Tonda Eckert

[benjii]

5 hours ago, Dr Who? said:

Has to be the owners that need to be removed now. Tonda is here until the end of the season at least. We need to up the protests and try and remove the board and owners. That will not happen on this board, but on the wider more powerful social media. 

There's zero chance we remove the owners, but we can at least make them feel more accountable and, hopefully, have them reassess how they are doing things.

[Mr X]

4 hours ago, benjii said:

There's zero chance we remove the owners, but we can at least make them feel more accountable and, hopefully, have them reassess how they are doing things.

Not going to happen as people aren't strong enough but Empty stadium and bars/food/shop each home game and they would be forced to sell eventually?

Of course I get the being a saints fan through the good and bad times philosophy but the product is beyond shit and has been shit since SR took over.... Time to take action if things are to change 

[benjii]

2 minutes ago, Mr X said:

Not going to happen as people aren't strong enough but Empty stadium and bars/food/shop each home game and they would be forced to sell eventually?

Of course I get the being a saints fan through the good and bad times philosophy but the product is beyond shit and has been shit since SR took over.... Time to take action if things are to change 

They paid a Premier League price. Unless we get back in the Prem there is little incentive to sell. If revenues drop sharply they will look to cut costs, before looking to sell. I mean, yeah, maybe in an extreme scenario they decide to cut their losses, but I can't see that happening unless we are essentially insolvent.

[Wade Garrett]

8 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

The most culpable of all? Give it a rest. Again, he is worthy of some criticism but he's put his money into the club.

But he’s the only one that can get rid of the bullshitters that are doing such a rubbish job at the moment.  Particularly Rasmus.

 

[tdmickey3]

8 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

The most culpable of all? Give it a rest. Again, he is worthy of some criticism but he's put his money into the club.

He wasn't the most culpable but he is now for letting this decline gather pace and allowing stupid decisions to be made over and over..

Really not sure why a reportedly successful business man lets it continue especially as they are wasting his money, would he be as tolerant of such sustained failure in his other ventures? 

[Mr X]

24 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

He wasn't the most culpable but he is now for letting this decline gather pace and allowing stupid decisions to be made over and over..

Really not sure why a reportedly successful business man lets it continue especially as they are wasting his money, would he be as tolerant of such sustained failure in his other ventures? 

Seems like saints is dragens hobby with his spare change he isn't too worried about the cost it seems and ankersen is pretty much given free reign (and he treats it like a hobby too) we don't have any serious football people at the club that are that heavilly invested in what fans would call success we are just a hobby/experiment

[Convict Colony]

At this point i believe someone above the manager is making us play 3 CBs constantly.

We cant go through a whole season, concede a decent amount of goals and think this this is good.

Also decision making.

When Oxford RB was on a yellow early he never made Leo run at him as he was asking him to come inside more, again when cov had a man sent off we still had 3 CBs on the pitch v 1 attacker.

Edited Monday at 10:27 by Convict Colony

[saintant]

5 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

At this point i believe someone above the manager is making us play 3 CBs constantly.

We cant go through a whole season, concede a decent amount of goals and think this this is good.

Also decision making.

When Oxford RB was on a yellow early he never made Leo run at him as he was asking him to come inside more, again when cov had a man sent off we still had 3 CBs on the pitch v 1 attacker.

Agree and the smart money would be on that charlatan Ankersen. Do people still buy his stupid books? If so they must be bonkers. He's made a living out of talking total and utter bollocks. Wish he'd just get the fuck away from our football club with his smartarse ideas. He got power drunk when he was at Brentford even though he was never the brains behind their rise. Now he's trying to recreate it at Southampton and us fans are the ones suffering from his stupidity and arrogance.

[BotleySaint]

23 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

At this point i believe someone above the manager is making us play 3 CBs constantly.

It does feel that way. Every manager rigidly plays the same system despite the results. Just like with Baz who despite being statistically terrible, remains in goal. Surely all the managers we've appointed don't have just ONE idea about how to play football.

Even if you kept appointing like-minded managers, one of then would eventually buck the trend.

A few games ago I hoped Tonda might stand up and find is own voice. Unfortunately that now looks impossible.

If we continue as we are I can't see him lasting after the Pompey game. Simply because fan sentiment and anger toward the club at that point will intensify and the owners will be forced to act as they eventually did under RM.

