State of the club

Pellegrino - out of depth from outset

Les Reed - Never delivers what he promises

Ralph Krueger - got more spin than a Fun fair ride

Kat Liebherr- will never diss her or her father end of

Mr GAO - seen less than Lord Lucan riding Shergar since taking over

Overall

The fans can see the footballing problems, bit none of the above seem to to want or be able to manage the situation

Championship football is imminent, and again more disappointment for the fans

Even if we changed managers we are on a knife edge

Home to City on the last day - let’s hope they field their under 14’s against us!

But this is a trend of Europa to relegation a couple of other clubs have gone the same way

Keep the faith - stay up or go down we will always support our club

Only bit I’d question is your refusal to brook dissent regarding Kat. I do not buy the notion that she is a demigod whose stewardship cannot be questioned. Only Marcus has that saintly position in my eyes. Kat behaved like a new widow who felt obliged to do the decent thing for about 18 months, before running off with the long standing fancy-man.

Ok she still has a say but your right and No Markus no club

As a director she is a custodian to the business

Retrospect nowadays it is not a club for fans

it is a multi million pound business, like it or not they don’t care if we go to games or not.

They will run their business to their models not ours, they will have who they see fit to manage it

We as supporters have absolutely no say in what goes on at Southampton FC

The other thing I missed on the original post is the whole playing squad should taking some flack for poor performance

If any of us were that consistently poor in our jobs we’d be sacked

Only bit I’d question is your refusal to brook dissent regarding Kat. I do not buy the notion that she is a demigod whose stewardship cannot be questioned. Only Marcus has that saintly position in my eyes.

Yep, I honestly do not understand why some people completely refuse to apportion any blame in her direction. There is no doubt that she has played a big part in the failings of the club this past two years. Yes she carries the name Liebherr and for a period of time she did OK by us, but I saw that as more of protecting her inheritance and receiving maximum value from it. At no point during the sale to these Chinese owners has she protected her fathers legacy.

Of course Kat must take some of the blame BUT from her point of view she sold the vast majority of a business for a huge profit. Can’t blame her for that. The problem comes because of the emotional ties thousands of people have with that “business”.

She tried to smooth things over with this talk of “next level” but the silence from her, Gao and daughter Nellie whilst the club has gone backwards is both deafening and worrying.

As has been mentioned before why would you pay £200 million for something then sit on your hands and calmly watch it implode ? There is something seriously dodgy about all this.

The fans were all too quick to lap it up and not provide balance on a public scale.

Remember when tadic was better than lallana, cedric better than Clyne, romeu better than vic, yoshida better for us than fonte, Carrillo having a very good goals to games ratio.....then never forget the idea that redmond was "fine" as a mane replacement.

Our public voices are terrible. Blackmore does nothing but give MP the benefit of the doubt...but then, he is not a saints fan....Leitch sits on the fence..don't get me started on Matt Le Tiss...an absolute knob on social media and still defends the set up at the club

The fans were all too quick to lap it up and not provide balance on a public scale.

 

Remember when tadic was better than lallana, cedric better than Clyne, romeu better than vic, yoshida better for us than fonte, Carrillo having a very good goals to games ratio.....then never forget the idea that redmond was "fine" as a mane replacement.

 

Our public voices are terrible. Blackmore does nothing but give MP the benefit of the doubt...but then, he is not a saints fan....Leitch sits on the fence..don't get me started on Matt Le Tiss...an absolute knob on social media and still defends the set up at the club

The Leslieites are a sect born of adversity. No wonder the faith runs deep with them. They had to fight the powerful COCs and then ward off the sceptics during the Meltdown of 2014. No weapon formed against them shall prosper (Isaiah 54: 17). Sadly even Matty has caught the bug.

The Leslieites are a sect born of adversity. No wonder the faith runs deep with them. They had to fight the powerful COCs and then ward off the sceptics during the Meltdown of 2014. No weapon formed against them shall prosper (Isaiah 54: 17). Sadly even Matty has caught the bug.

No COC and no balls.

The fans were all too quick to lap it up and not provide balance on a public scale.

