Saint Gifford

Agree with the any other 39 year old. But I think maybe the point is lost, a bit of identity can’t be a bad thing given our current position.

Wouldn’t be the worst signing for a 12 month deal, I’m sure he wouldn’t accept a pay as you play. In his position wouldn’t really need to run the 100 metres in 10 tbf, just boss what’s in front of him and let everyone bounce off him

Tommy Wridd’s equally as poor managerially speaking.

I watch a lot of Bristol Rovers games on ifollow (my boys are Gasheads). It’s ok to be fair, if you swipe or connect the laptop screen to your TV. The Gas charged a Tenner last season when you sign up via the clubs website. I have no idea how the saints would do it, but the commentary is normally by the local radio station both home and away games. If you can’t make the game for whatever reason, a really good alternative.

First 10 or 15 games released tomorrow I guess will give us a clue if this looks a good appointment or not.

I completely respect everyone’s opinions of course. All I can go on is results the feeling I had as a supporter and around the ground and club of my Southampton during the NC and ML partnership. I never met either of them but I couldn’t give a crap if he upset a couple of people in the tea room or was a bit stand off ish with the mega store staff. I know it was only the tipex trophy, but that was the last piece of silverware we have won under guess who. ML seemed perfectly happy taking his pictures on the pitch with his insta max on the day. We were professional, dare I say “corporate” with a plan and a vision back then. Not afraid to make changes for the good of the club. ( I seem to remember a certain Potts that hasn’t resorted to applying for the Reading job. He seems to have done ok). I am probably talking out my ass but, I’m sure one of the Milan clubs were wanting to get involved with him back in the day, and unless someone is his best mate no one knows what happened there. My opinion and as I said I respect other people’s view, but if we had half the vision and professionalism as we did back then, I am convinced we would not be where we are now. We just need to get back to that, Dragan I am sure wants the same and needs to surround himself with the right people.

He clearly is aiming high after all his comments of going abroad or a really big project in the uk. Probably fits the brief of complete chaos. Just really pisses me off with how clubs like us are run. Dragan has all the right intentions , I just hope he becomes a lot more hands on with all the board changes, and doesn’t accept the yes men / women from coaches to management. Sorry to be romantic but bring back NC.

To be fair to the lad he just wasn’t ready to be chucked in at the highest level. I think we could all see that quite early on. Thats not his fault. Unless there is public information that I’ve missed and he was sold to us with a buy back dependent upon a few cup games and a couple of starts, we will never know. I think we need to cut the lad a bit of slack. He is not going to say to any coach he’s not ready to get thrown in. So you have to question our coaches abilities, a lot in all areas in my opinion. Man City clearly thought a lot of him, ( or did a complete number on us). I’d love to know what they thought, after we stuck him in as Number one from the off. Keep him as a number two let him develop with some cup games and a few league games. I’m not a coach but it will become clear when the pressures of the kid if he has it or not. At the moment we will lose a lot of money on the lad, I like to see what he can do without the No1 pressure. See what he can do and either watch him not improve and take the loss, or see if he has got something about him. Im sorry but we all seem to be blaming the players and the managers last season. This is completely correct, but unless I’ve missed the thread, our coaching staff also have a massive amount culpability in our current position.

To be fair, to play entertaining exciting football. You have to have entertaining exciting players. Hence most of what we lost went as a rule to entertaining exciting teams with an exciting entertaining Manager. Exception of course with us Mr N Jones, as he was very very entertaining…………

No one’s come up with the sash yet……… I’m a season or two too soon.

As with all positions in our squad, it completely depends on what the Manager and Coaching staff are telling them what to do. Honestly these players have come through academies either in the UK or around the world. The stats show that a young player going through the system has a 0.01% chance of playing one game in the Prem. ( I may have got my .% wrong and I can’t be bothered to look it up in in the EFL and Prem 1000 pages of blurb or the Calvin references). Sorry but these are all good players to get where they are, with a bit of luck granted. There are so many fantastic players that don’t get anywhere near League level because the coaching and Manager from top to bottom of the pyramid are just not good enough. I do take the players side in a lot of this, fine if they don’t have the work ethic or are happy to take a payday, but a decent Coach / Manager even Club owner should spot this a mile away.

