Sport Republic

[SaintNewForest]

I'll give them some credit here; 

Its genuinely impressive how, despite spending a fair whack of money in their time here, and yet, every season, they've somehow made the squad worse than the year before. 

[sfc4prem]

Am I wrong for expecting squad quality to reduce after being relegated? I thought that would be a guarantee and would be expected?

Please help me with this one.

I only ask because it seems to be a common gripe that our squad has gotten worse?

[LGTL]

1 minute ago, sfc4prem said:

Am I wrong for expecting squad quality to reduce after being relegated? I thought that would be a guarantee and would be expected?

Please help me with this one.

I only ask because it seems to be a common gripe that our squad has gotten worse?

We finished on 12 points, and had a worse squad than the season before. It actually wasn’t that difficult at all to make the squad better. That’s if you don’t have these fucking jokers in charge, of course. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

I think the most frustrating thing is we can all say how simple it can be. Target and buy players that have played at the required level or are on the fringes already at a higher level.

Don’t target unknowns or youth players and expect them to work.

They have to really pull something out the bag over the next seven days and I honestly don’t see it.

[tdmickey3]

5 minutes ago, sfc4prem said:

Am I wrong for expecting squad quality to reduce after being relegated? I thought that would be a guarantee and would be expected?

Please help me with this one.

I only ask because it seems to be a common gripe that our squad has gotten worse?

The acceptance of the low end of mediocrity 

[sfc4prem]

Just now, tdmickey3 said:

The acceptance of the low end of mediocrity 

I mean, more often than not relegated teams have to sell their best players, right?

 

We were always going to lose the likes of KWP, Fernandes and Dibling.

Surely it is agreed that to get in a replacement of better or equal quality would be fucking tough for a relegated club?

[tdmickey3]

1 minute ago, sfc4prem said:

I mean, more often than not relegated teams have to sell their best players, right?

 

We were always going to lose the likes of KWP, Fernandes and Dibling.

Surely it is agreed that to get in a replacement of better or equal quality would be fucking tough for a relegated club?

True but we seem to be reducing it

[LGTL]

3 minutes ago, sfc4prem said:

I mean, more often than not relegated teams have to sell their best players, right?

 

We were always going to lose the likes of KWP, Fernandes and Dibling.

Surely it is agreed that to get in a replacement of better or equal quality would be fucking tough for a relegated club?

Nobody expects to keep those three or Ramsdale. But we’ve currently signed 3 reserve players, and pretty shit reserve players at that. We’re already 3 games into the season. It’s a joke. 

[S-Clarke]

2 minutes ago, sfc4prem said:

I mean, more often than not relegated teams have to sell their best players, right?

 

We were always going to lose the likes of KWP, Fernandes and Dibling.

Surely it is agreed that to get in a replacement of better or equal quality would be fucking tough for a relegated club?

Not necessary, I mean it shouldn't be too hard for us to improve on Aribo at CB, BBD on the left wing or Smallbone in CM - that shouldn't be too hard. It's like we're talking as if we had a team full of PL stars, we really didn't this time - last time out we were relegated, we had a decent cohort of PL players, not so much this time though. If Sunderland can attract players like Enzo Le Fee at this level, then I'd expect us to be able to as well.

We've still got a week and a lot can change, and it needs to.

[S-Clarke]

I thought I'd summarise what SR have given us since 2022, it isn't pretty reading. It's quite scary really, more suited to Halloween viewing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Season 1 - Established PL club, albeit hovering at this point.

ABK - £12m. An absolute fail.

Gavin Bazunu - £14m. An absolute fail

Romeo Lavia - 8m - A success, credit them with that.

Charly - £10m - A success in my eyes, just poorly executed by management.

Sekou Mara - £10m - An absolute fail.

Joe Aribo - £6m - Not great, let's be honest. A squad filler signing for the level at that stage, not a quality enhancement.

Caleta-Car - £8m - A really poor addition at the wrong time. Fail.

Larios - £5m - Why? Pointless.

Edozie - £5m - A fail.

Orsic - £5m - I mean, wtf.

Sulemana - £21m - A total fail.

Onuachu - £18m - A total fail

Ainsley Maitland Niles - Loan - A total fail.

Mateusz Lis - Why?

Story of the mangers - Backed Ralph, sacked Ralph, appointed Jones, backed Jones, sacked Jones, appointed Selles, sacked Selles.

Story of the DoF - Brought in Shields, he stayed a couple of months and then buggered off to leave us with no one in a DoF role - supposedly Rasmus stepped into the void.

 

Season 2 (After they'd relegated us)

Shea Charles - £12m. We needed better than a kid who hadn't played pro football at any level. He's a good kid and a good prospect, but it was the wrong priority at that point.

Ross Sewart - £9m - A total failure.

Ryan Manning - Free - Decent, squad player at best really at higher levels.

Holgate - Loan - wtf?

Lumley - Free – pointless squad padding.

THB - Loan - Good pick up.

Downes - loan - for the level, good pick up.

Brooks - loan - for the level, another good pickup. Poorly used though.

Fraser - loan - good pickup at the time on a loan to help squad depth.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin, who sneaked over the line.

Story of the Dof - Hired Wilcox in the summer, he stayed until the spring and did a runner. We then went into PL planning mode without a DoF.

 

Season 3 - Back in the prem

THB - £20m obligation - fair enough, that was already agreed.

Downes - £17m - I don't think anyone argued that one at the time, but he's not been a success since.

Archer - £15m - A failure

Ramsdale - £21m - A good addition forced because Bazunu was injured.

Fernandes - £15m - A success, credit to them for this one.

Brereton-Diaz - £8m - A total fail.

Suguwara - £6m - Another total fail

Nathan Wood - £3m - A low cost signing. Hard to say if he's a success though, seemed a rather pointless addition at the time.

Ronne Edwards - £3m - Too early to say, but I think he has potential. A low cost addition. I don't think we needed both Wood and Edwards though, one would have been fine - two is just squad pointless padding.

Ryan Fraser - free - Why? We got what we needed from him the season prior, we didn't need to sign him perm.

Adam Lallana - free - fail, pointless signing in the context of what we needed.

Charlie Taylor - free - fail, pointless signing again.

Maxwell Cornet - loan - i mean....

Gronbaek - loan - another WTF

Ugochukwu - loan - he was OK, would be better with better players.

Juan - free - what's the point? He's not even here anymore.

Matsuki - free? - he may come good, but I don't see it yet.

Wellington - free - Not sure yet, didn't cost anything though.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin (naively), sacked Martin, appointed Juric, Sacked Juric, appointed Rusk, sacked Rusk.

Story of the DoF - Went into the season without a full DoF, we relied on Mark Bitcon and Martin. Spors came in during Feburary of that season.

 

Season 4 - Relegated again.

Damion Downs - £6m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Quarshie - £3m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Mads Rosorlev - £3-5m? - Looks a sensible addition for a change, hopefully works out.

