Where Do We Go From Here?

[ally_uk]

Something’s seriously wrong at our club. We’re making history for all the wrong reasons, and it’s painful to watch.

I cannot fathom how Solak continues to support the incompetence around him.

Week after week, the same mistakes. The same lifeless performances.

It’s like nobody upstairs is learning or even listening.

This isn’t bad luck anymore. It’s bad leadership. Accountability has left the building  and so has our ambition.

I’m becoming more disillusioned with the whole affair.

This isn’t just me going through the motions, it feels like the soul has been ripped out of our club.

Systematically, on every level, we’ve drifted toward mediocrity.

From coaching to players to scouting, the decline runs deep.

It’s not just results anymore.

It’s the identity. The belief. The pride.

I mean, were you expecting four wins in fifty games?

A record-low points total?

Relegation from the Premier League right after Sports Republic took over?

It’s embarrassing.

And it’s a legacy that will haunt us for years.

Younger fans will either turn away from the club completely, or grow up carrying the stick that comes with supporting it.

Where’s the progress? Because I don’t see any.

All I see are standards dropping  across every level, as we crawl toward League One

Dragan needs to wake up.

Either find a ruthless streak or sell up and hand the reins to someone who actually knows how to run a football club.

Someone with the vision and backbone to build a real footballing structure — not one run by charlatans and con men pretending they know what they’re doing.

I can’t fault him for putting money into the club — he’s done that.

But what’s worrying is how long it’s taken to realise that the people he’s trusted to run things are completely out of their depth.

The warning signs have been flashing for ages, yet nothing seems to change.

Where do we go from here ? 

What needs to happen? 

[Toussaint]

I don’t think there is an answer other than a change of ownership. I don’t trust them to appoint the best manager for us. I don’t trust them to buy players that can be made into an effective unit. If Dragan does stay he needs to have a complete clear out of his staff. Interesting that Adam Blackmore speculated about the possible negative influence of Ankersson?

[Lard]

Where do we go from here?…..League one and obscurity. 
 

[Osvaldorama]

Strikers that can’t score

Goalkeepers that can’t make a save

A manager that can’t manage 

A recruitment team that can’t recruit. 
 

The only way we go from here is down the table 

[Willo of Whiteley]

I’m not defending Will Still by any means, I don’t think he was the right appointment.
That said we’re creating a hell of a lot of chances. Our biggest problem has been putting them away.

Recrutitment is down to the technical director Johannes Spors. Even pre-summer the club were aware of what we needed, and we dithered about until the final week to do any real business.

You could also argue that some of these players were the wrong ones to bring in. I get SR’s model of bringing in young players and selling them on, but that only works if they’re good enough and perform.

We’re almost certain to lose money on Edozie, Bazunu, She Charles I’m sure will leave when he’s out of contract. The story there has been poor.

I just don’t take SR seriously. They’ve tried to go straight in with this multi-club model. They’ve rushed it. It’s disjointed. You build one club up and branch out from there. Too many fingers in too many pies etc.

You can’t fault the investment because they have put money in, but it’s been spent horrifically and that falls on the people making the football decisions at the club.

[saintant]

11 minutes ago, ally_uk said:

Something’s seriously wrong at our club. We’re making history for all the wrong reasons, and it’s painful to watch.

I cannot fathom how Solak continues to support the incompetence around him.

Week after week, the same mistakes. The same lifeless performances.

It’s like nobody upstairs is learning or even listening.

This isn’t bad luck anymore. It’s bad leadership. Accountability has left the building  and so has our ambition.

I’m becoming more disillusioned with the whole affair.

This isn’t just me going through the motions, it feels like the soul has been ripped out of our club.

Systematically, on every level, we’ve drifted toward mediocrity.

From coaching to players to scouting, the decline runs deep.

It’s not just results anymore.

It’s the identity. The belief. The pride.

I mean, were you expecting four wins in fifty games?

A record-low points total?

Relegation from the Premier League right after Sports Republic took over?

It’s embarrassing.

And it’s a legacy that will haunt us for years.

