Worst decisions ever made at Saints

Top 3, go

1. Keeping Pellegrino past the January window. Quite possibly the most disgraceful decision/strategy I have ever seen at saints. And we have seen some belters

2. Appointing arry redknapp. Seemed good in paper but then give the old ***t Callum davenport and Olivier Bernard

3. That statue!

Not adequately replacing Cortese

Selling Mane and Pelle in the same window and believing Redmond, Boufal and Austin would replace their huge goal haul.

Giving Les Reed free rein to do as he pleases

Selling Mane and Pelle in the same window and believing Redmond, Boufal and Austin would replace their huge goal haul.

So many fans were onside. As said elsewhere, les and ralphy have played an absolute blinder for Kat.

They even got fans hating players (and Ronald) when they left.

Selling Jose Fonte in January and shutting your eyes in the need for a replacement. Then panic and sign a freebie when the window is shut.

Selling VVD in January and shutting your eyes in the need for a replacement. We haven't even bothered to look for a freebie replacement.

Selling Jose Fonte in January and shutting your eyes in the need for a replacement. Then panic and sign a freebie when the window is shut.

 

Selling VVD in January and shutting your eyes in the need for a replacement. We haven't even bothered to look for a freebie replacement.

Do you remember the spin put out. We were going to invest most/all of the VvD money in Jan. Mawson, Sturridge and Walcott

Instead we get an absolute donkey and keep Pellegrino. Brilliant!

Do you remember the spin put out. We were going to invest most/all of the VvD money in Jan. Mawson, Sturridge and Walcott

 

Instead we get an absolute donkey and keep Pellegrino. Brilliant!

It just beggers belief. We obviously let MP call the shots on that one.

What a true mess at all levels. Even the groundsman were moaning at eachother at FT when they were mowing the grass.

This entire season has been an abortion. I hope we can bring in someone next season who can help us start again and pretend this was all a bad dream.

Do you remember the spin put out. We were going to invest most/all of the VvD money in Jan. Mawson, Sturridge and Walcott

 

Instead we get an absolute donkey and keep Pellegrino. Brilliant!

The Sturridge story didnt come from the club. They said they were never interested in him.

Puel not giving Fonte a single minute in the europa league. That started the chain of events that we find ourselves in now. We lost our leader, captain and team spirit.

And not sacking Pellegrino in November

Puel not giving Fonte a single minute in the europa league. That started the chain of events that we find ourselves in now. We lost our leader, captain and team spirit.

 

And not sacking Pellegrino in November

That was plain weird but although I was no fan of puel, that had to be club policy so to speak.

Then the club made a lot of the fans hate Jose in the end.

St Mary's Stadium. It's cursed. Already relegated from the top division twice as many times there as we were at The Dell.

Letting Koeman leave

Not replacing Mane

Appointing Puel

Not replacing Pelle

Selling Fonte

Not replacing Fonte. Yoshida is ****.

Appointing Pellegrino

Not sacking him as soon as we lost to Burnley at home. Hell, you could even say Watford at home - it was clear we were going to be in a relegation dog fight then.

Backing Pellegrino in January. £19m on a striker who would struggle in the Championship.

Not using more of the VvD money to sure up the defence. None of our CBs are Premier League quality as proven by the goals we concede.

Not replacing Fonte and VVD. Stephens and Yoshida (and Hoedt) are not a PL CB combo. Our play instantly dropped.

Pellegrino staying for so long has to be the worst.

Selling Jose Fonte in January and shutting your eyes in the need for a replacement. Then panic and sign a freebie when the window is shut.

 

Selling VVD in January and shutting your eyes in the need for a replacement. We haven't even bothered to look for a freebie replacement.

These 2. Ridiculous.

Not adequately replacing Cortese

Confusing the momentum curve for progress.

That was plain weird but although I was no fan of puel, that had to be club policy so to speak.

 

Then the club made a lot of the fans hate Jose in the end.

Fonte made the fans hate Fonte. He acted like a proper bellend towards the club because of his agent.

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Persisting with Pellegrino for so long was just plain bonkers. Proper Kamakazee stuff.

