Daft Kerplunk

Could've at least used a proper pro-level football too and not a fairground hook a duck prize.

No way Alderweireld or Van Dijk, or Mane would've joined without Koeman either. The best thing about Still is that he has grown up in a football culture that overall produces better top level coaches/managers. The English game is producing decent technicians, albeit often at the expense of flair, ingenuity and sheer will to win, but our top level coaches are not there. Will Still is fortunate to have learned to coach is places that develop top coaches.

Whatever happens, there needs to be a complete vibe shift at the club, more of the same is going to go exactly the same way. Solak seems to have begun this by bringing in Spors and getting rid of people behind the scenes, next is the player cull. Since the days of Les not having Paul Mitchell to guide or a legend of the game in Koeman to attract players, recruitment has overall been a failure. Seeing posts about how this team would be good in the championship highlights it. Our standards and expectations should be far higher. Being above Brighton and Bournemouth consistently should be a requirement from us as fans, not this weird passive and shit Martin Semmens narrative about how grateful we should be just to exist. We can and should consistently be in the top half of the Premier League given the potential of the city and area. Hopefully Dragan sees this and wants a team that can deliver it, and one that gets rid of the likes of BBD, Armstrong, Stephens, Bednarek, Smallbone etc. and perhaps because they are young, Fernandes and Dibling (if he is up for being coached and motivated) will stay for at least a season more, Ugochukwo realises he's not getting first team football at Chelsea so decides to leave and stay here, Ramsdale is up for it as the leader of a new era then we can have some optimism.

Will he still be standing as our coach come the end of next season's successful championship which sees us at the pinnacle of the table ready to get back to our rightful top tier level? Better than he ever did before.

Saints are indeed chronic

He was more referring to how lovely fans were despite the team being absolutely shit. In Italy, they'd be fearing for their existence. That was what he meant.

This fella needs to be a miracle worker, or just really great. A major clear out needed - playing staff and backroom staff because they help create the conditions where this level of crap becomes acceptable and tolerated. Far better players need to be attracted. A quality manager is essential. Failure to get promoted next season could see us be like Derby in more ways than missing their target of 11 points in a season. At least he has 6 weeks extra to prepare knowing what division we will be in next season.

The slide had definitely started before they took over but Martin Semmens said these guys had been chosen to take us to the next level. Well, who knew that next level would be shitter than shit. But at least MLG somehow thinks that after multiple failures, they somehow will come good. Absolute dog shit so far.

You just have to hope that there are people above who have actually watched a player, understand their character and mental suitability for playing football at a high level who make the final decisions. Vegard Forren was a player I remember having a conversation with someone at our technical scouting team, and that player had all the stats to show he could play in the Premier League, but clearly did not want to move from Norway at that time so didn't have the right mentality. The tech team couldn't believe it didn't work, a human centred approach may have been more helpful that just stats.

Absolutely. To develop truly good players, you need to develop a winning and high achieving culture. A focus on youth and pathways needs a sharp end that is setting a goal for excellence in the first team. That way you can attract and retain better quality, you win more and lose less, and when those players who have developed join the first team, their value will be higher so the rewards are there for the money men, but the football side is also in better health, and the fans are also on side because they see the football purpose. A football club should have two motivations; having the best possible football team over the long-term and a great fan experience that sees fans fully connected to the club, not just customers to rinse.

Let the failures own it and don't drag the kids in to this season. Mass clearout needed on the pitch, first team staff and behind the scenes on the football side. Plenty of people there still associated with the failures over the last period. Same on the board side, people like Tim Greenwell slimed his way to the top, surrounded himself with yes people and has been involved in plenty of poor decisions over the past 7 years, and very much part of the swamp that needs to be drained.

Please, no more moving forwards! Same with that sign on St. Mary's under what we can call the style over substance marketing speak era said 'We keep moving forwards.' Yes, we know, you keep moving forwards and now we have nobody left who can score goals 😂 The real question is what will we do in the future now we have seemingly stopped moving forward. There are still many remnants of failed eras at Saints to be that positive, as well as the seemingly useless owners who were going to move us forward to the next level.

No, left ages ago as he couldn't do the better job he wanted to do because of the shite people above him 😎 They're still there.

I would have thought that many of the backroom teams are the same as under Les. Far too focussed on numbers than whether someone can play football or not. A moneyball approach that so impressed people in baseball just isn’t as applicable or useful to success in football. Cricket, perhaps, but not a more complex sport like football where there are far more variables.

That is really quite damning. Les and Ross just thought they were clever and better than others when they weren’t, but this lot are on another level of crap but obviously convinced they are excellent. Worryingly, the same department will be deciding which kids get into the academy and progress through it. Horrible period.

This has been a blind spot post Mitchell and, with his pulling power, Koeman

Seems to me that the hope for him was that he’d be like Sadio Mane, but other than the colour of his skin, what exactly is there to compare? It’s like saying because I’m white that I’m going to be like Brad Pitt. For me, Sulemana is an example of stat based scouting and what we seem to have prioritised above whether they’re any good at football or not. He’s reasonably quick on the ground so would’ve looked like he could work in an athletic system but stats don’t tell the full story of a player. Mark Cavendish has said he wouldn’t make it in the stat obsessed era that is now pro cycling because that cannot see someone’s ability to read situations, react to them, lead them or assess simple will to win. Our football scouting department needs to be rebalanced in favour of football people, not analysts and sport scientists who may never have kicked a ball.

This is an incredibly naive take.

The biggest two barriers to all this working well are the two organisations that hold the cards. Sports Republic are proving to be useless owners, and then Southampton Council and the people in positions of power or continuing influence (and this doesn’t mean politicians as they think they run the show but they aren’t in charge) have been cocking up this city for as long as I can remember. Both the football club and city should be far better but incompetence reigns supreme in these parts. Perhaps it’s something in the water. Perhaps two packs of jokers can a double negative and lead to a positive. Unlikely.

At least Spurs couldn’t be arsed in the second half. Was ugly, could’ve been a new record defeat if they’d tried. What makes it worse is that Spurs aren’t even that good.

No other to describe it really. The clowns, and every single person associated with the football side of this club, and in a decision making position needs to take a long hard look at themselves. You are an embarrassment to this football club, this city and because we are stuck with you, you need a major kick up the arse. You are all absolutely terrible at what you’re doing and clowns could do a better job. There is no pride out there, you’re all just too self satisfied to see it. As for Katrina Liebherr, you added considerably to your wealth by selling this football club first to the clown Gao and now to these muppets. It’s a shame that you continue to taint the memory of your father in this way. You all need to improve dramatically because you are terrible custodians of this football club.

It’s largely performative, and or total control-freakery and micro-management, which is empirically proven to be counterproductive. It’s like the person who does really long days and arrives early and leaves late: are they better at their work, or are they ineffective in the standard time period. Nobody does their best work if someone is telling them what to do all the time, it is actually very poor management, whether in football or any other walk of life.

The letter is currently in a misplaced post bag after being passed between administrators in the same corridor, and lost somewhere.

Our record towards the need of the season last year wasn't great. Obviously the play-offs went well but league-wise, once we got within touching distance of the top two, we dropped back. Teams had worked out how to win, or at least not lose against us. As others have written, we will lose most of our decent players when we go down so it won't be a given that we get promoted again under RM, or with the players we'll have left after this disastrous campaign.

Quite possibly the worst leadership ever of the club because they've had the money to spend, but this club is FUBAR.