Ross Stewart

[Midfield_General]

‘Ross Stewart likely to be out for months rather than weeks’

Wow

Literally no-one could have seen this coming

I can see why no-one would bother contingency planning for this massive shock and would instead simply cross their fingers and hope for the best with £100m+ potentially riding on it

Fucking jokers 

Edited 16 hours ago by Midfield_General

[stfrancisofbenali]

Unfortunately we all know that we are never going to get more than 2-3 games out of RS before another injury. He’ll play 12 games maximum this season. Not his fault of course but surely one of the most idiotic signings in our history. Who sanctioned it? 

[Colinjb]

Oh Ross, we'll always have Bramall Lane.

Feel for him, really do.

And now also for us and his team mates. It's predictable piss poor planning from the club.

[Maggie May]

1 hour ago, Obstacle1 said:

Seems more like incompetence than greed. I think they've shown they're willing to spend on players but haven't identified the right positions, striker being the most notable issue

This. We spent loads on terrible players last season, who are still terrible a level lower.

[Mboto Gorge]

Is it too early to make a judgement on spors as a useless cunt yet?

[Dark Munster]

3 hours ago, sockeye said:

Greed has caused this situation. And I’m sorry to say but the greed starts with Solak.

I don't think Solak is greedy (at least regarding our club). He's just stupid.

As for the rest of SR, led by Ankersen, they are deluded morons who think they are geniuses.

[Dark Munster]

15 minutes ago, Mboto Gorge said:

Is it too early to make a judgement on spors as a useless cunt yet?

• Will Still.
• Downs.
• Shoehorn contract extension.
• Bringing in a Norwich reject gk and keeping Bazunu as number one.

So to answer your question: nope.

[Midfield_General]

41 minutes ago, Mboto Gorge said:

Is it too early to make a judgement on spors as a useless cunt yet?

Needed to identify that fixing the spine was the top priority and that the goalkeeper, CB, centre mid and CF positions needed sorting before worrying about anything else. 

Failed to fix any of them with the exception of Jander who looks like a decent player.

Completely fucked up the strategy for the gk and cf positions, and Quarshie has got potential and may well go on to be good but is far from the finished article and hasn’t been a regular starter. 

Result - relying on a keeper who was already here and was 3rd choice 2 years ago, and has built a team that is leaking goals at the back and utterly ill-equipped and toothless up front. This after £60m+ spent. 

Then the jury is very much out on the manager but it’s not exactly been a great start. 

So I think it’s fair to say Spors’ performance has been pretty underwhelming so far.

In fact no, it’s been shit hasn’t it. He’s fucked it up. 

Edited 14 hours ago by Midfield_General

[Mboto Gorge]

23 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

• Will Still.
• Downs.
• Shoehorn contract extension.
• Bringing in a Norwich reject gk and keeping Bazunu as number one.

So to answer your question: nope.

 But….but…..MLG was really re-assuring when Spors joined, he said we shouldn’t be being sceptical about things any more and we shouldn’t even suggest that it would be more of the same old crap, even after 3 years of shambolic decisions on players and managers, he suggested we should see this as a whole new slate, so by virtue ignoring the fact that Spors employers are still the same useless owners who’ve led us to decline season after season. He was very clear on this, to the point of being condescending and patronising to anyone who suggested this would be more of the same mismanagement. 
 

Spors was the new era apparently and everything now should be judged separately. I don’t get it? 

Edited 14 hours ago by Mboto Gorge

[Dark Munster]

2 minutes ago, Mboto Gorge said:

 But….but…..MLG was really re-assuring when Spors joined, he said we shouldn’t be being sceptical about things any more and we shouldn’t even suggest that it would be more of the same old crap, even after 3 years of shambolic decisions on players and managers, he suggested we should see this as a whole new slate, so by virtue ignoring the fact that Spors employers are still the same useless owners who’ve led us to decline season after season. He was very clear on this, to the point of being condescending and patronising to anyone who suggested this would be more of the same mismanagement. 
 

