Rivers

I understand many being underwhelmed at this appointment. Yet there are a few important factors we must take into consideration. Firstly, our dearly deluded resident fuckwit Rasmus, has completely trashed his reputation, and by extention, that of SR. By hiring Mad Nate, when all but the 27 "Jones Daftees" knew before he even started that it was only ever going to end in catastrophic failure, he drew a defining line in the sand. Get it right, he was a pioneering genius. His reputation soars. But he didn't. Jones was every bit the unmitigated disaster we all (and anyone who knows football) knew it would be. The appointment made everyone seriously question Rasmus' sanity. Sticking with him so long, in the face of massive fan unrest, and particularly after Jones almighty nuclear media meltdown, confirmed poor Ras' as a bona fide certifiable lunatic. Now, if you were an anywhere near half decent and self respecting Premier League standard football manager, ask yourself, if this master of metrical muppetry called you up and offered you the job of trying to save Southampton Football Club from the complete clusterfuck he has created, what would you say? The second word is OFF!!! Now, at first glance, I would agree, Jesse March would not have been my first choice. Nor my second, or even third. But, he is a man with a point to prove, and most importantly of all, he is not Nathan Jones. For most of us, not that long ago, that was all that mattered. No manager of the proven calibre we might all hope for, is going to want to risk their reputation working for Rasmus Ankersen, at least not at this point in time. Jesse Marsch is clearly an intelligent and well educated man, so that's a huge improvement, right off the bat. He looks the part. He is smart, presentable and carries himself in a professional manner, which really helps when you are the public face of a Premier League football club. He might not have the "gravitas" we spoke of previously, but he does have a certain charisma about him, and that is important when looking to motivate and inspire young top flight professionals. His footballing philosophy fits right in with the ethos and "DNA" we have promoted at the Club for many years. And right now, when we need someone who can hit the ground running, that could be massive. He doesn't ever play a back 3/5. Hallefuckinglujah! He isn't related to Harry Redkrapp, and he isn't Slippy G. Very important feathers to have in your cap. In short, he may not be who we all would have chosen, but the above, are a lot of positives. We are a Rasmus self-inflicted basket case, and of the available options, I think that under the circumstances, we are lucky he is willing to have us. We Marsch On.

Unless you're a relative youngster, if you have any interest in World and European football, I don't know how you can't have heard of Marcelo Gallardo. He was one of the finest creative roaming playmakers of his his generation, capped nearly 50 times for Argentina. It was during an era when small, technical trequartista types were all the rage, though whilst Marcelo could play "in the hole", he was generally given the creative license to show for the ball all over the pitch., to make things happen. You just couldn't shackle such a sublime talent. Quick, skilful, excellent dribbler, and would regularly thread the ball through the eye of a needle, such was his vision and passing ability. He was a very special player, oozing class. As a manager, he has utterly transformed a broken and fallen giant at River, restoring them back to their former glories, and surpassing them. Plays a very attractive attacking pressing game, and would be a fantastic fit for us. Other strings to his bow include not coming from a Welsh mining community, regularly winning football matches, and not saying with the greatest of respect all the time. Sadly however, I should imagine his stock has risen far above risking his reputation by getting imbroilled in the mess that Rasmus has created for us now.

Well thank fuck for that. The nightmare of "Nathan Jones, Premier League Manager" is finally over. Some of the longest three months of my life. I now feel like Gollum in the Mountain of Doom, at the end of The Return of The King. Having just bitten off Frodo's finger and reclaimed the One Ring. Dancing for joy on the edge of a dangerous precipice, one misstep away from plunging into the Lake of Fire. "Yeeeeeesssss!!!!" "Yeeeeeeeessssss!!!!!!" Rasmus's next vital selection will ultimately decide our fate. I truly hope he has learned something of great value from this bizarre and entirely foreseeable experience. Because if he hasn't, then we're all gonna burn. I am normally such a calm and relaxed person, but having to watch on in helpless horror, Rasmus standing idly by, unmoved, whilst the lower league wreckingball mismanagement of Nathan Jones set about the demolition of the Club I love, I would have exploded without having somewhere to vent the anger and share in the overwhelming disbelief together with fellow Saints fans. We don't all have the same perspectives on events, and the best ways to handle them, but we all love this Football Club, and ultimately want what we feel is best for it. I'm glad we have this "Support Group for Saints Abuse Survivors". It has been cathartic. The shit we have to go through together with this Club. 🤣 But in a weird sort of way, it is part of what makes being a Southampton supporter special. The Highs and Lowes of the Rollercoaster ride. I for one look forward to slipping back into the shadows for a while, and getting on with my life again. So long Mad Nate, and thanks for all the front-footed aggression. Might want to brush up on your people skills before having another crack at this management lark. With the greatest of respect.

