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22 hours ago, John Boy Saint said:

you don’t become a billionaire by luck (whilst being painted as an “enemy of the state”) - nor do you tolerate f**knuts and c*ckwombles with their fingers in your wallet….………unless you have a very cunning plan.

Ah! So, we’re majority owned by the Serbian Baldrick.  Now it all makes sense.  And our Rasmus is Rowan Atkinson in disguise.  So, the suggestion of Frank Spencer is not so silly after all.  I now know why SR find it all so difficult.  😇

10 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Frank Spencer would be an improvement.

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Strikes me there are too many people who think Solak is like them. He isn't. He isn't a fan either.

He likes golf and presumably there's a use for the club. He has a 33% stake in his old company which grew from local to very big quite quickly - I wonder how (it was funded)? He seems to want to be Rupert Murdoch.  I can see his interest in Turkey as a market, but can't see any reason to take an interest in SR either as an investment vehicle or a vanity project unless he wants to help out RA with his assumed wealth of  $5m or thereabouts unless getting into football gets you connections in other things:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragan_Šolak_(businessman)

https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/how-gino-pozzo-transformed-watford-fc-football-club/

https://portasconsulting.com/insights/multi-club-ownership-the-questions-facing-european-football/

https://footballtoday.com/multi-club-owners/

https://footballtoday.com/multi-club-owners/

https://www.sportcal.com/features/multi-club-ownership-the-roots-opportunities-and-challenges-of-the-accelerating-trend/?cf-view

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/how-rich-the-southampton-fc-owners-are-compared-to-the-championships-wealthiest-clubs/

Can't see much interest in the multi-club model although the Americans are taking over the PL so presume we'll be sold more crap so maybe he wants to use it as a vehicle to network with them or move money to the UK or  ... ?  Can see no sporting interest there and think his and RA's interests aren't completely aligned. Wouldn't be surprised if he's using RA rather than the other way round.

Kraft apparently has about £2bn and a background in telecoms. I believe he also was involved in Solak's group, United. Solak is apparently interested in politics, but doesn't appear to want to be one so he'll know a number that he can get on with, just like everywhere.

I can see no reason to show any interest in VAFC; having read their history they seem a bit like us, but not a club I can ever see being anything much given the dominance of  PSG and to some extent Monaco and the now, richer and more established clubs.  I don't see the French football market as, for a long while at least, being able to be as commercialised as the EPL and there are no obvious reasons to have them (all this crap about copying Red Bull's ideas and having one scouting network just means there's  a bit of money to be shaved off the cost base, but it's not going to generate large returns). Kraft is their President. 

Strikes me as an interesting, but odd diversion from telecoms to footy unless somehow the Murdoch model of Sky is to be copied but what other countries are going to garner mass viewership and be able to compete with the "product" that is the EPL?

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There were talks about  ~6 months ago or more, about SR acquiring a 4th club; does anyone know if SRs  are still looking at expanding their web of disaster ? Whichever club they decide to destroy next, the fans should raise hell to stop the move.

Edited by FredVaFC59100
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7 hours ago, FredVaFC59100 said:

There were talks about  ~6 months ago or more, about SR acquiring a 4th club; does anyone know if SRs  are still looking at expanding their web of disaster ? Whichever club they decide to destroy next, the fans should raise hell to stop the move.

They can't run one football club let alone four. 

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8 hours ago, FredVaFC59100 said:

There were talks about  ~6 months ago or more, about SR acquiring a 4th club; does anyone know if SRs  are still looking at expanding their web of disaster ? Whichever club they decide to destroy next, the fans should raise hell to stop the move.

Hopefully, they’ll sell Saints and buy 2 more with the money.

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10 hours ago, FredVaFC59100 said:

There were talks about  ~6 months ago or more, about SR acquiring a 4th club; does anyone know if SRs  are still looking at expanding their web of disaster ? Whichever club they decide to destroy next, the fans should raise hell to stop the move.

Turning the clock back further there was a link to something towards the end of the season when we dropped to the Championship, it was mentioned that Solaks people were alarmed that Saints in particular were burning through Dragans money at an alarming rate. 
SR might have voiced that plan only to find “Daddy” had restricted their pocket money. 

