Sport Republic - Official: Kraft Resigns

[beatlesaint]

2 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I thought he was part of sports Republic? 

Well he's the money man isnt he?

[tdmickey3]

Ankersson next, hopefully

[Nolan]

1 minute ago, beatlesaint said:

Well he's the money man isnt he?

essentially Kraft and Ankerson went to Solak and said, "we've got an idea will you pay for it?"

Solaks regaining control of the purse strings.

[beatlesaint]

Just now, Nolan said:

essentially Kraft and Ankerson went to Solak and said, "we've got an idea will you pay for it?"

Solaks regaining control of the purse strings.

Exactly, yes !

[Nolan]

Just now, tdmickey3 said:

Ankersson next, hopefully

Ankersson has not got a job at board level.... this is Solak going in underneath Sports Republic and taking control.

[Convict Colony]

On 06/01/2025 at 9:02 AM, Convict Colony said:

This is going to be the hot thread i reckon for the next 5 months.

I expect some big moves from Dragan by end of season or summer as he gets fed up with this yo yo bullshit.

Might be time to put a serious person in charge of the football dept.

[disconnect]

Feels like good news with Dragan wanting to get more involved, but small chance he might also be jumping in to stop any more spending...? "You've spent HOW MUCH and got to this"?!

Maybe move to a model of less but better signings (for Saints). 

[ant]

Bodes a bit better than expected in the sense that Solak isn't afraid to throw his weight around. 

However it appears that the Sports Republic project was sold to him as a turnkey solution. I wonder what he thinks about needing to get his hands dirty?

Seems the intention is that Solak is only in interim charge. But do we think he'll be getting a bit hacked off about needing to be so closely involved? 

And if so, enough to start looking to offload us?

[Nolan]

4 minutes ago, ant said:

Bodes a bit better than expected in the sense that Solak isn't afraid to throw his weight around. 

However it appears that the Sports Republic project was sold to him as a turnkey solution. I wonder what he thinks about needing to get his hands dirty?

Seems the intention is that Solak is only in interim charge. But do we think he'll be getting a bit hacked off about needing to be so closely involved? 

And if so, enough to start looking to offload us?

Unlikely to offload us. Why recently add people like Boklag and Gerkens as shareholders ?

[beatlesaint]

7 minutes ago, ant said:

Seems the intention is that Solak is only in interim charge. 

 

How have you arrived at that from the statement issued ?

[ant]

2 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

How have you arrived at that from the statement issued ?

I could very well be wrong, but there's something about the tone of it. 

For sure, it could be that Solak wants to permanently protect his asset. But he's got fingers in a lot of pies. Can't imagine this was a priority - more a necessity.

[Convict Colony]

9 minutes ago, Nolan said:

Unlikely to offload us. Why recently add people like Boklag and Gerkens as shareholders ?

Question on this.

Why did he add board members, is it voting related etc ?

Did they buy shares or did he give them some or we dont know ?

 

[manji]

20 minutes ago, disconnect said:

Feels like good news with Dragan wanting to get more involved, but small chance he might also be jumping in to stop any more spending...? "You've spent HOW MUCH and got to this"?!

Maybe move to a model of less but better signings (for Saints). 

He’s fucked off with misspending . He’s taking complete control clearly he’s going to have a football advisor even Juvic . Juvic said he’s been watching us for a few months .

 

i don’t think people get how powerful Solak is in the Balkans. He can’t visit Serbia because he’s taken on the Serb government and also by default the Russians. 
he’s said Sports Republic is his baby . He will see the failure of Saints as a massive embarrasment. 
the Balkans they shoot opponents over there.

Edited 19 hours ago by manji

[Convict Colony]

3 minutes ago, manji said:

He’s fucked off with misspending . He’s taking complete control clearly he’s going to have a football advisor even Juvic . Juvic said he’s been watching us for a few months .

 

i don’t think people get how powerful Solak is in the Balkans

I know ! he has previous form

Edited 19 hours ago by Convict Colony

[bpsaint]

I like this news, knowing Solak is rightfully fucked off is enough of a glimmer of hope that whilst we’re having a rough time of it lately it won’t be forever. Hopefully he does some proper research and appoints a decent DOF and associated staff to make sure that this clusterfuck is not repeated.

[ChristopheVAFC]

Well, what an announcement at lunchtime! 😳

[ApprenticeBillionaire]

I'm prepared to give Solak a pass at this point.

Does anyone ITK...I mean REALLY ITK, vaguely have a rough idea of what's going on right now?

Is Solak bumping the lot off?

I read this board a lot and I don't want the fucking idiot wannabe ITK's replying here

 

[Nolan]

7 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Question on this.

Why did he add board members, is it voting related etc ?

Did they buy shares or did he give them some or we dont know ?

 

That's very likely, thinking about it.

