Nolan

Again the differences between this year and last year are HUGE. it is not prima facie. the directorships of the Club and the added shares in Sports Republic. Dirk Gerkens (a trusted employee of Solak over the years) being a shareholder and holding the reigns at Valenciennes. This all shows that furniture has been rearranged. Spors is implementing a clear, centralised football strategy. Šolak is now engaged at the top. He was a more passive owner, now he’s directly installed as Chairman The mistakes are being acknowledged—not repeated. Patience is still needed, but let’s not pretend nothing has changed. It absolutely has.

Moving him up from a tier 5 league to a tier 2 league to see how he goes. Minimal outlay for Saints, and could cement him in the Chilean team to ensure Work Permit requirements are met (current poistion in the national set-up with 5 internationals under his belt already helps his case)

Yes I think it was gross incompetence. That is why I'm happy that Kraft resigned from Sport Republic UK Ltd and that Dragan Solak put himself in as Chair of the Club, limiting Ankerson's role. (he's obviously not going to be able to usurp the money man, and there are more directors directly informing Solak) People with money, like Solak, don't accumulate their wealth down to luck. I'm willing to give the restructure that only started AFTER the Winter transfer window a go.

yep and the minority who seem to live in a vacuum will click the "haha" button on the post....

For F*cks sake, how many times do we have to point out the same thing. yes recruitment lost its way thats why there been all the changes in the last 6 months. For some reason some people continue to ignore what is happening behind the scenes. 15th February 2025: Johannes Spors starts work at Southampton. May 2025: Eliott Stapley and Nikola Laden joined as asst to Spors and head of international Scouting. Tim Lederer coming in to scouting team too. Recruitment lost its way because we we didnt have the right set-up in place. how about we give the new set-up at least a window and see how its going?

Romulo was a direct loan for Göztepe. They chose to fully buy him in January 25 and he has a contract until June 28. I would be surprised if he's sold at all this summer as Göztepe want to build a team around him. And any signing being contingent on coming to us would severely restrict Göztepe's draw. If they did sell him to Fulham or Anderlecht or else where, they would further cement themselves as a good option in the Turkish Lig. Ultimately benefiting the entire Sporting Group.

Put it this way, there could be an argument that Southampton spot talent, but too early. Look at Alcaraz and Danso who remain in the Premier League while we don't. Now with a good club model we both open pathways for players who might not get pathways to English, or place on loan players who may be attracted by Southampton but not necessarily Göztepe or Valenciennes. Imagine the Bristol youth model, but now stationed in France and Turkey, and getting players from world wide. It could go spectacularly wrong, or spectacularly right, but the bigger pool of players we can fish in, the better

Eligibility for Work Permits. Turkish top division is Band 2 for Work Permits Brazilian top division is Band 3 for Work Permits essentially Goztepe is being used to help get promising international players to England, but Juan's Hamstring injury has limited his playing time, which means the amount of points to get to play in England has not been reached. Note Matsuki will also be under this route. Clubs can apply to bypass the 15 points rule for two players with exceptional status. Matsuki is currently in pole position for this due to his place in the Japanese international set-up NB: This is also the answer to "What do Southampton get out of the group model?"

Juan Larios will still count as an U21 player for next season too, so there's more value in attempting to increase value during the year. My preference would be to have Welington as first place LB, with Larios as backup for the season. Allow Taylor and Manning to leave.

The most important thing to note was that he couldn't get the international points needed to get the work permit to play in England. Playing for Goztepe is a method for him that hopefully gets those points.

I would be very surprised if we went with boring stripes two years on the bounce. Especially when it's always said stripes don't sell well for the club.

just looking at Will Stills final formation for Lens' 40 victory against Monaco.... What a statement of intent. Will we be pulling this one out of the bag in 25/26?

Theyre just pretending to be something theyre not. They could easily use the "retweet"/"repost" button to put a story on their timeline, they choose to type it out again.

Nixon and Crook are likely second hand regurgitations the likes of Saints Extra are likely third hand regurgitations.

the best thing to is put aggregators like SaintsExtra on Mute. feeds like them are the social media equivalent of picking through someone's vomit.

Cant see that changing unless its Starling Bank sponsoring the men as well as the Women.

There's a few games Left in the Turkish top division. But Göztepe have just won their final game of the season and confirmed they'll finish in eighth. A pretty even season in the end Played 36. Won 13. Drew 11. Lost 12. Scored 59. Conceded 50. Finished on 50 PTS. Only 5 PTS away from a European spot.

Ho de Ho.

Yes therefore they would be at the top of the range I said. They would not beat top half championship clubs. Hence why I described the range of Bundesliga 2 bringing Championship 12th to League One 8th. Which is a fair comparison 🤦‍♂️

2. Bundesliga teams range in quality. Ultimately comparable with bottom half championship teams and upper 3rd League One teams

I think key thing here "Energetic Style [Still] hopes to implement". if any player cant do that...

45 games for Hoffenheim 2 as well. Given he's €1.5 million cheaper than Kayi Sanda, seems a fair price to compensate for the work going through their set up.

the only quote I can see doesn't mention where the player is coming from.... and then follows up with "no not a Southampton player"

If you fluctuate between 3 and 4 at the back as Still does we need 5 Centre backs. Bednarek is likely going, as is THB. Stephens has 1 year left. Edwards, Wood, Stephens, Kayi Sanda and a £3m arrival of someone with potential sounds like a workable 5.