Maggie May

Edozie has never recovered from his miss against Lincoln.

It would be so sweet if Newcastle slip out of the top four. If that happens, I see them sacking Howe before Christmas if they don’t make a similar start to this season.

I think it’ll be Marsch.

It makes sense if Wilcox is overseeing this process.

Build the team around him and Alcaraz next season (if both stay).

Ha.

Does he still think we’ve got a chance of staying up?

We’re f**ked.

Barring Alcaraz and Lavia, this has been our worst year for transfers in recent memory. Probably as far back as Redknapp’s first January signings. The comparisons between this season and 2005 are staggering.

Hampered at Saints for being at Saints.

Are you prepared to go down the rabbit hole?

We may as well get the silly season underway early. Feb 15 2022: Athletic’s Dan Sheldon publishes an article on Southampton medical checks, gels and team talks between 60th-70th minute - coincidence or plan? March 5 2022: Saints fall to an abysmal 4-0 away defeat to Aston Villa and record only one more win in the league for the rest of the season. We wouldn’t win again until Leicester away on August 20 this season. NOTE: We did register two wins in between the article’s publication and the Aston Villa capitulation. However, it’s interesting how fast it all fell apart so close to publication. Coincidence or something to it?

Yeah. Funny how most people on this thread don’t register the 2009 relegation for some reason. My fear is history repeating itself. The board hasn’t given us any reassurance we will be in a healthy position. Ankersen’s words at the fans’ forum worried me. It only takes the owner pulling the plug to leave us really in the proverbial.

Our football goes nowhere. Why do they even bother? Has there ever been a team that’s shown as little fight to stay up as this lot? Forest are awful and there for the taking.

Everton will beat them tonight.

Stop doing it to yourself!

Lampard out!

Chelsea beating Bournemouth. Get Lampard in now.

I see my comment has attracted a bit of ridicule. I’ll stick my head on the block and say Lampard will impress in his next role.

People can joke all they want about Lampard but he’s achieved more as a manager than Selles ever has and, I expect, will. - Performed well with Derby and knocked us out of the cup. - Got Chelsea CL football and to an FA Cup final under a transfer embargo. - Kept Everton up last season (something which Selles failed miserably at) If he hadn’t had a mare of a second season with Everton or tried to steady the ship of a truly basket case club like Chelsea, we’d still be clamouring for a manager like him. I say bring him in next season with a clean slate and see what he can do.

I would honestly take him next season.

Easiest money you’ll ever make.

Sigh. Time to do something else for the next few hours.

Lavia and Alcaraz aside, how any of this current lot is being linked with top clubs is beyond me.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65398885 The article above is BBC Sport’s take on the relegation run in. They speak to reporters who cover the five teams involved, including Adam Blackmore for us. Blackmore’s take is fairly obvious but it completely sums up what sort of club we’ve become over the past few years, coming to a head with certain relegation under a disastrous Sports Republic stewardship so far. It’s sterile and soulless. You read the write ups on how relegation for the likes of Everton and Leicester will have a massive impact historically and within the fan base… how legacies will be tarnished, how hard work will be undone, and how players have just five games to salvage it. Blackmore’s take is the same robotic gospel sung from the same robotic hymn sheet written by board and the manager. He says we will lose the model where we unearth gems to sell on for big fees, how we will obviously rely on parachute payments and how much SR are willing to put in, and how dropping down will impact the calibre of manager we can attract. But this is just the fundamental flaw in what this club has become. The model we have in place that Blackmore fears we will lose has brought us failure in the end. The calibre of managers we could bring in was already impacted because we decided to bring in Jones from the division we are about to drop into. We’ve ended up giving a Premier League job to a novice who has never managed a team. It surely can’t get much worse. It’s massively telling when our ‘expert’ just brushes over the business impact rather than how this is going to be a massive blow for not just the fans but city as a whole. I fear most fans are resigned to our fate and wont care about relegation because their passion and fight has been sucked away, just like what the players have shown on the pitch all season. Relegation won’t just have the financial impact this time. Unless there are massive changes that sees us stabilised, with a group of players who show fight and passion that help us become established in the top flight again, we risk losing a generation of Saints fans who actually care.