28 Nov 2018 13:01:02
Right . don't shoot me down I'm a huge saints fan, always have been always will be. Of course I want to see them playing top class football in the top leagues. The period after they returned to the Premier League relight my fire hearing the praise lavished on the board, the managers and players. But it's clear we need a reset, to rebuild or at least figure out an identity. With that said would the championship be the worse thing in the world? I don't mean forever but to help us rebuild. The players out on loan (academy products) could come back in, we could gut the squad of those stealing a living and backroom staff doing the same. and rebuild around the core as we did coming through the league's last time. Why did lallana, schneiderlin, Shaw etc do so well and how do we get back to having the likes of Sims, McQueen and jwp standing out. Great to see the younger players given a run last night but woukd love to see it more regularly.


1.) 28 Nov 2018
28 Nov 2018 13:43:14
Simply drop down a division, wave a magic wand and then come back up the following season. The Championship is an extremely hard league with many excellent teams. for one I would never want to drop down out of the premier, that alone would set the club back light years from a financial point of view!

We could be stuck there for many seasons or worse drop down another division. No thanks. The Change needs to start now so we can stay in the top division.


2.) 28 Nov 2018
28 Nov 2018 14:30:45
Rayzer, I would take relegation and a positive, committed rebuild over another mediocre journeyman manager seeing us relegated this season or next, playing turgid football and losing more often than winning.

I would take entering a competitive league where we have a chance of winning something or going through to the play-offs on the back of a positive rebuild, giving our academy talent a chance and allowing ourselves the time to build a squad and identity over staying in an uncompetitive league monopolised by 7 rich clubs and the others all scrapping for something between 8th and 17th place.

I would take winning more games than we lose over the course of the season in the Championship, reigniting the positive feeling around our club and our football once more, over paying any more money to watch our team lose to teams both big and small, surrendering points meekly and living with the ghost of relegation looming as early as every Christmas.

I do not believe the Premier League is the be all and end all of football in this country. None of us watch football and support Southampton because of the Premier League. We love the game and will follow our team wherever they are. The Premier League is simply a marketing tool and a money-making venture for businessmen. Give me cheaper tickets any day. We may be on television less but if more of us can afford to go more regularly, what’s the real loss?

Unless we are bought by a super rich person seeking little to no return on the money they inject into our club, we will never be able to compete with the elite in the country. Money has ensured that there is a distinct divide between the haves and have nots. At least in the Championship, we would get to be one of the former. Perhaps its double standards to bemoan the Premier League’s money-gap whilst accepting relegation with a Financial parachute payment that injects more money into our coffers than most Championship rivals, but this is not an ideal world where football is played merely for sport rather than the money. So whilst money continues to make the game go round, if there’s a financial hand-out on offer we should take it. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Unless someone has an idea how to take money out of the equation and make the game truly competitive on a level playing field again?


3.) 28 Nov 2018
28 Nov 2018 15:14:47
Ben I'm not saying its as simple as waving a magic wand of course not and i'm more than aware of how strong the championship is now. My point is merely that as a team and a whole company they are quite clearly lost from top to bottom . the football is bleak season tickets sales are dropping massively with people who have bought every year for 30 years plus deciding not to renew. Managerial sacking after managerial sacking. Now we've started on to board. Player business in and out has been poor for 3 seasons. When I've watched other teams such as Sunderland, stoke etc get relegated I've thought good they deserve it. I've never gmfelt that about saints and of course don't want it but can you say, if you were a fan of someone else you wouldn't think as a club, from board, owners to managers and players. we deserve it.


4.) 28 Nov 2018
28 Nov 2018 15:34:42
Even though relegation to the championship seems a distinct possibility there are obviously no guarantees that we will be able to attract the right players to pad out our academy products so that we're in with a chance of getting back to the premier league within 3 or 4 seasons, because after that it becomes more and more difficult as other teams relegated from the premier league could and probably will have better squads and more money than us. Whatever the case I don't believe that MH is the man to take us forward.


5.) 28 Nov 2018
28 Nov 2018 23:22:37
I agree, but with a manager that can take us forward, even if we have to go backwards first.


6.) 29 Nov 2018
29 Nov 2018 09:31:21
I would not be surprised if MH became director of football and a new manager brought in. We will be relegated unless we sign/ loan a proper target man in January. Austin, long must be sold and possibly Bertrand who looks a pale shadow of his former self. The combined fees and 3 salaries would fund the target man we desperately need.


7.) 29 Nov 2018
29 Nov 2018 10:02:32
Could do worse than being Carrillo back albeit he has only 3 goals his link up and work within the team is getting good reviews guy was never given a chance.


8.) 29 Nov 2018
29 Nov 2018 19:10:12
I don’t think it’s accurate to say Carrillo didn’t have a chance, but I do get your point. I would take replacing Hughes over any January signings and I believe our squad is good enough to be several places up the league, around 12th-14th.


9.) 30 Nov 2018
30 Nov 2018 10:42:22
I feel the same as Figo.

I love football because of its beauty, its drama and the passion it stirs in the stands. I am a fan of Southampton FC (since 2010) because of the kind of football they play and what they stand for.
I love seeing the youth rise up and play with passion and excitement, I love the buzz around the stadium and that feeling of belonging when every fan is behind the team. The fanbase appears splintered; an opportunity to rebuild the club may be exactly what we need. I'd rather watch my side play with passion and joy in the Championship than continue to frustrate fans as they do now. I know that there are flaws in this view - the practical side - but football is a sport of entertainment like any other, and I'd accept relegation if that was the cost.