Who do we want next as Saints manager?

[tttdcs]

13 minutes ago, kjurwi said:

I would love to se us appoint a manager that does the opposite to Russel. Build a fucking wall at the back and counter or hoof it long for a target man. Let the other team have the ball. 

Someone like the old ex Norwegian coach Egil "Drillo" Olsen.

No one plays like that anymore. 

 

 

 

And turn Tall Paul into Fash the Bash

[Miltonaggro]

1 hour ago, kjurwi said:

I would love to se us appoint a manager that does the opposite to Russel. Build a fucking wall at the back and counter or hoof it long for a target man. Let the other team have the ball. 

Someone like the old ex Norwegian coach Egil "Drillo" Olsen.

No one plays like that anymore. 

 

 

 

I’m up for any new member of saints coaching staff called ‘Drillo’ - just what these perennial powder puffs need. 

[ErwinK1961]

2 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

 

 

 

 

What happened in previous seasons isn't relevant. Next season will be based on who Johannes Spors appoints as manager and what he does on player recruitment.

The Sport Republic previous fuck ups are irrelevant as Johannes Spors had nothing to do with them. So judging him on the mistakes of others is illogical. 

Of course it’s relevant.

No one is judging Spors on previous mistakes, they are judging SR (who we’re still owned by) who have overseen two disastrous campaigns in last three years. You can’t just ignore everything that has gone by because they have bought in a new sporting director.

You, I and everyone else also have no idea just how much control / autonomy Spors will have. Blackmore alluded to the fact that Wilcox wasn’t as in charge as was being made out, so whose to say that isn’t the case again now.

 

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, kjurwi said:

I would love to se us appoint a manager that does the opposite to Russel. Build a fucking wall at the back and counter or hoof it long for a target man. Let the other team have the ball. 

Someone like the old ex Norwegian coach Egil "Drillo" Olsen.

No one plays like that anymore. 

 

 

 

football is all cyclical, im sure it wont be long before some genius manager comes up with the brilliant idea of playing two lines of 4, with pacy wingers, a big lad up front next to a good little 'un to get on the end of his flicks. It'll be lapped up by the hipsters as genius with the number 7 and 11s being the new gold standard in modern football with them being given cool positions like wide layer outer offensive forwards. Their job will be to provide cross field penatration assists into the number 9 or as he'll be called the deep lying attacking pivot. Any team with two great wide layer outer offensive forwards and an strong deep lying attacking pivot is gonna cook in the XG numbers bro!

[kjurwi]

59 minutes ago, Miltonaggro said:

I’m up for any new member of saints coaching staff called ‘Drillo’ - just what these perennial powder puffs need. 

The Drillo i'm talking about is about 82. 

 

Would still be better than most the coaches we have had the last years😁

[OldNick]

24 minutes ago, Turkish said:

football is all cyclical, im sure it wont be long before some genius manager comes up with the brilliant idea of playing two lines of 4, with pacy wingers, a big lad up front next to a good little 'un to get on the end of his flicks. It'll be lapped up by the hipsters as genius with the number 7 and 11s being the new gold standard in modern football with them being given cool positions like wide layer outer offensive forwards. Their job will be to provide cross field penatration assists into the number 9 or as he'll be called the deep lying attacking pivot. Any team with two great wide layer outer offensive forwards and an strong deep lying attacking pivot is gonna cook in the XG numbers bro!

 

[Pamplemousse]

3 hours ago, CB Fry said:

You know they fucked up in 22/23 as well right? We can't just go "yeah we know we fucked up" over and over again.

We have some decent fees and a decent financial position going into next season (definitely better than Leicester) but nothing taken for granted in what will be a tough Championship season.

I agree, but I do get the impression that things are going to be different. This season has been a bit of an awakening for everyone.

[CB Fry]

3 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

1) At no point have I done that! All I've done is say he isn't responsible for the mistakes of those before him and wait and see what he does.

2) Those that fucked up in the past are no longer making football decisions. So judging someone new on the actions of his predecessors is illogical. That is the point!

Sport Republic is Sport Republic is Sport Republic.

From bean to cup, they fuck up. 

Next season, new league, new manager we start again. But drooling over this Spors guy makes no sense at this point. Just some other guy.

 

Promotion is a basic requirement so it is at least 18 months from now (say we are a in with a shout of staying in the Prem come December '26) before we can say they have made any progress at all. So let's dial down the hero worship of some guy who none of us have heard of and who hasn't done anything yet 

Edited Tuesday at 11:42 by CB Fry

[Matthew Le God]

4 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Sport Republic is Sport Republic is Sport Republic.

From bean to cup, they fuck up. 