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12 hours ago, FredVaFC59100 said:

There were talks about  ~6 months ago or more, about SR acquiring a 4th club; does anyone know if SRs  are still looking at expanding their web of disaster ? Whichever club they decide to destroy next, the fans should raise hell to stop the move.

I think they thought RalphBall was working when they bought Saints. That would be the flagship to base other clubs around.

Instead, RalphBall was busted when they bought us, and they're finding out that keeping a club in the PL with their plan isn't financially sustainable for their model. They may end up with a multi club model, just based in different leagues.

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15 hours ago, BarberSaint said:

Strikes me there are too many people who think Solak is like them. He isn't. He isn't a fan either.

He likes golf and presumably there's a use for the club. He has a 33% stake in his old company which grew from local to very big quite quickly - I wonder how (it was funded)? He seems to want to be Rupert Murdoch.  I can see his interest in Turkey as a market, but can't see any reason to take an interest in SR either as an investment vehicle or a vanity project unless he wants to help out RA with his assumed wealth of  $5m or thereabouts unless getting into football gets you connections in other things:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragan_Šolak_(businessman)

https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/how-gino-pozzo-transformed-watford-fc-football-club/

https://portasconsulting.com/insights/multi-club-ownership-the-questions-facing-european-football/

https://footballtoday.com/multi-club-owners/

https://footballtoday.com/multi-club-owners/

https://www.sportcal.com/features/multi-club-ownership-the-roots-opportunities-and-challenges-of-the-accelerating-trend/?cf-view

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/how-rich-the-southampton-fc-owners-are-compared-to-the-championships-wealthiest-clubs/

Can't see much interest in the multi-club model although the Americans are taking over the PL so presume we'll be sold more crap so maybe he wants to use it as a vehicle to network with them or move money to the UK or  ... ?  Can see no sporting interest there and think his and RA's interests aren't completely aligned. Wouldn't be surprised if he's using RA rather than the other way round.

Kraft apparently has about £2bn and a background in telecoms. I believe he also was involved in Solak's group, United. Solak is apparently interested in politics, but doesn't appear to want to be one so he'll know a number that he can get on with, just like everywhere.

I can see no reason to show any interest in VAFC; having read their history they seem a bit like us, but not a club I can ever see being anything much given the dominance of  PSG and to some extent Monaco and the now, richer and more established clubs.  I don't see the French football market as, for a long while at least, being able to be as commercialised as the EPL and there are no obvious reasons to have them (all this crap about copying Red Bull's ideas and having one scouting network just means there's  a bit of money to be shaved off the cost base, but it's not going to generate large returns). Kraft is their President. 

Strikes me as an interesting, but odd diversion from telecoms to footy unless somehow the Murdoch model of Sky is to be copied but what other countries are going to garner mass viewership and be able to compete with the "product" that is the EPL?

I think Solak sees being an owner in the PL as useful when negotiating rights for PL football deals in Central Europe. From memory, his broadcasting company lost the PL rights in Serbia having fallen out with the Govt there, so I always assumed he bought Saints as a way of influencing future TV deals in that region and usurping the Serbian govt. influence. 

The French club ownership is (I imagine) a vehicle to access the African player market more readily as part of their player-trading plan. 

They probably see some potential in the Turkish market independently (big population etc), and also owning a PL side helps their status there.

I'm sure there's a plan for the Group. I'm astonished at how incompetent their management of our football planning and operations has been (and how costly). Solak must be spitting feathers. Ankersen has been predictably wily in distancing himself from the UK ops. 

 

 

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Maybe timely for the likes of Adam Blackmore to request an interview with Katharina Liebherr and/or Martin Semmens and ask if they're still happy with these statements...?

#wherediditallgowrong?

DHMh97_XoAA2qWq.jpg

FIRQNzOWQBA0TjU.jpg

Edited by trousers
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8 minutes ago, trousers said:

Maybe timely for the likes of Adam Blackmore to request an interview with Katharina Liebherr and/or Martin Semmens and ask if they're still happy with these statements...?

#wherediditallgowrong?

DHMh97_XoAA2qWq.jpg

FIRQNzOWQBA0TjU.jpg

What experience did they have in elite professional sport because I am struggling to work out exactly what they brought to the table? They have shown themselves to be almost completely inept in every aspect of elite professional football that's for sure.

