 | Forum
Reply | FA Cup Tickets
at 21:53 9 Jan 2025
Its only £7.50 for kids at St Mary's |
| Forum
Thread | Broja Stretchered Off
at 21:36 9 Jan 2025
Barely played for Everton this season as been injured, just gone down after an inoccuos challenge, looks like either a fracture or a ligament snapped. |
| Forum
Thread | FA Cup Tickets
at 21:04 9 Jan 2025
Norwich are charging £10 for the visit of Brighton at the weekend, Brentford £15 for their game against Plymouth, Ipswich V Bristol Rovers £10, shows that Saints are overpriced |
| Forum
Reply | VILLA WINGER PHILOGENE SIGNING FOR £21 MILLION!!!!!!
at 12:24 9 Jan 2025
Adams got 5 goals in 23 starts plus 5 as sub in the Premier Leaguetwo seasons ago, Archer has 2 goals in 9 starts plus 10 as sub, very similar scoring records.
Stu to be honest legs had gone, he had not been the same player in his final 3 seasons as he had been in the previous seasons, in 22/23 he started just 14 Premier League games, in 21/22 just 15.
Last season dropping down a level made it easier for him, but he would not have been good enough this season, he turns 33 in a couple of months.
In 9 games he could have played for Vancouver, he missed 3 presumably through injury and started just 1 with another 5 off the bench, totalling 124 minutes out of 810 in total |
| Forum
Reply | £21m
at 12:03 9 Jan 2025
In fairness its not all about geeks looking at videos & data although that is part of it, it is just a starting point.
Saints have a vast network of scouts who go and watch the players that get flagged up in person and give their reports.
Truth is there is no cast iron formula, it is a numbers game, for every gem you unearth there is 6-10 players that don't reach those heights , some do ok and others fail miserably.
But then there are loads of players who have failed miserably at one club and then succeeded at another, Kevin Danso for instance, deemed a failure here and now worth £25 million and highly desired |
| Forum
Reply | Dom Ballard Recalled from Loan
at 09:04 7 Jan 2025
You are right Sulemana has made it in professional football, he has played for Saints in the Championship and Premier League totalling 50 games and he starred for Rennes in the French top flight and scored for fun in the Danish Super League,
He can say he has made it, but he isn't a Premier League quality player, although that may be due to circumstances and I wouldnt be surprised to see him succeed at another Premier League club.
He was a rich man before he joined us, football is about financially balancing out the success's with the failures.
He has not been a a success at Saints though, to call him an utterly useless piece of sh*t though is ungracious and wrong, yes he has been awful here, but he is not the first player to be terrible for us and then prosper elsewhere.
He is a professional footballer, he doesn't care who he plays for, it's not personal for him, it's not working out so he moves on, that doesn't make him a bad person or deserving of abuse .
I don't want him to play another game this season, but I don't say anything about him that I wouldnt say to his face, in football you never know what happens next as those who spent the best part of season 2015/16 slagging off Sadio Mane found out in the latter part of the season ( I can't remember your stance on Mane Pat so not a dig at you) |
| Forum
Reply | Dom Ballard Recalled from Loan
at 08:41 7 Jan 2025
Bruce said he had an outstanding chance of making it in professional football, not that he will make it as a top quality player |
| Forum
Thread | Dom Ballard Recalled from Loan
at 22:38 6 Jan 2025
Not expecting him to get in the first team squad, his record at Blackpool hasn't been good, 10 starts and 8 as sub with only 1 goal out of 22 possible games in League 1.
Not started much in the last 2 months, so I would expect that its more a mutual consent thing and Saints will try to get him out on loan again for the second half of the season |
| Forum
Reply | Stand Up & Be Counted But Address The Real Issues Not The Petty Ones
at 15:56 6 Jan 2025
Liverpool made this protest when they introduced a £75 ticket a few years back, they arranged to leave in the 75th minute, they have a well organised fanbase and managed to get around 10,000 or a quarter of the crowd to leave.
Whether Saints could achieve that is another matter, the main problem is that if there were to be a major incident in the game on 73-75 minutes then the crowd would forget about leaving, Saints get a penalty on 74 minutes and no one is leaving.
So this option is open to how the match is going etc.
Back in 1993 we considered something similar, but at the start of the match, if a large portion of the crowd decided not to enter the ground until 3pm and waited outside, then this would make make people think, the chances are the game would have to be delayed because of potential crowd issues.
Not that I am suggesting this, only saying what we considered and didn't do back in 1993 |
| Forum
Reply | Stand Up & Be Counted But Address The Real Issues Not The Petty Ones
at 13:17 6 Jan 2025
I agree an empty stadium would make a big splash, but we haven't the fan base to do that sort of thing thesecdays.