Younger fans will either turn away from the club completely, or grow up carrying the stick that comes with supporting it.

Where’s the progress? Because I don’t see any.

All I see are standards dropping  across every level, as we crawl toward League One

Dragan needs to wake up.

Either find a ruthless streak or sell up and hand the reins to someone who actually knows how to run a football club.

Someone with the vision and backbone to build a real footballing structure — not one run by charlatans and con men pretending they know what they’re doing.

I can’t fault him for putting money into the club — he’s done that.

But what’s worrying is how long it’s taken to realise that the people he’s trusted to run things are completely out of their depth.

The warning signs have been flashing for ages, yet nothing seems to change.

Where do we go from here ? 

What needs to happen? 

A good post. If this football club was any other business performing in the way it has with just 4 wins heads at the top would have rolled long ago. Someone, presumably Solak, has to say enough and take the drastic action needed to halt this debacle. Those handling the football side within SR are completely incompetent so, until they are stripped out and replaced with people who know what they are doing, things will only continue to get worse. You can call for SR to change the manager again (and Still does need to go) but that's just like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, the ship is still going down. With our weird club set up I'm not even sure how easy it is for Solak to act alone and make the culls in an effort to change things. Semmens has much to answer for in introducing these charlatans to our football club. He announced them with a fanfare of how much they would achieve but he's been proved to be the biggest charlatan of all. What a frigging mess.  

[Give it to Ron]

9 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I’m not defending Will Still by any means, I don’t think he was the right appointment.
That said we’re creating a hell of a lot of chances. Our biggest problem has been putting them away.

Recrutitment is down to the technical director Johannes Spors. Even pre-summer the club were aware of what we needed, and we dithered about until the final week to do any real business.

You could also argue that some of these players were the wrong ones to bring in. I get SR’s model of bringing in young players and selling them on, but that only works if they’re good enough and perform.

We’re almost certain to lose money on Edozie, Bazunu, She Charles I’m sure will leave when he’s out of contract. The story there has been poor.

I just don’t take SR seriously. They’ve tried to go straight in with this multi-club model. They’ve rushed it. It’s disjointed. You build one club up and branch out from there. Too many fingers in too many pies etc.

You can’t fault the investment because they have put money in, but it’s been spent horrifically and that falls on the people making the football decisions at the club.

Agreed our demise began with shocking recruitment and failure to address shortage on positions. 
Whoever decided to gamble on Stewart’s fitness and a 6m German 2 player needs sacking!!

Plus Norwich 3rd keeper leaving us with 2 average keepers.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Give it to Ron said:

Agreed our demise began with shocking recruitment and failure to address shortage on positions. 
Whoever decided to gamble on Stewart’s fitness and a 6m German 2 player needs sacking!!

Plus Norwich 3rd keeper leaving us with 2 average keepers.

I recall most were perplexed when Long singed. Just a wasted opportunity

[saintant]

13 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

I don’t think there is an answer other than a change of ownership. I don’t trust them to appoint the best manager for us. I don’t trust them to buy players that can be made into an effective unit. If Dragan does stay he needs to have a complete clear out of his staff. Interesting that Adam Blackmore speculated about the possible negative influence of Ankersson?

What did he say? Along with others I've long questioned Ankersson. The things he comes out with, the sort of clever (but not really) books he writes and his presentations ring every alarm bell going for me. He is the archetypal person who is nowhere near as clever as he thinks he is but somehow manages to convince enough people that he is some sort of guru. He'd be first in my firing line of incompetents to get shot of.

[Give it to Ron]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

I recall most were perplexed when Long singed. Just a wasted opportunity

I never thought we would miss Che this much but that shows how abysmal we have recruited…….again

[dsrdorset]

How can all us 'simple' football fans see what the problems are, but those at the top fail to acknowledge? The players don't look bothered. The manager is totally inept and out of his depth. It won't happen, but I really do think it's time for a boycott. 4 league wins in 50 games ffs. 

[saintant]

16 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Strikers that can’t score

Goalkeepers that can’t make a save

A manager that can’t manage 

A recruitment team that can’t recruit. 
 

