Sport Republic

[Nordic Saint]

23 hours ago, InvictaSaint said:

Southampton owner Dragan Solak has to pay back £110m loan by end of 2024

Dragan Solak, a 59-year-old Serbian-born businessman, took over Southampton in January last year but club are now odds-on to be relegated

 

 

Martyn Ziegler

, Chief Sports Reporter

Monday April 10 2023, 1.45pm, The Times

 

The owner of relegation-threatened Southampton faces having to pay back a £110 million loan, money he used to buy the club last year, by the end of 2024.

Dragan Solak, a 59-year-old Serbian-born businessman, took over Southampton in January last year. The club sit bottom of the Premier League and are odds-on to be relegated to the Sky Bet Championship, which would cause their turnover to drop by at least one third.

Solak’s spokesman said that repayment of the loan is not related to Southampton’s financial or footballing performance, and the club’s cashflow would not be used to repay the loan.

The details of the loan are provided in the accounts of a Luxembourg-registered company, Summer Invest Sarl, which is owned by Solak and a private equity group. It is also the majority shareholder in the United Group, the telecommunications and media operation he founded in 2007, which made the loan to Solak.

The Summer Invest accounts also reveal that an extra £50 million loan facility was available to be accessed by Solak, though it is not clear if he has used this. The accounts state: “In December 2021, the group provided a loan in the amount of £110 million (€129.4 million) to Mr Solak based on the loan agreement dated December 14, 2021. The loan is secured by shares in Summer Parent Sarl which are held by an entity controlled by Mr Solak.

“The terms were negotiated on an arms-length basis and include a three-year term, customary mandatory pre-payment provisions and a loan-to-value financial covenant.

“An additional £50 million amount remains available for drawing under the loan prior to December 15, 2022.”

It adds that the latest the loan should be repaid is 36 months after the date of the loan agreement, which would be December 2024.A spokesman for Solak’s family office told The Times: “Repayment of the loan is not related to the performance and financials of Southampton FC. There isn’t and hasn’t ever been any intention to repay the loan from Southampton FC cashflow.”

It is understood that Solak is prepared to provide additional funding to Southampton should it be needed, and he had not expected his investment in the club to provide an immediate return.

Solak’s takeover of Southampton followed his company Sport Klub losing the Premier League rights in Serbia and the Balkans to the state-owned broadcaster, Telekom Srbija. Sport Klub had paid €12 million (about £10.5 million) a year for the rights, but were blown out of the water by a €600 million, six-year deal for the 2022-28 rights.

Many saw this as a political move by Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, as Solak’s media companies have been among the few that have been openly critical of his government.

The existence of the loan to Solak comes at a time when the credit rating agency Moody’s changed its outlook for the United Group’s parent company Adria Midco from stable to negative in January, citing “the company’s high leverage and weakened liquidity over the past 12 months”. It did, however, maintain the B2 corporate credit rating for €4.58 billion owed by the United Group to bondholders.

The Moody’s release cited the loan to Solak, stating: “In addition, its liquidity has weakened owing to . . . other uses such as related party transactions including a loan to the founder.”

The B2 rating affirmation did reference “the company’s solid operating momentum and growth opportunities, improved scale and scope of operations over the past few years, and its strategic shift to focus on cash flow generation, liquidity and deleveraging”.

Solak’s family office referenced the ratings agency S&P affirming the rating and outlook of United Group last month, stating it expects it to “continue to post solid revenue growth and improving [financial performance] despite macroeconomic headwinds and inflationary pressures”.

There seems to be a lot of debt getting moved around. Isn't the club itself also more than £90 mill in debt?

Southampton file financial accounts with pre-tax loss of £6million | Daily Echo

Edited 11 April, 2023 by Nordic Saint

[SaintsLoyal]

7 hours ago, Weston Super Saint said:

What is the 'American loan'?

Its a loan from msd holdings during the covid pandemic and was heading to around £80M before the club was bought.

 

  

[100%Red&White]

2 hours ago, SaintsLoyal said:

Its a loan from msd holdings during the covid pandemic and was heading to around £80M before the club was bought.

 

  

Wasn't that wiped out as part of the buy-out? Thought they got the club, for little more than £100m but cleared the debt?

[100%Red&White]

And Barry the Briefcase, gone but not forgotten.

Barry the Briefcase Rides Again?! - The Lounge - SaintsWeb

 

[SaintsLoyal]

4 hours ago, 100%Red&White said:

Wasn't that wiped out as part of the buy-out? Thought they got the club, for little more than £100m but cleared the debt?

Still outstanding on companies house and i think it was a good £150K a week in interest.

Edited 11 April, 2023 by SaintsLoyal

[S-Clarke]

3 hours ago, 100%Red&White said:

Wasn't that wiped out as part of the buy-out? Thought they got the club, for little more than £100m but cleared the debt?

There was talk that they would look and pay off a chunk of it but I don't think that ever happened - just a refinance of the existing.

[aintforever]

Face it, none of us has a clue what Dragon is going to do. He could fuck us over and leave us like Pompey, or he could bank-roll us back to the Prem. We just don’t know.

[100%Red&White]

14 hours ago, SaintsLoyal said:

Still outstanding on companies house and i think it was a good £150K a week in interest.