George Long - Loan - Pointless squad padding which doesn't improve us at all.

Story of the managers - Still appointed, so far not truly backed it has to be said.

Story of the DoF - We still have Spors in charge, it'll be interesting to see if he sticks around a full year.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

So we've splurged around £200m + during their first 3 full seasons in charge. (being generous to take into account that total fees may not have been paid at this point for some players) Over 40 players signed - including loans, perms and frees.

Maybe 5 or 6 good player picks from the above (probably being generous)? There will always be fail rates with transfers - 100% appreciate that, but our record is just catastrophic when you look at it across several windows, you can see the same mistakes being made over and over again, with managers and the DoF's.

We've likely made most of that money back, with the big sales of Tino, JWP, Tella, Lavia, Dibling and co - but they've got lucky with that.  Had it not been for our academy they'd have been absolutely screwed and our club would be on it's knees financially.

We've spent a decent chunk of money for a club of our size, but the people making the picks are consistently making the wrong managerial and player picks.

As a fan base we have some hope, maybe somewhat misguided, that this summer will be better as there's supposedly been a change up. It will be interesting to revisit this after August and around Christmas to see where this season sits in terms of decision making.

If they've mucked it up again then I'm sorry to say there there is simply no way back for them and they have to be shown the door ASAP. I think they're lucky the fan base has been as passive as it has up to this point imo, because their management of us has been a disgrace.

[saintant]

2 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I thought I'd summarise what SR have given us since 2022, it isn't pretty reading. It's quite scary really, more suited to Halloween viewing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Season 1 - Established PL club, albeit hovering at this point.

ABK - £12m. An absolute fail.

Gavin Bazunu - £14m. An absolute fail

Romeo Lavia - 8m - A success, credit them with that.

Charly - £10m - A success in my eyes, just poorly executed by management.

Sekou Mara - £10m - An absolute fail.

Joe Aribo - £6m - Not great, let's be honest. A squad filler signing for the level at that stage, not a quality enhancement.

Caleta-Car - £8m - A really poor addition at the wrong time. Fail.

Larios - £5m - Why? Pointless.

Edozie - £5m - A fail.

Orsic - £5m - I mean, wtf.

Sulemana - £21m - A total fail.

Onuachu - £18m - A total fail

Ainsley Maitland Niles - Loan - A total fail.

Mateusz Lis - Why?

Story of the mangers - Backed Ralph, sacked Ralph, appointed Jones, backed Jones, sacked Jones, appointed Selles, sacked Selles.

Story of the DoF - Brought in Shields, he stayed a couple of months and then buggered off to leave us with no one in a DoF role - supposedly Rasmus stepped into the void.

 

Season 2 (After they'd relegated us)

Shea Charles - £12m. We needed better than a kid who hadn't played pro football at any level. He's a good kid and a good prospect, but it was the wrong priority at that point.

Ross Sewart - £9m - A total failure.

Ryan Manning - Free - Decent, squad player at best really at higher levels.

Holgate - Loan - wtf?

Lumley - Free – pointless squad padding.

THB - Loan - Good pick up.

Downes - loan - for the level, good pick up.

Brooks - loan - for the level, another good pickup. Poorly used though.

Fraser - loan - good pickup at the time on a loan to help squad depth.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin, who sneaked over the line.

Story of the Dof - Hired Wilcox in the summer, he stayed until the spring and did a runner. We then went into PL planning mode without a DoF.

 

Season 3 - Back in the prem

THB - £20m obligation - fair enough, that was already agreed.

Downes - £17m - I don't think anyone argued that one at the time, but he's not been a success since.

Archer - £15m - A failure

Ramsdale - £21m - A good addition forced because Bazunu was injured.

Fernandes - £15m - A success, credit to them for this one.

Brereton-Diaz - £8m - A total fail.

Suguwara - £6m - Another total fail

Nathan Wood - £3m - A low cost signing. Hard to say if he's a success though, seemed a rather pointless addition at the time.

Ronne Edwards - £3m - Too early to say, but I think he has potential. A low cost addition. I don't think we needed both Wood and Edwards though, one would have been fine - two is just squad pointless padding.

Ryan Fraser - free - Why? We got what we needed from him the season prior, we didn't need to sign him perm.

Adam Lallana - free - fail, pointless signing in the context of what we needed.

Charlie Taylor - free - fail, pointless signing again.

Maxwell Cornet - loan - i mean....

Gronbaek - loan - another WTF

Ugochukwu - loan - he was OK, would be better with better players.

Juan - free - what's the point? He's not even here anymore.

Matsuki - free? - he may come good, but I don't see it yet.

Wellington - free - Not sure yet, didn't cost anything though.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin (naively), sacked Martin, appointed Juric, Sacked Juric, appointed Rusk, sacked Rusk.

Story of the DoF - Went into the season without a full DoF, we relied on Mark Bitcon and Martin. Spors came in during Feburary of that season.

 

Season 4 - Relegated again.

Damion Downs - £6m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Quarshie - £3m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Mads Rosorlev - £3-5m? - Looks a sensible addition for a change, hopefully works out.

George Long - Loan - Pointless squad padding which doesn't improve us at all.

Story of the managers - Still appointed, so far not truly backed it has to be said.

Story of the DoF - We still have Spors in charge, it'll be interesting to see if he sticks around a full year.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

So we've splurged around £200m + during their first 3 full seasons in charge. (being generous to take into account that total fees may not have been paid at this point for some players) Over 40 players signed - including loans, perms and frees.

Maybe 5 or 6 good player picks from the above (probably being generous)? There will always be fail rates with transfers - 100% appreciate that, but our record is just catastrophic when you look at it across several windows, you can see the same mistakes being made over and over again, with managers and the DoF's.

We've likely made most of that money back, with the big sales of Tino, JWP, Tella, Lavia, Dibling and co - but they've got lucky with that.  Had it not been for our academy they'd have been absolutely screwed and our club would be on it's knees financially.

We've spent a decent chunk of money for a club of our size, but the people making the picks are consistently making the wrong managerial and player picks.

As a fan base we have some hope, maybe somewhat misguided, that this summer will be better as there's supposedly been a change up. It will be interesting to revisit this after August and around Christmas to see where this season sits in terms of decision making.

If they've mucked it up again then I'm sorry to say there there is simply no way back for them and they have to be shown the door ASAP. I think they're lucky the fan base has been as passive as it has up to this point imo, because their management of us has been a disgrace.

It feels bad but seeing it laid out in chronological order it looks absolutely horrendous. Almost wish you hadn't shared these details 🙂

[AlexLaw76]

6 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I thought I'd summarise what SR have given us since 2022, it isn't pretty reading. It's quite scary really, more suited to Halloween viewing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Season 1 - Established PL club, albeit hovering at this point.

ABK - £12m. An absolute fail.

Gavin Bazunu - £14m. An absolute fail

Romeo Lavia - 8m - A success, credit them with that.

