BBC Radio Solent Saints fans forum 7th August 6pm

[saintant]

Paul Trollope was very down to earth and spoke a lot of sense. Spors and Parsons gave the usual glib responses. Parsons was adamant that any club interested in Dibling should pay the going rate yet we are quite prepared to lowball other clubs for their players - you can't have it both ways mate.

[AlexLaw76]

Take away...

Will Still is highly regarded right across Europe

in negotiations ref Dibling and Fernandes, but they won't be cheap

Spors' decision to extend Stephens contract - great leader off the pitch apparently

Significant plans for stadium infra and to double our revenue

window not over and looking at creativity

[Smirking_Saint]

4 minutes ago, saintant said:

Paul Trollope was very down to earth and spoke a lot of sense. Spors and Parsons gave the usual glib responses. Parsons was adamant that any club interested in Dibling should pay the going rate yet we are quite prepared to lowball other clubs for their players - you can't have it both ways mate.

Yes you can you plum

Its a negotiation, it goes both ways

[for_heaven's_Saint]

‘Can you explain PSR to me?’ is possibly one of the worst questions at a fans forum ever. Just Google it mate and let someone ask something about Saints. 

[Saint Scott]

Thought it was interesting on two or three occasions that Parsons kept mentioning accountability in reference to Spors.

I may be reading into it too much, but it felt like there was some tension there. Maybe he and the board are frustrated we haven't recruited an AM yet, despite it being signed off without departures

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Saint Scott said:

Thought it was interesting on two or three occasions that Parsons kept mentioning accountability in reference to Spors.

I may be reading into it too much, but it felt like there was some tension there. Maybe he and the board are frustrated we haven't recruited an AM yet, despite it being signed off without departures

I would not say tension, but defining swim lanes

[AlexLaw76]

We are Green and no issue with PSR

 

Now, who keeps banging the PSR drum?

Edited 3 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[Saint Matty 76]

9 minutes ago, warsash saint said:

Get your arse down there then instead of whinging on this forum!

Quite literally not how it works you tit.

[lambtiss]

5 minutes ago, Saint Scott said:

 

 

5 minutes ago, for_heaven's_Saint said:

‘Can you explain PSR to me?’ is possibly one of the worst questions at a fans forum ever. Just Google it mate and let someone ask something about Saints. 

Perhaps it was one of the club plants from this forum.

Edited 3 hours ago by lambtiss

[benjii]

43 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Trollope coming across well

How's Slag getting on?

[benjii]

43 minutes ago, trousers said:

Sorry, late to the party... Why isn't Will Still there?

He was never there.

[Roger]

Spors Stephen’s answer was awfuL and so was Blackmore saying that the fans make Stephen’s the scapegoat like redmond was. 

[maysie]

9 minutes ago, for_heaven's_Saint said:

‘Can you explain PSR to me?’ is possibly one of the worst questions at a fans forum ever. Just Google it mate and let someone ask something about Saints. 

I’m going to get a ticket next year just so I can ask them to explain the offside rule

[hypochondriac]

I thought the questions on the whe were better than previous years. Makes me laugh when people on here have a go at reasonable questions without either asking one themselves or offering decent alternative ones. 

[Katalinic]

2 minutes ago, Roger said:

Spors Stephen’s answer was awfuL and so was Blackmore saying that the fans make Stephen’s the scapegoat like redmond was. 

For a host at a fans forum Blackmore asks too many questions and gives too much of his own opinions.

[hypochondriac]

12 minutes ago, for_heaven's_Saint said:

‘Can you explain PSR to me?’ is possibly one of the worst questions at a fans forum ever. Just Google it mate and let someone ask something about Saints. 

Yes I agree that was wank. 

[hypochondriac]

Just now, Katalinic said:

For a host at a fans forum Blackmore asks too many questions and gives too much of his own opinions.

He didn't do that at all this year. He does a great job to keep the conversation flowing in my opinion. 