11 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

There was talk that they would look and pay off a chunk of it but I don't think that ever happened - just a refinance of the existing.

Ah right, just took on the debt rather than clearing it - hopefully serviceable in the Championship

[Master Bates]

Former USA Defender Jimmy Conrad:

"I had some text conversations with him, (Jesse Marsch), about Southampton. Some of the insight he gave me about Southampton was that they just don’t know what they want. They don’t know where they want to go. Maybe they just wanted him for the rest of the season.

“I am sure Jesse could see that was happening and he was like; ‘You know what, I’m gonna pass’. But it’s pretty cool that he’s been part of these conversations and even cooler that he’s saying; ‘Nah, screw you guys, I can see what you are trying to do!'”

[Daft Kerplunk]

2 hours ago, Master Bates said:

Former USA Defender Jimmy Conrad:

"I had some text conversations with him, (Jesse Marsch), about Southampton. Some of the insight he gave me about Southampton was that they just don’t know what they want. They don’t know where they want to go. Maybe they just wanted him for the rest of the season.

About sums us up at the moment. The football club that has forgotten it’s a football club. 

[AlexLaw76]

Solak has 'injected' £15m into the club......apparently

 

Edited 14 April, 2023 by AlexLaw76

[Maggie May]

39 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Solak has 'injected' £15m into the club......apparently

 

What does that mean?

[Dman]

21 minutes ago, Maggie May said:

What does that mean?

We wasted a load of money on a terrible manager appointment, so have asked cup in hand for some extra cash from the owner. 

[Master Bates]

 

***Sport Republic has injected a further £15million into the club following a share issue.
The agreement was finalised last night and means Solak has now put £63m into the club over seven months.***

***Katharina Liebherr was not involved in the latest round of investment and her share in the St Mary’s club has now been further reduced.

Solak has made the move to aid general running costs and highlight his continued commitment to the club.***

Edited 14 April, 2023 by Master Bates

[spyinthesky]

I am far too dispirited to check our results since Sports Republic took over last January but wonder if any one has the information to hand.

It must be pretty gruesome reading.

Also if you look at this January signings ie Sulemana, Orsic, Alcaraz, Bree and the fabulously talented Onuachu for around £66m in total and probably Bree is the only one, arguably, who looks worth the pin money spent on him.

And, of course, we now have a rather large debt to manage which is likely to remain a large weight round the club's neck for the forseeable future.

If anyone came into the club with the express intention of ruining it, then Sports Republic seem to be well placed to take the honours.

 

 

[Wade Garrett]

On 14/04/2023 at 19:18, Master Bates said:

 

***Sport Republic has injected a further £15million into the club following a share issue.
The agreement was finalised last night and means Solak has now put £63m into the club over seven months.***

***Katharina Liebherr was not involved in the latest round of investment and her share in the St Mary’s club has now been further reduced.

Solak has made the move to aid general running costs and highlight his continued commitment to the club.***

Fair play to him.  He needs to be ruthless with the management of the club.

[FarehamSaintJames]

It’ll be interesting to see how the PR spin when talking about our relegation.

Ankersen can bugger off.

[Nordic Saint]

1 hour ago, spyinthesky said:

I am far too dispirited to check our results since Sports Republic took over last January but wonder if any one has the information to hand.

It must be pretty gruesome reading.

Also if you look at this January signings ie Sulemana, Orsic, Alcaraz, Bree and the fabulously talented Onuachu for around £66m in total and probably Bree is the only one, arguably, who looks worth the pin money spent on him.

And, of course, we now have a rather large debt to manage which is likely to remain a large weight round the club's neck for the forseeable future.

If anyone came into the club with the express intention of ruining it, then Sports Republic seem to be well placed to take the honours.

 

 

That £90 mill club debt could well be up to £150 mill now. I guess a fresh injection of cash was needed to pay the interest on it.

(I'm talking about the Club's debt, not Solak's debt).

Edited 15 April, 2023 by Nordic Saint

[Weston Super Saint]

5 minutes ago, Nordic Saint said:

That £90 mill club debt could well be up to £150 mill now. I guess a fresh injection of cash was needed to pay the interest on it.

It's a loan between one company that Solak owns and another that he owns.  How much interest is going to be payable?

[Wade Garrett]

Would be positive if SR got rid of all that We March On bullshit.

[Dr. Kucho]

On 14/04/2023 at 18:07, AlexLaw76 said:

Solak has 'injected' £15m into the club......apparently

 

Well done Rasmus in conning Solak out of another 15 million so you can continue your destruction of our once beloved club. 

Is Dragan so naïve, or is Rasmus amazing at convincing other to believe his bullshit.

[Dark Munster]

11 minutes ago, Dr. Kucho said:

Well done Rasmus in conning Solak out of another 15 million so you can continue your destruction of our once beloved club. 

Is Dragan so naïve, or is Rasmus amazing at convincing other to believe his bullshit.

Both I think.

