John B

The reason it has taken so long is because Russell's release clause is less if he goes to a Championship Club rather than a PL Club And now we are a Championship Club

I would have thought grossly overrated the prices I doubt any decent club would pay much for for perraud/ diallo/orsic/ Aribo/S Armstrong

A bit of arrogant bullshit does not convince me that they know much about running a PL Football Club Most on here would have done better than SR have done in the last 18 months last season was pure incompetence. I would be surprised if a new team can be built to challenge for promotion if we lose most of our better players it just takes time it took Ted Bates longer than he thought even with Paine Chivers and Sydenham

Seems bizarre as no one knows what kind of squad we will have in August

As I am 77 years of age I hope this is not my last Saints PL game but I am looking forward to seeing them in the Championship again

I think it was Ray

I think it is much easier to recruit for Newcastle than it is for Southampton what do we really have to offer? We are hardly a top team that is why SR decided to go for good younger players but they overdid iit and combined what players were hear when they came here it is hardly surprising we were relegated. If we lose JWP KWP Lavia Alcaraz Livramento ABK we are not going to have a squad capable of staying in the PL in the forseable future

I am not certain how these changes will affect the ability to attract the right type of players to the club Getting rid of Semmens because he kept Ralph on too long seems a particularly poor positive because I feel it was mainly the lack of decent PL standard players led to our demise.

George Lawrence Tony Godfrey Jimmy Gabriel Norman Dean Roy Patrick Joe Jordan Frank Saul Ray Wallace Danny Wallace the other Wallace

Martin was born in Southampton and must be one of the best players to be born in the City to play top class football Who else would you suggest who was better

I doubt we would have gone down with Martin Chivers at CF

Be interested to know how many of the Saints Fans are still alive it is over sixty years ago It was the first time I had seen a game away from the Dell and the atmosphere was terrific and the view of the game was so much better than being cramped under the East Stand in Southampton. In the first replay it was the only time I ever watched a game under the East Stand as there were so many people milling around that it was impossible to get to the Milton Road End that we went into the nearest turnstile on our route from Stag Gates. I still can see Burnside's left foot equalizer going in at the Milton Road End

Yes two great games which I went to played with the 11 same players Reynolds Williams Knapp Huxford Traynor Wimshust Burnside Paine O'Brien Kirby and Sydenham

Although I agree with much said on this thread the main reason we have been relegated is that the squad we have is pretty poor and the results have proved that fact. The PL is so competitive,clubs like Everton Leeds and Leicester with better overall records better than us in the mix with us to be in the Championship next season. Most teams have large squads with many players opting to go to these clubs where they are unlikely to play regularly. Consequently there are just not that many decent players who want to play for SFC like there were when squad sizes were smaller and we pay over the odds for players with no real ability to perform in the PL. Our recruitment has been dreadful over the last few seasons with only KWP being a significant addition to the squad like Window Cleaner says Suleymana and Tall Paul for 40 million or so is plain stupid. We have needed better strikers for sometime now but where they will materialise from is anybody's guess . Football is very much a team game and the plan to sign a dozen or so players was bound to fail . The ones we brought in in the last few windows were not good enough either so I just feel this relegation was inevitable and a return to the PL may take sometime

But most managers are average

It is very similar to 2005 no investment sacking managers no top quality players

Very true but it has been coming for sometime I just do not think we have signed enough PL and developed acadamy players over the last three or four years. It maybe a longtime for us to return to the PL and stay there for any length of time I feel the Markus legacy has been really fucked

We have an appalling squad of footballers

I always say May 1st 1976 was the best day of my life with March 8 th 1986 my second Brighton and Hove Albion v Southampton, 08 March 1986 Score 2-0 to Southampton FA Cup Quarter-final Team Peter Shilton Kevin Bond Mark Wright David Armstrong Steve Baker Jimmy Case Glenn Cockerill Nick Holmes George Lawrence Steve Moran Danny Wallace Which was the day I got married We did have good players in those days not young inexperienced young players on a step to possible fame and fortune

I think Lawrie would be useful even today as his best attribute was buying decent players many being proven in the league we were playing in

I felt rather better that day than I do about Southampton Football Club today but one has to take the ups and downs of football 1976 FA Cup final - Wikipedia No doubt better things are around the corner and I doubt I will have such a hangover on May 2 2023 as I had on May 2 1976

Having the worst squad in relation to the league we were playing for the last 60 years was clearly going to lead us to relegation Replacing a decent manager with Jones compounded the situation you would have thoufgt if Ralph was to be sacked that an experienced one would have been the replacement. But I do find it strange that Luton may replace us in the PL

The decline has been on the cards for sometime as we have not been able to recruit decent PL players for some time apart from Lavia KWP and Livramento so it was quite obvious e would be relegated eventually Thats what happens in football but unlike our last relegation we have not got a pool of top class players from our Academy to develop so the future maybe bumpy