Could Bournemouth send us down?

I'm sure it was the other Bent player, Marcus.

Good point.

No! Loiebherr, Kreuger and Reed have sent us down

People keep saying this, but they never say the reasons why. No one knows what we are going to be like next season and you over state our possible downfall whilst overplaying the likely success of Brighton and Bournemouth.

 

Just looking at the tables and 7 out of the last 10 years at least one team has come straight back up. Now if it's us, Stoke and WBA that go down we have at least an equal chance with those teams to be the one that comes back up.

 

The relegated teams from the last ten years that haven't come back up; Derby, Portsmouth, Birmingham, Blackpool, Blackburn, Bolton, Wolves, Wigan, Reading, Fulham, Cardiff, QPR, Norwich, Aston Villa, Hull, Middlesborough and Sunderland. At least two and maybe three of those teams are coming up this season. That leaves a list of teams that shouldn't frighten us.

I should think it's fairly obvious why. We certainly won't bounce straight back up if we don't address the failings at boardroom level over the last 2-3 transfer windows.

If we just ignore that and bury our head in the sands and assume we are too good to stay in the Championship for too long then we are in big trouble.

Unfortunately this is the case.

A ridiculous transfer strategy, pure arrogance at board room level, Loss of quality and lack of replacement, lack of any real ambition, a previous owner who couldn't give 2 sh!ts, a new owner who appears to be skint and has no knowledge on football isn't a great combination.

It has actually taken more than 6 fundamental mistakes to put us in relegation. The chances should have been that not all the mistakes would have happened together in this short period of a year. If we only had a couple of f*** ups we would have been ok. Still Les Reed will become a real expert on what not to do.

I should think it's fairly obvious why. We certainly won't bounce straight back up if we don't address the failings at boardroom level over the last 2-3 transfer windows.

 

If we just ignore that and bury our head in the sands and assume we are too good to stay in the Championship for too long then we are in big trouble.

WTF does that mean? Do you mean we will only come back up with a better board or better players?

And this thing that you cant quite explain but you know that we should do or else we are ****ed forever, how do you know we won't do it.

WTF does that mean? Do you mean we will only come back up with a better board or better players?

 

And this thing that you cant quite explain but you know that we should do or else we are ****ed forever, how do you know we won't do it.

I mean that if we approach the Championship with the same head-in-the-sand "We'll be fine if we stick with our current strategy" way that we have approached the PL for the last two season, then we're fooked. What is obvious is that numerous players will be cleared out and we will need to rebuild a squad with a winning mentality. Do you trust the current senior management team to achieve that? I don't, and I'm pretty certain I'm not alone in that respect.

We quite obviously have serious failings at boardroom level, and we have a shadowy, virtually anonymous owner whose plans for the future of the club are unclear. If we stick with Les & Ralph at the helm and don't address the serious failures of our recruitment strategy over the last 2 seasons then, in my opinion, we don't have a hope of bouncing straight back up and we don't deserve to.

How long is Carillo's contract? On the wages we pay who ever will buy him? We're lumbered

I mean that if we approach the Championship with the same head-in-the-sand "We'll be fine if we stick with our current strategy" way that we have approached the PL for the last two season, then we're fooked. What is obvious is that numerous players will be cleared out and we will need to rebuild a squad with a winning mentality. Do you trust the current senior management team to achieve that? I don't, and I'm pretty certain I'm not alone in that respect.

 

We quite obviously have serious failings at boardroom level, and we have a shadowy, virtually anonymous owner whose plans for the future of the club are unclear. If we stick with Les & Ralph at the helm and don't address the serious failures of our recruitment strategy over the last 2 seasons then, in my opinion, we don't have a hope of bouncing straight back up and we don't deserve to.

The problem is that those of us who pointed out the errors and the repercussions were demonised and vilified.

Unfortunately this is the case.

 

A ridiculous transfer strategy, pure arrogance at board room level, Loss of quality and lack of replacement, lack of any real ambition, a previous owner who couldn't give 2 sh!ts, a new owner who appears to be skint and has no knowledge on football isn't a great combination.

 

The sooner we go down and replace the lot of them the better.

This is what perplexes me - Gao borrows to buy the club on the security of paying projected Premier League revenue direct to lender, and that gets paid to KL. KL could have just syphoned off that same revenue and still own the club. So in my book there is more to this deal than meets the eye. Is it a way for KL to get capital into China to buy assets there?

If we get relegated, is that to Gao's financial advantage? If so, is the Hughes appointment really intended to save us, or is it just a smokescreen? KL waited a long time to get this particular deal done, but there must have been other potential buyers who were kept at arm's length, as I can't believe we were that unattractive other potential bidders.

Something smells I think.

This is what perplexes me - Gao borrows to buy the club on the security of paying projected Premier League revenue direct to lender, and that gets paid to KL. KL could have just syphoned off that same revenue and still own the club. So in my book there is more to this deal than meets the eye. Is it a way for KL to get capital into China to buy assets there?

 

If we get relegated, is that to Gao's financial advantage? If so, is the Hughes appointment really intended to save us, or is it just a smokescreen? KL waited a long time to get this particular deal done, but there must have been other potential buyers who were kept at arm's length, as I can't believe we were that unattractive other potential bidders.

 

Something smells I think.

You've just made up the bit in bold.

You've just made up the bit in bold.

Yup, but there's nothing wrong and everything healthy with asking these questions. There is something not right about this takeover, as many of us have said before, during and since the takeover. As fans of Southampton we should be nitpicking every last aspect of it, and we should be demanding answers to these questions, whether that's demanding the local media look into it, or that the club answer directly what's gong on, because the other option is we bury our heads in the sand like the Skates did and believe it's all ok.

You've just made up the bit in bold.

Maybe I phrased it incorrectly but I am sure you understood the gist - see CharlieMiller's posts on St Mary's Football Group – 2016/17 financial results

thread. Nitpicking just avoids the issue, don't you think?

Yup, but there's nothing wrong and everything healthy with asking these questions. There is something not right about this takeover, as many of us have said before, during and since the takeover. As fans of Southampton we should be nitpicking every last aspect of it, and we should be demanding answers to these questions, whether that's demanding the local media look into it, or that the club answer directly what's gong on, because the other option is we bury our heads in the sand like the Skates did and believe it's all ok.

Don't think that was so much heads being buried in the sand, smarter fans of theirs must have gone Hmmmm just as we are right now, but they were repeatedly snaring............apologies; finding a willing mug......... sorry; investor with a fat enough wallet to keep them trundling along, how many times did you see that rag tag bunch with a crusty stadium, no training facilities of their own change hands and at the same time think, strange that no one has knocked on our door with a suitcase full of money to buy us with the package that we are. Good ol' Arry taking us down kept them in the premium league in the world as sole players on the south coast, and kept the shop window on smart street looking all sparkly with players they couldn't afford, tempting the money in from all sorts of characters but there are only so many of them, and the Emperors new clothes can only be sold a couple of times at those prices.

With us, most folks know the Swiss in business play their cards very close to their chests, on the flip side modern Chinese are a bit more materialistic if they have it they like to show it, so its slightly odd that right now the club is a bit like North Korea in its silence.

The problem is that those of us who pointed out the errors and the repercussions were demonised and vilified.

However much I repeated the warnings, people preferred to bury their heads in the sand. Now people are singing the same tune, years later and retrospectively.