Edited Monday at 10:50 by BotleySaint

[Turkish]

25 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

At this point i believe someone above the manager is making us play 3 CBs constantly.

We cant go through a whole season, concede a decent amount of goals and think this this is good.

Also decision making.

When Oxford RB was on a yellow early he never made Leo run at him as he was asking him to come inside more, again when cov had a man sent off we still had 3 CBs on the pitch v 1 attacker.

Still came out and said he would play 4-2-3-1 if he could. If cant have been because of the players he has as they are ideal for that system. He also dropped Baz so i cant think he's being told to play him. It's definitely weird though that two managers have both played the same way, persisted with it when it's blatently not been working and one of them has actually come out and said hed prefer to play a different way.

[saintant]

4 minutes ago, BotleySaint said:

It does feel that way. Every manager rigidly plays the same system despite the results. Just like with Baz who despite being statistically terrible, remains in goal. Surely all the managers we've appointed don't have just ONE idea about how to play football.

Even if you kept appointing like-minded managers, one of then would eventually buck the trend.

A few games ago I hoped Tonda might stand up and find is own voice. Unfortunately that now looks impossible.

If we continue as we are I can't see him lasting after the Pompey game. Simply because fan sentiment and anger toward the club at that point will intensify and the owners will be forced to act as they eventually did under RM.

Trouble is they'll just bring in another manager who is forced to play 3 at the back. Seems the only way to break this cycle is to get SR out which is obviously easier said than done.

[macca155]

It won't be as clear cut as suggested. They'll be a set vision influencing, appointments and overall strategy. Tonda will be working within that. Classic senior management, set the parameters, but keep a distance to avoid being tarnished by failure.

However, they'll be one hell of an inquest at Marchwood today. SR aren't stupid, they know the heat is on them. Particularly with a likely horror show at FP coming up.

Tonda is probably safe until the end of the season. Hopefully SR react to the recent debacle's and give him more latitude. 

The problems are all in defence really. Buy/loan a goalkeeper, and experienced defenders, then Tonda might just stand a chance.

[Mr X]

5 hours ago, macca155 said:

It won't be as clear cut as suggested. They'll be a set vision influencing, appointments and overall strategy. Tonda will be working within that. Classic senior management, set the parameters, but keep a distance to avoid being tarnished by failure.

However, they'll be one hell of an inquest at Marchwood today. SR aren't stupid, they know the heat is on them. Particularly with a likely horror show at FP coming up.

Tonda is probably safe until the end of the season. Hopefully SR react to the recent debacle's and give him more latitude. 

The problems are all in defence really. Buy/loan a goalkeeper, and experienced defenders, then Tonda might just stand a chance.

I don't think that will make any difference under Tonda he just doesn't seem to have the tactical awareness needed at this level to change things up when they aren't working... His idea seems to be take off the only players that are Making an effort... Beyond bizarre! Might as well have stuck with still and hoped for the best as Tonda is no better 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

18 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

He is demonstrably better than the other wankers running the club. He has a share of the blame for sure but it's just not correct to say he is no better than the others.

Not for me. Just because he's put up the money does not absolve him of any blame. He's allowed this to continue, he is part of the problem. 

[hypochondriac]

14 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Not for me. Just because he's put up the money does not absolve him of any blame. He's allowed this to continue, he is part of the problem. 

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest you haven't read what I've written.

[S-Clarke]

16 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest you haven't read what I've written.

 I was of your mindset 6-9 months ago, I felt a bit sorry for him in some regards and appreciated he'd invested.

but....at some point last season he made himself chairman, he openly said he wants to be closer, be fully hands on and oversea more of the day to day. Kraft went out the door, he became chairman and I thought ok cool...let's see what you have up your sleeve.

Fair to say last season wasn't worth rescuing, but he's been one of the main decision makers in what has so far been the worst season under SR in respect of league positions. It's not got any better with him overseeing it, which just adds to my thoughts that he doesn't understand football. I don't think we can criticise his intentions, but I don't think he has a scooby do and this season rests very, very strongly on his shoulders up to this point as he promoted himself to the accountable position.

Edited Monday at 18:33 by S-Clarke

[Lee On Solent Saint]

6 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest you haven't read what I've written.

