Willo of Whiteley

Two and a half weeks to get a proper formation and a proper starting eleven pencilled in. Liklihood of no striker, maybe Dibling and Fernandes not in the squad, Sugawara starting and Bree at CB, rather high I would say. Mateta will carve through like a knife through butter. I can see Eze running the show and Essé (?) becoming the Olise replacement in this game. 3-0 defeat. The fact the club are still trying to flog adult tickets for £25-30 is hilarious.

I’ve always loved the idea of being a scout. There’s a wealth of talent in the lower leagues. I probably watch more EFL and non-league nowadays than the Premier League. It’s a lot more enjoyable, less predictable, not as dull, pure chaos at times and those talents absolutely shine through.

I don’t disagree with any of the above. I think we all wanted it to work and ultimately it hasn’t for a whole multitude of reasons. Whoever comes in next it needs to be with long term aspirations. A style of play. An attacking mentality. A dominating mentality. We take the game to the opposition, we don’t crumble under pressure etc. I’d like to see 75% of the current squad shifted along. I’m sure there will be wholesale changes, none of this loaning out of players, if they don’t want to be here - get rid, simple as that. They are of no benefit staying on the books. I hope the next manager is allowed to make decisions for the good of the team. Not for the good of Sports Republic’s stupid multi-club model. Imagine being brought in as the new manager and told “The Goztepe loaners from last season must be used by Saints in the Championship this season”, you’d be pretty hacked off (dependant on ability). Let the new DoF and manager work together and build the club up. SR need to win supporters back quickly. The right appointment is essential.

I wasn’t expecting those kind of responses. I’m just saying do I think that Ivan Juric has done much to improve the team - no I don’t. Do I think he is the answer for next season - no I don’t. The only metric we’ve even slightly improved on is goals scored by something like 0.2%, out goals conceded is got worse, so are we arguably worse defensively - yes we are. Do I think that we’d be in double figures if we’d stuck with Russell Martin - yes I do. IJ has tried to tinker to often and has basically played everyone out of position and with no midfield since his first game. His first game as manager may as well have been him turning to the squad and saying “spread your cheeks, lads” because that’s effectively what has happened. Do I think Russell Martin would’ve benefitted from Johannes Spors coming in sooner - absolutely. But ultimately with results the way they were Russell Martin had to go after that Spurs game. In hindsight even after that Spurs game do I think we should’ve stuck with RM over Ivan Juric - yes. Wouldn’t it have been nice to play that run of games over Christmas and new year with players in the right positions etc and no self sabotage. Even if he’d only stayed til the end of this season and then we got rid of him I think that would’ve been better. I hope this helps. It’s all a game of opinions. To answer an earlier question, no I am not on glue. 😂

I think most would take him back over Ivan Juric. I think had people known what a failure IJ was going to be they’d have preferred leaving him in place. He gave us one of the most enjoyable seasons we’ve had for years. Play off trophy, a win at Wembley, triple beating of Leeds who were favourites for the title, unforgettable comebacks, dominant performances. You can’t slate him, he did exceptionally well last season with those around him, the club and fanbase was united. He’s ultimately failed due to two things: 1) His stubborn tactics on occasion, persisting with the same thing again and again and thinking it will change. 2) The summer window, lack of backing and lack of direction. He was naive to think the likes of Ryan Fraser and Alex McCarthy would be suitable for the Premier League, yet stood by them out of loyalty. No director of football meant he was largely ok to scatter gun his signings with no thoughts or seemingly a committee to bounce ideas off. Since his Sky appearance he appears to have realised his mistakes. If he last learned to tinker and attack teams with pace rather than pass out from the back consistently. I’d take him back now. But that ship has sailed, so whoever comes in next I hope it’s Spors decision, I hope that it’s a manager that wants to be here, I hope it is attacking football, and I hope it’s someone that will try and stick around longer than the previous footballing hierarchy (DoF, manager etc).

This £100m fee on his head has no doubt been leaked by the club to effectively deter potential clubs. If clubs are serious, then great; if they aren’t then bugger off. I’m sure they’ll be a middle ground in there somewhere. Let’s be honest we all know that he hasn’t been a £100m player at all in his career. He’s a young player with a lot of learning ahead of him still. You’d hope his little stint at Chelsea, albeit for a month a few years ago, will make him think carefully about his next move. My guess is he’ll stay, maybe an extended contract with some form of clause dependant on if promotion is gained in a years time, or a big club comes in for him.

Having watched his first interview, he talks a good game, but he needs to gets fans onside and the footballing operation united pretty quickly. This is arguably a worse time than relegation two years ago, because in theory you’d have expected SR to have learnt from their mistakes. They’ll be under more pressure this time, and for now that pressure will be on Spors. Really hope it works out. Really hoping his first decision - the manager - is a success. It cannot be Ivan Juric, these past few months are evidence that he is not the man to continue.