Having a system in place, and then ignoring the vital functions of that system, and bending/breaking every rule which made it successful.

When faced with the reality that Pellegrino was a disaster, we tried to imagineer a mindscape that PR equals points. Turns out, blue sky thinking can't alter the league table.

Disastrous on all fronts really.

Fonte made the fans hate Fonte. He acted like a proper bellend towards the club because of his agent.

 

 

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According to the leaks to the media via the club ?

In two years, we sold our best attackers without replacing them and have since sold our best defenders without replacing them (and still haven't gotten around to addressing the attacking shortcomings).

To nobody's surprise, we are now a team poor in defence and attack.

Our demise is entirely self-inflicted: we have chosen to drastically weaken key positions in the deluded belief that somehow our "system" is bulletproof.

Whoever gave Les Reed free reign over all footballing decisions has killed us. Unchecked by a strong manager like Pochettino or Koeman, he's been disasterous.

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In two years, we sold our best attackers without replacing them and have since sold our best defenders without replacing them (and still haven't gotten around to addressing the attacking shortcomings).

 

To nobody's surprise, we are now a team poor in defence and attack.

 

Our demise is entirely self-inflicted: we have chosen to drastically weaken key positions in the deluded belief that somehow our "system" is bulletproof.

 

Whoever gave Les Reed free reign over all footballing decisions has killed us. Unchecked by a strong manager like Pochettino or Koeman, he's been disasterous.

 

 

 

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Post of the week.

Not adequately replacing Cortese

He didnt need replacing because other people did the work.

Top 3, go

 

1. Keeping Pellegrino past the January window. Quite possibly the most disgraceful decision/strategy I have ever seen at saints. And we have seen some belters

 

2. Appointing arry redknapp. Seemed good in paper but then give the old ***t Callum davenport and Olivier Bernard

 

3. That statue!

1. Appointing Pellegrino.

2. Nor sacking Pellegrino in November/December/January etc.

3. Not replacing Fonte/VVD with top-class defenders.

1.) Sacking the manager who finished 8th without Mane/Pelle, and got us to a cup final.

2.) Sacking the manager who finished 8th without Mane/Pelle, and got us to a cup final without having a top quality replacement already signed up.

In two years, we sold our best attackers without replacing them and have since sold our best defenders without replacing them (and still haven't gotten around to addressing the attacking shortcomings).

 

To nobody's surprise, we are now a team poor in defence and attack.

 

Our demise is entirely self-inflicted: we have chosen to drastically weaken key positions in the deluded belief that somehow our "system" is bulletproof.

 

Whoever gave Les Reed free reign over all footballing decisions has killed us. Unchecked by a strong manager like Pochettino or Koeman, he's been disasterous.

 

 

 

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What I want to know is, what ever happened to the famed 'black box' ? ffs lol

Everything you need to know about the black box here:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2717975-inside-the-southampton-black-box-informing-their-manager-carousel

Some classic mastorbatory bull**** from the clowns in charge at Our club.

“Southampton have deliberately cultivated a system that mitigates a manager’s importance, ensuring continuity that can outlast any boss’ tenure. "One of the mistakes many clubs make is they don't commit to a strategy and move the goal posts all the time," Ross Wilson, Southampton's Director of Football Operations and one of the club’s most senior decision-makers, explained ”

“At Staplewood, Southampton's £40 million training centre nestled in the leafy Hampshire village of Marchwood, lies the club’s "black box." This room, which only Southampton’s inner circle have permanent access to, is the centrepiece of the club’s forward planning. "It enables us to present a lot of information in a way that keeps everything clear, on message, structured," Wilson said. The black box contains a live database of data and video highlights from European leagues that the club monitor. The rationale is simple: to allow Southampton to identify suitable players to sign.”

“The list is always evolving and always current," Wilson explained. Southampton invariably know who they want to sign in the next transfer window. Around 20 players are tracked in each position at any one time, and there is a shortlist of four or five primary targets for each position.”