I've wanted Marcelo Gallardo as our manager for quite some time. Was very excited at the potential for us when he was heavily linked prior to appointing some backward fuck from a welsh mining village, and disappointed we missed out on the opportunity. He was one of my favourite players during my younger years. Ooozed class and composure, fantastic technical abilty, and has spades of the all important paassshhhuuun! Very intelligent man, sound tactictician, and highly rated by other intellligent football people in the game. Sadly that ship may have sailed for us again this time around, but if we could offer him an enticing enough package to come in and try to keep us up, with a break clause not to stand in his way if a top continental Club come in for him if we do go down. It has to be worth at least sounding the great man out.

What more is there to say? I've already wasted more than enough of my words and my time, on Nathan fucking Jones. So I'll be brief, and simply state the blindingly obvious. Nathan Jones is damaged goods. Totally unfit for purpose, and has far exceeded his useby date. Shocking football. The Jurassic Period just called, and asked for their tactics and dinosaur back. And as for the team selections, and abysmal man management of some of our best players, what on earth must Dragan be thinking about the treatment of our most valuable assets!? Assets he's just shelled out a shitload of his hard-earned for, only for the bright spark from the dark welsh mining community to waste their talent in the stands. Criminal mismanagement of our Football Club all round. If only it had been obvious it wouldn't work from the start, and we could have so easily avoided this utterly self-inflicted clusterfuck.

Time for some Pre-Match entertainment...

You really have to ask? Be thankful for small mercies. Competent? It's not their fault.Take responsibilty FFS! It's true! Our agression stats are through the roof, and we've already beaten last week's tally for training ground punch ups twice over.

Absolutely. The vast majority seem to get it. It is not just about results. It is about the lasting damage from having such a walking catastrophe as Mad Nate associated with the Club we love. Making us the laughingstock of English football. It is about the way he carries himself, and the utter PR disaster. It is about "accepting full responsibilty", then proceeding to blame everyone else. It is about the passive-agressive goading of the fanbase, rather than keeping his mouth shut, or even trying to build bridges. If he'd just put in that effort, things could have turned out differently for him. If he'd still been a fucking shite manager, but come across as an affable, likeable chap, demonstrated a bit of a jovial sense of humour. When you like someone, you can't help but want them to do well, and root for them. Since he walked through the door, I really cannot ever remember having such an unlikable, unprofessional, and disrespectful manager associated with our Club. He really has brought everything he's getting completely upon himself. Indeed. Talking about problems on the Internet can be somewhat cathartic, but rarely solves them. You want to be the change you want to see, then what you need is direct action. As an aside, @Lighthouse, any chance this thread title can be reverted back to what it was intented to be please? Nathan Jones OUT. I'd also like to apologise if I offended anyone by going a bit too far in my previous post. I like a nice single malt or two to send me off to sleep, and pent up anger is not a good mixer.

Unfortunately, the biggest weapon will still be stood in the technical area, furiously waving his arms around like a fucking lunatic.