The only way we go from here is down the table 

You missed out the biggest elephant in the room who presided over everything in your list - Sports Republic. 

[Toussaint]

2 minutes ago, saintant said:

What did he say? Along with others I've long questioned Ankersson. The things he comes out with, the sort of clever (but not really) books he writes and his presentations ring every alarm bell going for me. He is the archetypal person who is nowhere near as clever as he thinks he is but somehow manages to convince enough people that he is some sort of guru. He'd be first in my firing line of incompetents to get shot of.

You can hear it on “going home with Adam and Jo”, which is a repeat of the Solent post match show. It was in reference to Spors being potentially unhappy with interference from somewhere/ someone else within SR. It maybe pure speculation, but it’s unlike Adam to be so unguarded. 

[Paul_B]

Spot on OP. Unfortunately the writing has been on the wall for a while. We've all hoped, naively, that things would improve and that maybe this season would be a positive turning point. It became clear though very early on this season that it wouldn't and that things were only going to get worse, despite some still trying to cling on to hope/belief that we would improve, possibly just in denial or slightly delusional. 

Looking at the table and form I can quite easily see us, Blackburn and Sheff Weds going down this season. I predicted a lower mid-table finish early on, but I think maybe I was being a bit optimistic. Very sad state of affairs.

On a more positive note, we've done it before and if going down is what it takes for a rebuild then so be it. Look at Sunderland, they were in the wilderness not long ago. Give us a few years, some new owners and we can put this horrible era behind us. We'll need a bit of patience though.

[saintant]

Just now, Toussaint said:

You can hear it on “going home with Adam and Jo”, which is a repeat of the Solent post match show. It was in reference to Spors being potentially unhappy with interference from somewhere/ someone else within SR. It maybe pure speculation, but it’s unlike Adam to be so unguarded. 

Cheers and agree know-all Ankersson would be the prime candidate.

[die Mannyschaft]

Only option is either get up top 6 in table and then look at all players and get proper footballing stuff in to decide on players. That's very unlikely. 

Option 2 get relegated and owners sell up. Completely re do the squad and stop paying £7m, £10m, £17m for players

[S-Clarke]

At this stage, the problem is beyond coaches and players. It's a lot deeper than that. Although I will say that there are some toxic individuals within the playing side we need out of here ASAP.

The only way you change our trajectory is changing our ownership, but I don't see how that's possible really. We have no say in it, they hold the keys, they sell up when they sell up. All we can do is put pressure on them to do so, but the next few years are going to be bleak. We're heading into 2008-2009 territory, no avoiding it I don't think.

Another relegation may force their hand.

Edited 23 hours ago by S-Clarke

[Football Special]

1 hour ago, Toussaint said:

I don’t think there is an answer other than a change of ownership. I don’t trust them to appoint the best manager for us. I don’t trust them to buy players that can be made into an effective unit. If Dragan does stay he needs to have a complete clear out of his staff. Interesting that Adam Blackmore speculated about the possible negative influence of Ankersson?

What did Blackmore say? Would be interesting to read / listen 

[Gloucester Saint]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

Cheers and agree know-all Ankersson would be the prime candidate.

This isn’t a surprise - when Spors was unveiled at an SMS home game last season smiling, Rasmus made a point of sitting nearby glaring at him as if Dragan had allowed someone else to play with his train set. I’ve worked with people like Rasmus and the only way your organisation recovers is with him out of it altogether.

[S-Clarke]

5 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

This isn’t a surprise - when Spors was unveiled at an SMS home game last season smiling, Rasmus made a point of sitting nearby glaring at him as if Dragan had allowed someone else to play with his train set. I’ve worked with people like Rasmus and the only way your organisation recovers is with him out of it altogether.

In my eyes, this is why we go through DoF's every few months. They cannot work with Rasmus whose hands are seemingly all over this.

[Gloucester Saint]

Just now, S-Clarke said:

In my eyes, this is why we go through DoF's every few months. They cannot work with Rasmus whose hands are seemingly all over this.

Has to be - one common variable.

