Ralph Kreuger Interview

F**king ridiculous garbage.

We're going down

I'll kick off the selective quoting.... with this one....

DE: Who is responsible when fans are booing on a Saturday night at 5pm?

RK: That’s part of the game. 2017 has been a tough year.

DE: But after football everything follows. So who is accountable?

RK: That’s us. That’s first me. It begins there. So fans bring it on!

what an interesting read!

in short- we are a small club, our aim is top 10 of the PL, and of course where possible we strive for Europe.

What a load of rubbish, useless *****.

He is the master of saying a lot, without actually saying anything at all.

1. Mentions we are a small club quite a few times. Whilst that might be true in the context of the PL, he laboured that point a bit too much.

2. Way too much emphasis placed on the VVD "cloud" as an excuse for our position.

3. Pretty clear we won't try to keep the top players in future after this experience, going by what he said.

4. Very hypocritical re Pellegrino position and Saints not being a knee jerk decision club who let one person take the fall for when things don't go well...ahem, Puel

5. Described last season as "very good"...hmmm.

6. Would be better if Krueger stayed quiet and Reed spoke IMO.

I think he's just tied his own noose.

Desperate stuff that. Not a confident Ralph piece

I think a lot of that makes sense, but...

Pellegrino does seem to be their favourite lapdog

I hope we can achieve single digits.

Go sportsball.

A lot of denial and self-deception going on there from Ralph ‘honesty and accountability’ Krueger.

All too easy to blame VVD - yes it hasn’t been easy but it’s not why we find ourselves two points above the relegation zone. Can tell the journo’s patience was also wearing a bit thin.

Ralph's interviews are just about bearable when we are doing OK. They aren't so good when we are struggling.

More Waffle than a Waffle factory on Waffle Street.

Reading that won't be holding my breath for any imminent signings...VVD money invested over the next 2 windows. If I was being cynical I might suggest that some will be kept in reserve just in case we go down.

Still, financially we are succeeding and will continue to as long as we stay in the Premiership. Possibly the sum of our ambition.

We’re Championship bound.

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Reading that won't be holding my breath for any imminent signings...VVD money invested over the next 2 windows. If I was being cynical I might suggest that some will be keep in reserve just in case we go down.

Also kind of suggests that there wasn't a penny to spend without his sale, which on it's own is also a little concerning. It again kind of paints the light that our takeover was probably the most pointless takeover ever completed.

Regarding comments about Pellegrino, there's very little meat on the bones of why exactly the club are so confident that he will turn things around. What is it about how he is coaching and selecting the team that makes Ralph so happy to back him?

It reads like "everything is down to the Van Dijk situation, and hopefully it will all pan out alright from now on".

I think making Van Dijk stay and his reaction to that have obviously been a challenge for MP to deal with that he could have done without, but I think WAY too much emphasis is being given to that as an excuse for how the team have performed to date this season.

Also kind of suggests that there wasn't a penny to spend without his sale, which on it's own is also a little concerning. It again kind of paints the light that our takeover was probably the most pointless takeover ever completed.

Wasn't pointless for Ms Liebherr and Noah ....200m+ points I can think of

Not exactly inspiring reading is it?

A lot of denial and self-deception going on there from Ralph ‘honesty and accountability’ Krueger.

 

All too easy to blame VVD - yes it hasn’t been easy but it’s not why we find ourselves two points above the relegation zone. Can tell the journo’s patience was also wearing a bit thin.

"We believe we can climb back up the table with the group we have, we wouldn’t swap this team with any of our equals, " really??? Capt Mainwaring we're doomed...

F**king ridiculous garbage.

 

We're going down

I love your passion, pal.

Not exactly inspiring reading is it?

"We are a small club".

Excellent post-takeover mantra.

Regarding comments about Pellegrino, there's very little meat on the bones of why exactly the club are so confident that he will turn things around. What is it about how he is coaching and selecting the team that makes Ralph so happy to back him?

 

It reads like "everything is down to the Van Dijk situation, and hopefully it will all pan out alright from now on".

 

I think making Van Dijk stay and his reaction to that have obviously been a challenge for MP to deal with that he could have done without, but I think WAY too much emphasis is being given to that as an excuse for how the team have performed to date this season.

Exactly - VVD didn't force MP into his bizarre team selections or his negative tactics when we could really have gone after teams (Brighton Away). Suggests to me that he is in no immediate danger which is a concern. As well as we did to get a point at Old Trafford we are a defeat tonight away from possibly 17th. Hughes is under huge pressure at Stoke and they've actually won more games than us, unbelievable that it appears MP retains full backing.

