Russell Martin

[LGTL]

10 hours ago, Turkish said:

Since McMenemy left we’ve been conditioned this way though. Lack of ambition is the norm, survival is success mantra in the 90s, the Lowe era of having to fund signings from sales which carried on through the Liebherr era aside from the loony Italian getting carried away with his mates credit card. The Goa era with zero investment and being told we should just be grateful to be in the premier league and now our player trading club methodology where we pretty much know anyone half decent will be flogged to the highest bidder. 
 

no other club would accept it but then I doubt any other club has had a series of owners constantly telling the fans what a small club they are. Despite being a told flight club for 75% of the last 50 odd years no other club has had to sell players to buy them for the half that period and just believed being in the premier league was enough. 

Great post. Our fans are just as bad but taking into account what you’ve said, it’s hardly a surprise.

I for one can’t wait to be told how difficult the Championship is going to be, how the quality is the best it’s ever been, how it’s so unrealistic to expect to win the league, how to just trust Martin and win the play offs again, if we make it of course. And we can think ourselves lucky if we do. 

[Gloucester Saint]

10 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

I know he’s made a few questionable decisions but it seems a bit harsh to blame him for the situation in Gaza. 

Paul has been beyond help for some time, although Lawrie should have grabbed the microphone to stop him telling Norway to fuck off.

Edited Monday at 18:44 by Gloucester Saint

[Wade Garrett]

11 hours ago, Turkish said:

Since McMenemy left we’ve been conditioned this way though. Lack of ambition is the norm, survival is success mantra in the 90s, the Lowe era of having to fund signings from sales which carried on through the Liebherr era aside from the loony Italian getting carried away with his mates credit card. The Goa era with zero investment and being told we should just be grateful to be in the premier league and now our player trading club methodology where we pretty much know anyone half decent will be flogged to the highest bidder. 
 

no other club would accept it but then I doubt any other club has had a series of owners constantly telling the fans what a small club they are. Despite being a told flight club for 75% of the last 50 odd years no other club has had to sell players to buy them for the half that period and just believed being in the premier league was enough. 

Outstanding post.  

Don’t forget that mentality eventually put us into administration.

Useless load of parasite wankers.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Fuck me, there’s going to be a Lego love in over that draw…The Russell Martin derby has been mentioned on TV already, his ego is really going to go through the fucking roof… 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

8 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Fuck me, there’s going to be a Lego love in over that draw…The Russell Martin derby has been mentioned on TV already, his ego is really going to go through the fucking roof… 

Two sets of fans united in their admiration and love for a football pioneer. I hope that the fans claims on things like who passes it the most before giving it away and conceding, and most time spent by a striker getting it from defence are done in good natured banter.

[verlaine1979]

9 hours ago, gio1saints said:

Sounds pretty much like the way Saints treated MLT back in the day - just give him the ball let him do whatever he wants with it - the rest of you run around more so he can rest and prepare in/between doing genius stuff! Although TD version of Inbetween genius stuff usually amounts to getting a yellow for shirt pulling - five already this season! 

Having the level of uncertainty that TD brings- and that of MF let’s not forget who though less flashy still has clearly got @extra@ in him, has made a big difference to our game. And to opponents plans to thwart that “shit passing game” you mentioned. TD is often doubled and trebled up when he gets the ball - and that’s not happened for a long time on a Saints player. It most certainly releases space for others at the very least. 

It sounds like you're trying to argue that our strategy has now evolved into "get the ball to Dibling or Fernandes asap" - which bears no resemblance to what we actually do with possession (though being in the middle does mean Fernandes sees more of it than Dibling). US commentators on Friday were even lamenting how rarely Dibling got the ball second half.

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, Wade Garrett said:

Outstanding post.  

Don’t forget that mentality eventually put us into administration.

Useless load of parasite wankers.