“Reed has a dossier of potential coaches that is constantly updated, with intelligence on those considered the best fits for Southampton—especially handy when managers leave during their contracts, as happened in 2014 and 2016. There were only nine days between Puel's being sacked and Pellegrino's being confirmed as his replacement, showing how the dossier enables the club to act decisively in appointing new managers.”

“Pellegrino was identified as a manager in keeping with the "Southampton Way" for his track record of promoting young players and playing attacking, technically proficient football. From his time in Spain, Pellegrino is also well-versed operating as part of a wider executive structure like that at Southampton.

Any new manager "needs to be a fit to the philosophy of that organisation or that football club," Wilson explained. "When we appoint a manager here, we want that manager to be somebody that fits in with what we do here." This continuity of approach also ensures that existing intelligence gathered through the black-box will remain useful for the new boss.”

Everything you need to know about the black box here:

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2717975-inside-the-southampton-black-box-informing-their-manager-carousel

 

Some classic mastorbatory bull**** from the clowns in charge at Our club.

 

“Southampton have deliberately cultivated a system that mitigates a manager’s importance, ensuring continuity that can outlast any boss’ tenure. "One of the mistakes many clubs make is they don't commit to a strategy and move the goal posts all the time," Ross Wilson, Southampton's Director of Football Operations and one of the club’s most senior decision-makers, explained ”

“At Staplewood, Southampton's £40 million training centre nestled in the leafy Hampshire village of Marchwood, lies the club’s "black box." This room, which only Southampton’s inner circle have permanent access to, is the centrepiece of the club’s forward planning. "It enables us to present a lot of information in a way that keeps everything clear, on message, structured," Wilson said. The black box contains a live database of data and video highlights from European leagues that the club monitor. The rationale is simple: to allow Southampton to identify suitable players to sign.”

 

“The list is always evolving and always current," Wilson explained. Southampton invariably know who they want to sign in the next transfer window. Around 20 players are tracked in each position at any one time, and there is a shortlist of four or five primary targets for each position.”

 

“Reed has a dossier of potential coaches that is constantly updated, with intelligence on those considered the best fits for Southampton—especially handy when managers leave during their contracts, as happened in 2014 and 2016. There were only nine days between Puel's being sacked and Pellegrino's being confirmed as his replacement, showing how the dossier enables the club to act decisively in appointing new managers.”

 

“Pellegrino was identified as a manager in keeping with the "Southampton Way" for his track record of promoting young players and playing attacking, technically proficient football. From his time in Spain, Pellegrino is also well-versed operating as part of a wider executive structure like that at Southampton.

 

Any new manager "needs to be a fit to the philosophy of that organisation or that football club," Wilson explained. "When we appoint a manager here, we want that manager to be somebody that fits in with what we do here." This continuity of approach also ensures that existing intelligence gathered through the black-box will remain useful for the new boss.”

What an embarrassingly sickening loads of self absorbed cringeworthy bullsh1t. We deserve everything we get.

Over the last few seasons:

In reverse order

3) Allowing Koeman to leave

2)Appointing and retaining Pellegrino as long as we did

1)Successive transfer windows and policy.

And the outright winner is Les Reed.

Historically the appointment of Branfoot was a monumental cock up, but it pales into insignificance compared to any of the above.

I know it’s the obvious one as it’s the most recent but keeping Pellegrino for anywhere near as long as we did has to be the worst thing we’ve done I can think of in my time as a saint. Just about everyone knew very early on he was useless and was never getting any better. Made worse by the player turnover scheme that was never going to work out forever.

In two years, we sold our best attackers without replacing them and have since sold our best defenders without replacing them (and still haven't gotten around to addressing the attacking shortcomings).

 

To nobody's surprise, we are now a team poor in defence and attack.

 

Our demise is entirely self-inflicted: we have chosen to drastically weaken key positions in the deluded belief that somehow our "system" is bulletproof.

 

Whoever gave Les Reed free reign over all footballing decisions has killed us. Unchecked by a strong manager like Pochettino or Koeman, he's been disasterous.

This in spades. And to answer the OP's question, yes indeed, not sacking the clown months ago surely has to be the worst decision ever (which of course goes hand in hand with the buffoon Reed having more or less unchecked control over footballing matters, with him somehow thinking/hoping he'd unearthed another Poch based merely on superficial similarities, and refusing to back down from that disastrous mistake until too late).