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By any metric you care to apply, Sport Republic have been abysmal owners. The whole outfit seems rudderless. Bizarre managerial appointments, millions spent on players that never play, a director of football leaves and isn't replaced, and now talk of a mystical 10 year plan, the desired outcome of which is never explained. Dragon needs to bin off the Danish clowns, ditch the foreign clubs and get back to basics with a new off field team. 

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40 minutes ago, saintant said:

What experience did they have in elite professional sport because I am struggling to work out exactly what they brought to the table? They have shown themselves to be almost completely inept in every aspect of elite professional football that's for sure.

Probably focusing in on Rasmus's involvement at Brentford, at the time looking like a coup, but now it's plainly obvious that Giles was the mastermind behind Brentford and Rasmus was just his PA, if that.

The entire 'group' is bereft of any actual footballing experience, that's why having someone like Wilcox around was a positive as he knew the actual game in this country. 

I know big clubs will always tempt players/staff away, but the frequency at which it happens under SR is incredibly alarming. Doesn't strike of an environment that's fostering any sort of consistency in anything.

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Sport Republic effectively are trying to build a mansion without laying an foundations.

It’s all well and good having a multi-club model once you built up the support network and infrastructure but you cannot do it overnight and rush it which I think they’re clearly doing.

SR should look at what the City Group did. They focused on the area of Manchester first, redeveloped the entire area, plowed millions into it, and as that developed and the portfolio widened they then branched out abroad.

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2 hours ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

Sport Republic effectively are trying to build a mansion without laying an foundations.

It’s all well and good having a multi-club model once you built up the support network and infrastructure but you cannot do it overnight and rush it which I think they’re clearly doing.

SR should look at what the City Group did. They focused on the area of Manchester first, redeveloped the entire area, plowed millions into it, and as that developed and the portfolio widened they then branched out abroad.

When you look at city group they are not doing all at well either in Europe (except for City itself). Lommel SK has been lingering in Belgium 2nd division; Troyes FC got relegated to the French 3rd level (just like Valenciennes FC, coincidence ?), only to get saved at the last minute thanks for Bordeaux financial demise; now they are seating bottom of the table, very likely to join Valenciennes FC next year ...

I don't understand this multi club ownership model, if it is supposed to mimic the farming model baseball franchises established in the US then it is failing miserably.  SR is burning money with VA FC (~10M Euro budget, with almost no revenues). Making them look like philanthropists.

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10 hours ago, trousers said:

Maybe timely for the likes of Adam Blackmore to request an interview with Katharina Liebherr and/or Martin Semmens and ask if they're still happy with these statements...?

#wherediditallgowrong?

DHMh97_XoAA2qWq.jpg

FIRQNzOWQBA0TjU.jpg

I'd love to hear an update on Kat and Nelly's close relationship. I can picture them going for bottomless brunch after a spot of shopping , lovely stuff 

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I am vaguely amused by the way that footballs history is littered by the wreckage of broken clubs caused by outsiders coming in thinking they know better, and their plans to be destroyed by first contact with the enemy. Then continuing to claim that everything else is wrong rather than maybe they didn't know what they were doing after all.

I stopped laughing when they did it to us (again)

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If SR think I’m signing up for more of this shit for the next ten years they are sorely mistaken.

I’ve got no choice at the moment but I already regret renewing my season ticket.

It’s fucking demoralising, just like our last season in the Premier was.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Everyone knows their mistakes of the previous Premier League campaign and the poor signings of last year, so won't list those and you could slightly forgive them for it being their first year and they did at least invest a lot, which they also did this summer. However, in 2024:

  • 2023, but still affecting us today and all season - Didn't replace the set-piece coach. Been awful attacking and defending them ever since.
  • Didn't replace Jason Wilcox, instead chose to promote within, and judging from the summer, it hasn't worked.
  • We gave another contract to Alex McCarthy, still eating up a portion of our wages.
  • We gave a new contract to Russell Martin. Despite, scraping promotion last season and not even starting the new season to see how he would fare. You can imagine the pay off is slightly in the owners mind in regards to sacking him.
  • We went for quantity over quality in our signings again. 12 first team signings, without including the likes of Welington and the Goztepe and Valenciennes signings and the only ones who have improved their positions are Lallana at 36, Fernandes and Ramsdale. Taylor, Edwards, Wood, Brereton-Diaz and Fraser barely get a minute and Sugawara and I assume Archer from today are in and out of the eleven.
  • That then brings us on to our two loan spots. The two loan spots that needed to be used smartly as they could have been used to get in some real quality to help us out. Instead we went for Ugochukwu and Cornet. Two more that barely ever play. 