Ralph’s getting plenty of letters

I've just read this and haven't looked at any reactions from anyone else yes. Some thoughts:

Christ he is difficult to listen to and read. If he ever writes a book I certainly will not be buying it.

One of the biggest load of corporate speak ******** I've ever had the misfortune to read. Why anyone thinks it's a good idea for a Canadian to talk to us in his highly irritating dialect that says precisely nothing I have absolutely no idea.

If we lose tonight I think he will see what people think of him and his plan. Fans will force the manager out if our poor form continues.

Fair play to the echo for actually trying to nail him down to an actual answer or two. They didn't succeed but they certainly tried.

He was asked about the attacking football that we were promised. Completely ignored it in his answer!!

"We are a small club".

 

Excellent post-takeover mantra.

Worrying thing for me is that he's decided to give this interview now ahead of what is probably our most important game of the season so far. For me it does three things:

a) indicates MP is safe even if we lose tonight

b) dampens everyone's expectations for the transfer window so that when a couple of "never heard ofs" come in, they can say that they always anticipated it being a difficult window, never intended to invest all the cash etc. etc.

c) started a new "we are a small club" narrative to take the light off RK and LR's mismanagement since finishing sixth and if it looks like we are in real trouble we will get even more "we are a small club and are fighting" style articles. Completely re-writing the messages that used to come out of Saints.

"We believe we can climb back up the table with the group we have, we wouldn’t swap this team with any of our equals, " really??? Capt Mainwaring we're doomed...

Contradicted a few lines later by... "The next step can be reached if we learn and if we begin right now in this transfer window".

Love you Ralph.

1. Mentions we are a small club quite a few times. Whilst that might be true in the context of the PL, he laboured that point a bit too much.

 

2. Way too much emphasis placed on the VVD "cloud" as an excuse for our position.

 

3. Pretty clear we won't try to keep the top players in future after this experience, going by what he said.

 

4. Very hypocritical re Pellegrino position and Saints not being a knee jerk decision club who let one person take the fall for when things don't go well...ahem, Puel

 

5. Described last season as "very good"...hmmm.

 

6. Would be better if Krueger stayed quiet and Reed spoke IMO.

Worrying thing for me is that he's decided to give this interview now ahead of what is probably our most important game of the season so far. For me it does three things:

 

a) indicates MP is safe even if we lose tonight

b) dampens everyone's expectations for the transfer window so that when a couple of "never heard ofs" come in, they can say that they always anticipated it being a difficult window, never intended to invest all the cash etc. etc.

c) started a new "we are a small club" narrative to take the light off RK and LR's mismanagement since finishing sixth and if it looks like we are in real trouble we will get even more "we are a small club and are fighting" style articles. Completely re-writing the messages that used to come out of Saints.

To be fair, the ‘small club’ comment was largely made in reference and relation to Liverpool which in that context is true.

https://audioboom.com/posts/6575574-interview-southampton-chairman-ralph-krueger-backs-mauricio-pellegrino-and-tells-adamblackmore-the-vvd-saga-was-a-cloud-hanging-over-saintsfc-for-six-months

The pause when Blackmore says we've gone backwards since Ronald left is golden.

A lot of denial and self-deception going on there from Ralph ‘honesty and accountability’ Krueger.

 

All too easy to blame VVD - yes it hasn’t been easy but it’s not why we find ourselves two points above the relegation zone. Can tell the journo’s patience was also wearing a bit thin.

I don't think it's self deception- he's clearly a very intelligent guy. He knows exactly what is going on and has deliberately chosen the tactic of waffling without answering any question. Yes we may be a small club and the premier league may be hard but the fact is we have performed vastly better in the past few season in similar conditions.

Also hugely hypocritical saying they don't get hung up on single events like the cup final or league position when discussing puels sacking and then using those focusing on those two events as evidence that we had a good season last year! He's also incredibly patronising, I'd genuinely rather hear from les or not hear from anyone if we are going to get something like that.

Completely agree - in a bizarre interview the point re 8th and a Cup Final being used as a positive for how we haven't gone downhill was utterly ridiculous. Maybe there was more behind Puel's sacking than we first thought, the comment about "Mauricio fully buying into the way we do things" says to me that he is far happier being dictated to by the management than Puel was (probably adds more credence to the theory that he was asked to change his ways and refused).

Regarding comments about Pellegrino, there's very little meat on the bones of why exactly the club are so confident that he will turn things around. What is it about how he is coaching and selecting the team that makes Ralph so happy to back him?

 

It reads like "everything is down to the Van Dijk situation, and hopefully it will all pan out alright from now on".

