AlexLaw76

Take away... Will Still is highly regarded right across Europe in negotiations ref Dibling and Fernandes, but they won't be cheap Spors' decision to extend Stephens contract - great leader off the pitch apparently Significant plans for stadium infra and to double our revenue window not over and looking at creativity

Fan forums summary..... No Will Still, Paul Trollope in the seat instead, with Spors & Parsons. Will Still send his apologies but a personal issue has come up. 2 years in for Parsons, having joined just after the last relegation. Much more chaotic then. Very up and down in the Championship then, lost a few in a row, done well in the playoffs. Jason Wilcox left in April and left a hole in the football department, and we only had a month or so to prepare for a premier league season It was brutal, and we understand frustration Spors came in Feb, and we announced Will early, and now in the madness of the transfer window We are in a better place structurally for the first time in 2 years, really capable team running the club Spors found it challenging when arriving in Feb, needed to understand the energy Has been around football for a while, and can see lots of really good things, but had to change the structure that has not been good - recruitment Paul Trollope was the manager Ricky Lambert loved playing for the most, and he was the manager when Saints signed him Bristol tried to keep him, he was brilliant. Day before season starts, Ricky telling me Southampton had bid...we had to shake his hand and say goodbye It has been really really good with Will, the facilities are excellent, and the structure has been improved Everything is here for success, and we have made really good progress in pre season Q. If we get promoted again, what has been learnt? A lot to learn from every season. It is important that we have a lot of people in the club who are dedicated to grow higher we need to bring in players who are good enough to reach our goals, but to grow also, we have started to do that. Squad planning is like art, and becomes visible near the end of the window. You need talent. Southampton is a place made for development, 100%, and we need to find them, and use the academy also We invested last season, but we need consistency. We cannot change managers every 5 mins, and it is good to see academy produce players We will continue to grow revenues, and the gap between top and bottom of the prem was 3 fold, now it is 5 fold. Q. Last season it was evident that player and manager performance was inadequate (inc board level), what is in place so this is not repeated Will coming in was very important, he is highly competent. Coming in Feb allowed Spors time to understand who was the right person to be manager Q. Pre-season has been a mixed bag. We are not scoring despite we have strikers. Do you think we have a deficit in creativity Pre season was planned, and it was great. It showed us what we needed to see. We wanted results, but we needed it to be difficult we did not score that much. Damion has just joined. Scoring is not just on a couple of players, but it is from the whole team The summer window is not closed and not everything is done. Dibling is training different as there are negotiations. This is very normal in football People know Dibling is sought after, but there is a price. If a club wants our players they need to bid and bid well. we have too big a squad, and we are cleaning this up. We have to have a pathway for the academy If Tyler is here this season, he won't sulk of course, he will play for SFC. We made the new signings early, but we had players coming back at different times The loan players coming back add different qualities to the squad, allows the manager to see what is what. We need to be precise We dont just need more bodies but need the right players. We are working on bringing in more creativity. Q. Sports Republic are quick to get rid of the manager, and get someone with someone very different. Sports Republic keep making the same mistakes. (Person asking the question would have kept Russell Martin no matter what last season). Parsons could not disagree with the question. It got so brutal with Russell we had to step in. It was hard, and we dont want to be changing managers. We do go all-in on managers, but that is also difficult. There was not a huge list of managers that wanted to join. Ivan wanted to come, we knew the risks If he did well he may have stayed, but Johanes wanted this direction we now have and we have to back that. There were mistakes last time. The owners do not want to be making changes. There will be up and down moments, please stay with the manager. Q. Recruitment has seen too many players at the £10-15m, and lots of them, as opposed to players generally good We all want to sign good players, we all have the same goal. Will Still has been coaching for a long time, and he just very normal. He is a strong leader of men. He loves football. Great people person, an excellent coach and offers real clarity, hopefully we will see as the season goes on He is like a man possessed, very demanding, very high octane. Needs to be aggressive on the pitch. He brings the fire to training. Q. What is the morale like in the team given last season We needed to understand the players when Will first came in. There were some players with their heads down. Lots of talk about our players on their form. We needed to see where the players are mentally, they came back from the summer vulnerable. Will has really promoted the enjoyment of football. Hopefully the 2nd half against Brighton showed us where we want to be at least We reminded those coming back on loan (some did not want go) that they can get back to the premier league at this club The organisation at the training was not clear when Spors first came in. This needed to be fixed Q. The