Do the players want to go up?

[OldNick]

Half the squad have the scars of last season hanging over them, many know that if we go up they will be binned. What is the incentive to go up?( financial perhaps)

As a fan Im not sure I want to go up with this squad as I cant see us getting any more points than Wolves. It will be another season of dispair as the squad is worse than it was last season

[Gloucester Saint]

Agree with many aspects of the OP, but the failure is down to large, unbalanced squads built for player trading and gambling, not for successful teams. Add in rigid corporate tactics and SR yet to appoint an experienced manager not grateful for appointment and tugging their forelock and easy to see the issues.

Doug Ellis interfered at Villa in the 1980s, taking them from European Champions to D2 within 5 years (including a 5-0 battering at the Dell in the snow - Saints didn’t play especially well even). He finally appointed a successful and no-nonsense manager in Graham Taylor. Taylor straight away banned Ellis from team meetings and the dressing room area in very blunt terms (Martin Keown’s book) and things turned around after an indifferent start. 

That’s the only way SR can turn this around - experienced manager, his tactics and line-ups, he selects the players he wants and Spors secures them. Ankerson banned from the club and Solak attends matches and that’s it. 

[OldNick]

22 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Agree with many aspects of the OP, but the failure is down to large, unbalanced squads built for player trading and gambling, not for successful teams. Add in rigid corporate tactics and SR yet to appoint an experienced manager not grateful for appointment and tugging their forelock and easy to see the issues.

Doug Ellis interfered at Villa in the 1980s, taking them from European Champions to D2 within 5 years (including a 5-0 battering at the Dell in the snow - Saints didn’t play especially well even). He finally appointed a successful and no-nonsense manager in Graham Taylor. Taylor straight away banned Ellis from team meetings and the dressing room area in very blunt terms (Martin Keown’s book) and things turned around after an indifferent start. 

That’s the only way SR can turn this around - experienced manager, his tactics and line-ups, he selects the players he wants and Spors secures them. Ankerson banned from the club and Solak attends matches and that’s it. 

When you have the ego of Ankerson I doubt wild horses would be able to keep him out of it.

I had a feeling from day 1 that these were not what they seem, and we are their little plaything, oh for Nicola Cortese

Edited yesterday at 11:35 by OldNick

[Sir Ralph]

I think the point is we aren’t ready to go up. I don’t want to go up if we are going to get smashed every week again

[S-Clarke]

12 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

I think the point is we aren’t ready to go up. I don’t want to go up if we are going to get smashed every week again

We'll never be ready to go up with these owners in charge.

We'll be saying the same in L1 in a few years, whilst the likes of Walsall and Bradford zoom past us and Wrexham are in the PL. That outcome feels much more likely than anything else.

[OldNick]

8 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

We'll never be ready to go up with these owners in charge.

We'll be saying the same in L1 in a few years, whilst the likes of Walsall and Bradford zoom past us and Wrexham are in the PL. That outcome feels much more likely than anything else.

How many clubs have good owners? We had Marcus who I believe would have taken us to great heights, but there are more Venkys than there are good ones.

[S-Clarke]

10 minutes ago, OldNick said:

How many clubs have good owners? We had Marcus who I believe would have taken us to great heights, but there are more Venkys than there are good ones.

I don't really give two hoots about other clubs owners, all I care about is what I see in front of me and what is happening to my club.

They took an established PL club and relegated them in their first full season

They oversaw one of the - if not the worst - PL side in recent years.

They are currently overseeing a £50m spend transpiring to a mid-table Championship finish.

We have cycled through 7 managers and 3 Directors of Football in 4 seasons.

The 'there are worse' owners argument doesn't really hold up with me, as all I've seen is incompetence and the gradual decline of my club under these charlatans - and that isn't changing. They don't know how to run football clubs, there are some poor guys over in France who are being mismanaged in the same way.

Edited yesterday at 12:38 by S-Clarke

[Lee On Solent Saint]

10 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I don't really give two hoots about other clubs owners, all I care about is what I see in front of me and what is happening to my club.

They took an established PL club and relegated them in their first full season

They oversaw one of the - if not the worst - PL side in recent years.

They are currently overseeing a £50m spend transpiring to a mid-table Championship finish.

We have cycled through 7 managers and 3 Directors of Football in 4 seasons.

The 'there are worse' owners argument doesn't really hold up with me, as all I've seen is incompetence and the gradual decline of my club under these charlatans - and that isn't changing. They don't know how to run football clubs, there are some poor guys over in France who are being mismanaged in the same way.

Said previously I cannot believe Solak is a successful business guy if he runs his businesses like he has us. He gets way too much of a free pass amongst our fan base. More direct anger should come his way in my opinion. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

10 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I don't really give two hoots about other clubs owners, all I care about is what I see in front of me and what is happening to my club.

They took an established PL club and relegated them in their first full season

They oversaw one of the - if not the worst - PL side in recent years.

They are currently overseeing a £50m spend transpiring to a mid-table Championship finish.

We have cycled through 7 managers and 3 Directors of Football in 4 seasons.