Charly - £10m - A success in my eyes, just poorly executed by management.

Sekou Mara - £10m - An absolute fail.

Joe Aribo - £6m - Not great, let's be honest. A squad filler signing for the level at that stage, not a quality enhancement.

Caleta-Car - £8m - A really poor addition at the wrong time. Fail.

Larios - £5m - Why? Pointless.

Edozie - £5m - A fail.

Orsic - £5m - I mean, wtf.

Sulemana - £21m - A total fail.

Onuachu - £18m - A total fail

Ainsley Maitland Niles - Loan - A total fail.

Mateusz Lis - Why?

Story of the mangers - Backed Ralph, sacked Ralph, appointed Jones, backed Jones, sacked Jones, appointed Selles, sacked Selles.

Story of the DoF - Brought in Shields, he stayed a couple of months and then buggered off to leave us with no one in a DoF role - supposedly Rasmus stepped into the void.

 

Season 2 (After they'd relegated us)

Shea Charles - £12m. We needed better than a kid who hadn't played pro football at any level. He's a good kid and a good prospect, but it was the wrong priority at that point.

Ross Sewart - £9m - A total failure.

Ryan Manning - Free - Decent, squad player at best really at higher levels.

Holgate - Loan - wtf?

Lumley - Free – pointless squad padding.

THB - Loan - Good pick up.

Downes - loan - for the level, good pick up.

Brooks - loan - for the level, another good pickup. Poorly used though.

Fraser - loan - good pickup at the time on a loan to help squad depth.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin, who sneaked over the line.

Story of the Dof - Hired Wilcox in the summer, he stayed until the spring and did a runner. We then went into PL planning mode without a DoF.

 

Season 3 - Back in the prem

THB - £20m obligation - fair enough, that was already agreed.

Downes - £17m - I don't think anyone argued that one at the time, but he's not been a success since.

Archer - £15m - A failure

Ramsdale - £21m - A good addition forced because Bazunu was injured.

Fernandes - £15m - A success, credit to them for this one.

Brereton-Diaz - £8m - A total fail.

Suguwara - £6m - Another total fail

Nathan Wood - £3m - A low cost signing. Hard to say if he's a success though, seemed a rather pointless addition at the time.

Ronne Edwards - £3m - Too early to say, but I think he has potential. A low cost addition. I don't think we needed both Wood and Edwards though, one would have been fine - two is just squad pointless padding.

Ryan Fraser - free - Why? We got what we needed from him the season prior, we didn't need to sign him perm.

Adam Lallana - free - fail, pointless signing in the context of what we needed.

Charlie Taylor - free - fail, pointless signing again.

Maxwell Cornet - loan - i mean....

Gronbaek - loan - another WTF

Ugochukwu - loan - he was OK, would be better with better players.

Juan - free - what's the point? He's not even here anymore.

Matsuki - free? - he may come good, but I don't see it yet.

Wellington - free - Not sure yet, didn't cost anything though.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin (naively), sacked Martin, appointed Juric, Sacked Juric, appointed Rusk, sacked Rusk.

Story of the DoF - Went into the season without a full DoF, we relied on Mark Bitcon and Martin. Spors came in during Feburary of that season.

 

Season 4 - Relegated again.

Damion Downs - £6m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Quarshie - £3m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Mads Rosorlev - £3-5m? - Looks a sensible addition for a change, hopefully works out.

George Long - Loan - Pointless squad padding which doesn't improve us at all.

Story of the managers - Still appointed, so far not truly backed it has to be said.

Story of the DoF - We still have Spors in charge, it'll be interesting to see if he sticks around a full year.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

So we've splurged around £200m + during their first 3 full seasons in charge. (being generous to take into account that total fees may not have been paid at this point for some players) Over 40 players signed - including loans, perms and frees.

Maybe 5 or 6 good player picks from the above (probably being generous)? There will always be fail rates with transfers - 100% appreciate that, but our record is just catastrophic when you look at it across several windows, you can see the same mistakes being made over and over again, with managers and the DoF's.

We've likely made most of that money back, with the big sales of Tino, JWP, Tella, Lavia, Dibling and co - but they've got lucky with that.  Had it not been for our academy they'd have been absolutely screwed and our club would be on it's knees financially.

We've spent a decent chunk of money for a club of our size, but the people making the picks are consistently making the wrong managerial and player picks.

As a fan base we have some hope, maybe somewhat misguided, that this summer will be better as there's supposedly been a change up. It will be interesting to revisit this after August and around Christmas to see where this season sits in terms of decision making.

If they've mucked it up again then I'm sorry to say there there is simply no way back for them and they have to be shown the door ASAP. I think they're lucky the fan base has been as passive as it has up to this point imo, because their management of us has been a disgrace.

I hate you 😞

Thanks for sharing 🤪

Many other clubs would be protesting the shit out of this kind of success rate

[S-Clarke]

2 minutes ago, saintant said:

It feels bad but seeing it laid out in chronological order it looks absolutely horrendous. Almost wish you hadn't shared these details 🙂

I wanted to just go back through and get a real picture, rather than sitting here thinking I'm going OTT over the signing of George Long and actually we're in good hands overall.

But we're not.

[Gloucester Saint]

That grisly tableau from @S-Clarke is why SR are finished as far as most Saints are concerned and even a good rest of the week (as if) won’t save them.

[Maggie May]

8 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I thought I'd summarise what SR have given us since 2022, it isn't pretty reading. It's quite scary really, more suited to Halloween viewing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Season 1 - Established PL club, albeit hovering at this point.

ABK - £12m. An absolute fail.

Gavin Bazunu - £14m. An absolute fail

Romeo Lavia - 8m - A success, credit them with that.

Charly - £10m - A success in my eyes, just poorly executed by management.

Sekou Mara - £10m - An absolute fail.

Joe Aribo - £6m - Not great, let's be honest. A squad filler signing for the level at that stage, not a quality enhancement.

Caleta-Car - £8m - A really poor addition at the wrong time. Fail.

Larios - £5m - Why? Pointless.

Edozie - £5m - A fail.

Orsic - £5m - I mean, wtf.

Sulemana - £21m - A total fail.

Onuachu - £18m - A total fail

Ainsley Maitland Niles - Loan - A total fail.

Mateusz Lis - Why?

Story of the mangers - Backed Ralph, sacked Ralph, appointed Jones, backed Jones, sacked Jones, appointed Selles, sacked Selles.

Story of the DoF - Brought in Shields, he stayed a couple of months and then buggered off to leave us with no one in a DoF role - supposedly Rasmus stepped into the void.

 

Season 2 (After they'd relegated us)

Shea Charles - £12m. We needed better than a kid who hadn't played pro football at any level. He's a good kid and a good prospect, but it was the wrong priority at that point.

Ross Sewart - £9m - A total failure.

Ryan Manning - Free - Decent, squad player at best really at higher levels.