Nothing to do with that mentality put us into administration. That happened because after two unsuccessful promotion attempts we should have sold our expensive players and started again. Instead we went out and bought a load more expensive, older players on big wages. That summer of 2007 was an absolute sh*t show.

The whole inferiority complex about how only small minded Southampton fans are happy just to be in the premier league and how it’s such a great honour to sell our best players to the big teams is complete nonsense too. I know Turkish is only posting it for a wind up but weirdly, a whole bunch of people seem to be taking it seriously. Our league performance roughly corresponds to our fan base catchment area, same as 95% of the football league system.

 

[pimpin4rizeal]

13 hours ago, Turkish said:

Since McMenemy left we’ve been conditioned this way though. Lack of ambition is the norm, survival is success mantra in the 90s, the Lowe era of having to fund signings from sales which carried on through the Liebherr era aside from the loony Italian getting carried away with his mates credit card. The Goa era with zero investment and being told we should just be grateful to be in the premier league and now our player trading club methodology where we pretty much know anyone half decent will be flogged to the highest bidder. 
 

no other club would accept it but then I doubt any other club has had a series of owners constantly telling the fans what a small club they are. Despite being a told flight club for 75% of the last 50 odd years no other club has had to sell players to buy them for the half that period and just believed being in the premier league was enough. 

Agree in general but cortese was the absolute ideal man to run the club .. i find  it very very harsh that he gets labelled as just someone going mad with liebherrs money .. I mean look how the current freaks are doing spending dragons money ?

Since cortese got ousted I don’t think we ever really recovered, yes you can point to the Koeman seasons but strong foundations where already in place including scouts like Mitchell.. cortese was so thorough and hands on and demanded quality throughout the whole structure . And didn’t just accept our role in the food chain ..

unfortunately since we have gone from that standard  to the likes of Kruger Wilson semmrns and the current bunch of idiots .: not hard to see where it started To wrong 

[Wade Garrett]

41 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Nothing to do with that mentality put us into administration. That happened because after two unsuccessful promotion attempts we should have sold our expensive players and started again. Instead we went out and bought a load more expensive, older players on big wages. That summer of 2007 was an absolute sh*t show.

The whole inferiority complex about how only small minded Southampton fans are happy just to be in the premier league and how it’s such a great honour to sell our best players to the big teams is complete nonsense too. I know Turkish is only posting it for a wind up but weirdly, a whole bunch of people seem to be taking it seriously. Our league performance roughly corresponds to our fan base catchment area, same as 95% of the football league system.

 

Why did we go down in the first place?

Rupert fucking Lowe.

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, Wade Garrett said:

Why did we go down in the first place?

Rupert fucking Lowe.

He’s the (main) reason we went down, not the reason we went into administration.

[Maggie May]

Lowe did secure us St Mary’s though. 

[Doctoroncall]

1 hour ago, Maggie May said:

Lowe did secure us St Mary’s though. 

And the radio station, you can’t forget the radio station. 

[tdmickey3]

3 minutes ago, Doctoroncall said:

And the radio station, you can’t forget the radio station. 

And world class catering, don't forget that FFS

[badgerx16]

Yes, but other than St Mary's, the radio station, and the world class catering, what did Rupert Lowe ever do for us ?

[Sarnia Cherie]

19 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Yes, but other than St Mary's, the radio station, and the world class catering, what did Rupert Lowe ever do for us ?

He brought in Clive Woodward. A man who played with the wrong shaped balls.

[gio1saints]

Unless you are baked into the world football top table, you will never gatecrash the party for too long. Sorry for expressing that cynical view at this time of year but sadly more likely right than wrong. It’s not my personal belief but objectively it looks pretty much the way it is. 

The argument goes : Clubs like Saints are here to just make up the numbers for the Top Table teams. And when they unearth a new talent - be it manager or player - and results improve - it’s only a matter of time before they get sold to those teams and the results reverse. 

