| SR are at it again on 06:51 - Jan 14 with 849 views | PatfromPoole |
A fairly prominent Saints fan known to a fair few on here (not one of the influencers, one of the sensible lot) used the words “Money Laundering” on X last week in the same sentence as referring to Sports Republic.
I didn’t think too much of it at the time.
But I am now growing more cynical by the day. |  |
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| SR are at it again on 09:08 - Jan 14 with 679 views | SaintNick |
I am not sure why people get up in arms about this, its been happening in football for years, a club buys a player cheaply whom they consider a good prospect so they send him out on loan to another club or even let him stay at the club he has been signed from where he will get first team game time.
Manchester City & Chelsea in particular have been doing this for years, I am sure that we have also done it ourselves over the years.
Sport Republic are blamed for everything at the moment, high ticket prices for the Swansea game for instance is landed directly at their door.
This is a promising youth team player not a major international, if he had signed for Goztepe directly and then we had signed him next season for £10 million after a good season in the Turkish League, Sport Republic would be lambasted for not buying him this season.
Sport Republic have got things wrong, that cannot be denied, but by constantly taking them to task for every little thing such as ticket prices, cubicle 2 in the Kingsland stand toilets running out of toilet paper, beer prices in the Xmas market & the weather, just blurs the bigger picture. |  |
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| SR are at it again on 09:39 - Jan 14 with 631 views | PatfromPoole |
| SR are at it again on 09:08 - Jan 14 by SaintNick |
I am not sure why people get up in arms about this, its been happening in football for years, a club buys a player cheaply whom they consider a good prospect so they send him out on loan to another club or even let him stay at the club he has been signed from where he will get first team game time.
Manchester City & Chelsea in particular have been doing this for years, I am sure that we have also done it ourselves over the years.
Sport Republic are blamed for everything at the moment, high ticket prices for the Swansea game for instance is landed directly at their door.
This is a promising youth team player not a major international, if he had signed for Goztepe directly and then we had signed him next season for £10 million after a good season in the Turkish League, Sport Republic would be lambasted for not buying him this season.
Sport Republic have got things wrong, that cannot be denied, but by constantly taking them to task for every little thing such as ticket prices, cubicle 2 in the Kingsland stand toilets running out of toilet paper, beer prices in the Xmas market & the weather, just blurs the bigger picture. |
Nick
This was £5 million for a player who has never played in the top flight of French football.
He has even less of a pedigree than Sekou Mara did when we signed him.
That £5 million could have been used as a loan fee for a striker who could actually score some goals for us this season.
It's hardly small beer.
I struggle to see how he would be worth £10 million after a potentially good season in a schmuck League. | |
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| SR are at it again on 10:52 - Jan 14 with 566 views | kingolaf |
We overpaid Valenciennes for him as well. On TransferMarkt he is valued less than a million.
It is a shoddy deal for Saints, but not for SR.
We are being used to benefit the other teams in their portfolio. One with money, paying well over the odds for this player, and another with players that we buy and send straight to Turkey.
Also, if you don’t blame the owners for ticket prices who do you blame?
Come on Nick, this stinks and you know it. |  | | |
| SR are at it again on 11:16 - Jan 14 with 526 views | PatfromPoole |
| SR are at it again on 10:52 - Jan 14 by kingolaf |
We overpaid Valenciennes for him as well. On TransferMarkt he is valued less than a million.
It is a shoddy deal for Saints, but not for SR.
We are being used to benefit the other teams in their portfolio. One with money, paying well over the odds for this player, and another with players that we buy and send straight to Turkey.
Also, if you don’t blame the owners for ticket prices who do you blame?
Come on Nick, this stinks and you know it. |
Ankersen has positioned himself as Goztepe's hero.
You can just imagine all the end of season blurb from Sports Republic, talking almost wholly about Goztepe, with Southampton being reduced to an asterisk.
People can tell me that multi-club ownership is the norm until the cows come home.
Southampton Football Club are yet to benefit from an investment in one single player by having loaned them out to Goztepe. | |
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| SR are at it again on 11:20 - Jan 14 with 522 views | SaintNick |
| SR are at it again on 10:52 - Jan 14 by kingolaf |
We overpaid Valenciennes for him as well. On TransferMarkt he is valued less than a million.
It is a shoddy deal for Saints, but not for SR.