Yes, I've read what you have written. You seem to be suggesting that as he has put money in he shouldn't be as much to blame as the other's who are doing such a good job of running the club into the ground. That for me is a load of shit. If he has the final say and it is his money, than how is he allowing this shitshow to continue? I get that football is not his area of expertise, but being a so called business man he would surely surround himself with individuals who know how to run football clubs, not the collection of feeble minded charlatans that have seemed to latched onto our club. Either he is very niave and been badly advised, or he couldn't give two fucks about the club and it's fans. 

[aintforever]

8 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

At this point i believe someone above the manager is making us play 3 CBs constantly.

If the club has idiots in the board room dictating what formation the manager uses we are fucked regardless of how many centre-backs we play.

[hypochondriac]

17 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Yes, I've read what you have written. You seem to be suggesting that as he has put money in he shouldn't be as much to blame as the other's who are doing such a good job of running the club into the ground. That for me is a load of shit. If he has the final say and it is his money, than how is he allowing this shitshow to continue? I get that football is not his area of expertise, but being a so called business man he would surely surround himself with individuals who know how to run football clubs, not the collection of feeble minded charlatans that have seemed to latched onto our club. Either he is very niave and been badly advised, or he couldn't give two fucks about the club and it's fans. 

Correct. So at no point did I say that putting money up absolves him of any blame. I actually said the opposite. Of course someone who invests their own money should not be viewed as negatively as someone with no skin in the game and pretty much no incentive for things to get better, hence my example of Lowe and also Guy Ashkam.

Edited Monday at 18:50 by hypochondriac

[Sheaf Saint]

7 hours ago, macca155 said:

The problems are all in defence really. Buy/loan a goalkeeper, and experienced defenders, then Tonda might just stand a chance.

Disagree. Our forwards seem to have forgotten where the net is of late. It could be that they are being starved of service because of the weak midfield and the propensity of Downes to just play it back to the CBs, but we had chances in the first half against Boro that we couldn't finish.

We didn't create anything against Millwall, and couldn't lay a glove on 10-man Coventry when we had basically no defending to do.

I think the defence is the first priority to work on, but our problems run much deeper. We're playing Fellows out of position which detracts from his natural attacking instinct, and relying on the hapless Manning to provide creativity from the other wing.

Tonda managed to secure a few wins by finding a way to get our forwards into the game more while ignoring how shit our defending is. As soon as other teams cottoned on to that one tactic we were using and nullified it, the goals have dried up but the defence has been just as shit.

In short, we're fucked all over the pitch. 

[Convict Colony]

8 hours ago, Turkish said:

Still came out and said he would play 4-2-3-1 if he could. If cant have been because of the players he has as they are ideal for that system. He also dropped Baz so i cant think he's being told to play him. It's definitely weird though that two managers have both played the same way, persisted with it when it's blatently not been working and one of them has actually come out and said hed prefer to play a different way.

I can exclusively reveal our players aren't suited to 3 5 3 either.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

39 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Correct. So at no point did I say that putting money up absolves him of any blame. I actually said the opposite. Of course someone who invests their own money should not be viewed as negatively as someone with no skin in the game and pretty much no incentive for things to get better, hence my example of Lowe and also Guy Ashkam.

At the end of the day am just frustrated that as a fan base, we appear to give Solak a free pass as he appears to have put up the money. He has overseen a quite horrendous period of our club history and shows no signs of being able to make any changes to the perpetual cycle of utter shitness that has become the norm. 

[bugenhagen]

20 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

I can exclusively reveal our players aren't suited to 3 5 3 either.

Given up on Baz in goal, and let's just chuck him up front?

[Behind Enemy Lines]

10 minutes ago, bugenhagen said:

Given up on Baz in goal, and let's just chuck him up front?

He’d probably get in the way of teammates taking a shot and block them all! 

[bugenhagen]

2 minutes ago, Behind Enemy Lines said:

He’d probably get in the way of teammates taking a shot and block them all! 

I think you are massively overestimating Bazunu's ability to block shots... even if he is standing right in front of them 😄

[macca155]

1 hour ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Disagree. Our forwards seem to have forgotten where the net is of late. It could be that they are being starved of service because of the weak midfield and the propensity of Downes to just play it back to the CBs, but we had chances in the first half against Boro that we couldn't finish.

We didn't create anything against Millwall, and couldn't lay a glove on 10-man Coventry when we had basically no defending to do.

I think the defence is the first priority to work on, but our problems run much deeper. We're playing Fellows out of position which detracts from his natural attacking instinct, and relying on the hapless Manning to provide creativity from the other wing.

