Gloucester Saint

Has good energy I heard

Agree with your first bit, but the second is being negated by having someone with no top leagues experience as Mr Football. Les Reed lost it at SFC 2016-19 after a very good 2009-16, but nobody could say he didn’t have many years at the sharp end in high level football as a DoF, with the FA and elsewhere. Ankerson has no practical experience, no idea and it’s becoming obvious that Phil Giles did any heavy lifting at Brentford in terms of football operations. All of his transfer software isn’t building a cohesive squad allied to dreadful judgement in selecting managers. As S Clarke said yesterday that’s how we we’ve gone from pressing-direct ball-glacial 70% possession and no shots on target in just over 2 years. What a mess and it can’t help the very many players we have bought. All that leads to is a bloated squad, with lots of players on big contracts out in the cold, relegation and if you we don’t bounce back quickly, serious financial issues as the parachute payments thin out. That’s without considering how to actually make SFC vaguely competitive again in the PL because this year is a football and commercial disaster again with SR. Dragan needs to dissolve it and re-think it with top level football industry experience on board from the top leagues. See if he can attract a top ex-player who has gained some sporting Director experience in a top league who can re-set the course for all three clubs in the group. There’s been plenty of fans from all 3 clubs on here very unhappy.

0-1 to a late flicked header.

Seems he called Klopp a cunt - whoops. PGMOL is toast. Wonder who leaked it?

Similar to Frannie’s Tache, the odd person had a go about Merrington but not the bulk who knew he had a difficult job, one he never wanted in the first place either, which was also quite widely known. Way the club treated him was a disgrace with his wife seriously ill. So sad to see him upset on Meridian. Souness - brought in some really interesting players eg Egil, Claus, Eyal and he was still a big name then. Rangers were the dominant UK club late 80s buying the top English players, Liverpool wrong place wrong time but still won the FA Cup, Galatasaray. Probably why he didn’t get stick for the Stockport game. If you kept us up with a 15,000 stadium and no owner like Bournemouth’s, you done alright. I think Souness came to buy the club with investors from what I heard but the dodgy Secure Retirement reverse takeover happened. Sanderson our shirt sponsors also wanted to buy the club but Askham was up to no good. Jones - very popular in the first season, didn’t use the Davies windfall well and were bottom three until three games from the end, good start 99/00 and then a horror run of form. Fans less sold on him tactically but got fully behind him over those dreadful allegations. I never met a Saints fan who thought they were true. Liverpool, Derby and when he was at Wolves, skates fans sang about it - shame on them.

So have I, RA seems a total charlatan, I get the feeling most of the actual great work at Brentford was done by Phil Giles day to day. But it depends on Dragan’s willingness to restructure SR to buy Rasmus out of it legally. So changing the manager is the option they’ll go for. Personally I wouldn’t let RA anywhere making the replacement but SR’s major investor would have to have smelt the coffee.

I meant them as separate events, have amended the OP accordingly to be clearer on my part. And the Ipswich gate - there were less than the recorded 9k in the ground as well - was a big factor for the board (this I’m ITK on) as were the difficulties in getting shirt sponsorship- Dimplex stepped in the last minute as a favour. They got a big reward in 94/95 post-Branfoot with MLT, Bally and Lawrie. They are separate but pertinent examples of where our fans were prepared to stand up and challenge the club’s leadership to improve massively. But where the protests also included staying away and hitting them in the pockets. Our modern fanbase won’t protest in or around the ground like we did in the early 90s and late 00s - saw it with Pellegrino where the football was as bad as now with a much better squad - but they might stay away given the significantly increased cost for the appalling quality on offer.

It’s very difficult to compare between eras. Public services were definitely better previously - dentists, GPs, local authorities - the country has gone in the wrong direction there. However, our preventative knowledge is much better nowadays showing the value of investing in research and especially mental health, which is much better recognised than it ever was. Neurodiversity is way better recognised but we need to get the waiting lists on diagnosis now. Culturally it’s harder still to compare because of streaming, you don’t have 30m people watching the same programme, not even major Royal events but then the choice is good to have on the other hand. The climate is definitely more unpredictable though - the sun is at its most intense 5-8pm in the summer now and that was never the case. First noticed it in 2018 in the Lake District, road surface melting on Hardknott Pass (that was fun!). More intense spells of rainfall and storms with the costly damage to communities and properties, businesses that entails. Politically - the more things change the more they stay the same. In 1991, the USSR was no more and the end of history was proclaimed. Today, Putin is no different to many of the expansionist Soviet dictators, but America is potentially far less stable. China is recognised as more of threat today politically and on trade since Clinton let them into WTO. Something else - people have changed post-Brexit, which was toxic whichever side you were on, then really visible after the pandemic. More fractious, bad tempered and things flare off quicker. You see it in shops, the roads, sometimes at work. People are quicker to be aggressive and abusive. That said, the decline in customer service doesn’t help. I think society has become too fractionalised into groups, we’ve forgotten how to agree and disagree. People should also be able to mistakes and apologise without being cancelled or humiliated. Seen Duck’s post since and agree with much of that, late 90s-early 00s were probably the best I experienced. Saints were a darn sight better too!

