Anyone else comfortable with relegation?

don't get me wrong, going down will be a failure on an epic proportion and should never happen with his squad in a terrible year for the bottom 10 of the league.

 

But when it is done (as Pellegrino is by far the worst manager in the league) life goes on.

 

Just hope MP is fired and never steps foot near SMS again along with the comical Reed and Ralph.

Edited 31 January, 2018 by Batman

The only upside of relegation will be a complete clear-out of all those who have so catastrophically believed their own press over the last 2 years and whose complacency has led to this turn of events.

 

Hopefully Gao will then sell us and with a bit of luck in finding the right new owner the process of renewal will begin again.

 

Was totally avoidable, however...

No issue with me. The feel good factor is there whatever the league and I'm falling out of love with the hype of the Prem. A mate follows Aldershot home and away most games and doesn't yearn for Premier League football. The players don't care about the club, the owner doesn't either so it's just us fans that really care. More games, less messing around re KO's and cheaper tickets is fine by me if it means I go to a game thinking we may get a result or at least be competitive.

I have no problem with it as it’s a great feeling winning loads of games in that league.

My biggest problem is I know the reason why we are going down and yet the board keep backing him.

No won’t be happy. We were very lucky to come back up so soon - yes it was a good laugh winning all those games 3-1 in league 1 and being the big cheese but look at say Forest, traditionally a much bigger and more successful club than us, I think they got relegated in the ‘90s and they still haven’t managed a re-promotion to the PL as Rupert Lowe would say! If we go down it will be a disaster. We could be out of the top flight for a very long time.

 

So Les get the cheque book and get another 2 players in today! Also want rid of MP2 but unless it comes out that he was a Nazi war criminal in a former life or he is related to Fred West it ain’t going to happen!

It would be disastrous. Coventry City-sequel, IMO, especially with who is owning us.

I think relegation has been contemplated by the black box and Les and others are busy in identifying suitable championship players for the next year and evaluating the implications of the fire sales of most of our core players to the finance of the Company. We may not be able to bounce back to Premier League like Newcastle in a year after. However, everything will be under control and Pellegrino will stick with us as he is under a contract.

Would be a disaster and naive to think otherwise

Whether its a disaster or not depends on how the club approach it spend money, buy up the championships top scorer get a manager who knows what he is doing in that league and we have enough to bounce back just like west Ham and Newcastle have done.

 

Last time we went down we flogged everything not nailed down and spent 90k on Ricardo Fuller follow that pattern and it will be a disaster.

We’d very easily go straight back up again. The resulting momentum would see us win back to back league titles. This is all part of the ingenious plan to bring Champions League football to St Mary’s.

Relegation doesn’t worry me as a supporter of SFC because I’d be a supporter regardless. However, going down would be a major blow on a sporting level.

It is what it is. It won't be good for the club but The Premiership has become something horrible. Sanchez on £400k a week when Hartlepool need £200k to survive and Chester need £50k for similar reasons. There's something seriously wrong with the game!

Relegation doesn’t worry me as a supporter of SFC because I’d be a supporter regardless. However, going down would be a major blow on a sporting level.

 

 

Exactly going down would hurt but by the start of next season I'd be over it and looking forward to the new season its not like I'm going to give up going.

Would be a disaster and naive to think otherwise

 

It really would be a disaster....which could easily have been avoided; even now with decisive action - which probably won't happen.

If We do get relegated, more than anything else I'll be looking forward to see how the club pr machine spins it. Also interesting to see if we bin off Les and Co. I can't imagine Ralph will be having much success selling the merits of a championship club to China...

It is what it is. It won't be good for the club but The Premiership has become something horrible. Sanchez on £400k a week when Hartlepool need £200k to survive and Chester need £50k for similar reasons. There's something seriously wrong with the game!

 

 

It's mad to think we were playing Hartlepool back in league one and they are now struggling to survive in non league while we are in PL.

How the can a fan be comfortable with relegation ffs

 

Massive no for me...

Stupid question.