[ApprenticeBillionaire]

44 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Ankersson next, hopefully

This is what I want to know

[saintant]

1 hour ago, lumuah said:

Dragan to take over

Club statement: January 14 | Southampton FC Official Site

At last!

[CSA96]

Ankersen doesn't have an official title at Saints. He sits on the board and has an official title at Goztepe, where he's the chairman. Solak doesn't need to chuck him out of the operational side of Saints and if he tried to remove him from being involved with Sport Republic then he'd have a lot of very fucked off Turks on his case

He just needs to hire qualified individuals to take the lead on the football side in England with Saints and let Rasmus carry on with the Goztepe side of the project, IMO - fingers crossed he gets the hires right

[saintant]

32 minutes ago, ant said:

Bodes a bit better than expected in the sense that Solak isn't afraid to throw his weight around. 

However it appears that the Sports Republic project was sold to him as a turnkey solution. I wonder what he thinks about needing to get his hands dirty?

Seems the intention is that Solak is only in interim charge. But do we think he'll be getting a bit hacked off about needing to be so closely involved? 

And if so, enough to start looking to offload us?

The best news about this is that a new DoF will be appointed. Hoping Dragan is taking advice from his football contacts to get this right. If he does so then things should start to improve significantly.

[Raging Bull]

8 minutes ago, ApprenticeBillionaire said:

I'm prepared to give Solak a pass at this point.

 

I too am prepared to give him a pass. Especially since I have zero control over anything that goes on at the club and even less influence over a billionaire who would probably have me whacked if I looked at him in the wrong tone of voice 

[trousers]

31 minutes ago, Nolan said:

Unlikely to offload us. Why recently add people like Boklag and Gerkens as shareholders ?

Because he was in a bit of a pickle I'd have thought...

[saintant]

18 hours ago, saintant said:

His time before being dubbed a clown is fast receding. Time he proved to us he is no fool.

Dragan proves he is no fool!

[goodymatt]

We have been crying out for a proper and experienced director of football, it sounds like one might be on the way shortly. Good news.

[Saint Scott]

11 minutes ago, saintant said:

The best news about this is that a new DoF will be appointed. Hoping Dragan is taking advice from his football contacts to get this right. If he does so then things should start to improve significantly.

Dan Ashworth is currently out of work...

[Dusic]

Ankersen doing very well with Goztepe too...

We need a DoF style appointment to knit the whole thing together like Wilcox did. In hindsight a lot started unravelling once he left.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

I wonder if Juric has his ear? Told him a few home truths about how the club is bring run?

[trousers]

3 minutes ago, Dusic said:

Ankersen doing very well with Goztepe too...

We need a DoF style appointment to knit the whole thing together like Wilcox did. In hindsight a lot started unravelling once he left.

Quite a lot of foresight on here too... not properly replacing the DoF leading to problems down the line.... blimey, never saw that coming guv....

[Midfield_General]

21 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

Ankersen doesn't have an official title at Saints

Errr, I think you’ll find his title at Saints is ‘Mr Football’, according to some PR dickhead or other 

[davefizzy14]

11 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

We have been crying out for a proper and experienced director of football, it sounds like one might be on the way shortly. Good news.

Absolutely this. We have needed a director of football with high expertise ever since Wilcox departed. I'm glad Dragan is taking action. Good news.

[Saint86]

1 hour ago, CB Fry said:

Having read the statement it reads like he is massively fucked off and Kraft taking the hit for it.

Hopefully this will work out well eventually.

I am struggling to work out, how out of Rasmus and Kraft, its Kraft who's kopped the bullet here...🤣

So, has it in fact not been Rasmus that's overseen some of the prominent cock ups under SR (that Jan window in 2023 being the most prominent one I can think of)? In which case, has he actually been the fall guy with the fans? Maybe this is the start of Rasmus' recovery arc, after he's been wronged by the fanbase massive and blamed for Kraft's lack of footballing knowledge/ability? Maybe, just maybe, Rasmus really was the mastermind behind Brentford's rise all along.... Do we all own him a massive apology?!?!?!

Lets think about this for a moment...

Edited 18 hours ago by Saint86

[tdmickey3]

1 hour ago, Nolan said:

Ankersson has not got a job at board level.... this is Solak going in underneath Sports Republic and taking control.

Rasmus Ankersen

Rasmus is Co-Founder and CEO of Sport Republic. He brings to Saints extensive experience as a football executive, previously leading Brentford FC to promotion to the Premier League in 2020 as Co-Director of Football and overseeing the most successful period in Danish club FC Midtjylland’s history as Executive Chairman. Rasmus is also the author of several bestselling books on talent development, including The Gold Mine Effect and Hunger in Paradise.

[Wurzel]

18 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I wonder if Juric has his ear? Told him a few home truths about how the club is bring run?

My thoughts exactly. He doesn't look like the sort of guy to only tell you what you want to hear (I can imagine RM could well have been) and this comes just 24  hours after his public expression of needing to keep our best players and hopes to buy players better than we already have comment.

