Maybe we need relegation like we needed administration...

People forget just how miserable it became when we got relegated before. We ended up losing decent players and stuck with the average ones, then started buying the only players we could attract at our new level, Ricardo Fuller, Idiakez, Euell, Jermaine Wright etc. That was the reality of relegation. Then we tried blooding the products of our famed academy, just like everyone had been excited about. Step forward Gobern, Thompson, Jamie White, McGoldrick, Gillett etc. I suppose Walcott was exciting for the half season or so we got to watch him in a saints shirt. Bale too, but they didn't hang around to play in the championship. Even when we found an unlikely star like Rasiak or John, we ended up not being able to play them, because we couldn't afford the bonuses. We then blew every penny we had to reach the play-offs, failed and ended up relegated again in an even worse state.

Can't wait to see those exciting days again.

Its easy to say that when we're ****e, and have a board that don't care about anything but their back pockets....

 

But I bet you didn't say that under Adkins, Poch or Koeman... In fact, I bet you didn't say that under Cortese before these current charlatans came in...

 

The problem at this club is the board.

 

I would take relegation and administration if it was the only way to get rid of them and start again... I despise what they have done to a club that was pushing to be an established European qualification contender.

Yet we moved closer to being established European qualification contenders under the new board once Cortese had jumped ship.

...in order to get shot of Gao and a crack at an owner who actually cares ?

 

I guess his business image and reputation wont allow him to retain posession of a football club that loses Premier League status..

If we get one, we'll get the other.

Thinking that relegation will be good is one of the weirdest things ever. Almost Brexitian

Thing is to be the Phoenix from the ashes you need someone to drive the club forward and has the passion to do it, I find it unlikely we are going to get that lucky again.

Thing is to be the Phoenix from the ashes you need someone to drive the club forward and has the passion to do it, I find it unlikely we are going to get that lucky again.

Indeed. I can certainly see the appeal of the Championship because it's a whole lot more even, competitive and unpredictable than the premier league. But we were extremely lucky in how we fell on our feet with Markus and Cortese when we went into admin before and the success that followed is why many are quite misty eyed about the prospect of going back down again. There's absolutely no guarantees that the same would happen this time and it's highly unlikely that it would. If relegation happens under the current leadership, it's hard to see anything but a quite lengthy period when things get a lot worse rather than better. Be careful what you wish for!

People forget just how miserable it became when we got relegated before. We ended up losing decent players and stuck with the average ones, then started buying the only players we could attract at our new level, Ricardo Fuller, Idiakez, Euell, Jermaine Wright etc. That was the reality of relegation. Then we tried blooding the products of our famed academy, just like everyone had been excited about. Step forward Gobern, Thompson, Jamie White, McGoldrick, Gillett etc. I suppose Walcott was exciting for the half season or so we got to watch him in a saints shirt. Bale too, but they didn't hang around to play in the championship. Even when we found an unlikely star like Rasiak or John, we ended up not being able to play them, because we couldn't afford the bonuses. We then blew every penny we had to reach the play-offs, failed and ended up relegated again in an even worse state.

 

Can't wait to see those exciting days again.

Tend to agree to a point. People tend to remember our rise back out of the lower leagues (which were two really good years, to be fair), but they forget the 3 years of decline that went before those years. As others have said as well, we'd be highly unlikely to find ourselves another benefactor with the vision of ML as well.

Once you are relegated (and I think we have a very good chance of going down this season), you will find yourself in and amongst some very good clubs all vying to get to the promised land. Are we any better than the Sheffields, Villa, Leeds, Forest, Derby etc? Once you're in, there's no guarantees that you're coming out anytime soon.

The solution to leveling the playing field is simple, but I suspect that the vested interests would not allow it ever to happen. Restrict teams to only 3 or 4 foreign players. The additional upside to that would be that our national team would improve too.

Could never happen due to EU law. How many Carlos Kickaballs con EU passports somehow ?

However, with Brexit happening, is this a chance to reclaim our sport from the money men ?

The PL would be improved by more relegation slots IMO, even of it means we go down.

 

More clubs involved in relegation giving fans some value to the season - stagnant PL clubs would suddenly have more competition to stay up - a greater churn of hungry champ clubs coming up - virtually the whole of the champ fighting it out for promotion.

 

The sterile prem needs a bigger shot of fresh energy every season and an increase in pressure on the lower 75% of clubs to up their game and stop aiming for 17th (us for example).

