rshephard3

Oh, I see. Well I now feel pretty silly for my cynical pessimism about a Swiss billionaires daughter liquidating a massive inheritance asset and in so doing burdening my local club with huge interest payments on borrowed monies shuffled swiftly away from a communist system ready to either take over the world or go pop (or indeed both). The only question which remains then, I guess, is whether the mega casino and loosely football themed mega theme park will allow payment in GBP as well as Chinese Yuan. I bloody love it when a plan comes together. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

People’s ability to suggest any lows at SFC are really anything much to do with the fans never ceases to amaze me. Some even suggesting people are plastics for turning up last night in the ****ing rain and terrible traffic for a televised match to watch a team who average less than a point a game at home across more than 2 seasons. Can only assume these people are simply on a wind up. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Worst decision I made was to go last night. Ridiculously following a day working away in Leicester! Agree reference goal difference - now joint worst in the league and unrecoverable all season now - the equivalent of 6 defeats in one hit in this column. As a wider picture, this has been coming for a number of years now and we show more signs of a Villa/Sunderland style drop following a pulling of any appropriate investment every week. The fans were amazing last night but their pride is in the club, the city and it’s history, not the current pathetic custodians of the shirt, the previous majority owner who sold the clubs soul or the new owner who bought it in a deal propped up on matchsticks. The players were beyond words last night - 10 men or 11, to be so slow as to look 4 or 5 divisions below your opposition in a league game is simply unforgivable. RH didn’t have a chance coming into the club at the point he did. A winter of discontent beckons, the fans as ever remain resolute. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If I didn’t think emoji’s were **** I’d do a smiley face at this. I genuinely thought the club had made their only decent fan centric move in the past decade when I read the start of that letter.. redeveloping part of the space around the ground for a season ticket holder only social space.. perfect.. only to find I was expected to pay for it on top of my season ticket. How do they expect fans to stay onside when the thing is such a shameless money making corporate enterprise run by a non existent Far Eastern owner.. place is like a bloody shopping centre. Roll on the Championship (which, based on the opening day, may be a little closer than some may want to believe). Premier League finished as a spectacle some years ago. Moan over, I’d better get back to Instasomething to see what Paul Pogba has posted about his favourite place to eat out.. Because that’s what’s interesting about football now right? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Those calling for a squad of experienced top flight pro’s were clearly head down, arse up back in 2005 when an extremely experienced squad and manager embarrassed themselves thoroughly in finishing bottom. Let’s not call this season and lasts Saints finest hour, however, let’s remember the highs and lows of the past 14 years or so and not all start wetting ourselves. Great to see Saints fans turning on the club for chucking a few kids in and all, great job and please don’t feel the need to renew if we end up in the Championship. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They get plenty of work life balance whether in the PL or League 2. It’s not a job, it’s a hobby and a bloody brilliant one, which gets paid extremely generously. I suggest if any of them are under any illusions about listening intently and respectfully to their manager and carrying out his wishes they f*ck off out of this football club in the next window. The pathetic application of this group is inexcusable and embarrassing given their top level experience/international caps as a collective in comparison to the other clubs around them. When you can’t sell out at home to Man Utd you know it’s time to ship a bunch of these over complacent fellas out at the first opportunity. The day I hear a footballer complaining about work life balance is the day I never set foot in a stadium again [emoji23] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Exactly this. The bleating on social media about yesterday’s Austin goal/stupid interview bo**ocks has distracted from the fact the club has now won 5 league games in last 43 attempts under multiple managers. Draw was fair result, both teams had a shocker ref decision and Saints continue with a run that is simply pathetic. Club need to tone down the training pics and patronising We March On nonsense. Get it off the hoardings, get the players off social media and train regularly enough to look like a remotely fit side ready for the PL. Pics of training are no good when we wilt in last 20 mins of games every single week. Fewer pictures for Twitter and more laps of the pitch wouldn’t go a miss. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Can’t disagree with this. The problem is that, given the cost of the squad and quality of players (international caps, top level experience etc) we are in real terms comfortably finishing bottom 2..again. Argument in real terms we finished bottom last season. Fans can barely bring themselves to boo the team off. Apathy from players in for a PL pay day. A far cry from Kelvin, Lambert at al or Benali, Claus etc before them. Guys who loved the club and were proud. Happily f*ck off this entire squad including muppets out on loan and let the under 18’s crack on in the National League South. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The same ****e fans who’ve watched 1 PL win in 16 at home seeing barely any goals in the process? Yes-the route of all our troubles must be the fans. The PL has made football such that we no longer watch some cloggers graft away and deserve being clapped off the pitch regardless of result. The players are mercenary to**ers showing no urgency or fight. I will therefore reserve the right to come and go as I please having been done for about £700. Why should I stay right to the end like some subservient muppet when I’ve watched our esteemed left back bother to overlap once in 90 minutes at home to a side bottom of the league? Happy to admit you’re an uber fan compared to me though.