 

Remember when tadic was better than lallana, cedric better than Clyne, romeu better than vic, yoshida better for us than fonte, Carrillo having a very good goals to games ratio.....then never forget the idea that redmond was "fine" as a mane replacement.

 

Our public voices are terrible. Blackmore does nothing but give MP the benefit of the doubt...but then, he is not a saints fan....Leitch sits on the fence..don't get me started on Matt Le Tiss...an absolute knob on social media and still defends the set up at the club

I think thats harsh on Blackmore. Of the three he is by far the most critical and he does have to maintain a working relationship with both MP and the club. Hes in a very awkward position. Same could be said for Leitch although the Echo have never been slow speaking out in the past.

The one big disappointment is Matt Le Tiss I'm sorry to say. I cant really understand what his stance is all about.

People looking back and trying to trace the cause of our demise. Interesting indeed.

 

Remember when tadic was better than lallana, cedric better than Clyne, romeu better than vic, yoshida better for us than fonte,

I remember some clown claiming Pelle was rubbish.

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Yep, I honestly do not understand why some people completely refuse to apportion any blame in her direction. There is no doubt that she has played a big part in the failings of the club this past two years. Yes she carries the name Liebherr and for a period of time she did OK by us, but I saw that as more of protecting her inheritance and receiving maximum value from it. At no point during the sale to these Chinese owners has she protected her fathers legacy.

Did Kat choose which players to buy, pick the team and tell them how to play?

Perhaps Kat will buy back some of shares she sold, for about a 10th of what she sold them for. The Chinese might be desperate for ready cash............

Don't see a huge amount wrong, just an example of how quickly you can go from 6th to relegation with poor managerial decisions.

 

I've no problem with the sales, investment etc. We bought well most the time, wouldn't have got many of them without selling and we tried to buy Promes too. To me, signings are an issue for when you think your manager is getting all he can out of the squad and you need more. If we're 9th/10th, it's a conversation to have. With the mismanagement and underperformance we have, it seems irrelevant.

 

Only see two problems.

 

1) Pellegrino. The most appalling manager in my time watching us.

 

2) Reed. Purely for getting 2 managerial recruitment decisions wrong, and 99% for not correcting the Pellegrino mistake 6 months ago. Utterly ludicrous decision.

Average squad + s**t manager = relegation candidates. Simple as that pal.

Agree with the above mass clearout needed board, manager and squad we have become paedestrian......

Perhaps Kat will buy back some of shares she sold, for about a 10th of what she sold them for. The Chinese might be desperate for ready cash............

Maybe that’s the master plan kat buys the club back for a third of what she sold it for and reed and Freddie get a huge bonus for keeping mr bean who they both know will get us relegated

Did Kat choose which players to buy, pick the team and tell them how to play?

She chose to get shot of Nasty Nice, put Ralph in charge, keep Les and sell to Gao. Ultimately the buck stops with her. In the end you can trace the current shambles back k to her. It was so sad that Markus' untimely demise led to an heiress with no business or football sense was allowed to take over. Cannot understand anyone thinking she is untouchable.

Average squad + s**t manager = relegation candidates. Simple as that pal.

yes but Adrian (and tbf he isn't the only one here) doesn't think the squad is average but is in fact a good top half squad let down by the manager despite the evidence in front of us every week that a lot of our players are very average. Comparing the spine of the team from a couple of years ago to the current one is pretty sad. There are no on pitch leaders or organisers in the squad now and it shows every game. The CBs must be the worst we've had since we came back up even Jos could win a header.

Miss Cortese.

I remember some clown claiming Pelle was rubbish.

I love it when batman has a go at other fans for having held an opinion that eventually turns out to be wrong. The sheer irony of it makes me chuckle every time.

As much as I hate Les I don't see it as his decision to Liquidate as many of our saleable assets as possible that's on Kat !

She chose to get shot of Nasty Nice, put Ralph in charge, keep Les and sell to Gao. Ultimately the buck stops with her. In the end you can trace the current shambles back k to her. It was so sad that Markus' untimely demise led to an heiress with no business or football sense was allowed to take over. Cannot understand anyone thinking she is untouchable.

I think Katharina had plenty of business sense.

I think Katharina had plenty of business sense.