Spors was the new era apparently and everything now should be judged separately. I don’t get it? 

In fairness to MLG, I don’t think he said Spors would definitely be a success, but rather that we shouldn’t write him off, given that Ankersen and the rest of the clowns were supposedly taking a back seat. I think most of us hoped this would be the case.

But the jury has surely come back in with their verdict. Spors is a disaster, a German version of Rasmus Ankersen.

[LiberalCommunist]

As much as a shit show it is right now, we were fortunate they came in a took us from Goa's grasp. We needed rescuing from him, and they footed the bill when no-body else was willing to. 

[Dark Munster]

1 minute ago, LiberalCommunist said:

As much as a shit show it is right now, we were fortunate they came in a took us from Goa's grasp. We needed rescuing from him, and they footed the bill when no-body else was willing to. 

Gao didn’t relegate us twice. 

[Badger]

5 minutes ago, LiberalCommunist said:

As much as a shit show it is right now, we were fortunate they came in a took us from Goa's grasp. We needed rescuing from him, and they footed the bill when no-body else was willing to. 

Yes, to a point. But they’ve subsequently spent what, close on to £200m is it ? And made us worse at each step.

That’s an impressive achievement. 

[Gloucester Saint]

2 hours ago, beatlesaint said:

Such a shame for him and for us. 

It is but as @Midfield_General said, it was very, very, likely to happen. The planning should have been for Ross to be a David Connolly cameo role as was the case in 11/12.

Instead, pushed him too hard over a week and inevitably his body broke.

Lack of football expertise and experience yet again, sort out the keeper, CBs, and striker (I accept Jandar and Charles helped the middle). And failed yet again.

Better hope McCarthy doesn’t get injured as well, then a poor season could turn into Luton Mk2.

[AlexLaw76]

7 minutes ago, LiberalCommunist said:

As much as a shit show it is right now, we were fortunate they came in a took us from Goa's grasp. We needed rescuing from him, and they footed the bill when no-body else was willing to. 

I do not recall being in this mess with Gao

[Badger]

42 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

I don't think Solak is greedy (at least regarding our club). He's just stupid.

As for the rest of SR, led by Ankersen, they are deluded morons who think they are geniuses.

I’ve asked this before, but how on earth has Solak been successful in business? He’s been a magnet for buffoons, and incompetent egotists to latch onto him in his time here. 

[Gloucester Saint]

20 minutes ago, LiberalCommunist said:

As much as a shit show it is right now, we were fortunate they came in a took us from Goa's grasp. We needed rescuing from him, and they footed the bill when no-body else was willing to. 

Gao and Semmens hollowed us out and let Ralph down, but they were tidy and until Ings went they actually did at least focus on the spine a bit more.

The Livramento deal killed the club because a generation of morons invited another group of morons to buy the club, all of whom thought that every single transfer would involve buying an ECL cast off for a medium fee and selling big. All SR had to do in summer 2022 was buy 3-4 higher quality players - Keeper/CB/MC/Striker through the spine. 

The back patting over the VVD, Ings and Lavia fees received astonished me because you knew they were spaff it up the wall on loads of crap.

Edited 14 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[Mboto Gorge]

11 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

In fairness to MLG, I don’t think he said Spors would definitely be a success, but rather that we shouldn’t write him off, given that Ankersen and the rest of the clowns were supposedly taking a back seat. I think most of us hoped this would be the case.

But the jury has surely come back in with their verdict. Spors is a disaster, a German version of Rasmus Ankersen.

I agree, he did say that, I’ve not suggested any different,  but he was literally all over anyone who even suggested it would be the same old nonsense , as if it was idiotic to think this might be yet another false dawn. 

[LiberalCommunist]

I do not recall being in this mess with Gao

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

 

For me, it felt like we were nearing the stage of bad deals and no investment.

