The Route To Survival

Ok, so you’ve been parachuted in by Mr Gao to save his investment... like some sort Gerald Krasner figure but with a finger in every pie, what changes to the club would you make at a board and management level to try and save the club?

Here’s mine...

Today and in the next week

- Pellegrino and company out. Right now.

- Approach aura manager with huge incentive to keep us up, no contract beyond that. I’d try Ancelotti, 10m to keep us up. Similar figure to Hiddink. If not, go for Silva. And if not that, put a caretaker in charge and start looking ahead to next season.

- Tell Reed his times up. No, not at the end of the season... now. You too, Wilson. You can bugger off too, Ralph.

- Come back Paul Mitchell, all is forgiven.

- Ban w4nky promo videos indefinitely

- Never appoint a player liaison officer again. They’re grown men, not four year olds.

Until the end of the season and beyond

- Find top level management executives with drive and some form of footballing background. Plus another Monchi or whoever scouts for Genk or any other Belgian club. Or Villarreal. Look to clubs who have truly mastered how to punch above their weight and learn.

- Implement a philosophy and vision for the club. Recognise that we are a stepping stone for talent but never identify or define ourselves by it. No stupid 75% homegrown rule. If we do have to buy abroad, we do it... and we do it well. Plenty of decent 2,3,4m players out there if you know where to look.

- Ban Wesley Hoedt, JWP and Fraser Forster from playing for us again. Transfer list them, likewise Redmond. Tap West Ham up, as they’d be the only club stupid enough other than us to pay these players money for playing football

- Assuming we stay up, find a manager (not a head coach) known for promoting an exciting brand of football, who has a plan and is committed to the new club philosophy. Back him exponentially. He has final say on players, not a f()cking transfer committee.

-If we go down, plan changes a bit - the manager type would have to be a proven Championship manager with a sole remit to get us up... don’t care how you do it, just get it done. For example, the likes of Bruce, Or similar. No gambles or left-field rubbish.

- No more w4nky promo videos, I mean it.

- Engage with the fans on the important issues at the club... not the usual sh1te like “Ello, I’m Pete from totton. Season ticket holder for 45 years man and boy. I don’t like the beer, it’s not cold enough”. No, no, real club issues. Ticketing, standing areas, away travel, community stuff and of course, what’s going on on the pitch.

- make sure he club never takes for granted its position at the top table again.

I’ll probably think of more. It’s all pie in the sky, but that’s what I’d do. You?

I'd shoot them all.

Sack him tonight, bring Strachan in on short contract, play guys who care no matter how good

if we go down lets show some fight, today was almost as bad as Fratton last time we went down

Gutless from top to bottom

If I were Gao, I'd be on the phone right now to Christian Purslow asking him to run our club. As Execs go, he's seriously impressive.

Of course Pellegrino has to go immediately.

Generally agree with most of that.

This is a people issue, not a structural one, where the unwillingness to dismiss MP as soon as it was clear he was the wrong appointment (home vs Leic should have been the absolute final straw), smacks of hubris and ego, and is the single reason we are where we are.

In this new Gao era we need a new team running the club and obviously a new manager. It would also be good to understand what his vision is?

Purslow would be a great man to get on board as he knows his way round the league and speaks intelligently when I hear him interviewed.

Then the club needs to re-engage with the fans and be more open. Lack of communication just leaves us all to make up our own conclusions.

Ok, so you’ve been parachuted in by Mr Gao to save his investment... like some sort Gerald Krasner figure but with a finger in every pie, what changes to the club would you make at a board and management level to try and save the club?

 

Here’s mine...

 

Today and in the next week

 

- Pellegrino and company out. Right now.

- Approach aura manager with huge incentive to keep us up, no contract beyond that. I’d try Ancelotti, 10m to keep us up. Similar figure to Hiddink. If not, go for Silva. And if not that, put a caretaker in charge and start looking ahead to next season.

- Tell Reed his times up. No, not at the end of the season... now. You too, Wilson. You can bugger off too, Ralph.

- Come back Paul Mitchell, all is forgiven.

- Ban w4nky promo videos indefinitely

- Never appoint a player liaison officer again. They’re grown men, not four year olds.

 

Until the end of the season and beyond

 

- Find top level management executives with drive and some form of footballing background. Plus another Monchi or whoever scouts for Genk or any other Belgian club. Or Villarreal. Look to clubs who have truly mastered how to punch above their weight and learn.

- Implement a philosophy and vision for the club. Recognise that we are a stepping stone for talent but never identify or define ourselves by it. No stupid 75% homegrown rule. If we do have to buy abroad, we do it... and we do it well. Plenty of decent 2,3,4m players out there if you know where to look.

- Ban Wesley Hoedt, JWP and Fraser Forster from playing for us again. Transfer list them, likewise Redmond. Tap West Ham up, as they’d be the only club stupid enough other than us to pay these players money for playing football

- Assuming we stay up, find a manager (not a head coach) known for promoting an exciting brand of football, who has a plan and is committed to the new club philosophy. Back him exponentially. He has final say on players, not a f()cking transfer committee.

-If we go down, plan changes a bit - the manager type would have to be a proven Championship manager with a sole remit to get us up... don’t care how you do it, just get it done. For example, the likes of Bruce, Or similar. No gambles or left-field rubbish.

