Sport Republic

[saint michael]

If we are ever to get out of this downwards spiral they have to realise that we need to stop thinking we are Man City and realise we are more Lincoln city. 
 

They are completely delusional. Our team couldn’t string together any passes going forwards. It’s so simple and low risk passing sideways and backwards. Couldn’t rely on other team members to do what they needed to so often had 3 or 4 players crowding the ball and all taken out by a simple pass from the opposition. Positional play hopeless.  Technique and body shape to defending hopeless. Trying to pass ball in net ….

There’s a reason teams at the bottom don't play like us. The sooner SR realise it and we get back to being a proper team and play good simple footie the better.
 

i think they are so stupidly stubborn to prove they are right that we will suffer for a long while longer  

 

[The Cat]

Have heard there is money to spend when we go down regardless of which players leave.

How we spend it is another matter, but if true we can't fault them for not putting money in.

[stevy777_x]

2 minutes ago, The Cat said:

Have heard there is money to spend when we go down regardless of which players leave.

How we spend it is another matter, but if true we can't fault them for not putting money in.

I prefer spending money wisely than chucking money at panic signings or players not suited to our style

[FarehamSaintJames]

Has Rasmus gone yet? 😢

[miserableoldgit]

15 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

Has Rasmus gone yet? 😢

Oh good....another "Has he gone yet?" post. Never loses it's novelty value.....

[The Kraken]

1 hour ago, stevy777_x said:

I prefer spending money wisely than chucking money at panic signings or players not suited to our style

This. The whole season seems have revolved around spending lots but not being in sync with the manager. Personal feeling only but I considered that Hasenhuttl was completely detached from the summer signings, I don’t think he got what he wanted at all and most if not all players were brought in without much input from him.  Then we signed players under Jones who, Alcaraz aside, can either not make the starting eleven or not even make the matchday squad.

This summer needs a (good) new manager in early and a transfer strategy to drastically trim the squad and bring in what we need. Ain’t gonna be easy. Get it wrong and I easily see us continuing our death spiral.

[FarehamSaintJames]

6 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

This. The whole season seems have revolved around spending lots but not being in sync with the manager. Personal feeling only but I considered that Hasenhuttl was completely detached from the summer signings, I don’t think he got what he wanted at all and most if not all players were brought in without much input from him.  Then we signed players under Jones who, Alcaraz aside, can either not make the starting eleven or not even make the matchday squad.

This summer needs a (good) new manager in early and a transfer strategy to drastically trim the squad and bring in what we need. Ain’t gonna be easy. Get it wrong and I easily see us continuing our death spiral.

This entirely. I think Ralph had no sat whatsoever in the signings.

Jones got his Luton signing in James Bree alongside his seventeen-foot tall striker to play route one. He also got a winger in Orsic, a position we’d been crying out for since the summer, however neither fitted in with our “buy a teenager” policy. 
Almost like it was done as a tickbox exercise.

Sacking Jones a week or so later made it all the more comedic.

And when you look at how many of these signings this season have played regularly, it really isn’t hard to spot where the problem lies.

[Convict Colony]

Just a question are we allowed to play strikers in the championship or are they banned there as well ?

[FarehamSaintJames]

1 minute ago, Convict Colony said:

Just a question are we allowed to play strikers in the championship or are they banned there as well ?

You should know CC, as per the Sport Republic playbook which began in August 2022; you have to play 5-4-1, with that 1 being a false-nine.

With this in mind we can dream of drawing every game 0-0, or only just losing 1-0.

Hope this helps. 😁

[S-Clarke]

4 hours ago, HarvSFC said:

They tried to run before they could walk. After purchasing Southampton, they then went out and purchased Goztepe soon after and were linked with the purchase of a number of other clubs, I particularly recall one from France. However, they needed to put all their resources into establishing their supposed "anchor club" before looking to branch out elsewhere. We're copying the Man City group model and despite their unlimited wealth, they didn't start branching out until 2013, following their 2008 takeover. 5 years, an FA Cup and a Premier League title before they started expanding to other clubs.

