Saint86

Hi Sheaf, that was me. It was based on this analysis here (below), but it only covered 2014-18. Obviously beyond the period covered they continued to sit at the top of the championship table before getting promoted and getting the new stadium. This is several years of success back to back. Very different to the Reed/Kruger era with the "Black Box" model of selling players Koeman signed and then spending the money on utter garbage (simplifying 😅). Consider that Brentford made a comparable profit (from the championship - to our sales on just VVD and Mane) whilst selling more of their best players than we did, and then managing to reinvest it year after year. Rasmus has a very good track record and its exciting to see if he can help improve us (although we've been doing that much better ourselves in recent windows). Worth noting as well, then when Brentford arrived in the Championship in 2014 - they had the smallest playing budget. Is it too much to dream of that being scaled up to Southampton? 😆 I'll say one thing for Gao chairmanship - he got rid of Reed, Krueger etc. and got us running with Semmens, Ralph, Crocker etc. Plus he's left us with what looks to be an exciting future.

I have tried to calmly reflect on the takeover, take in as much of the information and snippets that are out there, and to reach a level headed perspective on it all. I am buzzing. Rasmus got brentford to run a circa £140m profit at brentford between 2014-2018, identifying such talent as jota, maupay, watkins etc on the cheap, and selling them year after year to improve. This isn't like the cancer (Reed) spunking circa £110m from VVD and Mane on the likes of Hoedt, Lemina, Boufal, Carillo etc. These guys did it year after year, and rather than spending their way out of the championship they turned a huge profit on player sales, stuck at the top end every season despite player turn over, and funded a new stadium. Plus ofc his other club dumped us out of the Europa league under Koeman https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/34056532. This is an exciting new period for the club.

I would imagine that any prospect of signing Broja has taken a serious dent with this takeover. Depends if he buys into the bitter Albanian / Serbian hatred.

Its going to take some to beat this post to the title of most like post of 2022 - You've got in early 🤣

Haha, i will eat it 🤷‍♂️ 😄 - i did put that comment about FT fully hoping to get egg on my face 😅

I think we all know that FT really does talk bollocks 😅

Its so incredibly cruel and sad for the guy. We all know that young players get injured at academy level and never make it - and thats bad enough. But to achieve what he did, to taste the premier league and playing against world class players - all for his boyhood club, and then to have it taken away at such a young age. That is tough. The guy has his dreams ripped away from him. Yeah i know there are worse tragedies in life, but still horrible to see. I guess he's probably still earnt a fair wage from the years he's had, and he must have developed some incredible mental toughness in that time (we can only hope anyway), but hopefully he manages to land on his feet in the end. I wouldn't be surprised to see him involved in some kind of backroom role in the future - perhaps coaching (not necessarily football). Just wish him the best. Hopefully Smallbone gets more luck - at least he seems to have made it back from his knee injury without any lasting niggles (touch wood).

Wow, at 21:15 on NYE that is incredibly brave/bold of you 😆

The person you were responding to never made the point you argued against. They were simply saying they were waiting for longer term study data on the side effects. Not data on long term side effects. 🙄

Long term safety data isn't long term side effects fyi 👍

The guys who came up with this rumour have sure had a good laugh this time 🤣

This is destined to be all to accurate I fear (I.e. He hasn't tweeted 😢)

Well thats good, I was worried for a second... Its a forum after all, not a playground fighting ring 😉. I don't have any issue with people disagreeing, would be a pretty dull place if we all agreed with one poster and so no one else bothered to comment 🤔... But fyi it does read like you're happy to attack and police other people's opinions whilst not happy if anyone criticises your own views 😉. Also, most of my post is about the job Ralph has done in restructing the team (which increases our attractiveness), and which also shows him to be a good manager and part of a good setup at the club (also attractive to invest in). One sentence is in reference to people wanting him sacked 🤷‍♂️. Also, if you're going to police what people post for relevance, there are several better targets in this thread than mine ☹️. Eitherway, I'm sure we can agree to leave it there as it would obviously sidetrack the takeover thread yet further 👍.

