Would you take relegation to League one, if it guaranteed Sport Republic leaving?

[Mboto Gorge]

As the question states. Forget the surrounding issues like who comes in next etc etc. But black and white - would you accept dropping another league if it meant these clowns fucked off first and foremost? 

[Suhari]

We got incredibly lucky last time, with Sir Markus.

No guarantee we'd get the like again.

But we do need an ownership change.

[Harry_SFC]

Yes

[CB Fry]

No.

Naive to think that Markus will just happen all over again.

There's more terrible owners than good ones out there. We could be in league one for two or three seasons so seriously fuck that.

[Sheaf Saint]

Careful what you wish for etc... but probably yes.

They are utterly incompetent custodians of the club and have sucked every last bit of joy out of supporting it. 

[Gloucester Saint]

3 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

No.

Naive to think that Markus will just happen all over again.

There's more terrible owners than good ones out there. We could be in league one for two or three seasons so seriously fuck that.

Respect your view but that is where we are heading with SR anyway unless Dragan shows some bollocks and sacks Rasmus. Not what happened before where Kraft was pushed under the bus and Rasmus has carried on meddling in the background.

Solak could tie up with an agent if SR wants to make money on transfers but have an actual football person run the operations and set the direction of travel for the clubs. 

[sfc4prem]

Sport Republic couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.

They are so, so inept. It's so tragic.

They took a Premier League club with potential, pissed any promise up the wall and broke it into pieces.

I'd take League One if it meant them fucking off, yep.

[chownie20]

Be careful about detail.

 

Dragon is the money man and to be fair I don't think you can ask a lot more from an owner/Investor from a financial point of view. He's probably lost millions.

 

Parsons and Rasmus however are clearly incompetent and need replacing with proven performers in their field and the required level.

[The Wyvern]

Liebherr was great for us, but I think it unlikely we’d have just languished in the lower leagues for years without him, we’re a good sized club with associated infrastructure, we’d likely be bought up by someone decent. 
 

The club needs a complete reset and fresh start and that means getting rid of SR I’m afraid.

[Raging Bull]

No, that’s not a smart move. On the plus side it’d be nice and easy to get a beer at half time like it was last time we were there. 

Edit, probably needs more context. 

Although Dragon must take a lot of the blame, he’s put a crap ton of money in, he’s been utter garbage at choosing the board. The next lot might not have a pot to piss in and be just as bad at hiring. 
 

My biggest concern is that he decides he wants his money back and asset strips  

 

Edited 16 hours ago by Raging Bull

[trousers]

Yes, of course.

[Lighthouse]

You’d have to be off your tits to want that. For all their mistakes, they have spent a lot of money on the club and signed some quality players for this league. Would you want to be in League 1, with owners not spending a penny and a team built around McCarthy, Stephens, Manning, Smallbone and Archer?

It’s a trait of football fans at every club to think that they have it as bad as it gets. I genuinely had friends who support Arsenal asking, "what have we done to deserve this, why does God need us to suffer?!" When they were finishing sixth at the end of Wenger’d reign.

[Baird of the land]

No. Sports republic may have made bad decisions but they have invested money. Look around the league and be thankful we haven’t got someone like chansiri.

[Draino76]

Yes, because all they went to do is sell on any player with any talent. It's what they do. 

Id rather go to league 2 and see some new grounds.

League 1 last time was amazing fun! 

[Zorba]

No. There’s no need. SR will turn it around. Dragan will appoint a new hierarchy soley dedicated to getting Saints re-established as a Premier League club. They will totally dismantle the first team squad and appoint a manager that has experienced success, probably with a Scandivian top flight club whose preferred formation is an attacking 4-4-2. Through purchasing quality players on long term contracts and utilising older, hardened, experienced players on short term loans, will guarantee promotion next season. When we are promoted, we will show our ambition by telling Liverpool and Tottenham to fuck off when they come sniffing instead of selling our prize assets which we happen to have on long term contracts. We will invest further in quality footballers and once again, just fewer in numbers, utilise new short term older, experienced PL loanees to see us through our turbulent first two years back in the premier league. After which, when the loanees are gone and we have a squad of solid, likeable, mid table Premier League players with a couple of outstanding playmakers and a genuine goalscorer that make us reminisce of Le Tiss and Lambert and make watching our beloved team worthwhile once again, we can concentrate on Europe and winning the FA Cup.