The argument goes further though - and this part makes me chuckle - “well at least we are not a Derby County, Middlesbrough, LeedsUnited or God forbid a Portsmouth - and we could be unless we do XYZ right now. 
 

XYZ usually means spend somebody else’s money on new players new managers or  new owners. It can also mean new tactics but usually new tactics are the first thing tried before the new players, managers or owners are brought in. 
 

Funnily enough new tactics - though vocally demanded by supporters of a losing team - are often greeted with contempt and more dismay as they are recognised for what they are - a desperate attempt to avoid getting the sack - and unless the results change immediately the chants of “ you don’t know what you’re doing” ring out loud forcing the inevitable. The timescale given to any Manager forced into a “change tactics” scenario is measured in days and weeks not months. 
 

Thats why you won’t hear that Saints are “ changing the way we play” - but, ominously or thankfully, take your pick - you will notice that they ARE playing in a different way / ways than before. 
 

If you hadn’t noticed or don’t watch the matches you may not be aware but the way we play currently is different to last seasons “possession for its own sake” football ( as some call it- not me). It’s also different from the way we started this season ( which was poor btw😵‍💫) 

It is evolving - which is a euphemism meaning RM IS changing the way we are playing and changing his instructions to players. One simple example - How many crosses did you see from our fb last season? Earlier this season?  How many crosses have Ryan Manning and Yuki been responsible for in last few matches? Crosses were not a feature of our play last season or early this season- they are now. 
 

There’s other examples but the point is- if the change, relatively disguised and unheralded as it is, does not work,  it’s weeks not seasons usually before RM gets sacked before players get bought and sold indeed if owners change, because this is how the cycle usually works. 
 

That means the January window looks like the test of SR willingness to brave it out / splurge more money on a new boss and new players  ~ or start wheels in motion to get out of this money losing business. If the results have not improved- regardless of points - then the inevitable will happen. 
 

What results? I reckon that next six matches or so we need at least 1.5 points per match RM to still have a job. Not my personal view but just an objective assessment. My personal view is keep him keep the project see it through to the end and go again battle scarred and wiser in the Championship if needs be next season with him and the approach. But that’s just me. Acknowledge most on here think very differently. 

 

 

[saintant]

8 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

Unless you are baked into the world football top table, you will never gatecrash the party for too long. Sorry for expressing that cynical view at this time of year but sadly more likely right than wrong. It’s not my personal belief but objectively it looks pretty much the way it is. 

The argument goes : Clubs like Saints are here to just make up the numbers for the Top Table teams. And when they unearth a new talent - be it manager or player - and results improve - it’s only a matter of time before they get sold to those teams and the results reverse. 

The argument goes further though - and this part makes me chuckle - “well at least we are not a Derby County, Middlesbrough, LeedsUnited or God forbid a Portsmouth - and we could be unless we do XYZ right now. 
 

XYZ usually means spend somebody else’s money on new players new managers or  new owners. It can also mean new tactics but usually new tactics are the first thing tried before the new players, managers or owners are brought in. 
 

Funnily enough new tactics - though vocally demanded by supporters of a losing team - are often greeted with contempt and more dismay as they are recognised for what they are - a desperate attempt to avoid getting the sack - and unless the results change immediately the chants of “ you don’t know what you’re doing” ring out loud forcing the inevitable. The timescale given to any Manager forced into a “change tactics” scenario is measured in days and weeks not months. 
 

Thats why you won’t hear that Saints are “ changing the way we play” - but, ominously or thankfully, take your pick - you will notice that they ARE playing in a different way / ways than before. 
 

If you hadn’t noticed or don’t watch the matches you may not be aware but the way we play currently is different to last seasons “possession for its own sake” football ( as some call it- not me). It’s also different from the way we started this season ( which was poor btw😵‍💫) 

It is evolving - which is a euphemism meaning RM IS changing the way we are playing and changing his instructions to players. One simple example - How many crosses did you see from our fb last season? Earlier this season?  How many crosses have Ryan Manning and Yuki been responsible for in last few matches? Crosses were not a feature of our play last season or early this season- they are now. 
 