Holgate - Loan - wtf?

Lumley - Free – pointless squad padding.

THB - Loan - Good pick up.

Downes - loan - for the level, good pick up.

Brooks - loan - for the level, another good pickup. Poorly used though.

Fraser - loan - good pickup at the time on a loan to help squad depth.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin, who sneaked over the line.

Story of the Dof - Hired Wilcox in the summer, he stayed until the spring and did a runner. We then went into PL planning mode without a DoF.

 

Season 3 - Back in the prem

THB - £20m obligation - fair enough, that was already agreed.

Downes - £17m - I don't think anyone argued that one at the time, but he's not been a success since.

Archer - £15m - A failure

Ramsdale - £21m - A good addition forced because Bazunu was injured.

Fernandes - £15m - A success, credit to them for this one.

Brereton-Diaz - £8m - A total fail.

Suguwara - £6m - Another total fail

Nathan Wood - £3m - A low cost signing. Hard to say if he's a success though, seemed a rather pointless addition at the time.

Ronne Edwards - £3m - Too early to say, but I think he has potential. A low cost addition. I don't think we needed both Wood and Edwards though, one would have been fine - two is just squad pointless padding.

Ryan Fraser - free - Why? We got what we needed from him the season prior, we didn't need to sign him perm.

Adam Lallana - free - fail, pointless signing in the context of what we needed.

Charlie Taylor - free - fail, pointless signing again.

Maxwell Cornet - loan - i mean....

Gronbaek - loan - another WTF

Ugochukwu - loan - he was OK, would be better with better players.

Juan - free - what's the point? He's not even here anymore.

Matsuki - free? - he may come good, but I don't see it yet.

Wellington - free - Not sure yet, didn't cost anything though.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin (naively), sacked Martin, appointed Juric, Sacked Juric, appointed Rusk, sacked Rusk.

Story of the DoF - Went into the season without a full DoF, we relied on Mark Bitcon and Martin. Spors came in during Feburary of that season.

 

Season 4 - Relegated again.

Damion Downs - £6m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Quarshie - £3m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Mads Rosorlev - £3-5m? - Looks a sensible addition for a change, hopefully works out.

George Long - Loan - Pointless squad padding which doesn't improve us at all.

Story of the managers - Still appointed, so far not truly backed it has to be said.

Story of the DoF - We still have Spors in charge, it'll be interesting to see if he sticks around a full year.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

So we've splurged around £200m + during their first 3 full seasons in charge. (being generous to take into account that total fees may not have been paid at this point for some players) Over 40 players signed - including loans, perms and frees.

Maybe 5 or 6 good player picks from the above (probably being generous)? There will always be fail rates with transfers - 100% appreciate that, but our record is just catastrophic when you look at it across several windows, you can see the same mistakes being made over and over again, with managers and the DoF's.

We've likely made most of that money back, with the big sales of Tino, JWP, Tella, Lavia, Dibling and co - but they've got lucky with that.  Had it not been for our academy they'd have been absolutely screwed and our club would be on it's knees financially.

We've spent a decent chunk of money for a club of our size, but the people making the picks are consistently making the wrong managerial and player picks.

As a fan base we have some hope, maybe somewhat misguided, that this summer will be better as there's supposedly been a change up. It will be interesting to revisit this after August and around Christmas to see where this season sits in terms of decision making.

If they've mucked it up again then I'm sorry to say there there is simply no way back for them and they have to be shown the door ASAP. I think they're lucky the fan base has been as passive as it has up to this point imo, because their management of us has been a disgrace.

Thanks for taking the time to write up this post.

For me, the obvious take away from this is we need patience.  We only signed two players for a fee during our last Championship season - the rest were made up of loans and frees.  That makes Martin’s job even more impressive, IMO.

The new signings will come now Dibling has gone. 

[S-Clarke]

Just now, Maggie May said:

Thanks for taking the time to write up this post.

For me, the obvious take away from this is we need patience.  We only signed two players for a fee during our last Championship season - the rest were made up of loans and frees.  That makes Martin’s job even more impressive, IMO.

The new signings will come now Dibling has gone. 

I mean, after 3 full seasons the patience is somewhat wearing thin it has to be said.

How long do you give them?

[Maggie May]

 

5 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I mean, after 3 full seasons the patience is somewhat wearing thin it has to be said.

How long do you give them?

Considering the some of the sh*te we’ve endured in my 30-odd years supporting Saints, I’d say a little bit longer…

Edited August 25 by Maggie May

[saintant]

5 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I mean, after 3 full seasons the patience is somewhat wearing thin it has to be said.

How long do you give them?

Don't know but you have justified the bed wetting 🙂

[Turkish]

31 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I thought I'd summarise what SR have given us since 2022, it isn't pretty reading. It's quite scary really, more suited to Halloween viewing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Season 1 - Established PL club, albeit hovering at this point.

ABK - £12m. An absolute fail.

Gavin Bazunu - £14m. An absolute fail

Romeo Lavia - 8m - A success, credit them with that.

Charly - £10m - A success in my eyes, just poorly executed by management.

Sekou Mara - £10m - An absolute fail.

Joe Aribo - £6m - Not great, let's be honest. A squad filler signing for the level at that stage, not a quality enhancement.

Caleta-Car - £8m - A really poor addition at the wrong time. Fail.

Larios - £5m - Why? Pointless.

Edozie - £5m - A fail.

Orsic - £5m - I mean, wtf.

Sulemana - £21m - A total fail.

Onuachu - £18m - A total fail

Ainsley Maitland Niles - Loan - A total fail.

Mateusz Lis - Why?

Story of the mangers - Backed Ralph, sacked Ralph, appointed Jones, backed Jones, sacked Jones, appointed Selles, sacked Selles.

Story of the DoF - Brought in Shields, he stayed a couple of months and then buggered off to leave us with no one in a DoF role - supposedly Rasmus stepped into the void.

 

Season 2 (After they'd relegated us)

Shea Charles - £12m. We needed better than a kid who hadn't played pro football at any level. He's a good kid and a good prospect, but it was the wrong priority at that point.

Ross Sewart - £9m - A total failure.

Ryan Manning - Free - Decent, squad player at best really at higher levels.

Holgate - Loan - wtf?

Lumley - Free – pointless squad padding.

THB - Loan - Good pick up.

Downes - loan - for the level, good pick up.

Brooks - loan - for the level, another good pickup. Poorly used though.

Fraser - loan - good pickup at the time on a loan to help squad depth.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin, who sneaked over the line.

Story of the Dof - Hired Wilcox in the summer, he stayed until the spring and did a runner. We then went into PL planning mode without a DoF.

 

Season 3 - Back in the prem

THB - £20m obligation - fair enough, that was already agreed.

Downes - £17m - I don't think anyone argued that one at the time, but he's not been a success since.

Archer - £15m - A failure

Ramsdale - £21m - A good addition forced because Bazunu was injured.