The football itself was better I agree and far more in touch with working communities. However, for balance, the stadiums were awful. We forget this because the Dell was one of the tidiest and safest in that era but many were not - Bradford, Hillsborough, Heysel. There was a lot more trouble as well - on the same day as Bradford, a lad was killed by a falling wall at St Andrews as Brum and Leeds firms battled it out. Chelsea was 80% in the elements, away end at Ewood awful, and as for lower league grounds…compare it to now. If go to Whaddon Rd, only one stand is antiquated, the other three are safe, modern, clean and tidy.

Been there with Branfoot and Lowe already as separate examples. Tried to with Pellegrino as did others at SMS but we didn’t get buy-in until it was almost too late. Difference with Branfoot and Lowe was that the club had a fragmented ownership structure which had many drawbacks around attracting investment but it also meant that the protests would cause embarrassment and friction would build up across the different stakeholders. Even then, it was really the boycott in 08/09 and 9k gate v Ipswich which broke the board’s stubbornness. This time around, Dragan will only take notice that we want firstly Martin and Martinball gone, and then SR restructured with Rasmus and Kraft out of it with swathes of empty seats at SMS on the TV, given why SR bought us in the first place. This season it won’t hit financially, mainly reputationally, but next year when the gate revenue becomes far more of a factor in sustainability, their concerns will multiply.

Wouldn’t have done much better. Martin’s style of play isn’t suited to the PL full stop. 🛑

Lesley is a contender for our worst ever XI. What possessed Chelsea to spend £23m on him is anyone’s guess. Poor touch, lumbering, gives the ball away and a clumsy tackler. Not the Victor type DM we thought we were getting. To balance that a bit, not sure Russell’s training methods or style of play do him any favours either. Lavia would have struggled too and even Downes has this year, and he’s supposed to be Russell’s fulcrum. Cornet is a quality player who badly needed games but again, not suited to the testimonial pace, Burnley and Lyon play much quicker, and started ok at West Ham before that long-term muscle injury. Hard to judge him properly.

I’m long past being bothered this season, didn’t even bother to watch the highlights this weekend, but he needs to go by the festive period just to try and salvage some momentum for next season. Sheff Utd’s little revival under Wilder, although brief, has helped them.

If the internet were a thing in 92-94, you’d still have had a small minority supporting Branfoot. There were people standing on the Milton sneering ‘who are you going to replace him with then?’ even when 90-95% of us were protesting volubly.

You can - do something else with your weekends. Worked under Branfoot, got rid of Lowe with help from Leon Crouch. They can be as clever and innovative in how they spin things as they like when the club loses 0-2 to Plymouth in front of a gate of 14k 08/09 style with a boycott going on.

Sums up what Forkbeard the Swansea fan was saying about Martin and those around him saving their necks by giving easy access and copy to national media despite results and anyone with an IQ in double digits seeing things are not going well.

Rasmus - see Christophe’s post on the SR thread. Still doesn’t excuse the dreadful tactics but bear in mind that ‘Mr Football’ will have almost certainly have had a major hand in selecting him in the first place even if Wilcox sealed the deal.

Well there we have it from Henrik Kraft - Rasmus is Mr Football and in charge of transfers at all three clubs. Very clear where our ire needs to be directed.

It currently stands at 99-yes and 9-no. 999 - sums up where the club and SR is at. Might solve the financial barrier as Russell will hate that and walk.

On the SR thread I think, Master Bates posted them.

Unlikely - no ponies to be found on Mars

It wouldn’t surprise me, although the stories this morning about a new SR DoF you’d hope are a clear sign Dragan as the one signing the cheques is fed up with Rasmus and sees how far out of his depth he is. Last night’s puff piece on the BBC suggests otherwise though and that Rasmus is doubling down on Phil Giles’s hard work operationally at Brentford (his political sort always take the credit for others’ work). Hence Carsley would not be a surprise at all. The fans will clearly see it’s another Rasmus folly and unless Carsley pulls off some FA Cup type shock victories at Anfield, Old Trafford etc in the PL, the very frustrated fans will be gunning for him straight away as he will just be a continuation of Jones and Martin so Rasmus keeps the train set despite all of the derailments. Agree that we need a no-nonsense figure but fat chance until Dragan restructures SR to dissolve the Danish duo out of it.

It’s why there needs to be a restructure within SR, then a new SR DoF and a SFC DoF, then we will have a recruitment approach focused on pace, power and raw attributes like we used to, working to a first team manager playing the type of press/pass and counter attacking football SFC plays at it’s best. No more left field manager appointments like Jones or Martin either. Pick the best your budget can take. Even Gao managed that. SFC at its worst is when it thinks it knows better than everyone else. Lowe, Les Reed, Semmens, Rasmus all guilty of it, although at least Lowe and Reed had some success beforehand. The same mistakes on contract extensions were being made well before SR by Reed and Semmens, which Ralph nipped in the bud somewhat, but with the extra investment, they are more costly and dangerous to fix. Livramento was a good deal but there’s no way a strategy should develop around one deal. You’ve got to consider what’s needed around the team and what the first team manager wants to do. I don’t rate Russell Martin but the players bought in over this summer, only Fernandes and Downes work with the way he wants to play, horrible as it is.

Unless the DoF has 100% football control and neutralises completely the ineptitude of the blond bloke on the right of the picture, nothing will change. Rupert Lowe knew far more about football than Rasmus does, and that is not any kind of bar to clear. Personally I think SR should be restructured with Rasmus and Kraft bought out but that seems unlikely. The DoF needs to be a global big hitter - Henry, Vieira, if SR is to start being taken seriously. And Dragan needs some other high worth investors to pull off a multi club model.