Saint_clark

It'll be very interesting to see what other clubs they invest in around Europe.

Commenting on the agreement, the Lead Investor of Sport Republic, Dragan Šolak, said: “My partners and I have experience in long-term investments in the sports and entertainment industry and Sport Republic has been founded to combine this expertise and deliver something unique to the market. Southampton has so many of the qualities we have been looking for in a major sports organisation. It has a great management team, excellent talent development, talented teams playing attractive football and a dedicated fan base. We are delighted to be able to complete this acquisition as a first step towards execution of our investment strategy. Southampton will be a cornerstone of the organisation we plan to build.” The Chairman of Sport Republic, Henrik Kraft, added: “We will be an active and engaged owner, but we will not be starting any revolutions. We were attracted to Southampton because it is already a well-run club that follows a clearly defined strategy. “Southampton’s CEO Martin Semmens will continue to run the day-to-day operations of the club, and Sport Republic will be working closely with him and his team to help the club grow. “Whilst Southampton is Sport Republic’s first acquisition, we expect more investments to follow over the coming years. Our ambition is to build a portfolio of high-influence stakes in football clubs and other sporting assets across the world. “At the same time, we will also invest in early-stage sports technology companies and use our portfolio to accelerate the development of these companies. The acquisition of Southampton is a great first step and we are very excited about the journey ahead.”

"Managers, players and staff". And fans?

Pointless comparison as Liverpool bring in hundreds of millions in sponsorship, merchandise and executive hospitality.

Is he definitely going to be directly involved with us or is he working in the group overseeing a bunch of clubs?

West ham are a London based team with a brand new huge stadium that costs the club next to nothing. They're a massive opportunity. We are not.

They were all sarcastically posting on twitter in response to the postponement how unfair it was that we would be able to have new signings in place for the rearranged game.

Yep, all of them will stay I reckon with the Brentford guy heading it up.

Weren't some people hoping we'd be part of the red bull group?

I know some people firmly believe that anyone would be better than Gao but the one thing you can say for him is he let the management team work without interference. I hope this takeover is good for us - saints fans don't want ridiculous investment, just a player or two to start to bridge the gap to where we were - but if that doesn't come or does and comes with a bloke who thinks he can run it himself...

Well it's weird isn't it, the Athletic reported it as a done thing but Saints literally never announced anything.

A great shout, I'd definitely attend. A rare occasion where a player might actually need all the proceeds from the ticket income.

Really sad. Would like it if we could find a role for him in the backroom, maybe not coaching but in data analysis or scouting.

We'll have KWP back too, they'll be suspended for the Swansea game.

I haven't looked at this thread in ages, is something actually happening?

Infuriating isn't it. Those aren't all kids either. They have a first team squad of 27 and then a further 12 in the under 23s that are over the age of 20. That means even with the 9 injuries/Covid, they still have a squad of 30 to choose from. Are we supposed to believe that they've had 18 more Covid cases/injuries since then to take them below the required amount?

It was going to be my first trip there for a couple years as well.

For the love of God can you two just have sex and get it over and done with.

Fuming. This is beyond a joke now.

Got him mixed up with Hayden Mullins. I've had a nightmare here.

Well aren't I a twat 😂

Cheers Mr Wrong, just been announced that its postponed! 😉

Also bigging up Shane Long, really good performance from him.

Ralph post match saying that he's already told Salisu to just trust his keeper in those situations.

Been saying to people at work all Christmas that under Ralph we work on calendar years, 2020 was awesome, 2021 fell to pieces, 2022 we're going to be flying again.