I agree with both of you. It is toxic already, but we need to escalate immeasurably. Our message is clearly not getting sufficiently through to those that matter. As Monk said in another topic, St. Mary's needs to get absolutely venemous, right from the start. I've never actively wanted the Club I love to lose in my life. I fucking hate losing. But we have reached the stage where the very most important thing that needs to happen to our Club now, to move on, get some sort of closure and move forward with a completely United fanbase, for the first time in god knows how long, is that we need Nathan Jones out, last Saturday. Whatever it takes. Tonight's fans forum showed one thing: the Club are not taking the sheer extent of the seething vitriol we feel toward Jones seriously enough. We need to show them just how serious we are. St. Mary's must get absolutely nasty. Lots of "Stand up, if you want Jones OUT" for all those in most of the ground who won't sing to visually confirm their agreement. Anti-Jones songs all game long, regardless of the scoreline. His football is shit, his tactics are shit, get out of our Club. Nathan Jones, is a wanker, is a wanker. Get this cunt out of our club. We fucking hate you (usually reserved for dirty skate bastards, but it'll do). Feel free to make up new ones! Support our team too of course. We must do both. Show we support the players, but be clear that Jones remaining is utterly unacceptable to us. If the board are not taking us seriously, we need to make them. He needs to be gone on Saturday night, as he should have been last week. And it is up to us to make that happen.

[MadNateMode] With the grreeaatest of respect hypo, I take full responsibility, but it's everyone elses fault. I'd been listening to all the outside noises in this thread. I allowed myself to be compromised by maybe a few too many single malts. I was pandering to Glenmorangie. Being aggressive and front footed, my fingers were not doing what I told them to do. With the greatest of respect, people need to ignore my lack of Saintsweb top flight experience and lower league post count, and understand that like for post and pound for point, I am one of the best posters in Europe! Where it comes to quality over quantity, with the greatest of respect, there is no one better than me at wanking off cats into crisp packets, and I need to get back to that. [/MadNateMode]

Late to the funeral, sorry, long day. Absolutely astounding, that this cretin is still here. Logged off last night just after Kaiser Soze's post. Was so looking forward to a wonderful day. How? Just how is he still here? "Taking training as normal." After what went down on Saturday night!? I can only imagine, that the Club are not quite as aware as we might think, of the full extent of the seething vitriol exploding within its fanbase right now. They know we're not happy, sure, but if those at the top are actively choosing to not look at the online outpouring of fully united anger, tuning out from all media. You know, fingers in ears, "lalalala I can't hear you" style. They may be thinking it'll all just blow over. They'll ride out the storm, and if we somehow massively fuck up and actually win on Saturday, that the extent of the anger will dissipate over time. IF that is the case, wow, what a shock they have coming. On the off chance they do read here: Mad Nate Jones' utterly despicable behaviour on Saturday night's media rounds is NOT something we will let you turn a blind eye to, SFC. You will not ignore us anymore. You seem to think you can play the long game, but you cannot. We will not allow it. You seem to have completely underestimated the seriousness of Mad Nate's indiscretions. He has brought our Club, your Club into undeniable disrepute. Yet you sit on your hands, and do nothing. He is clearly crumbling inside under the pressure, and you have a duty of care, to pull him out of the fire. Because make no mistake, if that wretched scum is standing on that touchline representing the Club we all love so much, fire is what is coming. You will see a side to this fanbase the likes of that which you have never seen before. You think we are just a bunch of disgruntled but ultimately tame customers, upset at results. It has gone so much further than that. Nathan Jones is our modern day Ian Branfoot. We absolutely fucking despise him after Saturday's public meltdown. And very soon you will understand just how much. Before, it was just Nathan, but for your disgraceful disregard for our feelings, you are now right in our firing line yourselves. Saturday will get very ugly, and you have brought it all upon yourselves. SFC Board of Directors, you are a fucking disgrace.