There’s other examples but the point is- if the change, relatively disguised and unheralded as it is, does not work,  it’s weeks not seasons usually before RM gets sacked before players get bought and sold indeed if owners change, because this is how the cycle usually works. 
 

That means the January window looks like the test of SR willingness to brave it out / splurge more money on a new boss and new players  ~ or start wheels in motion to get out of this money losing business. If the results have not improved- regardless of points - then the inevitable will happen. 
 

What results? I reckon that next six matches or so we need at least 1.5 points per match RM to still have a job. Not my personal view but just an objective assessment. My personal view is keep him keep the project see it through to the end and go again battle scarred and wiser in the Championship if needs be next season with him and the approach. But that’s just me. Acknowledge most on here think very differently. 

 

 

Tell this to Brighton and Bournemouth - or does it only apply to us?

[sadoldgit]

11 hours ago, pimpin4rizeal said:

Agree in general but cortese was the absolute ideal man to run the club .. i find  it very very harsh that he gets labelled as just someone going mad with liebherrs money .. I mean look how the current freaks are doing spending dragons money ?

Since cortese got ousted I don’t think we ever really recovered, yes you can point to the Koeman seasons but strong foundations where already in place including scouts like Mitchell.. cortese was so thorough and hands on and demanded quality throughout the whole structure . And didn’t just accept our role in the food chain ..

unfortunately since we have gone from that standard  to the likes of Kruger Wilson semmrns and the current bunch of idiots .: not hard to see where it started To wrong 

Wasn’t Cortese the reason we had finically problems back then? If the guy was such a genius at running football clubs why hasn’t he ended up running another one?

[gio1saints]

40 minutes ago, saintant said:

Tell this to Brighton and Bournemouth - or does it only apply to us?

Do you think Brighton and Bournemouth are baked into the top table then? Compared to us currently - yes - historically no. In future also most likely no, for reasons stated. 
 

[tdmickey3]

A deluded manager, who enforces deluded tactics and is employed by a deluded board.....  

[OldNick]

2 hours ago, Doctoroncall said:

And the radio station, you can’t forget the radio station. 

The radio station was a great idea, broadcasting to a large part of the region and so bringing interest and new fans to the club. Whats wrong with forward thinking, that didnt send us to the brink

[franniesTache]

13 hours ago, pimpin4rizeal said:

i find  it very very harsh that he gets labelled as just someone going mad with liebherrs money

I mean you can think it's harsh but it's also the truth. People like @turkish know the facts behind the propaganda and know exactly what he was up to. The mad midget was completely responsible for the fire sale of players post Poch' and to be honest if we hadn't we'd have been in serious, serious financial trouble.

And that's before you get into his "home redecoration budget"

1 hour ago, sadoldgit said:

Wasn’t Cortese the reason we had finically problems back then? If the guy was such a genius at running football clubs why hasn’t he ended up running another one?

Yup he absolutely was, there's a section of our fanbase who hates to admit it but despite his public propaganda he wasn't a good thing for the club.

Edited 21 hours ago by franniesTache

[Turkish]

3 hours ago, Maggie May said:

Lowe did secure us St Mary’s though. 

he secured a mortgage. 

[Wade Garrett]

12 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

He’s the (main) reason we went down, not the reason we went into administration.

So you don’t think being relegated from the richest league in the world in no way contributed to us eventually going into administration?

Righto.

[Wade Garrett]

2 hours ago, gio1saints said:

Unless you are baked into the world football top table, you will never gatecrash the party for too long. Sorry for expressing that cynical view at this time of year but sadly more likely right than wrong. It’s not my personal belief but objectively it looks pretty much the way it is. 