Next season, new league, new manager we start again. But drooling over this Spors guy makes no sense at this point. Just some other guy.

Another strawman fallacy!

I have not done that!

I said don't judge him on the mistakes of others. I have not said he will be a success or failure. 

That is the rational position to take!

Edited Tuesday at 11:45 by Matthew Le God

[OldNick]

I listened to the BBC podcast with Mourhinho today, what a manager. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

5 minutes ago, OldNick said:

I listened to the BBC podcast with Mourhinho today, what a manager. 

He did say he'd manage someone at the bottom of the PL. That's us, until the end of the season. 🙂

[Matthew Le God]

12 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

He did say he'd manage someone at the bottom of the PL. That's us, until the end of the season. 🙂

He backtracked on that!

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13243854/jose-mourinho-exclusive-fenerbahce-manager-on-life-in-istanbul-his-relationship-with-uefa-and-a-premier-league-return

"I made a joke, I'm never going to a team fighting relegation. I will never go. I get upset, and I'm not in the period of my career to get upset. I'm in the period of my career to be happy all the time and at this moment playing in European competitions, I am getting upset all the time.

But I'm not going to fight relegation. It's too hard! Honestly, I believe that has to be the hardest thing. It's more difficult than playing for titles. It has to be very hard emotionally, because it's something that changes lives. I think it's brave guys that do it."

Edited Tuesday at 12:05 by Matthew Le God

[OldNick]

14 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

He did say he'd manage someone at the bottom of the PL. That's us, until the end of the season. 🙂

what a coup that would be, as big as Keegan comng here

[OldNick]

3 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

He backtracked on that!

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13243854/jose-mourinho-exclusive-fenerbahce-manager-on-life-in-istanbul-his-relationship-with-uefa-and-a-premier-league-return

"I made a joke, I'm never going to a team fighting relegation. I will never go. I get upset, and I'm not in the period of my career to get upset. I'm in the period of my career to be happy all the time and at this moment playing in European competitions, I am getting upset all the time.

But I'm not going to fight relegation. It's too hard! Honestly, I believe that has to be the hardest thing. It's more difficult than playing for titles. It has to be very hard emotionally, because it's something that changes lives. I think it's brave guys that do it."

Shame

[Holmes_and_Watson]

16 minutes ago, OldNick said:

what a coup that would be, as big as Keegan comng here

Our luck, Man City would get docked enough points to finish bottom anyway, and he'd join them.

[S-Clarke]

There's a lot of blind faith in this Spors guy, someone I'd gauge 90% of us hadn't ever heard of at the start of the season.

I think a lot of the faith comes from the fact he's 'new' and may have new ideas, but what has gone before is still totally relevant and it's silly to suggest otherwise. 

SR have been an absolute disaster for this club and city, they lurch from one bad decision to the next. There is yet to be any credible evidence that Spors is the messiah, but it's not going to be an overnight or cheap fix that's for sure.

I think we've gone past the 'jury is out' now, they are categorially our worst ever owners and it's going to take some serious comeback for that view to change. My personal view is that we'll need shot of them before anything improves long-term. We'll see what happens in the summer, but going by our previous summers, I'm not expecting great decision after great decision.

[John B]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

football is all cyclical, im sure it wont be long before some genius manager comes up with the brilliant idea of playing two lines of 4, with pacy wingers, a big lad up front next to a good little 'un to get on the end of his flicks. It'll be lapped up by the hipsters as genius with the number 7 and 11s being the new gold standard in modern football with them being given cool positions like wide layer outer offensive forwards. Their job will be to provide cross field penatration assists into the number 9 or as he'll be called the deep lying attacking pivot. Any team with two great wide layer outer offensive forwards and an strong deep lying attacking pivot is gonna cook in the XG numbers bro!

Any team with top class players would do well whatever manager we had 

[John B]

9 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

There's a lot of blind faith in this Spors guy, someone I'd gauge 90% of us hadn't ever heard of at the start of the season.

I think a lot of the faith comes from the fact he's 'new' and may have new ideas, but what has gone before is still totally relevant and it's silly to suggest otherwise. 

SR have been an absolute disaster for this club and city, they lurch from one bad decision to the next. There is yet to be any credible evidence that Spors is the messiah, but it's not going to be an overnight or cheap fix that's for sure.

I think we've gone past the 'jury is out' now, they are categorially our worst ever owners and it's going to take some serious comeback for that view to change. My personal view is that we'll need shot of them before anything improves long-term. We'll see what happens in the summer, but going by our previous summers, I'm not expecting great decision after great decision.

Clearly SR have not been good but they did buy a team with below average PL players after a number of years of a lack of investment 

[Lord Duckhunter]

5 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Those that fucked up in the past are no longer making football decisions. So judging someone new on the actions of his predecessors is illogical. That is the point!

