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Daft Kerplunk

Daft Kerplunk

Posted
Posted

Big big summer ahead for the new owners. The honeymoon should now be over.
 

It’s not just about signing players, it about totally changing the culture of a club that has been high on its own supply for too long. Semmens owned a marketing agency so is highly competent at spin and making people believe stuff about how brilliant we are, but surely most people can see that things are not remotely right at the football club. 
 

Fans piling out before a lap of appreciation says more than saying we’ve got a lovely plan in a shiny video. Fans can see through the bullshit the club’s marketers put out and Sports Republic need to be challenging every single area bar the foundation on what they’re doing to be at the highest level of football, and make changes. 
 

The rot is always at the top, the leaders at this football club have been pretty much the same clique since Koeman left and that has been a time of slow decline, whatever a digital marketing award here and there says. 
 

If Sports Republic don’t act to stop the rot, and make big changes and provide some investment, we will know their level of commitment is the same as the last owner.

 

Let’s hope we haven’t been duped again…
 

 

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S-Clarke

S-Clarke

Posted
Posted (edited)

It's a big summer for sure, but it's too early to really judge as it stands. You are correct in that the rot starts at the top, no doubts about that at all - and that rot started with Gao and that previous hideous regime that has led us down this awful non-ambitious path we are on today.

Yes, we are absolutely great at spin and all the Southampton way bollocks. I would say we were much, much worse under Les and Kruger though. Those years were full of self-indulging bullshit.

But what I don't want to hear are the words ''Things are going to plan, we are doing it our way''. ''We are calm'' Because this can't be the plan, and we can't be calm about the current situation. The plan can't about selecting a team for damage limitation purposes. The plan can't be about buying 17 year olds every summer and singing to the media about it. The plan can't be about losing 15 games on the bounce at the end of every season because the squad is shit.

The plan has to change. We need established coaches, established first team players, established scouts. None of this jobs for the boys bollocks we've been peddling for years, Davis, Fleming, Theo etc etc etc. We need to use this summer as an opportunity to be ruthless and get rid of utter, utter shit that we've been fannying around for years trying to get it to 'work'.

Whether the manager is part of that plan is up for debate, but I will always say the problems are a hell of a lot deeper than him and have been going on much longer than him.

Edited by S-Clarke
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saint1977

saint1977

Posted
Posted (edited)
9 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

It's a big summer for sure, but it's too early to really judge as it stands. You are correct in that the rot starts at the top, no doubts about that at all - and that rot started with Gao and that previous hideous regime that has led us down this awful non-ambitious path we are on today.

Yes, we are absolutely great at spin and all the Southampton way bollocks. I would say we were much, much worse under Les and Kruger though. Those years were full of self-indulging bullshit.

But what I don't want to hear are the words ''Things are going to plan, we are doing it our way''. ''We are calm'' Because this can't be the plan, and we can't be calm about the current situation. The plan can't about selecting a team for damage limitation purposes. The plan can't be about buying 17 year olds every summer and singing to the media about it. The plan can't be about losing 15 games on the bounce at the end of every season because the squad is shit.

The plan has to change. We need established coaches, established first team players, established scouts. None of this jobs for the boys bollocks we've been peddling for years, Davis, Fleming, Theo etc etc etc. We need to use this summer as an opportunity to be ruthless and get rid of utter, utter shit that we've been fannying around for years trying to get it to 'work'.

Whether the manager is part of that plan is up for debate, but I will always say the problems are a hell of a lot deeper than him and have been going on much longer than him.

Yep, agree with you and Daft Kerplunk, the problems go a lot deeper than the manager but he has lost his way as well. I’m not expecting them to go Newcastle or City overall but the club sorely needs a big injection of funds - and it can be done under FFP now with the wage bill more under control to turnover - to sort the first team top to bottom. The whole point of the takeover was to pull away from the Gao restrictions, debt through the pandemic and then go back to sustainability like we did 2014-17 in a better position. 

Sadly, I think JWP will be off but there needs to be another £50m at least on top just to compete to stay up next season, let alone getting near the top 10. I agree with you both that I don’t want to hear about being relaxed or a plan or self-sustainable yet. That can wait for summer 2023 when fresh investment has poured in and whoever is manager has a young but pacy, energetic and physically strong squad that can be built on more incrementally and yes, that will mean some high profile sales as it always has for Saints. Which is absolutely fine, but summer 2022 has to be urgent, it has to be balls out or I do not see a future for the club as a presence at the top table for the foreseeable. 