The argument goes : Clubs like Saints are here to just make up the numbers for the Top Table teams. And when they unearth a new talent - be it manager or player - and results improve - it’s only a matter of time before they get sold to those teams and the results reverse. 

The argument goes further though - and this part makes me chuckle - “well at least we are not a Derby County, Middlesbrough, LeedsUnited or God forbid a Portsmouth - and we could be unless we do XYZ right now. 
 

XYZ usually means spend somebody else’s money on new players new managers or  new owners. It can also mean new tactics but usually new tactics are the first thing tried before the new players, managers or owners are brought in. 
 

Funnily enough new tactics - though vocally demanded by supporters of a losing team - are often greeted with contempt and more dismay as they are recognised for what they are - a desperate attempt to avoid getting the sack - and unless the results change immediately the chants of “ you don’t know what you’re doing” ring out loud forcing the inevitable. The timescale given to any Manager forced into a “change tactics” scenario is measured in days and weeks not months. 
 

Thats why you won’t hear that Saints are “ changing the way we play” - but, ominously or thankfully, take your pick - you will notice that they ARE playing in a different way / ways than before. 
 

If you hadn’t noticed or don’t watch the matches you may not be aware but the way we play currently is different to last seasons “possession for its own sake” football ( as some call it- not me). It’s also different from the way we started this season ( which was poor btw😵‍💫) 

It is evolving - which is a euphemism meaning RM IS changing the way we are playing and changing his instructions to players. One simple example - How many crosses did you see from our fb last season? Earlier this season?  How many crosses have Ryan Manning and Yuki been responsible for in last few matches? Crosses were not a feature of our play last season or early this season- they are now. 
 

There’s other examples but the point is- if the change, relatively disguised and unheralded as it is, does not work,  it’s weeks not seasons usually before RM gets sacked before players get bought and sold indeed if owners change, because this is how the cycle usually works. 
 

That means the January window looks like the test of SR willingness to brave it out / splurge more money on a new boss and new players  ~ or start wheels in motion to get out of this money losing business. If the results have not improved- regardless of points - then the inevitable will happen. 
 

What results? I reckon that next six matches or so we need at least 1.5 points per match RM to still have a job. Not my personal view but just an objective assessment. My personal view is keep him keep the project see it through to the end and go again battle scarred and wiser in the Championship if needs be next season with him and the approach. But that’s just me. Acknowledge most on here think very differently. 

 

 

You have far too much free time on your hands.

[Oldandtired]

2 hours ago, gio1saints said:

My personal view is keep him keep the project see it through to the end and go again battle scarred and wiser in the Championship if needs be next season with him and the approach. But that’s just me. Acknowledge most on here think very differently. 

 

 

My personal view is that his knowledge and abilities regarding football tactics are very limited. He has been well and truly found out in the PL, unfortunately I can find no reason to think that the same won't happen in the championship next year.

Managers are paid to find weaknesses in opposing teams and tactics. They won't have to look very far to find those in this manager.

[SaintsBarry74]

1 hour ago, tdmickey3 said:

A deluded manager, who enforces deluded tactics and is employed by a deluded board.....  

So it’s actually a perfect match!

[RedArmy]

On 02/12/2024 at 07:43, Turkish said:

Since McMenemy left we’ve been conditioned this way though. Lack of ambition is the norm, survival is success mantra in the 90s, the Lowe era of having to fund signings from sales which carried on through the Liebherr era aside from the loony Italian getting carried away with his mates credit card. The Goa era with zero investment and being told we should just be grateful to be in the premier league and now our player trading club methodology where we pretty much know anyone half decent will be flogged to the highest bidder. 
 

no other club would accept it but then I doubt any other club has had a series of owners constantly telling the fans what a small club they are. Despite being a told flight club for 75% of the last 50 odd years no other club has had to sell players to buy them for the half that period and just believed being in the premier league was enough. 