Agree with this. The mentality of the squad, body language, togetherness just lacking completely. We have some guys with undoubted quality (I’m thinking Cedric, Bertrand, Lemina, Hoj) who just seem simply apathetic to be circa 10 points behind the likes of Wolves, Bournemouth and Watford after 9 games of the season. Hughes is blowing smoke up them this evening like they’ve just won the Champions League. They won’t get relegated but a complacent squad without much bottle managed by an unlikable dinosaur is just a boring place to be. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What a joke some of these responses are. Most of the stadium have a season ticket, recognise that football isn’t their entire life and support Saints through thick and thin, owners, players, managers both good and bad. Now these supporters are prawn sandwich eating Premier League sell outs according to some of the resident ‘lads’. Why would anyone think a few Premier League relegation battles calls protests? I must be one of those happy clapper blokes I guess. People have short memories. Also, how is it possibly the fans fault we’re owned by a Chinaman without a pot to pi** in?! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don’t believe we should write Carrillo off and based on his record, he could certainly do a job in the Prem. His league record is 191 games (7 of which for Saints), 43 goals. The 7 games Saints would be an unfair assessment IMO based on the fact MP had less than no idea what he was doing and the senior pro’s at the club spent the season embarrassing themselves rather than showing any effort to help the younger guys, especially new additions. Hope he gets a fresh go at it next season myself.

The club didn’t listen to 30,000 people before Christmas telling them MP wasn’t the man for the job. Bin off the corporate Americanised platitudes and just show me some decent football at St Mary’s so I can look forward to games. I don’t even care what division (turns out it’s PL so probably more turgid s*it). Buy some half decent attack minded players and just go at teams instead of asking fans what picture they want on their stupid clapper thingy. Ok, moan over. I’m actually not that grumpy away from football. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Exactly this. The right amount of time was played, the deflection was unfair on one of our only creditable performances of the entire season. Win at Swans to be safe. Onwards and hopefully upwards. For you Saints who are not millennials, let’s not pretend you’ve not seen it all before!

Are Championship clubs really charging over £30 for away fans? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just logged in to buy 5 tickets (4 of have chucked aways in but we’re waiting to all sit together so today was the day). Amazed how much space there is available. I thought about 27k season tickets were going to have been bought already with few options left. I was wrong! Guess the players effort past few months has made people apathetic towards this fixture Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well said sir, saved me typing. Never have I seen such a bunch of pampered, social media loving, complacent football man babies. They have less than no idea how much effort is being made by fans who follow them home and away. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Don’t disagree. Bin off 20 odd mercenary cowardly embarrassments to the shirt and all. Not seen such a bunch of complacent w*nk pots play for Saints in my entire life. The more I look at this bunch, the more I think our fans have been very lenient towards them this season. If we were WHU they’d be getting bricks thrown at their Bentleys Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Absolutely spot on. I haven’t boo’d the team off since that day at Rovers a decade ago. If I was up there today I’d have boo’d that. I can handle us having mediocre players but good players being out worked, out fought, out thought by a team two divisions below with 4000 fans driving through snow to get there is pathetic. I barely care if we go through to the semi’s. Whole club top to bottom deserve relegation this season. Mercenaries. All of that said, I think we may sneak a 0-1 and have a semi at Wembley to look forward to. I wasn’t prepared to see our players look so complacent today. That must change to get a result. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