Either he was running out of money, or finding it hard to release it.

[Gloucester Saint]

13 minutes ago, LiberalCommunist said:

I do not recall being in this mess with Gao

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

 

For me, it felt like we were nearing the stage of bad deals and no investment.

Either he was running out of money, or finding it hard to release it.

This is true, but we were sold to people following the sane flawed strategy - find the next Livramento and flip for profit - with larger spending and even worse results. Trading for surpluses is good but sometimes you have to buy the Craig Dawson or Aaron Ramsdale.

Edited 14 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[Andy Hill]

Maybe this injury will be career ending ?! Months sounds very serious. 

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, Andy Hill said:

Maybe this injury will be career ending ?! Months sounds very serious. 

The buffoons will give him a new contract though - no sensible businessperson would but that’s not what these are. Sympathy for Ross but he’s pocketed plenty for few appearances so has had a chance to save up for his family’s future, more so than any of us would get.

[Wade Garrett]

To be fair to Spors, he bought players for Still to play 4-2-3-1, not 3 at the back and lump it up to the big man.

Mind you, he did appoint Still in the first place.

[OneMrsWallace]

1 hour ago, Colinjb said:

Oh Ross, we'll always have Bramall Lane.

Feel for him, really do.

And now also for us and his team mates. It's predictable piss poor planning from the club.

Unfortunately the poor guy is made of glass, it just happens to some. May be his last season for us. SR really are so incompetent it beggars belief. All I can hope is that they finally get the message and buy a decent striker in January. Actually, make that two. Not easy in January but no excuses now. 

[East Kent Saint]

46 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

I do not recall being in this mess with Gao

Gao fell foul of a sudden change of the Chinese Govt policy about investment in overseas football clubs . This meant he couldn’t use any of his money in China to buy Southampton so had to use his off shore money to buy the club . This left him with little or no spare cash to invest in the club . After that it wasn’t long before he had to sell but that took quite some time even though Southampton didn’t command the eye watering price that other clubs did ! 
So the club was in limbo .

[ErwinK1961]

8 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

To be fair to Spors, he bought players for Still to play 4-2-3-1, not 3 at the back and lump it up to the big man.

Mind you, he did appoint Still in the first place.

What striker did he buy to play as the ‘1’ though? 

I’m not saying Still isn’t at fault, he’s been incredibly average for sure, but it was clear the way he wants to play involves having a physical (and capable) striker and he’s been given Damion fcking Downs and a cripple.

[madge]

Club is filled with incompetence…. And that starts at the very top.. you win this division with pace, power and strength and SR brought little to the table. Every single fan could see the striker position as a clear and obvious concern. SR didn’t address it. They were never really going for promotion were they? How the majority of fans give them a relatively comfortable ride is beyond me.. SR - Dragon can all do one!!  Embarrassing 

[AlexLaw76]

7 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

What striker did he buy to play as the ‘1’ though? 

I’m not saying Still isn’t at fault, he’s been incredibly average for sure, but it was clear the way he wants to play involves having a physical (and capable) striker and he’s been given Damion fcking Downs and a cripple.

who the fuck knows what Still sold at the interviews. 

[BarberSaint]

16 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

who the fuck knows what Still sold at the interviews. 

 

Huile de Serpent?

[Saint Fan CaM]

To be fair I don’t think Spors has been all bad considering the overhaul task on his hands from last seasons debacle. There have been some very astute signings - Jander and Scienza for example…even retaining Charles was the right call. Obviously there have been some avoidable mistakes - Capt’n Jacks contract, lack of decent GK and lack of best in class CF being the obvious, but as I say it was a big turnabout to manage. The next window will be critical to finishing the job.

[aintforever]

2 hours ago, Dark Munster said:

• Bringing in a Norwich reject gk and keeping Bazunu as number one.

This is the most bizarre decision, why sign a keeper who is shitter than Bazunu and McCarthy? Fucking nuts.

