Ralph Kreuger Interview

[captain sensible]

Krueger's job could very well be under threat...a Liebherr appointment...the Gao crew may have other ideas in that position and soon be delving in the transfer market. Aside from that...well spouted deflammatory rhetoric based on Thatcherite finanancial principles...People get paid a lot of money for talking to the media without putting their foot in it!

[hypochondriac]

What a load of c*ap.

 

Imagine this has been put out ahead of tonight's game to warn fans not to expect a sacking if we lose. Which is rather depressing.

Nah. It's the standard pre transfer window PR mandated interview like we have every year (I posted the other day that we hasn't had it yet.) We will have a similar one in the summer assuming we survive. Hopefully Les will be chosen this time though. Edited 2 January, 2018 by hypochondriac

[Colinjb]

We operate on a feeling, and our feeling was that after last year something had to change.

 

But, he starts off by saying:

 

We are a club with a plan, a long-term plan of development.

 

Sacking Puel on a feeling despite there being a firm plan? What a load of sh*te he comes out with.

[Chez]

I've just read this and haven't looked at any reactions from anyone else yes. Some thoughts:

 

Christ he is difficult to listen to and read. If he ever writes a book I certainly will not be buying it.

 

One of the biggest load of corporate speak ******** I've ever had the misfortune to read. Why anyone thinks it's a good idea for a Canadian to talk to us in his highly irritating dialect that says precisely nothing I have absolutely no idea.

 

If we lose tonight I think he will see what people think of him and his plan. Fans will force the manager out if our poor form continues.

 

Fair play to the echo for actually trying to nail him down to an actual answer or two. They didn't succeed but they certainly tried.

 

could not agree more. I'm not terribly fussed about hearing from the Chairman. All the talking should be done on the pitch if you ask me, but having made himself available you'd hope he would have a more concise message for fans. Blimey does he waffle.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Do you agree about Pellegrino then?

 

Not at all but it was as stated, just a bit waffle but as i said, what ever was said it would have been picked to pieces

It would be better to say nothing as its meaningless really

[saint-crinny]

We haven't really had the small club thing rammed down our throats like that before - bit of a worry for me.

 

Before now, we have always flipped it on its head and talked about ambition to grow, our drive to keep improving as a club etc etc. While that might be lip service, and we all know our relative size, it was backed up by and large by continued improvement, bar the last 18 months.

 

Given we've been taken over by someone who was said to be taking us further than KL could, this is hardly inspiring any confidence in that is it.

 

A huge shift in mindset even though it seems like quite a minor thing - trying to quash fans expectations but what does it say to ambitious players who want to achieve things, other than, you wont achieve much here.

 

In amongst all the expected fluff, there was more to be concerned about than optimistic for me, and I prefer to try and be positive!

[ALWAYS_SFC]

'Small club, small club, small club, small club'

 

Alright mate, we get we're not Real Madrid but you don't need to rub it in...

 

This is meant as a positive PR spin - however in fact it is a load of nonsense - first phase, strategy, revisiting.... Middle management rubbish.

 

Just come out and say, we are where we are, it isn't good enough, we're looking to make steps to improve the league performance, without giving too much away, they are the following...

 

The VVD situation was not good for the club, i'm sure that is the case but to blame us being in the position we're in because of VVD is extremely hard to believe. So many games this season we've been drawing and had opportunities to score but just not taken our chances. Do you think Shane Long is thinking about VVD when he is one on one with a keeper? I don't think so.

 

I could go on for hours but ultimately, we've not been good enough and sometimes it really is as simple as that. Invest some of the VVD money, buy in the key areas that even fair weather Saints know is essential and let's all try and be positive for the second half of the season.

 

Back to work I suppose.

 

This

[BotleySaint]

Basically if we lose tonight MP will keep his job. Worrying he thinks we have a good team already. Perhaps preparing us for a lack of January signings.

[hypochondriac]

This

Wow we agree! I absolutely think that would have been the best course of action. What we need right now is a bit of straight talking and honesty, not this obfuscation and marketing flannel which fills up a page but says nothing. Those saying he would have been bashed either way are wrong, the reaction would be much more positive if he had said something similar to what was suggested above.

[Chez]

'Small club, small club, small club, small club'

 

Alright mate, we get we're not Real Madrid but you don't need to rub it in...

 

This is meant as a positive PR spin - however in fact it is a load of nonsense - first phase, strategy, revisiting.... Middle management rubbish.