[HarvSFC]

Here's all the mistakes:

1. Sacking the coaching staff, but keeping the manager. Initially seen as a positive, but getting rid of a long-term manager's coaches and then forcing the likes of Selles upon him was only going to go one way. Our coaches have been lacking since the Koeman era, when he brought and moulded his own team following Pochettino. So, it should've been, sack Hasenhuttl and the coaches and then bring in a new manager, who can bring his own team with him. Alongside this, while Selles was initially seen to be a good coaching addition given his CV and reputation, we also promoted Carl Martin from within, something which was a big reason as to why we needed new coaches in the first place and Alex Clapham joined from Notts County. Don't know why we were taking non-league coaches, again seemed to cheap out on the last two, even though Clapham soon shot off.

2. Signing Bazunu and making him our undisputed number one. A goalkeeper who had only played League of Ireland and League One football prior to this season. This was at a time when Bernd Leno went to newly promoted Fulham, Dean Henderson went to newly promoted Forest and Neto went to newly promoted Bournemouth... All three goalkeepers who've had good seasons and would have came to us if we weren't obsessed with academy players. We did actually sign a 26-year-old goalkeeper on the same day as Bazunu. Lis, who pips Larios to the most pointless signing of last summer.

3. Signing Joe Aribo. Who scouted this guy? We were a high pressing Premier League team prior to this season and unlike in Scotland you have to be able to run at the very least to play in the Premier League. He was the most unsuited player to what we had been in the previous seasons. I commented when he signed that he was clumsy, even in the SPL and never looked in full control but he did score a good goal in pre-season and I was looking forward to being proven wrong. Nope. Frozen out before today and based on today's performance he will be frozen out again. Commented that he doesn't really care if he plays or not in an interview anyway, which sums up the squad.

4. Sekou Mara. I really hope he's the 2023 Morgan Schneiderlin. Young, French, signed when we should have prioritised his fee in other areas, but has shown small glimpses of something. Hopefully, like Schneiderlin a drop down a level does him the world of good. Although, again, he needs to put more work in on the pitch. But, yeah, that fee we spent on him could have gone towards signing an actual proper striker.

5. 2023 summer transfer deadline day. We went into panic mode seemingly. Brought in Caleta-Car, Edozie, Larios and Maitland-Niles. Four crap signings. Caleta-Car, Edozie and Larios have all been frozen out. One for being hot headed, the other for being too attacking, which goes against the current manager's ethos and Larios, I imagine because he looked like a 10 year old against adults. Makes Cedric look like Goliath. While, Maitland-Niles just doesn't seem to have the heart for football. Poor in the centre of midfield and poor at right-back, why we have to keep shoe horning him in, only the manager knows. On the same day we let Oriol Romeu leave. A fan favourite and no replacement, leaving us with JWP, Lavia and Diallo as our only centre midfield options. We also neglected to address the one position we needed a player in after Broja and Long left. A STRIKER.

It then gets a bit catastrophic after here:

6. Appointing Nathan Jones as Hasenhuttl's successor. This was at a time when Aston Villa and Wolves, who were sat with us in the table appointed Unai Emery and Julen Lopetegui. Managers with Arsenal, PSG, Spain and Real Madrid on their CV. BUT, we went with a man who had failed to manage Stoke City and only had success at Luton on his CV. A man with no top flight experience in his playing or managerial career. Who joined with him? Chris Cohen and Alan Sheehan. Again two more with no top flight experience. He had no one with any real footballing pedigree to consult with, like he did at Luton with Mick Harford and Paul Hart. Two crap manager's, but they are football people, which is something we lack here.

7. Signing Mislav Orsic. He's doing wonders for me on Football Manager, which must be what attracted Ankersen to him. Joined with a good CV, World Cup goals and a few good Europa League goals against Premier League opposition. However, he was given 6 minutes of Premier League football, a couple of cup games and a B team game and I doubt we'll ever see him on the pitch for us again.

8. Not recalling Nathan Tella. I don't count sending him out on loan as a mistake, as I think we all accepted it was the best move for him at this stage of his career. So, he goes and scores 8 goals in 19 starts from out wide prior to January. Fantastic. Just what we need is a goal scoring attacker and Tella's looking like the easy option to recall. Nope, too obvious.

9. Recalling Jan Bednarek. Someone who wasn't impressing on their loan, unlike Tella. I bet Villa couldn't believe their luck. Rebranded as "Janny B" and the heroic leader we were missing. Had a disastrous first few games back, but he hasn't done anything too disastrous since. He's just not much good either. Always said I'd rather have Jack Stephens in a relegation dog fight than the Poland international, who shirked his club duties last season and has been a shirker his whole Saints career. Again, could have recalled Stephens, who is now helping Bournemouth stay up, but no.

10. To round off the January 2023 catastrophe, we signed Paul Onuachu and Kamaldeen Sulemana for big fees. Onuachu not quite Carrillo, because he was actually scoring for his previous club. But we've since found out we spent around £18m on a 6'7" striker who cannot jump and can only last around an hour before blowing up. FOR THE PREMIER LEAGUE. Again, makes you wonder what our scouting team is being paid for, but he is doing very well for me on Football Manager, so again thank you Rasmus. Then with Sulemana. I posted when he joined that we needed goals, so why we spent such a large fee on a Rennes squad player with 5 Ligue 1 goals to his name, I didn't know. Turns out he wasn't the answer.