Is bringing Spors in a non football decision then? 
 

 

[CB Fry]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

Another strawman fallacy!

I have not done that!

I said don't judge him on the mistakes of others. I have not said he will be a success or failure. 

That is the rational position to take!

It's not a strawman to say you are a monumental bellend.

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

It's not a strawman to say you are a monumental bellend.

That is the rational position to take. 

Edited Tuesday at 13:40 by Lord Duckhunter

[Forester]

On 12/04/2025 at 18:16, Wade Garrett said:

Lack of experience, not managed in this country and is one of those nerdy Championship Manager idiots.

 

Am guessing you thought this about Thomas Frank?

[Forester]

On 14/04/2025 at 13:31, hypochondriac said:

Maybe but then you look at the likes of Benitez who had no problem taking a step down. 

He was appointed late in the season to try and keep Newcastle up.  When he didn’t succeed, he stayed on and won the championship. So wasn’t appointed into a championship team from outset.

[BarberSaint]

5 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

 

 

 

 

What happened in previous seasons isn't relevant. Next season will be based on who Johannes Spors appoints as manager and what he does on player recruitment.

The Sport Republic previous fuck ups are irrelevant as Johannes Spors had nothing to do with them. So judging him on the mistakes of others is illogical. 

 

 

Nonsense. By this 'reasoning', the following is true:

 

"Jack Stephens fucked up. He ball-watched, lost concentration, and lost his man many times. They scored." 

 

But, according to you the fact that it's happened a number of times is irrelevant; next time will be 'different'. Only in your mind, I would suggest.

[hypochondriac]

5 minutes ago, Forester said:

He was appointed late in the season to try and keep Newcastle up.  When he didn’t succeed, he stayed on and won the championship. So wasn’t appointed into a championship team from outset.

We didn't have to make an appointment in the championship either. We've made that choice (a choice I agree with by the way.)

[gurru991]

The problem for me is that so many managers just imitate managers who have success at other clubs. They see Pep play possession based football & decide to copy that style when truthfully they don't have players with the necessary skillset.

Quality managers are able to develop a style that fits what their players are capable of.  I believe Danny Rohl is getting the most out of his players at Wednesday & could be successful at either Southampton or Leicester. 

 

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, gurru991 said:

The problem for me is that so many managers just imitate managers who have success at other clubs. They see Pep play possession based football & decide to copy that style when truthfully they don't have players with the necessary skillset.

Quality managers are able to develop a style that fits what their players are capable of.  I believe Danny Rohl is getting the most out of his players at Wednesday & could be successful at either Southampton or Leicester. 

 

Dont we know it! we had Rueben Selles playing Jack Stephens in Guardiolas inverted full back role last time we went down, Jack frigging Stephens. It's not helped by the fact fans and geeks are overloaded with stats now and want all their teams to play that way. When like you say only teams that can play the way they so are ones with the best players in the world. 

[leesaint88]

17 minutes ago, gurru991 said:

The problem for me is that so many managers just imitate managers who have success at other clubs. They see Pep play possession based football & decide to copy that style when truthfully they don't have players with the necessary skillset.

Quality managers are able to develop a style that fits what their players are capable of.  I believe Danny Rohl is getting the most out of his players at Wednesday & could be successful at either Southampton or Leicester. 

 

Agree. Also, I'm surprised that nobody uses the 'Delap' anymore. I remember Ben Foster speaking recently that the long throw is one of the hardest things to defend against, surely teams like us and Leicester could have a rare advantage by deploying a tactic like that. 

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Forester said:

Am guessing you thought this about Thomas Frank?

I don’t think fuck all about Brentford’s manager.  Couldn’t give a shiny shit.

[Hamilton Saint]

50 minutes ago, leesaint88 said:

Agree. Also, I'm surprised that nobody uses the 'Delap' anymore. I remember Ben Foster speaking recently that the long throw is one of the hardest things to defend against, surely teams like us and Leicester could have a rare advantage by deploying a tactic like that. 

As I recall, Delap used the long throw for Saints endlessly, but with very little success. Did we ever score from one of them? 

[redkeith]

I think we scored a late winner at home to Sunderland using a Delap long throw, in a game that I missed. 

The closest I saw after that was the first game of the season at Villa under Sturrock . It was flicked on and Fernandes volleyed it goalbound, only for it to hit Kevin Phillips up the arse. 

A few minutes later, we got anothe throw in a similar postiion and ..... we took it short.  From that moment on the 3 of us who went up from Salisbury knew we were relegated !  