Ash, disagree that it is a stupid question. I think it depends how you view football as a whole. Me, I have an ambivalence that is ever growing. Therefore not bothered too much, especially as we have no chance of winning the PL. If you have no chance of winning it, what really is the point of being in it?

 

However, I get it if you think football is the be all and end all. Then I am sure that relegation will be a disaster.

 

I am rather hoping that the football bubble completely collapses.

How the can a fan be comfortable with relegation ffs

 

Massive no for me...

Because for many people, supporting saints is about having a few beers with your mates and going round the country to watch a bit of football. I can understand that attitude even if I don't entirely agree. I'd like to see us stay up like anyone else but some of the best times supporting saints have been in the championship. Had some absolutely amazing away games that were less corporate and less designed for the modern football fan and thus much more enjoyable.

 

Milwall, forest, Bristol rovers, Coventry, Birmingham, Wigan to name a few.

Edited 31 January, 2018 by hypochondriac

Because for many people, supporting saints is about having a few beers with your mates and going round the country to watch a bit of football. I can understand that attitude even if I don't entirely agree. I'd like to see us stay up like anyone else but some of the best times supporting saints have been in the championship. Had some absolutely amazing away games that were less corporate and less designed for the modern football fan and thus much more enjoyable.

 

Milwall, forest, Bristol rovers, Birmingham, Wigan to name a few.

 

I agree, i too had some fantastic times in our recent time in the lower leagues and the promotion season too

the premier league was epic but not so convinced it will be so enjoyable this time if we go down

Edited 31 January, 2018 by ALWAYS_SFC

Always, it's more fun on the way up, than the way down.

I have no problem with it as it’s a great feeling winning loads of games in that league.

My biggest problem is I know the reason why we are going down and yet the board keep backing him.

 

Agreed, it’s more the obvious cause and the obstinate and bizarre refusal to do anything about him than the possible/likely result. Other teams with weaker squads have acted and benefitted from those actions, WTF haven’t we?

In just a few days we'll have a better idea of what this season holds. I'm feeling pessimistic in that I'm not sure the squad has the stomach for a relegation fight.

 

Should relegation happen it'll depend on the fallout. It would be the height of incompetence to get relegated with this squad and I suspect things would get pretty nasty. As it is, should Saints survive in the Premiership, there are a lot of questions to answer.

Ash, disagree that it is a stupid question. I think it depends how you view football as a whole. Me, I have an ambivalence that is ever growing. Therefore not bothered too much, especially as we have no chance of winning the PL. If you have no chance of winning it, what really is the point of being in it?

 

However, I get it if you think football is the be all and end all. Then I am sure that relegation will be a disaster.

 

I am rather hoping that the football bubble completely collapses.

I'm happy with the football bubble bursting because it is ridiculous but not to the detriment of us.

Edited 31 January, 2018 by Saint_Ash

I agree, i too had some fantastic times in our recent time in the lower leagues and the promotion season to

the premier league was epic but not so convinced it will be so enjoyable this time if we go down

I had an enjoyable time even when we were bumbling around near the bottom. The last day escape against Sheffield United was a brilliant occasion. Obviously its good to see saints going on epic runs of wins but equally good is wheb you're not playing that great and you suddenly get some great performances to give you a bit of hope like 6-1 or whatever it was away to wolves. Edited 31 January, 2018 by hypochondriac

If you are comfortable with it then you’re weird.

Absolutely not comfortable and would be completely embarrassing given we sacked puel thinking we were better than what he brought us.

 

This time round it would be self-inflicted relegation, totally avoidable and down to the sheer negligence and hubris of the arrogant individuals that run our club.

Gao will immediately sell off the crown jewels and then get out in profit. Perhaps the grand plan all along. We would stay in the Championship (just) the first year and then plod along. All this stuff about winning loads of games shows the arrogance that got us here in the first place (not beating the lower teams). Would be disaster.

Disaster, especially for all those staff members who will be made redundant. Its not just our entertainment.

The clubcould go into freefallas we don't know how the debt is stacked up. Any quality players will lave and like last time we will struggle, as we haven't got the balls for a fight.

Our squad isn't one for fighting against the Championship teams who are in your faces.

