New manager

[Kenilworthy]

57 minutes ago, St Louis said:

What's his philosophy and style? What makes you think that a current player with zero coaching or management experience, might be a good idea to guide a Premier League team? Honestly this forum drives me mad sometimes. Weve had a poor start to the season and suddenly EVERYONE on earth is better than our current manager and would be winning these games, whether that be Adkins, Lallana or the dinner lady 🤦‍♂️

I said caretaker. That means someone to take us through a couple of games while we make a considered choice of the permanent manager. And I base the idea on the clear impact he has on players when he is on the pitch.

[Wade Garrett]

SR are complete mugs if they allow Martin to manage us any longer.

With him in charge, I don’t feel confident in us winning a single league game.

It beggars belief that we haven’t yet got rid.  He is a complete liability at this level.

[Farmer Saint]

1 hour ago, Wade Garrett said:

Not one particular demographic.  I was just making the point that teams in similar circumstances to us have had no problems finding decent managers.

But what had he done in his career? He was an out of contract manager who'd managed in Cyprus, and then got promotion to the Premera Liga. Seems like a lucky punt to me. 

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Farmer Saint said:

But what had he done in his career? He was an out of contract manager who'd managed in Cyprus, and then got promotion to the Premera Liga. Seems like a lucky punt to me. 

You’re trying too hard Farmer.  Martin is shite and needs relieving of his duties.

[Convict Colony]

I still think both rasmus and Kraft are on thin ice as well with dragan.

He's pumped a lot of money in and every year seems to be a drama of some sort.

I said before it would not surprise me if he bought out Kraft and Rasmus and took over completely.

Maybe get a Serbian legend to manage us who smokes 50 a day and has a funky haircut.

[Harry_SFC]

25 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

I still think both rasmus and Kraft are on thin ice as well with dragan.

He's pumped a lot of money in and every year seems to be a drama of some sort.

I said before it would not surprise me if he bought out Kraft and Rasmus and took over completely.

Maybe get a Serbian legend to manage us who smokes 50 a day and has a funky haircut.

Or even worse he pulls his investment!

[Master Bates]

7 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Or even worse he pulls his investment!

Did someone say takeover or new investor?

Edited October 2 by Master Bates

[CB Fry]

8 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

SR are complete mugs if they allow Martin to manage us any longer.

With him in charge, I don’t feel confident in us winning a single league game.

It beggars belief that we haven’t yet got rid.  He is a complete liability at this level.

We will keep going until the November International break. By the time they get someone new we'll be fucking miles off and as good as down already.

The "ha ha ha everyone wrote him off but look he's proved every single one of you wrong" redemption story is not going to happen, lads.

 

Edited October 2 by CB Fry

[Badger]

Expect the skates will part company with John Moussaka soon.

He had a promotion last season so perhaps he’s on the Rasmusometer for our next manager. 
 

You know it makes sense

Edited October 2 by Badger

[PJ]

1 hour ago, Master Bates said:

Did someone say takeover or new investor?

👀

[trousers]

1 hour ago, Master Bates said:

Did someone say takeover or new investor?

 

 

Edited October 2 by trousers

[Badger]

1 hour ago, Master Bates said:

Did someone say takeover or new investor?

Any mega yachts in Southampton at the moment? 
 

Or investor earlobes spotted ? 

[CB Fry]

1 hour ago, Master Bates said:

Did someone say takeover or new investor?

#yachtwatch

[trousers]

[Suhari]

7 minutes ago, trousers said:

Very Soon Off the Payroll?

[Saint-Michael]

2 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

I still think both rasmus and Kraft are on thin ice as well with dragan.

He's pumped a lot of money in and every year seems to be a drama of some sort.

I said before it would not surprise me if he bought out Kraft and Rasmus and took over completely.

Maybe get a Serbian legend to manage us who smokes 50 a day and has a funky haircut.

 The two elephants in the room and have been for a long time .

Edited October 2 by Saint-Michael
mistake

[bugenhagen]

2 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

I still think both rasmus and Kraft are on thin ice as well with dragan.

He's pumped a lot of money in and every year seems to be a drama of some sort.

I said before it would not surprise me if he bought out Kraft and Rasmus and took over completely.