But, given what we've learned of Rasmus Ankersen in the last year and his ego, you can tell why he's moving at 2000mph. He has that crappy little book and believes everything he touches turns to gold. He believed he cracked life and cracked football in particular. He spent a lot of Solak's money with little care, know how, or diligence, because he believed his own hype and believed he could not make any mistakes. The Premier League ended up being an entirely different level to what he expected, hopefully it's humbled him a bit, although I doubt it. We spent approximately £140m across 13 players over both windows. We could've spent £28m on five individuals for the problem positions - Goalkeeper, centre-back, centre-midfield, number 10 and striker and we'd have looked a much better team while spending the same money. But, again, Rasmus thought he knew it all and a £12m kid from Man City was going to sort all our goalkeeping issues, while splashing the rest of the money on squad fillers, only striking some gold in Lavia and ABK. 

The worrying thing is, that given all the mistakes and wrong personnel Ankersen has appointed this season, there's nothing to say that Jason Wilcox won't be completely out of his depth here either.

This is a very good point actually, it's the first time I've seen it mentioned. 

They went into the multi club buying model with a scattergun approach as well, it just seems to be how this lot operate sadly. At a even lower level just focusing on ourselves, they've jumped before they walk on most things - massive scattergun splurge in the summer, changing the structure internally, throwing out all the coaches etc. Whilst most people would agree that it wasn't perfect at Southampton, not by any means, they went into it like a bull in a China shop once they had the full keys.

The chaos they've created has lead to our rapid decline. Everything they seem to do is incredibly scattergun and I'm still waiting for them to make a good decision.

[Maggie May]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65398885
 

The article above is BBC Sport’s take on the relegation run in. They speak to reporters who cover the five teams involved, including Adam Blackmore for us.

Blackmore’s take is fairly obvious but it completely sums up what sort of club we’ve become over the past few years, coming to a head with certain relegation under a disastrous Sports Republic stewardship so far. It’s sterile and soulless. 

You read the write ups on how relegation for the likes of Everton and Leicester will have a massive impact historically and within the fan base… how legacies will be tarnished, how hard work will be undone, and how players have just five games to salvage it.

Blackmore’s take is the same robotic gospel sung from the same robotic hymn sheet written by board and the manager. He says we will lose the model where we unearth gems to sell on for big fees, how we will obviously rely on parachute payments and how much SR are willing to put in, and how dropping down will impact the calibre of manager we can attract.

But this is just the fundamental flaw in what this club has become. The model we have in place that Blackmore fears we will lose has brought us failure in the end. The calibre of managers we could bring in was already impacted because we decided to bring in Jones from the division we are about to drop into. We’ve ended up giving a Premier League job to a novice who has never managed a team. It surely can’t get much worse. 

It’s massively telling when our ‘expert’ just brushes over the business impact rather than how this is going to be a massive blow for not just the fans but city as a whole. I fear most fans are resigned to our fate and wont care about relegation because their passion and fight has been sucked away, just like what the players have shown on the pitch all season.

Relegation won’t just have the financial impact this time. Unless there are massive changes that sees us stabilised, with a group of players who show fight and passion that help us become established in the top flight again, we risk losing a generation of Saints fans who actually care.

[S-Clarke]

16 minutes ago, Maggie May said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65398885
 

The article above is BBC Sport’s take on the relegation run in. They speak to reporters who cover the five teams involved, including Adam Blackmore for us.

Blackmore’s take is fairly obvious but it completely sums up what sort of club we’ve become over the past few years, coming to a head with certain relegation under a disastrous Sports Republic stewardship so far. It’s sterile and soulless. 

You read the write ups on how relegation for the likes of Everton and Leicester will have a massive impact historically and within the fan base… how legacies will be tarnished, how hard work will be undone, and how players have just five games to salvage it.

Blackmore’s take is the same robotic gospel sung from the same robotic hymn sheet written by board and the manager. He says we will lose the model where we unearth gems to sell on for big fees, how we will obviously rely on parachute payments and how much SR are willing to put in, and how dropping down will impact the calibre of manager we can attract.

But this is just the fundamental flaw in what this club has become. The model we have in place that Blackmore fears we will lose has brought us failure in the end. The calibre of managers we could bring in was already impacted because we decided to bring in Jones from the division we are about to drop into. We’ve ended up giving a Premier League job to a novice who has never managed a team. It surely can’t get much worse. 

It’s massively telling when our ‘expert’ just brushes over the business impact rather than how this is going to be a massive blow for not just the fans but city as a whole. I fear most fans are resigned to our fate and wont care about relegation because their passion and fight has been sucked away, just like what the players have shown on the pitch all season.

Relegation won’t just have the financial impact this time. Unless there are massive changes that sees us stabilised, with a group of players who show fight and passion that help us become established in the top flight again, we risk losing a generation of Saints fans who actually care.