Seemingly to wind up the Saints support, and to keep a steady flow of away fans blatantly strolling their way through the Home sections, thereby stirring up a sufficient reaction to justify his heavy handed reputation, and keep that phat corporate management salary pouring into the coffers. As to the poll, I was unable to vote in it, as the option I would choose is not present. I wouldn't get rid of Rasmus at this point, so long as he takes decisive action in culling Nathan Jones before the Forum, and takes ownership of his shocking error in judgement. I still think there is a lot of potential that Rasmus can bring to the table for us with some of his ideas. The crucial thing is that he can either temper his all in approach to statistcal analysis based decision making, and balance that with an understanding that stats alone rarely (if ever) give the full picture, or tell the complete story. Or/and, surround himself with some good experienced football people who can help advise him on all the other crucial aspects that go into whether someone is likely to be a good fit and make a success of themselves here. Besides, it is his company after all, and although not the main moneyman, Rasmus is pretty much the driving force of the whole Sport Republic initiative. Kind of a difficult guy to get rid of, even if you wanted to. As for Semmens, I used to really like him in the early days. He came into a setup that had become notorious for its lack of communication skills and obfuscation tecniques, and started to behave like a rational, practical and straight talking executive. He seemed refreshingly honest when dealing with public relations, and an overall likeable decent kind of chap. I actually felt some level of confidence in his proficiency to do his job. A safe pair of hands. Up until that last fateful fans forum, that is. Something changed. He became short, snappy, and highly defensive in his reactions and responses. His friendly warmth and confident relaxed disposition from previous events had completely dissipated. He became dismissive, as if a simple frown and a wave of his superiority complex hand was all us great unwashed were entitled to expect from him. Patronising answers to anything deemed remotely offensive to his sensibilites became common place. For me, Semmens has gone stale in his position, and has meekly precided over an abrupt decline, both on and off the pitch. He should pay the price, and fall on his sword. Every fellow Saint I know, has lost all confidence in him.

Fascinating timing, this event. If you were writing the script, dropping in a full Mad Nate Meltdown™️ the weekend before the Club's next pre-scheduled propaganda camapign, would be a stroke of genius. Maybe Mad Nate was right, this is all "god's will" after all, and the eternal artist is especially partial to a bit of the old schadenfreud. Black thunderclouds rumble overhead, as a piercing light illuminates the surrounding darkness. Nathan Jones looks up, his hands raised to the sky in prayer. Then a booming voice bellows down from above. Jesus loves you Nathan. But I think you're a cunt. Such a shame that as far as we know, there'll be no live feed of this. Under the current circumstances, it could well be compelling viewing. The presence of this Fans Forum could well even prove to force Sport Republic's hand when it comes to flicking the killswitch on Jones tenure. After what has gone down this weekend, and the very public nature of its unfolding, there is a palpable media glare focussed directly on our Club, awating to see what emerges from the wreckage of this car-crash. Sport Republic are now faced with a very simple but defining public relations choice. The difference between going into this Forum to deal with the backlash and fallout from Mad Nate's spectacular nuclear implosion, or, pushing the red button on his time with us first thing Monday morning, and the Forum be used to show the quality leadership of owning their mistake, uniting the fanbase, and hopefully going someway to salvaging something positive from what remains of the season.