Disagree with OP's number 2 on the list. Yes Saggy was our worst manager (or maybe joint worst along with the clown), and certainly our most despicable one ever. But when he was appointed it didn't seem a bad choice, based on his experience and relative success. He was an-ex Skate of course, but he had broken all ties with them given his bust up with Mad Milan, so it had seemed we had put one over the Skates ( until the bastard gave the thumbs up to Milan after the 4-1 Krap Nottarf cataclysm).

Not sacking Pellegrino after the defeat at home to Leicester.

That should have been curtains.

Also selling Pelle and Mane in the same transfer window is up there

Not sacking Pellegrino after the defeat at home to Leicester.

 

That should have been curtains.

 

Also selling Pelle and Mane in the same transfer window is up there

Should have been the turning point.

Puel not giving Fonte a single minute in the europa league. That started the chain of events that we find ourselves in now. We lost our leader, captain and team spirit.

 

And not sacking Pellegrino in November

Agree 100% with this.

1.) Sacking the manager who finished 8th without Mane/Pelle, and got us to a cup final.

 

2.) Sacking the manager who finished 8th without Mane/Pelle, and got us to a cup final without having a top quality replacement already signed up.

I agree, and I was one of those who've been vociferous that sacking Puel was a big mistake (especially without someone better lined up). Having said that, there was at least a mitigating factor: he had (allegedly) lost the dressing room.

There are no such excuses for keeping the clown until only 8 ****ing matches left. If Lowe had done that with Wigley he'd have been rightly crucified by the fans.

Celebrating the most successful PL season in our history by losing a manager and our two top scorers, and replacing them with mediocrity. It has all been downhill from there.

For me keeping the out-of-his-depth, woefully incompetent and uninspiring Pellegrino for as long as we did was the worst decision. He should have gone after the Leicester home game at the absolute latest, giving a new manager the opportunity to get a run of results going into the Xmas fixtures and the January transfer window. It boggles the mind that Les and Ralph let him linger for as long as he did before finally putting him out of his misery after Newcastle. We wasted too many winnable games on him, and his status as an obviously lame duck manager cannot have helped things during the transfer window where all we ended up with was the overpriced and underwhelming Carrillo.

Keeping Pellegrino for as long as we did stands out as a particularly bad call, even in a season and a half replete with other stinky, incompetent, arrogant decisions, which included not replacing Fonte during last season’s January transfer window resulting in a panicked foray into the free agent market, firing Puel without having a decent replacement lined up, opting for another “too clever by half” appointment with Pellegrino, selling VVD in January when it was harder to replace him and use the proceeds of his sale, rendering the summer stand against Liverpool completely pointless, not replacing VVD in light of evidence that Hoedt and Stephens were struggling, spending a club record £19M on a striker worth a fraction of that amount who probably only came because he thought he would be playing for Pellegrino, and not buying anyone else to help an anemic attack.

I’m sure there’s others. Les, Ralph and Ross have really dropped the ball lately.

To many cock ups to list really, at the end of the day it comes down to:

Poor off field/ managerial decisions

Poor on field recruitment

Lack of decisiveness by the board when it all started to go Pete Tong

I still remember sitting watching the Augsburg match and thinking even then that we looked pretty awful. Here we are at the ass end of the season and we just never really improved that much. Awful season full of cock ups that could've been avoided with better foresight and more decisive action when it was needed. Blown it now though, hey ho.

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Everything you need to know about the black box here:

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2717975-inside-the-southampton-black-box-informing-their-manager-carousel

 

Some classic mastorbatory bull**** from the clowns in charge at Our club.

