Tonda Eckert

[Starksj1995]

Well

its what I think will happen they won’t wanna lose Portsmouth 

[Willo of Whiteley]

27 minutes ago, Starksj1995 said:

Tonda will be sacked soon lose hull with the protests planned he be gone 

What protests?

[die Mannyschaft]

Has left the club yet? Or have the board ot to run some data mining.

[Dr Who?]

36 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Agree with that but Solak won’t bin off Ankerson or at least limit him to Goztepe only (as he promised to do) so the only option is to sell.

They will not do that either and like other likeminded owners they will run the club into the ground, spit it out and clear off. It’s a shite situation but we are pretty stuck really. 

[Dr Who?]

8 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

What protests?

There is a protest after the Hull game I believe, it is the start of something. There was quite a bit of chanting yesterday against the owners. I still believe if they can realise like the Carlisle owners that they are doing it all wrong on the playing side and rebuild they can do good for the club. As I have said they are not afraid of spending money, but they are spending it all wrong. 

I think a protest is required, but to make them see that they are getting it so wrong, rather than selling and leaving. But how the hell do you go about doing that? 

[Starksj1995]

16 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

What protests?

Got massive protests planned vs hull 

[Starksj1995]

5 minutes ago, Dr Who? said:

There is a protest after the Hull game I believe, it is the start of something. There was quite a bit of chanting yesterday against the owners. I still believe if they can realise like the Carlisle owners that they are doing it all wrong on the playing side and rebuild they can do good for the club. As I have said they are not afraid of spending money, but they are spending it all wrong. 

I think a protest is required, but to make them see that they are getting it so wrong, rather than selling and leaving. But how the hell do you go about doing that? 

It’s before 

[die Mannyschaft]

5 minutes ago, Dr Who? said:

There is a protest after the Hull game I believe, it is the start of something. There was quite a bit of chanting yesterday against the owners. I still believe if they can realise like the Carlisle owners that they are doing it all wrong on the playing side and rebuild they can do good for the club. As I have said they are not afraid of spending money, but they are spending it all wrong. 

I think a protest is required, but to make them see that they are getting it so wrong, rather than selling and leaving. But how the hell do you go about doing that? 

Last time at 2pm there was no one at the statue. I doubt if anyone will turn up. It took ages to get Lowe out and in end don't think it was the protests that worked. SR are the new breed of owner who don't consider outside influence let alone protests. 

[die Mannyschaft]

4 minutes ago, Starksj1995 said:

Got massive protests planned vs hull 

We will miss Hull's first 3 goals if turned up that late.

[Dr Who?]

4 minutes ago, Starksj1995 said:

It’s before 

Yeah unfortunately I do not go to home games, so it is off my radar. Just not sure of the angle, but at least something is happening. Massive divide in the away end yesterday over the chanting. 

[saintant]

9 minutes ago, Starksj1995 said:

It’s before 

Well there'll probably be one after as well - we can expect another shit performance with zero effort after half time as per usual.

[Willo of Whiteley]

31 minutes ago, Starksj1995 said:

Got massive protests planned vs hull 

I see.

Well almost no fans will be doing that 😂

[sockeye]

33 minutes ago, Starksj1995 said:

Got massive protests planned vs hull 

Why has a Llama turned up to protest?

[die Mannyschaft]

21 minutes ago, Dr Who? said:

Yeah unfortunately I do not go to home games, so it is off my radar. Just not sure of the angle, but at least something is happening. Massive divide in the away end yesterday over the chanting. 

Yes I think 80%of fans want SR to stay. Realistically no one with football knowledge or a fan of Saints is going to buy the club. The ironic thing is SR have bank rolled astronomical funds in transfers. Its just the players we got have been over valued by at least 60%. The problem is no one at the club in key roles has football experience or in my opinion from matches I've seen. 

I would never have thought we would by a goal keeper for £27m. We didn't need a goalkeeper what was needed were defenders and goal scorers. Tall Paul and Sulemana for £18m  £25m each !! Sports Republic are filling pot holes in Southampton with gold when all they need is tarmac. Most fans think what new owner would invest such large amounts of money on Saints players.

[Badger]

37 minutes ago, die Mannyschaft said:

Yes I think 80%of fans want SR to stay. Realistically no one with football knowledge or a fan of Saints is going to buy the club. The ironic thing is SR have bank rolled astronomical funds in transfers. Its just the players we got have been over valued by at least 60%. The problem is no one at the club in key roles has football experience or in my opinion from matches I've seen. 

