Willo of Whiteley

No doubt the club will sign off on something utterly ridiculous. Wouldn’t put it past them to change our kit to look like Spurs and have practically no red like a few years ago. It would be a very SR thing to do. I get Puma are the manufacturers, but these things still need signing off from the club. I will never understand why clubs produce stupid kits that will never sell. Sure they get a bit of PR for 24 hours but they don’t make any sales. 😂

Echoed

Who’s the leak from? My money is on Rasmus. 😂

This is Alex Crooks scoop. I think we can safely rule that one out. 😂

Another excellent listen! Been listening since the early days, nail on the head as usual. 👏🏻

I can imagine season tickets will be a similar price to last season with the spin of “you get four extra games”.

The Athletic has always had it in for Saints, it’s never been one to report the club in a good light. Saints could end all wars and the Athletic would still talk about how the club failed to stop world hunger. Om the flip side… Sport Republic have been as shoddy as they come. Not weary to put money in but absolutely reckless in the thinking of how to run a football club. Utter Incompetence.

I’ve said it before; I really liked Russell Martin and the unity he clearly brought to the club, what a fun wave it was to ride last season and with a Wembley win at the end of it. He did well, but equally he was his own worst enemy at times - things he’s now alluded to: formation, loyalty to players etc. If he’d found a way to change or tweak things then he would still have had the backing I think by our fans, but ultimately it’s a results business. Nothing wrong with principles, but you have to be big enough to admit when it’s not working or that there might be another way to win points. Wish him all the best.

Excellent write up 👏🏻👏🏻

Fast start between Arsenal and Real Madrid. Arsenal had better chances in the opening 18 mins. I’m sure if they don’t win Arteta will pin it on the officials within seconds.

He’s a chancer. Nothing more. He’s been found out.

You could argue they’ve all been terrible, and equally as bad.

The fact that Koeman has been mentioned on here is quite funny. Has anyone mentioned Nigel Adkins yet?

Well guys, where do we start: Early suggestions indicate that Danny Rohl is the favourite. I am very wary of this being the case. He's worked miracles at Sheffield Wednesday with one arm tied behind his back most of the time. He's obviously very well thought of at SW by the fans and was obviously a part of the Ralph Hassenhutl era here previously. He knows and has worked loosely with Johanne Spors too. He appeared to be almost saying goodbye in some of his interviews recently too. This would indicate that a move is on the horizon. It could be a lot of putting two and two together and getting five, but there's a lot of things marring up indicating that this is the route we'll go down. I'm nervous though as this doesn't scream "stand out" manager or "targeting automatic promotion or title challengers". It's another gamble. I want a manager that will come in with authority, a backbone, tell SR where they've been a shambles and what support they as a manager need. We cannot have a "yes man", and I'm wary that's all Rohl could end up being. Liam Rosenior - again linked, but I think this is just a case of he was an EFL manager last season. He's done brilliant at Strasbourg and could achieve European football with them. Wrongly and surprisingly sacked by Hull last season, I'd say he has moved onto better things. I can't see him coming. Frank Lampard - Did very well at Derby with Chelsea kids on loan, did well at Chelsea I thought whilst they were under a transfer embargo, it all went wrong once they could spends hundreds of millions again and the squad became unbalanced; and now doing well at Coventry. I don't see why he would leave there where he is clearly doing well. I suppose it depends what finances/promises/long term strategy is for Coventry. Steve Cooper - Expert at promotion, but dull football. Leicester would be safe I think had they not parted company with him. Equally I think we'd have been in a better position had we got him instead of Ivan Juric. Sean Dyche - Effective at promotion, direct. Boring football. Needs to clear his throat. Mark Robins - Did well at Coventry. Surprisngly sacked by Coventry at the team, although they've continued to grow, has done ok at Stoke, linked previously. Russell Martin - he got a promotion, good football, needs to learn to adapt or have a plan B. Needed to have better transfer support/backing from SR. Extremely stubborn, can do no wrong in his own eyes. Leicester now after him, and I'm sure they'll be a few more come the end of the season. I'll leave it at that. And according to TransferMarkt, other available managers/coaches currently listed include: Edin Terzic, Robin Schmidt, Gareth Southgate, Xavi (he loves Le Tiss), Kasper Hjulmand, Dominico Tedesco, Rob Edwards, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, David Wagner and the mighty big Sam Allardyce. (For note - I don't think any of these will be near the shortlist). I think it's overwhelmingly set up to be Danny Rohl. Whoever it is, they need to come in quickly as soon as the season ends.

Sports Republic are culpable for this. Almost feel sorry for Spors to a point. He’s going to come in and want to put a stamp on in some way - if he is left to it then brilliant. But I wouldn’t put it past SR to keep meddling in the background.