This feels like a seismic moment. Like a tidal wave that has been slowly building, has just crashed down, and there is that momentary, stunned pause, whilst taking in the magnitude of what has just happened, before catching our breath, and immediately springing into response mode. We've just witnessed the total nuclear meltdown of Nathan Jones tonight, across multiple nationwide media outlets. And I'm really not quite sure how to feel about it. My opinions of the man and his catastrophic appointment are not exactly secret here. So on the one hand, his interviews are box office comedy gold. You just couldn't make up such a character as spikey old Mad Nate from the double 'ard mining villiage. He presents himself as the ultimate pantomine antagonist you love to hate, and tops it all off with such a charming lack of self awareness. He really is as dense as he comes across. Fully Verified. ☑️ On the other hand, there is something so fundementally disturbing, as seeing a man break down like that, right there in public view. You want to reach in and pull the poor fucker out. The more he talks, the worse he makes it for himself. And yet he cannot stop digging. He lacks all semblance of basic personal self control. And to think, we're led to believe, that we tracked this guy for over a year, and somehow came up with the super-clever idea that he'd be the right fit for us. Really SFC? I would really like it, if this is the last time I have to waste another moment of my life, talking about Nathan Jones, so I'll try to make this summation as definitive and yet (hopefully) succinct as possible. No one wanted him here. Obvious potential clusterfuck was obvious. Sure, Lord Pony (who usually delights in belittling others with childish "cult" labels for supporting their manager) suddenly went all David Koresh, Branch Davidian on us, with regular amusing little forrays into this topic, establishing the First Church of Jones Daftees™️. Though it was clear that the vast majority of us on here could immediately see what an absolute disaster appointing Jones was destined to be. You couldn't not see it. But Rasmus Ankersen (and I really liked this guy at first) seems to be on some kind of personal quest to be at the cutting edge of revolutionalising the game. I like his sense of determination and self belief, it could be a great asset to us, if he can only take himself out of the way, and not get lost in believing his own hype and self publicity. Innovation needs to be tempered by experience and responsibility. It is one thing spotting the next up and coming whippersnappers for the future to invest in, but another thing entirely to so recklessly gamble our Club's future in this perillous position, by taking another punt on some extremely limited lower league manager, with his limited lower league football, and limited tactical accumen. We all know how that has turned out for us. From the moment Nathan Jones and his little training whistle breezed into Staplewood, he's been a walking calamity. Unnecessarily putting people's noses out of joint. From word go, he has carried around an air of cantancerousness. Ruffling feathers. Generally coming across as a pointlessly abrasive bellend. Full of hot air and bluster, and an apparent level of self-delusion which only thinly veils an inherrently insecure man underneath. A man who if he didn't already know full well he was utterly out of his depth before taking the job, sure wasted no time in finding out. Things were bad at the end with Ralph, but Jones somehow spent his winter preseason contriving to make us inconceivably worse! And then it went downhill from there. We scraped by against limited lower league opposition in a couple of cups, managing to look woeful against Lincoln City, and making Championship strugglers Blackpool look like the top flight side for much of the second half. That, and a freak upturn in fortunes against Man City, stretched a temporary piece of clingfilm over the gaping chasm of the abysmal standard of "football" being served up for us, and Jones farcical lack of tactical prowess, or at times seemingly not even the most fundemental basic understandings. This and the small extra awkward detail of losing every single league game under his tenure, bar one. Through all this, we have to endure the constant undercurrent of his ridiculous antagonising of the Club's own fanbase with his passive-aggressive pressers and aftermatch interviews. In the end he was just coming accross as such a nasty and bitter chap, that he became a caricature of himself. Not content with a single chip on his shoulder, he ordered an extra-large portion of them, complete with two jumbo battered sausages, and a soggy pea fritter. Wise man once said, man in large hole should stop digging. But Nathan Jones just can't help himself. Which brings us to today. And his mindboggling media display. He has gone way too far this time. Totally off the reservation. Such was the trainwreck levels of his performances on Saturday evening, both on and off the pitch, he has effectively rendered his position untenable. If SR were hoping to keep all this simmering undercurrent of discontent quietly beneath the rug for as long as possible and buy themselves some time. then good old Mad Nate has totally pulled that rug out from under them tonight. That and the fantastic job those of you who travelled up to Brentford did in making our feelings known, has now brought this festering boil of Nathan Jones Management of our Club up to the point where I don't see how SR now have any choice other than to lance it. His actions are now bringing the Club into disrepute, and the time has surely come for the inevitable parting of ways. SR's reputation itself is at state, if they dither and do nothing. He is the "public face" of our once proud Club for fuck sake. And he is making us an absolute laughingstock. Time for a positive action from the Club. It is still not too late to own their mistake, and try to salvage something from what's left of the season. It would sure generate a lot of goodwill from the fanbase if they do. And give us a place from which to start building new bridges. Mad Nate has just given us the perfect get out clause. Time to pull the plug. We thank Mr. Jones for all his hard work and eccentricities, but in light of his recent comments in the media following a series of unacceptable results and behaviour, we have no choice but to terminate his contract, effective immediately. We all wish Mad Nate the very best for the future, at whatever club or asylum is prepared to take on his heavy mental and emotional baggage. Southampton Football Club are now looking for an experienced quality Manager, capable of performing more than adequately in the Top Flight of English Football, with a proven track record for playing attractive attacking football.. Championship level managers need not apply.

Spot on post that. Good to see you add your thoughts on this Steve. Most of us it seems, are indeed extremely bored of having to keep addressing his many issues. We shouldn't even have to be discussing this He should never have been appointed in the first place. Can we just back him? No. We certainly cannot. In every single way imaginable, Nathan Jones is simply not the right fit for our Club. The vast majority of us didn't want him in the first place. And since he was appointed despite our feelings, everything he has done and contines to do since, has only served to confirm our beliefs that he should not be here. His football is shit. His tactics are shit. He has lost all bar one of our winnable league games. And to top that off, he is proving to be an extremely unlikeable, mouthy and devisive character. He is giving us absoluetely nothing positve to get behind, and showing zero redeeming features. There is nothing there to back.