Maybe get a Serbian legend to manage us who smokes 50 a day and has a funky haircut.

The most Saintsy way for this to unfold would be for Rasmus and Kraft to convince (or con for short) another money-man or consortium (we do love those) to buy out Dragan...😄

[saintant]

30 minutes ago, Saint-Michael said:

 The two elephants in the room and have been for a long time .

Yeah, get rid of Rasmus, Kraft and Russ and we might just be on to something good 🙂

[chiknsmack]

17 hours ago, Turkish said:

Remember when Les Reed thought we were going to get Thomas Tuchel 

We sounded out Schmidt around that time too.

[david in sweden]

6 hours ago, saintant said:

Yeah, get rid of Rasmus, Kraft and Russ and we might just be on to something good 🙂

Who  will be responsible for getting rid of ..these three....you ?     Think you may have overlooked the hierarchy at the club. 

Rasmus is at the top of the tree, and Kraft is a boss at the club level.  Russell is an employee (at least presently ) and Dragan is a pretty big 

investor and so they are de facto ...the owners.   They can only sack themselves, and there is no-one else we can turn to.

Not sure who was holding the purse strings in the summer, but aside from the half dozen who cost " bigger fees"  (at least by our standards)

we signed around 10 players for less then 40 million,  (that itself being the average price of an average Prem. player in many of " the big clubs ").

It should be noted that neither Ipswich or Leicester have made any significant impression so far since their promotions. 

 

Ramsdale,  Bednarek and Lallana are the only players who have proven themselves at this level, whilst many of the others have barely dipped their 

toes in the muddy waters of this league,  and without any real distinction.    Our present position in the league was therefore ...fairly predictable. 

 

Sorry saintant, we are stuck with this lot until the next window, when the brave Dragan will doubtless cough up even more millions in an attempt to help

us survive for the season, and to stabilise his already considerable investment in the club.  Only Russell Martin is likely to feel the axe on his neck, which

may then result in us seeking yet another manager who will have to struggle along with this already overloaded squad.    So do we stick, or twist ?

 

 

[Farmer Saint]

16 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

You’re trying too hard Farmer.  Martin is shite and needs relieving of his duties.

I never said he doesn't need to go - I'm asking you what would have made you pick Iraola? I'm guessing you've backed yourself into a corner and can't tell me. Or would you just throw a dart at the Primera Liga table and see what happens? 

Edited October 3 by Farmer Saint

[saintant]

2 hours ago, david in sweden said:

Who  will be responsible for getting rid of ..these three....you ?     Think you may have overlooked the hierarchy at the club. 

Rasmus is at the top of the tree, and Kraft is a boss at the club level.  Russell is an employee (at least presently ) and Dragan is a pretty big 

investor and so they are de facto ...the owners.   They can only sack themselves, and there is no-one else we can turn to.

Not sure who was holding the purse strings in the summer, but aside from the half dozen who cost " bigger fees"  (at least by our standards)

we signed around 10 players for less then 40 million,  (that itself being the average price of an average Prem. player in many of " the big clubs ").

It should be noted that neither Ipswich or Leicester have made any significant impression so far since their promotions. 

 

Ramsdale,  Bednarek and Lallana are the only players who have proven themselves at this level, whilst many of the others have barely dipped their 

toes in the muddy waters of this league,  and without any real distinction.    Our present position in the league was therefore ...fairly predictable. 

 

Sorry saintant, we are stuck with this lot until the next window, when the brave Dragan will doubtless cough up even more millions in an attempt to help

us survive for the season, and to stabilise his already considerable investment in the club.  Only Russell Martin is likely to feel the axe on his neck, which

may then result in us seeking yet another manager who will have to struggle along with this already overloaded squad.    So do we stick, or twist ?

 

 

As you say Dragan is the biggest investor so, when push comes to shove, he will be the one calling the shots. If he wants rid of Rasmus and Kraft I'm pretty certain he has the power to make it happen. The problem is he's probably still falling for the Rasmus bullshit.

[qwertyell]

1 hour ago, Farmer Saint said:

I never said he doesn't need to go - I'm asking you what would have made you pick Iraola? I'm guessing you've backed yourself into a corner and can't tell me. Or would you just throw a dart at the Primera Liga table and see what happens? 

