Gloucester Saint

If his appointment works and he gives him a decent spine of athletic players and results stabilise, he’ll get some credit and time. How quickly they can move forward depends on how much backing Dragan gives them both.

Frankie used to be a waiter. Based on his shooting accuracy, diners would have been wearing more soup then they ever ate.

I agree with all of this but it’s got to start turning around somewhere. Whether that’s Spores and finally making an obvious sensible managerial appointment (Cooper or someone similar) not a left field Jones/Martin/Juric gamble, or Dragan selling up, who knows. Let’s hope for the former and that some football common sense comes to the fore. Main thing next season is to avoid a relegation battle and build a decent spine to stem the blood losses. Then work from there.

I’ve tackled some challenges in my career with mess left by others but what faces Spores dwarfs that and then x1 million. I hope he’s got some very heavy financial backing from Dragan because there’s players to retire through injury who haven’t played any serious football for 3 years, multiple loan outs (Edozie, Edwards, Charles) who are probably not sweet with SFC, raising funds through selling remaining talent (Fernandes, Dibling, Ramsdale), and a boat load of Martin groupies who didn’t put in the work for Russell or Juric in the top flight seemingly causing trouble. Then there is recruitment at scale to build a spine from keeper to centre forward of pace and physical power lacking throughout the squad. All this at a club with losing in its 🧬 at levels rarely ever seen in the sport. Oh, and finding a new manager who can work hand in glove with him to roll this out who will command respect and being much-needed discipline, realism and industry-knowledge who is willing to put their reputation on the line.

What % of first team matches for Sunderland and Southampton would you estimate he’s been match fit and available for selection for over the last three years? I reckon it’s in single % figures at best.

He probably will and as a result we will be in genuine danger of doing a Sunderland or this season, Luton. There’s too much baggage, and I’ve seen a promising young Saints keeper when Nicholl recruited a teenage Tim Flowers from Wolves, then relegated from the Third Division. Got early chances with injuries, yes, made mistakes in a far more physical top league as it was then, but also got the Milton onside with some saves he really shouldn’t have been able to make. Of course, the club had actual football professionals and human being running it, so he was mentored by Shilts and when he went to Maxwell’s Derby, we brought in John Burridge. Mad as a box of frogs but carried on showing Tim the right habits. I’m sorry, but I’ve seen nothing from Gavin that indicates anything like the potential clear with Tim Flowers, and I’d go further and say Bart looked a miles better prospect tbh. League One at best. The club hasn’t handled and managed him right whatsoever, so not all on the player at all, but he won’t achieve any potential he does have after those two car crash seasons with Saints. Judging by his opening games in Belgium, I’m not seeing anything different. Maybe he will with a clean start elsewhere with proper coaches, boundaries and environment which cares. Nobody gets that at SFC under SR, it only comes from within - eg Fernandes. Being on loan to the skates didn’t do him any favours because their local rag probably tagged him the Irish Gordon Banks after a couple of decent saves plus the Irish press were probably in overdrive. Came back, wanted first team football which he clearly wasn’t ready for, and Shields had our pants pulled down on the fee. If he hadn’t been at City, nobody would be talking about him if he was £500k from Shrewsbury. But that’s his current level.

Stephen Davis, there was another serious player from the early-mid 2010s. Superb engine, intelligent and could link up play wonderfully.

To think an 18 year old Lavia, however talented with a boy’s body, was going to be an Oriol replacement shows the naivety and stupidity of these buffoons. I don’t know why Ralph didn’t bag them in the press for that along with the striker failure, I would have done as Rasmus fully deserved it even at that stage, but I guess Ralph was just too worn down and fed up with life in the circus tent.

I agree, forget Sheff Utd comparisons, this isn’t a club going into a new season with a legend ex-player and former promotion winner at the helm. Making sure there isn’t a double relegation is priority one. The only way they can avoid this scenario is going for a tried and tested name at that level who could compete in the PL as well - Steve Cooper. Would delay his start until after final game but as a signal with a new DoF in Spores it might give us some kind of glimmer. Get plenty of business done early in the transfer window and clear out the strongest stenches of failure although the smell and taint of this season won’t leave the club for several decades.

