Nordic Saint

If you were recruiting for a manufacturing company that had incompetent workers producing a shoddy product and terrible salespeople trying to sell it, but good delivery drivers, and then said, our priority should be to get more delivery drivers, even though we don't have lorries for them all, your company wouldn't do very well, would it?

There's an article in the Echo online now which states very clearly that Damion Downs was Johannes Spors' "first choice" in the summer transfer window. Perhaps he doesn't want to talk about that now. In some areas Spors is an idiot e.g. football recruitment, but in others he is a genius e.g. his ability to get well-paid jobs as a sporting director.

We are about to equal (if we're lucky) or break Derby's all-time record for the fewest wins in 50 games, which was 5, set in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.

Yes, and we all know what happened to Spors' last employers, where he was sporting director. This all stems from Ankersen's wacky philosphy that you should employ managers who've failed in the past because they'll have learned from their mistakes, when any sane person could tell you that you are far more likely to have success if you employ people with a track record of success, not failure. #EmbraceFailure

And now we're suffering the consequences of Sport Republic's recruitment leaving the team with a weak spine whilst spending a fortune, by Championship standards, on a job lot of midfielders who neither score goals nor stop them. All style and no substance.

You could say that every week. In fact, this week we can say it twice.

"We have to find the tools to replace him." Is this his comment on the quality of Sport Republic's recruitment?

Thanks. I'd forgotten about him. I'll edit my post

We haven't got one player who's ever been in the EFL Championship Team of the Season, let alone Player of the Season. EFL Awards - Wikipedia Previous Teams of the Season aside, the best of the Championship talent would be players like Viktor Johansson, Leif Davis, Luke Ayling, Wout Faes, Josh Murphy, Hayden Hackney, Isaac Price, Josh Sargent, Jaden Philogene and Haji Wright. They're the sort of players you'd expect to be candidates for this year's EFL Team of the Season.

They certainly are. A new manager would be the 8th different one under Sport Republic. It's incredible the rate at which we're getting through them.

Damion Downs was on the pitch. I think he'd make a good secret agent as you never notice he's there.

He's not been able to play a full game since. That's why they released him. The last time he scored a goal was more than 1½ years ago. He'd just be company for Ross Stewart in the treatment room.

Have you seen his injury record? Patrick Bamford - Stats 24/25 | Transfermarkt

Above all, we needed a new centre forward to score goals and a goalkeeper to replace Ramsdale. We got Damion Downs and George Long.

That team has a real League One look to it. In fact, the team that got us promoted from League One in 2011 was better than that. It just goes to show how much Sport Republic has downgraded the squad.

You're not the only one. I gave an overly generous 2. There should have been a minus option.

We need more posts like this.

Our 4th win in 44 league games would certainly be an impressive achievement. We could have 4 in 44 commemorative T-shirts printed.

This is the source: Southampton, United Kingdom Population (2025) - Population Stat

I had an equally good view of him and he was standing and walking a lot of the time. When he did break into a trot, his runs were always slow enough to ensure he never won any 50/50 balls. Shea Charles was trying to cover for him by doing the work of 2 players. Azaz may be suited to less competitive games where he is given more time, as you can see he has some skill. But, our midfield looked noticably more competitive in the final quarter after he went off. .

Azaz was at the centre of our midfield. He was the one supposed to be feeding the ball to others.

In the quarter of a century since the stadium was built, there has been a 20+% increase in the population of the local area. This is slightly above the national average for England, where there has been an overall population increase of 16.5%, which is why so many clubs are increasing their stadium capacities. You have to keep up with the times. Of course, it's likely that the population will continue to grow. So, it would make sense to plan ahead with enough capacity for the years ahead. Southampton Urban Area Population in 2000: 792,000 Population in 2025: 967,000 Percentage Increase: 22.08% Projection for 2030 1,002,000 So, by 2030, there will be approx. 210,000 more people in the Southampton Urban Area than when the stadium was built.

If you feel that way about it, go and drink in a pub in the Pompey area, wearing a Saints hat. They knew what they were doing. You can hear 'Blue Army' at the beginning of the video.If the Pompey fans had kept quiet, they'd have been left alone and if they had, believe me, they'd have been boasting how they'd taken a scummer pub unchallenged. Westwood is already putting a spin on it it in the Portsmouth News, saying he was on his own outside and the Saints fan ran past him before he could catch him. Anyway, people pay good money to get beer thrown over them at an Oasis concert. It beats getting punched in the mouth.

It was a Portsmouth FC Hampshire Senior Cup tie. To compound his misery, Pompey lost: Penalty heartbreak for youthful Portsmouth as Romsey Town claim dramatic cup victory

I think you may have overestimated them slightly. According to the BBC player ratings, Manning was one of the worst players on the pitch while Azaz was the worst: Republic of Ireland C. Kelleher 5.62 E. Ferguson 4.47 A. Idah 3.99 L. Scales 3.66 J. Knight 3.60 M. Johnston 3.58 K. McAteer 3.57 K. Phillips 3.49 D. O'Shea 3.47 C. Ogbene 3.44 J. O'Brien 3.44 R. Manning 3.32 N. Collins 3.29 J. Taylor 3.23 J. Cullen 3.22 F. Azaz 3.10 World Cup Qualifiers: Republic of Ireland World Cup hopes dealt major blow with defeat by Armenia - BBC Sport