Macron do actually make some decent kits. Grass Roots and Non League use Macron and Hummel a lot. Of course Nike, Adidas even Puma have the global pull. But the quality of a Macron and Hummel kit at the more expensive end, in my experience has all ways been better than most things offered by Nike or Adidas. Coming back to the Saints, I guess next season will all be about the quality in the shirts that is probably more important at the moment…………..

Fair play to SR. They seem to have stepped back and re evaluated. Time of course will tell, but after being gutted about relegation I’m really beginning to get excited about the coming season. Looking forward to a couple of games like West Brom( how dare they stay up all those years ago). Bristol Shity, because both my boys are complete Gasheads. Plymouth will be a great day out, S Wed and interesting to see what Leeds and Leicester do. Looking forward to being top of the table rather than at the bottom for a change. Bring it on, can’t wait now.

Unfortunately that is academy football all the way down the leagues. One of the reasons I can’t get to St Mary’s as much as I would like is because I watch my lad at Toolstation Prem on a Saturday. Mens football at a really good standard to be fair especially when you have just reached your 17th birthday. There are so many unbelievably good players, playing at that level at a young age. A really good standard of non league football to watch, Step 4 and 5.

I’m just checking Jamie Oliver’s version of boiling a frog. I’m sure that will turn out much better.

This, knowing us could go completely left field, if negotiations have gone south. Southgate, Edwards, Moore. Jeeezzzz this could go anywhere.

Yes it appears we have a bit of a war chest to get us back. With our track record to date I just hope we spend wisely. I hope we don’t become a Championship equivalent of Chelsea 🥴🥴🥴

Both teams were on the 🏖️

Everton going down would some what make this season at least a little bit more acceptable.

It’s a really big decision this one. Martin appears on paper to be the boards chosen one. If he gets us promoted, great. Will he get the chance to manage us in the Prem if we get there, probably doubtful. Long gone unfortunately are the days of a Fergie 20 plus years in charge. Managers are like players, very dispensable from both club and the person. Harsh, but football is now all about short term goals. Yes we are a Prem team and need to get back. But I can’t help feeling we are falling in the trap of the likes of Watford, Leeds, Everton and even Chelsea ect ect

Perhaps needs a move if he has any hope of an England call up. Close a few times, but as posters say Tripper probably aces him for set pieces. A move will either make or break his career I guess.

Sounds a bit like Chelsea. Can we have another go for Potts….🤣🤣🤣

At the risk of being shot down on here. We have been poor at executing a plan since sacking Ralph. We just don’t seem to have understood what the players needed. Im not saying sacking Ralph was right or wrong, but our friend Ankers has just looked at as we all know stats, and hired two managers that have zero ability of man management IMO. I am not a football manager, but do have a somewhat limited understanding of emotional intelligence and coaching for performance (albeit in the business environment and not in the sporting world). I don’t want to completely dismiss our squad, as you do not become a bad player overnight. It takes years since they were probably 7 or 8 playing and training to make it as a pro player. They all have abilities, it’s up to the coaches and manager to draw that out of a player and create the right environment. That is where we have spectacularly failed. Along with decision makers, looking at an individual and not looking at a piece of the jigsaw that fits in harmony and can quickly work out the dynamics and psychological development of a group of people. Both our last two managers appear to be and I might be wrong, hopelessly conditioned to training football skills on a training ground with no ability to look at the crossover of coaching / leadership,or models of transpersonal coaching ect ect. Southampton has led the way in these fields for years. Ive watched Saints academy games with the youngsters and it was abundantly clear that all this stuff was really high on the agenda. It is massively worrying if the long term vision is hiring and firing the latest so called next big manager, without considering the fit and all the Psychology that goes with a winning mentality. Maybe it’s just an oversight, or I have missed the point. But it doesn’t inspire me with the greatest of confidence for next season.

Clearly has spent too much time around a certain NJ. I am looking forward to forgetting this season, and being able to enjoy posting some positive stuff about players, manager, SR and the actual game play. Just about everything for next season, can’t be any worse than the crap that has been dished up this campaign.