We are being used to benefit the other teams in their portfolio. One with money, paying well over the odds for this player, and another with players that we buy and send straight to Turkey.
Also, if you don’t blame the owners for ticket prices who do you blame?
Come on Nick, this stinks and you know it. |
The fee is supposedly 5 million euros and not pounds, so given the exchange rate when we signed him about £4 million rather than £5 million.
But this fee is only speculation, neither club has actually revealed the the fee and so its just media outlets speculating.
Back in August 2018 we signed a then 16 year old Alexandre Jankewitz for around 2 million euros, so a very similar deal I.m sure there have been others .
As we speak we don't know that it will be a shoddy deal for Saints, it might turn out to be a brilliant one, then again it might not.
At the end of the day Sport Republic have put a lot of money into Southampton FC, this is a drop in the ocean for them financially and for Saints, yes it's perhaps moving money around but look around the Premier League it's not uncommon, its the modern game with clubs being owned by people who have connections to other clubs
Who do we blame for ticket prices ? As I have said elsewhere the people who are actually setting them, not the owners who have no input on the situation. | |
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| SR are at it again on 11:44 - Jan 14 with 487 views | PaleRider |
| SR are at it again on 11:20 - Jan 14 by SaintNick |
The fee is supposedly 5 million euros and not pounds, so given the exchange rate when we signed him about £4 million rather than £5 million.
But this fee is only speculation, neither club has actually revealed the the fee and so its just media outlets speculating.
Back in August 2018 we signed a then 16 year old Alexandre Jankewitz for around 2 million euros, so a very similar deal I.m sure there have been others .
As we speak we don't know that it will be a shoddy deal for Saints, it might turn out to be a brilliant one, then again it might not.
At the end of the day Sport Republic have put a lot of money into Southampton FC, this is a drop in the ocean for them financially and for Saints, yes it's perhaps moving money around but look around the Premier League it's not uncommon, its the modern game with clubs being owned by people who have connections to other clubs
Who do we blame for ticket prices ? As I have said elsewhere the people who are actually setting them, not the owners who have no input on the situation. |
Nick - the owners, followed by the board have ultimate responsibility. I'm surprised that you don't seem to realise this. | | | |
| SR are at it again on 11:47 - Jan 14 with 482 views | SaintNick |
| SR are at it again on 11:44 - Jan 14 by PaleRider |
Nick - the owners, followed by the board have ultimate responsibility. I'm surprised that you don't seem to realise this. |
I'm sorry I am not sure what your point is here, yes the owners have ultimate responsibility for the way the club is run, but they don't get involved in ticket prices and beer prices, lets get serious here, if you go into Mcdonalds and there are no napkins, you don't say the entire company is rotten to the core, and blame the CEO, you assume that the manager of that branch isn't running it properly and blame him. | |
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| SR are at it again on 12:19 - Jan 14 with 434 views | PaleRider |
| SR are at it again on 11:47 - Jan 14 by SaintNick |
I'm sorry I am not sure what your point is here, yes the owners have ultimate responsibility for the way the club is run, but they don't get involved in ticket prices and beer prices, lets get serious here, if you go into Mcdonalds and there are no napkins, you don't say the entire company is rotten to the core, and blame the CEO, you assume that the manager of that branch isn't running it properly and blame him. |
The point is that the board are responsible for setting and executing a strategy around key business functions - such as pricing. It's not just the responsibility of the ticket office.
To use your McDonalds example, which is somewhat flawed as they have 10's of thousands of outlets, compared to a handful of businesses, senior management are responsible for pricing strategy - which is set at a country level within global guidelines. In addition, they have a process of auditing, secret shoppers etc. so that they do have some oversight of the day to day running of the business. In addition, the McDonalds example also shows a company that does have some deep issues - such as the sexual abuse of staff.
With a relatively small, privately owned business such as Saints, the board and the owners should be closely aligned.
You mentioned on a previous post that Parsons has made ok business decisions - without evidence. I disagree - I think the business is poorly run. The value of Southampton FC has clearly fallen. Many of the investments made by the business have been poor, the ticket office and "customer service" don't seem to work efficiently, the business and "customers" have become increasingly disconnected, there appears to be no model for generating sustainable profitable growth etc. etc.