Is Juric still here? 🙄

It’s actually quite funny how we’ve played defensive for so long with no success, struggling to score, struggling to get at teams; and suddenly on the day where we have relegation all but confirmed he plays an additional attacking player. 🤣🤣🤣

Two and a half weeks to get a proper formation and a proper starting eleven pencilled in. Liklihood of no striker, maybe Dibling and Fernandes not in the squad, Sugawara starting and Bree at CB, rather high I would say. Mateta will carve through like a knife through butter. I can see Eze running the show and Essé (?) becoming the Olise replacement in this game. 3-0 defeat. The fact the club are still trying to flog adult tickets for £25-30 is hilarious.

I’ve always loved the idea of being a scout. There’s a wealth of talent in the lower leagues. I probably watch more EFL and non-league nowadays than the Premier League. It’s a lot more enjoyable, less predictable, not as dull, pure chaos at times and those talents absolutely shine through.

I don’t disagree with any of the above. I think we all wanted it to work and ultimately it hasn’t for a whole multitude of reasons. Whoever comes in next it needs to be with long term aspirations. A style of play. An attacking mentality. A dominating mentality. We take the game to the opposition, we don’t crumble under pressure etc. I’d like to see 75% of the current squad shifted along. I’m sure there will be wholesale changes, none of this loaning out of players, if they don’t want to be here - get rid, simple as that. They are of no benefit staying on the books. I hope the next manager is allowed to make decisions for the good of the team. Not for the good of Sports Republic’s stupid multi-club model. Imagine being brought in as the new manager and told “The Goztepe loaners from last season must be used by Saints in the Championship this season”, you’d be pretty hacked off (dependant on ability). Let the new DoF and manager work together and build the club up. SR need to win supporters back quickly. The right appointment is essential.

I wasn’t expecting those kind of responses. I’m just saying do I think that Ivan Juric has done much to improve the team - no I don’t. Do I think he is the answer for next season - no I don’t. The only metric we’ve even slightly improved on is goals scored by something like 0.2%, out goals conceded is got worse, so are we arguably worse defensively - yes we are. Do I think that we’d be in double figures if we’d stuck with Russell Martin - yes I do. IJ has tried to tinker to often and has basically played everyone out of position and with no midfield since his first game. His first game as manager may as well have been him turning to the squad and saying “spread your cheeks, lads” because that’s effectively what has happened. Do I think Russell Martin would’ve benefitted from Johannes Spors coming in sooner - absolutely. But ultimately with results the way they were Russell Martin had to go after that Spurs game. In hindsight even after that Spurs game do I think we should’ve stuck with RM over Ivan Juric - yes. Wouldn’t it have been nice to play that run of games over Christmas and new year with players in the right positions etc and no self sabotage. Even if he’d only stayed til the end of this season and then we got rid of him I think that would’ve been better. I hope this helps. It’s all a game of opinions. To answer an earlier question, no I am not on glue. 😂

I think most would take him back over Ivan Juric. I think had people known what a failure IJ was going to be they’d have preferred leaving him in place. He gave us one of the most enjoyable seasons we’ve had for years. Play off trophy, a win at Wembley, triple beating of Leeds who were favourites for the title, unforgettable comebacks, dominant performances. You can’t slate him, he did exceptionally well last season with those around him, the club and fanbase was united. He’s ultimately failed due to two things: 1) His stubborn tactics on occasion, persisting with the same thing again and again and thinking it will change. 2) The summer window, lack of backing and lack of direction. He was naive to think the likes of Ryan Fraser and Alex McCarthy would be suitable for the Premier League, yet stood by them out of loyalty. No director of football meant he was largely ok to scatter gun his signings with no thoughts or seemingly a committee to bounce ideas off. Since his Sky appearance he appears to have realised his mistakes. If he last learned to tinker and attack teams with pace rather than pass out from the back consistently. I’d take him back now. But that ship has sailed, so whoever comes in next I hope it’s Spors decision, I hope that it’s a manager that wants to be here, I hope it is attacking football, and I hope it’s someone that will try and stick around longer than the previous footballing hierarchy (DoF, manager etc).

This £100m fee on his head has no doubt been leaked by the club to effectively deter potential clubs. If clubs are serious, then great; if they aren’t then bugger off. I’m sure they’ll be a middle ground in there somewhere. Let’s be honest we all know that he hasn’t been a £100m player at all in his career. He’s a young player with a lot of learning ahead of him still. You’d hope his little stint at Chelsea, albeit for a month a few years ago, will make him think carefully about his next move. My guess is he’ll stay, maybe an extended contract with some form of clause dependant on if promotion is gained in a years time, or a big club comes in for him.

Having watched his first interview, he talks a good game, but he needs to gets fans onside and the footballing operation united pretty quickly. This is arguably a worse time than relegation two years ago, because in theory you’d have expected SR to have learnt from their mistakes. They’ll be under more pressure this time, and for now that pressure will be on Spors. Really hope it works out. Really hoping his first decision - the manager - is a success. It cannot be Ivan Juric, these past few months are evidence that he is not the man to continue.