And  for a brief period where we were actually on the verge of breaking the mould the club refused to back the managers ambition so he fucked off to Everton. 
Then to rub salt into the wound they treat the fans like shit again by playing the reserves in Europe, including in front of 9000 fans for a once in a lifetime trip to the San Siro, because 9 points in the league were more important so we could finish a couple of places higher at the end of the reason. 
 

Rotten. 

[franniesTache]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

he secured a mortgage. 

Technically alan whitehead the MP and the local council were more responsible for St Mary's than Lowe, Lowe wanted Stoneham and was going all out for that, when it fell through he had no back up plan but Alan Whitehead and the Council approached the club with land on a brownfield site that wasn't being used.

It was actually more considerable luck that saw us get St Mary's rather than any clever planning or good business sense.

[Gloucester Saint]

When the club has an experienced manager and backs them within reasonable limits, good things happen - Woodford and Lawrie; Lowe and WGS; Reed and Koeman.

If SR had early Ralph as manager, I reckon he’d have been in the same bracket, money would have been invested better and RH would have told Rasmus to fuck off out of his space before he got worn down later on.

It’s when the Directors or Chair start thinking they know better than the seasoned industry professionals when it goes horribly wrong. See Lowe/Wigley/Gray/SCW/Grow our own, Reed and Pellegrino, and Rasmus/Jones/Martin as examples.

[SaintsLoyal]

15 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

When the club has an experienced manager and backs them within reasonable limits, good things happen - Woodford and Lawrie; Lowe and WGS; Reed and Koeman.

If SR had early Ralph as manager, I reckon he’d have been in the same bracket, money would have been invested better and RH would have told Rasmus to fuck off out of his space before he got worn down later on.

It’s when the Directors or Chair start thinking they know better than the seasoned industry professionals when it goes horribly wrong. See Lowe/Wigley/Gray/SCW/Grow our own, Reed and Pellegrino, and Rasmus/Jones/Martin as examples.

Many of the players really didnt like Hasenhuttl 

[Gloucester Saint]

4 minutes ago, SaintsLoyal said:

Many of the players really didnt like Hasenhuttl 

In his final 12-18 months that was rumoured and after the West Ham FA cup rotation and hammering at Villa became painfully obvious on the pitch. Earlier on the players bought in - look at Ings’s form, JWP growth after Hughes nearly sold him to Watford, Redmond in RH’s first season. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

24 minutes ago, SaintsLoyal said:

Many of the players really didnt like Hasenhuttl 

We don't seem to be able to get the balance right. Seems most of the current squad love Martin. 

[Lighthouse]

8 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

So you don’t think being relegated from the richest league in the world in no way contributed to us eventually going into administration?

Righto.

Nope. There are over 100 clubs who’ve been in and out of the football league over the past few decades. All of them, with the exception of the six, have had to play outside of the PL for some period of time. If a club our size can’t financially cope with relegation then something, somewhere has gone badly wrong. As much as I dislike Lowe, that was not on his watch.

[Mr X]

It seems the club as a whole we're not prepared for the Premier league. It was blindingly obvious to all but them that we would need a step up in quality of both the players and the manager, you simply can't go into this league with an inexperienced manager like Martin playing a rigid style with so many sub standard players that said we really should be doing better than Martin is achieving and finishing 17th should have been achievable 

Edited 18 hours ago by Mr X

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

Nope. There are over 100 clubs who’ve been in and out of the football league over the past few decades. All of them, with the exception of the six, have had to play outside of the PL for some period of time. If a club our size can’t financially cope with relegation then something, somewhere has gone badly wrong. As much as I dislike Lowe, that was not on his watch.

Fair point.

[Oldandtired]

1 hour ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

We don't seem to be able to get the balance right. Seems most of the current squad love Martin. 

Not doing us much good though is it? 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

25 minutes ago, Oldandtired said:

Not doing us much good though is it? 

Nope. Probably more to our detriment if anything.