11. Keeping Nathan Jones in a job until it became near fatal for the club's league position. The man lost 7/8 league matches. There were already question marks when he was appointed and then losing all those games, especially the Forest home game on January 4th confirmed that he was out his depth. However, we were told at the fans forum by the condescending Semmens and Ankersen to trust the process, despite every Saints fan stating that he needed to go. The next game we lost 2-1 against 10 men Wolves after being a goal up, and hey, what do you know, turns out we were right, so Jones got the sack.

12. Going the caretaker route. Marsch turned us down, that's okay we must have a big shortlist of alternatives. WRONG. Selles appointed until the end of the season. Since then Chelsea, Leicester and Crystal Palace sacked their manager's, while Leeds appointed Gracia, who unsurprisingly took 3 points off us. Did they name their assistant as the man to take over? No, they brought somebody else in, proving there are options out there. We're a Premier League club and given our position there wasn't much for a manager to lose. If we got relegated, but put up a fight then their reputation would remain intact. If we survived, they'd have been hailed a hero. Instead, we've got the player's best mate on the touchline and therefore standards have dropped massively. We play without a striker, we drop anyone who shows any attacking ability - Alcaraz scores, out he goes, Djenepo gets an assist, no thank you, Edozie takes players on and wins free-kicks for our most dangerous weapon, no we'd rather see Elyounoussi pass it to the opposition. Selles makes Mark Hughes look like Guardiola considering Hughes actually got a song and some fight out of the squad before he was given a three-year deal.

So yeah, what joys we've had! Feel free to add any more. I guess Shields could've been mentioned.

[Dr. Kucho]

6 hours ago, HarvSFC said:

Here's all the mistakes:

1. Sacking the coaching staff, but keeping the manager. Initially seen as a positive, but getting rid of a long-term manager's coaches and then forcing the likes of Selles upon him was only going to go one way. Our coaches have been lacking since the Koeman era, when he brought and moulded his own team following Pochettino. So, it should've been, sack Hasenhuttl and the coaches and then bring in a new manager, who can bring his own team with him. Alongside this, while Selles was initially seen to be a good coaching addition given his CV and reputation, we also promoted Carl Martin from within, something which was a big reason as to why we needed new coaches in the first place and Alex Clapham joined from Notts County. Don't know why we were taking non-league coaches, again seemed to cheap out on the last two, even though Clapham soon shot off.

2. Signing Bazunu and making him our undisputed number one. A goalkeeper who had only played League of Ireland and League One football prior to this season. This was at a time when Bernd Leno went to newly promoted Fulham, Dean Henderson went to newly promoted Forest and Neto went to newly promoted Bournemouth... All three goalkeepers who've had good seasons and would have came to us if we weren't obsessed with academy players. We did actually sign a 26-year-old goalkeeper on the same day as Bazunu. Lis, who pips Larios to the most pointless signing of last summer.

3. Signing Joe Aribo. Who scouted this guy? We were a high pressing Premier League team prior to this season and unlike in Scotland you have to be able to run at the very least to play in the Premier League. He was the most unsuited player to what we had been in the previous seasons. I commented when he signed that he was clumsy, even in the SPL and never looked in full control but he did score a good goal in pre-season and I was looking forward to being proven wrong. Nope. Frozen out before today and based on today's performance he will be frozen out again. Commented that he doesn't really care if he plays or not in an interview anyway, which sums up the squad.

4. Sekou Mara. I really hope he's the 2023 Morgan Schneiderlin. Young, French, signed when we should have prioritised his fee in other areas, but has shown small glimpses of something. Hopefully, like Schneiderlin a drop down a level does him the world of good. Although, again, he needs to put more work in on the pitch. But, yeah, that fee we spent on him could have gone towards signing an actual proper striker.

5. 2023 summer transfer deadline day. We went into panic mode seemingly. Brought in Caleta-Car, Edozie, Larios and Maitland-Niles. Four crap signings. Caleta-Car, Edozie and Larios have all been frozen out. One for being hot headed, the other for being too attacking, which goes against the current manager's ethos and Larios, I imagine because he looked like a 10 year old against adults. Makes Cedric look like Goliath. While, Maitland-Niles just doesn't seem to have the heart for football. Poor in the centre of midfield and poor at right-back, why we have to keep shoe horning him in, only the manager knows. On the same day we let Oriol Romeu leave. A fan favourite and no replacement, leaving us with JWP, Lavia and Diallo as our only centre midfield options. We also neglected to address the one position we needed a player in after Broja and Long left. A STRIKER.

It then gets a bit catastrophic after here:

6. Appointing Nathan Jones as Hasenhuttl's successor. This was at a time when Aston Villa and Wolves, who were sat with us in the table appointed Unai Emery and Julen Lopetegui. Managers with Arsenal, PSG, Spain and Real Madrid on their CV. BUT, we went with a man who had failed to manage Stoke City and only had success at Luton on his CV. A man with no top flight experience in his playing or managerial career. Who joined with him? Chris Cohen and Alan Sheehan. Again two more with no top flight experience. He had no one with any real footballing pedigree to consult with, like he did at Luton with Mick Harford and Paul Hart. Two crap manager's, but they are football people, which is something we lack here.