Tonight is one of the biggest matches in our recent history, fail to win and we will be the only team in the bottom 6who have not had a lift. All the rest apart from Huddersfield seem to have found some form.

So many people have forgotten how it was when we were relegated last time. You are remembering our promotion season in the championship, not the relegation seasons. The football got worse, not better. We didn't clear out the under performers. They were on long overpaid contracts, we lost the few good players we had. We started buying in more journeymen and uninspiring average players.

The only positives that I can see would be that hopefully Ralph Krueger, Les Reed and Mauricio Pelligrino would go - and take their delusions with them - and we might end up with new owners. I have no real confidence in whatever it is Gao is up to or thinks he is doing with the club. And no confidence in the Southampton Way or the Black Box mythology.

 

Even if we survive this season its difficult to see it being much different next season unless something fundamentally changes at the club.

 

Relegation from the Premier League was self-inflicted last time - and pretty much for the same reasons - the wrong managerial appointments and a profits before players approach.

 

Hopefully relegation would be different to last time as the parachute payments are a lot bigger so we would have the money to rebuild the squad after all of our 'star' players were sold off. Hopefully we could build on the younger players coming through (Reed, Gallagher, Targett, McQueen, Sims, Hesketh, Stephens) with good Championship/League 1 players and stabilise as a Championship club rather than plummet thorough the leagues like last time.

 

I'd take that with cheaper tickets, winning more games, the odd cup run and occasionally a run at promotion or the play-offs. Bur don't get me wrong I'd rather we'd built on being the best of the rest in the Premier League - but Reed and Co have failed miserably to do that.

 

But it won't be Liverpool buying our star players in the future - it will be the smaller clubs in the Premier League like Huddersfield, Watford and Brighton. We'll have to get used to that - but it will hurt.

So many people have forgotten how it was when we were relegated last time. You are remembering our promotion season in the championship, not the relegation seasons. The football got worse, not better. We didn't clear out the under performers. They were on long overpaid contracts, we lost the few good players we had. We started buying in more journeymen and uninspiring average players.

 

this - it was dreadful until we got Marcus, Cortese and Pardew then Adkins. We were lucky to be able to buy Ricky and be the biggest spenders in League 1

With the current leadership model and personnel, I’m sh1tting it. Same morons, same mistakes, less wiggle room.

I just know that our useless manager will soon put Gabby, Promes, Boufal, Lemina and Carrillo on the sub bench as he can’t work out how to use them.

Almost 90m worth of talent there

How the can a fan be comfortable with relegation ffs

 

Massive no for me...

 

Spot on mate

So many people have forgotten how it was when we were relegated last time. You are remembering our promotion season in the championship, not the relegation seasons. The football got worse, not better. We didn't clear out the under performers. They were on long overpaid contracts, we lost the few good players we had. We started buying in more journeymen and uninspiring average players.

 

 

It's not the same situation this time though is it? We don't have a mortgage on SMS to service for a start. We have a decent number of youngsters that could do a job in the champ more so than last time.

 

If we sell off all our best players and replace them with 90k of replacement ,like last time, then we will of course be ****ed.

this - it was dreadful until we got Marcus, Cortese and Pardew then Adkins. We were lucky to be able to buy Ricky and be the biggest spenders in League 1

As someone pointed out a couple of years ago, under the current fair play money rules that now exist in the Football League. If today was the day Markus walked into the club sat in league one, we would not have been able to rise back to the top in the style and speed that we did due to the spending restrictions now in place.

Newcastle (and probably Burnley) was an anomaly as they seemed to manage to keep some good players in their squad after relegation, which enabled them to bounce back, look at so many others who have dropped through the trap door they have languished in mid table or lower ever since.

 

Anyone thinking it will be a cake walk should the worse happen ain't living in the real world of football.

I'm not comfortable with it either, but what will be will be. The club will only have themselves to blame, and us mugs will be back next year regardless.....either looking forward to potential mid-table mediocrity in the PL or a promotion push. Either way, we'll plenty to discuss on here.

It's mad to think we were playing Hartlepool back in league one and they are now struggling to survive in non league while we are in PL.