While the squad quality has declined compared to Mane, Pelle, Wanyama etc of a few years back this season has been all about appointing a manager extremely unfit for purpose. He’s gone in summer regardless of outcome-no idea why we waited around after December-maybe pay off due is in the mix. The fact he’s had games this season where he’s used a frustrated Shane Long (handful of goals in 40+games) as a lone striker and had him scampering down the flanks for half the game about sums him up. I’d be concerned about the entire management setup, not just MP. Is no one telling him what’s happening? Players, asst manager, coaches? Let’s get real-given the quality of the league, an organised adaptable coach like Howe would have amassed 40 points by now with this lot. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As per the whole season, think some of our fans are wetting the bed in excited anticipation of utter failure. The fact is we have 3 massive games coming up, not just one. None of Stoke, Newcastle and WHU are world beating teams and let’s not forget what a win in even one of those games is going to do for league position when the other 6 of the current bottom 7 are picking up very few points in the own right. We’ve been in a scrap before and will be again. Form since Jan hasn’t been as bad as end of last year. Carrillo to grab a goal, Saints to take the points and a few of the boring boo boys to go home tail between legs with not enough to grumble about. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good points. I was chatting to a WHU ST holder yesterday and they’re arranging some gathering or march to have a grumble about the club. He’s wondering whether to renew or not. Ultimately what top flight fans are feeling (or specifically the 14 also rans) is still a love for their club through thick and thin but a total dislike for the PL and where it has taken (and continues to take) English football. I will renew but in a strange way I’m slightly sad that for the first time in 20 years of going I couldn’t care less whether we go down. I do remember the drop from PL v Utd and how I felt so I guess for the kids in the stadium I hope we stay up as at their age it feels like the end of the world. But Richard Scudamore and his ‘product’ for ‘customers’ and Canadian Ice hockey knobs with crooked Chinese mates has just about brought my enthusiasm for it to rock bottom. Oh, and our players genuinely couldn’t give less of a crap. They ought to have announced our intentions for second half at half time on Sunday and saved us all an hour of our lives wasted. Had the urgency of a team 2-0 up not 0-2 down. I’m getting annoyed even typing about it.....! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Really good point and not sure enough has been made by Saints fans of how this takeover looks. Rudderless tactical management from MP and a seeming lack of anything resembling a decent bunch of players has masked what looks like: 1) a very leveraged takeover completed just in time to flog an asset worth more than a stadium and 2) a wing and a prayer effort at avoiding relegation with a clearly inadequate manager who will cost too much to dismiss Regressing quickly in performance, very debt heavy takeover and a selling off of prime assets combined with what looks like a frantic effort to get money out of the Far East. Yes, I will renew because it got under my skin mid 90’s and never managed to shake it. But no qualms whatsoever with anyone who doesn’t fancy propping up whatever this is. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The overreaction was that voiced by fans after Stoke game in May and has carried on through this season. If you don’t boo like me, then clearly you’re not who I’m referring to. A protest against Southampton FC being bottom half of the top division of English football would be utterly absurd. I’m strongly suggesting people do not overreact. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This exactly. Some of us have enough objectivity to remember back to nearly not having a club. It’s not about happy clapping, it’s about facts. Now we have bed wetting princesses all over the place moaning about a manager having a tough time and not winning every week. We’re Southampton, not Real Madrid. Stop crying, start supporting. Unless a few on here want to admit they’d actually like the club to be relegated so they can whack off over a fella losing his job? Our fans this season have been an utter embarrassment. Never thought I’d hear our bunch be such entitled tos*ers as to think we are any better than a bottom half PL team. Best thing about potentially going down would be to f**k off a bunch of the ‘Saints are for PL, not for life brigade’. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk