Sport Republic

[AlexLaw76]

7 minutes ago, Nolan said:

Backwards from where we were under Gao with Zero investment?

Yes, exactly 

[Saint86]

11 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Yes, exactly 

Quite 😅. It's impressive really. How much did they spend to completely imbalance the squad (and not buy a striker for ralph), lose so many of the backroom coaching/scouting/academy staff, lose many of our best academy talents etc. 

That isn't to say they won't come good in the long run, but so far they've not been great owners and it's hard to argue they've had a net positive impact on any of the 3 clubs so far. 

Edited August 6 by Saint86

[egg]

48 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Sports Republic are pretty shite owners, to be fair

Had their scouts done a better job with the cash they'd thrown at them would you take the same view? Their issue has been recruitment, but as owners they can't be expected to know a good player from a bad one. They've been let down by their employees decisions and judgement - that doesn't make them bad owners. 

[Convict Colony]

Lots of good points but the no.1 reason we went down that season was the owners decision to appoint Jones, so they need to take accountability for that, specifically rasmus.

That drove the Jan recruitment and the subsequent manager and imbalanced squad for the remainder of the season.

Since they are owners we've gone from,

- pressing football - ralph

- hit it long to the big fella - jones

- pressing football - selles

- possession football - martin

[egg]

3 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Lots of good points but the no.1 reason we went down that season was the owners decision to appoint Jones, so they need to take accountability for that, specifically rasmus.

That drove the Jan recruitment and the subsequent manager and imbalanced squad for the remainder of the season.

Since they are owners we've gone from,

- pressing football - ralph

- hit it long to the big fella - jones

- pressing football - selles

- possession football - martin

I get that, but had the player recruitment been better, but Ralph still failed, we may have been able to attract a better manager. Sure, Jones was a disaster, but player recruitment has been our biggest disaster imo. 

[ChristopheVAFC]

3 hours ago, Nolan said:

We know where you are coming from, But Sports Republic will have learnt from there experiences with Saints and Goztepe.

Look at Goztepe last season the change to Stoilov came after the first back to back defeats of the season.

yes it will take time to regain all fans confidence, but the time for panic is not now.

 

That's precisely the problem with us, it's that we panic quickly and don't give ourselves time to get things done.

Morale is not at its best for many of my compatriots, but I'm convinced that after the rain will come the good weather.

As we say in France, the French are eternally dissatisfied, haha: always grumbling about nothing...

I don't think that SR are the worst owners there are, admittedly they don't do everything right, but they keep their commitments to our 3 clubs.

Their management style is quite different from that of other timeshare owners, and they don't spend money like QSI at Paris SG, who, despite injecting billions, have still not won the Champions League, despite Mbappé / Messi / Neymar and others.

I think we'll see in the coming months.

[saintant]

3 hours ago, egg said:

Had their scouts done a better job with the cash they'd thrown at them would you take the same view? Their issue has been recruitment, but as owners they can't be expected to know a good player from a bad one. They've been let down by their employees decisions and judgement - that doesn't make them bad owners. 

Perhaps they appointed poor scouts. Ultimately the buck will always rest with the owners of the club because they call the shots and set the budget.

[Saint86]

3 hours ago, egg said:

I get that, but had the player recruitment been better, but Ralph still failed, we may have been able to attract a better manager. Sure, Jones was a disaster, but player recruitment has been our biggest disaster imo. 

Such a weird narrative to blame Ralph over SR for that season. He'd been operating on a shoe string for ages and yet we'd made some astute signings in recent years - such as KWP and Tino, and laid the groundwork for Lavia deal. But then that summer/season, SR came in and gutted the first team coaching setup, the academy setup, the scouting setup, they gave the manager a bunch of young inexperienced players with no real thought to squad balance / dressing room cohesion, we played the entire season with the very young/inexperienced Bazunu as first choice, and crucially they spent £160mwith and didn't give the manager the striker we so badly needed. Then, despite having a lot of our best players out injured (most notably KWP, Lavia, Armstrong, and Tino), and despite having to blood those youngsters in to both senior football and his tactics, we were actually in touching distance of survival when SR sacked the manager - with more money to be spent in January, and players coming back from injuries.

Can only imagine what he'd have achieved if SR had signed players the manager actually wanted as opposed to "investments" they could sell on for a profit (doing well on that front with a lot of them aren't we). But ah well... SR's two golden appointments (Selles and Jones) were on hand to correct the failings of the manager and drastically improve our form to carry us to safety... Oh wait...!

That entire season is entirely on SR imo. Everything that followed relegation - the loss of income, the selling of our best players, the damage to our academy and loss of our academy stars (the team that came runners up to City's u18 Galacticos) - Its all on SR. The buck should stops with the owners as standard, let alone when their fingerprints are on every single negative decision taken at the club. And until they re-establish us a solid premier league team, they should be firmly in the red with the fans 🤷‍♂️.

But like i said, i think they've learned from that and i think they might well come good in the long run... But we might look back and see that we wasted a few years just to get back to the level we were previously at when they took over (i.e. whilst they learnt on the job basically).

One thing i will say though is that they seem to be doing well for focusing on improving fan experience at the ground 🤷‍♂️, and they do seem to at least be committed and fairly open owners.

Edited August 6 by Saint86

[egg]

9 hours ago, egg said:

I get that, but had the player recruitment been better, but Ralph still failed, we may have been able to attract a better manager. Sure, Jones was a disaster, but player recruitment has been our biggest disaster imo. 

 

5 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Such a weird narrative to blame Ralph over SR for that season. He'd been operating on a shoe string for ages and yet we'd made some astute signings in recent years - such as KWP and Tino, and laid the groundwork for Lavia deal. But then that summer/season, SR came in and gutted the first team coaching setup, the academy setup, the scouting setup, they gave the manager a bunch of young inexperienced players with no real thought to squad balance / dressing room cohesion, we played the entire season with the very young/inexperienced Bazunu as first choice, and crucially they spent £160mwith and didn't give the manager the striker we so badly needed. Then, despite having a lot of our best players out injured (most notably KWP, Lavia, Armstrong, and Tino), and despite having to blood those youngsters in to both senior football and his tactics, we were actually in touching distance of survival when SR sacked the manager - with more money to be spent in January, and players coming back from injuries.

Can only imagine what he'd have achieved if SR had signed players the manager actually wanted as opposed to "investments" they could sell on for a profit (doing well on that front with a lot of them aren't we). But ah well... SR's two golden appointments (Selles and Jones) were on hand to correct the failings of the manager and drastically improve our form to carry us to safety... Oh wait...!

That entire season is entirely on SR imo. Everything that followed relegation - the loss of income, the selling of our best players, the damage to our academy and loss of our academy stars (the team that came runners up to City's u18 Galacticos) - Its all on SR. The buck should stops with the owners as standard, let alone when their fingerprints are on every single negative decision taken at the club. And until they re-establish us a solid premier league team, they should be firmly in the red with the fans 🤷‍♂️.

But like i said, i think they've learned from that and i think they might well come good in the long run... But we might look back and see that we wasted a few years just to get back to the level we were previously at when they took over (i.e. whilst they learnt on the job basically).

One thing i will say though is that they seem to be doing well for focusing on improving fan experience at the ground 🤷‍♂️, and they do seem to at least be committed and fairly open owners.

Sure, Ralph may have done better with better players, but my point was that if we had better players available to another manager after Ralph's sacking, then we'd probably had better managers wanting the gig. That recruitment failure is on the people hired by SR to buy players.

Where SR can't be blamed is their willingness to put money in - they pumped shed loads in during that Jan window and for that (if not the choice of players) they deserve credit. 

[FredVaFC59100]

24 minutes ago, egg said:

 

That recruitment failure is on the people hired by SR to buy players.

 

I don't get that; isn't SR self claimed expertise to analyze player data to get the best fit player for the job ? SR isn't just shoving money in, they have an entire squad (according to Ben Chorley's interview (in English) from last spring available on VA FC website) that studies, dissects player stats all day long. Looking at VA FC recruits since they took over, it feels like these data annalists are either shitty or sleeping at their desks... SR wants to follow in the footsteps of RedBird Capital Partners and Red Bull, but they don't have the same talents. But wait, Rasmus is going to fix this...

Edited August 6 by FredVaFC59100

[egg]

13 minutes ago, FredVaFC59100 said:

I don't get that; isn't SR self claimed expertise to analyze player data to get the best fit player for the job ? SR isn't just shoving money in, they have an entire squad (according to Ben Chorley's interview (in English) from last spring available on VA FC website) that studies, dissects player stats all day long. Looking at VA FC recruits since they took over, it feels like these data annalists are either shitty or sleeping at their desks... SR wants to follow in the footsteps of RedBird Capital Partners and Red Bull, but they don't have the same talents. But wait, Rasmus is going to fix this...

I don't care what they believe they're good at, I judge them (and the players, and managers) on what they actually do. 

SR cannot be criticised for not putting money into the club. They went hell for leather at trying to keep us up. The problem is that the people they trusted to spend money wisely, spent it on absolute dross.

No disrespect intended, but I'm not interested in VA FC. 

[saintant]

17 minutes ago, FredVaFC59100 said:

I don't get that; isn't SR self claimed expertise to analyze player data to get the best fit player for the job ? SR isn't just shoving money in, they have an entire squad (according to Ben Chorley's interview (in English) from last spring available on VA FC website) that studies, dissects player stats all day long. Looking at VA FC recruits since they took over, it feels like these data annalists are either shitty or sleeping at their desks... SR wants to follow in the footsteps of RedBird Capital Partners and Red Bull, but they don't have the same talents. But wait, Rasmus is going to fix this...

Yes we were promised all that Moneyball stuff but it's all proved to have been largely bullshit. Then Wilcox came along and was going to fix things but has left and not been replaced. SR have been a big disappointment and I was hoping for better.

[ChristopheVAFC]

14 hours ago, FredVaFC59100 said:

I don't get that; isn't SR self claimed expertise to analyze player data to get the best fit player for the job ? SR isn't just shoving money in, they have an entire squad (according to Ben Chorley's interview (in English) from last spring available on VA FC website) that studies, dissects player stats all day long. Looking at VA FC recruits since they took over, it feels like these data annalists are either shitty or sleeping at their desks... SR wants to follow in the footsteps of RedBird Capital Partners and Red Bull, but they don't have the same talents. But wait, Rasmus is going to fix this...

Dear colleague,

Last year, it's true, SR relied on data to build our team, in particular by recruiting 15 players from the 4 corners of the world and in the end, the only one who was satisfactory was our goalkeeper, Jean Louchet, who was recruited from the team of unemployed players.

We saw the result, and although individually they had some interesting statistics, collectively it didn't work out at all, with a descent into the 3rd division as a consequence.

SR has learned from these mistakes, particularly by taking the time to recruit well and choose the right profiles. Our four recruits seem to me to be healthier and more coherent if you compare them to last year.

We're not in SR's or VAFC's offices and we don't know how he does things, but we have to admit that we have to trust them. I don't think they do anything stupid or that they don't know football. When you look at our friends here from Southampton and Goztepe who are doing much better, hard work will pay off in the end.

I'm telling you here, most of my colleagues are not optimistic and think that SR will never succeed here. I don't agree with that. A project takes time to take shape and you always have to believe in it because sooner or later your efforts will pay off.

[eurosaint]

On 06/08/2024 at 10:23, ChristopheVAFC said:

That's precisely the problem with us, it's that we panic quickly and don't give ourselves time to get things done.

Morale is not at its best for many of my compatriots, but I'm convinced that after the rain will come the good weather.

As we say in France, the French are eternally dissatisfied, haha: always grumbling about nothing...

I don't think that SR are the worst owners there are, admittedly they don't do everything right, but they keep their commitments to our 3 clubs.

Their management style is quite different from that of other timeshare owners, and they don't spend money like QSI at Paris SG, who, despite injecting billions, have still not won the Champions League, despite Mbappé / Messi / Neymar and others.

I think we'll see in the coming months.

Must be a lot of French people on this forum then 🤪

[FredVaFC59100]

6 hours ago, eurosaint said:

Must be a lot of French people on this forum then 🤪

oui oui ! 🤪

[Nolan]

Göztepe have got their first point of the and the first clean sheet of the season for Sport Republic. 

Antalyaspor 0 - 0 Göztepe

[Disco Stu]

20 minutes ago, Nolan said:

Göztepe have got their first point of the and the first clean sheet of the season for Sport Republic. 

Antalyaspor 0 - 0 Göztepe

Interesting to see Moussa Djenepo playing for Antalyaspor.

[Badger]

11 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Interesting to see Moussa Djenepo playing for Antalyaspor.

Perhaps no coincidence they scored nil then 

[trousers]

Anything to be concerned about...?

 

[EBS1980]

Looks to be a shell company as no trading occurs through it. Their confirmation statement was due in June so is overdue but nothing else is late.

[trousers]

On 28/08/2024 at 08:26, EBS1980 said:

Looks to be a shell company as no trading occurs through it. Their confirmation statement was due in June so is overdue but nothing else is late.

As if by magic...

 

[EBS1980]

2 hours ago, trousers said:

As if by magic...

 

They take 2 mins to do especially when no updates so look like it slipped through someone’s to do list

[Nolan]

it looks as if it was a Special Purpose Vehicle used in the building of St Marys stadium, given the time frames in which it was set up.

I might not be reading it correct, but it looks like it could have originally contained the mortgage on St Marys. Now I think it holds the asset of the Stadium, which was valued at 24mil in 2023.

 

[trousers]

A new charge registered against the Training Ground...? MSD Investments... Any significance...?

Link to charge document: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06951707/filing-history/MzQzNjc2ODEzN2FkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0

 

Edited September 27 by trousers

[AlexLaw76]

Shyte owners. 

[gio1saints]

22 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Shyte owners. 

Well there’s not a lot anybody can do about it if true. Except moan about it a lot. 😄. 

Thete is a small chance they read this forum and having recognised your analysis as accurate decide to empower you with all sporting decisions on behalf of the company.
 

Or indeed if you are unavailable, to try sell the club to anyone else, subject to your due diligence of course. 😁

[Weston Super Saint]

12 hours ago, trousers said:

A new charge registered against the Training Ground...? MSD Investments... Any significance...?

Link to charge document: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06951707/filing-history/MzQzNjc2ODEzN2FkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0

 

Looks like a 'secured' loan / funding against the training ground and badge / logo copyright.  Presumably meaningless unless / until the repayments are missed.

[Nolan]

2 hours ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Looks like a 'secured' loan / funding against the training ground and badge / logo copyright.  Presumably meaningless unless / until the repayments are missed.

same as the previous MSD charge. except the original was a Debenture, and this is a supplemental debenture.

So its an extension of the original loan.

In my mind there's most prominent thing that you would need additional money for at this point of the season is to buy out contractual clauses.

Whether that be a contract at this club or another would be anyone's guess.

Having money available for eventualities, I suppose.

 

[Wade Garrett]

Time they took decisive action to arrest our poor form.  
 

Anything else is bordering on negligence.

[Dark Munster]

57 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Time they took decisive action to arrest our poor form.  
 

Anything else is bordering on negligence.

Unfortunately negligence is their trademark.

[Weston Super Saint]

Anyone know how long the 'break it' part is meant to last in the 'if it ain't broke, break it' philosophy?  Seems like it may be a good three or four years.

[Matthew Le God]

1 minute ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Anyone know how long the 'break it' part is meant to last in the 'if it ain't broke, break it' philosophy?  Seems like it may be a good three or four years.

The club was already broken when they completed the takeover. 

[FarehamSaintJames]

20 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Time they took decisive action to arrest our poor form.  
 

Anything else is bordering on negligence.

Because that worked so well two years ago.

On both occasions.

[Wade Garrett]

32 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

Because that worked so well two years ago.

On both occasions.

Ok, so we don’t replace failing managers any more.  Righto.

[SaintNewForest]

4 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

The club was already broken when they completed the takeover. 

And yet we were still surviving, so I'd argue we were doing OK. SR ruined it all and down the drain we went.

[trousers]

Not sure how worthy this is of discussion....?

 

[Tommy Mulgrew]

We’re pretty much where you would expect: equal bottom of the table.

”I wish we were Everton!”

[Weston Super Saint]

8 hours ago, trousers said:

Not sure how worthy this is of discussion....?

 

Not sure how accurate that is - Looks like they've promoted Leeds and relegated Ipswich!

I notice it is only 'debt to the owners', like Man City we have debt, it's just not owed to the owner but a third party secured on the land, training ground, stadium etc.

[ant]

According to this article, Wade Elliott - the very same that was a 'dead cert' to sign for us at one point - now scouts for Sport Republic.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ckg23yj959ro

[spyinthesky]

Appreciate feedback.

As I recollect when Sports Republic took over ownership, we were in a relatively good position.

What have been the Prem results since then?

[AlexLaw76]

absolutely woeful owners

[badgerx16]

7 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

As I recollect when Sports Republic took over ownership, we were in a relatively good position.

 

4th Jan 2022;

Pos                                                                                                                          Played         Won       Drawn    Lost      For            Against                 GD              Points

14

Southampton

19

4

9

6

20

29

-9

21

Edited October 19 by badgerx16

[SouSaint]

I wish they'd fuck off. Their whole plan is flawed to fuck. 

Quantity over quality once again from these dogshit owners. 

[sfc4prem]

They do have a whiff of those suited hazelnut-and-oat-milk-latte tosspots that think they've seen a gap in the market, only to absolutely have their trousers pulled down by Deborah Meaden because their accounts are pie in the fucking sky.

[Suhari]

Dragan must be fucking fuming with Razzer.

[Dr. Kucho]

SR problem is that they want to copy the City Group but with a fraction of the budget. When was City taken over and how long did it take them to build their multi club business? If I remember rightly they first focused on City before expanding. Something SR should have done to. 

I am getting serious doubts about Dragan’s entrepreneurial skills. How can someone just sit and watch their hard earned money being squandered by a couple of cowboys? 

[bpsaint]

I wish they’d all fuck off. Smaller clubs have managed to find much better, and richer owners. Sell us and buy some other club to add to their roster of teams I don’t care about.

Edited October 19 by bpsaint

[SaintNewForest]

I would also like to say they can fuck off as well.

Bunch of fucking clowns. 

[Convict Colony]

Yeah if i was Dragan I'd been sending this guy after Rasmus and Henrik those lego loving helmets.

[Gloucester Saint]

SR are in last chance saloon with our fans as much as Russell Martin is/was. They need to finally convince us they are taking our club seriously by appointing a sporting director with top leagues experience who focuses on sorting out Saints as a football business over the next five years with an ambitious first team manager, so we are least back to where they found us. That will help the other two clubs in the group too if Saints are doing better. 

Rasmus isn’t up to it as much as Martin isn’t. There is far more to it than player trading although considering that’s meant to be Rasmus’s forte, it’s been atrocious from SR throughout. High volume, low value, high losses mostly bar Lavia.

No more experiments now - proven names or sell up and go. A bigger investor alongside Dragan who is more demanding and driven would help with the model they want to implement. Say £5bn to Dragan’s £2bn.

Edited October 19 by Gloucester Saint