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Katalinic said:

For a host at a fans forum Blackmore asks too many questions and gives too much of his own opinions.

I do think he waffled far less compared to previous seasons.

Edited 3 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[Katalinic]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

I thought the questions on the whe were better than previous years. Makes me laugh when people on here have a go at reasonable questions without either asking one themselves or offering decent alternative ones. 

They definitely weren't the worst set of questions.

[Katalinic]

3 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

He didn't do that at all this year. He does a great job to keep the conversation flowing in my opinion. 

He did. The first 5-10 minutes was a monologue.

Tbf to him though it isn't an easy gig

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Katalinic
Reflection

[AlexLaw76]

Nothing will ever beat that question about giving away fans a round of applause..

 

[trousers]

3 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I thought the questions on the whe were better than previous years. Makes me laugh when people on here have a go at reasonable questions without either asking one themselves or offering decent alternative ones. 

Are you saying that just to improve your AI rating next time around...? 😁

[trousers]

16 minutes ago, for_heaven's_Saint said:

‘Can you explain PSR to me?’ is possibly one of the worst questions at a fans forum ever. Just Google it mate and let someone ask something about Saints. 

Or, better still, give them Farmer's contact details.... 😁

[trousers]

24 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Spors' decision to extend Stephens contract - great leader off the pitch apparently

How did that manifest itself last season I wonder...?

[SfcPhil]

These are all a bit pointless aren't they? You don't actually learn any info from it. Basically like the general public talking to politicians. 

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

How did that manifest itself last season I wonder...?

We have no issues with PSR 🤩

[hypochondriac]

8 minutes ago, trousers said:

Are you saying that just to improve your AI rating next time around...? 😁

Maybe I asked a question and want people to be kind 

[Hamilton Saint]

34 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Fan forums summary.....

 

• No Will Still, Paul Trollope in the seat instead, with Spors & Parsons. Will Still send his apologies but a personal issue has come up.
• 2 years in for Parsons, having joined just after the last relegation. Much more chaotic then.
• Very up and down in the Championship then, lost a few in a row, done well in the playoffs.
• Jason Wilcox left in April and left a hole in the football department, and we only had a month or so to prepare for a premier league season
• It was brutal, and we understand frustration
• Spors came in Feb, and we announced Will early, and now in the madness of the transfer window
• We are in a better place structurally for the first time in 2 years, really capable team running the club
• Spors found it challenging when arriving in Feb, needed to understand the energy
• Has been around football for a while, and can see lots of really good things, but had to change the structure that has not been good - recruitment
• Paul Trollope was the manager Ricky Lambert loved playing for the most, and he was the manager when Saints signed him
• Bristol tried to keep him, he was brilliant. Day before season starts, Ricky telling me Southampton had bid...we had to shake his hand and say goodbye
• It has been really really good with Will, the facilities are excellent, and the structure has been improved
• Everything is here for success, and we have made really good progress in pre season

Q. If we get promoted again, what has been learnt?

• A lot to learn from every season. It is important that we have a lot of people in the club who are dedicated to grow higher
• we need to bring in players who are good enough to reach our goals, but to grow also, we have started to do that.
• Squad planning is like art, and becomes visible near the end of the window. You need talent.
• Southampton is a place made for development, 100%, and we need to find them, and use the academy also
• We invested last season, but we need consistency. We cannot change managers every 5 mins, and it is good to see academy produce players
• We will continue to grow revenues, and the gap between top and bottom of the prem was 3 fold, now it is 5 fold.