 

“Southampton have deliberately cultivated a system that mitigates a manager’s importance, ensuring continuity that can outlast any boss’ tenure. "One of the mistakes many clubs make is they don't commit to a strategy and move the goal posts all the time," Ross Wilson, Southampton's Director of Football Operations and one of the club’s most senior decision-makers, explained ”

“At Staplewood, Southampton's £40 million training centre nestled in the leafy Hampshire village of Marchwood, lies the club’s "black box." This room, which only Southampton’s inner circle have permanent access to, is the centrepiece of the club’s forward planning. "It enables us to present a lot of information in a way that keeps everything clear, on message, structured," Wilson said. The black box contains a live database of data and video highlights from European leagues that the club monitor. The rationale is simple: to allow Southampton to identify suitable players to sign.”

 

“The list is always evolving and always current," Wilson explained. Southampton invariably know who they want to sign in the next transfer window. Around 20 players are tracked in each position at any one time, and there is a shortlist of four or five primary targets for each position.”

 

“Reed has a dossier of potential coaches that is constantly updated, with intelligence on those considered the best fits for Southampton—especially handy when managers leave during their contracts, as happened in 2014 and 2016. There were only nine days between Puel's being sacked and Pellegrino's being confirmed as his replacement, showing how the dossier enables the club to act decisively in appointing new managers.”

 

“Pellegrino was identified as a manager in keeping with the "Southampton Way" for his track record of promoting young players and playing attacking, technically proficient football. From his time in Spain, Pellegrino is also well-versed operating as part of a wider executive structure like that at Southampton.

 

Any new manager "needs to be a fit to the philosophy of that organisation or that football club," Wilson explained. "When we appoint a manager here, we want that manager to be somebody that fits in with what we do here." This continuity of approach also ensures that existing intelligence gathered through the black-box will remain useful for the new boss.”

W...T...F

Everything you need to know about the black box here:

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2717975-inside-the-southampton-black-box-informing-their-manager-carousel

 

Some classic mastorbatory bull**** from the clowns in charge at Our club.

 

“Southampton have deliberately cultivated a system that mitigates a manager’s importance, ensuring continuity that can outlast any boss’ tenure. "One of the mistakes many clubs make is they don't commit to a strategy and move the goal posts all the time," Ross Wilson, Southampton's Director of Football Operations and one of the club’s most senior decision-makers, explained ”

“At Staplewood, Southampton's £40 million training centre nestled in the leafy Hampshire village of Marchwood, lies the club’s "black box." This room, which only Southampton’s inner circle have permanent access to, is the centrepiece of the club’s forward planning. "It enables us to present a lot of information in a way that keeps everything clear, on message, structured," Wilson said. The black box contains a live database of data and video highlights from European leagues that the club monitor. The rationale is simple: to allow Southampton to identify suitable players to sign.”

 

“The list is always evolving and always current," Wilson explained. Southampton invariably know who they want to sign in the next transfer window. Around 20 players are tracked in each position at any one time, and there is a shortlist of four or five primary targets for each position.”

 

“Reed has a dossier of potential coaches that is constantly updated, with intelligence on those considered the best fits for Southampton—especially handy when managers leave during their contracts, as happened in 2014 and 2016. There were only nine days between Puel's being sacked and Pellegrino's being confirmed as his replacement, showing how the dossier enables the club to act decisively in appointing new managers.”

 

“Pellegrino was identified as a manager in keeping with the "Southampton Way" for his track record of promoting young players and playing attacking, technically proficient football. From his time in Spain, Pellegrino is also well-versed operating as part of a wider executive structure like that at Southampton.

 

Any new manager "needs to be a fit to the philosophy of that organisation or that football club," Wilson explained. "When we appoint a manager here, we want that manager to be somebody that fits in with what we do here." This continuity of approach also ensures that existing intelligence gathered through the black-box will remain useful for the new boss.”

That is AMAZING!!!!

Selling shearer, and believing david speedie and kerry dixon will replace him.....yeah like that happened.

1. Appointing Pellegrino.

 

2. Nor sacking Pellegrino in November/December/January etc.

 

3. Not replacing Fonte/VVD with top-class defenders.

It is all well and good saying not replacing with a top class defender but who and where was one coming from.

Of course theoretically you are right but practically it was impossible to do.

Top class CBs are like rocking horse **** and would not want to come to SFC.