Too true. She has probably made more money for herself out of this football club than just about any other owner in football history. The priority of the club has been to make money as quickly as possible at every opportunity, and that includes every trnsfer window. The Academy is there to produce players for sale, although it hasn't produced many of any great value recently, and players are bought primarily as investments to be sold for profit. The performance of the football team is just a secondary issue.

Squad full of journeymen, crocks, and Academy also-rans (Lemina possibly excepted, but jury is still out). Shyte manager. No sense of direction to the club. The buzz stopped the day Koeman left.

The buzz stopped the day Koeman eyes started to wander.

Average squad + s**t manager = relegation candidates. Simple as that pal.

This is it...in a nutshell. Awful Manager and players like Tadic, Redmond, Carillo, Hoedt and the biggest dud of all, James Ward-Prowse whose dead ball skills BS hype has helped suck the life out of the side's attacking force. The decline of our Club's on-field performance in the past 2 seasons has been a sad thing to watch.

The buzz stopped the day Koeman eyes started to wander.

See I question this. The rot set in whilst Koeman was still here. We still played a similar style of football but we had a difference maker in the ranks in Mane. We still largely played a similar toothless possession based style of football but Mane got his act together in the second half of the season to win his big move away. The only stand out performance up until that point was Arsenal at home on Boxing Day. Before then our results and performances were extremely average.

Never diss KL ?

She promised only to sell the club to someone who would take us forward.

She took her money and ran as soon as should could and sod the consequences.

People looking back and trying to trace the cause of our demise. Interesting indeed.

Markus's death. Its been on the cards since then.

Have we all forgotten the whirlwind early days of that takeover ???

See I question this. The rot set in whilst Koeman was still here. We still played a similar style of football but we had a difference maker in the ranks in Mane. We still largely played a similar toothless possession based style of football but Mane got his act together in the second half of the season to win his big move away. The only stand out performance up until that point was Arsenal at home on Boxing Day. Before then our results and performances were extremely average.

We also beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge but agree people were asking questions about Koemam, especially after a horrible run of form in December (Norwich away was the standout).

In January's interview, Ralph even tried to justify this season's form by drawing parallels with that season - how we never take easy rides into single digits, how we've always fought our way into single digits - with the implication that we could do the same again.

In January's interview, Ralph even tried to justify this season's form by drawing parallels with that season - how we never take easy rides into single digits, how we've always fought our way into single digits - with the implication that we could do the same again.

I'd imagine he's still sat there there believing the same. They're probably still targetting 8th.

I think the sale of the club has massively knocked the club from the top, and this has inevitably trickled down. I have no knowledge, but I would imagine that they would have been looking to sell long before they did, and given how long it actually took for Gao to complete his takeover, I am assuming he was not a universally popular buyer within the boardroom of the club.

It looks from the outside that decision making has taken a nosedive throughout that process. Koeman looks like he got out at the right time. We then took far too long to make 2 really poor managerial appointments. And at the time when money in football has been at nosebleed levels, and we have had our usual annual sell offs, the investment back into the team has been pretty minimal. I think, may be wrong, we are at or close to the bottom of the net spend table.

From that, we have a really crap manager, with a squad that was only going to struggle this season due to lack of quality at both ends of the pitch, and a board that doesn't really seem to know what to do, or who is accountable for what.

It's so sad.

At least in our relegation year we attempted to change things by changing manager. Ok it didn't work but we could see it wasn't working under the existing management and acted. This season has been like a slow painful death, with the board/owners blinkered into what is happening. We cannot win a game for life or money or even score, we have failed to beat any of the three promoted teams, have wasted £19 on an unproven striker, did not get any decent loan players in to improve us, we have not spent appropriately in the transfer window when we have plenty of time and money to do so - has anybody seen that missing £50 million yet? We will get relegated!

The only good thing really in our favour at the moment is that there is a decent chance of there being three worse teams than us at the end of the season. West Brom are all but relegated now, Stoke don't exactly look inspired by Lambert's arrival, West Ham are on the brink of meltdown unless they really sort themselves out and Palace's revival has also started to fade at the wrong time.