I thought exactly the same when I read that, the other reports focusing on the fan base and how they can use it as a reset etc.

For us it seemed like Blackmore was reading from the club sheet again. That entire fricking model is why we are where we are, so if we can do away with that then all the better for it. As a fan I want to feel a connection with a team and players, I haven't felt it for years as there's just a continuous cycle of ins and outs.

When we came up through the leagues we didn't focus on selling, we kept the core of players who rode with us - we were all in it together. That's why it was successful, everyone bought into it and the the goal was clear - PL football. Now our goal has just become soulless and making sure we continue our mantra of being a shop window, we'll never have a team we can get behind with that philosophy. Fair enough we'll sell players, I'm not daft enough to think otherwise, but we advertise that as our model to all to see and our goal is just to make profit, which fans don't give a shit about.

All summed up by Semmens comment ''It doesn't matter where we finish in the league, it's about how many players we can develop'' - sod off with that shit.

Edited 28 April, 2023 by S-Clarke

[SotonianWill]

3 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I thought exactly the same when I read that, the other reports focusing on the fan base and how they can use it as a reset etc.

For us it seemed like Blackmore was reading from the club sheet again. That entire fricking model is why we are where we are, so if we can do away with that then all the better for it. As a fan I want to feel a connection with a team and players, I haven't felt it for years as there's just a continuous cycle of ins and outs.

When we came up through the leagues we didn't focus on selling, we kept the core of players who rode with us - we were all in it together. That's why it was successful, everyone bought into it and the the goal was clear - PL football. Now our goal has just become soulless and making sure we continue our mantra of being a shop window, we'll never have a team we can get behind with that philosophy. Fair enough we'll sell players, I'm not daft enough to think otherwise, but we advertise that as our model to all to see and our goal is just to make profit, which fans don't give a shit about.

All summed up by Semmens comment ''It doesn't matter where we finish in the league, it's about how many players we can develop'' - sod off with that shit.

Exactly, they feed off our history of developing young players to say it’s “the southampton way” - an excuse to buy players just to make a profit. 

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, SotonianWill said:

Exactly, they feed off our history of developing young players to say it’s “the southampton way” - an excuse to buy players just to make a profit. 

They're taking the piss out of our history really. Every club is a selling club, it's inevitable.

But the difference here is that we've become a glorified creche and holding pen for players. We know it, the players know it, their agents know it. It's no longer a case of having a player do well and then seeing what the future holds, we sign players with set release clauses so they can leave after x amount of years to the club we bought them from.

I hate it. It's not the way to run a club.

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

22 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

This is a very good point actually, it's the first time I've seen it mentioned. 

They went into the multi club buying model with a scattergun approach as well, it just seems to be how this lot operate sadly. At a even lower level just focusing on ourselves, they've jumped before they walk on most things - massive scattergun splurge in the summer, changing the structure internally, throwing out all the coaches etc. Whilst most people would agree that it wasn't perfect at Southampton, not by any means, they went into it like a bull in a China shop once they had the full keys.

The chaos they've created has lead to our rapid decline. Everything they seem to do is incredibly scattergun and I'm still waiting for them to make a good decision.

What is concerning is that sooner or later they'll say 'this ain't working'. Then what? Do they modify their business model because that's all we seem to be now? Do they sell up? Are we in breach of the football financial sustainability rules because Championship Clubs (eg QPR) seem easier to target than PL clubs?

Have to agree with you, I just want to support a team where I feel a connection, not just with other fans but also with the club. I also don't give a shit how many players we develop, I care about how our club develops and if that brings players along in the process, then lucky them.

[S-Clarke]

3 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

What is concerning is that sooner or later they'll say 'this ain't working'. Then what? Do they modify their business model because that's all we seem to be now? Do they sell up? Are we in breach of the football financial sustainability rules because Championship Clubs (eg QPR) seem easier to target than PL clubs?

Have to agree with you, I just want to support a team where I feel a connection, not just with other fans but also with the club. I also don't give a shit how many players we develop, I care about how our club develops and if that brings players along in the process, then lucky them.

Yep that's it - well put. It should be about developing our club, that's what anyone wants the priority to be. But we've got it the wrong way round, our club policy seems to be in place to develop players irrespective of what happens to the 'holding pen/football club' they are part of. It's not football to me and I'm not sure that's something anyone can support.