Primera Liga is Portugal.

Iraola managed in La Liga in Spain. First got Rayo Vallecano promoted, then finished 11th in one of the strongest leagues in the world. 

Also led two different teams to the Spanish Cup semi finals. 

It's pretty disingenuous to paint him has some random nobody plucked from obscurity. Leeds had previously tried to sign him when they were still in the Premier League.

 

[Suhari]

34 minutes ago, saintant said:

As you say Dragan is the biggest investor so, when push comes to shove, he will be the one calling the shots. If he wants rid of Rasmus and Kraft I'm pretty certain he has the power to make it happen. The problem is he's probably still falling for the Rasmus bullshit.

Dragan is no mug: he can't have got to where he is without being a sharp guy with a ruthless streak.

Not seen/heard much of RA in the past few months. I get the feeling he's backed way off on his bullshit. Actually 'bullshit' probably isn't a fair term: I think he had a vision and thought he was some kind of ultra-insightful, sporting-leadership-guru; and has been shown not to be. In fact maybe 'bullshit' is a fair term....I'm on the fence. You can't kick a guy for having a belief and the self-confidence to back himself; he hasn't delivered though.

I wonder where Dragan goes from here? Does he look to invest (i.e. new manager, maybe a January signing or two) to stay in the EPL. That didn't work so well last time. Or does he accept relagation and keep RM on the basis that most of the squad may stay next season and get us up again.

God I miss the Markus days.....

Edited October 3 by Suhari

[Farmer Saint]

38 minutes ago, qwertyell said:

Primera Liga is Portugal.

Iraola managed in La Liga in Spain. First got Rayo Vallecano promoted, then finished 11th in one of the strongest leagues in the world. 

Also led two different teams to the Spanish Cup semi finals. 

It's pretty disingenuous to paint him has some random nobody plucked from obscurity. Leeds had previously tried to sign him when they were still in the Premier League.

 

I'm not painting him as someone who had done nothing - just more that he had not done a great deal - Cup are in general a lottery, and I wouldn't look for a Manager just because he got to a promotion and to a Cup Semi-Final twice in another country. La Liga is an odd League where outside of the top 5 or 6 all the teams are utter jank. 

Sorry about the Primera Liga, been reading up on the Santa Clara Manager Vasco Matos. 

Edited October 3 by Farmer Saint

[saintant]

11 minutes ago, Suhari said:

Dragan is no mug: he can't have got to where he is without being a sharp guy with a ruthless streak.

Not seen/heard much of RA in the past few months. I get the feeling he's backed way off on his bullshit. Actually 'bullshit' probably isn't a fair term: I think he had a vision and thought he was some kind of ultra-insightful, sporting-leadership-guru; and has been shown not to be. In fact maybe 'bullshit' is a fair term....I'm on the fence. You can't kick a guy for having a belief and the self-confidence to back himself; he hasn't delivered though.

I wonder where Dragan goes from here? Does he look to invest (i.e. new manager, maybe a January signing or two) to stay in the EPL. That didn't work so well last time. Or does he accept relagation and keep RM on the basis that most of the squad may stay next season and get us up again.

God I miss the Markus days.....

As I've said on another thread I don't see this as viable. Unless we go down with some respect and get a reasonable points tally (seems unlikely) I don't think the fans/season ticket holders will accept RM being given the green light to carry on.

[Give it to Ron]

1 minute ago, saintant said:

As I've said on another thread I don't see this as viable. Unless we go down with some respect and get a reasonable points tally (seems unlikely) I don't think the fans/season ticket holders will accept RM being given the green light to carry on.

We spent 15m on getting rid of Jones etc according to posts and accounts last year - given we gave him a new contract can we even afford to sack him?

it’s not as if we have a chance in staying up with the poor recruitment- no centre forward again. Banking on Ross Stewart etc

[Chewy]

13 hours ago, Master Bates said:

Did someone say takeover or new investor?

Jim Ratcliffe already given up And wants somewhere more fun to invest?