 

I think making Van Dijk stay and his reaction to that have obviously been a challenge for MP to deal with that he could have done without, but I think WAY too much emphasis is being given to that as an excuse for how the team have performed to date this season.

Yeah it's a little concerning. Of course some elements of management would have been affected by van Dijk if he was being deliberately negative all the time, but there are quite a lot of things about Pellegrino that can't be explained by the 'cloud'.

Also kind of suggests that there wasn't a penny to spend without his sale, which on it's own is also a little concerning. It again kind of paints the light that our takeover was probably the most pointless takeover ever completed.

If my cynicism was to extend further I might suggest MP's position was secure because we don't want to pay him off. That plus the cost of hiring someone new.

Completely agree - in a bizarre interview the point re 8th and a Cup Final being used as a positive for how we haven't gone downhill was utterly ridiculous. Maybe there was more behind Puel's sacking than we first thought, the comment about "Mauricio fully buying into the way we do things" says to me that he is far happier being dictated to by the management than Puel was (probably adds more credence to the theory that he was asked to change his ways and refused).

What do you expect him to say? The interview was alright, just a PR exercise to keep all the wallies that moan about not hearing from the people running the club happy.

Do have to chuckle about our supporters writing him letters

Nice guy, means well and his use of language probably goes down well in the US of A but sounds very annoying to us. It's good to know someone is there but as always actions speak louder than words.

What do you expect him to say? The interview was alright, just a PR exercise to keep all the wallies that moan about not hearing from the people running the club happy.

 

Do have to chuckle about our supporters writing him letters

This exactly and tbh it would not matter what he said as some would be all over it anyway....

Could have fooled me about the coaching which appears to be crap....

This exactly and tbh it would not matter what he said as some would be all over it anyway....

Do you agree about Pellegrino then?

He is the master of saying a lot, without actually saying anything at all.

That would be my view too. Sorry, NTA, if you think its 'an interesting read'. IMHO it's a turgid read. All talk about mood and positivity and moving forward. He talks about negativity over the last six months but I couldn't decide if he meant from the sacking of Puel, or from the sulk of VVD. Only one thing is clear though - MP will be staying, no matter what, to the end of this season.

Pellegrino is a lucky man to have this level of support. I’d be surprised if the VVD decision led to some of his more bizarre team selections but the club seems to be deploying it as some kind of one size fits all excuse system.

I’m used to talking to Canadians so the language just sounds like corporate talk to me.

What a load of ********

What do you expect him to say? The interview was alright, just a PR exercise to keep all the wallies that moan about not hearing from the people running the club happy.

 

Do have to chuckle about our supporters writing him letters

I just don't see how a member of SFC senior management can credibly say that, after a decision was made to remove the manager, we had a good season last year. Just makes them look a bit silly.

What do you expect him to say? The interview was alright, just a PR exercise to keep all the wallies that moan about not hearing from the people running the club happy.

 

Do have to chuckle about our supporters writing him letters [emoji38]

'Small club, small club, small club, small club'

Alright mate, we get we're not Real Madrid but you don't need to rub it in...

This is meant as a positive PR spin - however in fact it is a load of nonsense - first phase, strategy, revisiting.... Middle management rubbish.

Just come out and say, we are where we are, it isn't good enough, we're looking to make steps to improve the league performance, without giving too much away, they are the following...

The VVD situation was not good for the club, i'm sure that is the case but to blame us being in the position we're in because of VVD is extremely hard to believe. So many games this season we've been drawing and had opportunities to score but just not taken our chances. Do you think Shane Long is thinking about VVD when he is one on one with a keeper? I don't think so.

I could go on for hours but ultimately, we've not been good enough and sometimes it really is as simple as that. Invest some of the VVD money, buy in the key areas that even fair weather Saints know is essential and let's all try and be positive for the second half of the season.

Back to work I suppose.

"Mauricio, you've taken some criticism this season because of your turgid style of play"

"it was the vvd situation"

"you've also had some flack for continually changing the team so there's little consistency"

"it was the vvd situation"

"but what about the lack of goals and games where players have appeared to give up?"

"vvd"

"OK but how can you explain players like Forster, Romeu and JWP who have regressed even from the average performances of last season? Shane Long hasn't scored in almost an entire calendar year. Gabbiadini has got much worse, Bertrand has put in half hearted performances, Tadic has been largely anonymous for long periods."

"I'll just record myself saying the Virgil Van Dijk situation and leave it playing on a loop for you to save my voice"

What a load of c*ap.

Imagine this has been put out ahead of tonight's game to warn fans not to expect a sacking if we lose. Which is rather depressing.