Rubbish. They spend a lot of money on a lot of crap hoping to make a profit, while making a big song and dance about how having a football group can improve our scouting setup across the world. Last summer the sales of Lavia, Livramento, Tella and Ward-Prowse made up for the shitshow signings of that year and next summer Dibling, Fernandes, Ramsdale and Harwood-Bellis will earn us good money. But, this is an awful way to run a football club and so far SR have been given an easy ride by the fans.

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Their approach thus far has been throwing money and hoping something will stick, but nothing is sticking because they have no idea what they're doing. Their choices are consistently terrible and their plan is all over the shop.

As it stands we are a broken football club. I don't know where we go from here.

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1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

Their approach thus far has been throwing money and hoping something will stick, but nothing is sticking because they have no idea what they're doing. Their choices are consistently terrible and their plan is all over the shop.

As it stands we are a broken football club. I don't know where we go from here.

We have no chance of improving until the next sale of the football club. SR is run by a bunch of charlatans. I don't understand why Dragan keeps pumping money into a lifeless corpse but millions and millions of his cash is being shoved down the drain. I'm not sure what he gets out of it. Heads need to roll but I'm not even sure that's possible under the current set up. These chancers need to be cut out of our club because they are a toxic poison that's killing us.

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1 minute ago, saintant said:

We have no chance of improving until the next sale of the football club. SR is run by a bunch of charlatans. I don't understand why Dragan keeps pumping money into a lifeless corpse but millions and millions of his cash is being shoved down the drain. I'm not sure what he gets out of it. Heads need to roll but I'm not even sure that's possible under the current set up. These chancers need to be cut out of our club because they are a toxic poison that's killing us.

Either that, or they totally re-evaluate what they are and what their plan is - bring in football people at the head of the club, and personal who know what it's like to run successful football set ups. 

I'd dump every single scout and analyst we have and start again. They have consistently scouted shit for too long to be allowed to continue. That entire area needs completely destroying and starting again.

At that point, with the right people in the right places we may stand a chance - but in the current guise this is just a complete catastrophe.

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27 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Either that, or they totally re-evaluate what they are and what their plan is - bring in football people at the head of the club, and personal who know what it's like to run successful football set ups. 

I'd dump every single scout and analyst we have and start again. They have consistently scouted shit for too long to be allowed to continue. That entire area needs completely destroying and starting again.

At that point, with the right people in the right places we may stand a chance - but in the current guise this is just a complete catastrophe.

Unfortunately, led by Rasmus they believe they are really smart guys capable of running a football club so they are not about to bring in and pay a bunch of other people for doing a job they clearly think is well within their wheel-house. Unfortunately we are the ones suffering from their unfound confidence in their own ability. 

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1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

Either that, or they totally re-evaluate what they are and what their plan is - bring in football people at the head of the club, and personal who know what it's like to run successful football set ups. 

I'd dump every single scout and analyst we have and start again. They have consistently scouted shit for too long to be allowed to continue. That entire area needs completely destroying and starting again.

At that point, with the right people in the right places we may stand a chance - but in the current guise this is just a complete catastrophe.

All of this is a fact, and has been obvious with SR for a while. Need a latter day John Williams as SFC CEO, have a strategic hook-up with an agent like Wolves had with Mendez next season until the scouting department is rebuilt top to bottom and ensure Rasmus’s nose is kept firmly out of any transfers. Hire a first team manager committed to the type of press then pass football which suits Saints and what the fans enjoy and recruit players accordingly with pace, power, maybe raw but the materials to improve. Even when a transfer looks a good deal on paper, the first team manager has right of veto. 

SR themselves need a couple more investors with Dragan to get the headroom up to 3-5Bn which is the minimum for a multi club model and dilute Rasmus and Henrik’s influence. A global figurehead like Patrick Vieira or Henry would make them be taken far more seriously in the industry.