Fernandes - £15m - A success, credit to them for this one.

Brereton-Diaz - £8m - A total fail.

Suguwara - £6m - Another total fail

Nathan Wood - £3m - A low cost signing. Hard to say if he's a success though, seemed a rather pointless addition at the time.

Ronne Edwards - £3m - Too early to say, but I think he has potential. A low cost addition. I don't think we needed both Wood and Edwards though, one would have been fine - two is just squad pointless padding.

Ryan Fraser - free - Why? We got what we needed from him the season prior, we didn't need to sign him perm.

Adam Lallana - free - fail, pointless signing in the context of what we needed.

Charlie Taylor - free - fail, pointless signing again.

Maxwell Cornet - loan - i mean....

Gronbaek - loan - another WTF

Ugochukwu - loan - he was OK, would be better with better players.

Juan - free - what's the point? He's not even here anymore.

Matsuki - free? - he may come good, but I don't see it yet.

Wellington - free - Not sure yet, didn't cost anything though.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin (naively), sacked Martin, appointed Juric, Sacked Juric, appointed Rusk, sacked Rusk.

Story of the DoF - Went into the season without a full DoF, we relied on Mark Bitcon and Martin. Spors came in during Feburary of that season.

 

Season 4 - Relegated again.

Damion Downs - £6m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Quarshie - £3m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Mads Rosorlev - £3-5m? - Looks a sensible addition for a change, hopefully works out.

George Long - Loan - Pointless squad padding which doesn't improve us at all.

Story of the managers - Still appointed, so far not truly backed it has to be said.

Story of the DoF - We still have Spors in charge, it'll be interesting to see if he sticks around a full year.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

So we've splurged around £200m + during their first 3 full seasons in charge. (being generous to take into account that total fees may not have been paid at this point for some players) Over 40 players signed - including loans, perms and frees.

Maybe 5 or 6 good player picks from the above (probably being generous)? There will always be fail rates with transfers - 100% appreciate that, but our record is just catastrophic when you look at it across several windows, you can see the same mistakes being made over and over again, with managers and the DoF's.

We've likely made most of that money back, with the big sales of Tino, JWP, Tella, Lavia, Dibling and co - but they've got lucky with that.  Had it not been for our academy they'd have been absolutely screwed and our club would be on it's knees financially.

We've spent a decent chunk of money for a club of our size, but the people making the picks are consistently making the wrong managerial and player picks.

As a fan base we have some hope, maybe somewhat misguided, that this summer will be better as there's supposedly been a change up. It will be interesting to revisit this after August and around Christmas to see where this season sits in terms of decision making.

If they've mucked it up again then I'm sorry to say there there is simply no way back for them and they have to be shown the door ASAP. I think they're lucky the fan base has been as passive as it has up to this point imo, because their management of us has been a disgrace.

All fair and accurate and it’s been a disaster however they own the club, they can’t just be “shown the door” because there is “no way back” for them. to go someone has to buy us which isn’t going to be easy as it seems like we’re in shit loads of debt too which is only going to get worse if we don’t go up this or next season 

even if we do go up the club seems to have adopted a dare i say it, yo yo strategy with profit to come from player trading not on field performance. 
 

From boardroom appointments to mangers to players it’s difficult to see how they could have got more wrong. In optimistic about the appointment of Will Stlll but Im starting to think he won’t be backed properly and it’s been an awful window so far so it’s no overstatement to say the next week is the biggest in the club since they got here 

Edited August 25 by Turkish

[trousers]

32 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I thought I'd summarise what SR have given us since 2022, it isn't pretty reading. It's quite scary really, more suited to Halloween viewing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Season 1 - Established PL club, albeit hovering at this point.

ABK - £12m. An absolute fail.

Gavin Bazunu - £14m. An absolute fail

Romeo Lavia - 8m - A success, credit them with that.

Charly - £10m - A success in my eyes, just poorly executed by management.

Sekou Mara - £10m - An absolute fail.

Joe Aribo - £6m - Not great, let's be honest. A squad filler signing for the level at that stage, not a quality enhancement.

Caleta-Car - £8m - A really poor addition at the wrong time. Fail.

Larios - £5m - Why? Pointless.

Edozie - £5m - A fail.

Orsic - £5m - I mean, wtf.

Sulemana - £21m - A total fail.

Onuachu - £18m - A total fail

Ainsley Maitland Niles - Loan - A total fail.

Mateusz Lis - Why?

Story of the mangers - Backed Ralph, sacked Ralph, appointed Jones, backed Jones, sacked Jones, appointed Selles, sacked Selles.

Story of the DoF - Brought in Shields, he stayed a couple of months and then buggered off to leave us with no one in a DoF role - supposedly Rasmus stepped into the void.

 

Season 2 (After they'd relegated us)

Shea Charles - £12m. We needed better than a kid who hadn't played pro football at any level. He's a good kid and a good prospect, but it was the wrong priority at that point.

Ross Sewart - £9m - A total failure.

Ryan Manning - Free - Decent, squad player at best really at higher levels.

Holgate - Loan - wtf?

Lumley - Free – pointless squad padding.

THB - Loan - Good pick up.

Downes - loan - for the level, good pick up.

Brooks - loan - for the level, another good pickup. Poorly used though.

Fraser - loan - good pickup at the time on a loan to help squad depth.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin, who sneaked over the line.

Story of the Dof - Hired Wilcox in the summer, he stayed until the spring and did a runner. We then went into PL planning mode without a DoF.

 

Season 3 - Back in the prem

THB - £20m obligation - fair enough, that was already agreed.

Downes - £17m - I don't think anyone argued that one at the time, but he's not been a success since.

Archer - £15m - A failure

Ramsdale - £21m - A good addition forced because Bazunu was injured.

Fernandes - £15m - A success, credit to them for this one.

Brereton-Diaz - £8m - A total fail.

Suguwara - £6m - Another total fail

Nathan Wood - £3m - A low cost signing. Hard to say if he's a success though, seemed a rather pointless addition at the time.

Ronne Edwards - £3m - Too early to say, but I think he has potential. A low cost addition. I don't think we needed both Wood and Edwards though, one would have been fine - two is just squad pointless padding.

Ryan Fraser - free - Why? We got what we needed from him the season prior, we didn't need to sign him perm.

Adam Lallana - free - fail, pointless signing in the context of what we needed.

Charlie Taylor - free - fail, pointless signing again.

Maxwell Cornet - loan - i mean....

Gronbaek - loan - another WTF

Ugochukwu - loan - he was OK, would be better with better players.

Juan - free - what's the point? He's not even here anymore.

Matsuki - free? - he may come good, but I don't see it yet.

Wellington - free - Not sure yet, didn't cost anything though.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin (naively), sacked Martin, appointed Juric, Sacked Juric, appointed Rusk, sacked Rusk.

Story of the DoF - Went into the season without a full DoF, we relied on Mark Bitcon and Martin. Spors came in during Feburary of that season.