I would never have thought we would by a goal keeper for £27m. We didn't need a goalkeeper what was needed were defenders and goal scorers. Tall Paul and Sulemana for £18m  £25m each !! Sports Republic are filling pot holes in Southampton with gold when all they need is tarmac. Most fans think what new owner would invest such large amounts of money on Saints players.

Some good points. You can’t fault Dragan’s willingness to invest, but how it’s been done is dire. If only he rid himself of the Rasmus input things could possibly be different, although it seems we’re past that point now.

For me Ankersen, and to a lesser extent Spors should be the targets. (Spors we don’t know how far if at all he’s working to the Rasmus blueprint).

Last time we were lucky with Liebherr taking us over, could have been SISU or Fialka !! 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, sockeye said:

Why has a Llama turned up to protest?

That's Lallana, upset at being the only kid on the block not to be given the manager's job.

[Gloucester Saint]

2 hours ago, sockeye said:

Why has a Llama turned up to protest?

Or it’s Lallana joining in subtly?

[Pedantic Pete]

2 hours ago, Starksj1995 said:

Got massive protests planned vs hull 

Is it four years of abject failure? Surely a 20 odd game undefeated run and winning the play offs must constitute some sort of success? 

[Hayling Saint]

49 minutes ago, Pedantic Pete said:

Is it four years of abject failure? Surely a 20 odd game undefeated run and winning the play offs must constitute some sort of success? 

I agree with this.

[Jack]

2 hours ago, Pedantic Pete said:

Is it four years of abject failure? Surely a 20 odd game undefeated run and winning the play offs must constitute some sort of success? 

This has been done to death, but with the squad and budget we had that season, playoffs was the minimum requirement. The undefeated run brought us no closer to the sides we were chasing down as there were about 9 really poor 1-1 draws that papered over the cracks. 
 

Clearly I’d take that sort of form now, but it just shows how far we’ve continued to fall under SR

[StrangelyBrown]

I'm wondering why Eckhart has again singled out defending set pieces as being the problem....

Just part of a bigger problem that our centre backs don't take responsibility for defending balls im the box (especially high balls) - this is exacerbated when we play with 3 at the back as each player is looking to the other 2 to do something rather than putting themselves on the line.

Presumably set pieces show up on Eckhart's magic spreadsheet, but shite defending doesn't.

[Harry_SFC]

23 minutes ago, StrangelyBrown said:

I'm wondering why Eckhart has again singled out defending set pieces as being the problem....

Just part of a bigger problem that our centre backs don't take responsibility for defending balls im the box (especially high balls) - this is exacerbated when we play with 3 at the back as each player is looking to the other 2 to do something rather than putting themselves on the line.

Presumably set pieces show up on Eckhart's magic spreadsheet, but shite defending doesn't.

Yep. The full backs allowing cross after cross into the box, then static unaware centre backs unable to deal with them. A total recipe for disaster and he doesn't seem to be doing anything to sort the problem. 

[Pedantic Pete]

7 hours ago, Jack said:

This has been done to death, but with the squad and budget we had that season, playoffs was the minimum requirement. The undefeated run brought us no closer to the sides we were chasing down as there were about 9 really poor 1-1 draws that papered over the cracks. 
 

Clearly I’d take that sort of form now, but it just shows how far we’ve continued to fall under SR

The squad was clearly not as good as you think as even with significant additions….they managed 12 points all the next season. Both Ipswich and Leicester performed better in the premier league (albeit still going down) but they never threatened the lowest ever points total like we did.        I suppose the question is do the owners take responsibility for the league position, the quality of the squad, winning the play offs, or all the above? 
personally I think SR are to blame for a poor quality squad….despite their efforts with investment into it.                                      However many seem to think we have and have had a great squad…well in that case surely they have done all they can? 
 

[Sheaf Saint]

12 hours ago, die Mannyschaft said:

I would never have thought we would by a goal keeper for £27m. We didn't need a goalkeeper what was needed were defenders and goal scorers. 

I have to take issue with that. We absolutely did need a keeper upgrade in that summer, like we have for many years now. And the signing of Ramsdale is probably the only example of SR signing an established player at the level he was signed for. 