[Saint Billy]

2 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

 I get SR’s model of bringing in young players and selling them on, but that only works if they’re good enough and perform.

Those good old days when the club would actually put a team together to feckin win something, seems like a million years ago.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

4 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

In my eyes, this is why we go through DoF's every few months. They cannot work with Rasmus whose hands are seemingly all over this.

I fail to see how he has so much influence within the club. It just doesn't stack up. I understood that Solak put the most money into the club, surely he gets to make the final decisions. Spoors has a decent record and above all else is a football guy, surely he has to go to Solak and tell him that Ankerson, if he is involved in club decisions is fucking everything over. 

[sadoldgit]

51 minutes ago, die Mannyschaft said:

Only option is either get up top 6 in table and then look at all players and get proper footballing stuff in to decide on players. That's very unlikely. 

Option 2 get relegated and owners sell up. Completely re do the squad and stop paying £7m, £10m, £17m for players

There is another option of just aiming to win as many matches as possible which will probably result in a mid table position. None of the teams that were relegated last season are setting the division on fire so we don’t have some kind of divine right to go straight back up. SR have spent a lot of money so why blame them. Not all of Spors recruitment have been crap but yes, that could have been better. We don’t have a poor squad. Still needs to find a way to get a tune out of them as he won’t be sacked this side of Christmas. We can call for sackings all day long but is that really the answer? SR own the club and aren’t just going to sell up because a bunch of key board warriors want them too. The fans I know who don’t use social media are unhappy but aren’t calling for mass sackings. At some point we need to understand that getting rid isn’t the answer and just have to live with what we have.

[Pamplemousse]

This team reminds me of Sunderland when they went down in successive seasons. It was a big spiral and they took years before getting it right.

I don't think we will go down - on paper at least we should be doing better - but it's tricky to see where the next win is coming from.

[S-Clarke]

17 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I fail to see how he has so much influence within the club. It just doesn't stack up. I understood that Solak put the most money into the club, surely he gets to make the final decisions. Spoors has a decent record and above all else is a football guy, surely he has to go to Solak and tell him that Ankerson, if he is involved in club decisions is fucking everything over. 

Rasmus is a significant shareholder of Sports Republic though, unless he's stripped of his shares his involvement isn't going anywhere.

[S-Clarke]

2 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

This team reminds me of Sunderland when they went down in successive seasons. It was a big spiral and they took years before getting it right.

I don't think we will go down - on paper at least we should be doing better - but it's tricky to see where the next win is coming from.

We probably won't go down this season, but the trajectory is without a doubt L1.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

Rasmus is a significant shareholder of Sports Republic though, unless he's stripped of his shares his involvement isn't going anywhere.

But surely Solak has the ultimate say in who goes where and what goes where? I get its not that simple, but if football people like Wilcox and Shields are jumping at the first opportunity then you have to question why. Someone at the club needs to have the balls to stand up to Rasmus, if indeed he is interfering and tell him the damage he is doing. For me, Solak is every bit as culpable in this mess as anyone.

[Badger]

2 hours ago, Toussaint said:

You can hear it on “going home with Adam and Jo”, which is a repeat of the Solent post match show. It was in reference to Spors being potentially unhappy with interference from somewhere/ someone else within SR. It maybe pure speculation, but it’s unlike Adam to be so unguarded. 

 

2 hours ago, saintant said:

Cheers and agree know-all Ankersson would be the prime candidate.

 

41 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

This isn’t a surprise - when Spors was unveiled at an SMS home game last season smiling, Rasmus made a point of sitting nearby glaring at him as if Dragan had allowed someone else to play with his train set. I’ve worked with people like Rasmus and the only way your organisation recovers is with him out of it altogether.

I thought the position was that Ankersen had been banished to Goztepe and cease his day to day involvement at St Mary’s.

Developments and appointments do seem to follow his style though, possibly having his fingerprints all over them. 
 

He should be the first one for Dragan ensures fucks off out of it. 

[IFHP]

13 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

We probably won't go down this season, but the trajectory is without a doubt L1.

I wouldn’t bet against going down this season.