[Weston Super Saint]

2 minutes ago, aintforever said:

This is the most bizarre decision, why sign a keeper who is shitter than Bazunu and McCarthy? Fucking nuts.

But, on the flip side, fucking genius finding one that fits that specific criteria.

[sockeye]

2 hours ago, Dark Munster said:

I don't think Solak is greedy (at least regarding our club). He's just stupid.

As for the rest of SR, led by Ankersen, they are deluded morons who think they are geniuses.

4 hours ago, Obstacle1 said:

Seems more like incompetence than greed. I think they've shown they're willing to spend on players but haven't identified the right positions, striker being the most notable issue

My argument for greed is their insistence on signing Downs for a potential 4x in value instead of a proven mature striker. But yes, there is plenty of incompetence from Solak too. I have no idea how he's had a modicum of success given how the last four years have gone.

[sockeye]

26 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

To be fair I don’t think Spors has been all bad considering the overhaul task on his hands from last seasons debacle. There have been some very astute signings - Jander and Scienza for example…even retaining Charles was the right call. Obviously there have been some avoidable mistakes - Capt’n Jacks contract, lack of decent GK and lack of best in class CF being the obvious, but as I say it was a big turnabout to manage. The next window will be critical to finishing the job.

My issue is that yet again the most important areas are neglected. Why are the club so insistent that Bazunu will come good? Whether you want to believe the stats or your own eyes, he has been awful since day 1.

[sockeye]

2 hours ago, LiberalCommunist said:

As much as a shit show it is right now, we were fortunate they came in a took us from Goa's grasp. We needed rescuing from him, and they footed the bill when no-body else was willing to. 

In my opinion they're just the fourth horseman - Death - following Gao who was Famine.  

Edited 12 hours ago by sockeye

[Midfield_General]

2 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

The next window will be critical to finishing the job.

That's the problem though - we won't be able to just fix it in January. 

What goalscorers capable of scoring the number of goals a promotion-chasing team needs from its centre forward do you think are going to be available in January? Goalscorers are hard enough to find at the best of times - no-one's selling anyone who's any good half way through the season. 

In January you end up either massively overpaying because teams know you're desperate, or taking yet another punt on someone who's out of favour, a massive injury risk or who no-one else wants, or all of the above. You're feeding off scraps. 

And it's not like we've not been burned by this before. It's how we ended up paying £20m for Carrillo and £18m for Onuachu. Other, properly-run clubs saw we were desperate and sold us their absolute shite at hugely inflated prices. They were rubbish, did fuck all and six months later we couldn't give them away. 

Whoever scouted Damion Downs and whoever looked at that scouting and off the back of it made the decision that he should be our centre forward signing should be sacked immediately, because the staggering ineptitude of those decisions has basically cost us our best chance of promotion this season. 

Now, unless Cameron Archer steps up and suddenly becomes a 20 goal a season striker, we are fucked. 

Edited 10 hours ago by Midfield_General

[die Mannyschaft]

How long is he out for

[Chris cooper]

12 minutes ago, die Mannyschaft said:

How long is he out for

Months 

[OneMrsWallace]

26 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

That's the problem though - we won't be able to just fix it in January. 

What goalscorers capable of scoring the number of goals a promotion-chasing team needs from its centre forward do you think are going to be available in January? Goalscorers are hard enough to find at the best of times - no-one's selling anyone who's any good half way through the season. 

In January you end up either massively overpaying because teams know your desperate, or taking yet another punt on someone who's out of favour, a massive injury risk or who no-one else wants, or all of the above. You're feeding off scraps. 

And it's not like we've not been burned by this before. It's how we ended up paying £20m for Carrillo and £18m for Onuachu. Other, properly-run clubs saw we were desperate and sold us their absolute shite at hugely inflated prices. They were rubbish, did fuck all and six months later we couldn't give them away. 