Edited by saint1977
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saint1977

saint1977

Posted
Posted

No more hiding behind the muppets masquerading as manager and CEO, Semmens wanted you so let’s see what you are made of. The signs of standing behind a lame duck manager do not fill me with any hope whatsoever. It’s a worry if they are just relying on Martin Semmens for advice which appears to be the case. 

Some serious £££ needed even if JWP sold as well, and the recruitment has to be both quick and spot on. With the sheer volume of positions to recruit to it will be 24/7 until the end of August. 

Fanbase morale totally shot and STH renewals will be well down, needs to be very fast start on overhauling the squad if they won’t budge on Ralph and really licking a very complacent and lax organisation into shape off the pitch as well. 

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Nolan

Nolan

Posted
Posted

Very very big summer coming up.

This is the first we'll see of what plans Sports Republic have for Saints. I'm sure Ankerson and Hassenhüttl will change things up.

I just hope we get those changes out as quick as possible as the last thing we need is a restless fanbase over close season 

 

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S-Clarke

S-Clarke

Posted
Posted

Certainly a huge summer and a real test of their intentions and ambitions. 

If we've been searching for years for the 'right' investment and have passed up numerous other opportunities, then let's see why we went with these guys. 

I'm positive about them. But to be honest, it's all I can really be positive about at the moment as it's a bit of an unknown.

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MarkSFC

MarkSFC

Posted
Posted

Time to show your intentions Dragon and Co. 

If you've bought the club as a vehicle/catalyst for future investments elsewhere you're no better than Gao. 

If you're serious about our club then it could be a great summer....

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The Kraken

The Kraken

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

I just want us to buy Honved.

Or maybe Dukla Prague.

When Valetta FC sign on, we’ll have cracked it.

How do you make a Maltese Cross? Poke him in the eye then tell him he can’t join the Sport Republic revolution.

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Nolan

Nolan

Posted
Posted

Let your browser do the translating here:

Levski with a record budget in a share deal – Topic Sport (temasport.com)

 

Quote

If a deal is reached, Levski will have a very solid budget. The Blues will have serious means to chase those with whom the hegemon operates on the ludogorets home stage. The goal will be for the Blues to dethrone the razed and assemble a team capable of attacking the Champions League. More than BGN 30 million has been commented. Naturally, the initial efforts will be focused on covering the club's debts, as well as investing in the base. The most important task for coach Stanimir Stoilov is the construction of a new stadium. The prospective investors have so far indicated intentions to pour BGN 50 million for the full completion of "Georgi Asparuhov".

 

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Badger

Badger

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Nolan said:

Let your browser do the translating here:

Levski with a record budget in a share deal – Topic Sport (temasport.com)

 

 

By a Google currency converter that's £34m that might be poured into Levski for team improvement and the stadium.

From a purely football (Saints) perspective a club in Holland or Croatia would have ben more attractive with the quality of players churned out there. Could be argued Bulgaria is a less tapped market I suppose.

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Saint Garrett

Saint Garrett

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Posted
1 hour ago, Badger said:

By a Google currency converter that's £34m that might be poured into Levski for team improvement and the stadium.

From a purely football (Saints) perspective a club in Holland or Croatia would have ben more attractive with the quality of players churned out there. Could be argued Bulgaria is a less tapped market I suppose.

Maybe we can buy them on the cheap, and loan them to Levski.

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Convict Colony

Convict Colony

Posted
Posted (edited)

That looks like a nice place and decent ground for sure and am sure can become better as Izmir is a big place.

"Göztepe are one of the last examples of an authentic neighborhood club. They have one of the most devoted and die-hard fan bases in Turkey"

They only got relegated from the top league this year so should be a great place to develop any players as needed that dont meet the current immigration criteria.

Our RB Salzburg if you will.

Edited by Convict Colony
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Holmes_and_Watson

Holmes_and_Watson

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, woodsaint1 said:

'Serious investment'? Relatively speaking, for the Turkish league that wont require as much £, but I dont recall hearing this language when the takeover went through for us

Like you say, it's relative to the league. If they'd come out and said serious investment here, you'd have had folk complaining the we let Mbappe slip through our grasp when we could have lured him away, and that it better not happen again with Lewandowski. 🙂

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Saint86

Saint86

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 22/05/2022 at 18:23, saint1977 said:

No more hiding behind the muppets masquerading as manager and CEO, Semmens wanted you so let’s see what you are made of. The signs of standing behind a lame duck manager do not fill me with any hope whatsoever. It’s a worry if they are just relying on Martin Semmens for advice which appears to be the case. 