My post was about his part in running the club sustainably and successfully under tough restrictions, and it's impact on making us attractive for a top flight takeover. These are all good things, it's a real shame you find them to be "unhealthy". 😅

Certainly played more than a small part in developing the club. You have to wonder what would have transpired had we been relegated that season? Financial troubles? No SMS? No bale/Walcott to come through etc. Obviously not all on him, but he's one of many that helped shape the club we have today. And then ofc he's been the voice of many a match day commentary. Hope he gets a long and happy retirement, hopefully with saints finally winning something of merit.

I think he's good. He's unlucky to not be starting tbh. Our best rb is also unlucky to be playing out of position. Really need to shift Livramento to the bench or playing him further forward imo. He's been bang average for weeks now.

Too right. He's one of the reasons someone might actually invest in saints... We seem to improve or at least hold our own every season despite basically every club in the league out(net)spending us. Every season. And that has to be tempting. Especially when you add in talent like Livramento, kwp, JWP, salisu etc. All young or on hold contracts. And that's despite inheriting players like hoedt, boufal, carillo, lemina, classie etc 🙄. Not to mention a Premier league level (🤣) defence that featured such talent as vestergard, Stephens, young bednarek, disinterested/fat Bertrand, cedric and a very inexperienced Valery (and hoedt) . Miracle we're still in the league to be blunt. I don't know if the fans wanting him out realise how much like a broken record they sound at times. Would love to see what he can do with some actual money. He's made some of the best signings saints have done in years, all whilst operating on a shoestring budget and having to shift some literal shit just to make bargain signings - but the result has been entertaining football and a young squad with resale value! 😅 Without him we'd probably be in championship with spiralling debts, a poor squad, and not many prospects 😢. 🙄🙄🙄

Just read the FT and ElijahK posts on the Ugly. Doesn't inspire confidence 🤣. Most of that thread is those 2 trying to argue how hardcore a fan Elijah is and whether he goes to games etc. Signs off saying they're mates who sit next together and share the same "source" - Wouldn't be surprised if its the same poster on multiple accounts. The only thing that gives me pause for thought on calling it total BS. Is that their are rumours across multiple saints forums / twitter etc, and it hasn't been picked up by any media outlets (i.e. the Blackmore/athletic/echo etc). Normally something like this is at least raised as a question to the club in interviews etc. But the "source" broke on the 22nd/23rd and there hasn't been anything about it in the press 1 week later.

Is David pleat attached to any takeover groups? Or was he just there for the spurs connection. Was sat up behind a certain comedian.

Really?...

So... We're still getting taken over inside 4 days right? It's been linked to and hypo confirmed it was imminent (again).. Yeah?

I'd agree with most of this.

Good stuff Minsk. Obviously we're chasing the very good 2020 / awful 2021 aspect. But the evidence is building that the team and Ralph are doing a good job under tough resource limits. Also starting to build a team that will have resale profitability (unlike the likes of carillo, hoedt, boufal etc.) I.e. Kwp, Livramento, salisu etc. Also getting more out of players like moi that some of the negative posters on this forum had certainly written off. I say fair play to Ralph. Gets a lot of stick but he's slowly turning the club around. Sad that a lot of our fans don't quite see it really. Sacking him would be a serious gamble and likely poor business in my eyes.

At fault again today, even Merrington is calling him on it. Bizarre that we have fans who can't admit his shortcomings as in no way does it diminish his talent or the things he does well. Simple fact is that he isn't as good a right back as KWP and his defensive play gives the opposition chances and goals. He's been getting bullied by oppo attackers and is rushing / making mistakes defensively. I'd say this has been the case since el ghazi was allowed to foul him continuously and he does need better protection from refs at times, but it is probably time to give him a bit of a break for a few games... (something Ralph said he knew how to do with young players to protect them!).

Ralph out! 🙄