 

Just come out and say, we are where we are, it isn't good enough, we're looking to make steps to improve the league performance, without giving too much away, they are the following...

 

The VVD situation was not good for the club, i'm sure that is the case but to blame us being in the position we're in because of VVD is extremely hard to believe. So many games this season we've been drawing and had opportunities to score but just not taken our chances. Do you think Shane Long is thinking about VVD when he is one on one with a keeper? I don't think so.

 

I could go on for hours but ultimately, we've not been good enough and sometimes it really is as simple as that. Invest some of the VVD money, buy in the key areas that even fair weather Saints know is essential and let's all try and be positive for the second half of the season.

 

Back to work I suppose.

 

sense talked right there.

[hypochondriac]

sense talked right there.

Agreed straight talking, well articulated precise and I could see exactly what he meant to say. Saintlondon can you apply to be the Southampton PR representative please?

[Kingsland Red]

I didn't read the echo article but listened to Adam Blackmore's interview.

Certainly a defensive stop gap / treading water approach from RK - lots of corporate gobbledegook.

The only thing of any note was that our anonymous new owners are proposing to invest on the infrastructure of the club.

It was a shame the question regarding the change of manager for more attacking football was ignored.

 

#welimpon.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

I've read (and written) some waffling claptrap in my time but this wins the all-time prize.

[SaintLondon]

Well I do work in PR for a living so you'd hope it was well articulated..

[SOTONS EAST SIDE]

Mauricio Pellegrino from the get-go has completely embraced the way we operate here. So a yes man!!

 

My question would have been.. What is the contingency, if we are relegated.

Edited 2 January, 2018 by SOTONS EAST SIDE

[captain sensible]

What he is saying regards transfers is that they are basically only mining for potential nuggets...they think they have adequate cover in every position to stay in the Prem and that no expensive knee jerk signings are necessary.TBH....I think we'll beat Palace tonight reasonably comfortably. After the Spuds hiding we ground out a draw with Utd away...which I think says were better than we look at the moment. SKD will "kick some ass" in the dressing room tonight!

[Sour Mash]

There's always a contrarian who just likes to pick an argument. Regardless of anyone's feelings towards Ralph, objectively that is not an "alright" interview. It contained virtually nothing of substance and you can feel the frustration of the journalist who must realise that not a single question was actually being answered with anything that was worth the time to read. What did you actually like about the interview?

You're missing the point (guess trying to be a contrarian), the only people that get bothered either way by these interviews are the sort of people that write letters to the chairman of the team they support, most normal fans just see it for what it is.

[GGalpin]

Whatever the desired effect of that interview was, I'm getting the impression it won't be what Ralph was hoping for...

 

Good grief.

[captain sensible]

Whatever the desired effect of that interview was, I'm getting the impression it won't be what Ralph was hoping for...

 

Good grief.

 

Ralph is a well seasoned flak dodger...probably enjoyed a malt after the interview!

[Daft Kerplunk]

Listening to it makes it even worse. Uninspiring load of rubbish when it comes to the most important thing at a football business: the football.

[MarkSFC]

Listened and read both pieces and agree with the many on this thread that it is a load of PR ****. He does not talk to the man on the terraces, he talks like he is in a board meeting, reporting to his employers.

When I saw the audioboom link from Adam Blackmore I had hoped it would be a positive interview and with some sort of reference to incoming transfers. Basically this could of been said at anytime in the season, ignoring the league position, and was a waste of everyone's time. I suspect he is good at visioning the future, strategizing and planning; all of which are keys competencies of a coach, and this will go down well with the owners. What he has not addressed in his time here is his ability to talk to different people, with different interests in the club, who speak in different terms, and build rapport and a long term relationship; all of which are also key competencies of a coach! His insight and experience in a coaching setting were clearly a big reason why he was employed to begin with. But as he actually says, it all about the wins and the points, and that interview does not fill me with any hope that the club are going to make the significant 2-3 signings we need NOW!

 

We need tangible actions not behind closed door planning.

[nta786]

That would be my view too. Sorry, NTA, if you think its 'an interesting read'. IMHO it's a turgid read. All talk about mood and positivity and moving forward. He talks about negativity over the last six months but I couldn't decide if he meant from the sacking of Puel, or from the sulk of VVD. Only one thing is clear though - MP will be staying, no matter what, to the end of this season.

 

interesting in the sense of the way the interview seemed to have escalated! fair play to the echo to have pressed the issues we seem to be facing- can't say im pleased with the way club seems to be running these days but better to hear something than nothing at all.

