OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint

Yes Alcaraz and Lavia have been our two positive signings but can't see them hanging around. At least we should get some serious money for Lavia. Apart from the usual dross (which is nearly all of them), the ones I've been especially disappointed with are the players with potential who seem to have downed tools, particularly Salisu and KWP.

Totally agree with these threads. Must admit, I've no idea who Michel and didn't realise we have an 'in' here but this is the kind of manager I would like us to bring in. A Championship club with financial backing should attract some able candidates. Got the impression Ralph lost all authority/veto over player recruitment when SR came in and that seemed to coincide with him announcing he would leave in two years and our plummet south. Even if a manager doesn't have carte blanche on who comes in (we can't go back to those wheeler dealer 'Arry days), he has to have some buy in. There's a chance to mould a new team here.

What is concerning is that sooner or later they'll say 'this ain't working'. Then what? Do they modify their business model because that's all we seem to be now? Do they sell up? Are we in breach of the football financial sustainability rules because Championship Clubs (eg QPR) seem easier to target than PL clubs? Have to agree with you, I just want to support a team where I feel a connection, not just with other fans but also with the club. I also don't give a shit how many players we develop, I care about how our club develops and if that brings players along in the process, then lucky them.

This is the thing - just two months. With the current set up and tactics, we will struggle for points in the Championship. Having watched this lot against Sheff Wed, Lincoln and Grimsby this season, it's obvious we need a quick reset. But I don't get any feeling of urgency at the club. Decide on the nucleus of the team, flog the rest of them and buy a couple of comparatively quality strikers. Can our Academy be resurrected? Home grown talent are much more likely to give a toss than this current set. Attitude and motivation are key to a successful club.

It wasn't.....it is now

I agree - worst team I've seen and I'll raise you 18 years. Worst team I've seen since 1974 and there are many on this forum that have seen Saints a lot longer than me. The final glimmer of hope has gone. Only go to half a dozen home and half a dozen away games a year but won't be watching this bunch live again this year. Actually dislike them...and the weird thing is the only players I don't mind (apart from Lavia & Alcaraz) are the useless ones who seem to care ie. Che, Lyanco

Is RS taking the piss? AA should never ever be anywhere near a Saints shirt. As for Ely, he should never ever also be anywhere near a Saints shirt. I do hope the fans don't have to sing "You're not fit to wear the shirt" again...

Ah yes, of course. Despite the fact that we do badly against teams in a similar league position to us, fully expect to win this one. We seem to be able to do doubles against club this year....then on to Newcastle who must be reeling from yesterday's result. How they couldn't smash our record given the score after 20 minutes. Bunch of northern softie bottlers!

Genuinely one of the worst misses in living memory. Standing on the half way line, we thought he'd fouled someone. But I also would have him in the team. AA against Arsenal was a waste of a player. Tall Paul who can't jump against Jack Stephens who also can't jump sounds like an even contest.

Agree. Often when he's also talking about times when he had a full set of hair. He doesn't mention Blackburn much. Maybe he felt a bit of a mercenary going there...or did footballers ever feel like that

More recently, Charlie Austin??

For those that say "would you take a point before the game started?" isn't really relevant, because the question should be would you take a point when you're 2 up with 7mins + added time to go? We missed a real chance to negate the Palace loss but blew it - I should be grateful, the hope hasn't returned.

Could understand bringing on Lyanco at half time (though not taking off Alcaraz) but thought RB was taking a chance and being too smart. When Lavia came off thought he was taking another chance and being too smart again. This time it didn't work out.

Exactly...more the point. And Ely? It's 9 against 11!

After Tamesaint said we're 14/1 I put a couple of quid on but I notice even the bookies have drifted our odds to 16/1 after seeing our line up.

Thanks. Having read most of Glen's blogs over the years, I am coming to the conclusion that we should have a 'Glen for Manager' lobby as he talks more sense and has more idea than RS 😀

Arsenal starting to implode, they play attacking football leaving gaps for us to exploit, our players wanting to put on a show against a top team for their next contract (and it's live on TV) - it won't be 5/6 - 0. It wouldn't even surprise me if we won this game and still bugger up staying in the premiership. What's annoying is there's so much crap at the bottom of the League; just a pity we're the crappiest 😕

I think the best fly on the wall football series has been the car crash, "Sunderland 'til I Die". Even funnier, when it was made to document their return to the premiership. And the episode with trying to persuade Jack Rodwell to leave rather than fleece the club of £50k a week was especially good. But how many Jack Rodwells do we have in our team? Yes, we can sell Lavia for a profit, but which overpaid space wasters do we need to massage out the club?

I vaguely recall four or five games in after we'd beaten Leicester and Chelsea, it looked like we could be on for a good season. Then Lavia got injured and it fell to pot. Chelsea away, Man Utd away, they never really felt like it was the start of something good.

And who else did that - Chelsea? Managers don't want loads of prima donnas to choose from. That said, there isn't much of a nucleus in our current squad that's worth keeping. Still don't want Gerrard, Vieira or Cooper anywhere near our club and Selles surely won't need paying off...I don't want failures but at the same time don't know enough of who's out there who can rebuild teams and motivate overpaid, privileged pri*ks.

Guess if depends on how much SR want back on their investments. Lavia will go (£50m?), so will KWP (£30m?), Salisu, ABK will fetch an amount and frankly I'd be looking to get rid of most of the rest. Somehow, I think JWP will want to stay though I'd be happy to cash out on him. I agree Alcaraz, Sulemana, Tino, Tella & Smallbone can help provide a nucleus. We can go fishing in lower than the Championship for strikers (Rickie Lambert only cost £1m) and I don't follow what's coming through the Academy but is there anyone there who doesn't pitch up in the away end at our home games?

Not that I know anything about accounting but if you then get a third inter company loan going so you have a triangle on companies loaning each other at high interest rates, can't that take quite a few pounds off the profit and loss? I just don't see why the owners would just throw money at the club. They've also spent a fortune in the transfer windows but for what?

Think we need to set the bar higher than that 😀. Every season, Ralph seemed to get the team playing like Barcelona for half a dozen games before we'd revert back to our usual crap and this season it didn't happen. He seemed to change with the change of ownership at the club and from there it went downhill. I still remember him taking the plaudits from the fans at Leicester on his own after the players had turned to go back in and thought it was a bit odd. Like the poster who commented on Brighton and how they find their managers, that's what we need to do. Find another Ralph when he first came to the club and that should stop the rot. Don't go fishing in the usual pond merry-go-round managers.

Just got back from the game and scrolling through the comments. Must admit, I can't remember the last time I heard "you're not fit to wear the shirt" directed at our players. Was still hoping up to today's game that a miracle would happen and we'd win and that would start our climb out of relegation, but this game was the final nail. I can accept our players are shit, but I can't understand why they're so bereft of ideas. Don't they train on ways to break down teams set up to defend? Do they care about our club? Don't think so. They're just a bunch of mercenaries. Mixture of feeling pissed off and relief that I can now accept we're going down.

I remember when Djenepo scored against City he looked more surprised than anyone that he could kick a ball that far, but I agree, he runs at people and can't do us any harm. Similarly Edozie seems out of favour but runs at people. We have to have that attacking intent. There used to be a chant: "Attack..attack......attack, attack, attack" in the 70's/80's. I started shouting this in the Sheff Wed game a few months ago and people were looking with the 'patience, dear chap' look. When we're more positive, we do well. It isn't rocket science.