hypochondriac

That's probably our best lineup tbf. You could quibble about Sulemana but other than that I'm not sure why we haven't played this team more often.

Apologies I didn't know there was a thread already. Very much worth listening to this to remember happier times. Certainly shows what we are missing with our current group of players.

I'm not sure who has watched this, but if you haven't I really would recommend it. Rickie proves what a special player he is, giving insights into his time at the club and what we have now that no fan would disagree with. I 100% agree with him that fans need something to support and that they players have beaten down the fans due to their performances. Good insight into why Poch is so special too and some great little anecdotes.

Forest away when we were already down and potentially playing our last game was quite a low point.

Forest at home was indeed the worst of the season. Loads of bad performances but that is I think the worst I've ever seen and I'd include the 9-0 games.

If I go to St Marys and they have the half time relay on and some overweight supporter trips over, smashes his face on a side barrier and soils himself in the process, I'm going to stop what I'm doing, take an interest in the action and probably point and laugh at the cretin making a fool of himself. Personally I don't think that constitutes being triggered.

Yes that's how I feel. They deserve much criticism for this season but they've also backed us financially. Undeniably that is a positive and it could translate to significant success as long as they get the structure and the decision making in place to make it happen.

I'm hoping it is Wilcox because that will be his job role next year. The alternative would be someone else picking which would be outside of their remit. You have no idea what he would be like in terms of picking a manager and neither do I but I want him picking it because someone else picking would be another sign of dysfunction within the club.

I agree. I wouldn't want him as first choice starter next year but I'd certainly have him in the squad.

Exactly. I bet Burnley owners got similar comments when they got relegated last year. They are now being hailed as brilliant. Sports Republic deserve the chance to show they have learnt precisely because they haven't acted like you described.

Name a football owner that has consistently made money from football without asset stripping? Particularly a smaller club like saints. Doesn't happen.

The point is that will be his remit if the club are doing things properly (and manji as a known ITK has intimated that he will be the one making the decisions). Ankerson has proven that he isn't the man to be making those decisions and Wilcox has not given us reason to doubt him as yet.

That's demonstrably untrue. Literally no one invests in a football club to make money. Ultimately they may want the club to be profitable, but that's clearly not the sole motivation. They've made some really dumb decisions but they have invested money so they can't be knocked for that. Truly awful owners are the likes of Gaydamak or the Oystons at Blackpool . Sports Republic have invested and so have the chance to show that this season was simply an aberration. Lets hope they take that chance.

Yep. The main damage was done by trying to change everything too quickly last summer whilst keeping Ralph. By the time we got to January it was really too late to change things. Jones was an obvious f*ck up, not least because his style of play was diametrically opposed to how the squad had been playing up until that point. If we had really wanted Jones, we really should have brought him in last summer and structured the club around his style of play. You can see what Sports Republic are trying to do but their fatal mistake was thinking they could rush into everything all at once. Hopefully relegation and the mass clearout of staff and players will lead to a refresh and a new direction with everyone on the same path and a sense of purpose. I'm certainly not going to be shedding any tears about the loss of any of these staff or players given their woeful underperformance. As for Rasmus, he's the type of bloke who would be hailed as a visionary genius if we were doing well but a bit of an emporer's new clothes type situation with where we currently are. Lets hope his philosophy about breaking things to put them back together comes true in this case.

My point is that they aren't Lowe, killing the club without putting in anything himself. They've definitely made some big errors this year but they should be given the opportunity to put things right again. If we had a Lowe character in charge now I would be concluding that the situation is beyond saving and would want him out immediately. That's the difference.

Reminds me of the time that saintsweb successfully got rumours of Jan Koller joining us in the national news media.

It will hopefully be Willcox making the decisions. If he was a bit younger, a Neil Warnock type would be perfect seeing how quickly he's managed to transform Huddersfield.

Lets not forget that Leicester could be coming down with us so that would remove them as a possibility. I'd say we would have a lot of potential as a championship club compared to some of the teams that may be promoted this year.

Why do you think Vieira? He hasn't had much notable coaching success and no championship experience. I'm not sure he's who I would go for other than him being a name that the players should respect.

I know some may consider it unrealistic, but does anyone else think we might have a good shot at getting Graham Potter? His stock is lower than it was and his philosophy and style would fit in perfectly here. You would hope we would have at least sounded him out about the possibility (I bet he would have come here had we stayed up.)

Which is why loaning him out would make no sense. Selling him I could understand unless we don't think anyone would want to pay what we are asking, but that's something you would determine at the end of the window.

I don't think we can be too harsh on Sports Republic. They have put in a lot of money into the club but have clearly made some bad mistakes this year. I'd like to see how much they have learnt from the experience and that will be shown by how much they allow Wilcox to run the club rather than Rasmus getting involved himself.

I didn't really understand that bit of the article. Recruitment sources say he may go out on loan but then say how important he could be for us in the championship? Would it be due to wages? Would seem very odd to loan him out.

I'd say Edozie wasn't bad and should be a hit next year if he stays. Was inexplicably dropped from the squad entirely for more boring yet supposedly reliable players that have done nothing.

I consider it likely we will be keeping Bree and Livramento and probably at least one of our centre backs (at this point probably Bednarek.) but I agree the rest of the defence will go.