[saintant]

7 minutes ago, Give it to Ron said:

We spent 15m on getting rid of Jones etc according to posts and accounts last year - given we gave him a new contract can we even afford to sack him?

it’s not as if we have a chance in staying up with the poor recruitment- no centre forward again. Banking on Ross Stewart etc

I wasn't even considering the financial implications but do you think the fans will accept RM carrying on if we are relegated with a record or very low points total?

[Lee On Solent Saint]

6 minutes ago, saintant said:

I wasn't even considering the financial implications but do you think the fans will accept RM carrying on if we are relegated with a record or very low points total?

He won't be able to continue if we go down regardless of a points total or not. 

[Dellyears]

39 minutes ago, Suhari said:

Dragan is no mug: he can't have got to where he is without being a sharp guy with a ruthless streak.

Not seen/heard much of RA in the past few months. I get the feeling he's backed way off on his bullshit. Actually 'bullshit' probably isn't a fair term: I think he had a vision and thought he was some kind of ultra-insightful, sporting-leadership-guru; and has been shown not to be. In fact maybe 'bullshit' is a fair term....I'm on the fence. You can't kick a guy for having a belief and the self-confidence to back himself; he hasn't delivered though.

I wonder where Dragan goes from here? Does he look to invest (i.e. new manager, maybe a January signing or two) to stay in the EPL. That didn't work so well last time. Or does he accept relagation and keep RM on the basis that most of the squad may stay next season and get us up again.

God I miss the Markus days.....

And Markus came with Cortese, couldn't have one without the other. Fans turned on NC and we lost the man who drove it all. Yes, we miss the days when the pair of them showed passion and daily involvement and brought the results.

[saintant]

10 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

He won't be able to continue if we go down regardless of a points total or not. 

You're probably right but he will be given more slack if we get somewhere close to staying up - if we get a low points total he'll probably be gone before the season ends and certainly couldn't expect to carry on next season.

[Dr. Kucho]

27 minutes ago, Give it to Ron said:

We spent 15m on getting rid of Jones etc according to posts and accounts last year - given we gave him a new contract can we even afford to sack him?

it’s not as if we have a chance in staying up with the poor recruitment- no centre forward again. Banking on Ross Stewart etc

I am surprised that we had to pay 15m on getting rid of Jones. More surprised that Dragan has left the people in charge to continue this poor run of recruitment and squandering of his money. 

[Miltonaggro]

43 minutes ago, saintant said:

As I've said on another thread I don't see this as viable. Unless we go down with some respect and get a reasonable points tally (seems unlikely) I don't think the fans/season ticket holders will accept RM being given the green light to carry on.

Before the season I felt that if we limped through this campaign picking up points in the likely 'mini league' in the bottom third (best case scenario) but were inevitably relegated, that the Board would stick with him.  Now, given how clueless he looks and toothless his team is, I can't see them backing him for much longer.  Likelihood is that people are currently being spoken to.  If the atmosphere becomes toxic at games, as it did with Jones, it will do Russell Martin or the team zero favours and the new man will be starting with an avoidable mountain to climb to turn things around.  If Solak (and the SFC / SR buck stops with him) needs or wants his 'flagship club' to survive and re-establish in the best league in world football, he needs to act as soon as able in recruiting a known quantity, not another idiotic left-field punt.     

[david in sweden]

5 minutes ago, Dellyears said:

And Markus came with Cortese, couldn't have one without the other.  Fans turned on NC and we lost the man who drove it all.

Yes, we miss the days when the pair of them showed passion and daily involvement and brought the results.

I think there are two separate issues here " Dellyears ".. (like you I spent several enjoyable decades at the old ground). 

1) Cortese knew his field  and told Marcus he could buy the club and stadium (then only 8 years old) for just 15 million - it was surely a no-brainer.

It must have been a great experience for Marcus to go to Wembley and see us win the JPT, but so really sad that he died so soon afterwards.

At the time (daughter) Kat knew little about football and gave Cortese relatively free reign to run the club, and there the trouble really began.

 

I would credit Cortese for his administrative acumen, but he did us no favours when he ditched the Academy and we lost several good prospects.