Tonda managed to secure a few wins by finding a way to get our forwards into the game more while ignoring how shit our defending is. As soon as other teams cottoned on to that one tactic we were using and nullified it, the goals have dried up but the defence has been just as shit.

In short, we're fucked all over the pitch. 

You may be right but I think your observation that the forwards care starved of service is 'nail on head'.

If the defence falls back and starts fannying about, the midfield has to drop back as well. Thus we can all see the huge gaps between defence and the forwards.

Attacks appear to rely on either Scienza, Fellows, or Robinson picking up the ball in midfield, and going on a mazy run for 50 yards. Either that or a hopeful 40 yard pass from THB. Not even LeGod himself could sustain that. No other team plays that way, it's ridiculous.

When Azaz acts a pivot, playing intelligent passes either wide or through the defence. Armstrong, Archer, and Scienza score for fun. Other teams know this and force us back to frustrate him.

So frustrating 

 

[Dark Munster]

9 hours ago, macca155 said:

However, they'll be one hell of an inquest at Marchwood today. SR aren't stupid, they know the heat is on them. Particularly with a likely horror show at FP coming up.

I beg to differ.

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

 I was of your mindset 6-9 months ago, I felt a bit sorry for him in some regards and appreciated he'd invested.

but....at some point last season he made himself chairman, he openly said he wants to be closer, be fully hands on and oversea more of the day to day. Kraft went out the door, he became chairman and I thought ok cool...let's see what you have up your sleeve.

Fair to say last season wasn't worth rescuing, but he's been one of the main decision makers in what has so far been the worst season under SR in respect of league positions. It's not got any better with him overseeing it, which just adds to my thoughts that he doesn't understand football. I don't think we can criticise his intentions, but I don't think he has a scooby do and this season rests very, very strongly on his shoulders up to this point as he promoted himself to the accountable position.

I don't necessarily disagree. My point is simply that you deserve credit for investing your own money into the club unlike previous owners and people with other job roles at the club and whilst he deserves some criticism, it will always be tempered by that fact. He's actually losing out financially when we do poorly. A load of the others won't give a fuck, they get a pay cheque either way and might take a hut to their reputation but they can always bullshit during another Ted talk and find some deluded wanker to sell moonshine to.

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

At the end of the day am just frustrated that as a fan base, we appear to give Solak a free pass as he appears to have put up the money. He has overseen a quite horrendous period of our club history and shows no signs of being able to make any changes to the perpetual cycle of utter shitness that has become the norm. 

I'm not sure he gets a free pass, it's just rightly acknowledged that putting real amounts of your own money in is a very different thing and is going to make you care an awful lot more than someone who doesn't do that. I'm sure he would really rather not let his asset lose value.

[AlexLaw76]

Why can’t we be a normal football club and hire experienced proven managers?

Given our weight in this league we had a great chance of a reset and go again….no, we hired an upstart from France, then a complete novice from the reserves.

Tonda looking way out of his depth…who would have thought

Edited Monday at 21:40 by AlexLaw76

[Holmes_and_Watson]

4 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

I don't necessarily disagree. My point is simply that you deserve credit for investing your own money into the club unlike previous owners and people with other job roles at the club and whilst he deserves some criticism, it will always be tempered by that fact. He's actually losing out financially when we do poorly. A load of the others won't give a fuck, they get a pay cheque either way and might take a hut to their reputation but they can always bullshit during another Ted talk and find some deluded wanker to sell moonshine to.

That is a shame.

Hey! I've just thought of an easy way for him to stop losing money by being involved with our club!

[Holmes_and_Watson]

3 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Why can’t we be a normal football club and hire experienced proven managers?

Given our weight in this league we had a great chance of a reset and go again….no, we hired an upstart from France, then a complete novice from the reserves.

Tonda looking way out of his depth…who would have thought

I think Tonda's replacement will do fine. Sure, he's a bit old than normal SR hires, but that shout of "3 at the back!" shows leadership, which the squad sorely need.

[Behind Enemy Lines]

10 hours ago, bugenhagen said:

I think you are massively overestimating Bazunu's ability to block shots... even if he is standing right in front of them 😄

I was insinuating he seems to do the opposite of what he’s supposed to do. Agent Baz. 

[hypochondriac]

6 hours ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

That is a shame.

