the usual suspects lorded it over us year after year. I don’t want them going on about plucky relegation avoiders Southampton anymore. Id like us to break that ceiling and smash that fucking monopoly that the big clubs have. We don’t have enough money to do it though. And FFP means we probably never will. So we will never have the best players- or not for more than a few transfer windows that is until we sell. So how are we going to do it? Appointing a top Manager like David Moyes to play effective but compliant to the status quo football is simply more of the same Ive seen for over 50 years. I want Saints to be the best club in the fucking world. AT least with RM there appears a plan. Not working though. But it’s not more of the same. Keep trying I say. Don’t give up and concede revert back to the same as rest of them.

I have not see the plan so cannot tell you accurate physical targets but assuredly bottom with this few points is not hitting a target. It would, however, be in the realm of possible or even probable eventualities preseason for SR. All I have is my impression that we are trying to break the mould trying to do something that should be impossible. Being bottom three is not and should not be coming as a surprise to SR. There are so many examples in so many spheres of life in which persistence courage and stubborn never say die belief beats better stronger bigger challenges. Unlike many I also see merit in most of our performances to date. Points not there yet, but, to me, clear signs in game performance that it CAN work. Don't believe in luck but we certainly have been fucked out of at least four or six points this season already which would make the position more realistic and we have some decent players. ( not enough though- too many not good enough). IF and WHEN it clicks it should be orgasmic. IF it does not, and time is run out already probably, we will have to start again from the Championship. Not a shame. I enjoyed watching us win for a change last year. Not Sry if that sounds “ unambitious” but if anything I am more ambitious that the RM out crew as I do not want the endless mediocrity we experience as Saints fans to be our forever destiny. I’d rather we go down playing and believing in a cause than whimper and grovel around the bottom of the league a Few years - and then go down when it’s our turn anyway.

Appreciate the fair way of asking - thank you. If RM was found guilty of criminal activity he should go. If we go down two leagues he should go. If he loses his composure and starts biting back at fans, blaming them - he should go. Otherwise I think he has a two or three year contract? If he has not delivered in that time or we are not sufficiently progressed on the long term plan ( that I have not seen but can guess at) then do not renew. Week by week results I’m not so obsessed on as the rest here. I try to look longer term. RM is there not just to deliver for SFC ~ but to deliver for SR. And frankly that’s the more important part. If he is not delivering to SR he will be gone soon enough don’t worry. I personally do not want that to happen and hope that a man we’ve given two or three years to fix something will be allowed that two or three years to fix it. As others have said- replacing him is unlikely to change the outcome of this season. Second half of this season is basically a free hit for the concept and playbook, without the pressure or fear of relegation.

@Farmer Saint is one of the few talking sensibly on here atm. Maybe running a farm gets you realistic about real life but I don’t think his assessment of our current situation is too far wrong. People should listen carefully cos he knows his stuff. Even if he is a part of that satanic devil worshippers cult that taunt and tease saints fans every transfer window. 😁 Having said that, I personally disagree with his and the general consensus opinion of RM and our tactical approach on here. That is largely to do with my personal perception of how long it takes or might realistically take - and what might be necessary- to change Saints from what they were 18 mths ago to where I and most Saints supporters would like them to be. And where is that? Well put it this way, I’m tired of us being also rans, of being plucky losers, of losing our best players year after year and trying to “ compete” on an unfair pitch versus the “ Big Boys”. Brief Moments of happiness interleaved with seasons of mediocrity and struggle is the quick 1 sentence history of our club. I despise the system that perpetuates this and I resent that it keeps not just Saints but about 90 other clubs in the leagues formally in there place- permanently. If there was a vote for having a revolution in football I’d vote for it. But that’s not happening. Extreme times call for extreme measures. What RM is doing is nuts. It’s crazy stupid. It’s extreme. Fuck it we’ve tried everything else my view is go all-in on this approach for as long as SR have the funding and see where we get to. Can we create a new football superpower legacy ? We’ve not done so in 100+ years of trying mainly conventional ways so hold onto your courage let’s go! WWE are probably going down anyway. We’ve been in Div one and got back. Long timers have seen the cycles endlessly repeat. This way of doing it is different. Disastrously so? Maybe but relegation is relegation and we been there a bunch of times and it does not scare me. Disaster to me is doing what we always do and historically have done - sack the manager abandon the plan lose the belief- and What scares memory is NOT trying to break this stranglehold and seeing the game eventually get snuffed out. Cos that’s what’s happening.

Mike Channon was a generational talent agreed. But you asked who does that today? Closest we have is Tyler Dibling. Everything points to a rosy future for him. Last year I’d say KWP was our only player regularly running at and past / around players with the ball. Mateus has already ghosted past players with the ball on a number of occasions this season and he too looks destined for greatness though it’s early days for both him and Tyler for sure. But both are at least starlets already.

Detecting sense of humour failure.

It’s not just you. 😁. And it’s been most matches actually. We just not got the recipe right. Yet. Maybe we won’t ever - but Saints under RM will keep trying despite the wailing. PS. Please don’t tell the others because it upsets them as they think players only go on the pitch to massage Russells’s ego ~ not to actually win matches. 🤩. True. To be fair, All the players say it as well. Theres tons of quotes from these players saying the same thing “ I only joined because Russ told me he wanted a Trump sized ego and said I was the player that could help him get there “ or “ when Russ called me and said how do I feel about making him the least successful most overrated Manager in Saints history I leapt at the chance”. But I suppose the best one was from Ramsdale “ Russ told me that my lower back would be strengthened beyond belief the number of times I’d have to bend over and pick up the ball from the back of my net, that clinched it for me, I’ve always had lower back issues and this, finally, was someone who offered a professional and rational way to get better”. 😇

Jeez. You are the desperate one. Can you not just use ignore cos you can’t help posting personal abuse to me even on a simple congrats post even.