Daily Telegraph article

[thorpie the sinner]

Anyone able to upload the Jeremy Wilson Saints article? Cant access the article as you have to be premium member and site is experiencing difficulties.

 

Interested to know his thoughts re our situation

 

ta

[SuperSAINT]

Anyone able to upload the Jeremy Wilson Saints article? Cant access the article as you have to be premium member and site is experiencing difficulties.

 

Interested to know his thoughts re our situation

 

ta

 

You can register for free and view one premium article a week.

[thorpie the sinner]

You can register for free and view one premium article a week.

 

yep I know, it was having problem registering new accounts

[Topcat]

Points the gun at Reed without really naming him.

 

"Supposedly the best run club in the Premier League is now staring into the abyss.

Southampton might remain within a win of safety but more alarming even than their dreadful recent form or Saturday’s feeble 3-0 defeat against West Ham United is surely the fixture list.

Seven Premier League games remain, but standing in their way are trips to Arsenal, Leicester City, Swansea City and Everton as well as home fixtures against Chelsea, Manchester City and a neighbouring Bournemouth who would love to assert themselves as the area’s outstanding team.

Ahead of such a difficult sequence, it is hard not to look back at winless home matches against Swansea City, Watford, Newcastle United, Burnley, Leicester City, Huddersfield Town, Crystal Palace, Brighton and Stoke City and wonder if the damage that was done earlier in the season under Mauricio Pellegrino is already almost irreparable."

"So, even allowing for a pleasing FA Cup run, what has gone wrong? Why is the model club now itself facing the prospect of a rebuild?"

 

"The most obvious explanations relate to the managerial choices of Claude Puel and Pellegrino and the fine margins on which all 14 clubs outside the obvious ‘big six’ must operate. Both answers have merit. In hiring men without past Premier League experience, Southampton surely did underestimate the intangible need for a personality with a presence and authority that would connect with a dressing-room of footballers.

The board might have rather liked the understated and intelligent way that both Puel and Pellegrino presented themselves but it is not difficult to see why the players themselves were rather more affected by Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman. Being swayed by your own perceptions of a managerial candidate before accurately gauging their likely influence and control over a group of impressionable and wealthy young men is a common pitfall."

"It is too easy, though, to simply blame Southampton’s dip on the Pellegrino decision. There are more deep-rooted issues and what was once a highly effective strategy is now also showing its weaknesses. Southampton’s transfer philosophy over these past five years had essentially rested on two main foundations. The development of outstanding young players and a scouting department that was superb at identifying relatively cheap and emerging talent before selling on to clubs in the big six at a major profit.

It meant progressing on the pitch while at the same time transforming the off-field finances to the point where a net debt of £38.9 million for the financial year ending 2015-16 had become £2.9 million in cash by last year. An £11 million loan was also repaid to Katharina Liebherr ahead of her selling 80 per cent of the club last summer to the Chinese Gao family for £210 million."

 

"Nothing wrong with healthy finances but Southampton effectively also announced a subtle change to their recruitment last summer. Gone, said chairman Ralph Krueger, was any need to sell key players and the club would instead keep the core of a squad intact who, on average, had more than three years remaining on the contracts.

It sounded positive – even if there should surely have been more activity in the January transfer window – but there was a flaw. For if you are just about the most celebrated ‘stepping stone’ club in European football, what profile of player might you attract? Someone personally committed to your long-term progress or someone who is most concerned by their own situation and the possibility of bridging the gap to a Champions League club? And if that does not happen because they are not quite good enough or the club themselves refuse to sell what might remain? It is a core who are rather different to the group that new manager Mark Hughes was surrounded by at Southampton in the late 1990s when their unlikely survival was as much about the character of men like Jason Dodd, Francis Benali, Claus Lundekvam, Ken Monkou, Matt Oakley, Chris Marsden and Paul Jones as Matthew Le Tissier’s genius. Much of the decline does also seem to have followed the acrimonious loss of a dressing-room figure in Jose Fonte of comparable stature.

It is a delicate balance and this current board have overseen one of Southampton's best ever periods but, whether or not they do now survive, the past 18 months have underlined a need not just to review how they recruit their managers, but also the players."

[shurlock]

Here you go thorpie

 

Poor recruitment and fine margins threatening to ruin years of progress at Southampton

 

Supposedly the best run club in the Premier League is now staring into the abyss. Southampton might remain within a win of safety but more alarming even than their dreadful recent form or Saturday’s feeble 3-0 defeat against West Ham United is surely the fixture list.

 

Seven Premier League games remain, but standing in their way are trips to Arsenal, Leicester City, Swansea City and Everton as well as home fixtures against Chelsea, Manchester City and a neighbouring Bournemouth who would love to assert themselves as the area’s outstanding team.

 

Ahead of such a difficult sequence, it is hard not to look back at winless home matches against Swansea City, Watford, Newcastle United, Burnley, Leicester City, Huddersfield Town, Crystal Palace, Brighton and Stoke City and wonder if the damage that was done earlier in the season under Mauricio Pellegrino is already almost irreparable.