How hard can it be?

[The Wyvern]

1 minute ago, Baird of the land said:

No. Sports republic may have made bad decisions but they have invested money. Look around the league and be thankful we haven’t got someone like chansiri.

Is someone like Chansiri our only alternative if we get rid of SR? 
 

By your argument, we stick with SR for evermore, regardless of how badly they do. 

[CB Fry]

24 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Respect your view but that is where we are heading with SR anyway unless Dragan shows some bollocks and sacks Rasmus. Not what happened before where Kraft was pushed under the bus and Rasmus has carried on meddling in the background.

Solak could tie up with an agent if SR wants to make money on transfers but have an actual football person run the operations and set the direction of travel for the clubs. 

Oh I'm not saying I don't want SR out. I think they can be got out without being locked in to dropping to L1.

Honestly if the protests focus specifically on Solak, I think he will look to sell quickly or (ideally, he's got money) make significant structural changes (bye bye Rasmus).

My worry is people associating Drop to L1 = Markus = Saviour = European Competition again, sorted.

The reality will be more humdrum.

[Lighthouse]

2 minutes ago, The Wyvern said:

Is someone like Chansiri our only alternative if we get rid of SR? 
 

By your argument, we stick with SR for evermore, regardless of how badly they do. 

No. There are countless other owners we could have, like those of Blackburn, Huddersfield, Cardiff, Bolton, Wigan, Pompey or Blackpool. Saints blitzing their way back to the PL, with swashbuckling football from Lallana and Lambert is very much the exception to the norm.

[ant]

My take is that SR would be more inclined to reduce their losses by attempting promotion first. 

Especially given the evident level of self belief...

We'll be looking at left field coaching hires from L2 or National League level before you know it.

[The Wyvern]

Just now, Lighthouse said:

No. There are countless other owners we could have, like those of Blackburn, Huddersfield, Cardiff, Bolton, Wigan, Pompey or Blackpool. Saints blitzing their way back to the PL, with swashbuckling football from Lallana and Lambert is very much the exception to the norm.

Why on earth do you think we’d only attract an owner that is found at much smaller, poorer clubs than ours?

Such a properly scared small-time mindset, don’t rock the boat, we just *might* get another bad owner and we have no chance of attracting a good one, so let’s put up with these for evermore.
Utterly batshit insane.  

[Baird of the land]

Just now, The Wyvern said:

Is someone like Chansiri our only alternative if we get rid of SR? 
 

By your argument, we stick with SR for evermore, regardless of how badly they do. 

Not the only option but a definite possibility. Only recently we had the awful gao. It’s only a year and a half from our last promotion. They’d have to display a much longer record of incompetence or stop investing in the club club for me to want to jump out of their frying pan.

[aintforever]

No, could easily end up with someone worse.

[egg]

12 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

No. There are countless other owners we could have, like those of Blackburn, Huddersfield, Cardiff, Bolton, Wigan, Pompey or Blackpool. Saints blitzing their way back to the PL, with swashbuckling football from Lallana and Lambert is very much the exception to the norm.

Yep. SR have pumped a fortune into the club, and we'd be incredibly lucky to get another owner doing the same at this level. Where they've got it wrong is on the managerial appointment side, and recruitment at both ends of the pitch. 

I'm not sure what magic wand they think new owners would bring. 

[ant]

6 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

Not the only option but a definite possibility. Only recently we had the awful gao.

Things under Gao - whilst not ideal - were a world apart from this mess.

A top tier finish of 11th and a finish of 15th (after Ralph lost the plot in the second half of 20-21 - yet still with a League Cup semi-final).

Sounds horrendous. How do I get me some of that awful?

[egg]

3 minutes ago, ant said:

Things under Gao - whilst not ideal - were a world apart from this mess.