Fonte VVD and Lovren were not top class when they arrived and each cost less than Hoedt

Like wise Mane and Pelle cost less than Boufal and Redmond

Recruiting players is not a science some are good but most do not fit in

It is all well and good saying not replacing with a top class defender but who and where was one coming from.

 

Of course theoretically you are right but practically it was impossible to do.

 

Top class CBs are like rocking horse **** and would not want to come to SFC.

 

Fonte VVD and Lovren were not top class when they arrived and each cost less than Hoedt

 

Like wise Mane and Pelle cost less than Boufal and Redmond

 

Recruiting players is not a science some are good but most do not fit in

Surely a replacement top class defender would cone from the same place we recruited VVD, Lovren, Fonte, Toby.

Why, when we had an excellent record in signing top class defenders, is it suddenly impossible or unreasonable to expect us to sign a top class defender or two?

We are allowed to buy a dud - Hoedt fair enough - but we should have replaced Fonte with soneone and lyin' Les also said that Hoedt was not VVD's replacement. It's the fact we didn't even try and get replacements.

And that’s the problem John B. We are arrogant enough to think we are better than others due to our black box, when the reality is since Ross joined we are in fact terrible in this area. Then we are even more arrogant in thinking sometimes we don’t need to replace players at all, and somehow a reserve will miraculously be as good. We deserve to go down and will. We can go back up if we keep Hughes and let him have a big say in transfer dealings but we need a big change at the top (bye Ross and Les) for that to happen.

Another clusterfeck, we persisted in playing Forster for so long even though his head had gone a long time ago. That decision cost us a few points.

I can imagine Reed telling Pelligrino " You can't drop Forster, we have just made him sign a ludicrously long contract as he was a banker to make a another shed load of money, he will come good I promise you".

Everything you need to know about the black box here:

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2717975-inside-the-southampton-black-box-informing-their-manager-carousel

 

Some classic mastorbatory bull**** from the clowns in charge at Our club.

 

“Southampton have deliberately cultivated a system that mitigates a manager’s importance, ensuring continuity that can outlast any boss’ tenure. "One of the mistakes many clubs make is they don't commit to a strategy and move the goal posts all the time," Ross Wilson, Southampton's Director of Football Operations and one of the club’s most senior decision-makers, explained ”

“At Staplewood, Southampton's £40 million training centre nestled in the leafy Hampshire village of Marchwood, lies the club’s "black box." This room, which only Southampton’s inner circle have permanent access to, is the centrepiece of the club’s forward planning. "It enables us to present a lot of information in a way that keeps everything clear, on message, structured," Wilson said. The black box contains a live database of data and video highlights from European leagues that the club monitor. The rationale is simple: to allow Southampton to identify suitable players to sign.”

 

“The list is always evolving and always current," Wilson explained. Southampton invariably know who they want to sign in the next transfer window. Around 20 players are tracked in each position at any one time, and there is a shortlist of four or five primary targets for each position.”

 

“Reed has a dossier of potential coaches that is constantly updated, with intelligence on those considered the best fits for Southampton—especially handy when managers leave during their contracts, as happened in 2014 and 2016. There were only nine days between Puel's being sacked and Pellegrino's being confirmed as his replacement, showing how the dossier enables the club to act decisively in appointing new managers.”

 

“Pellegrino was identified as a manager in keeping with the "Southampton Way" for his track record of promoting young players and playing attacking, technically proficient football. From his time in Spain, Pellegrino is also well-versed operating as part of a wider executive structure like that at Southampton.

 

Any new manager "needs to be a fit to the philosophy of that organisation or that football club," Wilson explained. "When we appoint a manager here, we want that manager to be somebody that fits in with what we do here." This continuity of approach also ensures that existing intelligence gathered through the black-box will remain useful for the new boss.”

It is somehow incredibly fitting that it is called the black box. The black box on an aircraft identifies what caused a fatal crash. In this case, it appears that it was the black box itself which caused the fatal crash. The reality of course is that the success of our so called black box is dependent not only on the information it provides, but on how it is interpreted, which is where human error proves it fallible. Arguably the major error in signing on Pellegrino as manager outweighs any of the successes.

Klingons on the starboard bow?