7. Signing Mislav Orsic. He's doing wonders for me on Football Manager, which must be what attracted Ankersen to him. Joined with a good CV, World Cup goals and a few good Europa League goals against Premier League opposition. However, he was given 6 minutes of Premier League football, a couple of cup games and a B team game and I doubt we'll ever see him on the pitch for us again.

8. Not recalling Nathan Tella. I don't count sending him out on loan as a mistake, as I think we all accepted it was the best move for him at this stage of his career. So, he goes and scores 8 goals in 19 starts from out wide prior to January. Fantastic. Just what we need is a goal scoring attacker and Tella's looking like the easy option to recall. Nope, too obvious.

9. Recalling Jan Bednarek. Someone who wasn't impressing on their loan, unlike Tella. I bet Villa couldn't believe their luck. Rebranded as "Janny B" and the heroic leader we were missing. Had a disastrous first few games back, but he hasn't done anything too disastrous since. He's just not much good either. Always said I'd rather have Jack Stephens in a relegation dog fight than the Poland international, who shirked his club duties last season and has been a shirker his whole Saints career. Again, could have recalled Stephens, who is now helping Bournemouth stay up, but no.

10. To round off the January 2023 catastrophe, we signed Paul Onuachu and Kamaldeen Sulemana for big fees. Onuachu not quite Carrillo, because he was actually scoring for his previous club. But we've since found out we spent around £18m on a 6'7" striker who cannot jump and can only last around an hour before blowing up. FOR THE PREMIER LEAGUE. Again, makes you wonder what our scouting team is being paid for, but he is doing very well for me on Football Manager, so again thank you Rasmus. Then with Sulemana. I posted when he joined that we needed goals, so why we spent such a large fee on a Rennes squad player with 5 Ligue 1 goals to his name, I didn't know. Turns out he wasn't the answer.

11. Keeping Nathan Jones in a job until it became near fatal for the club's league position. The man lost 7/8 league matches. There were already question marks when he was appointed and then losing all those games, especially the Forest home game on January 4th confirmed that he was out his depth. However, we were told at the fans forum by the condescending Semmens and Ankersen to trust the process, despite every Saints fan stating that he needed to go. The next game we lost 2-1 against 10 men Wolves after being a goal up, and hey, what do you know, turns out we were right, so Jones got the sack.

12. Going the caretaker route. Marsch turned us down, that's okay we must have a big shortlist of alternatives. WRONG. Selles appointed until the end of the season. Since then Chelsea, Leicester and Crystal Palace sacked their manager's, while Leeds appointed Gracia, who unsurprisingly took 3 points off us. Did they name their assistant as the man to take over? No, they brought somebody else in, proving there are options out there. We're a Premier League club and given our position there wasn't much for a manager to lose. If we got relegated, but put up a fight then their reputation would remain intact. If we survived, they'd have been hailed a hero. Instead, we've got the player's best mate on the touchline and therefore standards have dropped massively. We play without a striker, we drop anyone who shows any attacking ability - Alcaraz scores, out he goes, Djenepo gets an assist, no thank you, Edozie takes players on and wins free-kicks for our most dangerous weapon, no we'd rather see Elyounoussi pass it to the opposition. Selles makes Mark Hughes look like Guardiola considering Hughes actually got a song and some fight out of the squad before he was given a three-year deal.

So yeah, what joys we've had! Feel free to add any more. I guess Shields could've been mentioned.

This 100%! I would add,

13. Giving Rasmus W.Ankerson way too much power and let him use us like a sort of real time Football manager. Someone who believes he’s some kind of genius and will outsmart all the other clubs. I seriously wonder what the staff at the club think of him and his actions. When you look back at the fans forum and see the body language from Semmens, it says it all. 

As long as this fraud remains here I have zero believe in that we can bounce back immediately to the PL. I can see us becoming another Sunderland and drop down again due to ridicules actions and ideas from him and his followers.  

[AlexLaw76]

Sports Republic are the 2023 version of Venkeys.

Absolute shithouse owners

[FarehamSaintJames]

7 hours ago, HarvSFC said:

Here's all the mistakes:

1. Sacking the coaching staff, but keeping the manager. Initially seen as a positive, but getting rid of a long-term manager's coaches and then forcing the likes of Selles upon him was only going to go one way. Our coaches have been lacking since the Koeman era, when he brought and moulded his own team following Pochettino. So, it should've been, sack Hasenhuttl and the coaches and then bring in a new manager, who can bring his own team with him. Alongside this, while Selles was initially seen to be a good coaching addition given his CV and reputation, we also promoted Carl Martin from within, something which was a big reason as to why we needed new coaches in the first place and Alex Clapham joined from Notts County. Don't know why we were taking non-league coaches, again seemed to cheap out on the last two, even though Clapham soon shot off.

2. Signing Bazunu and making him our undisputed number one. A goalkeeper who had only played League of Ireland and League One football prior to this season. This was at a time when Bernd Leno went to newly promoted Fulham, Dean Henderson went to newly promoted Forest and Neto went to newly promoted Bournemouth... All three goalkeepers who've had good seasons and would have came to us if we weren't obsessed with academy players. We did actually sign a 26-year-old goalkeeper on the same day as Bazunu. Lis, who pips Larios to the most pointless signing of last summer.