A top tier finish of 11th and a finish of 15th (after Ralph lost the plot in the second half of 20-21 - yet still with a League Cup semi-final).

Sounds horrendous. How do I get me some of that awful?

What would Gao do now that would improve things? The answer is what new owners do, not new owners for the sake of it. 

[die Mannyschaft]

There are no decent or footballing owners anymore. There is some much money to be made from owning and running a club that its investor groups, hedge funds or other finance groups buying clubs.

The owners won't leave even if in Leaque 2.

[Lighthouse]

4 minutes ago, ant said:

Things under Gao - whilst not ideal - were a world apart from this mess.

A top tier finish of 11th and a finish of 15th (after Ralph lost the plot in the second half of 20-21 - yet still with a League Cup semi-final).

Sounds horrendous. How do I get me some of that awful?

Gao's rudderless, penniless tenure here was the segue from the Leibherr years to where we are now. His era was massively flattered by two people; Ralph and Ings. Without them we'd have gone down years earlier and there's no way we'd have come back up under his so-called leadership, i.e. a PR photo of him holding a Saints scarf in some office in Shanghai.

[Hawkswood]

32 minutes ago, Zorba said:

No. There’s no need. SR will turn it around. Dragan will appoint a new hierarchy soley dedicated to getting Saints re-established as a Premier League club. They will totally dismantle the first team squad and appoint a manager that has experienced success, probably with a Scandivian top flight club whose preferred formation is an attacking 4-4-2. Through purchasing quality players on long term contracts and utilising older, hardened, experienced players on short term loans, will guarantee promotion next season. When we are promoted, we will show our ambition by telling Liverpool and Tottenham to fuck off when they come sniffing instead of selling our prize assets which we happen to have on long term contracts. We will invest further in quality footballers and once again, just fewer in numbers, utilise new short term older, experienced PL loanees to see us through our turbulent first two years back in the premier league. After which, when the loanees are gone and we have a squad of solid, likeable, mid table Premier League players with a couple of outstanding playmakers and a genuine goalscorer that make us reminisce of Le Tiss and Lambert and make watching our beloved team worthwhile once again, we can concentrate on Europe and winning the FA Cup.

How hard can it be?

You've got my vote  😀

[ant]

1 minute ago, egg said:

What would Gao do now that would improve things? The answer is what new owners do, not new owners for the sake of it. 

Gao kept us on a relatively even keel, despite lack of funds. The current lot are systematically dismantling what's been built up since admin.

Holding station would be preferable to continuing our tailspin. 

Ultimately my point was that holding Gao up as an example of a poor owner doesn't really wash given what we're currently faced with.

[Baird of the land]

24 minutes ago, ant said:

Gao kept us on a relatively even keel, despite lack of funds. The current lot are systematically dismantling what's been built up since admin.

Holding station would be preferable to continuing our tailspin. 

Ultimately my point was that holding Gao up as an example of a poor owner doesn't really wash given what we're currently faced with.

Gao years gutted the foundations. The only positive of his complete lack of investment/involvement was that existing structure managed a bit more managerial competency.

[bpsaint]

Can’t help but feel we’re at a point now where a complete clear out needs to happen, the sort that a League 1 relegation with new owners is the only likely solution.

It’s not just the owners, its the coaches, first team and beyond, and the ethos SR is trying to enforce on all levels of ages.

Then you have to add in that at least 80% of that first team squad need to go, yeah SR have spent some money, but what’s the point when players like Baz, JS, Downes, Manning and so many others are pulling the whole thing down. 

Even if by some miracle we go up in the next year or two we’re never going to see the kind of investment required to stay up there. It’ll still be poor recruitment mixed with the usual plodders and certain relegation.

Club needs a full root and stem change if you ask me.

For me the only absolute last chance option, would be for Solak to take complete control, get rid of Wankersen, and bring in an actual team of people that know the English leagues and what they’re about. No silly cunts from banking backgrounds sat around on their laptops drinking chai lattes and talking xG. Actual fucking former players and managers.

Edited 14 hours ago by bpsaint

[saintant]

Well we may well have to take relegation to League One but unfortunately SR are going nowhere.