I’m loathe to criticise our fans full stop, the gates are highly admirable given the pathetic dross on and off the pitch, but I do understand the frustration. The full houses and lack of protests reinforce SR’s perception that everything has been alright. They’ve finally made changes far too late to their dreadful structure but we saw what a few banners did in bringing the end of Martin. If we could combine the numbers with a bit of ambition, drive and fire it would give Dragan far more of a kick up the arse to transform it or sell it.

If 99% of the squad, and actually the club’s management, coaching, scouting, and boardroom as well, had Fernandes’s attitude and will to win, whilst I’m not suggesting we’d stay up but we’d have a million times better chance and the nonsense of falling below Derby’s low points record would be exactly that. A lion amongst jellyfish thieving wages.

Another player that arrived bright and dragged down in short order by the morass of doom.

We won’t have a defence with KWP, THB and possibly Bednarek in it. Been dreadful this season but quality second tier players. On the positive side, we won’t have Martin’s kamikaze tactics either. But then with less emphasis on footwork and kicking, even less case for Bazanu. No way we’d have gone up without his injury.

You have your opinion, I have mine. But if he’s in goal (Bazanu, not Hyperbole), Saints are going to be in the lower half of the Championship next year.

Frankie Bennett-esque

I couldn’t give a fuck if it did or not. That’s my opinion on Bazanu. I’ve never seen a worse keeper at professional level. Cheltenham have two better, as is Torquay United’s. I’m sure Gavin can improve elsewhere but the situation is not helping anyone.

I went 75/25 because whilst I have no time for any of the players, when you go Ralph-Jones-Selles-Martin-Juric the player recruitment is going to be scrambled. Steve Cooper please on a pre-contract for June, but co-developing a ruthless plan with Spores now for what needs to arrive and what needs to go.

Businesses make errors and this was a Grade A shocker. Sometimes it’s fairer to individuals and the firm to write it off and allow all parties to move on.

It makes absolute sense when Bazanu costs the club £100m by effectively ruling any prospect of promotion. Who on earth is going to pay a fee for him? Unless they are barking mad. Value in Millions of Zimbabwe Dollars or Monopoly currency. He’s shot to pieces, could maybe recover whatever he had once had in City’s kids team starting again at the bottom (lower league one or two) with a good pay off behind him. He’s never going to meet what Saints need but like Bart did, could rebuild at somewhere like Notts County and get back to Championship level eventually in a few years with the likes of Millwall and Ipswich too.

https://www.johnsoncleaners.com/branch/southampton-waitrose

TBF, what 150 PL appearances for £6m? Can’t moan at the value, issue is the club hasn’t spent the £25-30m required in that position. Probably only should’ve been a squad player but Wesley Hoedt at £17m/£35m in todays value yet appalling and wasn’t good enough for Watford last season, and Vestergaard who can’t run (amazingly we got our money back - cheers Brendan!). Then we went down the Lidl route with Lyanco, ABK and not replacing an ageing Yoshida or non-developing Stephens.

Palace have managed it though, you just can’t afford to have a lazy window or two and be proactive/ruthless if a manager isn’t cutting it eg De Boer. Look at how long we limped on with Pellegrino beyond November, Nathan Jones and Martin when it obviously wasn’t working whatsoever.

What’s that now - 2 games and three errors? Second one is as much about the excellent cross and gambling run by the forward (remember when Lambert or Ings used to do that?) but the first one is pure Baz. Low, not well struck, even for him couldn’t believe that went in. How he doesn’t get that away to the side of the goal or behind for a corner is astonishing at professional level and we saw it so many times for Saints. Pay 50% of his contract up in the summer and move on. Lumley is better than that for back up.

Very unlikely he will be here in June, whatever Solak said on TalkSPORT frankly.

🤦‍♂️ A dog with diarrhoea would be more solid.