Breaking news - it would appear that one of the board does seem to accept some responsibility for the poor way the club is being run. [Post edited 14 Jan 12:21]
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| SR are at it again on 12:39 - Jan 14 with 410 views | saintmark1976 |
| SR are at it again on 11:47 - Jan 14 by SaintNick |
I'm sorry I am not sure what your point is here, yes the owners have ultimate responsibility for the way the club is run, but they don't get involved in ticket prices and beer prices, lets get serious here, if you go into Mcdonalds and there are no napkins, you don't say the entire company is rotten to the core, and blame the CEO, you assume that the manager of that branch isn't running it properly and blame him. |
Nick, over the years you and I have disagreed ( and on occasions agreed ) on many subjects. During that period I’ve always admired you for standing up for S F C when others ( including myself ) were taking them to task.
However, your ongoing defence of Sports Republic in relation to the exorbitant cost of F A Cup tickets is starting to make you look slightly ridiculous.
As a fellow contributor pointed out, if Sports Republic through the actions of their C E O and senior management aren’t responsible for all aspects of S F C ( including ticket pricing ) then exactly who is ?
Honestly Nick, sometimes it really is better not to try and defend the indefensible and this is one of those occasions Sir.
Going forward, what will be interesting for the Burnley game is if Sports Republic learn from their pricing error of the Swansea match. Given the pigs ear of everything else they have done this season I’m not hopeful personally. | |
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| SR are at it again on 13:36 - Jan 14 with 360 views | SaintNick |
| SR are at it again on 12:39 - Jan 14 by saintmark1976 |
Nick, over the years you and I have disagreed ( and on occasions agreed ) on many subjects. During that period I’ve always admired you for standing up for S F C when others ( including myself ) were taking them to task.
However, your ongoing defence of Sports Republic in relation to the exorbitant cost of F A Cup tickets is starting to make you look slightly ridiculous.
As a fellow contributor pointed out, if Sports Republic through the actions of their C E O and senior management aren’t responsible for all aspects of S F C ( including ticket pricing ) then exactly who is ?
Honestly Nick, sometimes it really is better not to try and defend the indefensible and this is one of those occasions Sir.
Going forward, what will be interesting for the Burnley game is if Sports Republic learn from their pricing error of the Swansea match. Given the pigs ear of everything else they have done this season I’m not hopeful personally. |
I blame the person responsible for setting the ticket prices and do you honestly think that Dragan Solak and his Sport republic board deal with that on a game to game basis, if you do then you also believe that the Chairman of McDonalds sets the prices for a happy meal for the Millbrook branch and Mike Ashley decrees the price of a pair of Adidas Predators in his Sports Direct empire.
Since Markus Liebherr arrived that has been the corporate governance, Markus Liebherr and then Katharina Liebherr didn't get involved in day to day running, nor did Gao
Come on if Phil Parson's phoned up Solak last week and asked him what we should be charging for the Swansea cup tie tickets, he would have been sacked
It's about pay grades.
When we stood up against Southampton FC in the 1990's etc we were dealing with a small organisation and speaking to the men that set the prices etc, but we argued with them about the important things, not the price of a replica shirt etc.
Now we are part of a big corporation they pay people to set ticket prices, it is way down the list of pay grades
This post has been edited by an administrator | |
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| SR are at it again on 13:43 - Jan 14 with 346 views | Jellybaby |
I think SR are undoubtedly seeing the potential of Goztepe, who are 4th in the Turkish Super Lig at present and come from Izmir the 3rd biggest city in Turkey with a population of over 4 million.
SFC may be the Trojan horse that ultimately gets SR a bigger prize...... | |
| I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it. |
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| SR are at it again on 14:22 - Jan 14 with 296 views | saintmark1976 |
| SR are at it again on 13:36 - Jan 14 by SaintNick |
I blame the person responsible for setting the ticket prices and do you honestly think that Dragan Solak and his Sport republic board deal with that on a game to game basis, if you do then you also believe that the Chairman of McDonalds sets the prices for a happy meal for the Millbrook branch and Mike Ashley decrees the price of a pair of Adidas Predators in his Sports Direct empire.
Since Markus Liebherr arrived that has been the corporate governance, Markus Liebherr and then Katharina Liebherr didn't get involved in day to day running, nor did Gao
Come on if Phil Parson's phoned up Solak last week and asked him what we should be charging for the Swansea cup tie tickets, he would have been sacked
It's about pay grades.
When we stood up against Southampton FC in the 1990's etc we were dealing with a small organisation and speaking to the men that set the prices etc, but we argued with them about the important things, not the price of a replica shirt etc.