Back in the Branfoot days we protested before the game, then 90 minutes support then again at the final whistle, we protested in the car park.
To be honest having just looked this up the crowds actually stayed fairly static in the last few months of Branfoot's reign and if anything improved a little, for Branfoot's final League game at home to Norwich the gate was 16,556, the highest of the season up to that point.
The first game after he was sacked the crowds were a little less until Alan Ball took over |
| Forum
Reply | Do Not Give A Single Penny to Sports Republic
at 12:53 6 Jan 2025
My frothy mouthed rant was elsewhere, this was just a jokey timeline, I mioght have got a few dates a week or two out, but I think it is pretty much an accurate description of the past 3 years |
| Forum
Reply | Do Not Give A Single Penny to Sports Republic
at 12:44 6 Jan 2025
If you chose not to attend then no one will notice and yes you are still included in the matchday attendance
If you chose to turn up and stand by the Ted Bates Statue during the game with a big banner, then you will get noticed, people will put it on social media and the Press will pick up on it.
If 200 people join you, people will notice from the corporate areas. If 2,000 people join you at full time or at 70 minutes when we go 2-0 down, then it will really get noticed.
If after that 3,000 people join you for the Newcastle game then it will truly create a stir.
Having been involved in fans groups etc for over 35 years I know what makes club owners sit up and take notice, when their main sponsors start asking questions about why they couldn't get out of the ground the club sit up and take notice.
At the end of the day though fans judge clubs on League positions, which I totally understand, but this isn't 1985, football is an industry.
You will be missed by your friends   |
| Forum
Reply | Stand Up & Be Counted But Address The Real Issues Not The Petty Ones
at 12:36 6 Jan 2025
Firstly this was not aimed at you in any way shape or form, it was a rant in general about the situation.
To cover you points though I would say this.
The Vanity Projects are not a Phil Parsons original, most Premier League clubs and a fair few Championship ones have fan zones etc, we are late to the party on this one
I don't have a problem with them doing this, a football club is a business that needs to make money to survive, you could say it is milking the fans, but it is no different than any other business, they would rather you spend your money with them than someone else and at least that money goes to the club.
The long established pubs have been falling by the wayside for 20 years, 20 Saints home games a year isn't going to be the difference between them surviving or not and I speak as someone who prefers to support local pubs than the fanzones.
The Bedford has shut because it was run down by the owners, Saints supporters certainly werent supporting it this season, most migrated to Carlton Place where there are some genuine locally owned pubs not a chain as the Bedford was, it was a horrible place in the last 5-7 years, overpriced, run down and a shadow of it's former self.
When St Mary's opened in 2001 in the near vicinity you had the King Alfred, The Plume of Feathers, The Z Bar, The Eagle, The Palmerston & The Angel, all of which are closed now.
They were busy when Saints played at home and dead on other occasions, that is why they went bust and that is the case with the other struggling pubs.
As I said im not interested in the fan zones etc, but plenty of people are and that is their choice, some people want the fan experience why should the club not give the fans what they want.
Phil Parsons is doing an Ok job from a business perspective, but he doesn't have the nous from a footballing one.
As I said in the post concentrate on where the club is going wrong, not where it is going right, we might not like it but it is popular with the fans so it is successful.
If fans want to boycott then why not protest, 5,000 or so fans welcoming the team coach was a magnificent sight last May, so why aren't 5,000 now doing the same but protesting.
Where are the social influencers who stirred up the May welcomes now ?
If you want to protest it has to be something that you can makes an impression, boycott the fan zones and some people will still go and no one will notice, it will barely effect Saints profits, 5,000 people standing outside the Swansea game will create a big affect that would make the national press.
As I said this post was never aimed at you, |
| Forum
Thread | Stand Up & Be Counted But Address The Real Issues Not The Petty Ones
at 11:22 6 Jan 2025
I put this up on another thread, I wrote a lot more than I was planning to, so I thought it perhaps deserved a thread of it's own.
Its Not a dig at anyone, just an observation to a thread suggesting that spending money at St Mary's should be boycotted and that SR were perhaps responsible for the marketing of the club.
"In fairness to SR or Phil Parsons, they don't check all the marketing stuff that goes out on social media, in times of crisis most people blame all and everything, but you have to look at the root cause of the issue.
Have Sport Republic spent large amounts of money ? Yes so that is not the issue.
Have SR appointed experienced people to oversee the club ? _ Yes Rasmus Ankersen built up both Midjutland & Brentford, he has the track record, after RA & SR realised that Martin Semmens was not the man for the job, they sacked him and he appointed Joe Shields as head of recruitment who was head hunted and then Jason Wilcox as director of football, he was headhunted likewise, so they have appointed experienced people but due to no fault of their own they went on to bigger things.