Hey! I've just thought of an easy way for him to stop losing money by being involved with our club!

Right but imagine if we got someone like Gao now with no willingness to put money in and no expertise. Or a mad owner that wants to change our colours and name because they are lucky in his country. Things can always get worse, there's no guarantee that any replacement would actually be better.

[Convict Colony]

The key word i think is pragmatic, we need a pragmatic manager.

Not someone with a philosohpy, someone who assess's team and tactics based on upcoming games.

They should have 2-3 preferred formations that can be adopted in game as needed and start with 6-7 core players but that evolves based on form over the season, not just stick with them no matter how shit they are.

I've said it before but our sliding doors moment was sacking Still 1 week too late to get Rohl.

 

[Badger]

2 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

I've said it before but our sliding doors moment was sacking Still 1 week too late to get Rohl.

 

Or not appointing him in the summer. 
In my view Still should have gone weeks before, after Blackburn, Derby (international break) or Hull, take your pick. 

[Sheaf Saint]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

Or not appointing him in the summer. 
In my view Still should have gone weeks before, after Blackburn, Derby (international break) or Hull, take your pick. 

Derby I could forgive because LND got injured early on so our entire game plan went out the window.

Blackburn was the clincher for me. That was one of the most pathetic team performances I've ever seen, coupled with the single most mind-bogglingly stupid substitution anyone could ever make.

[saintant]

3 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

The key word i think is pragmatic, we need a pragmatic manager.

Not someone with a philosohpy, someone who assess's team and tactics based on upcoming games.

They should have 2-3 preferred formations that can be adopted in game as needed and start with 6-7 core players but that evolves based on form over the season, not just stick with them no matter how shit they are.

I've said it before but our sliding doors moment was sacking Still 1 week too late to get Rohl.

 

All good points but Ankersen likes to ensure he can talk down to our coaches on football so that limits who we can appoint.

[OldNick]

3 hours ago, Badger said:

Or not appointing him in the summer. 
In my view Still should have gone weeks before, after Blackburn, Derby (international break) or Hull, take your pick. 

I thought he turned us down in the summer as he was looking for something bigger

[Saint86]

4 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Right but imagine if we got someone like Gao now with no willingness to put money in and no expertise. Or a mad owner that wants to change our colours and name because they are lucky in his country. Things can always get worse, there's no guarantee that any replacement would actually be better.

Absolutely agree with this.

Solak has invested money into the club and we should all be grateful for that. He has just been very badly advised by those closest to him - both initially in the premier League, and then, even when trying to restructure things, he is still isolated somewhat from real football people and with the input/influence of Rasmus sat on at least one shoulder...

The grim fact is that the short period with Wilcox as DoF remains the only period where there has been success under SR. For whatever cumulative reasons, he left us in the lurch, and sadly in doing so he also pissed off Solak. And that may now perhaps have coloured his views of getting in further experienced footballing people (who knows)?

Although it is broadly a concern that we've lost so many backroom and senior non playing staff under SR. There is no smoke without fire, and there has been plenty of rumours of external/higher influences/meddling going on the background. It's also notable that when you speak to people in the footballing world (certainly in the south / south west), there are plenty that know ex Southampton people who absolutely slate the club's setup under SR and will openly tell you how bad the club's reputation has become as a serious footballing operation behind the scenes. And that is all on SR.

Edited 16 hours ago by Saint86

[hypochondriac]

57 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Absolutely agree with this.

Solak has invested money into the club and we should all be grateful for that. He has just been very badly advised by those closest to him - both initially in the premier League, and then, even when trying to restructure things, he is still isolated somewhat from real football people and with the input/influence of Rasmus sat on at least one shoulder...

The grim fact is that the short period with Wilcox as DoF remains the only period where there has been success under SR. For whatever cumulative reasons, he left us in the lurch, and sadly in doing so he also pissed off Solak. And that may now perhaps have coloured his views of getting in further experienced footballing people (who knows)?

Although it is broadly a concern that we've lost so many backroom and senior non playing staff under SR. There is no smoke without fire, and there has been plenty of rumours of external/higher influences/meddling going on the background. It's also notable that when you speak to people in the footballing world (certainly in the south / south west), there are plenty that know ex Southampton people who absolutely slate the club's setup under SR and will openly tell you how bad the club's reputation has become as a serious footballing operation behind the scenes. And that is all on SR.