3. Signing Joe Aribo. Who scouted this guy? We were a high pressing Premier League team prior to this season and unlike in Scotland you have to be able to run at the very least to play in the Premier League. He was the most unsuited player to what we had been in the previous seasons. I commented when he signed that he was clumsy, even in the SPL and never looked in full control but he did score a good goal in pre-season and I was looking forward to being proven wrong. Nope. Frozen out before today and based on today's performance he will be frozen out again. Commented that he doesn't really care if he plays or not in an interview anyway, which sums up the squad.

4. Sekou Mara. I really hope he's the 2023 Morgan Schneiderlin. Young, French, signed when we should have prioritised his fee in other areas, but has shown small glimpses of something. Hopefully, like Schneiderlin a drop down a level does him the world of good. Although, again, he needs to put more work in on the pitch. But, yeah, that fee we spent on him could have gone towards signing an actual proper striker.

5. 2023 summer transfer deadline day. We went into panic mode seemingly. Brought in Caleta-Car, Edozie, Larios and Maitland-Niles. Four crap signings. Caleta-Car, Edozie and Larios have all been frozen out. One for being hot headed, the other for being too attacking, which goes against the current manager's ethos and Larios, I imagine because he looked like a 10 year old against adults. Makes Cedric look like Goliath. While, Maitland-Niles just doesn't seem to have the heart for football. Poor in the centre of midfield and poor at right-back, why we have to keep shoe horning him in, only the manager knows. On the same day we let Oriol Romeu leave. A fan favourite and no replacement, leaving us with JWP, Lavia and Diallo as our only centre midfield options. We also neglected to address the one position we needed a player in after Broja and Long left. A STRIKER.

It then gets a bit catastrophic after here:

6. Appointing Nathan Jones as Hasenhuttl's successor. This was at a time when Aston Villa and Wolves, who were sat with us in the table appointed Unai Emery and Julen Lopetegui. Managers with Arsenal, PSG, Spain and Real Madrid on their CV. BUT, we went with a man who had failed to manage Stoke City and only had success at Luton on his CV. A man with no top flight experience in his playing or managerial career. Who joined with him? Chris Cohen and Alan Sheehan. Again two more with no top flight experience. He had no one with any real footballing pedigree to consult with, like he did at Luton with Mick Harford and Paul Hart. Two crap manager's, but they are football people, which is something we lack here.

7. Signing Mislav Orsic. He's doing wonders for me on Football Manager, which must be what attracted Ankersen to him. Joined with a good CV, World Cup goals and a few good Europa League goals against Premier League opposition. However, he was given 6 minutes of Premier League football, a couple of cup games and a B team game and I doubt we'll ever see him on the pitch for us again.

8. Not recalling Nathan Tella. I don't count sending him out on loan as a mistake, as I think we all accepted it was the best move for him at this stage of his career. So, he goes and scores 8 goals in 19 starts from out wide prior to January. Fantastic. Just what we need is a goal scoring attacker and Tella's looking like the easy option to recall. Nope, too obvious.

9. Recalling Jan Bednarek. Someone who wasn't impressing on their loan, unlike Tella. I bet Villa couldn't believe their luck. Rebranded as "Janny B" and the heroic leader we were missing. Had a disastrous first few games back, but he hasn't done anything too disastrous since. He's just not much good either. Always said I'd rather have Jack Stephens in a relegation dog fight than the Poland international, who shirked his club duties last season and has been a shirker his whole Saints career. Again, could have recalled Stephens, who is now helping Bournemouth stay up, but no.

10. To round off the January 2023 catastrophe, we signed Paul Onuachu and Kamaldeen Sulemana for big fees. Onuachu not quite Carrillo, because he was actually scoring for his previous club. But we've since found out we spent around £18m on a 6'7" striker who cannot jump and can only last around an hour before blowing up. FOR THE PREMIER LEAGUE. Again, makes you wonder what our scouting team is being paid for, but he is doing very well for me on Football Manager, so again thank you Rasmus. Then with Sulemana. I posted when he joined that we needed goals, so why we spent such a large fee on a Rennes squad player with 5 Ligue 1 goals to his name, I didn't know. Turns out he wasn't the answer.

11. Keeping Nathan Jones in a job until it became near fatal for the club's league position. The man lost 7/8 league matches. There were already question marks when he was appointed and then losing all those games, especially the Forest home game on January 4th confirmed that he was out his depth. However, we were told at the fans forum by the condescending Semmens and Ankersen to trust the process, despite every Saints fan stating that he needed to go. The next game we lost 2-1 against 10 men Wolves after being a goal up, and hey, what do you know, turns out we were right, so Jones got the sack.

12. Going the caretaker route. Marsch turned us down, that's okay we must have a big shortlist of alternatives. WRONG. Selles appointed until the end of the season. Since then Chelsea, Leicester and Crystal Palace sacked their manager's, while Leeds appointed Gracia, who unsurprisingly took 3 points off us. Did they name their assistant as the man to take over? No, they brought somebody else in, proving there are options out there. We're a Premier League club and given our position there wasn't much for a manager to lose. If we got relegated, but put up a fight then their reputation would remain intact. If we survived, they'd have been hailed a hero. Instead, we've got the player's best mate on the touchline and therefore standards have dropped massively. We play without a striker, we drop anyone who shows any attacking ability - Alcaraz scores, out he goes, Djenepo gets an assist, no thank you, Edozie takes players on and wins free-kicks for our most dangerous weapon, no we'd rather see Elyounoussi pass it to the opposition. Selles makes Mark Hughes look like Guardiola considering Hughes actually got a song and some fight out of the squad before he was given a three-year deal.