Q. Last season it was evident that player and manager performance was inadequate (inc board level), what is in place so this is not repeated

• Will coming in was very important, he is highly competent. Coming in Feb allowed Spors time to understand who was the right person to be manager

Q. Pre-season has been a mixed bag. We are not scoring despite we have strikers. Do you think we have a deficit in creativity

• Pre season was planned, and it was great. It showed us what we needed to see. We wanted results, but we needed it to be difficult
• we did not score that much. Damion has just joined. Scoring is not just on a couple of players, but it is from the whole team
• The summer window is not closed and not everything is done. Dibling is training different as there are negotiations. This is very normal in football
• People know Dibling is sought after, but there is a price. If a club wants our players they need to bid and bid well.
• we have too big a squad, and we are cleaning this up. We have to have a pathway for the academy
• If Tyler is here this season, he won't sulk of course, he will play for SFC. We made the new signings early, but we had players coming back at different times
• The loan players coming back add different qualities to the squad, allows the manager to see what is what. We need to be precise
• We dont just need more bodies but need the right players. We are working on bringing in more creativity.

Q. Sports Republic are quick to get rid of the manager, and get someone with someone very different. Sports Republic keep making the same mistakes.

• (Person asking the question would have kept Russell Martin no matter what last season).
• Parsons could not disagree with the question. It got so brutal with Russell we had to step in. It was hard, and we dont want to be changing managers.
• We do go all-in on managers, but that is also difficult. There was not a huge list of managers that wanted to join. Ivan wanted to come, we knew the risks
• If he did well he may have stayed, but Johanes wanted this direction we now have and we have to back that. There were mistakes last time.
• The owners do not want to be making changes. There will be up and down moments, please stay with the manager.

Q. Recruitment has seen too many players at the £10-15m, and lots of them, as opposed to players generally good

• We all want to sign good players, we all have the same goal. 
• Will Still has been coaching for a long time, and he just very normal. He is a strong leader of men. He loves football.
• Great people person, an excellent coach and offers real clarity, hopefully we will see as the season goes on
• He is like a man possessed, very demanding, very high octane. Needs to be aggressive on the pitch. He brings the fire to training.

Q. What is the morale like in the team given last season

• We needed to understand the players when Will first came in. There were some players with their heads down.
• Lots of talk about our players on their form. We needed to see where the players are mentally, they came back from the summer vulnerable.
• Will has really promoted the enjoyment of football. Hopefully the 2nd half against Brighton showed us where we want to be at least
• We reminded those coming back on loan (some did not want go) that they can get back to the premier league at this club
• The organisation at the training was not clear when Spors first came in. This needed to be fixed

Q. The relationship between club and fans not great. Loyalty towards fans seems to be lacking compared to previous seasons.

• Parsons disagrees that the club lacks loyalty. We needed to invest in the stadium improvements as that had been ignored for a very long time.
• We tried to drop costs of season tickets this year. Stadium costs have gone up, we will make less money this season at the ground
• But, everyone wants us to sign best players, that is not cheap. It is difficult to balance.
• The financial gap between the bottom of Premier League and the top is the same between bottom of league 2 and top of Championship
• We have new things in the stadium opening this year, I hope these are well received. We do care about fans and they have been amazing supporting us
• More so given where we were last season, and the away support is incredible. Shirt prices are £65, which is like most in the league.
• We are in the Green with PSR, lots of clubs are not in a good place. If we go back up, we need space to spend more in the prem

Q. After a rough season, what attracted you (Paul Trollope) to come here

• It was an attractive proposition. I like to think my age and experience helps. I grew up in Swindon and knew of Southampton very well.
• Huge club in the South, really excited to be given the opportunity, and to work with Will, who is really highly regarding across Europe.
• Since being here, it has lived up to it, the training ground and facilities are very impressive. We have a real chance of success

Q. Will Fernandes be here Sep 1

• We would like to say yes. We have been clear that if you want our players you have to pay.
• Matty is outstanding. 35 starts in the premier league at 20 years old (only Garnacho is close). We would love to keep him. Everyone has a price and it is not cheap 
• Today, neither Tyler or Matty are close to leaving. Players are really looking forward to repaying the fans, they really feel it.