[Dark Munster]

4 hours ago, franniesTache said:

Yup he absolutely was, there's a section of our fanbase who hates to admit it but despite his public propaganda he wasn't a good thing for the club.

Without him (Cortese) Markus wouldn’t have bought us and taken us back up to the PL in 3 seasons, and instead we would’ve remained a skint club in L1 on the -15 points, looking forward to decades in the lower leagues or even liquidation. 

[SaintsLoyal]

2 hours ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

We don't seem to be able to get the balance right. Seems most of the current squad love Martin. 

Yes that does seem to be the case, but hes very 'non league' coach with all the nickname approach spiel, but is that too matey and not serious enough ?

 

  

[sadoldgit]

2 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Nope. There are over 100 clubs who’ve been in and out of the football league over the past few decades. All of them, with the exception of the six, have had to play outside of the PL for some period of time. If a club our size can’t financially cope with relegation then something, somewhere has gone badly wrong. As much as I dislike Lowe, that was not on his watch.

I agree with you. Lowe did manage to keep as afloat on crowds of 15000 and I remember him saying there were times he didn’t know where the next £1 was coming from. He was accused of not finding funding but after he was ousted the first time came back and said that he had knocked on the same doors as his predecessors with no joy either. A club of our size, without silly money backing, relies on quality recruitment from top to bottom. We don’t have that currently whereas it has been better before. 

[sadoldgit]

49 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

Without him (Cortese) Markus wouldn’t have bought us and taken us back up to the PL in 3 seasons, and instead we would’ve remained a skint club in L1 on the -15 points, looking forward to decades in the lower leagues or even liquidation. 

We don’t know what would have happened. We might have found an owner with more money, a more reliable CEO and a longer lifespan? It’s all ifs and buts.

[gio1saints]

6 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

You have far too much free time on your hands.

Maybe so now I’ve been able to stop working for money…what’s your excuse?

[Lee On Solent Saint]

1 hour ago, SaintsLoyal said:

Yes that does seem to be the case, but hes very 'non league' coach with all the nickname approach spiel, but is that too matey and not serious enough ?

 

  

Personally, I would say yes. Seems he is trying too hard to be everyone's friend.

[Dark Munster]

1 hour ago, sadoldgit said:

We don’t know what would have happened. We might have found an owner with more money, a more reliable CEO and a longer lifespan? It’s all ifs and buts.

The odds were stacked against it. As a provincial club we hit the lottery. Just look at Swansea, Stoke, Sheff. Wed. etc.

[Osvaldorama]

Cortese was fantastic for this club if you zoom out. Seems like things went out of control toward the end. (Ego went out of control if the rumours are actually true) 

But what he achieved here was incredible. It’s re-writing history to say otherwise. 

Compare his managerial appointments, academy work and transfers with SR.
 

The difference is staggering. We were professional and moving toward long term targets instead of just talking about it. 

[EssEffCee]

25 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

The odds were stacked against it. As a provincial club we hit the lottery. Just look at Swansea, Stoke, Sheff. Wed. etc.

A club with our infrastructure and academy was always going be a attractive proposition in the third tier and on the cheap.

We still undoubtedly got lucky with Markus. Imagine if it had been SISU.

[Wade Garrett]

2 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

I agree with you. Lowe did manage to keep as afloat on crowds of 15000 and I remember him saying there were times he didn’t know where the next £1 was coming from. He was accused of not finding funding but after he was ousted the first time came back and said that he had knocked on the same doors as his predecessors with no joy either. A club of our size, without silly money backing, relies on quality recruitment from top to bottom. We don’t have that currently whereas it has been better before. 

Under Lowe we built a very large squad of extremely mediocre players.

[danjosaint]

9 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Under Lowe we built a very large squad of extremely mediocre players.

Sounds familiar 

[Lighthouse]

2 minutes ago, danjosaint said:

Sounds familiar 

Our players dream of being mediocre.