Gloucester Saint

95% of fans are disgusted by the shocking ‘football’ we are playing with a squad completely unsuited to doing so. There’s always a few oddballs that will applaud whatever is served up - a few supported Branfoot and there’s still a few weirdos supporting Martin and his ponderous, losing, one dimensional tat. I don’t think the division is the priority - I’ve watched us at Carlisle in League One, Brentford at the old Griffin Park in midweek - all over the country but all I ask for the cost and travel is for the manager and players to do their best to get results. That isn’t happening, the ‘philosophy’ is over-riding the clubs wellbeing and that’s not right. Martin is not more important than Southampton Football Club.

Perfectly possible, he liked him although Branfoot’s Reading teams played very much long ball football and was as fixed on his way of playing as Russell Martin is on his. Mind you, the style didn’t put Lawrie off working for Graham Taylor in the England set-up.

What it says in his book is that he was initially brought in as an unpaid director to move Branfoot on by Guy Askham. He knew both men well from the 1970s and 80s, but says Branfoot fell out with him afterwards and blamed him even thought Askham had wanted rid of Ian for a while. He later fell out with Askham over the ‘reverse takeover’ by Secure Retirement.

All of which is true but you know that we won’t play a higher tempo like Rangers did because it isn’t Russell’s ‘philosophy’. Hence pressure relieved on Spurs.

I agree BarberSaint, the nationals have seen they can bait him and he’ll react and give them easy copy to mock him with, as has happened again today. He will really blow a fuse when the fan protests really get going as they will on Sunday. The style of football is being equally pilloried which puts a lot of pressure on SR around his replacement. SR selling up would make sense now really. The only way SR and Southampton FC can co-exist is a total separation from Rasmus Ankerson, which would require a biggish name DoF and first team manager.

Has been building for a while. Let’s hope it’s a real spectacular blowout and the aftermath takes Rasmus with him.

The state of that quote. He’s really scraping the barrel. If Nathan Jones said something like that, he’d have been slaughtered for it. Martin is becoming a national joke now.

‘The next two weeks will be telling’. What further will it tell the dunce SFC and SR boards? His style of play is a losing one every week, strewn with unforced errors, uncompetitive and drab and he’s lost 99% of the fans https://x.com/JustSaints_/status/1867254714716283029?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet Probably bollocks given the source but if it true that SR are insisting replacements stick to similar ponderous loser football, no wonder everyone approached has told them to do one so far. Rasmus truly is a dunce, high performance expert (see wiki page) my arse https://www.footballinsider247.com/southampton-work-on-russell-martin-replacement-after-sack-twist-insider/ Get some ‘Russell Martin your football is shit’ chants going so Parsons and SR can’t ignore that we loathe the football ‘philosophy’ as much as anything else. I grew up with Danny Wallace, Steve Moran and MLT as heroes, the anthesis of Martin/Pep bullshit.

The media are very openly taking the piss out of and exposing Martin now for the bullshit merchant he js. Newspapers, Sky, BBC website are all hammering him weekly and increasingly daily. The more SR cling onto him the more pressure they will come under to sell the club to someone who can have a decent go at making it an established top flight club. Need to egg the media on to ridicule SR as well.

If I still lived in Hampshire, I’d be at Sholing’s games regularly. Important game looking at the table - opportunity for breathing space with Parkway in the relegation zone https://southern-football-league.co.uk/League-Table/Southern League Premier South/p/1/p/ Totton second - assuming Austin must be knocking them in - and Merthyr top. Some good sized clubs in the division. Gloucester City one of my local teams in the play-offs.

Look at this press conference from October, pure arrogance https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cew1e0r12wgo And the next day https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/russell-martin-southampton-premier-league-leicester-steve-cooper-b2632168.html Digs out THB and Dibling last week, and has a pop at the fans, which he tried to backtrack on today without success.

Scott Currie signing a new three year deal. He’s had some good loan spells, hopefully a core part of the Hants red ball attacks as Abbott, Barker and Abbas are in their dotage https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c7453gdgnngo

Obviously what the Pompey fans try to do as well.

I wouldn’t, things can change very quickly in football. Club could get sold again, SR restructures, SFC DoF finally appointed as Wilcox replacement out of the blue. Lawrie returning in 1994 to sack Branfoot and bring in Bally happened without warning.

IIRC she was Trade Minister, having been Equalities (ironically given her culture war views) and DCLG before that. She was referring to issues at PMQs when Suella Braverman was Home Secretary and hid all sorts under the carpet (expenditure) when she wasn’t leaking official secrets via other senior members of the ERG.

True, and the fanbase has certainly grown. But tourists/local people supporting other clubs where they are from accounts for some of it. The club won’t have the same attendances next season if they cling onto Martin.

WGS used it a lot but in a very different context eg the bravery to try a through ball or trickery to go past a defender or two to unlock a defence. Something which looks silly if it doesn’t come off but he liked players in the final third to take a risk or two. He had another phrase oft used - propaganda football. He often criticised the team for repetitive 5-10 yard balls which didn’t create any movement or space. As far as WGS, a superb player himself, was concerned, anyone at top level could do that in their sleep. 💤

This Barry White track came to mind with Russell and Rasmus preening in their mirrors. The title is ironic given SR’s stubbornness over Martin.

Bit too cold to get amorous there.

A ‘High Performance Expert’ apparently 😂😂😂 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasmus_Ankersen

Didn’t know this had turned into the Pompey Thread.

It wasn’t under Adkins, Pochettino or Koeman when we were being run properly. Or under WGS. It is shit when SFC board decides that it knows better than anyone else - Lowe, Reed although Ankerson through SR is entering a ‘demolish it Dave’ league of his own for incompetence.

Kemi is a gift for all of the other party leaders. If they try and change leader yet again though, they’ll be an equally big laughing stock. Win win.

He was shit at passing with us, although could be a quick and decent 1-1 defender when bothered.

No, left that summer having been on loan with Monaco in 22/23. Lazy fucker who allegedly downed tools.