Q. Jack Stephens was only available for half the games last year, are we rewarding failure by the contract

• This was Spors' decision and responsibility. He is a big leader in training and he really is a help. He knows he can and must do better
• Board fully supported this decision. He is an excellent club captain. He is very disappointed with last season, and the board support Johanas
• We are negotiating extensions for many other players

Q. What do you want from us from Fans at the Derby

• Make the day a really really hostile day. Team need to show what playing for SFC and this game means. Do not wait for the team to show up, get into it
• Fresh season, the team and how we play will look different. We need to make SMS hostile for all to visit. There will be ups and downs, stick with it
• Saints fans last season were ridiculously good last season. Morgan Schneiderlin said it was unbelievable, players would fear for their safety abroad.

Q. How to FFP/PSR work given some teams can just spend what they like

• In the champ you can only lose £13m per year, we do not agree with this, but it is shifting to a squad cost ratio. That is why we must improve revenue
• We are absolutely fine with PSR right now, and will change if voted at the end of the year.

Q. If we dont go up, what is the future for Sports Republic as they have made us a laughing stock

• They have invested quite heavily into the club. The owners had to focus a lot off the pitch. Wider plans there from the owners for the long term
• Dragan and SR fully invested into the club. Dragan deeply cares. It has been difficult. If we do go back up, it will be very tough
• Lots of clubs yo-yoing at the moment, it is very concerning.
• I would like to be sat here of our wider plans, but there are negotiations ongoing. We want to make significant infrastructure changes to the stadium
• Working closely with the council, they are onside, and they see 1-city, 1-club
• We must double the revenue to compete in the premier league

Q. Any negotiations about ticket price caps

• We challenged Leeds with their ticket prices, they ignored it.
• We believe £30 cap for away fans is right, but it needs to be voted in
• Valenciennes spent a week with us, it was very good. We have passed players to them

Q. Why are many friendlies behind closed doors

• Not always easy, depends on the opponent, but something we will work on. It needs to be more open.
• the Espanyol fans arriving was not within SFC control. Other clubs like to host friendlies away from their home grounds.

 

Thanks for this summary. Very useful.

[goodymatt]

Highlights were the guy asking why he doesn’t get a pin badge anymore and Parsons mocking anyone that would buy a Pompey shirt at £60 to make our £65 shirts look good value.

Edited 3 hours ago by goodymatt

[hypochondriac]

Personally I thought it was very interesting. parsons is very competent and I enjoyed hearing how accountable Spors is and how he's making all the football decisions and the buck stops with him. Enlightening about Stephens and basically owned the decision and said he wanted him to have one which answers that. Much better answers than semmens ever gave. 

[Turkish]

30 minutes ago, for_heaven's_Saint said:

‘Can you explain PSR to me?’ is possibly one of the worst questions at a fans forum ever. Just Google it mate and let someone ask something about Saints. 

Please tell me no one asked that? 

[maysie]

No questions about beer prices or pie condiments? What a waste of time.

[Farmer Saint]

30 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

We are Green and no issue with PSR

 

Now, who keeps banging the PSR drum?

The person who told everyone last year that we spent the amount and the way we did so we would be ok with PSR this year when we got relegated. Have also made abundantly clear this Summer that we have no PSR issues this season. Check the posts 😜

I also told you all last year that they didn't want to sack Martin, but felt they had to due to the abuse. Got loads of shit for that as well.

But thanks for bringing that up, glad to see you're on the turn.

Edited 3 hours ago by Farmer Saint

[Give it to Ron]

So I thought questions were better this year on whole Gio was good. My sons was Stephens that Spors didn’t seem to like and Blackmore said he was scapegoated like Redmond - bollox!

Trollope came across very well - Parsons ok but not sure on his answers about ST holders.

Spors was good but the proof is in results and it was made clear he is accountable.

Great question from young lady about capping cost of away tickets but doesn’t sound like clubs willing to.

For those criticising suggest get off your arses and go you will see how hard it is to get question asked and an answer 

Edited 3 hours ago by Give it to Ron

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Turkish said:

Please tell me no one asked that? 

oh, they did.