7 from me. Not so much due to certainty of the quality we've brouht in, but for SR's statement of intent. Would have been 8 if we'd signed a clinical striker near the start of the window to actually give us a chance of picking up more points from the run of "winnable" games. Could've been 9 if we'd added a quality DM and Keeper. And even an orgasmic Ten if SR had topped that off with accepting their major mistake and shooting firing Nathan Jones. Imagine what we could have done with the rest of the season if we'd brought in a manager fit for the purpose of properly organising and inspiring a Premier League team.

Jones.

He's simply demonstrating his lower league standard footballing intelligence. We are so easy to score against, because most of our defenders are shite, and the best one, Duje, keeps getting left out for the self titled "gorilla" Lyanco. A half decent manager (obviously firstly picks his best side,) realises that his shit defence needs the extra protection of a defensive midfielder to help shield them, and minimise their exposure. It could't be more obvious. It is so obvious that even all us know-nothing fuckwit fans can see it clearly, and keep commenting on it. Nathan Jones (for the purposes of clarification, an absolutely shit manager at this level) - thinks that by adding more shit defenders, we'll somehow defend less shittly. That logic itself shows how mentally limited (in football terms) he is. It is the very definition of mad(nate)ness, to keep on repeating the same mistakes, and expect a different outcome. Such a shame. A decent window from SR, but with this fucking clown responsible for the major decision making on the playing side, we are still absolutely fucked.

Because, with the greatest of respect, he is absolutely fucking shite.

I was going to add to the overall tone of crisp related puns. Something about the end of a fourth transfer window without signing the clinical striker we all know we've needed since time immemorial, and all they leave us with, is a back up right back and an empty packet of crisps. Then it occured to me, that we wouldn't be able to finish them.

No. I don't hate. Pointless waste of energy. I feel sorry for him. Dropped in at the deep end, of a turbulent pool he should never have been invited to swim in.

It's embarrassing, to watch him. Ranting and raving on the sidelines. Throwing his arms around in disgust. Berating his players, whilst they don't even acknowledge those impassioned remonstrations with so much as a glance in his direction. He's not registering a blip on their radar. Complete non-entity of a manager. Nervously chewing away at his nails in one moment, then launching into reactive tirades the next. There's no control of his demeanor. No poise or dignity in the way he carries himself. No professionalism. Nathan Jones looks like some forty year old boy, fresh from playing football manager in his bedroom, shouting abuse at the screen when his little men aren't doing what they're supposed to be. "It's your tactics, Nathan". A scared rabbit, caught in the bright St. Mary's headlights. Stuck between fight or flight. He used to be indecisive, but now, he's not so sure. Producing abject dross on the grass. Pointless passive aggressive sniping at the fans in the media. He simply lacks any of the requisite semblance of class, that you'd expect to see, from a Premier League manager. A truly laughable appointment, from Southampton Comedy Football Club.

I for one am so relieved to have such highly intelligent and forward thinking minds running our Club. I mean I've only been watching football and particularly Saints for the last forty or so years of my life, and only ever played the game to a shitty Southern League standard, so obviously I have absolutely no idea about the game. I'd imagine it's the same for most of us know-nothing moronic fuckwits the Club have to put up with for supporters. If it were not for these insightful visionaries we have looking after us, we'd never have known that signing a Championship standard back up right back was such a high priority. We're lucky to have them. Imagine thinking that signing the clinical striker we all thought we've desperately needed for the last two years was more urgent than that! Equally important that we have someone with the footballing reputation and gravitas of Nathan Jones to keep us deluded cunts on the mental straight and narrow. Fortunately he's been able to completely put our minds at rest, in so kindly informing us that we actually already have great strikers at the Club who are giving him everything. Everything except goals, of course. But what do we need those for anyway? I feel like such a fucking idiot for ever doubting the Club.

A good player, no doubt. But I heard he's a bit of a wanker.