That's once, in four years, where they have deviated from their obsession with signing untested youngsters in the hope they will eventually turn a big profit.

[Willo of Whiteley]

Ipswich were below us.

They’ve made very few changes over the Christmas period, none of this rotation bollocks.

Now they firmly hunting down the autos.

Ipswich will win the league.

[Osvaldorama]

5 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Ipswich were below us.

They’ve made very few changes over the Christmas period, none of this rotation bollocks.

Now they firmly hunting down the autos.

Ipswich will win the league.

Ipswich have a competent manager and some good players 

[kitch]

14 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Agreed.  But how on earth has it got so bad after that start?

Something must be rotten at the club.  It makes no sense.

Agreed. Still must have either been VERY bad, or Tonda did a Russ and sold everybody some magic beans.

[Willo of Whiteley]

1 hour ago, Osvaldorama said:

Ipswich have a competent manager and some good players 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but over a year on from his sacking I’m convinced that Russell Martin staying would’ve meant we got more points in the Premier League and we’d be in a better position now.

We’ll never know but surely consistency has to be better than the chopping and changing from Martin, to Juric, to Rusk, to Still and now Eckhart?

[Miltonaggro]

12 hours ago, Pedantic Pete said:

Is it four years of abject failure? Surely a 20 odd game undefeated run and winning the play offs must constitute some sort of success? 

I think that when Sport Republic took over in January 2022 Saints were in 12th place in the Premier League on around 25 points.  Saints had been a top flight club for over a decade at this point, with a modern large capacity stadium and category 1 training facilities - they weren't buying a 'Brentford' or 'Bournemouth'.

Any level of success for this Board (with Saints apparently the flagship club in their plans) would have been to consolidate on this mid-table positioning in the first 18 months of ownership, with an aim to push towards the top half of the table thereafter.  What we have endured since are two humiliating relegations, an unconvincing promotion campaign, and a fortune wasted on mediocre players and coaching staff whilst any rare talent is touted and sold as soon as they emerge.  Throughout, the long term and long-suffering supporters have called out nearly every poor decision in real time - our current predicament is / was avoidable.  It's not merely abject failure, it is reckless negligence.

[saintant]

15 hours ago, die Mannyschaft said:

Yes I think 80%of fans want SR to stay. Realistically no one with football knowledge or a fan of Saints is going to buy the club. The ironic thing is SR have bank rolled astronomical funds in transfers. Its just the players we got have been over valued by at least 60%. The problem is no one at the club in key roles has football experience or in my opinion from matches I've seen. 

I would never have thought we would by a goal keeper for £27m. We didn't need a goalkeeper what was needed were defenders and goal scorers. Tall Paul and Sulemana for £18m  £25m each !! Sports Republic are filling pot holes in Southampton with gold when all they need is tarmac. Most fans think what new owner would invest such large amounts of money on Saints players.

Frankly I'd be amazed if it's anywhere close to that percentage.

[saintant]

54 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but over a year on from his sacking I’m convinced that Russell Martin staying would’ve meant we got more points in the Premier League and we’d be in a better position now.

We’ll never know but surely consistency has to be better than the chopping and changing from Martin, to Juric, to Rusk, to Still and now Eckhart?

Did you miss the Rusty car crash at Rangers and the vitriol from their fans?

[trousers]

1 hour ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but over a year on from his sacking I’m convinced that Russell Martin staying would’ve meant we got more points in the Premier League and we’d be in a better position now.

We’ll never know but surely consistency has to be better than the chopping and changing from Martin, to Juric, to Rusk, to Still and now Eckhart?

As you say, we'll never know...

[S-Clarke]

15 hours ago, die Mannyschaft said:

Yes I think 80%of fans want SR to stay. Realistically no one with football knowledge or a fan of Saints is going to buy the club. The ironic thing is SR have bank rolled astronomical funds in transfers. Its just the players we got have been over valued by at least 60%. The problem is no one at the club in key roles has football experience or in my opinion from matches I've seen. 

I would never have thought we would by a goal keeper for £27m. We didn't need a goalkeeper what was needed were defenders and goal scorers. Tall Paul and Sulemana for £18m  £25m each !! Sports Republic are filling pot holes in Southampton with gold when all they need is tarmac. Most fans think what new owner would invest such large amounts of money on Saints players.

Can I just slightly calm down the 'bankrolled astronomical funds part?