[Turkish]

15 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Nothing will ever beat that question about giving away fans a round of applause..

 

Wasn’t that also the women’s away team ? Be nicer to them, wasn’t it?

[S-Clarke]

Spors struck me as the perfect sort of person you want. He doesn't say much, he doesn't offer much, but you can tell he thinks and 'does'. 

We've had too many people who can say all the nice words and sound great, but he has this inner confidence in himself and he doesn't feel like he needs to waffle shit.

He seems pretty competent to me, but we'll find out at the end of the season just how much.

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

Please tell me no one asked that? 

Yeah, pretty much. As blunt as that , directed at Phil Parsons, he asked for a description of 'FFP' and how it works.

[Turkish]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

oh, they did.

FFS why? What’s wrong with people 

[Mixedkebab]

So Stephens is apparently an “excellent club captain” according to Spors

fuck me, how many points would we have got with a shit club captain last season I wonder! Or even an average one.

[Give it to Ron]

5 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

Highlights were the guy asking why he doesn’t get a pin badge anymore and Parsons mocking anyone that would buy a Pompey shirt at £60 to make our £65 shirts look good value.

He didn’t ask that at all go listen again it was about why club doesn’t value ST holders and why the “gifts” are no longer sent. Pin badge was an example!!!

[Midfield_General]

1 hour ago, Convict Colony said:

phill dressing to blend in

That looks like a genuine Sergio Georgini

[Katalinic]

Just now, Turkish said:

FFS why? What’s wrong with people 

Wait until you find out about the pin badges. 

[Roger]

4 minutes ago, Give it to Ron said:

So I thought questions were better this year on whole Gio was good. My sons was Stephens that Spurs didn’t seem to like and Blackmore said he was scapegoated like Redmond - bollox!

Trollope came across very well - Parsons ok but not sure on his answers about ST holders.

Spors was good but the proof is in results and it was made clear he is accountable.

Great question from young lady about capping cost of away tickets but doesn’t sound like clubs willing to.

For those criticising suggest get off your arses and go you will see how hard it is to get question asked and an answer 

The question about Stephen’s was best one of the night and should have got applause and the answer was rubbish. 

[Roger]

5 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Spors struck me as the perfect sort of person you want. He doesn't say much, he doesn't offer much, but you can tell he thinks and 'does'. 

We've had too many people who can say all the nice words and sound great, but he has this inner confidence in himself and he doesn't feel like he needs to waffle shit.

He seems pretty competent to me, but we'll find out at the end of the season just how much.

His answer on Stephen’s was anything but competent. 

[maysie]

Just now, Roger said:

His answer on Stephen’s was anything but competent. 

What did you expect him to say. Yeah he’s a liability but top guy so that’s why he got the contract.

[John B]

Just now, Roger said:

His answer on Stephen’s was anything but competent. 

So you did noy like what was said about Jack seemed to answer the question really well

 

[S-Clarke]

2 minutes ago, Roger said:

His answer on Stephen’s was anything but competent. 

I mean those sorts of questions aren't ever going to give the answer that they were pushed for, let's be honest.

At the end of the day, we all disagreed with it, but the club signed him on a 3 year deal. If the person who was part of that decision then turns around in the fans forum and says ''Yeah, he's shit. I don't know why we did it'', then I'd be questioning his judgement a hell of a lot more to be honest.

He wasn't going to throw him under the bus, I wouldn't have ever expected him or anyone to do.

[Farmer Saint]

24 minutes ago, trousers said:

Or, better still, give them Farmer's contact details.... 😁

Absolutely. I can be called a lot of things (and I am), but I own PSR no matter what anyone says and I'm afraid it shapes strategy more than anything else in football now.

Edited 3 hours ago by Farmer Saint

[tdmickey3]

10 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

oh, they did.

Was he the bloke who has had a season for 40 years