Now we are part of a big corporation they pay people to set ticket prices, it is way down the list of pay grades
This post has been edited by an administrator |
Nick, if you think that there is the slightest similarity between the management of a business the size of McDonalds or for that matter Sports Direct compared to Sports Republic you are very simply way off beam.
McDonalds and Sports Direct have thousands of outlets retailing hundreds, if not thousands, of different items in some cases worldwide.
In comparison Sports Republic’s task is to attempt to run a relatively small business with a turnover a fraction of that compared to the two examples you have quoted, with one product and one product only to sell-football.
The fact that they can’t attractively price a 3rd Round Cup game against Swansea with a 16.30 Sunday kick off, speaks volumes as to the ineptitude of their whole organisation. And no that ineptitude isn’t just restricted to a faceless ticket office employee who you suggest was responsible.
Any number of senior management employees from the C E O downwards with their finger on the button should have been able to see that the suggested pricing was wrong. The fact that they didn’t act is testament to their inherent ineptitude fully exampled by the second relegation in three years that now awaits us.
Will today’s Titanic Deck Chair shuffling exercise at Board Level provide a better future ? One can only hope I suppose. | |
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| SR are at it again on 14:43 - Jan 14 with 255 views | SaintNick |
| SR are at it again on 14:22 - Jan 14 by saintmark1976 |
Nick, if you think that there is the slightest similarity between the management of a business the size of McDonalds or for that matter Sports Direct compared to Sports Republic you are very simply way off beam.
McDonalds and Sports Direct have thousands of outlets retailing hundreds, if not thousands, of different items in some cases worldwide.
In comparison Sports Republic’s task is to attempt to run a relatively small business with a turnover a fraction of that compared to the two examples you have quoted, with one product and one product only to sell-football.
The fact that they can’t attractively price a 3rd Round Cup game against Swansea with a 16.30 Sunday kick off, speaks volumes as to the ineptitude of their whole organisation. And no that ineptitude isn’t just restricted to a faceless ticket office employee who you suggest was responsible.
Any number of senior management employees from the C E O downwards with their finger on the button should have been able to see that the suggested pricing was wrong. The fact that they didn’t act is testament to their inherent ineptitude fully exampled by the second relegation in three years that now awaits us.
Will today’s Titanic Deck Chair shuffling exercise at Board Level provide a better future ? One can only hope I suppose. |
"Any number of senior management employees from the C E O downwards with their finger on the button should have been able to see that the suggested pricing was wrong. The fact that they didn’t act is testament to their inherent ineptitude fully exampled by the second relegation in three years that now awaits us."
There you have hit it on the head, the buck stops with the CEO, it doesn't go up to Kraft or Solak, who has other business interests other than Sport Republic.
Perhaps Solak has woken up to the fact that those tasked with the daily running of the club ie CEO Phil Parson's downwards arent doing their jobs.
It is pertinent to note that Solak's focus seems to be on the football results and not the ticket prices, indeed he seems to have left off the bit where he said.
“Whilst I am pleased with many aspects of the club’s management, I am deeply disappointed with the prices for FA Cup games this season. We will be strengthening our ticket office management team in the near future, and we will share details of that as soon as things are confirmed." | |
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| SR are at it again on 15:19 - Jan 14 with 210 views | saintmark1976 |
| SR are at it again on 14:43 - Jan 14 by SaintNick |
"Any number of senior management employees from the C E O downwards with their finger on the button should have been able to see that the suggested pricing was wrong. The fact that they didn’t act is testament to their inherent ineptitude fully exampled by the second relegation in three years that now awaits us."
There you have hit it on the head, the buck stops with the CEO, it doesn't go up to Kraft or Solak, who has other business interests other than Sport Republic.
Perhaps Solak has woken up to the fact that those tasked with the daily running of the club ie CEO Phil Parson's downwards arent doing their jobs.
It is pertinent to note that Solak's focus seems to be on the football results and not the ticket prices, indeed he seems to have left off the bit where he said.
“Whilst I am pleased with many aspects of the club’s management, I am deeply disappointed with the prices for FA Cup games this season. We will be strengthening our ticket office management team in the near future, and we will share details of that as soon as things are confirmed." |
Well done Nick “ There’s more joy in heaven at one sinner who repentive etc etc” given that you now appear to acknowledge that the buck at least stops with someone higher up the food chain than some poor unsuspecting ticket office employee as you previously suggested.