The real issue is the failure to replace Jason Wilcox when he effectively went on gardening leave in February/March 2024, leaving no one with any football experience controlling the playing side of the club.
Phil Parsons had no experience running football clubs, although having played at non league level, it cannot be levelled at him that he is no a football man, just that he is not experienced in the business of a football club.
This is the root cause of where we have gone wrong, Parsons was not strong enough to stop Russell Martin running his own agenda, he sat on his hands when things went pear shaped and we are paying the price now for it.
The fact that the Swansea advertising has former players scoring goals is not a sign that the whole club is rotten, but some will take it as that because of the position, if we were 10th in the League and ready for a good cup run then no one would care about it, in fact the opposite they would be saying how great it is that the club is recognising our history.
What were they supposed to do ? show pictures of the 2008/09 season when we were truly appalling along with the headline "It's a bit better now"
The club now need to focus on the areas in which it is going wrong, not be side tracked by the fact that they get a bit of PR wrong.
Back in 1993 when the fans were demanding change, there was a real chance of achieving it, the board were essentially local businessmen, the club ran on it's income not by a rich owner funding it.
Change could be achieved, but the reality is a lot different.
Sport Republic are a business who want to build a portfolio of football clubs, they are committed to football, but will they remain committed to Southampton FC ?
The answer is for now yes, they have always said that this is a long term project, that it will be a bumpy ride and it will be tough, if the fans turn on SR then perhaps they will turn on the fans, stop investing and looking for a cheap sale and that would be catastrophic as was the case in 2006 with the arrival of Michael Wilde, man of the people and absolute disaster.
So yes if you truly want the club to go downhill then boycott it, its the quickest way to send it to oblivion as without the fans a football club is nothing and without the owners it is finished.
In modern football clubs are playthings and the ones with the richest owners and biggest fanbases flourish, whilst the rest of us are just there to make up the numbers.
I am all for supporters standing up and questioning the owners, but it has to be about the things that are going wrong and not about the things that aren't.
You only have to look at the League table to see the gulf now between the Championship and the Premier League, Leicester City are one place above us, 8 points above us yes, it's fine margins though if we had hung on to win against them, then they would be just 2 points above us.
Ipswich are just two points above them, the likelihood is that all 3 promoted clubs will go back down, so it is not just Saints.
Maybe i'm old fashioned, for me and probably 18,000 others it is about turning out and supporting your club (The club, not the owners or the manager) through thick and thin.
We have 12,000 floating supporters, I am not slagging them off, everyone has a right to support how they want, not bother going or storming out after 70 mins whatever they want to do, but that is not what football is for me !
This verse from a poem by Attilla The Stockbroker who was a big part of Brighton's campaigning when the Goldstone was sold and they were homeless is up on the wall at the Amex, it says a lot
"The battle's only just begun, but we have won the war.
Our club, though torn asunder, will survive.
And I salute each one of you who stood up and said NO!
And fought to keep the Albion alive.
And one day, when our new home's built, and we are storming back
A bunch of happy fans without a care
We'll look back on our darkest hour and raise our glasses high
and say with satisfaction: we were there."
Not the same issue that we have now, although quite near the one we faced in the 90's and then 2009 with administration, but the message is, turning you back on your football club is not the answer, standing up and be counted is.
Let's see how many boycott Saturday's game but instead make a protest outside the ground instead.
Last May standing outside St Mary's and welcoming the team coach seemed to be popular, where are the people NOW who were all over the internet back then encouraging it "
|
| Forum
Reply | Do Not Give A Single Penny to Sports Republic
at 11:16 6 Jan 2025
In fairness to SR or Phil Parsons, they don't check all the marketing stuff that goes out on social media, in times of crisis most people blame all and everything, but you have to look at the root cause of the issue.
Have Sport Republic spent large amounts of money ? Yes so that is not the issue.
Have SR appointed experienced people to oversee the club ? _ Yes Rasmus Ankersen built up both Midjutland & Brentford, he has the track record, after RA & SR realised that Martin Semmens was not the man for the job, they sacked him and he appointed Joe Shields as head of recruitment who was head hunted and then Jason Wilcox as director of football, he was headhunted likewise, so they have appointed experienced people but due to no fault of their own they went on to bigger things.
The real issue is the failure to replace Jason Wilcox when he effectively went on gardening leave in February/March 2024, leaving no one with any football experience controlling the playing side of the club.
Phil Parsons had no experience running football clubs, although having played at non league level, it cannot be levelled at him that he is no a football man, just that he is not experienced in the business of a football club.
