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Posted
2 hours ago, SaintNewForest said:

Les was very under appreciated in those early days; we all hear about Cortese this, Cortese that but Reed was a huge part of those early years, double promotions & europe ... it's a shame it went sour at the end and clouded the contributions he made to the club when people evaluate and judge his time here.

This is how these things work......selective memory. I don't quite get the Steve Cooper thing. A man who was sacked twice in a matter of months wouldn't normally be a fans favourite for the job here.....quite the opposite.......but....what do I know?

Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, SaintNewForest said:

Les was very under appreciated in those early days; we all hear about Cortese this, Cortese that but Reed was a huge part of those early years, double promotions & europe ... it's a shame it went sour at the end and clouded the contributions he made to the club when people evaluate and judge his time here.

 

3 hours ago, Badger said:

This would be an important step in my book. Happy to have Spors for  recruitment and other areas of the back room works, would be pleased by the appointment of a good coach from Europe (Rohl for example), so by no means is it a Little Englander stance, but I’d like to see someone as you describe a proven UK Director who understands the club, supporters etc. 

If you go back, when Liebherr and Cortese arrived they had Andy Oldknow for local knowledge and understanding of the game here. Admittedly replaced early on. I think NC appointed Les Reed around this time. And despite how he was perceived later on with us, I suspect his early contribution was vital. 

Yep, in the early days Reed was the filter for Cortese. There were a few times when Reed was absolutely vital at holding it together behind the scenes. For example after the Reading home game which we lost 3-1 Cortese lost his shit and was going to sack Adkins there and then but didn't because Reed calmed him down, however from that moment Adkins knew he was a dead man walking. Reed was also key to some of the signings back then, despite what Cortese would have everyone believe. 

Reeds issues started when he got a bit more power and thought he had cracked the code of selling and buying cheap, it worked for a while with Koemans pull and kudos but when he was running things without a strong manager to work with and an absent chairman in Kruger things started to go down the pan. Although he looks a genius in comparison to the current lot.

Edited by Turkish
  • Like 6
Posted
26 minutes ago, miserableoldgit said:

This is how these things work......selective memory. I don't quite get the Steve Cooper thing. A man who was sacked twice in a matter of months wouldn't normally be a fans favourite for the job here.....quite the opposite.......but....what do I know?

 I think he's a realistic target for a club like us, he's had reasonable success in the division and could probably build a team which will work hard and grind out results. I know a lot of fans like Rohl, but watching a few Wednesday games this season they've looked a little iffy at times and the performance against Burnley a few weeks back was woeful.

  • Like 3
Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, miserableoldgit said:

This is how these things work......selective memory. I don't quite get the Steve Cooper thing. A man who was sacked twice in a matter of months wouldn't normally be a fans favourite for the job here.....quite the opposite.......but....what do I know?

Well, he did a better job in the Championship than Russell Martin getting Forest up with far less resources and he did a hell of a lot better than Martin in the Premier League with both Forest and Leicester.

Yes he was sacked but he was miles ahead and achieved miles more than Martin who was being drooled over on here as Bayern Munich-bound Champions League genius level mega manager.

Edited by CB Fry
  • Like 7
Posted (edited)
25 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Well, he did a better job in the Championship than Russell Martin getting Forest up with far less resources and he did a hell of a lot better than Martin in the Premier League with both Forest and Leicester.

Yes he was sacked but he was miles ahead and achieved miles more than Martin who was being drooled over on here as Bayern Munich-bound Champions League genius level mega manager.

Sacked by Leicester 16th place with 10 points from 12 games, now 19th with 7 points from their last 15 since Van Nistleroy came in. Got Forest promoted and kept them up in his first season, never finished outside the play offs in the championship. Has achieved way more than Russ has and surely would be at the front of the queue for any club looking to get promoted out of the championship. Still what do i know.

Edited by Turkish
  • Like 7
Posted

I'm certainly not disputing Cooper's achievement with Forest but personally find him so dull and uninspiring.

One thing Russell Martin did well was galvanise a club that had just been relegated and in part that was due to personality, media handling etc.

We will definitely need that from whoever takes over (and its one thing Juric has massively failed on).

Personally don't see Cooper as that type.

Posted
Just now, Dusic said:

I'm certainly not disputing Cooper's achievement with Forest but personally find him so dull and uninspiring.

One thing Russell Martin did well was galvanise a club that had just been relegated and in part that was due to personality, media handling etc.

We will definitely need that from whoever takes over (and its one thing Juric has massively failed on).

Personally don't see Cooper as that type.

It was due to results, as he was an arse in the media to be fair 

Posted
5 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

It was due to results, as he was an arse in the media to be fair 

Not with fans by and large though. And certainly handled the summer period very well. With players also.

Posted

 Manager

Premier League wins at Southampton

Ralph Hasenhuttl

47

Ruben Selles

2

Nathan Jones

1

Russell Martin

1

Ivan Juric

1

Simon Rusk (interim)

0

Pretty depressing when you think about it. 

  • Like 4
Posted
1 hour ago, Dusic said:

I'm certainly not disputing Cooper's achievement with Forest but personally find him so dull and uninspiring.

One thing Russell Martin did well was galvanise a club that had just been relegated and in part that was due to personality, media handling etc.

We will definitely need that from whoever takes over (and its one thing Juric has massively failed on).

Personally don't see Cooper as that type.

I’d take dull and uninspiring over some philosophy manager who talks like a marketing consultant. Managers aren’t meant to be comedians or style icons, they’re meant to get football teams to play in a unit and get results, if they can be the other two things as well then that’s a bonus. 

  • Like 4
Posted (edited)
36 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I’d take dull and uninspiring over some philosophy manager who talks like a marketing consultant. Managers aren’t meant to be comedians or style icons, they’re meant to get football teams to play in a unit and get results, if they can be the other two things as well then that’s a bonus. 

Understood and agree to an extent - just feel that largely the managers that have done well at Saints - e.g Strachan, Adkins, Koeman, Hasenhuttl - have been strong personalities able to build a rapport with fans quickly to bring a bit of calm authority in their various ways and a personal opinion is that given the magnitude of the fuck up this season and type of character required to reunite the club (again) I'm not convinced that Cooper is that guy.

Can't think of any of our "dull and uninspiring" managers who have done a good job tbh.

Edited by Dusic
  • Like 1
Posted
20 minutes ago, Dusic said:

Can't think of any of our "dull and uninspiring" managers who have done a good job tbh.

The poster-boy for dull & uninspiring Saints manager that did a good job (with a HUGE asterisk) was interesting possibilities Claude Puel.

Posted
3 hours ago, E_H_Saints said:

 Manager

Premier League wins at Southampton

Ralph Hasenhuttl

47

Ruben Selles

2

Nathan Jones

1

Russell Martin

1

Ivan Juric

1

Simon Rusk (interim)

0

Pretty depressing when you think about it. 

Rusk is the only one with an unbeaten record  😀

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Dusic said:

Understood and agree to an extent - just feel that largely the managers that have done well at Saints - e.g Strachan, Adkins, Koeman, Hasenhuttl - have been strong personalities able to build a rapport with fans quickly to bring a bit of calm authority in their various ways and a personal opinion is that given the magnitude of the fuck up this season and type of character required to reunite the club (again) I'm not convinced that Cooper is that guy.

Can't think of any of our "dull and uninspiring" managers who have done a good job tbh.

David Moyes is hardly laugh a minute. Nuno not exactly Mr charisma, Potter, Howe, Silva, McKenna. All pretty average blokes, look a bit dull, hardly the life and soul all done very good jobs at clubs they’ve been at. 

Edited by Turkish
  • Like 2
Posted
3 hours ago, E_H_Saints said:

 Manager

Premier League wins at Southampton

Ralph Hasenhuttl

47

Ruben Selles

2

Nathan Jones

1

Russell Martin

1

Ivan Juric

1

Simon Rusk (interim)

0

Pretty depressing when you think about it. 

I am old enough to remember when teams hated coming to The Dell and I always expected a good result. For too long now we seem to be an easy 3 points at home, let alone away.

Posted
14 hours ago, Turkish said:

Sacked by Leicester 16th place with 10 points from 12 games, now 19th with 7 points from their last 15 since Van Nistleroy came in. Got Forest promoted and kept them up in his first season, never finished outside the play offs in the championship. Has achieved way more than Russ has and surely would be at the front of the queue for any club looking to get promoted out of the championship. Still what do i know.

And many of our fans were saying get Van Nistleroy in before he went to Leicester.

No one ever mentioned him in before his brief stint and Manchester United - if they thought he was going to be that wonderful surely he’d have been mentioned before .

  • Like 1
Posted
On 27/02/2025 at 19:53, Give it to Ron said:

Southampton’s Premier League record under Sport Republic’s ownership:

84 matches
13 wins
14 draws
57 defeats
78 goals scored
176 goals conceded
15.5% win percentage
53 points from a possible 252
2 relegations*
 

Needs more than a retro shirt doesn’t it !

Deffo, but there are 2parts of the business, unfortunately the most important one is crap. Making money to help improve our psr is a must also. So that side is doing its job, the recruitment and policy of the owners is dire

Posted
On 28/02/2025 at 23:56, sadoldgit said:

I am old enough to remember when teams hated coming to The Dell and I always expected a good result. For too long now we seem to be an easy 3 points at home, let alone away.

We have not been playing at The Dell recently

Posted (edited)

FA cup wide open this year, city obviously still on it and only chance of a trophy now but Bournemouth will give them a game. Forest Brighton and Villa will all fancy their chances too

Edited by Turkish
  • Like 1
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

It's last chance saloon. They've rectified a major issue in bringing in a DOF, if Spors can work his magic then let's see. We need a competent manager and some good players, at the end of the day we have a lot of money to spend compared to most Champ teams so we should have a good crack at getting promoted again, but we need to build around the idea of staying up.

I remember in the League 1 days, Cortese said the recruitment was about building for the Prem... we need a similar long term vision. I like what i hear from Spors and he has the experience and contacts within the game to hopefully bring in some decent players to give us a good foundation to rebuild into a Prem team again.

  • Like 3
Posted

To all these people telling SR to F*ck Off, how do you expect this to happen? For them to go, somebody needs to want to buy. How much money does any potential buyer need to have? Enough to a) buy the Club and all the this entails, and b) have a "warchest" big enough to change this current pathetic squad  into a winning one. We are probaly not an attractive proposition. Everyone (probably the same people that called for Gao to go) is shouting for SR to go, for obvious reasons, but I think that the best we can hope for is that DS has has enough, and that the changes to the management structure and additions to staff are going to have the desired effect.......moreso than continually chanting "Sports Republic Out!!

  • Like 4
Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, miserableoldgit said:

To all these people telling SR to F*ck Off, how do you expect this to happen? For them to go, somebody needs to want to buy. How much money does any potential buyer need to have? Enough to a) buy the Club and all the this entails, and b) have a "warchest" big enough to change this current pathetic squad  into a winning one. We are probaly not an attractive proposition. Everyone (probably the same people that called for Gao to go) is shouting for SR to go, for obvious reasons, but I think that the best we can hope for is that DS has has enough, and that the changes to the management structure and additions to staff are going to have the desired effect.......moreso than continually chanting "Sports Republic Out!!

Absolutely, it is daft to think they will be selling up any time soon. Key reasons they won't sell... 

1) The impending relegation means the club is worth less than they have put into it. No incentive to sell at a big loss. Especially when we'll be one of the favourites for promotion, with a big financial advantage over 21 Championship clubs next season.

2) The club is the keystone club in the group. Without it the group idea falls apart.

They aren't going to sell up.

We just need to hope Johannes Spors is a footballing messiah and turns around football strategy at the club... quickly!

Edited by Matthew Le God
  • Like 5
  • Confused 1
Posted
1 hour ago, miserableoldgit said:

To all these people telling SR to F*ck Off, how do you expect this to happen? For them to go, somebody needs to want to buy. How much money does any potential buyer need to have? Enough to a) buy the Club and all the this entails, and b) have a "warchest" big enough to change this current pathetic squad  into a winning one. We are probaly not an attractive proposition. Everyone (probably the same people that called for Gao to go) is shouting for SR to go, for obvious reasons, but I think that the best we can hope for is that DS has has enough, and that the changes to the management structure and additions to staff are going to have the desired effect.......moreso than continually chanting "Sports Republic Out!!

100% - anyone know if Dragan was there yesterday ?

Posted
2 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Absolutely, it is daft to think they will be selling up any time soon. Key reasons they won't sell... 

1) The impeding relegation means the club is worth less than they have put into it. No incentive to sell at a big loss. Especially when we'll be one of the favourites for promotion, with a big financial advantage over 21 Championship clubs next season.

2) The club is the keystone club in the group. Without it the group idea falls apart.

They aren't going to sell up.

We just need to hope Johannes Spors is a footballing messiah and turns around football strategy at the club... quickly!

What will the relegation be impeding - apart from playing PL football I guess?

Posted
1 hour ago, Weston Super Saint said:

What will the relegation be impeding - apart from playing PL football I guess?

Probably impede season ticket sales unless there is some price reductions.

Posted
2 hours ago, beatlesaint said:

100% - anyone know if Dragan was there yesterday ?

What difference does it make if he was there or not? He's just as clueless as the rest of SR. How the fuck he is a successful in business I'll never know. Pretty sure if he ran his company like Saints are run, he'd be nowhere. He seems to get a free pass in this dogshit season. 

  • Confused 1
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Absolutely, it is daft to think they will be selling up any time soon. Key reasons they won't sell... 

1) The impending relegation means the club is worth less than they have put into it. No incentive to sell at a big loss. Especially when we'll be one of the favourites for promotion, with a big financial advantage over 21 Championship clubs next season.

2) The club is the keystone club in the group. Without it the group idea falls apart.

They aren't going to sell up.

We just need to hope Johannes Spors is a footballing messiah and turns around football strategy at the club... quickly!

This is the reality. The only caveat I’ll add is that in the same way Jim Ratcliffe was saying if it turns really toxic he won’t expose his family to it at Man U, that if our fanbase regain their courage (can’t criticise the numbers or loyalty whatsoever) and go for SR like they did Lowe, I think they won’t like that and sell. Hopefully Spors swipes Rasmus out of SFC picture completely and finally some of the right calls are made on management, brand new scouting team, spine of quick, strong players are recruited through the spine, so this theory isn’t tested.

Edited by Gloucester Saint
Posted
1 hour ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

What difference does it make if he was there or not? He's just as clueless as the rest of SR. How the fuck he is a successful in business I'll never know. Pretty sure if he ran his company like Saints are run, he'd be nowhere. He seems to get a free pass in this dogshit season. 

Bloody hell, it was a simple question, only needed a simple answer, not a simpleton going on a rant !

Posted

It is often stated on here that our recruitment needs to improve but what brief is given to the recruitment team when it comes to finding players? SR's aim is to make money by buying cheap  and selling high. They want to  buy youngsters with the intention of cashing in at the earliest opportunity. They hit the jackpot with Lavia, Tino and possibly Fernandes but have bought duds like Edwards, Wood, Archer, BBD and Sugawara to add to the likes of Larios, Charles, Edozie and Bazuma - all of whom have contributed very little if anything to the first team  this season. Add in those youngsters like, SAA, Megahoma and Armitage  and you  wonder if recruitment is designed to buy players with a potential high resale value rather than  find players for the first team.  

We have been crying out for an Ings replacement for over 3 seasons. Why haven't we found one?  We are  supposed to have a great academy? Why can't we concentrate on developing our own, not waste money on the likes of Wood, Edwards, Larios, Bazuma etc and recruit what the team needs like an Ings replacement? 

 

  • Like 1
Posted
1 hour ago, Tamesaint said:

It is often stated on here that our recruitment needs to improve but what brief is given to the recruitment team when it comes to finding players? SR's aim is to make money by buying cheap  and selling high. They want to  buy youngsters with the intention of cashing in at the earliest opportunity. They hit the jackpot with Lavia, Tino and possibly Fernandes but have bought duds like Edwards, Wood, Archer, BBD and Sugawara to add to the likes of Larios, Charles, Edozie and Bazuma - all of whom have contributed very little if anything to the first team  this season. Add in those youngsters like, SAA, Megahoma and Armitage  and you  wonder if recruitment is designed to buy players with a potential high resale value rather than  find players for the first team.  

We have been crying out for an Ings replacement for over 3 seasons. Why haven't we found one?  We are  supposed to have a great academy? Why can't we concentrate on developing our own, not waste money on the likes of Wood, Edwards, Larios, Bazuma etc and recruit what the team needs like an Ings replacement? 

 

An Ings replacement to play Prem football will cost £30-£40m at least and so the players value is not likely to yield a large profit. That player is unlikely to play across multiple positions such as CB or full-back and a player of that value is likely to be experienced enough to question the system when asked to play perpetually out on the wing.  All these factors mean buying a striker to replace Ings would not feature in the SR strategic manual of running football clubs.

Yep, that all sounds batshit crazy, until you actually reflect on what’s happened to the club since SR walked through the door! 😉🤣

  • Like 1
Posted
9 hours ago, Tamesaint said:

It is often stated on here that our recruitment needs to improve but what brief is given to the recruitment team when it comes to finding players? SR's aim is to make money by buying cheap  and selling high. They want to  buy youngsters with the intention of cashing in at the earliest opportunity. They hit the jackpot with Lavia, Tino and possibly Fernandes but have bought duds like Edwards, Wood, Archer, BBD and Sugawara to add to the likes of Larios, Charles, Edozie and Bazuma - all of whom have contributed very little if anything to the first team  this season. Add in those youngsters like, SAA, Megahoma and Armitage  and you  wonder if recruitment is designed to buy players with a potential high resale value rather than  find players for the first team.  

We have been crying out for an Ings replacement for over 3 seasons. Why haven't we found one?  We are  supposed to have a great academy? Why can't we concentrate on developing our own, not waste money on the likes of Wood, Edwards, Larios, Bazuma etc and recruit what the team needs like an Ings replacement? 

 

Ross Stewart?

Posted
12 hours ago, Tamesaint said:

It is often stated on here that our recruitment needs to improve but what brief is given to the recruitment team when it comes to finding players? SR's aim is to make money by buying cheap  and selling high. They want to  buy youngsters with the intention of cashing in at the earliest opportunity. They hit the jackpot with Lavia, Tino and possibly Fernandes but have bought duds like Edwards, Wood, Archer, BBD and Sugawara to add to the likes of Larios, Charles, Edozie and Bazuma - all of whom have contributed very little if anything to the first team  this season. Add in those youngsters like, SAA, Megahoma and Armitage  and you  wonder if recruitment is designed to buy players with a potential high resale value rather than  find players for the first team.  

We have been crying out for an Ings replacement for over 3 seasons. Why haven't we found one?  We are  supposed to have a great academy? Why can't we concentrate on developing our own, not waste money on the likes of Wood, Edwards, Larios, Bazuma etc and recruit what the team needs like an Ings replacement? 

 

Ultimately if the clubs goal is to make money by buying low and selling high, then it is kind of reliant on scouting good players, otherwise the whole stance is flawed before it begun.

There is no doubt that the recruitment and analysis has been crap, they've failed for so many years. I don't really know what the structure is and if it's been changed a great deal since Ralphs time in particular, but whatever is in place does need to be scraped in entirety and started again - not peace mill changes, it needs an entire broom.

Whilst I agree with most of your points on the duds, I think it's hard to put Edwards into that category. He's somewhat lucky not to have been hugely tarnished by this shitfest and has managed to have a good season personally for himself, so that's not someone I'd class as a dudd.

  • Like 2
Posted

"If it isn't broken, consider breaking it"

You can't take that approach at this level of elite sports.

The money involved means you're directly competing with best of the very best on and off the pitch.

The salaries on offer means every Premier League club has the world's best talent in decision making positions.

Solak better get wise to that fact or he stands to lose gobs and gobs more money than he already has.

  • Like 3
Posted
24 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Ultimately if the clubs goal is to make money by buying low and selling high, then it is kind of reliant on scouting good players, otherwise the whole stance is flawed before it begun.

There is no doubt that the recruitment and analysis has been crap, they've failed for so many years. I don't really know what the structure is and if it's been changed a great deal since Ralphs time in particular, but whatever is in place does need to be scraped in entirety and started again - not peace mill changes, it needs an entire broom.

Whilst I agree with most of your points on the duds, I think it's hard to put Edwards into that category. He's somewhat lucky not to have been hugely tarnished by this shitfest and has managed to have a good season personally for himself, so that's not someone I'd class as a dudd.

I think Charles is going to be an important player for us next year as well, presuming that he actually wants to come back, which I would say probably isn't a given just yet. So I wouldn't write him off as a dud, albeit he'll be performing at a level lower than the one we presumably intended to use him at. 

  • Like 3
Posted
5 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

I think Charles is going to be an important player for us next year as well, presuming that he actually wants to come back, which I would say probably isn't a given just yet. So I wouldn't write him off as a dud, albeit he'll be performing at a level lower than the one we presumably intended to use him at. 

Will probably depend who the manager is. 

Posted
35 minutes ago, Badger said:

I wonder if the Sports Republic mismanagement team could match this for buffoonery :

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/clydxyv94k8o

 

31 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Have it on good authority they are the next club we are buying for the multi club model.

Sport Republic have been linked to buying them in the past...

https://seenews.com/news/serbian-billionaire-backed-sport-republic-backs-out-of-deal-for-bulgarias-levski-pfc-1224634

  • Confused 1
Posted
19 hours ago, Tamesaint said:

It is often stated on here that our recruitment needs to improve but what brief is given to the recruitment team when it comes to finding players? SR's aim is to make money by buying cheap  and selling high. They want to  buy youngsters with the intention of cashing in at the earliest opportunity. They hit the jackpot with Lavia, Tino and possibly Fernandes but have bought duds like Edwards, Wood, Archer, BBD and Sugawara to add to the likes of Larios, Charles, Edozie and Bazuma - all of whom have contributed very little if anything to the first team  this season. Add in those youngsters like, SAA, Megahoma and Armitage  and you  wonder if recruitment is designed to buy players with a potential high resale value rather than  find players for the first team.  

We have been crying out for an Ings replacement for over 3 seasons. Why haven't we found one?  We are  supposed to have a great academy? Why can't we concentrate on developing our own, not waste money on the likes of Wood, Edwards, Larios, Bazuma etc and recruit what the team needs like an Ings replacement? 

 

In a thinking about the future positive spin way if this dogshit season makes Sr understand that you cannot compete by signing a ton of Poundland players maybe it could actually be a good thing in the end

.  I don’t think the trying to buy cheap for profit way  is ever sustainable in the end  the decent players go and you get stuck with the shit ones that don’t pan out and eventually  it ends up in a mess..  it’s not like making a big sale allows us to increase our quality by buying bigger 

  • Like 2
Posted
On 17/03/2025 at 19:25, pimpin4rizeal said:

In a thinking about the future positive spin way if this dogshit season makes Sr understand that you cannot compete by signing a ton of Poundland players maybe it could actually be a good thing in the end

.  I don’t think the trying to buy cheap for profit way  is ever sustainable in the end  the decent players go and you get stuck with the shit ones that don’t pan out and eventually  it ends up in a mess..  it’s not like making a big sale allows us to increase our quality by buying bigger 

And looking back over the last few years, isn't that what's happened?

For years, this forum has been asking for money to be spent on a striker. For whatever reason, that's never happened. Now, I'm not so sure financial rules and the sale value of our players will allow us to spend the money needed to buy the required striker. What the betting on Toney coming back? Probably out of our price range but he may want to come back soon.

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