Daft Kerplunk

Oh man, regardless of the merits of the leadership discussion, saying football means more here than in a country like Germany is quite mad. The country is football bonkers, they have bigger stadiums than us, they fill them up, they’re far noisier inside than us, and there’s the small matter of them winning a fair few more world cups than us. For my money, a leader, or leaders can come from anywhere. They lead by example, they encourage, they get on people who aren’t performing to keep them at a higher level, they get the best out of others, not make them worse. These people are not exclusively of these islands, and it’s easy to see that we don’t have any more than any other nation.

Well, plenty has been spent in improving hospitality but that’s what the board understands. The person responsible for improving this isn’t a football people so he don’t really know what to do about the rest of the ground. That’s why they need to carry out loads of surveys. Zero instinct. But regardless, St. Mary’s is a very basic stadium, poor kiosks and set up for food and drink. But worst of all is just how quiet we as fans have become. In the chapel you get looked at strangely if you try and start a song, and few people join in. Is it because it’s tourist fans? Are we scared to show any enthusiasm now? Whatever it means, its boring going to games and with often unreliable football effort from the players, and a tactically stupid manager (will this change with better coaching staff advising him? Hopefully so) the football doesn’t help.

For those worried about Kelvin, I’m sure the club will find a role for him if they still want him around to make people laff

About time. Time to raise the quality far higher

For his career, he should definitely move. We are stagnant and going to find it difficult to move forward this summer unless we show something that nobody really sees coming, or believes will happen. Only reason he will stay is that he is really settled in the area and knows he is the chosen one here.

The problem with the club’s approach is that it impacts the overall mentality of the players and, and the fans. Bringing in talented youngsters is an absolutely fine approach but you need more of them because they will get knocks, go through patches of bad form and have their head turned easily. They also need bloody good coaching, and some competent experienced pros alongside them when on the pitch to help them through when things get tough. There are two things there that can be addressed. Better coaching. Regardless of whether Ralph stays or not, the coaches are absolutely not good enough if the mission is to develop players with high resale value. And that’s not just a fans view, but coaches too. If Ralph wants yes men then he just needs to be told that for the Southampton way to work, exceptional coaches need to be part of the back room staff. Otherwise it’s a waste of time. Signing experienced players would truly help the young players (probably the manager too) and therefore the resale value has to overlooked, and the value of the player’s experience to help development included as part of the equation that looks to raise money. Any young player in this team looks lost when things don’t go well and the senior players we have look the same too and just don’t have what it takes to lead. The current model overlooks the importance of mentoring and quality input, as well as playing experience in general. We are definitely in danger of going down next season if nothing is done to stop the decline, and one look at our playing and coaching staff shows that we will struggle. If the club really sees it’s future only as somewhere to attract and develop talent for maximum resale, staying in the league with some quality behind the scenes and on the pitch means this might be done in the Premier League and that’s the only place the model really works. Get it wrong again, and we are screwed.

Last goal for saints?

We’re shit, and we know we are. Just a shame the board is absolutely clueless and can’t see it.

Big big summer ahead for the new owners. The honeymoon should now be over. It’s not just about signing players, it about totally changing the culture of a club that has been high on its own supply for too long. Semmens owned a marketing agency so is highly competent at spin and making people believe stuff about how brilliant we are, but surely most people can see that things are not remotely right at the football club. Fans piling out before a lap of appreciation says more than saying we’ve got a lovely plan in a shiny video. Fans can see through the bullshit the club’s marketers put out and Sports Republic need to be challenging every single area bar the foundation on what they’re doing to be at the highest level of football, and make changes. The rot is always at the top, the leaders at this football club have been pretty much the same clique since Koeman left and that has been a time of slow decline, whatever a digital marketing award here and there says. If Sports Republic don’t act to stop the rot, and make big changes and provide some investment, we will know their level of commitment is the same as the last owner. Let’s hope we haven’t been duped again…

Completely sold out apparently. Guess the rain puts our fans off

3/4 decent players. Intriguing approach

It wasn’t likely that Chelsea would lose to Leeds. And so it goes to form. We will probably end up losing our last two games but the form of others will mean we will might end up 15th. A season spent mostly in the loo with a thankfully good period again that has saved us from losing our premier league status.

Was playing well, and key to the team’s performance. Did Ralph fall out with him too?

Mentality at the club is clearly all wrong and Sports Direct Republic need to make some big changes in the summer. Keeping things as they are is clearly going to be a bullshit approach.

Whoops

Make no mistake, that was rubbish. It will continue. Streaky as bacon.

Martin Semmens and the board members like Ralph because he stays at his desk late. Is that enough? Is it fuck.

I think I’ve been a Saints fan too long, and know too much about how the club works to have anything but low expectations 😄

Semmens has said the new owners aren’t super wealthy so this is the first step in managing the fan expectations. Not that any of the realists expected anything different

As long as we don’t go down, the senior managers at the club won’t really care that Ralph is as inconsistent as lumpy custard. They still get their nice bonuses, the Premier League club on their CV and no need to be anything other than the very ordinary to achieve the reflected glory, and wedge. How the new ownership reacts, and whether they provide a war chest this summer will let us know how committed they are to us getting better.

The reality is, this shit show doesn’t matter. As long as we are in the premier league making the TV money, then the people in charge at this football club couldn’t care less. Tv money has made a mockery of good management because the money is always there as long as you’re somewhere above relegation crap. This is where comparisons with being run like a business fails. We mugs always turn out regardless and as long as there is £100m plus from TV deals, the club can be noddy as fuck.

Like many believers of conspiracy theory, he lacks the intelligence to critique the material he absorbs just because it goes against the norm. Conspiracy theories may occasionally have a grain of truth, but they are also bait for the naive. He is showing the same idiocy of many, so instead of acknowledging that he also might be wrong, he just digs a bigger hole. He was admired and idolised for his left foot, right foot and forehead, not the gray matter behind it. Ignore.

I know he isn’t a new recruit, but I also know that there are people at the academy have zero respect for him being promoted to this role. He might be a lovely bloke but we aren’t attracting the best talent to run the show.

The plan was in place prior to the purchase as this role was being recruited before. Surprising, although also not surprising that a cricket coach is now heading up a key football department. Seems the academy powers still have something against people with a football background 🤔

It’s a win for managing expectations, and Semmens has exceeded expectations on this front. Fortunately Saints fans are not that ambitious for their club and have no particular expectations other than being reasonably entertained. The approach of the club is aligned with fans, and indeed an average city, so it’s a great fit. As for the point about JWP, we should let him go to win something, and fans shouldn’t get upset because it’s the Southampton way. Defectors, we salute you.