relationship between club and fans not great. Loyalty towards fans seems to be lacking compared to previous seasons. Parsons disagrees that the club lacks loyalty. We needed to invest in the stadium improvements as that had been ignored for a very long time. We tried to drop costs of season tickets this year. Stadium costs have gone up, we will make less money this season at the ground But, everyone wants us to sign best players, that is not cheap. It is difficult to balance. The financial gap between the bottom of Premier League and the top is the same between bottom of league 2 and top of Championship We have new things in the stadium opening this year, I hope these are well received. We do care about fans and they have been amazing supporting us More so given where we were last season, and the away support is incredible. Shirt prices are £65, which is like most in the league. We are in the Green with PSR, lots of clubs are not in a good place. If we go back up, we need space to spend more in the prem Q. After a rough season, what attracted you (Paul Trollope) to come here It was an attractive proposition. I like to think my age and experience helps. I grew up in Swindon and knew of Southampton very well. Huge club in the South, really excited to be given the opportunity, and to work with Will, who is really highly regarding across Europe. Since being here, it has lived up to it, the training ground and facilities are very impressive. We have a real chance of success Q. Will Fernandes be here Sep 1 We would like to say yes. We have been clear that if you want our players you have to pay. Matty is outstanding. 35 starts in the premier league at 20 years old (only Garnacho is close). We would love to keep him. Everyone has a price and it is not cheap Today, neither Tyler or Matty are close to leaving. Players are really looking forward to repaying the fans, they really feel it. Q. Jack Stephens was only available for half the games last year, are we rewarding failure by the contract This was Spors' decision and responsibility. He is a big leader in training and he really is a help. He knows he can and must do better Board fully supported this decision. He is an excellent club captain. He is very disappointed with last season, and the board support Johanas We are negotiating extensions for many other players Q. What do you want from us from Fans at the Derby Make the day a really really hostile day. Team need to show what playing for SFC and this game means. Do not wait for the team to show up, get into it Fresh season, the team and how we play will look different. We need to make SMS hostile for all to visit. There will be ups and downs, stick with it Saints fans last season were ridiculously good last season. Morgan Schneiderlin said it was unbelievable, players would fear for their safety abroad. Q. How to FFP/PSR work given some teams can just spend what they like In the champ you can only lose £13m per year, we do not agree with this, but it is shifting to a squad cost ratio. That is why we must improve revenue We are absolutely fine with PSR right now, and will change if voted at the end of the year. Q. If we dont go up, what is the future for Sports Republic as they have made us a laughing stock They have invested quite heavily into the club. The owners had to focus a lot off the pitch. Wider plans there from the owners for the long term Dragan and SR fully invested into the club. Dragan deeply cares. It has been difficult. If we do go back up, it will be very tough Lots of clubs yo-yoing at the moment, it is very concerning. I would like to be sat here of our wider plans, but there are negotiations ongoing. We want to make significant infrastructure changes to the stadium Working closely with the council, they are onside, and they see 1-city, 1-club We must double the revenue to compete in the premier league Q. Any negotiations about ticket price caps We challenged Leeds with their ticket prices, they ignored it. We believe £30 cap for away fans is right, but it needs to be voted in Valenciennes spent a week with us, it was very good. We have passed players to them Q. Why are many friendlies behind closed doors Not always easy, depends on the opponent, but something we will work on. It needs to be more open. the Espanyol fans arriving was not within SFC control. Other clubs like to host friendlies away from their home grounds.

ABK No. 37, fucking buzzing for this

Feminist power!!!

Might keep a clean sheet…. ?

When listening it seems Blackmoor takes an age during his own waffling.....

The points deduction that never arrives?

So? He was crap.

oh of course. He could stay put and 'fight for his place' fucking easy money

Grealish has more money than god, I am sure. City are probably telling clubs that they will not be subsidising his wages if he went out on loan. Instead of Saudi, he could opt to be on £150k per week, instead of more

I reckon Archer will start over Stewart and Downs

Spurs, if I remember correctly - if it was that season (Villa demanded he stayed)

where has he said this?

More than doubled the size of the magical financial 'Black Hole' in 12 months Marvellous

My account now tells me I have £73 credit. Is there a way to pull that back into my bank account?

Fear not. Watch Jack Stephens leave Kieffer Moore completely unmarked to score right in the middle of the goal

fair point.

we will probably start the season with no new players in the first 11

you do realise we have a pretty compliant and polite fan base?

what about the Norwegian league?

game over

And just like that, Rangers are on the BBC

Ta

Karen Brady was interviewed on the radio ages and was very open in that having had a bid rejected for JwP earlier in that window, it was saints that approached West Ham to restart negotiations and he went for pretty much cost of their original bid.