At the moment, all they’re doing is giving a horrific glimpse of what Pinnacle would’ve been like if Markus hadn’t bought us.

Professionalise or sell up this season. Your choice Dragan. I wouldn’t invest in setting up a hotel chain as I don’t have a hospitality background, I’d start with a smaller hotel and hire very experienced in that industry around me first. They have never got Saints right at the core before taking on two more clubs with not much success so far either.

Edited by Gloucester Saint
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It’s time to start asking some uncomfortable questions, such as “do you actually know what you’re doing?”

I have nothing against SR wanting to rival the Red Bull Group or the City Group, I just don’t see the point in it. 

You need your large team to be the focal point and have that be a success so you can branch out.

You cannot do all of that at once. SR may have ten steps to complete, but they seem to want to do steps 1-10 as quickly as possible.

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11 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

It’s time to start asking some uncomfortable questions, such as “do you actually know what you’re doing?”

I have nothing against SR wanting to rival the Red Bull Group or the City Group, I just don’t see the point in it. 

You need your large team to be the focal point and have that be a success so you can branch out.

You cannot do all of that at once. SR may have ten steps to complete, but they seem to want to do steps 1-10 as quickly as possible.

But they need the £££ to do it. Needs a couple more major investors and buy the Danish duo of the partnership, or make them full-time employees of say Goztepe.  

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1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

Either that, or they totally re-evaluate what they are and what their plan is - bring in football people at the head of the club, and personal who know what it's like to run successful football set ups. 

I'd dump every single scout and analyst we have and start again. They have consistently scouted shit for too long to be allowed to continue. That entire area needs completely destroying and starting again.

At that point, with the right people in the right places we may stand a chance - but in the current guise this is just a complete catastrophe.

Nail on head really. There is absolutely no footballing experience above Martin.

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22 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

It’s time to start asking some uncomfortable questions, such as “do you actually know what you’re doing?”

I

nope they don't. Look at Valenciennes FC, same recipe, same outcome. relegated last year. mid table ranking this year with 1st budget in the league. All youth team at the bottom their respective tables. SR sucks balls. simple as that.

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8 minutes ago, FredVaFC59100 said:

nope they don't. Look at Valenciennes FC, same recipe, same outcome. relegated last year. mid table ranking this year with 1st budget in the league. All youth team at the bottom their respective tables. SR sucks balls. simple as that.

Commonality between the three SR clubs https://www.rasmusankersen.com/about/

Edited by Gloucester Saint
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5 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Just one look at that bullshit web page should tell everyone what an absolute fraud Ankersen is. He's the root of the mess we're in, and it's tragic that Dragan continues to fall for all his crap. 

That Danish conman brought us Mad Nate, replaced him with an amateur, got us relegated, brought in a youth academy director as DoF, didn't replace him after he left, and I'm convinced was very much involved in the choice of Russell F**king Martin.

Quote

 

Southampton are hopeful that Martin will be able to turn the situation around. He retains the support of sporting director Rasmus Ankersen, but Serbian billionaire owner “Dragan Solak has grown impatient” with poor results. 

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/dragan-solak-grown-impatient-journalist-113100667.html

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1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

Either that, or they totally re-evaluate what they are and what their plan is - bring in football people at the head of the club, and personal who know what it's like to run successful football set ups. 

I'd dump every single scout and analyst we have and start again. They have consistently scouted shit for too long to be allowed to continue. That entire area needs completely destroying and starting again.

At that point, with the right people in the right places we may stand a chance - but in the current guise this is just a complete catastrophe.

Do you ever get to say that at a fans forum or in any other way? If not why doesn't Alfie or Adam. Or where is that guy from Eastliegh...

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10 minutes ago, Norfolkinclue said:

Do you ever get to say that at a fans forum or in any other way? If not why doesn't Alfie or Adam. Or where is that guy from Eastliegh...

Isn’t Paul Doswell at Sholing now and Kelvin at Eastleigh or am I confused?

Adam is in a difficult spot and Martin has been rude to both him and Alfie. The club can just pull the shutters down. They don't do it to the national media of course.

PS - your username is a great summary of what most of us think of Martin, Rasmus and SR 😉

Edited by Gloucester Saint
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