Edited 28 April, 2023 by S-Clarke

[ally_uk]

In all honesty it feels like the soul has been ripped out of our club.

I was optimistic when Sports Republic purchased us and had plans about a multi club model with us as fhe focal point.

I was hesitant about the Gung Ho approach to signing young players to mould and to develop to eventually profit and resell.

Majority of the fanbase could see that in order to put up a fight in the Premiership we would also need a few experienced heads to mentor said younger players. 

As fans we have collectively witnessed a domino effect of poor decision making and risk taking. 

 

⚽️ Not backing Ralph with the tools required such as a Ings / Broja replacement and creativity. 

⚽️ Signing Bazunu and throwing him in the deep end as a regular starter. Experienced keepers were avaliable... 

⚽️ Letting Romeu go with out a experienced like for like replacement. Vital cog in spine of our team.

⚽️ Hiring Nathan Jones and wasting the mini break which was a perfect opportunity to regroup, recharge and win some upcoming winnable games. 

⚽️ January signings and panic buys Orsic? Onuachu? What was the point? 

⚽️ Hiring Selles after one game 

⚽️ Realising Selles is horribly out of depth.... 

I'm sure more poor decions were made but the board seriously need to save face and take some form of accountability because it has been a disaster... 

 

 

Edited 29 April, 2023 by ally_uk
Spell

[AlexLaw76]

Madness... The annual salary for Orsic is larger than the entire squad annual wage budget for Plymouth, who we will be playing next season.

https://www.footballfancast.com/southampton-premier-league-mislav-orsic-transfer-wages/

[S-Clarke]

5 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Madness... The annual salary for Orsic is larger than the entire squad annual wage budget for Plymouth, who we will be playing next season.

https://www.footballfancast.com/southampton-premier-league-mislav-orsic-transfer-wages/

I just cannot understand what has happened here, it's not like he is some sort of unknown quantity - he scored in the world cup, and the third place play off. He's a bronze world cup winner FFS. Scores regular in European Competition.

Why on earth is he not playing in front of Elyounoussi or Adam Armstrong? Granted, he was pretty shit against Grimsby, but both Elyounoussi and Armstrong have been shit every single game since the creation of time yet they still continue. He hasn't been given a crack and I just don't know why, he doesn't even seem to be a devise character as his former fans talk about how much of a leader/ambassador for the city he was.

That article says he's rinsed us, but I'd say we've absolutely taken the piss out of him.

Edited 29 April, 2023 by S-Clarke

[FarehamSaintJames]

It’s very once-sided that article; almost implying that Orsic is not trying.

I read somewhere a while back that he was struggling to settle in to UK life with his family still being overseas.

Ultimately, he was a panic signing for the winger position, a position that SR didn’t tick off their self-assessment tick box exercise last summer.

I’m sure he’ll return to Dinamo this summer. Sooner rather than later I imagine. 

[ErwinK1961]

2 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

I just cannot understand what has happened here, it's not like he is some sort of unknown quantity - he scored in the world cup, and the third place play off. He's a bronze world cup winner FFS. Scores regular in European Competition.

Why on earth is he not playing in front of Elyounoussi or Adam Armstrong? Granted, he was pretty shit against Grimsby, but both Elyounoussi and Armstrong have been shit every single game since the creation of time yet they still continue. He hasn't been given a crack and I just don't know why, he doesn't even seem to be a devise character as his former fans talk about how much of a leader/ambassador for the city he was.

That article says he's rinsed us, but I'd say we've absolutely taken the piss out of him.

He doesn’t want to be here - homesick and wanted out very early on. Disastrous move for all parties and he’ll be back in Croatia next season.

[FarehamSaintJames]

When was the last time Dragon went to a game?

[Southner]

On 28/04/2023 at 18:28, saint michael said:

If we are ever to get out of this downwards spiral they have to realise that we need to stop thinking we are Man City and realise we are more Lincoln city. 
 

They are completely delusional. Our team couldn’t string together any passes going forwards. It’s so simple and low risk passing sideways and backwards. Couldn’t rely on other team members to do what they needed to so often had 3 or 4 players crowding the ball and all taken out by a simple pass from the opposition. Positional play hopeless.  Technique and body shape to defending hopeless. Trying to pass ball in net ….

There’s a reason teams at the bottom don't play like us. The sooner SR realise it and we get back to being a proper team and play good simple footie the better.
 

i think they are so stupidly stubborn to prove they are right that we will suffer for a long while longer  

 

Surely Dragan will wake up one morning and realise that those running things have seriously screwed the pooch? 