[Fatboy40]

So a bit like good old Cortese spaffing Liebherr money up the wall?

Edited 18 hours ago by Fatboy40

[Dusic]

21 minutes ago, trousers said:

Quite a lot of foresight on here too... not properly replacing the DoF leading to problems down the line.... blimey, never saw that coming guv....

A lot also commented about how Wilcox hadn't done anything and why on earth Man Utd wanted him (because he is good at it). RM was certainly not the same after he left.

Edited 18 hours ago by Dusic

[Nolan]

14 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Rasmus Ankersen

Rasmus is Co-Founder and CEO of Sport Republic. He brings to Saints extensive experience as a football executive, previously leading Brentford FC to promotion to the Premier League in 2020 as Co-Director of Football and overseeing the most successful period in Danish club FC Midtjylland’s history as Executive Chairman. Rasmus is also the author of several bestselling books on talent development, including The Gold Mine Effect and Hunger in Paradise.

You missed a bit

DRAGAN is owner of Sport Republic and just inserted himself between Sport Republic and Southampton FC.

You'll find Rasmus somewhere in the long grass.

Edited 18 hours ago by Nolan

[Lee On Solent Saint]

7 minutes ago, Wurzel said:

My thoughts exactly. He doesn't look like the sort of guy to only tell you what you want to hear (I can imagine RM could well have been) and this comes just 24  hours after his public expression of needing to keep our best players and hopes to buy players better than we already have comment.

Yeah. Wasn't there a video clip of him when he was in Italy giving an owner both barrels in a car park? Sounds to me like he’s come here and discovered just how much of a shitshow the club is behind the scenes and told Solak about the easy culture.

[Convict Colony]

7 minutes ago, Fatboy40 said:

So a bit like good old Cortese spaffing Liebherr money up the wall?

except we get worse

[Saint86]

9 minutes ago, Fatboy40 said:

So a bit like good old Cortese spaffing Liebherr money up the wall?

Overseeing back to back promotions, a cup win, and establishing us in the premier league with a momentum (curve) that continued to carry us into the top half and eventually into europe and a cup final?

I am confused how you're equating the Cortese era to the current lot. Especially as we managed a fairly modest net transfer spend all in for League 1 and the championship - all things considered and compared to some of the budgets we were up against.

Edited 18 hours ago by Saint86

[Toussaint]

1 hour ago, ApprenticeBillionaire said:

I'm prepared to give Solak a pass at this point.

Does anyone ITK...I mean REALLY ITK, vaguely have a rough idea of what's going on right now?

Is Solak bumping the lot off?

I read this board a lot and I don't want the fucking idiot wannabe ITK's replying here

 

If he is it should be scheduled for half time in the next home game, best half time entertainment ever!

[SaintLondon]

This isn't all that groundbreaking but I know on for a fact that Henrik was a key decision maker in the recruitment of Juric, of course he would be but it makes me wonder, do these sound like the actions of a man who is about to walk away? I'm pretty sure this is a you can write your own obituary sort of thing but you're out the door son. 

[Midfield_General]

45 minutes ago, saintant said:

Dragan proves he is no fool!

Let’s see who he appoints first 

[saintant]

5 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Yeah. Wasn't there a video clip of him when he was in Italy giving an owner both barrels in a car park? Sounds to me like he’s come here and discovered just how much of a shitshow the club is behind the scenes and told Solak about the easy culture.

Agree, I don't think it's a coincidence that this has happened after a new manager was appointed and has now had time to appraise the shit show he's inherited. If so IJ has said something that needed saying and we can only hope that major changes for the better are going to be made. This club has become a complete shambles so high time something was done about it.

[saintant]

19 minutes ago, Dusic said:

A lot also commented about how Wilcox hadn't done anything and why on earth Man Utd wanted him (because he is good at it). RM was certainly not the same after he left.

Not sure anyone can claim Wilcox is 'good at it' with nothing on his CV to prove it at senior level. He might well be but nothing proven yet.

[Ken Tone]

What I can't understand is why he's left it so late to take any action.

Let's face it, we could appoint  a mixture of Clark Kent, Alec Ferguson and Pep Guardiola as DoF now and we'll still be going down , quite possibly with a record low points total.

[ChristopheVAFC]

Sport Republic and their ability to react quickly... Not their strong point...

[Toussaint]

1 minute ago, Ken Tone said:

What I can't understand is why he's left it so late to take any action.

Let's face it, we could appoint  a mixture of Clark Kent, Alec Ferguson and Pep Guardiola as DoF now and we'll still be going down , quite possibly with a record low points total.

Because he was being bullshitted by the people he entrusted to run the footballing side?

[Turkish]

as i said previously a lot of fans ire is directed at Ankersen but Kraft has been running Saints and lets be honest, you'd struggle to find a worse run club over the last 3 years.