Daft Kerplunk

I take it you’re joking and think it’s loud. It’s actually really quiet and don’t get me started on the landfill indie music currently popular on the playlist 🤦‍♂️

It’s encouraging at this stage and their comment about the previous lot saying that things would get better shows how complacent they actually were. I know there are Martin Semmens et al fan boys on here but ask people who work for the club whether they’re sad to see the majority of the previous regime go and they’ll likely tell you they were happy the are gone because of their crap approach. They weren’t very good and the signs from what SR are saying to me is that they know now that they shouldn’t have put so much belief in them, but that was Semmens and Co always wanted, hands off ownership to let them stay on the gravy train. Anyway, there is reason to be optimistic from these reports. The Jones error will no doubt be one they learn from, and that it needs to be more than just stats. Proof as always will be in the pudding though but with any luck, we will be up in the next few years. Although the Championship will be fun and being also-rans/relegation fodder in the Prem is dogshit 🤣

The openness from the club was only ever going to be present during more positive times. Same as it ever was.

Gutted that JWP will leave. Had we actually constructed a decent side that played to his, and indeed other players strengths then things could’ve been different. The way Selles played most of his games meant that we couldn’t win free kicks in advance positions to allow him to break Beckham’s record whilst in a Saints shirt. Sad times but good luck to him, and hope he goes to a club that will give him an opportunity to play with better players, or players who are actually ready for the Premier League.

A spirited and enjoyable last game but where has that vigour been all season! New era ahead. Better to end on some sort of high (apart from the defending) and have something to look forward to next season. Also, FFS Saints, can you find a way to stop non Saints fans getting seats. Not an exaggeration to say there were hundreds of people sat down in the itchen chapel corner when we scored the goal that took us 4-2 up. Absolute disgrace and thankfully there was no edge to the game or anything to play for. If you’re going to let so many people buy tickets without some checking system, or getting people to buy multiple tickets for the lower end teams to get a ticket for a big club, be the noddy club you want us to be and have a neutral section so we saints fans don’t have to be surrounded by opposition fans like it’s a fucking rugby game!

Totally, and that is why Martin saying everything would be fine was a shit thing to say. He knew it wouldn’t be because it couldn’t possibly be okay. Whilst Rasmus has been undeniably bad so far, it’s the previous regime who took on too many people. Like has been said previously, nobody on here would believe the size of our marketing and legal/risk teams, both classic internal empire building from David Thomas and Tim Greenwell. From what I know they managed to do less work with more people but that’s layers of unnecessary management for you. And on the football side, that was rampant too. Throughout the club, jobs have been created so other people could report what jobs were being done to people looking at the reports then those people could present to the board 🤣

Surprised nobody has mentioned that the club has told employees they will be cutting back jobs with redundancies, but that the Martin Semmens said there wouldn’t be as everything was fine even if we went down. Hopefully everyone realised that Martin’s words needed to be taken with a pinch of salt and moved on if they were thinking the writing was on the wall.

Rolf has been Kat’s advisor and a very important figure behind the scenes since before the sale to Gao. Important in getting a fantastic financial deal for Kat. Guessing his role will be to maximise her return from any future sale, as well as protecting the minute legacy of her father that is left. No Tim Greenwell listed on the board so perhaps he will be next to get the kick…although from what I’ve heard, I’m sure he will be nicely positioned to do well in spite of Southampton FC given that he’s always been in it purely for himself.

Absolutely will be many of them. All the 'scousers' from Hampshire giving it large and mocking Saints for being relegated will go down well.

Just as I stayed through the 0-9 against Leicester, I will be there for this. The kids wanted to go to see us in the Premier League for what could easily be a long time too. Expectations are as they have been for some time. But at least the smug bastards in the directors box, and all their useless cronies will have a nice free lunch and drinks on the money that we daft pricks give them.

Needs to happen. Club needs a total re-fresh. It'll be interesting to see how far down it goes.

