Dragan Solak interviews with BBC and Daily Echo

[CSA96]

BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0ljyj8k

Daily Echo: https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/25246799.dragan-solak-interview-southampton-owner-opens-sale-rumours/

Edited yesterday at 06:10 by CSA96

[Nolan]

Very good complementary interviews.

the Echo article spelling out Ankersson's and Kraft's remaining involvement, the Sounds article exuding straight talking and honesty.

Very happy we're sticking with Dragan, and very happy Dragan's sticking with us.

Hopefully we can move forward with some optimism.

 

 

[CSA96]

Solak's response to the takeover talk that was peddled by Simon Jordan:

"There is no truth in that rumour. I guess somebody was interested in investing in British football. Then they probably had the idea of relegated clubs, they might be in trouble. And then Southampton is a prime place, it's a traditional great club.

"They sent me a message and asked, 'Would you like to sell?' And I said, no. They said, 'But yeah, we would like to do this' - blah, blah, blah.

"I told them, 'Guys, if you have anything serious, send me a letter explaining your intentions - I am not 100 per cent against having a partner'. If you share the vision, if you share the view on how we would like the club to develop, then we can allow somebody to invest alongside me.

"But I just took a firm position that I'm not selling the club, and then, from there on, I never thought for a second about selling the club.

"There were quite a few enquiries, and this is a good thing. Southampton is considered to be a great club and a good investment. But whatever they think of Southampton, I think five times higher. I love the club and have no intention of parting with Southampton anytime soon."

[Holmes_and_Watson]

48 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

"There were quite a few enquiries, and this is a good thing. Southampton is considered to be a great club and a good investment. But whatever they think of Southampton, I think five times higher. I love the club and have no intention of parting with Southampton anytime soon."

Note to interested parties: Treble your bid, and then we can negotiate. 🙂

[Nolan]

36 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Note to interested parties: Treble your bid, and then we can negotiate. 🙂

He actually is clear that he's fine if someone wants to come in as a co investor, but the likelihood of parting ways sounds negligible.

[ChristopheVAFC]

Quote

Daily Echo: https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/25246799.dragan-solak-interview-southampton-owner-opens-sale-rumours/

If anyone has the full article, I'd love to read it!

Thanks in advance!

Edited yesterday at 08:25 by ChristopheVAFC

[SambaMaverick]

5 minutes ago, ChristopheVAFC said:

If anyone has the full article, I'd love to read it!

Thanks in advance!

https://archive.ph/2bL1H

[Saint86]

Comes across really well in the interview - decent, passionate, speaks about his naivety and growing experience, calls Martin "cocky", has a joke about VAR last season, and makes it clear that he's now running the show with regards to saints - as essentially an authoriser for Spors, and the football team he's put in place. Rasmus is in charge of Goztepe. Its a very good "PR piece" for Solak 😋. If taken at face value, then clearly he has caught the bug and is very invested in saints - still reads a bit like an excited kid in a candy shop, but his heart is in the right place, he's open with the fans (which is good), and he cares about the club as something other than just a business venture.

Also says we will be signing a striker and creative midfielder before any outgoings happen.

Talks (without details) about plans to significantly develop the stadium and surrounding area/facilities to increase commercial revenue. Specifically mentions this is to reduce dependence on tv monies.

[Saint86]

5 minutes ago, SambaMaverick said:

https://archive.ph/2bL1H

Nothing like taking deserved money away from the local newspaper/journalists than by sharing that link publicly on the main forum barely 2 hours after the article is published...

Edited yesterday at 08:35 by Saint86

[SambaMaverick]

2 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Nothing like taking deserved money away from the local newspaper/journalists than by sharing that link publicly on the main saints forum 2 hours after the article is published ...

Cry about it

[Saint86]

1 minute ago, SambaMaverick said:

Cry about it

🤣

[Gloucester Saint]

13 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Comes across really well in the interview - decent, passionate, speaks about his naivety and growing experience, calls Martin "cocky", has a joke about VAR last season, and makes it clear that he's now running the show with regards to saints - as essentially an authoriser for Spors, and the football team he's put in place. Rasmus is in charge of Goztepe. Its a very good "PR piece" for Solak 😋. If taken at face value, then clearly he has caught the bug and is very invested in saints - still reads a bit like an excited kid in a candy shop, but his heart is in the right place, he's open with the fans (which is good), and he cares about the club as something other than just a business venture.

