S-Clarke

We'll see I guess, but I do sense bollocks. When Jelert was back, he brought him on as a sub and didn't switch to a back 4. He kept Jelert on the bench at the weekend and didn't play a back 4. So yeah, not sold on that. We'll see.

I suggest you go back and read the Stephens thread when it was announced he was getting a new contract in the summer! Similarly check out the Manning thread. Basically, no one is immune in that backline as they've all been fairly horrific for quite some time now. Bazunu is highlighted more because of how glaring it is, his mistakes/lack of ability lead to us losing games more often than not - so he's obviously going to be highlighted. A defender can make a mistake, but the GK is still the last line of the defence - yet we have a GK who can't make saves. He really isn't any good, stats or no stats, I've also seen him with my own eyes and I can tell you he's the worst GK we've ever had playing for us in my lifetime.

And therein sums up the entire SR culture. It's just like that dog meme sat in a burning office, they truly believe nothing is wrong and their approach is sound. It will all come good eventually because we are geniuses etc.

But any external audit would be sanctioned by the current owners anyway, so it's a bit of a moot point really. A lot of money on a consultant for very little benefit. Man Utd brought in Ralf Rangnick as a manager/consultant, he called out the problems and what needed to change, but the club didn't like that so they ignored him and dumped him early. The only way it would work is if an outside body, such as the EFL, sanctioned a review outside of the control of SR. But that doesn't happen and won't ever happen.

I think all this confirms is that we have thick as shit footballers, who can't read the room. If they are doing this....then at least don't shout about it. Given the situation the club is in, is a holiday the right use in this time though? This is the controversial element. A lot of us will say compared to our lives, football is a holiday. They get paid for 90 mins every week, of which they haven't turned up to for the last 2 seasons. They have an entire summer off every year. Then they retire mid 30's as millionaires able to be on holiday for the rest of their lives.

Bit worried that we haven't got any links to a CF to give us something until the summer, unless i've missed them? (just a smart loan is all we need) We already needed 1 with Downs, but with Downs gone (even though he was irrelevant) we have even less options now, if you can even call them options. My fear is that the club are going to hang on the narrative of Ross being like a new addition....

I think we need to realise how many light years away we are from managers like that, even the likes of Lampard is out of our league these days. This is the damage SR have done. We are no longer a credible high level football club.

Alfie House recently confirmed that Solak uses Rasmus as his key footballing advisor across the entire group, Rasmus is more hands on day to day at Goztepe I believe - but he still has a strong influence across the entire group and is almost certainly involved in the big decisions around managers. In terms of the Ben Garner link, we recruited him from the Right to Dream Academy - which is run by a Danish person whom Rasmus has close links with. Rasmus was also the key decision maker/scouter in the Sulemana deal - who came with a huge background from that Right to Dream Academy too. The Right to Dream setup is based strongly on analytics and data driven processes.

That was the 'peak' I'd say, that Sparta game and the Inter home game a few weeks/months later. I remember walking out of St Mary's after that Inter game reminiscing about the times I'd walked that same route after beating Dagenham and Redbridge on a cold evening game, how far we'd come etc. I'd say we're much closer to Dagenham and Redbridge again than Inter Milan, huge regression borne out of multiple poor transfers over 10 years.

The Turkish league is pretty naff though, we only ever saw Tall Paul for us in the PL and the difference in level between PL and the Turkish SuperLiga is enormous. He would have probably scored some goals in this league though, almost certainly I'd say - but he was always going to leave and was desperate to go back to Turkey. The PL experience (multiple times) harmed any future he'd ever have here.

*no-manning-land. Someone coined that on here, great phrase.

I think we got the last usable season out of Fraser at a high level, it was clear he was in decline towards the end of that season for me. When you look at that window, signing him wasn't a surprise given that we also added Charlie Taylor, BBD, Wood to the mix - what a window for a PL side!

I don't see Stephens as being a toxic type, like I said - I don't bundle him in with Downes and that lot, but I don't ever see him calling out standards or stepping up as he should be. He was kept on because of his leadership abilities and being a good guy, rather than his footballing ability - but his leadership abilities contributed to us being one of the worst ever PL sides in history and continue to contribute to us being 15th in the Championship. As club captain this is all happening under his watch and it's really not a good look no matter how you paint it - nice guy or not, which I'm sure he is.

Random, but being that random you'd have to say it's got to be true. Should have never signed him on the back of promotion, should have been a thanks for helping - see you later. He has history of causing trouble when he's not playing, so you wonder if he's been part of the toxicity too.

It's a huge decline, you can't dress it up either way. We were mid-table PL, beating Brentford 4-1 almost 4 years to the day when SR took over. Fast forward 4 years and we've gone through 6 managers, 4 DoF's, spent £354m, 2 relegations and are sat in 15th in The Championship. If that's not decline, then I'd love to see what is? There is zero evidence they learn from their mistakes, the evidence strongly points to them doubling down on every mistake they make rather than owning them. It's not just about this year, this is the important thing to remember. This is 4 years of total mismanagement of our football club which is culminating in the current situation we see ourselves in - and it won't improve, as mentioned before it's hope-casting if anyone believes it will at this stage. There is no evidence to suggest anything other than a continued downward trajectory under their leadership.