[Dr. Kucho]

It seems like Sports Republic won’t be leaving anytime soon. All we can hope for is that Rasmus gets bored and cons Dragan in buying him a new toy to wreck.
 

Hopefully that day comes sooner then later. 

[Convict Colony]

I guess rasmus has an interesting way to making goztepe a bigger club than us.

[FarehamSaintJames]

I do feel like they should just terminate Selles now.

Find out which players are willing to fight and potentially be in the fight next season having dropped a division. Those that want out - freeze them out for the remaining games.

Give the managers role for the final few games as a Make A Wish prize.

Two-three weeks after the season ends get the next manager in. Then the rebuild starts, again. 

[Bakovnetski]

Another exit

https://trainingground.guru/articles/southampton-academy-director-hale-to-leave-at-end-of-season

[skintsaint]

53 minutes ago, Bakovnetski said:

Another exit

https://trainingground.guru/articles/southampton-academy-director-hale-to-leave-at-end-of-season

Where you been?

 

[Turkish]

On 29/04/2023 at 10:42, S-Clarke said:

I just cannot understand what has happened here, it's not like he is some sort of unknown quantity - he scored in the world cup, and the third place play off. He's a bronze world cup winner FFS. Scores regular in European Competition.

Why on earth is he not playing in front of Elyounoussi or Adam Armstrong? Granted, he was pretty shit against Grimsby, but both Elyounoussi and Armstrong have been shit every single game since the creation of time yet they still continue. He hasn't been given a crack and I just don't know why, he doesn't even seem to be a devise character as his former fans talk about how much of a leader/ambassador for the city he was.

That article says he's rinsed us, but I'd say we've absolutely taken the piss out of him.

Clearly not good enough when he doesn't have the ball. 

[miserableoldgit]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

Clearly not good enough when he doesn't have the ball. 

Obviously not front-footed or aggresive enough!

[Saint86]

On 28/04/2023 at 21:40, S-Clarke said:

This is a very good point actually, it's the first time I've seen it mentioned. 

They went into the multi club buying model with a scattergun approach as well, it just seems to be how this lot operate sadly. At a even lower level just focusing on ourselves, they've jumped before they walk on most things - massive scattergun splurge in the summer, changing the structure internally, throwing out all the coaches etc. Whilst most people would agree that it wasn't perfect at Southampton, not by any means, they went into it like a bull in a China shop once they had the full keys.

The chaos they've created has lead to our rapid decline. Everything they seem to do is incredibly scattergun and I'm still waiting for them to make a good decision.

As has been said numerous times, we were relatively stable under Ralph, Semmens, Crocker etc - albeit with no resources / pot to piss in. But the fans generally were not happy with this, the old adage "careful what you wish for was uttered", and the rest is history...

But in the year of Sports Republic "not being too involved in the club" they have;

1. Dismantled the first team coaching setup around the manager,
2. Failed to strengthen the first team in the key areas (actually any?).
3. Weird change to the 4-5-1 from a dedicated 4-2-2-2 advocate?
4. Essentially undermined and then sacked a good manager.
5. Hired the world's fittest welsh wizard, spent a load more money to little real effect, the 4-5-1 returned 🙈.
6. Kept said fittest man for too long. Disastrously too long actually. It was okay though, the players liked him...
7. Given the job to the players mate (seemingly keeping the players happy)... Now whether Selles knows his stuff or not, he is out of his depth in this scenario and has the unfortunate issue of being a real constant throughout the season's general disappointing abandonment of high press attacking football. At least the 4-5-1 finally went in the bin at last...
8. Crocker has now left as DoF - this is quite a significant loss if Wilcox doesn't come in to be immediate quality himself - regardless, it is unnecessary change yet again.
9. Matt Hale (head of academy) has now gone - right when the academy is now starting to bear serious fruit - More unnecessary change - if it isn't broke don't fix it ffs.
10. Lost 2 heads of recruitment 😆

Probably loads more, but that's the crux of it... essentially we had good people who would likely have been absolutely fine running things themselves with the extra funding, and instead have gone down the route of maximum unnecessary harm because SR/Rasmus thought they were cleverer than they actually are. By some distance. Now we're going down and the entire club is in turmoil without the necessary staff in place to manage the most important summer in decades?

Edited 3 May, 2023 by Saint86

[Bakovnetski]

2 hours ago, skintsaint said:

Where you been?

