Saint86

He's one of the least offensive names I've seen mentioned, and he'd be good with young players.

Key point with all this, is that martin was an arrogant egotistical bell end for a fair portion of his time with Saints... Ralph got smashed 9-0 twice, had fair few other bad beats along the way, and some of his best football was played behind closed doors (and away from the fans) due to COVID... Yet a fairly large proportion of the fanbase would happily take him back. The same cannot be said for Martin, and he delivered us a Wembley final win...

Had a dream where we hired Ralph, AA assisted downs with a through ball down the middle, downs ran onto it to slot in low hard shot across goal (good run, strength, and finish)... And then Ralph ran down the line in front of Jones celebrating before telling himself to calm down. Then woke up.... Knew it was too good to be true. But at least I was smiling about saints for a brief moment at least 🤣😢

If this was something that had been planned, we'd have sacked him a few days earlier and appointed Rohl. No. I don't think this was planned, i think Solak and co were quite happy keeping Still until the fans turned their anger on the board. At that point Spors then got the call to sack Still. But this was after Rohl (who was the manager we clearly wanted over the summer) took the rangers job, and the reality is that there aren't many appetising names available and interested currently. If the plan was just to give it to the U21 manager, they'd have done it at any point. And they would certainly have announced it by now. Spors has too much experience in football, and oversaw a fairly impressive level of squad refresh this summer - it doesn't sit with me that the same guy has intentionally sacked his manager with no good replacement options available. So for me, the call to sack Still when we did came from above Spors, and was probably a complete about turn on previous instructions - so once again, i think we're in our own special kind of Sports Republic mess.

We have an incredibly weak board. They're truly awful. Feels like so many major decisions are influenced by fan unrest or sentiment. No way to run a football club really.

Never mind that... can he manage a championship side stuck in a malaise of bad keepers and defensive errors? That's the question i really want answering! Edit - Actually, better yet, how is his goalkeeping?

My working assumptions are that, A.) we will continue with Tonda in an interim role - until such time that he's done well enough to justify keeping the job, or B.) someone genuinely good appears on the horizon and is interested... or C.) we stick with Tonda but he's doing really badly, and that leads to earthquakes behind the scenes leading us to move for someone they don't particularly fancy. So in essence, unless things change - my expectation is that its going to be Tonda. Also, i suspect the main reason Still was sacked when he was, was because of fan discontent and increasing anger towards the board - they've done this since Ralph - once the fans are on their case they quickly move to sack the manager. Now we've won a couple of games, fans aren't venting at the board in the stadium, so the pressure has abated.

I just don't know what you expect in all seriousness. They had Stewart, AA, and Archer - thats a trio of proven strikers. Still obviously okay'd Downs, and its entirely the medical team's responsibility to advise on fitness - ditto on still to prepare and manager the team. Assume they okayed all that and let BBD go - its not Spors' fault, because ultimately that is enough of a strike force on paper to do very well in this division. And as for the midfield behind - Still had a super array of talent to work from - scienza, fellows, azaz, and AA, alone is a prolific front 4 at this level - let alone with the likes of Charles and Jander behind, and Downes if he could stay fit/interested. Regardless of the Downs signing, we have a great squad for the championship.

Do you live in a parallel world where spors signed or could sell Stewart? Interesting... And at the end of the day, the U21 manager gives an academy kid he knows well and trusts a game, he played well if not spectacular, didn't let the side down and we won... Not something saints fans really should be moaning about it tbh, especially in the grand scheme of things. Club is badly losing its way if this becomes a thing.

He's made one very suspect signing in downs. But he also signed scienza who is pure quality. Plus fellows and azaz are best in class for the champ. We also signed roerslev and jelert, who are both quality players for the champ level, plus quarshie looks a good young player, and we've got romeu back... It's pretty good recruitment all in. Add to that the fact that he oversaw a fairly impressive clear out in the summer, and I just don't know how realistic it is to expect much more from a dof this year, especially given the back drop of relegation and balancing the books? Outside of doors, I suspect there is something wrong in the dressing room myself - although unclear what. We're still carrying macca, Stephens, Downes, and Manning from the awful relegation side last year - all of them defensively minded (or not as the case may be), and 3 of them were some of Martin's golden players... Are they bad eggs, or has last season caused some long term damage with respect to low standards / acceptance / giving up when we go behind... Hard to say ATM.

I would argue sports republic ruined his chances of making it here. BBD, Mara, Downs etc... Had Ballard had their combined No. of appearances, he'd have more goals for us by now. Kids knows how to score. We've signed some absolute gross over the years to block pathways for the academy kids, and in so doing we've lost some real gems, and some that loved the club...

Rather you than me...

I think you'll find that we did know who was going to replace Still, and he is already in position 😄 Joke aside, its a pattern with SR, they are weak, and the second they start to receive real toxicity directed at them from the fanbase, they very quickly sack the manager - they've done this throughout. Assume its an Ankerson/Solak aspect, as Spors has been about enough to be stronger than that. That or there really was something not right in the dressing room.

If this is true, it really does highlight that they're both poor keepers and it suggests to me that we should be playing bazunu frankly. If we're only conceding about -0.25 goals per game more with him in the side (vs macca) then its really not as bad as i was expecting - I was honestly expecting that to be far worse... i.e. 1+... Against that, we're able to actually play a higher line and operate with a sweeper keeper, are far better in possession, and have access to his kicking for fast counters. Its horses for courses, if we're going to go for Dyche style football and park the bus, then play macca as he'll fair better with the shots, but anything else and i think it does call for bazunu (Macca for example never makes that Wrexham 1-1 save first game of the season, and he's awful with his feet and passing the ball around the back - see newcastle away first game last season etc). Either way, 1st jan we need to have a new keeper through the doors.

We need to resolve the keeper situation on Jan 1st.