Basically, unless Cameron Archer suddenly steps up and becomes a 20 goal a season striker, we are fucked. 

Plus lots of other clubs who aren't where they want to be by January will also be looking for strikers. I hope they still try to address it, maybe a loan is a better option. I suspect the likelihood is they'll fudge it somehow and wait until the summer given promotion is probably unrealistic by Christmas. Could be worse though. AA could get injured and we would probably struggle to stay up 😁

[die Mannyschaft]

51 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

That's the problem though - we won't be able to just fix it in January. 

What goalscorers capable of scoring the number of goals a promotion-chasing team needs from its centre forward do you think are going to be available in January? Goalscorers are hard enough to find at the best of times - no-one's selling anyone who's any good half way through the season. 

In January you end up either massively overpaying because teams know you're desperate, or taking yet another punt on someone who's out of favour, a massive injury risk or who no-one else wants, or all of the above. You're feeding off scraps. 

And it's not like we've not been burned by this before. It's how we ended up paying £20m for Carrillo and £18m for Onuachu. Other, properly-run clubs saw we were desperate and sold us their absolute shite at hugely inflated prices. They were rubbish, did fuck all and six months later we couldn't give them away. 

Whoever scouted Damion Downs and whoever looked at that scouting and off the back of it made the decision that he should be our centre forward signing should be sacked immediately, because that decision has basically cost us our best chance of promotion this season. 

Basically, unless Cameron Archer steps up and suddenly becomes a 20 goal a season striker, we are fucked. 

how we ended up paying £20m for Carrillo and £18m for Onuachu. 

500k is more realistic.  We still keep buying players overage odds. It seems to me the expensive a player the less output we get. Someone from the board needs to go a field trip to National League teams and find out how you scout for players and pay affordable prices for them. I bet Coventry,  Stoke, Swansea,  Bristol City don't have a expensive squad. And are more competitive than us..

[richardc]

55 minutes ago, die Mannyschaft said:

How long is he out for

at least 10 two weeks

[Saint Fan CaM]

1 hour ago, Midfield_General said:

That's the problem though - we won't be able to just fix it in January. 

What goalscorers capable of scoring the number of goals a promotion-chasing team needs from its centre forward do you think are going to be available in January? Goalscorers are hard enough to find at the best of times - no-one's selling anyone who's any good half way through the season. 

In January you end up either massively overpaying because teams know you're desperate, or taking yet another punt on someone who's out of favour, a massive injury risk or who no-one else wants, or all of the above. You're feeding off scraps. 

And it's not like we've not been burned by this before. It's how we ended up paying £20m for Carrillo and £18m for Onuachu. Other, properly-run clubs saw we were desperate and sold us their absolute shite at hugely inflated prices. They were rubbish, did fuck all and six months later we couldn't give them away. 

Whoever scouted Damion Downs and whoever looked at that scouting and off the back of it made the decision that he should be our centre forward signing should be sacked immediately, because the staggering ineptitude of those decisions has basically cost us our best chance of promotion this season. 

Now, unless Cameron Archer steps up and suddenly becomes a 20 goal a season striker, we are fucked. 

I didn’t make myself clear - I didn’t mean it will be fixed in January, but the decisions made in January will be critical to finishing the fix. For example, trying to purchase a striker is likely going to be a fruitless exercise and too costly. Loaning the right player from an EPL club or equivalent could be the right option - yes, it might be costly, but then so would another season in the Championship or worst still relegation to league 1 if the squad is decimated further. An astute loan or two would allow a pathway to a continued purge of deadwood and improved signings next summer.

[HnycS]

6 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

‘Ross Stewart likely to be out for months rather than weeks’

Wow

Literally no-one could have seen this coming

I can see why no-one would bother contingency planning for this massive shock and would instead simply cross their fingers and hope for the best with £100m+ potentially riding on it

Fucking jokers 

Was the initial problem ACL? Because if so many players have had the same problem. The repairs to the ACL uses Hamstring materials, making it weaker. If the medical staffed warned Still and/or Ross, then Still and/or Ross were indeed fucking jokers for starting consecutive games on his return. If they didn't it's beyond even that unfortunate sobriquet, and amounts to a term that may have serious consequences.