 

OK....is he taking that position. I thought it was Director of Football but happy to be corrected.

[Miltonaggro]

On 29/04/2023 at 10:37, AlexLaw76 said:

Madness... The annual salary for Orsic is larger than the entire squad annual wage budget for Plymouth, who we will be playing next season.

https://www.footballfancast.com/southampton-premier-league-mislav-orsic-transfer-wages/

I've heard that he's fluent in Welsh but doesn't speak any English.  Yet another schoolboy error to add to Rasmus's recruitment pantheon of dogshit! 

[Christophenburg]

7 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

As has been said numerous times, we were relatively stable under Ralph, Semmens, Crocker etc - albeit with no resources / pot to piss in. But the fans generally were not happy with this, the old adage "careful what you wish for was uttered", and the rest is history...

But in the year of Sports Republic "not being too involved in the club" they have;

1. Dismantled the first team coaching setup around the manager,
2. Failed to strengthen the first team in the key areas (actually any?).
3. Weird change to the 4-5-1 from a dedicated 4-2-2-2 advocate?
4. Essentially undermined and then sacked a good manager.
5. Hired the world's fittest welsh wizard, spent a load more money to little real effect, the 4-5-1 returned 🙈.
6. Kept said fittest man for too long. Disastrously too long actually. It was okay though, the players liked him...
7. Given the job to the players mate (seemingly keeping the players happy)... Now whether Selles knows his stuff or not, he is out of his depth in this scenario and has the unfortunate issue of being a real constant throughout the season's general disappointing abandonment of high press attacking football. At least the 4-5-1 finally went in the bin at last...
8. Crocker has now left as DoF - this is quite a significant loss if Wilcox doesn't come in to be immediate quality himself - regardless, it is unnecessary change yet again.
9. Matt Hale (head of academy) has now gone - right when the academy is now starting to bear serious fruit - More unnecessary change - if it isn't broke don't fix it ffs.
10. Lost 2 heads of recruitment 😆

Probably loads more, but that's the crux of it... essentially we had good people who would likely have been absolutely fine running things themselves with the extra funding, and instead have gone down the route of maximum unnecessary harm because SR/Rasmus thought they were cleverer than they actually are. By some distance. Now we're going down and the entire club is in turmoil without the necessary staff in place to manage the most important summer in decades?

Just my opinion, but:

1 - the first team coaching set-up was utterly, utterly dreadful when SR arrived! Lets not be revisionist about it, it was dreadful

2 - again this feels a little revisionist. They absolutely messed up in the summer, but certainly in the January window we invested heavily in the squad and they tried to improve in core areas, it's just that for whatever reason those players either haven't been selected or failed to live up to their potential. Lavia, Alcaraz and Sullemana are all easily better then what we had before, and I'm prepared to die on the hill that in time Paul Onuachu will show he's a class above literally all of our other strikers. 

3 - I'm less convinced that formation changes are SRs influence then most, but who knows as it's certainly been completely baffling! We've looked much more confident playing a 4-2-3-1, but Ralph and Jones seemed to be determined to stick with formations that the squad weren't comfortable with. Could have been SR, certainly hope it wasn't!

4 - what?! I get that the let him down not buying a striker in the summer but I don't think they actively undermined him, and he deserved the sacking her got (unless you're talking about Jones of course....)

5 - Yeah that was dumb, no sugar coating that!

6 - Maybe too long, but managers do need time and I can understand why they didn't want to make a snap decision

7 - Lots and lots of hindsight going on with Selles' appointment. Whilst it's absolutely on SR to see through the noise to a sane decision, lets not pretend that pretty much everyone was at least broadly in favour of Selles getting the job after Chelsea

8 to 10 - How much the staffing losses will be a bad thing or SR are finally bringing their people in to realise their vision, only time will tell

Absolutely no doubt it's been a disastrous season, and SR have certainly made mistakes, particularly not signing a striker in the summer, hesitating on sacking Ralph, and then making one of the worst managerial appointments in Premier League history, but the seeds had been sown long ago with season after season of poor recruitment leaving us with a lacklustre squad with no passion, no energy and no fight. I actually think the January window was probably our best transfer window for many years, but it was too little too late with Jones tanking any chance of staying up. Lets see what happens next season

[Saint86]

Mr "not going to get too involved" certainly lived up to rule #1 😄

Edited 4 May, 2023 by Saint86

[Convict Colony]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

Mr "not going to get too involved" certainly lived up to rule #1 😄

Improved

[HarvSFC]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

Mr "not going to get too involved" certainly lived up to rule #1 😄

Entering complete parody mode.