I see an air of hypocrisy about the whole thing and tbh Krueger and the club seem to be changing the waffle they speak every 6 months or so.

we've regressed for a club aiming for a CL spot when the big teams slip up to now being over the moon when 'we finish in the single digits'/

 

or maybe Krueger should have kept his mouth shut! rather have heard mr gao's interpreter and his ambitions for the club

Edited 2 January, 2018 by nta786

[S-Clarke]

interesting in the sense of the way the interview seemed to have escalated! fair play to the echo to have pressed the issues we seem to be facing- can't say im pleased with the way club seems to be running these days but better to hear something than nothing at all.

I see an air of hypocrisy about the whole thing and tbh Krueger and the club seem to be changing the waffle the speak every 6 months or so.

we've regressed for a club aiming for a CL spot when the big teams slip up to now being over the moon when 'we finish in the single digits'/

 

maybe Krueger should keep his mouth shut!

 

To be fair, I think it's BBC Radio Solent who were pushing the questions (Adam Blackmore in particular). The Daily echo have just published the transcript.

[captain sensible]

On the other hand Leitch hardly comes across as Jeremy Paxman...need to put a proper journalist in front of him!

[ericb]

Can't say i really disagreed with a lot of what he said to be honest, have said for a while that i don't expect MP to be sacked unless something goes disastrously wrong.

 

The small club stuff is true, it always has been, the problem is that we've had some stupid idea that we can break the top four feed to our support for a while and the slightly deluded spreadsheet masquerading as a game lot believed it. Now they're disappointed when someone tells them the truth.

 

Personally i think most people know we've just coming out of a golden era for Saints, and the reality is we'll now drift to our "natural" level, which is somewhere between 9th and 15th in the top flight, with occasional higher and lower finishes.

[GGalpin]

On the other hand Leitch hardly comes across as Jeremy Paxman...need to put a proper journalist in front of him!

 

From the looks of the echo, part one was Blackmore's questions and Leitch's question's will form part two.

[hypochondriac]

You're missing the point (guess trying to be a contrarian), the only people that get bothered either way by these interviews are the sort of people that write letters to the chairman of the team they support, most normal fans just see it for what it is.

Depends what you mean by bothered. I think that interviews like this show the club to be quite out of touch with the fan base. It was suggested that one possible reason for recent underperfprmance may be that we have become arrogant and slightly aloof- those cringe inducing slogans we see everywhere now and that recent express article about our lack of publicity could back this up. If this is the case then I would be inclined to see interviews like this to be a perfect demonstration of the sort of thing we should avoid doing.

 

With regards to the actual content of the interview, I'm not overly bothered by it, I just think it deserves highlighting for the hypocrisy, the obfuscation and the vaguely humorous nature of it all. If nothing else it certainly shows what the clubs opinion is of its fans- maybe it's a somewhat accurate opinion!

[rooney]

A bit Stanley Unwinish but at least he has come out and said something. That is what we have all been clamouring for on this site for ages.

[beatlesaint]

He stated that MP doesn’t make excuses......uh, he does, he blames everything bar his crazy team selections when we lose.

 

If RK thinks we have a fantastic group of players he must have had one hell of a secret Santa present at this years Xmas party off one of them !

 

As stated elsewhere where has this “small club” mantra come from all of a sudden ?

 

I think after hearing that he is deluded. God help us if we lose tonight cos MP ain’t going anywhere.

[verlaine1979]

Ouch, some dreadfully transparent spin in that interview.

 

VVD stuff is obviously nonsense, but I wonder if the 'small club' rhetoric is a deliberate ploy to prepare us for the inevitable lack of additional financial investment from the new owners?

[ashnats]

To be fair, performances have been excellent and we are unbeaten since vvd left...

[shurlock]

Listened and read both pieces and agree with the many on this thread that it is a load of PR ****. He does not talk to the man on the terraces, he talks like he is in a board meeting, reporting to his employers.

When I saw the audioboom link from Adam Blackmore I had hoped it would be a positive interview and with some sort of reference to incoming transfers. Basically this could of been said at anytime in the season, ignoring the league position, and was a waste of everyone's time. I suspect he is good at visioning the future, strategizing and planning; all of which are keys competencies of a coach, and this will go down well with the owners. What he has not addressed in his time here is his ability to talk to different people, with different interests in the club, who speak in different terms, and build rapport and a long term relationship; all of which are also key competencies of a coach! His insight and experience in a coaching setting were clearly a big reason why he was employed to begin with. But as he actually says, it all about the wins and the points, and that interview does not fill me with any hope that the club are going to make the significant 2-3 signings we need NOW!