We have mainly recouped what we've sold if we're talking about transfers. So we've reinvested what we brought back in. Over 4 years we have actually brought in more than we've spent, not by much, we've pretty much broke even.

They have put money in, absolutely, but let's not allow it to get out of hand by describing it as astronomical investment. It's nowhere near that, we've just re-invested what we've sold in the main - and they've allowed us to do that.

[sadoldgit]

1 hour ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but over a year on from his sacking I’m convinced that Russell Martin staying would’ve meant we got more points in the Premier League and we’d be in a better position now.

We’ll never know but surely consistency has to be better than the chopping and changing from Martin, to Juric, to Rusk, to Still and now Eckhart?

You are absolutely right, we will never know, yet despite all evidence to the contrary, you are “convinced” that we would be better off under Martin?

[Fabrice29]

26 minutes ago, saintant said:

Frankly I'd be amazed if it's anywhere close to that percentage.

It’s not about staying or leaving though in reality, is it? On paper would we love better owners/to be better run, I’d probably put that figure at 100% if you can guarantee the alternative is better, but the alternative is unknown. It’s not a choice between SR and someone else right now. 

The SR out clamour whilst is a wonderful sentiment, what’s the plan? They can’t just leave, you have to find a buyer and make it worth both sides time to do business. I always find ownership protests a bit odd for that reason. Understandable if the owner is refusing to budge etc but in this scenario what good do people expect to come from it? That’s on top of the fact that any form of protest that involves going to the ground, using their facilities and paying for a ticket is really not damaging at all. 

[saintant]

4 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

It’s not about staying or leaving though in reality, is it? On paper would we love better owners/to be better run, I’d probably put that figure at 100% if you can guarantee the alternative is better, but the alternative is unknown. It’s not a choice between SR and someone else right now. 

The SR out clamour whilst is a wonderful sentiment, what’s the plan? They can’t just leave, you have to find a buyer and make it worth both sides time to do business. I always find ownership protests a bit odd for that reason. Understandable if the owner is refusing to budge etc but in this scenario what good do people expect to come from it? That’s on top of the fact that any form of protest that involves going to the ground, using their facilities and paying for a ticket is really not damaging at all. 

Your points do not constitute any sort of meaningful reply to my post. Ok perhaps you are trying to add a bit of context but my point was that I'd be amazed if anything like 80% of fans want SR to stay. What comes next nobody knows but right now I think the majority of fans, and certainly more than 80%, do not want SR to stay.

[saintant]

17 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Can I just slightly calm down the 'bankrolled astronomical funds part?

We have mainly recouped what we've sold if we're talking about transfers. So we've reinvested what we brought back in. Over 4 years we have actually brought in more than we've spent, not by much, we've pretty much broke even.

They have put money in, absolutely, but let's not allow it to get out of hand by describing it as astronomical investment. It's nowhere near that, we've just re-invested what we've sold in the main - and they've allowed us to do that.

Good points and more evidence that SR is a trading company first and foremost. All owners are looking to make profits which is fair enough but we likely won't progress much, if at all, under SR because they are not clever enough to scout the right sort of players to improve us whilst also giving themselves the chance of making money from some sales and the massive income another promotion would bring. I get that they have presided over a promotion and kudos for that but they've also been in charge for two relegations one of which was catastrophic. In short they do not give me any sort of confidence that they are capable of taking the football club forward any time soon.

[Fabrice29]

4 minutes ago, saintant said:

Your points do not constitute any sort of meaningful reply to my post. Ok perhaps you are trying to add a bit of context but my point was that I'd be amazed if anything like 80% of fans want SR to stay. What comes next nobody knows but right now I think the majority of fans, and certainly more than 80%, do not want SR to stay.

Well I was agreeing with you and even in fact suggesting you've undersold the 80% by 20% because I think you would find 100% of fans would be happy for SR to leave if you guaranteed them a better own. But the reality is it's not like that. You cant just push owners out and get new owners in, it's not employment. So that's where fans apathy to these kind of protests or demands come in because there's no tangible alternative being proposed. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

25 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

You are absolutely right, we will never know, yet despite all evidence to the contrary, you are “convinced” that we would be better off under Martin?