 

 

So, even allowing for a pleasing FA Cup run, what has gone wrong? Why is the model club now itself facing the prospect of a rebuild?

 

The most obvious explanations relate to the managerial choices of Claude Puel and Pellegrino and the fine margins on which all 14 clubs outside the obvious ‘big six’ must operate. Both answers have merit. In hiring men without past Premier League experience, Southampton surely did underestimate the intangible need for a personality with a presence and authority that would connect with a dressing-room of footballers.

 

The board might have rather liked the understated and intelligent way that both Puel and Pellegrino presented themselves but it is not difficult to see why the players themselves were rather more affected by Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman. Being swayed by your own perceptions of a managerial candidate before accurately gauging their likely influence and control over a group of impressionable and wealthy young men is a common pitfall.

 

It is too easy, though, to simply blame Southampton’s dip on the Pellegrino decision. There are more deep-rooted issues and what was once a highly effective strategy is now also showing its weaknesses. Southampton’s transfer philosophy over these past five years had essentially rested on two main foundations. The development of outstanding young players and a scouting department that was superb at identifying relatively cheap and emerging talent before selling on to clubs in the big six at a major profit.

 

It meant progressing on the pitch while at the same time transforming the off-field finances to the point where a net debt of £38.9 million for the financial year ending 2015-16 had become £2.9 million in cash by last year. An £11 million loan was also repaid to Katharina Liebherr ahead of her selling 80 per cent of the club last summer to the Chinese Gao family for £210 million.

 

 

Nothing wrong with healthy finances but Southampton effectively also announced a subtle change to their recruitment last summer. Gone, said chairman Ralph Krueger, was any need to sell key players and the club would instead keep the core of a squad intact who, on average, had more than three years remaining on the contracts.

 

It sounded positive – even if there should surely have been more activity in the January transfer window – but there was a flaw. For if you are just about the most celebrated ‘stepping stone’ club in European football, what profile of player might you attract? Someone personally committed to your long-term progress or someone who is most concerned by their own situation and the possibility of bridging the gap to a Champions League club? And if that does not happen because they are not quite good enough or the club themselves refuse to sell what might remain?

 

It is a core who are rather different to the group that new manager Mark Hughes was surrounded by at Southampton in the late 1990s when their unlikely survival was as much about the character of men like Jason Dodd, Francis Benali, Claus Lundekvam, Ken Monkou, Matt Oakley, Chris Marsden and Paul Jones as Matthew Le Tissier’s genius. Much of the decline does also seem to have followed the acrimonious loss of a dressing-room figure in Jose Fonte of comparable stature.

 

It is a delicate balance and this current board have overseen one of Southampton's best ever periods but, whether or not they do now survive, the past 18 months have underlined a need not just to review how they recruit their managers, but also the players.

[thorpie the sinner]

Points the gun at Reed without really naming him.

 

"Supposedly the best run club in the Premier League is now staring into the abyss.

Southampton might remain within a win of safety but more alarming even than their dreadful recent form or Saturday’s feeble 3-0 defeat against West Ham United is surely the fixture list.

Seven Premier League games remain, but standing in their way are trips to Arsenal, Leicester City, Swansea City and Everton as well as home fixtures against Chelsea, Manchester City and a neighbouring Bournemouth who would love to assert themselves as the area’s outstanding team.

Ahead of such a difficult sequence, it is hard not to look back at winless home matches against Swansea City, Watford, Newcastle United, Burnley, Leicester City, Huddersfield Town, Crystal Palace, Brighton and Stoke City and wonder if the damage that was done earlier in the season under Mauricio Pellegrino is already almost irreparable."

"So, even allowing for a pleasing FA Cup run, what has gone wrong? Why is the model club now itself facing the prospect of a rebuild?"

 

"The most obvious explanations relate to the managerial choices of Claude Puel and Pellegrino and the fine margins on which all 14 clubs outside the obvious ‘big six’ must operate. Both answers have merit. In hiring men without past Premier League experience, Southampton surely did underestimate the intangible need for a personality with a presence and authority that would connect with a dressing-room of footballers.

The board might have rather liked the understated and intelligent way that both Puel and Pellegrino presented themselves but it is not difficult to see why the players themselves were rather more affected by Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman. Being swayed by your own perceptions of a managerial candidate before accurately gauging their likely influence and control over a group of impressionable and wealthy young men is a common pitfall."

"It is too easy, though, to simply blame Southampton’s dip on the Pellegrino decision. There are more deep-rooted issues and what was once a highly effective strategy is now also showing its weaknesses. Southampton’s transfer philosophy over these past five years had essentially rested on two main foundations. The development of outstanding young players and a scouting department that was superb at identifying relatively cheap and emerging talent before selling on to clubs in the big six at a major profit.

It meant progressing on the pitch while at the same time transforming the off-field finances to the point where a net debt of £38.9 million for the financial year ending 2015-16 had become £2.9 million in cash by last year. An £11 million loan was also repaid to Katharina Liebherr ahead of her selling 80 per cent of the club last summer to the Chinese Gao family for £210 million."