Also says we will be signing a striker and creative midfielder before any outgoings happen.

Talks (without details) about plans to significantly develop the stadium and surrounding area/facilities to increase commercial revenue. Specifically mentions this is to reduce dependence on tv monies.

Sounds like he got fed up with Martin’s and Juric’s inflexibility - not surprised they’ve opted for Will Still and a more adaptive approach. He thinks Martin would do well in the PL much longer-term but probably needs the maturity from a spell at a club the size of Rangers and others to know when to be adaptive.

[Patrick Bateman]

17 minutes ago, SambaMaverick said:

https://archive.ph/2bL1H

Awesome thank you - very nicely written and I agree with everything he says, we've all been saying it, I think he's listened to his advice, his gut feel and taken on board fan sentiment; this is a perfect blend.

If it doesn't work this season, then I can see a sale and moving on, but for now, I'm optimistic the past is now closed and next season will be exciting.

While we're on the exciting trend, one comment for MLG to get his thread resurrected 😂 ... 

"We are developing now together this master plan that looks wonderful and will include changes on the capacity of the stadium and facilities around.

[Gloucester Saint]

3 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Awesome thank you - very nicely written and I agree with everything he says, we've all been saying it, I think he's listened to his advice, his gut feel and taken on board fan sentiment; this is a perfect blend.

If it doesn't work this season, then I can see a sale and moving on, but for now, I'm optimistic the past is now closed and next season will be exciting.

While we're on the exciting trend, one comment for MLG to get his thread resurrected 😂 ... 

"We are developing now together this master plan that looks wonderful and will include changes on the capacity of the stadium and facilities around.

MLG’s local shop ought to stock up on *Kleenex 

*other brands of tissue are available

[ChristopheVAFC]

It's really good that Dragan has spoken out about the situation of the group and the club, to reassure everyone for the coming months and years.

I can see that Dragan really loves Southampton and he wants the situation to stabilise and improve in all areas.

Dragan is aware that not everything has been perfect and that mistakes have been made in the past and he hopes that these recent choices will pay off so that everyone is satisfied.

I also think that Dragan has understood that he needs to be more vigilant about the decisions he makes and the money he invests.

I sincerely hope that Dragan's future choices for Southampton will also benefit Goztepe and Valenciennes.

It's good that he's given this interview to give some news and announce things for the future. Especially after the season you've just had, my friends, and I hope that next year will be more positive for you.

[Football Special]

9 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Awesome thank you - very nicely written and I agree with everything he says, we've all been saying it, I think he's listened to his advice, his gut feel and taken on board fan sentiment; this is a perfect blend.

If it doesn't work this season, then I can see a sale and moving on, but for now, I'm optimistic the past is now closed and next season will be exciting.

While we're on the exciting trend, one comment for MLG to get his thread resurrected 😂 ... 

"We are developing now together this master plan that looks wonderful and will include changes on the capacity of the stadium and facilities around.

Has anyone shared the previous plans with him of the monkey chicken petting zoo or whatever it was called 

[Barsiem]

It's relatively easy to come off well when interviewed by a friendly source, but it is an exciting read.  Nice to hear we have budget in place for a striker without needing to sell, and the DOF is working actively on this.

I do think Alfie & George do an excellent job with Saints coverage, and hope articles like the above inspire a few more subscriptions for the Daily Echo.  Well worth the £2 a month for me

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

Couple of quotes in there that made me chuckle:

Solak said: "Unfortunately, we didn't replace Jason. Him leaving was a huge blow, he was the guy who started building this environment.

"Then the bloody Man U came in and stole him from us, and we didn't replace him quickly enough. That was a big mistake, and I take my part in it.

 

"We went into the Premier League a bit unprepared. We had a very smart manager, Russell Martin, and I still believe he will have a great career.