14 down and 14 up sounds like a very good idea to me.......

Indeed. I can certainly see the appeal of the Championship because it's a whole lot more even, competitive and unpredictable than the premier league. But we were extremely lucky in how we fell on our feet with Markus and Cortese when we went into admin before and the success that followed is why many are quite misty eyed about the prospect of going back down again. There's absolutely no guarantees that the same would happen this time and it's highly unlikely that it would. If relegation happens under the current leadership, it's hard to see anything but a quite lengthy period when things get a lot worse rather than better. Be careful what you wish for!

Exactly a passionate wealthy owner looking for a project for fun not profit, coupled with a driven chairman who shared the owners vision and motivated people towards those goals.

We have neither now and are unlikely to find that again soon.

Losing Marcus was obviously heartbreaking for those that knew him, but it was also really the beginning of the end of our little adventure because this club was not his daughters passion project and I doubt Cortese would have gone with Marcus still around.

Getting them was a one in a million.

Without the PL we are just another middling club, like others above have said no different to the likes of Forest, Derby, the Sheffields etc. that are striving to get out of the championship.

As tragic as it was, it is peak Saints to find a wealthy owner who wanted a bit of fun and seemed happy to throw some money around, only for him to die not long after.

I miss him.

The level of despair here is quite depressing, but not entirely unjustified. The PL is a massive global product centred on the elite.

One thing is certain - nothing will change. The world in general is as polarized in terms wealth, relatively, as it has ever been. The celebs and top sportsmen spend more on a watch than we privileged western Europeans earn in 4 years, it's sick and they are c***s for doing it. The PL is no different from any avaricious, morally bankrupt big organization. So keep buying the shirts, the SKY/BT sports packages, the tickets and the half time lager - it's all going to a good cause !

Can anyone genuinely think of a reason to renew their season ticket if we do stay up? The premier league is utterly, utterly rigged and we're just canon fodder for the monied clubs.

 

Even if we do turn it around and become half decent again how long will it last? A season? Two? And then the same thing will happen, we'll be plucked apart and sink back down.

 

Make no bones about it as much as there's a rot at the core of Saints it's not just the club that's the cause. This disgusting, corrupt, rigged league is the problem. The money is a cancer in the game and the only fix for that cancer is to cut it out.

 

Sack off the money clubs, sky and the plastic/overseas "fans" to their "super league" and give us our game back.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/oct/10/premier-league-arsenal-chelsea-pep-guardiola

Apparently "no sign of a premier league procession...". The media are part of the problem.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/oct/10/premier-league-arsenal-chelsea-pep-guardiola

 

Apparently "no sign of a premier league procession...". The media are part of the problem.

I agree, but their argument is that we have 6 clubs fighting for it, when many other leagues have 1 or 2. They generally totally ignore the 6 vs 14. Having said that, Fatty Samuel does actually sometimes write about it. I guess that he has actually thought about things and realised for the long term viability/interest, 6 vs the rest is problematic. For example - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6177861/MARTIN-SAMUEL-Small-clubs-Premier-League-ask-Burnley.html

I saw a headline that the Leeds owner wanted a breakaway league of 16 clubs to make a 2nd PL type competition

I saw a headline that the Leeds owner wanted a breakaway league of 16 clubs to make a 2nd PL type competition

Not too sure what difference a premier league 2 will make!

I saw a headline that the Leeds owner wanted a breakaway league of 16 clubs to make a 2nd PL type competition

I saw a headline that the Leeds owner wanted a breakaway league of 16 clubs to make a 2nd PL type competition

One of Rupert Lowe's things was a PL2, prob 10 or 15 years ago now. Remember at the time hearing a piece where he said we were a 'top 30' club and bracketing us with Watford, Ipswich, and possibly Forest too.

Guess the only diff to the current set-up would be they divide the TV money more widely, so less money for us and more money for the 20 teams below us. Big 6 would continue to dominate but a more competetive field below.

I'm sort of coming round to the idea of a 16 team PL1 and a 20 team PL2 with 6! up and 6! down. The Big 6 can beat up a different set of minnows each year, the dug outs can stay as permanent mid-table mediocrities, everybody else can play for their place, none of this limping to 40 points/happy to stay up nonsense. In PL2 with 6 up and maybe 4 down, just about every game would have something on it.

More time for European football, International breaks, overseas tours, a proper mid-winter break, etc. Fewer league games, more room for a focus on the cup comps.

Never happen but it would be a better model for us than where we are at the moment!