[Lighthouse]

Tessem’s goal against Sunderland is literally the only one I can remember from a Delap throw. He clearly altered his technique a bit up in Staffordshire.

[ErwinK1961]

I’m sure Crouch scored from one in our relegation season, Everton at home maybe?

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, leesaint88 said:

Agree. Also, I'm surprised that nobody uses the 'Delap' anymore. I remember Ben Foster speaking recently that the long throw is one of the hardest things to defend against, surely teams like us and Leicester could have a rare advantage by deploying a tactic like that. 

Remember we tried it with Salisu the problem was his throws hardly reached the penalty area 😂

[Lighthouse]

3 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Remember we tried it with Salisu the problem was his throws hardly reached the penalty area 😂

Great, now you’ve made me remember Salisu exists. I hope you’re happy now. 🙄

[Turkish]

3 hours ago, John B said:

Any team with top class players would do well whatever manager we had 

Depends on your definition of doing well. We've seen many top clubs change managers and with virtually the same players look a shadow of themselves. Or new managers come in and transform a team. 

[Football Special]

53 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Remember we tried it with Salisu the problem was his throws hardly reached the penalty area 😂

Those were hilarious, nearly every one ended in an attack......for the opposition 

[trousers]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

Great, now you’ve made me remember Salisu exists. I hope you’re happy now. 🙄

I'm still patiently waiting for his signing-on photoshoot...

Edited Tuesday at 17:29 by trousers

[trousers]

Two daft questions:

1) how much money would it take to entice Koeman back to Saints?

2) what's stopping us offering him this amount of money? 

We'll happily spaff c.£20m on mediocre players... Would it cost that much to bring back our (arguably) best manager this century?

#nobrainer

[Maggie May]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

Great, now you’ve made me remember Salisu exists. I hope you’re happy now. 🙄

He’s one of four ex-Saints in the top six of Ligue 1.

SAA, Salisu, Maitland-Niles, Caleta-Car.

 

[Convict Colony]

11 minutes ago, trousers said:

Two daft questions:

1) how much money would it take to entice Koeman back to Saints?

2) what's stopping us offering him this amount of money? 

We'll happily spaff c.£20m on mediocre players... Would it cost that much to bring back our (arguably) best manager this century?

#nobrainer

[qwertyell]

9 minutes ago, trousers said:

Two daft questions:

1) how much money would it take to entice Koeman back to Saints?

2) what's stopping us offering him this amount of money? 

We'll happily spaff c.£20m on mediocre players... Would it cost that much to bring back our (arguably) best manager this century?

#nobrainer

1) he's the current Dutch national team manager - one of the two "dream jobs" he's always longed for (the other being Barcelona).

2) he's not leaving before the World Cup in '26 for any amount of money we could rustle up.

[trousers]

1 minute ago, qwertyell said:

1) he's the current Dutch national team manager - one of the two "dream jobs" he's always longed for (the other being Barcelona).

2) he's not leaving before the World Cup in '26 for any amount of money we could rustle up.

So, hypothetically, if someone offered him £100m to become their manager, he'd turn it down?

#exagerationtoillustrateapoint

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 minute ago, qwertyell said:

1) he's the current Dutch national team manager - one of the two "dream jobs" he's always longed for...

Hopes raised...

1 minute ago, qwertyell said:

...(the other being Barcelona).

... hopes dashed. 🙂

[trousers]

3 minutes ago, qwertyell said:

he's not leaving before the World Cup in '26 for any amount of money we could rustle up.

So, thinking out loud.... We get a championship specialist in for next season then get Koeman in for the following season after the world cup...?

[qwertyell]

2 minutes ago, trousers said:

So, thinking out loud.... We get a championship specialist in for next season then get Koeman in for the following season after the world cup...?

We've already got an entire squad of Championship specialists. They might as well manage themselves.

[trousers]

1 minute ago, qwertyell said:

We've already got an entire squad of Championship specialists. They might as well manage themselves.

Ha... Fair point 😁

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

So, thinking out loud.... We get a championship specialist in for next season then get Koeman in for the following season after the world cup...?

Is our Championship specialist Martin?

Besides, no matter how much we offered Koeman, Everton would come in and offer him all the sitting in their new dugouts that he wants. Some things we just can't match.

[SNSUN]

11 minutes ago, Maggie May said:

He’s one of four ex-Saints in the top six of Ligue 1.

SAA, Salisu, Maitland-Niles, Caleta-Car.

 

Sekou Mara and Minamino too. Players do better when they're not playing for Saints. 😁

[trousers]

My (semi-serious) underlying point is that we'll merrily spend money willy nilly on dross players yet, seemingly, baulk at the notion of splashing the cash on a decent manager....