[Roo1976]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

Mr "not going to get too involved" certainly lived up to rule #1 😄

are right ummmm what about Totally Fuck things about, then consider if it aint broke?

[Miltonaggro]

2 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Mr "not going to get too involved" certainly lived up to rule #1 😄

Ankersen USP. What a complete helmet! 

[Crab Lungs]

Interesting. The club has issued another £15m worth of shares.... but why? 

Edited 4 May, 2023 by Crab Lungs

[Convict Colony]

10 hours ago, Crab Lungs said:

Interesting. The club has issued another £15m worth of shares.... but why? 

No doubt peformance bonus's for getting us relegated

[Wurzel]

12 hours ago, Crab Lungs said:

Interesting. The club has issued another £15m worth of shares.... but why? 

Didn't the owner put in an extra £15m last month?  Must have gone in the books as a share issue and not a loan. Big question is why did we need it?

edit: answers own question fom The Athletic article 13th April

Quote

Southampton owner Sport Republic has injected a further £15million into the relegation-threatened club following a share issue.

The agreement was finalised on Thursday night and means lead investor Dragan Solak has now put £63m into the club over seven months.

Solak, a Serbian-born businessman, previously injected £48m in September 2022 — a move that diluted the shares of minority stakeholder Katharina Liebherr and reduced her previous stake of 20 per cent.

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 5 May, 2023 by Wurzel
Further info added

[hypochondriac]

I don't think we can be too harsh on Sports Republic. They have put in a lot of money into the club but have clearly made some bad mistakes this year. I'd like to see how much they have learnt from the experience and that will be shown by how much they allow Wilcox to run the club rather than Rasmus getting involved himself. 

[FarehamSaintJames]

We absolutely should be harsh on Sports Republic.

They took the club from Premier League mid table to the Championship in little over a year. Mainly because of decisions they made.

What will get them back on track now and back in favour with the fans is how they plan out the next couple of months. Getting the right manager. The right players. The right kit. Even the right relationship with the fans, because that especially now is non-existent.

[hypochondriac]

13 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

We absolutely should be harsh on Sports Republic.

They took the club from Premier League mid table to the Championship in little over a year. Mainly because of decisions they made.

What will get them back on track now and back in favour with the fans is how they plan out the next couple of months. Getting the right manager. The right players. The right kit. Even the right relationship with the fans, because that especially now is non-existent.

My point is that they aren't Lowe, killing the club without putting in anything himself. They've definitely made some big errors this year but they should be given the opportunity to put things right again. If we had a Lowe character in charge now I would be concluding that the situation is beyond saving and would want him out immediately. That's the difference. 

[Saint86]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

I don't think we can be too harsh on Sports Republic. They have put in a lot of money into the club but have clearly made some bad mistakes this year. I'd like to see how much they have learnt from the experience and that will be shown by how much they allow Wilcox to run the club rather than Rasmus getting involved himself. 

On balance i don't think this is far wrong. They've put money in and have clearly got high aspirations for the club. But equally even with all the right intentions, Rasmus has had an absolute mare. I think Rasmus/SR are behind a lot of the departures of key staff, which is significant with respect to the complete mess the whole club is now in, but i do think the Joe Shields departure left us in a real mire that wasn't expected, and Rasmus then felt he had to then step up and also do player recruitment - as opposed to him wanting to take over player recruitment. Jan signings were okay - Alcaraz and Sulemana are decent players, but Tall Paul and Orsic don't fit. And fundamentally those signings were done too late and didn't deliver what we needed. We also basically know (at least with a high degree of confidence) that Rasmus is behind the managerial and coaching changes that have happened this year - And more than anything this is what has sent us down.

So agree that SR should be thanked for their investment and intentions, but we all bloody well hope they acknowledge their limitations and get the right people in and trust them to make decisions. As it stands, they have done serious damage to the club for which they are fundamentally custodians, and if that continues they'll have no place to hide from the fans.