"But maybe he was a little bit cocky and he came in with his vision, and he wanted to sell it to the Premier League, and that was a risky approach.

 

 

"When I talked to Will, I got the same feeling that there is a lot of value in him. I think that the smartest guys are the ones who are willing to listen.

"He has great emotional intelligence, which is extremely important because he's going to manage 20-plus characters who are difficult to manage.

"The second thing that I like, after the only thing I didn't like that much about Russell and Ivan Juric, is that they were so fundamentalistic.

 

[beatlesaint]

Post above beat me to it 😂

A little bit cocky indeed 😂

Edited yesterday at 09:12 by beatlesaint

[Dusic]

From both interviews its clear that despite the stuff pedalled on here Jason Wilcox was doing an excellent job and was a massive loss.

Overall good tone from Solak, like that he plays down his knowledge of football but is clear where his skills can help and also that he is respectful of Martin, who he obviously liked - he seems like someone you would want to work for.

Positive stuff about the current structure - nice way to draw a linw under last season IMO and good that he recognises we will likley need more investment if we go up again - another indication of lessons being learned.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Thought he spoke very well during the interview. I disagree with his views on Martin who I thought was something of a fraud but other than that I still have every confidence Dragan is a good owner and will strive to put us on an upward trajectory once again.

[trousers]

43 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

MLG’s local shop ought to stock up on *Kleenex 

*other brands of tissue are available

Extra strength kitchen roll probably the best bet...

[trousers]

50 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Sounds like he got fed up with Martin’s and Juric’s inflexibility

Ergo, in tune with most posters on here...

Edited yesterday at 09:40 by trousers

[trousers]

1 hour ago, SambaMaverick said:

https://archive.ph/2bL1H

"Rasmus is still CEO of Sport Republic, but we understood that he should move to a different position, so he is mainly focused on Goztepe.

"He is my personal advisor on transfer windows because I think his knowledge of structure, negotiations, contracts and everything is valuable."

 

Bugger... ☹️

[Saint86]

55 minutes ago, Dusic said:

From both interviews its clear that despite the stuff pedalled on here Jason Wilcox was doing an excellent job and was a massive loss.

It doesn't mean that at all.

We just went from having someone with reasonable footballing knowledge calling the shots, to a complete headless shitshow last summer. Just because Wilcox was better than awful directionless mess that followed him is not the same saying "excellent job". As so many like to pedal, he assembled a side and manager that came 4th in a 3horse race, and assembled a very limited squad married to a limited playing style that required major surgery going into the prem.

Edited yesterday at 10:10 by Saint86

[SteveGc]

I like Dragan and In him I believe we a good owner, he’s passionate about building the club up and clearly loves it. He’s aware of the mistakes and setting about correcting them

Edited yesterday at 11:08 by SteveGc

[Nolan]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

It doesn't mean that at all.

We just went from having someone with reasonable footballing knowledge calling the shots, to a complete headless shitshow last summer. Just because Wilcox was better than awful directionless mess that followed him is not the same saying "excellent job". As so many like to pedal, he assembled a side and manager that came 4th in a 3horse race, and assembled a very limited squad married to a limited playing style that required major surgery going into the prem.

"reasonable" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

With Jim Ratcliffe Money Man U could have appointed anyone as DoF. He's obviously got something about him.

[UpweySaint]

Hard to quibble with much of the interview. I know Martin splits the crowd and I think most agree his position became untenable but it’s interesting Solak cites the VAR decisions that cost us points. It’s all if and buts though I do wonder what our season could have been like with a few more points and the confidence that comes with that early in the season.

 

[Football Special]

2 hours ago, Barsiem said:

It's relatively easy to come off well when interviewed by a friendly source, but it is an exciting read.  Nice to hear we have budget in place for a striker without needing to sell, and the DOF is working actively on this.

I do think Alfie & George do an excellent job with Saints coverage, and hope articles like the above inspire a few more subscriptions for the Daily Echo.  Well worth the £2 a month for me

I was wondering if the striker was an out of contract one like Ings? 

[Saint86]

21 minutes ago, Nolan said:

"reasonable" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

With Jim Ratcliffe Money Man U could have appointed anyone as DoF. He's obviously got something about him.