 

Season 4 - Relegated again.

Damion Downs - £6m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Quarshie - £3m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Mads Rosorlev - £3-5m? - Looks a sensible addition for a change, hopefully works out.

George Long - Loan - Pointless squad padding which doesn't improve us at all.

Story of the managers - Still appointed, so far not truly backed it has to be said.

Story of the DoF - We still have Spors in charge, it'll be interesting to see if he sticks around a full year.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

So we've splurged around £200m + during their first 3 full seasons in charge. (being generous to take into account that total fees may not have been paid at this point for some players) Over 40 players signed - including loans, perms and frees.

Maybe 5 or 6 good player picks from the above (probably being generous)? There will always be fail rates with transfers - 100% appreciate that, but our record is just catastrophic when you look at it across several windows, you can see the same mistakes being made over and over again, with managers and the DoF's.

We've likely made most of that money back, with the big sales of Tino, JWP, Tella, Lavia, Dibling and co - but they've got lucky with that.  Had it not been for our academy they'd have been absolutely screwed and our club would be on it's knees financially.

We've spent a decent chunk of money for a club of our size, but the people making the picks are consistently making the wrong managerial and player picks.

As a fan base we have some hope, maybe somewhat misguided, that this summer will be better as there's supposedly been a change up. It will be interesting to revisit this after August and around Christmas to see where this season sits in terms of decision making.

If they've mucked it up again then I'm sorry to say there there is simply no way back for them and they have to be shown the door ASAP. I think they're lucky the fan base has been as passive as it has up to this point imo, because their management of us has been a disgrace.

Cheers @S-Clarke for going to the trouble of documenting our transfer history under SR.... Grim reading indeed.

This post needs to be pinned somewhere so it's easily referenced after every inept SR transfer window...

Edited August 25 by trousers

[Turkish]

Just to add we’ve got a climbing wall and a bar named after a tree in the new forest it’s not all Bad

[Osvaldorama]

38 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I thought I'd summarise what SR have given us since 2022, it isn't pretty reading. It's quite scary really, more suited to Halloween viewing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Season 1 - Established PL club, albeit hovering at this point.

ABK - £12m. An absolute fail.

Gavin Bazunu - £14m. An absolute fail

Romeo Lavia - 8m - A success, credit them with that.

Charly - £10m - A success in my eyes, just poorly executed by management.

Sekou Mara - £10m - An absolute fail.

Joe Aribo - £6m - Not great, let's be honest. A squad filler signing for the level at that stage, not a quality enhancement.

Caleta-Car - £8m - A really poor addition at the wrong time. Fail.

Larios - £5m - Why? Pointless.

Edozie - £5m - A fail.

Orsic - £5m - I mean, wtf.

Sulemana - £21m - A total fail.

Onuachu - £18m - A total fail

Ainsley Maitland Niles - Loan - A total fail.

Mateusz Lis - Why?

Story of the mangers - Backed Ralph, sacked Ralph, appointed Jones, backed Jones, sacked Jones, appointed Selles, sacked Selles.

Story of the DoF - Brought in Shields, he stayed a couple of months and then buggered off to leave us with no one in a DoF role - supposedly Rasmus stepped into the void.

 

Season 2 (After they'd relegated us)

Shea Charles - £12m. We needed better than a kid who hadn't played pro football at any level. He's a good kid and a good prospect, but it was the wrong priority at that point.

Ross Sewart - £9m - A total failure.

Ryan Manning - Free - Decent, squad player at best really at higher levels.

Holgate - Loan - wtf?

Lumley - Free – pointless squad padding.

THB - Loan - Good pick up.

Downes - loan - for the level, good pick up.

Brooks - loan - for the level, another good pickup. Poorly used though.

Fraser - loan - good pickup at the time on a loan to help squad depth.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin, who sneaked over the line.

Story of the Dof - Hired Wilcox in the summer, he stayed until the spring and did a runner. We then went into PL planning mode without a DoF.

 

Season 3 - Back in the prem

THB - £20m obligation - fair enough, that was already agreed.

Downes - £17m - I don't think anyone argued that one at the time, but he's not been a success since.

Archer - £15m - A failure

Ramsdale - £21m - A good addition forced because Bazunu was injured.

Fernandes - £15m - A success, credit to them for this one.

Brereton-Diaz - £8m - A total fail.

Suguwara - £6m - Another total fail

Nathan Wood - £3m - A low cost signing. Hard to say if he's a success though, seemed a rather pointless addition at the time.

Ronne Edwards - £3m - Too early to say, but I think he has potential. A low cost addition. I don't think we needed both Wood and Edwards though, one would have been fine - two is just squad pointless padding.

Ryan Fraser - free - Why? We got what we needed from him the season prior, we didn't need to sign him perm.

Adam Lallana - free - fail, pointless signing in the context of what we needed.

Charlie Taylor - free - fail, pointless signing again.

Maxwell Cornet - loan - i mean....

Gronbaek - loan - another WTF

Ugochukwu - loan - he was OK, would be better with better players.

Juan - free - what's the point? He's not even here anymore.

Matsuki - free? - he may come good, but I don't see it yet.

Wellington - free - Not sure yet, didn't cost anything though.

Story of the managers - Backed Martin (naively), sacked Martin, appointed Juric, Sacked Juric, appointed Rusk, sacked Rusk.

Story of the DoF - Went into the season without a full DoF, we relied on Mark Bitcon and Martin. Spors came in during Feburary of that season.

 

Season 4 - Relegated again.

Damion Downs - £6m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Quarshie - £3m - No idea yet, another 'prospect' with potential.

Mads Rosorlev - £3-5m? - Looks a sensible addition for a change, hopefully works out.

George Long - Loan - Pointless squad padding which doesn't improve us at all.

Story of the managers - Still appointed, so far not truly backed it has to be said.

Story of the DoF - We still have Spors in charge, it'll be interesting to see if he sticks around a full year.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

So we've splurged around £200m + during their first 3 full seasons in charge. (being generous to take into account that total fees may not have been paid at this point for some players) Over 40 players signed - including loans, perms and frees.

Maybe 5 or 6 good player picks from the above (probably being generous)? There will always be fail rates with transfers - 100% appreciate that, but our record is just catastrophic when you look at it across several windows, you can see the same mistakes being made over and over again, with managers and the DoF's.

We've likely made most of that money back, with the big sales of Tino, JWP, Tella, Lavia, Dibling and co - but they've got lucky with that.  Had it not been for our academy they'd have been absolutely screwed and our club would be on it's knees financially.

We've spent a decent chunk of money for a club of our size, but the people making the picks are consistently making the wrong managerial and player picks.

As a fan base we have some hope, maybe somewhat misguided, that this summer will be better as there's supposedly been a change up. It will be interesting to revisit this after August and around Christmas to see where this season sits in terms of decision making.