Sheffield Wednesday have taken one spot but the other 2 are up for grabs so to speak. 
 

The warnings were there from the very 1st game against Wrexham and the league cup game against Northampton.

We are getting worse , have a shit manager and shit owners neither of which know what they are doing .

 

[RedArmy]

15 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

but if football people like Wilcox and Shields are jumping at the first opportunity then you have to question why.

Because they had offers from United and Chelsea? Bit of a no brainer really. 
 

Rasmus is a cunt but I’m not sure you can really blame him for staff leaving for much bigger clubs. 

[Wade Garrett]

2 hours ago, saintant said:

A good post. If this football club was any other business performing in the way it has with just 4 wins heads at the top would have rolled long ago. Someone, presumably Solak, has to say enough and take the drastic action needed to halt this debacle. Those handling the football side within SR are completely incompetent so, until they are stripped out and replaced with people who know what they are doing, things will only continue to get worse. You can call for SR to change the manager again (and Still does need to go) but that's just like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, the ship is still going down. With our weird club set up I'm not even sure how easy it is for Solak to act alone and make the culls in an effort to change things. Semmens has much to answer for in introducing these charlatans to our football club. He announced them with a fanfare of how much they would achieve but he's been proved to be the biggest charlatan of all. What a frigging mess.  

Solak has the authority to get rid of any SR director he wants.  He can kick Wankersen out, and should have done when he kicked the other twat out.

I am amazed that he has been such a success in business when he is such a poor football club owner.

Edited 22 hours ago by Wade Garrett

[trousers]

2 hours ago, Toussaint said:

You can hear it on “going home with Adam and Jo”, which is a repeat of the Solent post match show. It was in reference to Spors being potentially unhappy with interference from somewhere/ someone else within SR. It maybe pure speculation, but it’s unlike Adam to be so unguarded. 

Would explain why the club pulled the plug on the interview that Solent and/or The Echo had tee'd up with Spors during the recent international break.

It seems to clear to me that things behind the scenes are broken beyond repair and the ONLY solution is for Ankersen, Solak and Sport Republic to f*** right off. 

I know there's a fraternity amongst the fan base who proclaim that protesting against the ownership won't achieve anything, but I disagree with that. What owner of any organisation would want to stick around when their customer base turns on them in sustained protests and/or boycotts? Surely that's not a sustainable business model and would ultimately force a change?

One thing is certain... Sitting back meekly doing nothing won't achieve anything...

Edited 22 hours ago by trousers

[Wade Garrett]

33 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Rasmus is a significant shareholder of Sports Republic though, unless he's stripped of his shares his involvement isn't going anywhere.

Dragan has the authority to fuck him off.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

15 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

Because they had offers from United and Chelsea? Bit of a no brainer really. 
 

Rasmus is a cunt but I’m not sure you can really blame him for staff leaving for much bigger clubs. 

Maybe so. But weren't the jobs different roles to what they were doing here with a lot less power/authority? Might be wrong on that though. 

[Suhari]

Where do we go?

If Dragan doesn't sell (and why would he..... expect he'll lose money), then we need to let Spors do his job without interference.

And, bring in a manager who knows this league, rather than some hipster up-and-coming jobby.

But...... perhaps those two things are mutually exclusive.

[Give it to Ron]

10 minutes ago, Suhari said:

Where do we go?

If Dragan doesn't sell (and why would he..... expect he'll lose money), then we need to let Spors do his job without interference.

And, bring in a manager who knows this league, rather than some hipster up-and-coming jobby.

But...... perhaps those two things are mutually exclusive.

Where has this Spors interference come from? let’s remember he alone was responsible for Stephens 3 year deal as per fans forum and he signed Downs and didn’t sign a proper target man either.

[Suhari]

1 minute ago, Give it to Ron said:

Where has this Spors interference come from? let’s remember he alone was responsible for Stephens 3 year deal as per fans forum and he signed Downs and didn’t sign a proper target man either.

As per another thread.

Adam B alluded to interference in the post-match yesterday.

Maybe not gospel of course.