 

We need tangible actions not behind closed door planning.

 

I love your passion - were you 'dominating' the 70,000 at Old Trafford.

 

#insane

[captain sensible]

To be fair, performances have been excellent and we are unbeaten since vvd left...

 

Critical point there...Ralph forgot to mention that and take credit for it!

[Lallana's Left Peg]

The interviewer(s) clearly pushed him to give specific answers and he was clearly in no business to give any. If they think the biggest reason the first half of the season has been awful is the 'mood' in the club then that is down to them for keeping VVD then they are mental. And even if they do think that, then they need to be accountable for it and say they got it wrong.

[Wade Garrett]

David Brent nothing talk.

 

I don't know what else people expect from him though. I wouldn't pay him in shirt buttons.

[saintsmike25]

First things first.

 

Clearly this interview is to deflect pressure on Mopo, and to stop the questions about his future, because what is evidently clear is the club hasn't got another manager lined up.

 

Mopo, was probably a long-term appointment that was done after it was clear that the board and Puel weren't a match in terms of culture, while our rivals can bring in a "Big Sam" or a Pardew or a tried and tested manager that many fans want - this isn't what Southampton do whether we like it or not, the club has certain ways of doing things and the manager has to be fitted with that culture.

 

Secondly this interview clearly shows us that the VVD situation was a failed experiment that we tried to keep a player who was unhappy at the club to appease the fans. This was a huge failure, and time and time again it never works as much as you want it to player power is always going to win as team spirit/togetherness is far more important than one whingebag who is ruining the mood of the camp, and this will no doubt mean that the other miserable players who are eyeing moves away from Southampton will be sold before it EVER gets to this situation again. In today's modern game agent power and money matched with the ambition of players means we can't keep those who are performers.

 

We as fans have to realise we are a small club, and yes i agree with Ralph on that, we're traditionally relegation strugglers who have had golden times in the past three seasons in the Premiership and our comeback down comes as other Premiership teams up their game and improve and the top six simply pull away. The only thing we can do to improve commercially is to sell out games regularly which we're not doing due to the current discontent at the club and among fans - then the board can look at either expanding St Mary's or building a new stadium which will improve our long-term revenue.

 

I believe there's a huge amount of money that is being saved for this at some point, and more that will be used if we are to go down, the club is built on the sustainability strategy which means players are sold and the club always makes a profit from this, this is why the club is happy to spend £30m on world-class training facilities instead of a world-class striker.

 

More worryingly what hasn't been mentioned in his interview is what of the Academy and the U23 teams, the fact that the current crop of our first XI are underperforming should pave the way for youngsters being given a chance here and there, if they perform well we can sell them for inflated fees - but this hasn't happened. What has happened is our experienced players who are at the stage where they are probably not going to do that much better than Saints, but won't improve that much beyond there level look far less hungry and bothered - this is down to the management and the lack of competition for places. Arguably only Bertrand/Cedric and perhaps in future Holjberg/Lemina/Boufal will be able to get their "big money move".

But the likes of Yoshida, Romeu, Tadic, Long, JWP, Redmond, Forster, and arguably Jack Stephens, Gabiaddini, Davis are all at the same level and I don't think have the talent to improve.

 

This season we should have had Gallagher back from his loan, Valery should have been tried at right back, Josh Sims should be given a run out when he's fit and Hesketh can do better than JWP/Davis with a run of games, what about Alfie Jones and some of the other so-called prospects - the reason Bale/Shaw did so well is because we tried them and didn't let them rot in our U23 system.

 

What is disappointing is that the long-term future of the so-called Southampton Way doesn't seem to be there anymore, and our journeymen players who are very average (if not poor) Premiership players aren't being replaced by homegrown talent.

[DuncanRG]

Nothing too surprising in there. People will project their pre-existing attitudes onto what he’s said, and as someone who respects and trusts the board I think it was perfectly fine.

 

I’m glad to have an explanation (if incomplete) for the mental frailty we’ve shown this season. That’s been the most worrying thing by far.

[Crab Lungs]

Waffle.

[Supersubpuckett]

Considering the season we've had I'm not sure he could have said much else. Hardly going to say we're about to splash millions on new signings and will fire MP if the crowd keep booing him.