If they've mucked it up again then I'm sorry to say there there is simply no way back for them and they have to be shown the door ASAP. I think they're lucky the fan base has been as passive as it has up to this point imo, because their management of us has been a disgrace.

Jesus Christ. 
 

Anyone trying to defend these fucking charlatans needs to give their head a wobble. 
 

It’s not “bed wetting” to call out sheer incompetence. The sooner these fucking helmets sell the club, the better. 

[ant]

13 minutes ago, trousers said:

Cheers @S-Clarke for going to the trouble of documenting our transfer history under SR.... Grim reading indeed.

This post needs to be pinned somewhere so it's easily referenced after every inept SR transfer window...

Ideally in the bloody boardroom.

[Gloucester Saint]

26 minutes ago, Turkish said:

All fair and accurate and it’s been a disaster however they own the club, they can’t just be “shown the door” because there is “no way back” for them. to go someone has to buy us which isn’t going to be easy as it seems like we’re in shit loads of debt too which is only going to get worse if we don’t go up this or next season 

even if we do go up the club seems to have adopted a dare i say it, yo yo strategy with profit to come from player trading not on field performance. 
 

From boardroom appointments to mangers to players it’s difficult to see how they could have got more wrong. In optimistic about the appointment of Will Stlll but Im starting to think he won’t be backed properly and it’s been an awful window so far so it’s no overstatement to say the next week is the biggest in the club since they got here 

They own SFC, that’s a fact, but what can happen is that 31k crowds become 25k, then 20k, and well, you were around in 08/09 too…

Lowe and chums couldn’t underwrite it, Dragan could but would he want to? He’s not from the area like Coates family at Stoke say with the 365 empire.

Once those parachute payments dry up, it’s like Hotel California, except you tend to leave the Championship the bottom route like we did, Leeds, Norwich, Forest, Derby, Ipswich and Stoke very nearly did last season. 

[LGTL]

….and people think our complaints are really about George Long or that we’re “bed wetting” or whatever. That summary is definitely worth pinning somewhere for easy reference when MLG once again tells us all will be fine. 

[S-Clarke]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

All fair and accurate and it’s been a disaster however they own the club, they can’t just be “shown the door” because there is “no way back” for them. to go someone has to buy us which isn’t going to be easy as it seems like we’re in shit loads of debt too which is only going to get worse if we don’t go up this or next season 

even if we do go up the club seems to have adopted a dare i say it, yo yo strategy with profit to come from player trading not on field performance. 
 

From boardroom appointments to mangers to players it’s difficult to see how they could have got more wrong. In optimistic about the appointment of Will Stlll but Im starting to think he won’t be backed properly and it’s been an awful window so far so it’s no overstatement to say the next week is the biggest in the club since they got here 

I guess what I mean by ''no way back' and 'shown the door', is that as a fan base...we would need to stop being so passive about them and actually give them some genuine shit.

I'm really intrigued to see what we do this week, and the season in front of us. If we're marooned in the Champ come 26/07 then I think as a fan base we can't keep rocking up like it's normal and just 'how it is', that's the sort of attitude which equals mediocrity and mediocrity is dangerous in football, as it's pretty much the route to failure and regression.

[Matthew Le God]

42 minutes ago, LGTL said:

….and people think our complaints are really about George Long or that we’re “bed wetting” or whatever. That summary is definitely worth pinning somewhere for easy reference when MLG once again tells us all will be fine. 

If George Long plays in a league game, I'd be concerned... because he isn't good at this level. He hopefully won't get near the pitch, as it is rare for 3rd choice keepers to do so.

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, Matthew Le God said:

If George Long plays in a league game, I'd be concerned... because he isn't good at this level. He hopefully won't get near the pitch, as it is rare for 3rd choice keepers to do so.

But doesn't that really scream a problem for you? Surley every player we sign 'should' be good enough to play for us, no matter how rare it may be.

If we're signing players that are 100% not good enough to play for us, what's the point? It's just wasted squad padding when we might as well have kept Dylan Moody in that role. 

[Matthew Le God]

Just now, S-Clarke said:

But doesn't that really scream a problem for you? Surley every player we sign 'should' be good enough to play for us, no matter how rare it may be.

If we're signing players that are 100% not good enough to play for us, what's the point? It's just wasted squad padding when we might as well have kept Dylan Moody in that role. 

Do you think 39-year-old Scott Carson at Man City was good enough to play at the level of his teammates? It isn't only Saints with 3rd choice keepers who are the weakest link in the 1st team squad. Pretty much every team does it. 3rd choice keeper is not a role where you are likely to play, so decent players will look elsewhere.

Dylan Moody is 17 years old, it does not really benefit him to spend an entire season on 1st team duty and missing out on some under-21 games where he can develop as a player. The occasional time with the first team would be good so he sees the environment, but he needs to play. 

[S-Clarke]

Just now, Matthew Le God said:

Do you think 39-year-old Scott Carson at Man City was good enough to play at the level of his teammates? It isn't only Saints with 3rd choice keepers who are the weakest link in the 1st team squad. Pretty much every team does it. 3rd choice keeper is not a role where you are likely to play, so decent players will look elsewhere.

Dylan Moody is 17 years old, it does not really benefit him to spend an entire season on 1st team duty and missing out on some under-21 games where he can develop as a player. The occasional time with the first team would be good so he sees the environment, but he needs to play. 

I get the point of Moody in respect of development/game time, but I still think players we sign should be at least good enough to play for us if required. Even more so when the options in front of them are incredibly limited.

It's not like we have Ederson, Ortega, Trafford etc in our ranks.

[Matthew Le God]

6 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I get the point of Moody in respect of development/game time, but I still think players we sign should be at least good enough to play for us if required. Even more so when the options in front of them are incredibly limited.

It's not like we have Ederson, Ortega, Trafford etc in our ranks.

They didn't have Trafford last season when Carson was at the club. So do you think 39-year-old Scott Carson at Man City was good enough to play at the level of his teammates? Because you claimed "Surley every player we sign 'should' be good enough to play for us, no matter how rare it may be".

[S-Clarke]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

They didn't have Trafford last season when Carson was at the club. So do you think 39-year-old Scott Carson at Man City was good enough to play at the level of his teammates? Because you claimed "Surley every player we sign 'should' be good enough to play for us, no matter how rare it may be".

It really is a waste of time arguing with you really. 

McCarthy is already our Carson, we have that sort of stalwart at the club playing that experienced role, and someone I wouldn't have a particular issue with playing once or twice if required, but once or twice tops really. And Carson did play for Man City in the PL, I saw it, I watched it with my own eyes - so they must have believed he was good enough to do so, even a fleeting appearance.

So we've basically got two Carson types at the club based on your description, one worse than the other. So if Bazunu gets injured, we are in a position where two players - who aren't good enough for longevity in the team - will have to play for us, something you said would be rare.

This is the problem people have. Not signing George Long in isolation, it's that the players he is back filling aren't good enough as it is. We needed competition to push an already weak GK group, not make it even weaker - which takes some going.

