Matthew Le God

Harsh to right him off as a 'dud' already. I think he looks promising in a shit show of a season/team. He should be very useful in the Championship and has proven himself to be very effective at that level before.

That isn't realistic for any club bar a handful of elite teams in world football. If we only sign managers, backroom staff and players that want to play for Saints and not progress themselves to an elite side then we will plod along and not progress. It is better to have players like van Dijk, Mane etc in the side for 2 years than to only sign players happy to have Saints as the pinnacle of their career. The issue is we aren't signing many players that the elite teams might potentially want in the future. Of the current squad Fernandes might one day get a huge move but that is possibly it for players we've recruitment and not had from the academy like Dibling.

Hard to say. Might be dependent on how much he can get out of them in the 18 remaining dead rubber matches. There were rumours from some journalists (although dismissed by others) of a 6 month break clause.

Fernandes shows they can spot high quality players with good potential at a relatively cheap price. Sadly he is a rarity at the moment for the recruitment team. Some of the recruitment at under 21 and under 18 level has been a lot more promising than for the first team.

Ivan Juric has a recent record of regular mid table finishes in a major European league, plus overseen promotion to a major top flight. He is on paper a decent manager, but he has inherited a shit show! He should at least in theory be capable of overseeing an auto promotion challenging campaign given the players and financial advantages Saints will have vs most opponents next season.

I wasn't being entirely serious

I agree it isn't a guarantee of a better player. Certainly possible to sign a better player at a cheaper price. But extending your budget to £30m to £40m strikers opens up a generally better pool of striker than the £20m striker profile.

Signing a player like that from a relegated club (as Sunderland were) would probably be £30m to £40m in 2025. Figures Saints appear reluctant to get to even though they'd spend it combined on a couple of players.

Getting more than Derby's 11 points 🤔

How do you know that?

Getting it right at Göztepe doesn't mean it is the main focus. I don't think there is or needs to be a 'main focus'. All three clubs can get on with what they need to do and alongside hopefully beneficial player movements around the group. Valenciennes and Saints clearly need a lot of work!

Both of those can be put in part down to points 1 and 2 (recruitment of players and managers).

What indicates Göztepe are their main focus? And what would the rational be? Saints are in a league system that allows for significantly bigger returns than Turkey.

The main issues... 1) Player recruitment. A reluctance to sign a for example a player of £40m quality and instead opting for two players at a combined total of £40m but lesser quality. 2) Managerial appointment decisions plus timing of when to make changes 3) Loyalty to players that got promoted. The quality gap between the Championship and Premier League is too big to be loyal. Probably should have risked early season team gelling by being more ruthless and sidelining some more of the players from the promotion season. ___________ All need to be resolved if Saints are to have a positive impact after any potential next promotion.

I'm not talking about income from other sources. The accounts of both clubs show Sport Republic have put significantly more money into Saints than the other two clubs. Have does that tally with your claim we are not there many focus? Alot is made by Saints fans that we have signed players and then listed them out. But Göztepe only have 2 Saints players on loan, both of them were very cheap and has minimal impact on us. The issue is not lack of focus, lack of money or lack of ambition for Saints. Nor is it that we are in a group of clubs. The issue is a fuck up of recruitment and a fuck up in terms of managerial appointment decisions.

That does not answer the question. The question was... 'if that were true why have they spent significantly more money on Saints?'

You've missed out quite a few players that would excel at that level. Plus the ones you have included and dismissed are very good at Championship level even though they are out of their depth in the PL. Take our strikers, Armstrong, Archer, Brereton Díaz have all been prolific in the Championship. Injury plagued Stewart was prolific in a small sample of games. Onuachu probably would be if he stayed. Similar applies to other positions throughout our squad. Many Saints fans are currently seeing players out of their depth in the Premier League and thinking that means those players would struggle in the Championship. They wouldn't struggle. Our squad is essentially that of an automatic promotion challenging Championship team with a small handful of Premier League players (Ramsdale, Fernandes, Dibling, Walker-Peters and arguably a couple of others). We'd also be a year one parachute payment team and have a lot of money recouped from some players sakes. We'll have a significant financial advantage over 21 of the 23 opposing teams in the Championship.

If that were true... why have they spent significantly more money on Saints? It is a vast amount of difference in money invested in both clubs.

Why would they before seeing if they can get another promotion? We have a squad packed full of top Championship players. A promotion sees the value return to their asset.

What does that achieve?

We are heading to the Championship, the value of the club will significantly drop below what they paid for it. So there would be no incentive to sell up and lose a lot of money before seeing if they can get them promoted again. Even less incentive when Saints are the keystone club in the group.

Only if he is good at his job!

I agree with the bit in bold, but in the Championship he has proven to be very effective, and that is where we are likely to be soon.

That is not where he was effective for previous clubs. Blackburn and Sheff Utd used him on the left.

Is there something about it you disagree with?