Daft Kerplunk

Loved his enthusiasm at first and he galvanised the fans after Hughes’ disinterested reign.

Nathan Jones? He’s been gone too long.

100% Some of the insipid chat coming from the club (including Ralph) has been so unlike what you need to be in sport that it’s almost unbelievable. There is a rot at the club that’ starts with the leadership. From the football, to the closing of block 1. SR need to act and make some big changes, and quickly.

We are tied in with the global economy and Brexit has made the British economy weaker and that has a wider impact so yes you are right. No Brexit dividend for Saints as that was the same year Ronald left and we’ve been unambitious and either poorly performing or largely boring to watch since. Yay.

Seeing how Liverpool are having a shocker of a season, I wonder if Ralph would cry if we beat them again 🤣

We still had coaches there in previous eras whilst Les, Martin and Matt Hale were in charge. But they left or were got rid of in favour of yes men. Some top people left but lower down the ladder (the coaches who work directly with the players and influence them more than a leadership spreadsheet) coaches still carried on. I know you’re a fan of the Saints as much as I am, and I’m sure you’d agree that excuses aren’t helping something that was supposed to have improved 10-14 years+ ago. I just want it to be high quality again like it should be.

I don’t understand this football. Far too many chances, teams wanting to attack. Where’s the game management? Why is it so fun?

We still had the good coaches when we were in the lower leagues. It’s mostly about good coaching from coaches who care about coaching, not just about money. Look at the smaller or poorer clubs everywhere in Europe that still develop players. Good coaching is key. Les established a system of yes men that is the same with people like Semmens, Thomas and Greenwell on the commercial side. From what I have heard. I just hope that SR see through the bullshit and make some changes at the second most important club in their portfolio.

There’s a grain of truth in this but if you have great coaching, parents of kids will see it and know that’s where the best future lies. 100% that Chelsea have broken rules to get the best players but we’ve done the same out west and still don’t get results any more. We just aren’t as good as we used to be because the overall coaching quality has declined where others have improved or upped their game. We should have maintained the top ‘not Chelsea but the best of the rest’ position.

If Marcus took over in 2008 and set up about the club reestablishing itself, why do you think that the academy took another 4 years to begin the recovery? From what I understand about the academy set up from Less onwards is that we shouldn’t expect too much from the academy until there is further work by SR to get rid of the remaining legacy of Les’ yes men appointments. Hence why we largely buy in players from other clubs now.

A few mentions of Semmens dropping the ball on transfers, which is interesting. Is he going to get the chop? Maybe some of the other chuff nuts will get the boot too

Some club nearby has the template that Wolves have followed. “We are Southampton, a club build on faith from the very beginning. A faith in ourselves. A faith in each other. We have our beliefs, our own way of doing things that guide everything we do. We don’t just buy success, we breed it. We don’t take shortcuts, we earn it. Every second of every minute of every day. We’ve been to the edge of the abyss and have come back stronger, because whatever the pressure, however great the temptation, we never stop, we never lose faith, we keep moving forwards. We are the saints, it’s not just a name, it’s who we are. We will be in that number, we march on”.

Perhaps we could give Ballard and Co more of a chance, but given they’ve come through our academy, they’ve still go to learn how to play 🤣

100% need a creator and a good goal scorer, but now we are in a difficult position because of our league position, and appeal to anyone decent. The ball was dropped big time in the summer by those in charge at the club.

Good to have a strong selection of centre backs after the powder puff options of the last few years

David Thomas, the commercial ‘brains’ probably doesn’t either. It’s all about the sales, forget about the home fans.

Last night was similar to the 90s when we were always battling against relegation. Currently we are not a good team playing good football just like those old days. it’s disappointing. Winning was more relief than joy in those days, same as now. And we held on against a relegation rival who failed to break down our ultra defensive set-up. Is that good enough? Personally, I don’t think so but that doesn’t make me a fan who wants us to lose. It’s okay to think your team is shit but still be a fan.

With any luck this will be an important win towards trying to stay on the league, but bloody hell, we are crap

Tim Greenwell would decide on this, and David Thomas would oversee allowing away fans to buy tickets where they want. Neither show that they understand football, and they certainly don’t care about Saints fans as a result. They should be the first cuts on the board and Semmens should make these changes asap.

Yeah, we want Champions League according to club representative Adam Blackmore. Arrogant fans like us should be happy with what we’re given but those who know better than us. Please sir, can we have just a few more wins, we’ll be ever so grateful to you if you can do this but we know we shouldn’t question you.

Said it before and I’ll say it again, look at who’s still at the club from the Les days of dithering. Semmens was very important at the club at the time when Krueger was really just a figurehead. The current board are a problem but the real problem with Ralph is that he’s on £6m a year and we are shit commercially and are a declining losing attraction for fans, sponsors etc. whilst things are as crap as they are. Hopefully SR have deep pockets to cover his pay out, and some proven creative and goal scoring players, but they’ve been sold a doozy in its current state and hopefully that doesn’t mean they’ve not got much left.

These aren’t winnable games on our current form.

Joe Shields did some player recruitment consultancy for them

Interesting that people think a head of recruitment isn’t a key role in the club’s model. The way we are run, where the ambition is primarily to turn profit on assets purchased at lower prices and not to worry so much about being a better football team, the role is critical. If the club’s current leaders are angry, he was probably seen as quite important too as they identify the targets that then are negotiated with clubs and agents by Toby/Semmens/Ankersen? Things are not rosy in the garden folks, whatever the spin.