[Saint86]

14 hours ago, sfc4prem said:

Am I wrong for expecting squad quality to reduce after being relegated? I thought that would be a guarantee and would be expected?

Please help me with this one.

I only ask because it seems to be a common gripe that our squad has gotten worse?

Don't be a dullard.

The squad in 22/23 was stronger than 24/25.

The squad in 23/24 was stronger than 25/26 is (as it stands) - unless I missed a bunch of creative attacking players hiding under a rock somewhere.

One of the only consistent results from sports republic running our club is systematic decline. They've basically got a week left to show they can change that under spors...

And the reality is that it is basically promotion or bust this season, because we cannot afford to get worse again and stay in the champ. Would be better to spend what ever we can on good (but limited to the) champ players to get promoted and then get 12 points again next season, than it would to stay down.

Because if we go through this window, and fail to build a promotion winning squad when we are financially at our strongest for the league, then I have absolutely zero optimism they will be able to deliver it on less money in the future. And since solak is seemingly going nowhere - getting less and less competitive in the champ and eventually relegation to league 1 will be our future for the foreseeable.

Edited August 26 by Saint86

[Gloucester Saint]

Agree @Saint86 and I think the penny has dropped with the overwhelming majority of the fanbase because what’s on here lampoons them as inept clowns, what’s online more broadly SFC-related is far more vicious and hostile towards SR. Announcing Long with another poxy marketing video on the day they sold our best academy product for years, albeit the best they could do in the contract situation, is yet another example of simply not reading the room.

It’s going to boil over on national TV against the skates unless we win that game well and SR are on as sticky a wicket as Martin is up there. Dragan can say he’s going nowhere but when there’s protests and the gates fall from 31k, to 25, to 20, to 15, the underwriting cheques get bigger each season. Just ask Ellis Short. 

[sfc4prem]

53 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Don't be a dullard.

The squad in 22/23 was stronger than 24/25.

The squad in 23/24 was stronger than 25/26 is (as it stands) - unless I missed a bunch of creative attacking players hiding under a rock somewhere.

One of the only consistent results from sports republic running our club is systematic decline. They've basically got a week left to show they can change that under spors...

And the reality is that it is basically promotion or bust this season, because we cannot afford to get worse again and stay in the champ. Would be better to spend what ever we can on good (but limited to the) champ players to get promoted and then get 12 points again next season, than it would to stay down.

Because if we go through this window, and fail to build a promotion winning squad when we are financially at our strongest for the league, then I have absolutely zero optimism they will be able to deliver it on less money in the future. And since solak is seemingly going nowhere - getting less and less competitive in the champ and eventually relegation to league 1 will be our future for the foreseeable.

Fucking depressing

[Dman]

9 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

If George Long plays in a league game, I'd be concerned... because he isn't good at this level. He hopefully won't get near the pitch, as it is rare for 3rd choice keepers to do so.

The problem being, the other 2 keepers in-front of him aren't good enough either. 

We’re just off the back of a game where a top class keeper won the 3 points. That alone should have been an eye opener. 

[Nolan]

34 minutes ago, Dman said:

The problem being, the other 2 keepers in-front of him aren't good enough either. 

We’re just off the back of a game where a top class keeper won the 3 points. That alone should have been an eye opener. 

If it wasnt for a top class save in the Wrexham Game we wouldn't have had the three points.

are we now re-writing history from a Fortnight ago?

[maysie]

52 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Agree @Saint86 and I think the penny has dropped with the overwhelming majority of the fanbase because what’s on here lampoons them as inept clowns, what’s online more broadly SFC-related is far more vicious and hostile towards SR. Announcing Long with another poxy marketing video on the day they sold our best academy product for years, albeit the best they could do in the contract situation, is yet another example of simply not reading the room.

It’s going to boil over on national TV against the skates unless we win that game well and SR are on as sticky a wicket as Martin is up there. Dragan can say he’s going nowhere but when there’s protests and the gates fall from 31k, to 25, to 20, to 15, the underwriting cheques get bigger each season. Just ask Ellis Short. 

It’s about 3-4 people posting the same thing over and over again on different threads.

SR are shit but you are seriously underestimating the apathy of our fanbase, there won’t be protests, we just had the 2nd worst PL team ever and some people clapped them after the last game!

[Gloucester Saint]

2 minutes ago, maysie said:

It’s about 3-4 people posting the same thing over and over again on different threads.

SR are shit but you are seriously underestimating the apathy of our fanbase, there won’t be protests, we just had the 2nd worst PL team ever and some people clapped them after the last game!

Sadly you are probably right, the Branfoot and Lowe days are in the history books. More likely is what I described around falling gates and Dragan not wanting to write ever larger cheques post-parachute payments. That’s why Short got rid of Sunderland in the end, just hope Dragan leaves it debt free when he does the same so someone with the right focus and finances can have a proper go again.

[saintant]

11 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Do you think 39-year-old Scott Carson at Man City was good enough to play at the level of his teammates? It isn't only Saints with 3rd choice keepers who are the weakest link in the 1st team squad. Pretty much every team does it. 3rd choice keeper is not a role where you are likely to play, so decent players will look elsewhere.

Dylan Moody is 17 years old, it does not really benefit him to spend an entire season on 1st team duty and missing out on some under-21 games where he can develop as a player. The occasional time with the first team would be good so he sees the environment, but he needs to play. 

I guess the question we should want answered is, 'Was George Long the best available 3rd choice keeper we could get for the money available on wages?' If he was then fair enough but there must be some really poor goalkeepers out there.

[Tommy Mulgrew]

Right, who shall we nominate to post or e-mail S-Clarke’s analysis to Dragan and the rest of the board?  And Spors.

I nominate MLG.

Edited August 26 by Tommy Mulgrew
Had to nominate someone other than me.

[Dman]

5 hours ago, Nolan said:

If it wasnt for a top class save in the Wrexham Game we wouldn't have had the three points.

are we now re-writing history from a Fortnight ago?

Not re-writing history, however, 'one swallow doesn't make a summer'.

History has shown us that he (Bazunu) is not good enough over the course of a season at this level nor the one above. He's been okay in the 3 games this season but has a long way to go to convince me he's up to the standard we require. 

imo, whilst you never expect a keeper to save a penalty, he coulda, probably shoulda done better with the wrexham penalty (it was a fairly poor pen) and I don't think he covered himself in glory on Saturday with the second goal. He seems to have issues with getting down low to his left. 

[Badger]

1 minute ago, Dman said:

imo, whilst you never expect a keeper to save a penalty, he coulda, probably shoulda done better with the wrexham penalty (it was a fairly poor pen) and I don't think he covered himself in glory on Saturday with the second goal. He seems to have issues with getting down low to his left. 

This weakness has been mentioned on here regularly. Can’t the GK coach and others see it ?*
 

* perhaps the opposition have sussed it though.