[Sheaf Saint]

6 hours ago, HnycS said:

Was the initial problem ACL? 

No, it was his ankle.

[Willo of Whiteley]

He’ll be offered a new contract in a few months out of sympathy for his injuries.

He has done nothing of note in nearly three years to suggest his injury record will get better either or will develop into a semi-decent striker.

[Sheaf Saint]

14 hours ago, Obstacle1 said:

Seems more like incompetence than greed. I think they've shown they're willing to spend on players but haven't identified the right positions, striker being the most notable issue

Incompetence fuelled by greed is probably the best way to describe it. Their drive to focus solely on the resale value and potential profit margins of players, while completely ignoring the qualities needed to build a successful team, is what has brought us to this point. 

Nearly 4 years now and they continue to just make bad decision after bad decision, seemingly without ever learning from their mistakes. This current situation - going into a season with a crock and a hopeless fraud of a footballer as our striker options (who cost a combined £15m) - is just inexcusable. 

I was so full of hope and excitement when they bought the club, but they've been an unmitigated disaster and it's only going to get worse from here with these clowns in charge. They've had enough chances to prove themselves as worthy custodians of the club and they've right royally fucked it up. 

We as fans need to step up the pressure on them now. They've had an easy ride from us so far but enough is enough. They've turned us into a soulless, data-driven cash cow that it has become little more than a chore to support 😔

[benjii]

11 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

To be fair to Spors, he bought players for Still to play 4-2-3-1, not 3 at the back and lump it up to the big man.

Mind you, he did appoint Still in the first place.

We already had the players to play that way, it was just some bullshit excuse from Still that we didn't.

[AlexLaw76]

33 minutes ago, benjii said:

We already had the players to play that way, it was just some bullshit excuse from Still that we didn't.

He “needed” a winger and a No.10

to the play said winger at wing back and the No.10 to the right of a 3 

brilliant 

[Mboto Gorge]

1 hour ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Incompetence fuelled by greed is probably the best way to describe it. Their drive to focus solely on the resale value and potential profit margins of players, while completely ignoring the qualities needed to build a successful team, is what has brought us to this point. 

Nearly 4 years now and they continue to just make bad decision after bad decision, seemingly without ever learning from their mistakes. This current situation - going into a season with a crock and a hopeless fraud of a footballer as our striker options (who cost a combined £15m) - is just inexcusable. 

I was so full of hope and excitement when they bought the club, but they've been an unmitigated disaster and it's only going to get worse from here with these clowns in charge. They've had enough chances to prove themselves as worthy custodians of the club and they've right royally fucked it up. 

We as fans need to step up the pressure on them now. They've had an easy ride from us so far but enough is enough. They've turned us into a soulless, data-driven cash cow that it has become little more than a chore to support 😔

Very well said. I’m caught between wondering whether they’re just plain clueless and stupid or whether they’re thinking they can get away with more “experiments” because they know the fanbase aren’t going to put them under pressure to actually focus on the first team here and now, and stop all this clever bollocks stuff that’s just making them look what like exactly what they are , clueless owners. I’d be genuinely amazed if they had the balls to continue these experimental , risky signings from abroad if they’d been given more shit from the fanbase for their failings from last season and beyond .

Edited 41 minutes ago by Mboto Gorge

[Turkish]

12 hours ago, aintforever said:

This is the most bizarre decision, why sign a keeper who is shitter than Bazunu and McCarthy? Fucking nuts.

because he's on loan, he's third choice, Ramsdale is still a Southampton player and he'll only play if Baz and McCarthy are both injured. It really isn't hard to understand.