Couldn't disagree more with the sentiments of this post. By all accounts Semmens and Ralph have both done good jobs over the past 4 years given the financial constraints and squad they inherited post Reed and krueger. 

The end to this season was a big dissapointment, but we were never in danger of relegation and in reality reached the required points total (for survival) after 27 games.

I see no reason at all not to be excited by the new owners, they've not made a mistake so far, have serious resumes behind them, and have made nothing but the right noises about being "serious" and building a portfolio of clubs centered on saints... 

Edited by Saint86
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S-Clarke

S-Clarke

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Posted
7 minutes ago, capitalsaint said:

What exactly has Semmens done for so many to rate him?

Kept our heads above water and hasn't made any stupid decisions. Seems a very sensible and trustworthy guy.

He was pretty much our owner under Gao, with no money himself, so we were creative in how we could do things - which he was able to manufacture. He's a sensible and non-reactive CEO.

We used to have Ralf Kruger and Les Reed pulling the strings, look at the mess they left us with (and they had money to play with). 

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Nordic Saint

Nordic Saint

Posted
Posted (edited)
10 hours ago, skintsaint said:

It makes slightly more sense if we are signing this freebie keeper and loaning him back out, he will end up at Goztepe.

I don't think he'd be good enough for them. They've already got Eğribayat, who's a better goalkeeper than Lis. Anyway, I'm not sure Lis would want to stay in Izmir as he has been involved in a dispute there over unpaid wages.

Edited by Nordic Saint
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saint1977

saint1977

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Couldn't disagree more with the sentiments of this post. By all accounts Semmens and Ralph have both done good jobs over the past 4 years given the financial constraints and squad they inherited post Reed and krueger. 

The end to this season was a big dissapointment, but we were never in danger of relegation and in reality reached the required points total (for survival) after 27 games.

I see no reason at all not to be excited by the new owners, they've not made a mistake so far, have serious resumes behind them, and have made nothing but the right noises about being "serious" and building a portfolio of clubs centered on saints... 

Respect your view and fingers firmly crossed you are right. The coaching shake up was a decisive move we’ve not seen for a while, now onto player trading which where the big action will happen. No dispute that Semmens is better than Reed and Kreuger, but he’s tied himself to Ralph politically so imperative that he is backed this summer. Not silly Newcastle money but a decent net spend plus moving more of the players on who don’t fit the ways of playing. One positive the last 3 years has been the wage bill coming down. 

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Daft Kerplunk

Daft Kerplunk

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

Kept our heads above water and hasn't made any stupid decisions. Seems a very sensible and trustworthy guy.

He was pretty much our owner under Gao, with no money himself, so we were creative in how we could do things - which he was able to manufacture. He's a sensible and non-reactive CEO.

We used to have Ralf Kruger and Les Reed pulling the strings, look at the mess they left us with (and they had money to play with). 

He’s a better front man than either of those were but make no mistake, he was a core part of that previous leadership team and led strategy whilst Ralph and Les were ‘in charge’ and was from what I understand, actually in charge. He now has a chance to help clean the mess he also created. With a forgiving fanbase who don’t know how involved in club decisions (including selling to Gao) he was. 
 

We now need him to succeed more than ever. 

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Saint86

Saint86

Posted
Posted
On 06/06/2022 at 12:58, saint1977 said:

Respect your view and fingers firmly crossed you are right. The coaching shake up was a decisive move we’ve not seen for a while, now onto player trading which where the big action will happen. No dispute that Semmens is better than Reed and Kreuger, but he’s tied himself to Ralph politically so imperative that he is backed this summer. Not silly Newcastle money but a decent net spend plus moving more of the players on who don’t fit the ways of playing. One positive the last 3 years has been the wage bill coming down. 

Yeah agree with all that, and for sure - fingers crossed! 

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SuperSAINT

SuperSAINT

Posted
Posted (edited)

Great find. I prefer our own ear-lobe spotting niche over plane tracking.

I’m intrigued by the multi-club model (there’s a lot to get right to make work) but the theory of it is good.

On a related note, I wonder if we will hear from our Danish-Serbian overlords this summer?

Edited by SuperSAINT
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Badger

Badger

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

On a related note, I wonder if we will hear from our Danish-Serbian overlords this summer?

As soon as they’ve worked out the translation between. Danish, Serbian and English I’m sure they’ll put the Five Pledges on the official site.

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