So yeah, what joys we've had! Feel free to add any more. I guess Shields could've been mentioned.

This is all spot on.

I think this is on Rasmus and Shields. Absolute shitshow.

[ally_uk]

What has happened to our club seriously? Where has the soul, pride, passion snd grit gone?

End of the game yesterday sums it up for me you have Bednerek and Maitland Niles high fiving and cuddling the opposition.....

If I was manager of Saints I would of had both these clowns doing laps round the pitch as punishment.... 

That's the issue with Selles yeah he is a nice man and the players like him.... but who is setting the standards? Is Selles pulling players up and giving them a hard time?

Just seems way passive what's the tactical decisions about not playing strikers? Orsici where is Orsic?

As for Rasmus I don't want to go into it the man is a sideshow act..... Everything he has touched since coming here has been nonsense... 

It's like the man has a bet on us to be relegated. I cannot fathom how you can fack things up so royally so quickly he has to take accountability..... 

[Morse]

It's hard to see a way back with Ankersen and Semmens running things. They have consistently got things wrong in every department.  At some point Dragan Solak is going to have to ditch these two and start again. At least you would hope so.

[Toussaint]

16 minutes ago, Morse said:

It's hard to see a way back with Ankersen and Semmens running things. They have consistently got things wrong in every department.  At some point Dragan Solak is going to have to ditch these two and start again. At least you would hope so.

I hope so, but I doubt it.

[Wade Garrett]

8 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

I hope so, but I doubt it.

It’s a no-brainer.  Absolute pair of chumps.  

[Badger]

14 hours ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

It’ll be interesting to see how the PR spin when talking about our relegation.

Ankersen can bugger off.

I expect it’ll be shirt sleeves rolled back, hair nicely gelled, and we’ll be told the “Board are cool* about it ..” as we’re still in the world’s 6th greatest league”

* Rasmus won’t use the Les era word of ‘relaxed’, that’s so out of date 

47 minutes ago, Morse said:

It's hard to see a way back with Ankersen and Semmens running things. They have consistently got things wrong in every department.  At some point Dragan Solak is going to have to ditch these two and start again. At least you would hope so.

But you can’t see how he would sit back and allow his investment to just wither away whilst Rasmus continues with all the Ted Talk bollocks taking us to ruin.

[Badger]

3 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Sports Republic are the 2023 version of Venkeys.

Absolute shithouse owners

Difference being as far as I’m aware is that Sports Republican have put significant £ into the playing side of the club.

£120m isn’t it ? To make us worse than the shit we were last season. That takes some doing. 

[Wade Garrett]

I can’t knock Dragan to be honest.  He’s put his money where his mouth is.  Trouble is, he’s given the snake-oil salesman Rasmus a small fortune to spunk on a load of shit.

It’s the equivalent of some pair of twats being given £300 on bargain hunt and spending the lot on a ship in a bottle.

I suspect Dragan will ring the changes in the close season.  He must be smart to have made such a success in business.  If he doesn’t, his investment is going down the shitter.

[Badger]

14 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

I can’t knock Dragan to be honest.  He’s put his money where his mouth is.  Trouble is, he’s given the snake-oil salesman Rasmus a small fortune to spunk on a load of shit.

It’s the equivalent of some pair of twats being given £300 on bargain hunt and spending the lot on a ship in a bottle.

I suspect Dragan will ring the changes in the close season.  He must be smart to have made such a success in business.  If he doesn’t, his investment is going down the shitter.

The only real criticism is the company he has  kept and chancer he seems to have taken on board. 

[Delmary]

1 hour ago, Morse said:

It's hard to see a way back with Ankersen and Semmens running things. They have consistently got things wrong in every department.  At some point Dragan Solak is going to have to ditch these two and start again. At least you would hope so.

We need a hard nosed CEO with experience in the Premier and Championship leagues, someone that understands what success looks like and how to achieve it.

[AlexLaw76]

18 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

I can’t knock Dragan to be honest.  He’s put his money where his mouth is.  Trouble is, he’s given the snake-oil salesman Rasmus a small fortune to spunk on a load of shit.

It’s the equivalent of some pair of twats being given £300 on bargain hunt and spending the lot on a ship in a bottle.

I suspect Dragan will ring the changes in the close season.  He must be smart to have made such a success in business.  If he doesn’t, his investment is going down the shitter.

Well, this is happening under his watch, so you can knock him

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

The only real criticism is the company he has  kept and chancer he seems to have taken on board. 

100%.

 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

20 hours ago, Weston Super Saint said:

It's a loan between one company that Solak owns and another that he owns.  How much interest is going to be payable?

Not that I know anything about accounting but if you then get a third inter company loan going so you have a triangle on companies loaning each other at high interest rates, can't that take quite a few pounds off the profit and loss?

I just don't see why the owners would just throw money at the club. They've also spent a fortune in the transfer windows but for what?