If someone said to you in just over a years time you’ll have a revolving door of managers and a circus of players…

[saintant]

Just now, Fabrice29 said:

Well I was agreeing with you and even in fact suggesting you've undersold the 80% by 20% because I think you would find 100% of fans would be happy for SR to leave if you guaranteed them a better own. But the reality is it's not like that. You cant just push owners out and get new owners in, it's not employment. So that's where fans apathy to these kind of protests or demands come in because there's no tangible alternative being proposed. 

I didn't come up with the 80% but agree that it would likely be 100% if a better owner could be guaranteed but we know it doesn't work like that. Any new owner would come with a risk of 'out of the frying pan into the fire' However, after four years of mainly suffering under SR I'd rather take the risk of giving someone else a try because the current owners continue to make decisions that do not advance the cause of the football club.

[Willo of Whiteley]

On the topic of the 80% of Saints fans want SR to stick around, working in Southampton with a lot of Saints fans, I don’t know a single one that wants them to stay.

[SaintLondon]

5 hours ago, StrangelyBrown said:

I'm wondering why Eckhart has again singled out defending set pieces as being the problem....

Because we're about to bring in a set piece coach so we can use our typical PR spin to say we've solved the problem and now we push for play offs ... yawn. Will finish nearer the relegation places than play-offs. 

 

[S-Clarke]

11 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

On the topic of the 80% of Saints fans want SR to stick around, working in Southampton with a lot of Saints fans, I don’t know a single one that wants them to stay.

Yeah that's a strange %, not sure where that's come from. There isn't a single person I talk to who wants them to stay.

Even people who were supportive and somewhat on the fence a few months ago have now entirely flipped, which I expect goes for a good % of the fanbase tbh. This isn't just the 'lunatic fringe', I'm sure of that.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

30 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Well I was agreeing with you and even in fact suggesting you've undersold the 80% by 20% because I think you would find 100% of fans would be happy for SR to leave if you guaranteed them a better own. But the reality is it's not like that. You cant just push owners out and get new owners in, it's not employment. So that's where fans apathy to these kind of protests or demands come in because there's no tangible alternative being proposed. 

I think the main objective of the current protests that are being planned is to highlight the complete ineptitude of SR first and foremost. Fans want to show the owners their dissatisfaction at the way the club is being run. I agree it most likely won't make a scrap of difference, but at the very least it will send some kind of message that fans our unhappy. 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

30 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Yeah that's a strange %, not sure where that's come from. There isn't a single person I talk to who wants them to stay.

Even people who were supportive and somewhat on the fence a few months ago have now entirely flipped, which I expect goes for a good % of the fanbase tbh. This isn't just the 'lunatic fringe', I'm sure of that.

75% of statistics are made up on the spot. 
 

80% of people know that. 
 

 

[Whitey Grandad]

26 minutes ago, Behind Enemy Lines said:

75% of statistics are made up on the spot. 
 

80% of people know that. 
 

 

Using statistics you can prove that wind is caused by trees waving their branches.

[Fabrice29]

42 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I think the main objective of the current protests that are being planned is to highlight the complete ineptitude of SR first and foremost. Fans want to show the owners their dissatisfaction at the way the club is being run. I agree it most likely won't make a scrap of difference, but at the very least it will send some kind of message that fans our unhappy. 

That’s fair and it should do that job. I wish the club would be better at engaging with its supporters. The lack of clarity is naff and miles away from the weird tactical meetings it held a couple of years ago which even if cringe were at least trying.

[Sheaf Saint]

3 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but over a year on from his sacking I’m convinced that Russell Martin staying would’ve meant we got more points in the Premier League and we’d be in a better position now.

We’ll never know but surely consistency has to be better than the chopping and changing from Martin, to Juric, to Rusk, to Still and now Eckhart?

Don't really want to go over all this again, but his position had become completely untenable by the time he was sacked. We might have got a few more points had he stayed on, but there had been a total breakdown of trust between the manager, the players and the fans. He had to go.

Unfortunately, SR did what they do best and completely fucked up the recruitment of his replacement. 

Edited 22 minutes ago by Sheaf Saint

[Miltonaggro]

6 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Don't really want to go over all this again, but his position had become completely untenable by the time he was sacked. We might have got a few more points had he stayed on, but there had been a total breakdown of trust between the manager, the players and the fans. He had to go.

Unfortunately, SR did what they do best and completely fucked up the recruitment of his replacement. 

That's the key, they've had half a dozen chances to put things right in terms of first team management and screwed up every time.