After Alan Pardew's sudden departure, Nigel Adkins built a good squad around; Fonte, Lambert and the promising young Adam Lallana and got  

us successive promotions with a squad that cost  barely 6 million pounds.   So far so good, but (like RM, years later) Adkins found that what worked 

well in the Championship was no preparation for life at the top, and Cortese lost patience with NA and brought in Pochettino, who with hindsight,

built a reputation based on his time with Saints, but failed to win anything of consequence with any of the clubs he has subsequently managed.

                                                                             ---------------------------------------------------

2) Back in the Prem. 2012 we bought Rodriguez for 6 million which was a good deal, but worse was to come when Cortese (who on his own admission 

knew little about football) .. took control of the footballing side of things and went back to his European contacts (who must have seen him coming)

and he began a succession of bad deals (e.g. Ramirez and Osvaldo) at Pochettino's  bidding at a cost of over 40 million in fees and salaries, all on

borrowed money at very high % rates, and almost bankrupted the club a second time. Fortunately Kat saw the danger and finally sacked Cortese. 

The subsequent regime seemed strange with a chairman with a history in ice hockey (!).. and a new club organiser (in Les Reed) whose early

successes were somehow lost in later days, with a morass of new and unsuccessful managers, and (sadly) even more bad signings. 

The only positive outcome was two great seasons under the Koeman regime, which gave us some great players,but was an all too short period. 

 

My assessment of the two men is somewhat different .. in that Marcus did the club a great service in buying us out of bankruptcy at the 11th hour, 

and to everyone's sorrow died soon after he had seen the fruits of his modest investment.  He would surely have rejoiced in what came after, 

but that Cortese, (for all of his financial and organisational nous ) should have known better and kept himself out of the active side of things

on the pitch and employed someone who really was .." football "   and knew the vagaries of the English game. 

 

 

[Wiggles31]

According to sites on Newsnow we are watching Carlos Corberan from WBA. Any thoughts on him? I don’t know anything about him. 

[Lymington Saint]

Interesting article in the Mirror popped up on my phone.  Not sure how much credence to give it, although it does ring true.  Says that the board are split on sacking RM.  Ankerson still backing him.  Says that the owner is not impressed with RM, and that Ankerson is also under scrutiny.  My guess is that a couple more losses, especially if we don't beat Leicester, then RM will be gone.

 

[musesaint]

The sooner Russ is out the door the better.

We were promoted last season despite Martin not because of him. What finally got us over the line was that we had one of the best three squads in the championship in 23/4. With the money spent and the players we had nothing less than promotion was what was required last season. A better manager would have had us winning the league by a mile. 

Edited October 3 by musesaint

[Miltonaggro]

2 minutes ago, Lymington Saint said:

Interesting article in the Mirror popped up on my phone.  Not sure how much credence to give it, although it does ring true.  Says that the board are split on sacking RM.  Ankerson still backing him.  Says that the owner is not impressed with RM, and that Ankerson is also under scrutiny.  My guess is that a couple more losses, especially if we don't beat Leicester, then RM will be gone.

 

Martin should have gone at the start of this summer, Ankersen at the start of last summer.  You would think that Solak would have realised by now that in this business, above all others, time is money.

[Osvaldorama]

Problem is, the club isn’t learning from its mistakes. 
 

Our recruitment has barely improved us.. again. How are we getting it so spectacularly wrong every window?

The club are lucky that Dibling has broken through when he has, or we would genuinely have zero goal threat at all.
(Not helped by the ridiculous tactics we employ). 
 

I really hope it doesn’t turn toxic and people just stick with it. Even if it is shit. Won’t help matters at this point 

[Saint Fan CaM]

4 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Problem is, the club isn’t learning from its mistakes. 
 

Our recruitment has barely improved us.. again. How are we getting it so spectacularly wrong every window?

The club are lucky that Dibling has broken through when he has, or we would genuinely have zero goal threat at all.
(Not helped by the ridiculous tactics we employ). 
 

I really hope it doesn’t turn toxic and people just stick with it. Even if it is shit. Won’t help matters at this point 

Even with Dibling we’re looking very, very poor in the final third. That Lallana managed to craft such a lovely assist and Dibling was already in the box and only needed one touch to finish was an event that will likely happen once a season the way we tend to play…perhaps less. Let’s not get too misty eyed - it was one goal, albeit it a nice one - and the reason lies with the manager/coaching team. It needs to be said again - we’ll not know how good this team is until Russ & Co go.