[Wade Garrett]

Reckon they’ll get at least £70m back by selling JWP, Lavia and KWP.

Can’t see a profit being made on any other signings.  Maybe Bella but that’s it.

Edited 16 April, 2023 by Wade Garrett
Afterthought

[Dark Munster]

19 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Reckon they’ll get at least £70m back by selling JWP, Lavia and KWP.

Can’t see a profit being made on any other signings.  Maybe Bella but that’s it.

Yes, but that's still about a £50m loss. Not to mention the massive PL money down the drain, and that we'll have a much weaker squad.

What a clusterf**k by Martin "I don't worry about our league position" Semmens, Rasmus "I can see reference points you lot can't" W. Ankersen, and SR.

[Nolan]

Gõztepe just recorded their 5th consecutive win to cement themselves in play-off places.

Form chart

 

[Master Bates]

https://footballeconomyv2.blogspot.com/2023/04/what-happened-to-southampton-way.html?m=1

[Saint86]

On 16/04/2023 at 10:20, Morse said:

It's hard to see a way back with Ankersen and Semmens running things. They have consistently got things wrong in every department.  At some point Dragan Solak is going to have to ditch these two and start again. At least you would hope so.

Has very little to do with Semmens. Not sure why fan's keep trotting this out. Has been abundantly clear that Rasmus has had absolute control over all decisions. Reality is that Ralph and Semmens were doing a good job keeping the club stable and slowing turning it around despite no owner investment. 

[pimpin4rizeal]

What worries me the most is with this multi club model whatever you like to call it, it does make me wonder how much shit they actually give about us .. we are having a nightmare and in the mean time sports republic are sniffing around other shit clubs to snatch up .

tbh I don’t really see the point in this multi club thing .. red bull are successful with it but it’s a one off .I don’t really see massive benefits on it myself and it makes me wonder about their priorities .. would rather have owners who a focused solely on us 

[Smirking_Saint]

18 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Has very little to do with Semmens. Not sure why fan's keep trotting this out. Has been abundantly clear that Rasmus has had absolute control over all decisions. Reality is that Ralph and Semmens were doing a good job keeping the club stable and slowing turning it around despite no owner investment. 

He convinced the heirarchy to stick with Ralph and I believe was also heavily involved in pushing for Selles

Im not convinced his previous reign under Gao was as convincing as many believe either, he is, in part, responsible for the state of the club when SR arrived by over burdening us with incorrect contractual decisions 

Whatever happens we need a fresh start without Rasmus and Semmens imo

[HarvSFC]

3 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Has very little to do with Semmens. Not sure why fan's keep trotting this out. Has been abundantly clear that Rasmus has had absolute control over all decisions. Reality is that Ralph and Semmens were doing a good job keeping the club stable and slowing turning it around despite no owner investment. 

Replacing Ings with Adam Armstrong and replacing Vestergaard with Lyanco was prior to Sports Republic and when Semmens made the majority of the decisions.

Handing out new contracts to McCarthy and Stephens and signing up Walcott permanently was also under Semmens.

So, he isn’t totally blameless and he’s a big reason as to why we have such a bloated squad of shite. The rot was setting in before Sports Republic, they just spread it faster.

He’s also just as condescending to fans as much as anyone else currently at the club is and has helped to create the divide between the fans and the club that currently exists.

[Weston Super Saint]

33 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

Replacing Ings with Adam Armstrong and replacing Vestergaard with Lyanco was prior to Sports Republic and when Semmens made the majority of the decisions.

Handing out new contracts to McCarthy and Stephens and signing up Walcott permanently was also under Semmens.

So, he isn’t totally blameless and he’s a big reason as to why we have such a bloated squad of shite. The rot was setting in before Sports Republic, they just spread it faster.

He’s also just as condescending to fans as much as anyone else currently at the club is and has helped to create the divide between the fans and the club that currently exists.

Which also means it was under Gao's esteemed ownership when we didn't have a pot to piss in.....

[Smirking_Saint]

13 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Which also means it was under Gao's esteemed ownership when we didn't have a pot to piss in.....

So it was even more vital to make prudent transfer decisions and not overburden us with deadwood on substantial contracts then

[Weston Super Saint]

1 minute ago, Smirking_Saint said:

So it was even more vital to make prudent transfer decisions and not overburden us with deadwood on substantial contracts then

Indeed.  Did Semmens make the transfer decisions?

[Chez]

1 hour ago, HarvSFC said:

Replacing Ings with Adam Armstrong and replacing Vestergaard with Lyanco was prior to Sports Republic and when Semmens made the majority of the decisions.

Handing out new contracts to McCarthy and Stephens and signing up Walcott permanently was also under Semmens.

So, he isn’t totally blameless and he’s a big reason as to why we have such a bloated squad of shite. The rot was setting in before Sports Republic, they just spread it faster.

He’s also just as condescending to fans as much as anyone else currently at the club is and has helped to create the divide between the fans and the club that currently exists.

McCarthy, Stephens, Walcott and Djenepo getting new contracts would have been all down to Ralph. He is the manager and will get to say who he wants to retain and Semmens would then do the negotiations and sort out the details. Not sure you can blame Semmens for them being retained.