A lot of people place all the blame solely at Pellegrino's door. He's out of his depth, but our recruitment over the past 2 seasons has just not worked out. Is it just bad luck? I don't know, but where we managed to get it so right in 2014, it's gradually got worse season after season, to the extent that no-one we bought in the summer of 2017 has actually improved the team, combined with the fact that none of the established players are playing anywhere near like their best form.

The only good thing really in our favour at the moment is that there is a decent chance of there being three worse teams than us at the end of the season. West Brom are all but relegated now, Stoke don't exactly look inspired by Lambert's arrival, West Ham are on the brink of meltdown unless they really sort themselves out and Palace's revival has also started to fade at the wrong time.

Yes that may save us. Palace have 0 (of 6) games against top 6 in April whereas we have 3 (of 6). Fingers crossed that WB, WH and Stoke play worse.

Markus's death. Its been on the cards since then.

 

Have we all forgotten the whirlwind early days of that takeover ???

You re right. The agenda changed.

You re right. The agenda changed.

Not immediately.

Fat Kat put the last tick in the box first. She got us back to the PL and in her mind re-established us as a permanent fixture.

I got upset with all the sales, but the alarm bells really rung when Pele and Mane were not replaced.

It's so sad.

 

At least in our relegation year we attempted to change things by changing manager. Ok it didn't work but we could see it wasn't working under the existing management and acted. This season has been like a slow painful death, with the board/owners blinkered into what is happening. We cannot win a game for life or money or even score, we have failed to beat any of the three promoted teams, have wasted £19 on an unproven striker, did not get any decent loan players in to improve us, we have not spent appropriately in the transfer window when we have plenty of time and money to do so - has anybody seen that missing £50 million yet? We will get relegated!

I made this point a few weeks ago.

Compared to this rabble, Rupert Lowe was clawing, kicking and screaming all the way to the Championship.

Too true. She has probably made more money for herself out of this football club than just about any other owner in football history. The priority of the club has been to make money as quickly as possible at every opportunity, and that includes every trnsfer window. The Academy is there to produce players for sale, although it hasn't produced many of any great value recently, and players are bought primarily as investments to be sold for profit. The performance of the football team is just a secondary issue.

You and the Dalek are clearly confusing business sense (or business acumen) with personal gain. Taking as much money out of the business as possible is nothing to do with business acumen, it is purely about personal gain, some might even say greed (though I probably wouldn't). It wasn't difficult to make a lot of money from the base that her Father and Nasty Nic had set up, and as soon as she had the power to do so she made every effort to get as much for her person gain as was possible. Good for her, that was her right, she inherited the business, but to not criticise her from the business/club point of view is just plain dumb.

You and the Dalek are clearly confusing business sense (or business acumen) with personal gain. Taking as much money out of the business as possible is nothing to do with business acumen, it is purely about personal gain, some might even say greed (though I probably wouldn't). It wasn't difficult to make a lot of money from the base that her Father and Nasty Nic had set up, and as soon as she had the power to do so she made every effort to get as much for her person gain as was possible. Good for her, that was her right, she inherited the business, but to not criticise her from the business/club point of view is just plain dumb.

Actually, I agree with you. She was good at getting cash fast but the lack of long-term investment in a business will eventually lead to its demise. When Cortese expected her to invest some of the money she got from her father through no effort of her own, for the long-term growth of the business, she was outraged and sacked him. I seem to recall that her father had left financial provison in his will to take care of the club long-term. I wonder what happened to that money? Yet, nobody was outraged at Kat when she got 210 million paid into her bank account by Gao and even charged the club (supposedly her business) interest on a loan, which had to be paid into her personal account in full before she got the money from Gao. She should be very grateful to Cortese for helping build a business from one which cost her father 12 million to one which she sold an 80% share in for 210 million. Meanwhile, Brighton's owner, Tony Bloom, who is no wealthier than Kat, has spent 150 million out of his own pocket on a new stadium and new players and taken nothing back. Bournemouth's owners have also invested their own money in their club.

As far as i can see we have had a complete change in policy, fro buying the best up and coming British talent to buying continental imports.

the flow from the academy has drained up over the last few years, other that Jack Stephens