3 games from having this absolute pub player on a century of appearances for our club. It's not like he's regressed after starting out ok, he's ALWAYS been awful. What a joke. Says it all really and how the club have settled for this incredibly low bar. It's not all on Bazunu, but he really epitomises the entire SR reign for me.

Season 1 £5m sold £154.21m spent Season 2 £187.24m sold £21.55m spent Season 3 £41.49m sold £123m spent Season 4 £127.67m sold £55.95m spent In total in SR's 4 full seasons with us: We have spent - £355m We have received - £361m So we've pretty much broken even in that sense, and this is probably a huge positive metric in their data driven spreadsheets. We've not spent beyond our means, which does demonstrate that primarily we have invested (and totally wasted) what we've received through player trading rather than having pure owner investment. The issue we have going forward is that we are losing the assets to generate the funds, so the squad will further stagnate.

I don't like Downes, I think he's got form. Not just here, but at Ipswich when he wanted out and then in January last year with us. I think he's a bad egg, and not a particularly good footballer either - a bit of a nothing player all told, suits a very specific static style of play and nothing else. I think there potentially is a legit clique around the likes of Downes, Manning, Wood from their Swansea days. Look at how Wood responded to a supporter a few weeks ago who called him out, that bloke is another fraud and a pretty crap footballer too. Stephens - I don't see him being a toxic type, I just think he's the sort that lets anything go. He's the absolute definition of medoricity in every way, how he leads, how he plays, how his career has gone - and he's the captain. We reward mediocrity and don't drive up standards, and it's a comfortable place for players on decent dollar.

I was of your mindset 6-9 months ago, I felt a bit sorry for him in some regards and appreciated he'd invested. but....at some point last season he made himself chairman, he openly said he wants to be closer, be fully hands on and oversea more of the day to day. Kraft went out the door, he became chairman and I thought ok cool...let's see what you have up your sleeve. Fair to say last season wasn't worth rescuing, but he's been one of the main decision makers in what has so far been the worst season under SR in respect of league positions. It's not got any better with him overseeing it, which just adds to my thoughts that he doesn't understand football. I don't think we can criticise his intentions, but I don't think he has a scooby do and this season rests very, very strongly on his shoulders up to this point as he promoted himself to the accountable position.

Sorry, young player of the year. It says it on that link you posted.

I don't think we've given Ronnie Edwards enough of a chance if I'm honest, we've got someone who was touted as a future England international in our ranks - rated as QPR's POTS only 6 months ago, yet he can't get in the side ahead of the clowns that are Stephens and Wood. I don't get it. I think there is a good partnership in Ronnie Edwards and THB as a back 2, with Jelert LB and Mads RB - if we were ever allowed to do it. Maybe he's not suited to '3' at the back? Well, there's another argument against that if that's the case.

Hopefully he's good, but I'd say he's somewhat fortunate that our GK bar is so, so, so low - so he doesn't need to be anything special, just make some saves and he's the best keeper we have at the football club.

Oh yeah 100%, I do get where you're coming from - I know exactly what you mean and I've walked into exactly the same company you talk of, eventually you're sucked into the culture if you don't move/or if it doesn't change soon enough. Apathy is the word I'd give it. But I think as a professional you have to have more about yourself, certainly in a profession like this, to challenge the standards and challenge the narrative - I don't think we have anyone who has that in their makeup in any way, they all wait to be led, wait to be told - but there's no one to lead them. What this often leads to are lots of little toxic cliques forming in different area's, where they 'lead' themselves and resent anyone else questioning them. If you don't have 'leaders' on the pitch, then you at least get leaders in the coaching and management setup to garner respect and set standards - but we don't do that either, we just appoint kids to coach misguided kids. It's a really toxic setup curated by a flawed organisation, who is allowed to continue unchecked to make the same 'decisions' over and over like it's groundhog day. In any other walk of life this organisation would have been abolished by now as a 'failed' start-up, of which there have been many.

Don't forget Orsic, signing of the century right there. He really dug a hole for himself when he openly said that, or it was fed to the media via the club anyway. I'm sure in himself he still believes that window was a success in some bizarre confused way.

I don't give the players any slack to be honest. If you go way back to the Selles/Jones era, who is still here? Gavin Bazunu, Jack Stephens, Joe Aribo, Edozie, Armstrong - that's it. The rest have arrived during Martin, during Still etc. And including Aribo and Edozie is even stretching it a bit as they don't play anymore, so we've got like 3 first team players who have been here from the Jones/Selles days, the rest aren't nearly as 'impacted' by all the managers. I can't let the players off lightly because the moment someone really challenged their professionalism and was strict (Juric) they absolutely spat their dummies out and went crying, seemingly similar happened with Still as I'm sure that article was about us. They want an easy life, they want a mate coaching them - or someone who isn't going to really challenge them. None of this lot are leaders, none of them have high standards, they're all happy to settle for mediocrity, take the pay cheque and ponce around for 90mins every week - so I'm sure they're more than happy with weak people like Selles/Eckert in the building as they can walk all over them. I think we have a really, really toxic group that needs removing - that's another pat of the problem. We didn't go far enough in the summer.