Agree with that completely.

[Wade Garrett]

Nick Illingsworth has written a piece on TUI suggesting that there is a poisonous element in the dressing room.  
 

Eckert should drop these wankers.  They’ll cost him his job.  I won’t be sorry to see the back of Bazunu, Harwood-Bellis, Stephens, Manning, Downes, Wood and Armstrong.  They’re shite anyway.

[Crab Lungs]

I see Ankersen copping alot of the stick on here but I can’t see how he’s been involved recently, or have I missed something?

There is so much wrong at the club you’d need multiple hands to point all the fingers you need at the problems.

Like with any entity involving people, it’s leadership that sets the tone though. I think in recent seasons - much like companies and institutions in this country - we’ve had a serious rot of perpetual grifters amongst us that are happy to plod along, do a mediocre job and keep doing enough to get away with it or alternatively, are surrounded by fellow grifters all on the good time gravy train so are never held accountable.

Only solution? Rip it up and start again but it takes big balls and persistence to do it. It can be done though.

[Gloucester Saint]

4 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

I see Ankersen copping alot of the stick on here but I can’t see how he’s been involved recently, or have I missed something?

Agreed with most of your post but take a look on the Ben Garner thread and the excellent research done on there about the clear links to Rasmus. If true, and it looked compelling, crystal clear that Rasmus and not Spors is pulling the strings.

Edited 15 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[Crab Lungs]

1 minute ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Agreed with most of your post but take a look on the Ben Garner thread and the excellent research done on there about the clear links to Rasmus. If true, and it looked compelling, crystal clear that Rasmus and not Spors is pulling the strings.

Ah I haven’t read that.

For fucksake. Grifter at the top, enabling grifters with mediocre output right through the club then. 
 

I guess it would go back my original point; leadership and accountability.

[Sheaf Saint]

16 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Nick Illingsworth has written a piece on TUI suggesting that there is a poisonous element in the dressing room.  
 

Eckert should drop these wankers.  They’ll cost him his job.  I won’t be sorry to see the back of Bazunu, Harwood-Bellis, Stephens, Manning, Downes, Wood and Armstrong.  They’re shite anyway.

Still did drop them, and that cost him his job.

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

[Crab Lungs]

8 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Agreed with most of your post but take a look on the Ben Garner thread and the excellent research done on there about the clear links to Rasmus. If true, and it looked compelling, crystal clear that Rasmus and not Spors is pulling the strings.

I’ve read it now.

Ive added my customary ‘oh for fucksake’.

[Doctoroncall]

18 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

I see Ankersen copping alot of the stick on here but I can’t see how he’s been involved recently, or have I missed something?

There is so much wrong at the club you’d need multiple hands to point all the fingers you need at the problems.

Like with any entity involving people, it’s leadership that sets the tone though. I think in recent seasons - much like companies and institutions in this country - we’ve had a serious rot of perpetual grifters amongst us that are happy to plod along, do a mediocre job and keep doing enough to get away with it or alternatively, are surrounded by fellow grifters all on the good time gravy train so are never held accountable.

Only solution? Rip it up and start again but it takes big balls and persistence to do it. It can be done though.

It would nice to get confirmed, someone posted that Ankersen still has Solak’s ear when it comes to footballing input. 
 

Besides, Ankersen has set up the data analytics in SR and I would not be surprised if it has been misused, set up incorrectly or no one really knows how to use it. Possibly a combination of the three. 

[Mboto Gorge]

47 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Nick Illingsworth has written a piece on TUI suggesting that there is a poisonous element in the dressing room.  
 

Eckert should drop these wankers.  They’ll cost him his job.  I won’t be sorry to see the back of Bazunu, Harwood-Bellis, Stephens, Manning, Downes, Wood and Armstrong.  They’re shite anyway.

To be fair to Still that’s exactly what he did after the Hull game, dropped 5 of them for the Boro home game which was an improved performance for that particular game. Stephens, THB, Baz, Downes, and possibly one or two more that escape me now, all dropped in one swoop.

[HKsaint]

I think there were some changes of the morale after a few winning start of Tonda and his formal appointment as manager in Nov-Dec 2025. I imagine Tonda has asked the players whether they really want the Club return to the premier league and they all get replaced by new recruits, or they want to stay in the Championship and continue the dire performance. I think they got the answer.