Don’t be surprised if the new signing is Vingergaard. He’s got a great engine 😎

Dear Sports Republic, here is your strategy: Win football matches playing entertaining football as much as possible. Some matches may require neutralising tactics but to win is always the first objective. To achieve this, we will sign or develop players who can help us achieve this outcome. Coaches, players and staff will understand that winning matches in an entertaining fashion is the priority for football departments. We will represent the city of Southampton positively with our step of play and how we interact with our fans, and commercial partners. The first answer to community and commercial activity should be yes and how do we make it work. We will be a can-do organisation that has an emphasis on action.

Whisper it but it’s because the academy isn’t as good as it used to be.

Having thought about it, perhaps this should be the time to just let the youngsters enjoy the experience of no expectations and show people what they’re capable of. Drop all the shit players who are leaving, although that would leave less options I guess! However, Selles will still be trying to show that he’s up to the job so expect two banks of five to stop us conceding early, before conceding and getting absolutely tonked. Silver lining would be Brighton being closer to finishing above Spurs in the table.

Ankerson, get that deal done son 👍

Ralph was averaging less than a point a game before he was sacked. That’s more than flirting with relegation. Ralph’s last 38 games with us saw us get 37 points, but that includes a spell that effectively ended after 12 games on 25th February with a win against Norwich. After that, 26 matches with 4 wins and 5 draws. Ralph was good for us for awhile and our pathetic board didn’t help him but something had gone wrong and at the point he was rightfully let go, the trajectory of Ralph’s tenure was going in one direction only. What happened after was a continuation of a club that was befuddled yet arrogant.

You can’t have separate factions in a successful organisation, and SR and the Semmens and old school people are clearly at loggerheads. It’ll need a complete clear out for SR to succeed. Whether they are right or not will take proof. But it’s clear Semmens and the rest, including some of the old school at the training ground, need to go to allow the club to be freshened up.

And now, we finally read what had been alluded to for awhile. We are not a well run club, and we have been relegated as a result of it. The momentum has been poor for years and there’s every chance we will be down for a good while yet. I’d like to avoid the Liverpool match but I have a feeling that might be our last premier league game for a good few years. We deserve relegation as a club. And as a fan base who unquestioningly accept the bullshit of sheisters like Semmens and Ankerson, we probably deserve it to.

Silver lining might be that clowns like Semmens, Greenwell etc. will also be gone. Absolute clean sweep of leadership is needed, including those the layer down (another layer of directors and a second tier senior management team - no good organisation has two!) who are as useless as those at the top. Clear the decks. Reduce the PowerPoint presentations that lead nowhere, be a club who wants to win.

That Fulham performance was fantastic, although the one where we beat them 0-3 at theirs with 3 brilliant goals by Lallana, Lambert and Jay-Rod stands out too. Agree with most of this. Other than Ralph crying, which was embarrassing for us; made it look like we were small time. Which we are of course.

Oof, that is damning. Well-run they said. Cripes.

If that caused our numerous problems, then it sits just behind blaming Che for our relegation because he alone is quite obviously why we are getting relegated 😂 The problems are quite numerous. Nothing to it. File under coincidence, or the bin.

Something like: We are the biggest club in a region of over 1 million people. We are going back to representing our fans by delivering competitive football teams. Competitive players who want to succeed are welcomed. If you outperform expectations, a bigger club might approach us to sign you and we will listen to offers that value you correctly. If you perform to expectations, you’ll become an important player for this club, and likely a hero to fans. We won’t accept players who don’t want to win. You’ll be loaned out. Our mission as a football club is to win as many matches as possible. If we as a club do well, you’ll do well too.

In 2005, we were a football club. I was gutted we went down. Today, we are a low-end asset management company that is also a social media content creator. The board treats ‘customers’ like idiots and apart from the foundation, it is disconnected from the community it traditionally represents. From Kat’s sale to Gao to take us to the next level, to Sports Republic’s disastrous first full season, we have been run horrifically. Heads must roll. When and if we go back to being a football club, it might become more meaningful.