And the fact that Rasmus stood on stage and delivered a talk on breaking systems that aren't broke, before presiding over exactly that at saints, is beyond parody surely....😄

Edited 5 May, 2023 by Saint86

[hypochondriac]

16 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

On balance i don't think this is far wrong. They've put money in and have clearly got high aspirations for the club. But equally even with all the right intentions, Rasmus has had an absolute mare. I think Rasmus/SR are behind a lot of the departures of key staff, which is significant with respect to the complete mess the whole club is now in, but i do think the Joe Shields departure left us in a real mire that wasn't expected, and Rasmus then felt he had to then step up and also do player recruitment - as opposed to him wanting to take over player recruitment. Jan signings were okay - Alcaraz and Sulemana are decent players, but Tall Paul and Orsic don't fit. And fundamentally those signings were done too late and didn't deliver what we needed. We also basically know (at least with a high degree of confidence) that Rasmus is behind the managerial and coaching changes that have happened this year - And more than anything this is what has sent us down.

So agree that SR should be thanked for their investment and intentions, but we all bloody well hope they acknowledge their limitations and get the right people in and trust them to make decisions. As it stands, they have done serious damage to the club for which they are fundamentally custodians, and if that continues they'll have no place to hide from the fans.

And the fact that Rasmus stood on stage and delivered a talk on breaking systems that aren't broke, before presiding over exactly that at saints, is beyond parody surely....😄

Yep. The main damage was done by trying to change everything too quickly last summer whilst keeping Ralph. By the time we got to January it was really too late to change things. Jones was an obvious f*ck up, not least because his style of play was diametrically opposed to how the squad had been playing up until that point. If we had really wanted Jones, we really should have brought him in last summer and structured the club around his style of play. You can see what Sports Republic are trying to do but their fatal mistake was thinking they could rush into everything all at once. Hopefully relegation and the mass clearout of staff and players will lead to a refresh and a new direction with everyone on the same path and a sense of purpose. I'm certainly not going to be shedding any tears about the loss of any of these staff or players given their woeful underperformance. As for Rasmus, he's the type of bloke who would be hailed as a visionary genius if we were doing well but a bit of an emporer's new clothes type situation with where we currently are. Lets hope his philosophy about breaking things to put them back together comes true in this case. 

Edited 5 May, 2023 by hypochondriac

[saint michael]

I don’t think they have high aspirations for the club at all their aim is purely on making money. They are not doing a very good job of that so far are they.  As someone stated earlier, they have wrongly been looking at players to buy based on resale value not what the club needs to make the club better. This is not about the long term development of saints as a competing club. Only exceptions might be Bree, big paul and Orsic…all driven on the fear of the drop. Hence we are where we are. 
 

the evidence and facts so far is that their decision making is piss poor… they need to prove us wrong on this. So they have been awful owners so far I think. 

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, saint michael said:

I don’t think they have high aspirations for the club at all their aim is purely on making money. They are not doing a very good job of that so far are they.  As someone stated earlier, they have wrongly been looking at players to buy based on resale value not what the club needs to make the club better. This is not about the long term development of saints as a competing club. Only exceptions might be Bree, big paul and Orsic…all driven on the fear of the drop. Hence we are where we are. 
 

the evidence and facts so far is that their decision making is piss poor… they need to prove us wrong on this. So they have been awful owners so far I think. 

That's demonstrably untrue. Literally no one invests in a football club to make money. Ultimately they may want the club to be profitable, but that's clearly not the sole motivation. They've made some really dumb decisions but they have invested money so they can't be knocked for that. Truly awful owners are the likes of Gaydamak or the Oystons at Blackpool . Sports Republic have invested and so have the chance to show that this season was simply an aberration. Lets hope they take that chance. 

[saint michael]

2 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

That's demonstrably untrue. Literally no one invests in a football club to make money. Ultimately they may want the club to be profitable, but that's clearly not the sole motivation. They've made some really dumb decisions but they have invested money so they can't be knocked for that. Truly awful owners are the likes of Gaydamak or the Oystons at Blackpool . Sports Republic have invested and so have the chance to show that this season was simply an aberration. Lets hope they take that chance. 

It’s not untrue.. it’s my opinion. I’ve never met a businessman that thinks he will plough millions in and not think he’s going to make money. This guy is not hugely wealthy in football terms.  Their main focus is making money based on the concept of the resale of players. They also believe that they can make the club sound by doing this without impacting the club over the short term or long term, meaning it doesn’t matter that you have turnover of your best players there is always another on the conveyor belt. 
 

for this to work both player recruitment and fantastic coaching is needed. I don’t believe that any element that makes this a success is evident in decisions they have yet made. Recruitment of Lavia type players need to not be the exception but need to be almost guaranteed