[Master Bates]

13 hours ago, trousers said:

 

 

I haven't heard anything in a couple of months.

[Kenilworthy]

2 hours ago, Dellyears said:

And Markus came with Cortese, couldn't have one without the other. Fans turned on NC and we lost the man who drove it all. Yes, we miss the days when the pair of them showed passion and daily involvement and brought the results.

When did the fans turn on Cortese?

[franniesTache]

The fact people credit the mad midget with business acumen is beyond me, it shows how little most know about what goes on behind the scenes at the club. I know people like @Turkish know the real story about that time period but lets just say the dismantling of the squad and a lot of the long term problems we still see now came from him running the club well beyond our means or ability (and him using it as his own personal fiefdom is well documented).

I always find it ironic too that the same people who talk up the mad one are the same that slander Kat who arguably did as vital a job in saving the future of our club as her dad (she just didn't do it in public or ask for any limelight)

[Give it to Ron]

2 hours ago, Dr. Kucho said:

I am surprised that we had to pay 15m on getting rid of Jones. More surprised that Dragan has left the people in charge to continue this poor run of recruitment and squandering of his money. 

I don’t think all was Jones think some of that was Ralph not 100% but that was figured quoted to pay off old managers and coaches.

I think Russ will get 3 more games and unless we get Some points even biggest supporters on board may decide enough is enough.

I hope we do get points but unless Russ finds a magic formula he will go.

[Dusic]

53 minutes ago, musesaint said:

The sooner Russ is out the door the better.

We were promoted last season despite Martin not because of him. What finally got us over the line was that we had one of the best three squads in the championship in 23/4. With the money spent and the players we had nothing less than promotion was what was required last season. A better manager would have had us winning the league by a mile. 

I think where this view is certainly unfair is that Russell Martin clearly brought back onside some of the key squad members who were thoroughly demoralised and wanting to leave following the relegation.

He absolutely changed the culture and team spirit for the better and to reduce his overall role in being promoted so significantly is IMO wrong, regardless of what has happened this season.

[Gloucester Saint]

25 minutes ago, franniesTache said:

The fact people credit the mad midget with business acumen is beyond me, it shows how little most know about what goes on behind the scenes at the club. I know people like @Turkish know the real story about that time period but lets just say the dismantling of the squad and a lot of the long term problems we still see now came from him running the club well beyond our means or ability (and him using it as his own personal fiefdom is well documented).

I always find it ironic too that the same people who talk up the mad one are the same that slander Kat who arguably did as vital a job in saving the future of our club as her dad (she just didn't do it in public or ask for any limelight)

Agree with 99% of that FT apart from being sold to Gao.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Lymington Saint said:

Interesting article in the Mirror popped up on my phone.  Not sure how much credence to give it, although it does ring true.  Says that the board are split on sacking RM.  Ankerson still backing him.  Says that the owner is not impressed with RM, and that Ankerson is also under scrutiny.  My guess is that a couple more losses, especially if we don't beat Leicester, then RM will be gone.

 

Who was responsible for giving RM a new contract (utter madness) in the summer?  

[Wade Garrett]

5 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

I never said he doesn't need to go - I'm asking you what would have made you pick Iraola? I'm guessing you've backed yourself into a corner and can't tell me. Or would you just throw a dart at the Primera Liga table and see what happens? 

Fucking hell, when did I say I would have picked Iraola.  All I said was that Bournemouth had no trouble finding a decent manager when they were in a similar predicament to us.  This while you were peddling the myth that it would be difficult to find a manager.

Fucking tiresome.

[whiteleySaint30]

12 minutes ago, Chez said:

Who was responsible for giving RM a new contract (utter madness) in the summer?  

We love a bit of sentiment- new contract for RM, bring back R Fraser. Sadly neither are good enough for the premier league. 

 

Why not see how Martin gets on in the prem before before giving a new contract - afterall, surely last season he inky achieved what he should have done with the squad at his disposal.