imadirtyurchin

I look forward to the attempted PR push from the club when this appointment happens. Bets on them wheeling Prowsey out to say “I’ve always wanted to work with *checks notes* Nathan Jones - he’s a proven manager with a stellar career: his achievements really are second to none. A scintillating run to the playoff semi final and a thrilling performance. I look forward to him repeating those achievements here. btw sorry for losing heavily against Liverpool. Early days. The players need to work harder and concentrate for a full 90mins - it will come” I don’t feel optimistic obviously. Being a footy fan for me is all about hope - you hope for a win and a few goals. When people are on form and playing well there is more hope. Ralph provided that post- hughes and it made a big difference. Atm there is not much hope or belief within the fan base after too many poor results and not enough goals. Nathan Jones doesn’t inspire more hope for me... 3/4 defeats and he’ll be massively under pressure and we’ll be fucked.

I said it on the transfer thread. I’ll say it again. Let’s not descend into bullying. You already gave a response to MLG’s ‘joke’ which was fair - this post is just having a pop and along with other posts that play the man not the ball - it’s just a bit unnecessary (and tbh tedious when every thread becomes a pissing contest full of digs… often becoming a pile on.) can’t we all just be a bit nicer? (I won’t demand that we’re all more positive - I am a realist)

@DmanI think those fears are understandable - Ralph certainly appears to be an ideologue at times and it’s super frustrating. I think this is why the need for more voices and changes in the coaching setup. And I think it’s something that Ralph has to address. as to buying players - that’s the crux for this summer isn’t it?! And unfortunately we won’t know, until the summer is over, what money the new owners will or won’t spend. We’ve been led to believe it will be a busy summer (ongoings and out goings). We desperately need investment to improve the quality of the squad in at least 5/6 key positions… will that happen? I don’t know. The noises from semmens etc are that “we should be better able to compete” but no fan knows atm. I fear we don’t have the money but I hope we do. We’ll see. for the reasons I’ve stated above - I would stick with Ralph at the moment barring a new plan/direction from Ankersen. Even if that comes to pass - we still need to invest in the squad - it’s just not good enough at the moment. So i guess it comes down to whether the new owners still trust Ralph to go forward and continue the progress. (And there has been progress through the club as a whole)

I’ve always been a Ralph supporter - I think he was a charismatic and positive appointment when the club was sinking fast post Pellegrino and Hughes. He’s overseen an improvement in the entire youth system (look at the recess upturn of the youth teams) after it being decimated post-pochettino. (koeman I’m looking at you here) under a horrifically constrained financial situation. The club with his appointment were operating on a longer-term project. We need that long term project to succeed to ensure the success and ability of the club to compete. short term appointments ala Hughes. (Or Big Sam, or Pardew et al) arent what we need longer term. This will be the first summer of not (hopefully) being so constrained financially - allowing us to invest in a core group of players with the right skills to play Ralph’s system effectively. Particularly as they will have spent months identifying these players already. I believe it’s worth backing him this summer to see if the project can be taken to the next step - I’d hate to see the progress lost (and there has been progress) with the influx of a new guy and different ideas and priorities. I’d hate to see players bought that were unsuitable for a new manager (we’ve all been there - and we’re only (finally) coming to a point where we can change the squad wholesale and get rid of the underachievers)) BUT Ralph has to learn: he needs a replacement for Danny Rohl - a voice he must listen too. He has to learn to be responsive during games. I too have lost patience with the bullshit team selections and adherence to tactics that just don’t suit our out of form players. There has to be more pragmatism in the short term. it’s hard going into games feeling despondent about our chances. I too understand the frustration and anger that lots of our fans are feeling. The recent performances are not acceptable - and that should be made clear - to the players and to Ralph. To be able to watch Saints without fear as soon as a goal goes in against us : fearing an imminent collapse would be great. Scoring goals also would be appreciated. and for the love of god - sort out our back room staff. Defensive /set piece coach??!! That has to be a change in approach or personnel. We definitely don’t have a top tier coaching setup at the moment. I think the club hierarchy need to be accountable for our current situation- but I don’t think this is the time to blink - my only caveat to this is if Ankersen (sp?) has a definite succession plan, with targets and a manager ready to go immediately. Then we have to trust them to take us forward.

I’ve just checked on my phone and appears to be working for me through IPTV Smarters *but yeah the website is down*

Theo as caretaker?! Really?!

Good point. Pity not to win - most importantly much better game management from Ralph and use of subs. Encouraging.