The 'there are worse' owners argument doesn't really hold up with me, as all I've seen is incompetence and the gradual decline of my club under these charlatans - and that isn't changing. They don't know how to run football clubs, there are some poor guys over in France who are being mismanaged in the same way.

Said previously I cannot believe Solak is a successful business guy if he runs his businesses like he has us. He gets way too much of a free pass amongst our fan base. More direct anger should come his way in my opinion. 

[badgerx16]

2 hours ago, OldNick said:

As a fan Im not sure I want to go up with this squad .......

Don't worry. That isn't going to happen.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Of course they want to go up, they just don’t have the balls or mental toughness to do so in this side. They’ll want to do it the easy way and be picked up by a club already there. 

[Saint Marky]

Here’s a sobering thought, imagine that back five in the premiership.

[obelisk]

What the players want is an easy life where results don't matter. The toys were ejected from the pram and now that the weak manager has been duly appointed we're seeing the results.

[HarvSFC]

There's just no forward thinking here. We went into the summer with months to prepare having been relegated at this point last year and our only signings before 29th August, three games into the season, were Downs, Quarshie, Roerslev and Long. Still had us in 21st position after 13 games and some shocking performances, yet there wasn't a plan. It's like his dismissal came as a shock to those above and we promoted from within. Eckert still doesn't have a senior coaching team around him. Look at the bottom of this page for our staff (https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/teams/mens-team) and they're all still "interim". Still got sacked nearly two months ago and there keeps being hints by the media of new coaches coming in, but nothing yet.

They probably don't realise it's January on Thursday. We'll get active towards the end of the month after a few more defeats and our new striker signing will be a fit Ross Stewart for two weeks.

[trousers]

1 hour ago, Saint Marky said:

Here’s a sobering thought, imagine that back five in the premiership.

 

[trousers]

3 hours ago, OldNick said:

How many clubs have good owners? We had Marcus who I believe would have taken us to great heights, but there are more Venkys than there are good ones.

Markus

[trousers]

...

Edited 21 hours ago by trousers
Duplicate post

[dsrdorset]

Players like THB think they are better than they actually are, and it's their God given right to be in the Premier League. In reality, most are average Championship players at best. 

Just take a minute to think about the squad we've had in the not too distant past........

 

This lot are light years away from the Prem. 

Edited 17 hours ago by dsrdorset
addition

[Toussaint]

It’s academic as none of them are good enough. A couple might make squad players but that’s about it. 

[Oh no Mick Mills]

Bednarek blows all of them out of the water..

KWP light years better than any of our current fullbacks.

With those two in the side we conceded a ton of goals but still came 4th. 

Honestly the clowns running our shit show must surely see if you replaced them with inferior players we'll likely finish lower down the table. 

Throw in no Che Adams replacement and its obvious that Clown Republic were determined to turn us into a midtable championship side. 

[die Mannyschaft]

No point in playing any games if you not interested in getting in top 6, then automatic or playoff. You then just playing for enough points to avoid relegation or mid table meaning lots of games are lost (thrown). May just have half season tickets only and just turn up at end season to see where we end up. Who cares if we go back down, the points of winning games is to go up. If players can be bothered then may as well drop to leaque 1 or leaque 2 then have an easy promotion with £100m squad.

Just watched Winchester City beat Bashley and none of the subs who came on couldn't play football,  couldn't keep pace or stopped thier team playing football.  If Winchester City can make effective subs and not rely on one player at step 7-8 why cant Saints do it at step 2

[beatlesaint]

THB is a fraud. He thinks he’s Billy big bollocks, you can tell just by the way he struts around like a peacock.

He’s a Championship level defender at best.

I could never understand at the time we got him why Vincent Kompany didn’t sign him at Burnley after he helped them get promoted.

Now I know why he didn’t !

[Osvaldorama]

12 hours ago, beatlesaint said:

THB is a fraud. He thinks he’s Billy big bollocks, you can tell just by the way he struts around like a peacock.

He’s a Championship level defender at best.

I could never understand at the time we got him why Vincent Kompany didn’t sign him at Burnley after he helped them get promoted.

Now I know why he didn’t !

Only caveat to this is he has been promoted twice. And looked good doing so. 
 

But this season he has been abysmal, like the rest of our defence. 
 

I don’t think 3 at the back suits him at all. One more reason why it’s absurd that it’s all we do. 

[Gloucester Saint]

47 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Only caveat to this is he has been promoted twice. And looked good doing so. 
 

But this season he has been abysmal, like the rest of our defence. 
 

I don’t think 3 at the back suits him at all. One more reason why it’s absurd that it’s all we do. 

Didn’t suit him last season either. Collided with Wood at Villa for the only goal for example.

Him and Nathan Wood or Quarshie are probably the ideal partnership, THB is not the quickest. Edwards a decent 4th option. Why the Stephens extension was ever needed is beyond rational comprehension when you look at the above.

[Osvaldorama]

The question is, would THB do well in other championship teams? 

He has dropped off massively, but he is one that can still do a job at champ level  

Swap out one of Cov’s centre backs for THB and they wouldnt lose too much. 
 

Our problems run far deeper than him, in my opinion. It’s almost all the players around him, the midfield, the keeper, full backs. No CB will thrive in this team because we are fucking toilet.