- No more w4nky promo videos, I mean it.

- Engage with the fans on the important issues at the club... not the usual sh1te like “Ello, I’m Pete from totton. Season ticket holder for 45 years man and boy. I don’t like the beer, it’s not cold enough”. No, no, real club issues. Ticketing, standing areas, away travel, community stuff and of course, what’s going on on the pitch.

- make sure he club never takes for granted its position at the top table again.

 

I’ll probably think of more. It’s all pie in the sky, but that’s what I’d do. You?

Agreed. Called for the highlighted parts months ago. I'd add that whomever is made exec should institute failure standards and proper job performance measurement on and off the field, and make it clear who is in charge of enforcing those standards, to replace the current climate of shared blamelessness.

All of this was avoidable to an infuriating degree.

don't change anything, just keep hoping things come good, and that CP and stoke keep losing.

team wise, keep picking the same formation, but place more emphasis on defending - every game should start with the intention of getting a point, and keeping a clean sheet. if we get a corner, FFS, don't pile people into the box, it just gives the opposition opportunities to score - see today's second. when we are attacking, we need to stay on point defensively. if we rush up the pitch too quickly, we leave ourselves open. if we lose the ball, we leave ourselves open. better to run backwards 30 yards and get it back to the GK than to try to take people on and lose the ball.

board-wise, no need to change anything. We have some sellable assets in place, and we've shown we can get a good deal with the guys we have. 75m for VVD was a great deal. The current board is the best collection of people to get the best prices for Bertrand, Lemina, Sims.

don't change anything, just keep hoping things come good, and that CP and stoke keep losing.

 

team wise, keep picking the same formation, but place more emphasis on defending - every game should start with the intention of getting a point, and keeping a clean sheet. if we get a corner, FFS, don't pile people into the box, it just gives the opposition opportunities to score - see today's second. when we are attacking, we need to stay on point defensively. if we rush up the pitch too quickly, we leave ourselves open. if we lose the ball, we leave ourselves open. better to run backwards 30 yards and get it back to the GK than to try to take people on and lose the ball.

 

board-wise, no need to change anything. We have some sellable assets in place, and we've shown we can get a good deal with the guys we have. 75m for VVD was a great deal. The current board is the best collection of people to get the best prices for Bertrand, Lemina, Sims.

Oh lord, please tell me you are joking. I fear you are not. Is ashnats an anagram of Les Reed?

Sack him tonight, bring Strachan in on short contract, play guys who care no matter how good

if we go down lets show some fight, today was almost as bad as Fratton last time we went down

Gutless from top to bottom

Strachan hasn’t managed in the Premier League since he left us! It’s a ridiculous suggestion.

We are going down with Pellegrino, sack him and offer someone like ancelotti a big money deal until the end of the season with a huge bonus for keeping us up. They have nothing to lose, if we do down the can say if was too late to save us, if they keep us up then they get a few quid. The cost of relegation to the club would far outweigh the payment we’d give some to keep us up. It’s a non brainier but our pathetic board will still be dithering about what to do.

Sack Pellegrino, then best we can hope for;

West Ham (a) - Win

Swansea (a) - Win

Arsenal (a) - Loss

Chelsea (h) - Loss

Leicester (a) - Draw

Bournemouth (h) - Win

Everton (a) - Draw

Man City (h) - Loss

Can’t see anything better than that. Tbh can’t even see that.

Oh lord, please tell me you are joking. I fear you are not. Is ashnats an anagram of Les Reed?

Sounds a bit in jest to me to be honest, but a pretty realstic tone for what is going on at the club it has to be said.

Sack Pellegrino, then best we can hope for;

 

West Ham (a) - Win

Swansea (a) - Win

Arsenal (a) - Loss

Chelsea (h) - Loss

Leicester (a) - Draw

Bournemouth (h) - Win

Everton (a) - Draw

Man City (h) - Loss

 

Can’t see anything better than that. Tbh can’t even see that.

Pass the crack pipe, is there a manager in world football* that could get our unfit under-performing misfits 11 points in those 8 games?

*a manager that would come to little old Southampton for a two month contract.

Agree with OP that immediate steps should be get rid of MP, and bring in an emergency replacement on a short term deal with a hefty incentive to keep us up. Start again in the summer.

In the summer completely restructure the club management, getting rid of Reed and Wilson. Mitchell has now gone to Leipzig. As for CEO, I can't see Purslow being interested unless Gao is prepared to invest.

I'd moan about loads of irrelevant stuff and sign Lionel Messi.

If I was working for Mr Gao I expect I'd view the most risk free way of ensuring a profit on his investment at this point would be to do absolutely nothing until the end of the season, then asset strip and sell. Even if the club are relegated, I'd be confident of making at least £50m from player sales, then even if the club was sold for less than he paid for it, overall he'd still be walking away with more money than he put in a few months ago. Even if he only made a personal profit of £1m I'd expect he'd be satisfied with that considering how little of his time the project had taken up.

Too long didn't read.

But your attitude towards player liason reps is backwards. There's a reason more foreign players are able to settle quickly in England now compared to 10+ years ago.