He's delivered the worst man united season in premier league history and so far spent over 300M euros since he's been in post 😄

Edited yesterday at 11:34 by Saint86

[beatlesaint]

34 minutes ago, SteveGc said:

I like Dragan and In him I believe we a good owner, he’s passionate about building the club up and clearly loves it. He’s aware of the mistakes and setting about correcting them

Indeed. It's the ones who wont admit to making mistakes you have to worry about, look at Sheff Weds for instance.

[sockeye]

I really do like how passionate Dragan seems to be towards the club, and it's good that he's committed. He has a lot of faith in Spors, let's hope for our sakes' it will be well placed.

[Saint Fan CaM]

I’ve nothing against Dragan as such - he’s a sort of Markus-lite in my view. However, Markus made sure he had very good people looking after the club, making difficult sometimes unpopular choices (getting shot of Nigel A for example) to drive us forward. Dragan unfortunately put all his eggs into the SR basket and that has been the essence of the disaster we’ve witnessed.

I like that he has the City Council on his side in terms of making the stadium and the immediate area better, however I don’t trust the Council to get anything that might improve the City over the line on-time or indeed at all. Not unless it’s related to the University and student accommodation of course.

Cautiously optimistic.

[Nolan]

39 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

He's delivered the worst man united season in premier league history and so far spent over 300M euros since he's been in post 😄

Nope, that was Dan Ashworth. Wilcox only started absorbing the recruitment roles after he left in December 24.

[Dusic]

2 hours ago, Saint86 said:

It doesn't mean that at all.

We just went from having someone with reasonable footballing knowledge calling the shots, to a complete headless shitshow last summer. Just because Wilcox was better than awful directionless mess that followed him is not the same saying "excellent job". As so many like to pedal, he assembled a side and manager that came 4th in a 3horse race, and assembled a very limited squad married to a limited playing style that required major surgery going into the prem.

Per Dragan himself - seems absolutely clear that he valued Wilcox highly:

"...then it (structure of the club) started to work (under Wilcox). However you do it (run a club), it is based on people. I really liked working with Jason Wilcox but then we lost him after 6 months so that is an issue, even when we do things right one of the big boys says "Oh I really like this guy from your team so much and I take him".

"I have to say and Jason knows this, I was really really mad at him but at the end of the day you get the call from Man Utd then you go. But on the other hand we suddenly lost a man who started building something and unfortunately we didn't replace him quick enough so we went into the PL without a leading figure in our football department and that was very, very costly."

-------

To assess he job he did in a brief time (some of which is, and much of which is not visible to supporters) you have to understand the role and I am not sure that you really do. I am sure Dragan does though so will go with his view on it.

 

[EBS1980]

4 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Nothing like taking deserved money away from the local newspaper/journalists than by sharing that link publicly on the main forum barely 2 hours after the article is published...

Took those saints accounts on Twitter minutes to lift bits from the article to share on their accounts. That’s worse

[Wade Garrett]

Good interview in the Echo.  Quite like Dragan now he’s sidelined the idiots.

[Turkish]

2 hours ago, Saint86 said:

He's delivered the worst man united season in premier league history and so far spent over 300M euros since he's been in post 😄

and got promoted at the end of the season 😂

[Give it to Ron]

1 hour ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

I’ve nothing against Dragan as such - he’s a sort of Markus-lite in my view. However, Markus made sure he had very good people looking after the club, making difficult sometimes unpopular choices (getting shot of Nigel A for example) to drive us forward. Dragan unfortunately put all his eggs into the SR basket and that has been the essence of the disaster we’ve witnessed.

I like that he has the City Council on his side in terms of making the stadium and the immediate area better, however I don’t trust the Council to get anything that might improve the City over the line on-time or indeed at all. Not unless it’s related to the University and student accommodation of course.

Cautiously optimistic.

If you want to look at SCC and their work look at Portswood Bus Gate, The Avenue cycle lane, Hill Lane 20mph, the closing of road by Asda forcing everyone by The Pier massive traffic jams.
Couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery let alone invest millions in an area with no passing trade midweek King Alfred pub couldn’t survive even with topless barmaids 🙂 If it was that easy why is Mayflower Park and The Pier not done? If SCC are involved it won’t happen too busy internal politics.