Reference your last paragraph.How I wish Solak had said it. At least then we would all appreciate that we had a major shareholder who took a day to day interest and cared for fans who support the club. I’m sure you would agree that recently, all evidence points strongly in the opposite direction. | |
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| SR are at it again on 15:21 - Jan 14 with 206 views | PatfromPoole |
| SR are at it again on 15:19 - Jan 14 by saintmark1976 |
Well done Nick “ There’s more joy in heaven at one sinner who repentive etc etc” given that you now appear to acknowledge that the buck at least stops with someone higher up the food chain than some poor unsuspecting ticket office employee as you previously suggested.
Reference your last paragraph.How I wish Solak had said it. At least then we would all appreciate that we had a major shareholder who took a day to day interest and cared for fans who support the club. I’m sure you would agree that recently, all evidence points strongly in the opposite direction. |
But they have given us gulags and a pub in the old ticket office.
All we are missing is THE FIVE PLEDGES!!! | |
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| SR are at it again on 15:28 - Jan 14 with 198 views | saintsfanbrock |
| SR are at it again on 13:36 - Jan 14 by SaintNick |
I blame the person responsible for setting the ticket prices and do you honestly think that Dragan Solak and his Sport republic board deal with that on a game to game basis, if you do then you also believe that the Chairman of McDonalds sets the prices for a happy meal for the Millbrook branch and Mike Ashley decrees the price of a pair of Adidas Predators in his Sports Direct empire.
Since Markus Liebherr arrived that has been the corporate governance, Markus Liebherr and then Katharina Liebherr didn't get involved in day to day running, nor did Gao
Come on if Phil Parson's phoned up Solak last week and asked him what we should be charging for the Swansea cup tie tickets, he would have been sacked
It's about pay grades.
When we stood up against Southampton FC in the 1990's etc we were dealing with a small organisation and speaking to the men that set the prices etc, but we argued with them about the important things, not the price of a replica shirt etc.
Now we are part of a big corporation they pay people to set ticket prices, it is way down the list of pay grades
This post has been edited by an administrator |
Excluding factors like future income from gaining supporters and home advantage from filling a stadium this club’s finances are majorly impacted directly by ticket sales (over 10% of the revenue). If Solak doesn’t sign off on tickets prices for cup games then he is an utter fool (even a ten minute phone conversation where different options are put to him, yes only a single cup game but these add up over a season to find ten minutes). I would be shocked if he didn’t do this, now I imagine you will argue Nick that he may have been given bad advice but frankly a poor workman blames his tools.
You keep referring to ridiculous comparisons, Millbrook McDonald’s is frankly 1 in 1500 branches in the U.K. (less than 0.1% of the companies overall just for the U.K.). We don’t know the revenue of Goztepe and Valenciennes but I think it’s very safe to say Southampton comfortably makes up more than 50% of the revenue (and I am being generous) of SR, therefore you are comparing over 5% of SR’s revenue to pricing selections of 0.1% of the U.K. part of McDonald’s. Not really a relevant comment.
Just another example of why I have started getting my Saints updates elsewhere due to the blatant bias as you try and squash any attacks on SR | | | |
| SR are at it again on 16:43 - Jan 14 with 138 views | sledger |
two points,if the club had halved the ticket price would they have doubled the crowd,i think not so from a business point of view they got it right,the real problem was 4-30 on a sunday.Point two i watched the u21s play fulham the other day and the young centre back everyones talking about looked a decent prospect | | | |
| SR are at it again on 17:17 - Jan 14 with 102 views | saintsfanbrock |
| SR are at it again on 16:43 - Jan 14 by sledger |
two points,if the club had halved the ticket price would they have doubled the crowd,i think not so from a business point of view they got it right,the real problem was 4-30 on a sunday.Point two i watched the u21s play fulham the other day and the young centre back everyones talking about looked a decent prospect |
Tickets are just the start of matchday revenue, getting more punters in for increased sale of alcohol, food and memorabilia is worth it. Especially when you price the adult price so high and the average crowd age drops and you start selling more bottles of coke than beer and families feed their children outside of the stadium.
Although I am no expert, I was just making the point that someone who has purchased a substantial stake in a football club would do well to become and expert in such and not leave a substantial part of their business to be decided by those that don’t share in the profits. | | | |
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