This is the root cause of where we have gone wrong, Parsons was not strong enough to stop Russell Martin running his own agenda, he sat on his hands when things went pear shaped and we are paying the price now for it.
The fact that the Swansea advertising has former players scoring goals is not a sign that the whole club is rotten, but some will take it as that because of the position, if we were 10th in the League and ready for a good cup run then no one would care about it, in fact the opposite they would be saying how great it is that the club is recognising our history.
What were they supposed to do ? show pictures of the 2008/09 season when we were truly appalling along with the headline "It's a bit better now"
The club now need to focus on the areas in which it is going wrong, not be side tracked by the fact that they get a bit of PR wrong.
Back in 1993 when the fans were demanding change, there was a real chance of achieving it, the board were essentially local businessmen, the club ran on it's income not by a rich owner funding it.
Change could be achieved, but the reality is a lot different.
Sport Republic are a business who want to build a portfolio of football clubs, they are committed to football, but will they remain committed to Southampton FC ?
The answer is for now yes, they have always said that this is a long term project, that it will be a bumpy ride and it will be tough, if the fans turn on SR then perhaps they will turn on the fans, stop investing and looking for a cheap sale and that would be catastrophic as was the case in 2006 with the arrival of Michael Wilde, man of the people and absolute disaster.
So yes if you truly want the club to go downhill then boycott it, its the quickest way to send it to oblivion as without the fans a football club is nothing and without the owners it is finished.
In modern football clubs are playthings and the ones with the richest owners and biggest fanbases flourish, whilst the rest of us are just there to make up the numbers.
I am all for supporters standing up and questioning the owners, but it has to be about the things that are going wrong and not about the things that aren't.
You only have to look at the League table to see the gulf now between the Championship and the Premier League, Leicester City are one place above us, 8 points above us yes, it's fine margins though if we had hung on to win against them, then they would be just 2 points above us.
Ipswich are just two points above them, the likelihood is that all 3 promoted clubs will go back down, so it is not just Saints.
Maybe i'm old fashioned, for me and probably 18,000 others it is about turning out and supporting your club (The club, not the owners or the manager) through thick and thin.
We have 12,000 floating supporters, I am not slagging them off, everyone has a right to support how they want, not bother going or storming out after 70 mins whatever they want to do, but that is not what football is for me !
This verse from a poem by Attilla The Stockbroker who was a big part of Brighton's campaigning when the Goldstone was sold and they were homeless is up on the wall at the Amex, it says a lot
"The battle's only just begun, but we have won the war.
Our club, though torn asunder, will survive.
And I salute each one of you who stood up and said NO!
And fought to keep the Albion alive.
And one day, when our new home's built, and we are storming back
A bunch of happy fans without a care
We'll look back on our darkest hour and raise our glasses high
and say with satisfaction: we were there."
Not the same issue that we have now, although quite near the one we faced in the 90's and then 2009 with administration, but the message is, turning you back on your football club is not the answer, standing up and be counted is.
Let's see how many boycott Saturday's game but instead make a protest outside the ground instead.
Last May that seemed to be popular, where are the people who were all over the internet back then encouraging it NOW |
| Forum
Reply | Do Not Give A Single Penny to Sports Republic
at 21:06 5 Jan 2025
There is still plenty of time to run in this story.
January 2022 SR arrive and we think that football success is just about spending money.
October 2022 the fans demand the sacking of Ralph Hasenhuttl
December 2022 the fans demand the sacking of Nathan Jones
May 2023 after relegation the fans demand the sacking of Sport Republic
August 2023 the fans gripe about Russell Martin
September 2023 the fans demand the sacking of Russell Martin
December 2023 the fans demand that Russell Martin be upgraded to ok
April 2024 The fans demand the sacking of Russell martin and that SR leave
May 2024 The fans say they have had their best day ever watching Saints at Wembley & demand the canonisation of Russell martin
August 2024 The fans demand the sacking of Russell Martin & the burning of all SR owners at the stake.
Sept/October/November/December 2024 Please see above
December 2024 The fans acclaim Ivan Juric
January 2024 The fans demand the sacking of Ivan Juric and the burning at the stake of SR owners
There is a pattern here , perhaps we should book the street parties now for May 2026 and order some pitchforks and torches for May 2027
This post has been edited by an administrator |
| Forum
Thread | Brentford Game Matchday Thread
at 09:50 4 Jan 2025
Will Welington be in the squad after becoming Saints first signing of the transfer window, |
| | SaintNick
|
Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 419 | | Comment Votes: | 1391 | | Prediction League: | 5 | | TOTAL: | 1815 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.