[die Mannyschaft]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

Rasmus is a significant shareholder of Sports Republic though, unless he's stripped of his shares his involvement isn't going anywhere.

Who actually owns Saints? What percentage of shares? How much was thd club brought for? 

If the owners are taking £5m season for thier investment then not going to go.

Didn't Lowe pay himself £1m 

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, die Mannyschaft said:

Who actually owns Saints? What percentage of shares? How much was thd club brought for? 

If the owners are taking £5m season for thier investment then not going to go.

Didn't Lowe pay himself £1m 

@trousers - you're usually all over the companies house stuff, do you know how it's split?

[die Mannyschaft]

2 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

There is another option of just aiming to win as many matches as possible which will probably result in a mid table position. None of the teams that were relegated last season are setting the division on fire so we don’t have some kind of divine right to go straight back up. SR have spent a lot of money so why blame them. Not all of Spors recruitment have been crap but yes, that could have been better. We don’t have a poor squad. Still needs to find a way to get a tune out of them as he won’t be sacked this side of Christmas. We can call for sackings all day long but is that really the answer? SR own the club and aren’t just going to sell up because a bunch of key board warriors want them too. The fans I know who don’t use social media are unhappy but aren’t calling for mass sackings. At some point we need to understand that getting rid isn’t the answer and just have to live with what we have.

How can the players play better and as a team? Its a mystery why we cant find managers to get all the players performing to thier level on paper. 

I don't think we have a good squad, 6th at best even if we started to work a a unit. The team is too unbalanced with experience and skill, decision making on the ball differing wildly. 

If the owners keep buying new players then that must be a good thing, just the players are not that good are over priced.

Saints need some fluke to get 3 or 4 players in who can play at championship 6th place level. 

I think everyone,  the club, players, fans have underestimate how good other teams are and Saints are the team everyone ticks off as a definite win.

[benjii]

31 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

@trousers - you're usually all over the companies house stuff, do you know how it's split?

It's hard to work it out due to the number of holding companies involved and various different categories of shares. I started looking once but couldn't be arsed after about 15 minutes.

But anyway, as you go up the chain, you eventually find that the only individual with over 75% control of Sports Republic Holding Limited is Dragan Solak. Ankersen and Kraft have some shares but it's a small amount, and Kat still has 20% of the football club, so the level of control over the business with the football league share that Kraft and Ankersen have is very small.

Solak is apparently Maltese and lives in Switzerland. 

 

Edited 20 hours ago by benjii

[benjii]

Other interesting thing to be aware of:

Sports Republic seem to have set up a company which is co-owned by a Malian man involved in football academies in Mali. So maybe one day we will get that big brick shithouse striker or midfielder. After Goztepe, of course.

 

[Dark Munster]

7 hours ago, Give it to Ron said:

Where has this Spors interference come from? let’s remember he alone was responsible for Stephens 3 year deal as per fans forum and he signed Downs and didn’t sign a proper target man either.

Reports are that the club had been monitoring Downs for some time, before Spors arrived. Just like Ankersen did with his genius choice of Nathan Jones.

[LiberalCommunist]

Where do we go from here?

 

Up three places if we win, down one if we lose. 

[sockeye]

I had also heard that Quarshie and Downs were decided to be bought regardless of Spors' plans. But a source I can't give I'm afraid.

[tdmickey3]

13 hours ago, LiberalCommunist said:

Where do we go from here?

 

Up three places if we win, down one if we lose. 

Down one it is then

[Toussaint]

Alfie said something interesting on TSP, he seemed to be supporting Still’s reference to some of the players not giving a crap, he said something along the lines of,  from his experience that’s very true. Later in the podcast he referred to some players they really wanted out the club in the summer but are still there, presumably causing issues. 

[AlexLaw76]

11 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

Alfie said something interesting on TSP, he seemed to be supporting Still’s reference to some of the players not giving a crap, he said something along the lines of,  from his experience that’s very true. Later in the podcast he referred to some players they really wanted out the club in the summer but are still there, presumably causing issues. 

Bit how can one or two who want out result in us being 20th?

just can’t buy into that being the issue why we are shit