Ted Bates Statue

Feeling a bit more optimistic after reading Saint in Den Haag's summary and a couple of threads on Twitter, below.

Yes. You get a special ITK medal 🏅

He'll pop up again somewhere else. Didn't a certain H. Redknapp claim he was on his last job in football with us? These managers go home and find that having nothing to do is significantly worse than being in a well-paid albeit stressful job.

It's much worse than that. I'm actually one of a large number of bot accounts designed primarily to engage you in pointless conversation on here, energising ourselves by feeding off your righteousness, a bit like a really shit version of the Matrix.

What, apart from our net spend, and the fact we were universally expected to spend heavy money on top of that? If you don't like the Ukraine posts, you can always ignore them. We will find out Sport Republic's verdict soon enough. My guess was that Hasenhuttl would be given until the world cup break to show that he had what it takes this season, and that on the existing form he would come up short. Manji has suggested if there are any imminent departures, it will be Semmens'. If he says that, then there could well be something in it. It looks increasingly to me like RH has been given a 'get out of jail free' card from above. For me, that's the only explanation I have for why he is still in post, despite the appalling body language he exhibits these days.

Glad to see that pedantry is alive and kicking on this forum. How about, "he was given a green light to spend far more than we are usually accustomed to"

Seemed like needless speculation with the aim of stimulating discussion rather than anything else. It was definitely odd and I think he could have worded it better. He did try to make it apparent that he didn't know anything, but by naming Gallardo specifically I think he created a bit of unintentional innuendo.

You mean fan club? Have a look in the lounge sub-forum for that.

Didn't think Broja was up for returning, and thought we had moved on. Do you see us going back for Broja in January, or one of our other summer targets instead?

I for one, would be happy to welcome him, particularly after he leaves office and is considering the tricky issues of how to spend his time and wealth. Trickle down economics may have been debunked in style recently, but I might make an exception for Mr Murty at Saints.

I'm still not sure whether Kat Liebherr used to own 20% of Saints. I wonder if anyone can clarify for my sake, as the article doesn't really touch on it much?

Any match commentary to take my mind off the men's team inevitable defeat?

Thanks both of you for the info

On the other hand, what happens if we win, and by celebrating I mistakenly give the impression of being a member of an imaginary cult?

I think it helped settled me down, more importantly.

https://www.hampshirelive.news/sport/football/football-news/southampton-lavia-bella-kotchap-update-7730211 Lavia back in training, the sooner he can come back the better.

If someone can start a rumour that we're interested in him, perhaps Villa will feel obliged to give Gerrard a new contract?

Oh but he did a TED* talk once, so he must be a genius. *TEDx actually

Looks like the perfect fit for us, then.

I wish we were like Nottingham Forest. Look at them playing 4D chess. We couldn't even afford to sack our chief scout for getting beaten by Stoke to signing Delap.

Christ. One transfer window and he's had enough of us already. I thought it was bad enough when we were good and haemorrhaging staff. Oh well. Thanks for landing that striker we desperately needed. On the positive side, that means at least someone this side of September thinks we actually had a decent transfer window. Maybe there is hope for us after all

As someone still on the fence about the current situation, you make a very strong and compelling argument for a change. It just has to be the right one. I don't agree with your closing couple of sentences, but certainly at this rate it will be touch and go. I'm sure Sports Republic won't accept allowing the situation to continue beyond this month.

Many sports have trouble with poor decision-making at umpiring level but it seems only football tolerates tantrums at the ref. Rugby draws the most comparisons, although I have a suspicion that this has a lot to do with the referee being the only one on the pitch who has a genuine grasp as to what the hell is going on during a rugby match, so in those circumstances the players are more predisposed to defer to the man in the middle. Conversely you have football where every idiot has a different opinion and is confident enough to be vocal about it. The attitudes to football refereeing are determined at the top. There is too much leniency towards poor behaviour, which forms a vicious circle with incompetence as they know on some level that the anger is warranted. I remember there was talk of tightening standards in the PL at the start of a season around 15 years ago but nothing came of it. An image of a young Rooney going berserk at the ref springs to mind. It all trickles down the pyramid and grassroots, as shown in the article and sydney_saint's observations. If there was serious will to change things, I reckon it would change pretty fast. I'm aware that sin bins were being trialled at grassroots level before the pandemic but haven't heard much since then. Guessing that we are still some way off from using them in the professional game. Even without resorting to orange cards, if the PL really wanted to elevate its image beyond the occasional 'best league in the world' taglines, then an overhaul of refereeing talent followed by a zero tolerance stance could really shake the sport up for the better.

Any word on his return? It must be nearly six weeks by now, and also six weeks since we took any points from a game. Too bad our other three regular midfielders don't seem to be up to it unless they're playing alongside someone with a fraction of their experience.