I’m with you Cam great idea won’t happen if SCC anywhere near it.

[Saint Fan CaM]

3 minutes ago, Give it to Ron said:

If you want to look at SCC and their work look at Portswood Bus Gate, The Avenue cycle lane, Hill Lane 20mph, the closing of road by Asda forcing everyone by The Pier massive traffic jams.
Couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery let alone invest millions in an area with no passing trade midweek King Alfred pub couldn’t survive even with topless barmaids 🙂 If it was that easy why is Mayflower Park and The Pier not done? If SCC are involved it won’t happen too busy internal politics.

I’m with you Cam great idea won’t happen if SCC anywhere near it.

Exactly. The one I remember most vividly was from many years ago when a monorail system was proposed creating jobs and huge tourism benefits for the City centre, not to mention the environmental benefits from park and rides outside town. Infighting between council factions killed the project off dead before it had room to breath. Utter morons.

[Matthew Le God]

Dragan Solak confirms they are looking to invest "hundreds of millions" on "changes on the capacity of the stadium and facilities around". 😇

The architect renders will be interesting to see.

[Saint Fan CaM]

4 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Dragan Solak confirms they are looking to invest "hundreds of millions" on "changes on the capacity of the stadium and facilities around". 😇

The architect renders will be interesting to see.

We all know how well that went the last time it was muted right?! 

#monkeychicken #pettingzoo

[Matthew Le God]

2 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

We all know how well that went the last time it was muted right?! 

#monkeychicken #pettingzoo

When was the last time the Southampton owner stated the intention to spend hundreds of millions on capacity and facilities upgrades at the stadium?

Edited yesterday at 13:55 by Matthew Le God

[Give it to Ron]

Just now, Saint Fan CaM said:

We all know how well that went the last time it was muted right?! 

#monkeychicken #pettingzoo

The same Dragan that in the interview said he would welcome partners if we got to the Prem again.

If he thinks SCC will partner him around SMS again sounds good will never happen.

[Saint Fan CaM]

7 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

When was the last time the Southampton owner stated the intention to spend hundreds of millions on capacity and facilities upgrades at the stadium?

I had my tongue firmly in my cheek there MLT, but I understand you’re the bearer of the stadium expansion torch and therefore will continue to believe it will happen someday. I truly hope it happens in my lifetime, but if it does, I think it’ll be despite the City council rather than them having any kind of drive and/or financial interest in it.

[Miltonaggro]

50 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Good interview in the Echo.  Quite like Dragan now he’s sidelined the idiots.

I always have.  Man has always been willing to spend money / invest and talk up the club, just that he had a minor ensemble of Billy Smart's Fodbold Management alongside for a while. As I said before, I hope he stays around long enough to see a proper return on his funding, sporting and financial. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

Reads well, but it’s all talk until anything comes to fruition. 
Regarding the stadium we’ve heard it all before, they’ll be some on here who will lap it up, and they’ll be some who are more realistic about how quickly this stuff takes. This isn’t an overnight thing.

Reading the article he comes across well but one step at a time.
Manager early - tick
Hes now said about potential signings - pressure on to get them right
Rest of the transfer window - pending

[Matthew Le God]

9 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Regarding the stadium we’ve heard it all before

When has a Southampton owner ever said the intention is to spend hundreds of millions on the stadium and facilities before this week?

Edited yesterday at 15:46 by Matthew Le God

[skintsaint]

I think he is the right kind of owner for us, obviously put his hands in his pocket so far but the choices made in regards to how that being spent has been misplaced.

If we can sort out that issue then things are looking much better. I'm pretty positive for this season with Still at the helm.

[SaintsLoyal]

It started with a total failure to appoint at CEO with any football knowledge, who then got involved in football matters !

Ankersen riding over the top of senior staff and they then left the club

 

Talk is cheap and we have just witnessed the worst season in the clubs history and two relegations in three.

Rapid change is needed in the boardroom with proper staff and not mickey mouse freebies.