 

For those of us more used to listening this kind of corporate speak my take is;

- nobody is happy about 2017

- the VVD situation clearly has had a highly disruptive affect on the whole playing staff/environment

- the coaches and players all know they need to step up, the pressure is on them to do so

- reality check about our size and spending power versus others

- believes we have a good squad and will get new players in if it's right

 

Sometimes when you're leading an organisation and you're really fkd off with how things are going, this kind of ambiguous and passive approach is used. If i was MP I would be feeling serious amounts of pressure.

 

My only concern is that long sustainability doesn't include accepting a short period back in the championship.

[SKD]

Somethings are best left unsaid and I think this is one of those situations. Personally, I don't see what good can come of this (unless we some how miraculously turn our form around and MP really is the next Alex Ferguson and he can say "I told you so" - extremely doubtful).

 

IMO the owners just see us as a cash cow and are happy to remain mid - lower (which is our Natural Level) PL without any real investment. If we wanted to sustain the success we saw under Poch or Koeman we needed investment (and probably a lot of it), which obviously the owners didn't want / couldn't afford - that's up to them, but disappointing non the less.

 

Under the current leadership, I can see us drifting anywhere from top half of the Championship - Top half of PL (with a good season).

[DuncanRG]

One thing I’d like to commend him for saying is that it’s far too early to judge whether keeping Van Dijk was the right decision. We can see that it’s affected the first half of this season, but if it stops other clubs tapping up our players over the long term then that can be viewed as a success. Provided we don’t get relegated, of course!

[Chez]

The only thing of any note was that our anonymous new owners are proposing to invest on the infrastructure of the club.

We have training ground, academy and stadium. What other club infrastructure needs investment I wonder?

[Baird of the land]

Find all that repeated small club talk very worrying. Certainly the top 6 live in a world of their own but don't see why we should be describing ourselves as small in comparison to the league in general. Not particularly happy at the re-evaluating of last season as a success either.

 

Other than that seemed full of waffle which is to be expected. Expected the vote of confidence in Pellegrino, once he wasn't sacked after spurs and VVD sale it wasn't happening without further horrendous results.

[saint77]

Ouch, some dreadfully transparent spin in that interview.

 

VVD stuff is obviously nonsense, but I wonder if the 'small club' rhetoric is a deliberate ploy to prepare us for the inevitable lack of additional financial investment from the new owners?

 

No wonder we cant keep players happy would imagine we give them oll the spill about ambitions etc when signing them and always fail to deliver

whats promised

[DuncanRG]

Find all that repeated small club talk very worrying. Certainly the top 6 live in a world of their own but don't see why we should be describing ourselves as small in comparison to the league in general.

 

He was comparing us to Liverpool, not the league in general.

Edited 2 January, 2018 by DuncanRG

[hypochondriac]

We have training ground, academy and stadium. What other club infrastructure needs investment I wonder?

In the interview he said refurbish the stadium and do some more stuff at the training ground along with some international stuff- probably in China.

[Dark Munster]

That would be my view too. Sorry, NTA, if you think its 'an interesting read'. IMHO it's a turgid read. All talk about mood and positivity and moving forward. He talks about negativity over the last six months but I couldn't decide if he meant from the sacking of Puel, or from the sulk of VVD. Only one thing is clear though - MP will be staying, no matter what, to the end of this season.

Not necessarily. How many PL managers over the years have had the "dreaded" vote of confidence from their club's board only to be sacked a few weeks later?

[SKD]

No wonder we cant keep players happy would imagine we give them oll the spill about ambitions etc when signing them and always fail to deliver

whats promised

 

Rubbish - That may have been the case under Cortese, but it's pretty much publicly known that we now we sell our club to players as a stepping stone. That probably has a major say in why they become hacked off when we then tell them they can't leave.

 

I'm pretty sure Les came out and said this in one of this many interviews.

[hypochondriac]

Not necessarily. How many PL managers over the years have had the "dreaded" vote of confidence from their club's board only to be sacked a few weeks later?

I think it's clear he will be here unless we really do go on an epic loss of runs to leave us stuck in the relegation zone with a gap to get out. Will be interesting to see how the club reacts if we do lose the next few though because I think it's close to mass protests.

[saint77]

Rubbish - That may have been the case under Cortese, but it's pretty much publicly known that we now we sell our club to players as a stepping stone. That probably has a major say in why they become hacked off when we then tell them they can't leave.

 

I'm pretty sure Les came out and said this in one of this many interviews.

 

go back to last interview with freddie kruger when he talks about our ambitions as a club