 

"Nothing wrong with healthy finances but Southampton effectively also announced a subtle change to their recruitment last summer. Gone, said chairman Ralph Krueger, was any need to sell key players and the club would instead keep the core of a squad intact who, on average, had more than three years remaining on the contracts.

It sounded positive – even if there should surely have been more activity in the January transfer window – but there was a flaw. For if you are just about the most celebrated ‘stepping stone’ club in European football, what profile of player might you attract? Someone personally committed to your long-term progress or someone who is most concerned by their own situation and the possibility of bridging the gap to a Champions League club? And if that does not happen because they are not quite good enough or the club themselves refuse to sell what might remain? It is a core who are rather different to the group that new manager Mark Hughes was surrounded by at Southampton in the late 1990s when their unlikely survival was as much about the character of men like Jason Dodd, Francis Benali, Claus Lundekvam, Ken Monkou, Matt Oakley, Chris Marsden and Paul Jones as Matthew Le Tissier’s genius. Much of the decline does also seem to have followed the acrimonious loss of a dressing-room figure in Jose Fonte of comparable stature.

It is a delicate balance and this current board have overseen one of Southampton's best ever periods but, whether or not they do now survive, the past 18 months have underlined a need not just to review how they recruit their managers, but also the players."

 

Cheers

[thorpie the sinner]

Here you go thorpie

 

Poor recruitment and fine margins threatening to ruin years of progress at Southampton

 

Supposedly the best run club in the Premier League is now staring into the abyss. Southampton might remain within a win of safety but more alarming even than their dreadful recent form or Saturday’s feeble 3-0 defeat against West Ham United is surely the fixture list.

 

Seven Premier League games remain, but standing in their way are trips to Arsenal, Leicester City, Swansea City and Everton as well as home fixtures against Chelsea, Manchester City and a neighbouring Bournemouth who would love to assert themselves as the area’s outstanding team.

 

Ahead of such a difficult sequence, it is hard not to look back at winless home matches against Swansea City, Watford, Newcastle United, Burnley, Leicester City, Huddersfield Town, Crystal Palace, Brighton and Stoke City and wonder if the damage that was done earlier in the season under Mauricio Pellegrino is already almost irreparable.

 

 

So, even allowing for a pleasing FA Cup run, what has gone wrong? Why is the model club now itself facing the prospect of a rebuild?

 

The most obvious explanations relate to the managerial choices of Claude Puel and Pellegrino and the fine margins on which all 14 clubs outside the obvious ‘big six’ must operate. Both answers have merit. In hiring men without past Premier League experience, Southampton surely did underestimate the intangible need for a personality with a presence and authority that would connect with a dressing-room of footballers.

 

The board might have rather liked the understated and intelligent way that both Puel and Pellegrino presented themselves but it is not difficult to see why the players themselves were rather more affected by Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman. Being swayed by your own perceptions of a managerial candidate before accurately gauging their likely influence and control over a group of impressionable and wealthy young men is a common pitfall.

 

It is too easy, though, to simply blame Southampton’s dip on the Pellegrino decision. There are more deep-rooted issues and what was once a highly effective strategy is now also showing its weaknesses. Southampton’s transfer philosophy over these past five years had essentially rested on two main foundations. The development of outstanding young players and a scouting department that was superb at identifying relatively cheap and emerging talent before selling on to clubs in the big six at a major profit.

 

It meant progressing on the pitch while at the same time transforming the off-field finances to the point where a net debt of £38.9 million for the financial year ending 2015-16 had become £2.9 million in cash by last year. An £11 million loan was also repaid to Katharina Liebherr ahead of her selling 80 per cent of the club last summer to the Chinese Gao family for £210 million.

 

 

Nothing wrong with healthy finances but Southampton effectively also announced a subtle change to their recruitment last summer. Gone, said chairman Ralph Krueger, was any need to sell key players and the club would instead keep the core of a squad intact who, on average, had more than three years remaining on the contracts.

 

It sounded positive – even if there should surely have been more activity in the January transfer window – but there was a flaw. For if you are just about the most celebrated ‘stepping stone’ club in European football, what profile of player might you attract? Someone personally committed to your long-term progress or someone who is most concerned by their own situation and the possibility of bridging the gap to a Champions League club? And if that does not happen because they are not quite good enough or the club themselves refuse to sell what might remain?

 

It is a core who are rather different to the group that new manager Mark Hughes was surrounded by at Southampton in the late 1990s when their unlikely survival was as much about the character of men like Jason Dodd, Francis Benali, Claus Lundekvam, Ken Monkou, Matt Oakley, Chris Marsden and Paul Jones as Matthew Le Tissier’s genius. Much of the decline does also seem to have followed the acrimonious loss of a dressing-room figure in Jose Fonte of comparable stature.

 

It is a delicate balance and this current board have overseen one of Southampton's best ever periods but, whether or not they do now survive, the past 18 months have underlined a need not just to review how they recruit their managers, but also the players.

 

Cheers mate