 

Was at Eastleigh on the weekend where they were playing Hartlepool in a league game after opening the next stage of there ground developement. They did a collection to help them out. I think they were in the southern league when we played hartlepool in the league!

 

So i would say never welcome relegation, you never know where it will end up

As someone pointed out a couple of years ago, under the current fair play money rules that now exist in the Football League. If today was the day Markus walked into the club sat in league one, we would not have been able to rise back to the top in the style and speed that we did due to the spending restrictions now in place.

Newcastle (and probably Burnley) was an anomaly as they seemed to manage to keep some good players in their squad after relegation, which enabled them to bounce back, look at so many others who have dropped through the trap door they have languished in mid table or lower ever since.

 

Anyone thinking it will be a cake walk should the worse happen ain't living in the real world of football.

Current fair play rules...If City get Mahrez they will have spent 330m this season!!!!

 

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It's not the same situation this time though is it? We don't have a mortgage on SMS to service for a start. We have a decent number of youngsters that could do a job in the champ more so than last time.

 

If we sell off all our best players and replace them with 90k of replacement ,like last time, then we will of course be ****ed.

 

Last time when we had Bale, Walcott, Surman, Mills, Cranie, Dyer etc coming through? We also thought players like White, McGoldrick, Best, Blackstock, Gillett, James, Thomson etc were going to succeed, but it didn't really work out that way. Our next generation back then was considered much more promising than we have now.

As someone pointed out a couple of years ago, under the current fair play money rules that now exist in the Football League. If today was the day Markus walked into the club sat in league one, we would not have been able to rise back to the top in the style and speed that we did due to the spending restrictions now in place.

Newcastle (and probably Burnley) was an anomaly as they seemed to manage to keep some good players in their squad after relegation, which enabled them to bounce back, look at so many others who have dropped through the trap door they have languished in mid table or lower ever since.

 

Anyone thinking it will be a cake walk should the worse happen ain't living in the real world of football.

 

True about FFP, but you could do a Wolves and gamble to avoid it.

 

Certainly don't see us spending much down there anyway.

As someone pointed out a couple of years ago, under the current fair play money rules that now exist in the Football League. If today was the day Markus walked into the club sat in league one, we would not have been able to rise back to the top in the style and speed that we did due to the spending restrictions now in place.

Newcastle (and probably Burnley) was an anomaly as they seemed to manage to keep some good players in their squad after relegation, which enabled them to bounce back, look at so many others who have dropped through the trap door they have languished in mid table or lower ever since.

 

Anyone thinking it will be a cake walk should the worse happen ain't living in the real world of football.

 

 

Not sure the FFP league rules would be overly bad for us.

 

http://www.financialfairplay.co.uk/financial-fair-play-explained.php

Last time when we had Bale, Walcott, Surman, Mills, Cranie, Dyer etc coming through? We also thought players like White, McGoldrick, Best, Blackstock, Gillett, James, Thomson etc were going to succeed, but it didn't really work out that way. Our next generation back then was considered much more promising than we have now.

 

 

How many of them had previous loan experience in the lower leagues though.

 

We will have the likes of Gallagher, Reed, Targett, McQueen, Olufela Olemola, Stephens and Sims who all have lower league/PL or big game experience. They could certainly do a job in the championship.

 

Last time round we just had Redknapp hanging our youth out to dry to prove a point.

Always, it's more fun on the way up, than the way down.

 

Yes but will we find ourselves on the way up again, that is my point.... our promotion season to the PL was unbelievable, not dropping out of top 2 all season...

The Championship is the hardest league in the world to get out of. I'd rather not.

Really think under the ownership we'd be up the financial **** creek without the PL money so no, I'm not comfortable with relegation.

Newcastle managed it quickly despite being rubbish. Good management helps.

 

They had an exceptional manager for that league. We had exceptional momentum (thanks to the positive atmosphere and tight knit squad). We'll have neither next time.

 

Not to mention the financial **** we'll be in!

I’m comfortable with watching championship footy but If we go down we won’t be coming back up not with the unambitious, uninspiring, cynical assholes currently running our football club.