franniesTache

One of the few times i can admit a source is this thread. So i know A LOT about Gao and what his plans were for the club, that's because i know someone who worked directly with both him and his daughter when he was here. Gao if China hadn't stopped the money going out would've been incredible for the club, his plans were financially sustainable and would've put a lot of money into the club in the long term. Aside from investment into the team he wanted to invest in the city, in particular developing the area around st marys, but also investing in thing like the local universities too. Alongside that he wanted to set up satellite academies around the world - starting in China - and also set up "schools" abroad that used the clubs knowledge to teach others how to train, discover and manage young players. There was also a desire to have a "football business" operation in China that effectively trained chinese business people in the business side of the game (at a cost obviously) and train/accredit agents too. What was really interesting about Gao is that one of the reasons he was selected by katharina liebherr is because he was a devout buddhist and with her families christian beliefs she thought that made him more trustworthy and would care more about the wider city of Southampton and not just the club. Unfortunately the China decision on money pretty much torpedoed all of the plans (and also the job of the person i knew), but he could've been incredible for both the club and the city

Franny scored one of the "best" own goals i think i've seen, a diving header that beat our own keeper at the near post, think it might've been "for" Oldham or maybe Bolton but i could be wrong. The worst part about that was the absolute fucking imbecile Branfoot on signing them and selling Shearer saying that they'd score more goals in a season than Shearer would in the rest of his career. I genuinely think if we're talking worst then he's the worst manager by a country fucking mile. A few of my friends went pro and they were just in a completely different league to us, control, fitness, positioning, reading of the game, if they wanted they could literally just keep the ball away from you as long as they wanted and make it look easy. I even played against bartosz bialkowski with him playing on pitch, and even him as a keeper playing on pitch was the best player there by some distance, and he wasn't really trying too. Another controversial one for keep but Kelvin Davis in his first couple of seasons was as bad a keeper as i can remember us ever having, he had a habit of being chipped from distance and always seemed to be out of position. Obviously he did improve but he was so bad he ended up having a row with Saints away end at Sheffield Wednesday away one game

God i've seen some shit play for saints in my lifetime, but none, absolutely none, are worse than Lee Todd. Genuinely looked like a make a wish player, except the wish was to be picked for a sunday league team, and yet somehow he ended up on the pitch for Saints. Big shout as well to the useless Russians (?) we had under Nicholl, i remember Gotsmanov being so bad either the Ugly or On The March nicknamed him "Getimov" instead, and his compatriot Cherednyk was even worse if memory serves correct. Like others have said Paul Moody and Alan McLoughlin were utter garbage, and around the same time we had players like Frankie Bennett, David Lee, Craig Maskell who were the epitome of dross. Also special shoutout for the least talented footballer in terms of touch, skill, or reading of the game, that i think i've ever seen. Paul Wooton. If ever a footballer deserved the description of "agricultural" it was him. Oh and this won't be popular these days, but if you'd asked this question 15-20 years ago the name of a certain mr Francis Benali would've come up a lot.

Only posts round midnight though

Why would you put aside the fact that he's said he's a pompey fan, he's said their result is the first he looks for, he's said that it's his dream to manage them one day and they hold him up as a legend. Do you really want to go into a derby at fratton with someone that's said that as our manager?

It's completely embarrassing and plays to the egos of the poor sods on it. I actually think these things genuinely show the contempt that football clubs have for their fans, they think so little of us that they assume they can get away with a pat on the head and subdue the entire fanbase. Which to be fair is probably actually true now, because gone are the days of the difficult cunts that held the club to account like we used to have with SISA. Say what you like about Illingsworth, Perry etc. they gave a shit about Saints & Southampton and they did something about it even if it pissed off the club (which it often did) and risked them getting banned from the ground (which it sometimes did). This modern lot just suck up instead as if it'll somehow make them important/famous

The Fan Advisory Board is something each club needs to have based on the football league charter, it has absolutely zero power and is a marketing piece for the club/league. It's also fucking useless as these are the people that the club "consulted" on the god awful northam wall bollocks because they knew they'd get no pushback

Surely you're not talking about the Russian arms dealer nicknamed the merchant of death? I thought he was in prison in the US for supplying weapons to terrorists?

I think the original poster is spot on but my choice is to switch to watching the Baller League instead because those guys COOK! And it's not that deep

No playbook. No five pledges. No wonder we're going to shit. It would appear that the Southampton DNA is being unable to finish no matter what part of the club it is.

Funny isn't it @Turkish how when the COT alluded to this in the summer it was roundly mocked 👀

Gary O'Neil can fuck off, dirty skate bastard. Saying that we all know if they do sack Still (and i'm not convinced they will) it won't be anyone any of us have mentioned here, and definitely won't be someone who actually knows the championship. It'll be another "leftfield" appointment based on data and stats as they try and look clever but are actually fucking dinlows.

Sport Republic have tried hipster managers with Martin, long ball merchants in Jones and now a games workshop geek who's never played the game, none of which have worked. So given that i reckon the smart money is on Ramus' suggesting the next best manager is for the team to be picked by fans votes on social media.

Now seems the perfect time to release some 3d renders of an expanded St Mary's including a monkey chicken petting zoo and a new stadium for the women's team that's bigger than the ground for the men's team. WE MARCH TOWARDS INFRASTRUCTURE!

We've gone from struggling but staying up under Gao, to two relegations, five managers, and now four wins in 49 league games under sport republic. In times gone by there would be a fucking mutiny going on about how they're running the club, but we’ve got too many hipster out of town fans who want to be invited to the next club event so they can plaster their gormless faces on social media so don't want to challenge those who own us. What we need is more of the nasty old mushes we had back in the Branfoot and Lowe days to put some pressure on the cunts who own us, and an organised attempt to actually let them know that it's not even fucking close to good enough. But I'm not sure that that's what the modern generation want anymore, they're just happy we have the Northam “wall”, level 1 climbing wall, and £7.20 pints in the fan gulags.