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05 Oct 2024 21:33:27
Murph st raven has written an article entitled, Should Southampton FC Sack Russell Martin?
1.) 06 Oct 2024 19:41:44
Living in Milton Keynes, I've watched Martin from the start of his management career, Murphy.
You are spot on that he will only play a certain way and it is only successful if he has the best players in that league. He'd actually be a great manager for City when Pep leaves but useless for a promoted team who are fighting to stay up. His players will continue to get caught out time and time again messing around with it at the back. It's so frustrating to watch when you keep falling in to the same trap EVERY week.
Lovely bloke, great to watch when it goes well but just too wedded to his ideas to change and admit that it won't work with what he has got.
27 Apr 2023 23:17:05
Just got home after watching that absolute disgrace! A 6 pointer against a local rival to attempt to save yor season and THAT is what you offer! Absolutely shocking and barring lavia every single person associated with that effort tonight needs to take a long hard look at themselves and doesn't deserve to wear the shirt or represent the club! I have left saints games plenty angry/disappointed in the past like we all have but to leave tonight with the feeling of f. them.
I'm past caring is the worst feeling possible as a fan! Deserve championship football and without a total reset (get rid of ankersen, selles, half the playing squad) we will be there until the day I snuff it! Felt were were always up against it but to do that in a game of that significance.Absolutely devastated: (
09 Jan 2023 14:09:24
Jesuuuuus christ! If the michael keane rumours have even a shred of accuracy to them then we really are doomed. A guy who can't get a game for a team as bad as we are and a manager as equally out of his depth as our own. Can only hope that it is no more than paper talk and the signings we do make can make a difference. I won't hold my breath but just something to try and be positive about would be a start
1.) 09 Jan 2023 16:48:54
Don't hold your breath.we have a degree in purchasing donkeys.ad Micheal Keane is very high on the list of em. But an even worse one when it comes to coaches. Just look who's sat in our dugout
2.) 10 Jan 2023 09:56:25
Rant time! We buy a 30 year old Croatian who has never played, apart from a disastrous year in Italy 8 years ago, at a high standard of football in his career. But …… he played in the World Cup…. let’s get him he’s the answer! 2 goals in 28 internationals tells you how effective he is against quality opponents. Then ……. let’s emulate Brighton, let’s buy a relatively unknown youngster from South America…… he’s the answer! Wtf is wrong with our recruitment department! We needed 3 experienced players in the squad in the summer, it’s probably too late now. I was shocked at how bad Caleta Car looked at Palace so now we can probably discount him as a leader. Get Bednarek back, recruit a minder for midfield and a proper centre forward and we have got an outside chance of escaping relegation so long as Jones leaves asap, if this current plan continues we are down.
3.) 10 Jan 2023 10:34:03
Ad still no sign of a quality striker? We have big problems
4.) 10 Jan 2023 22:23:03
Can't buy quality for £15M. There are people calling for Ings back but he's not the answer. He didn't want to be here so he went to a " bigger club " where he's hardly pulling up trees.
5.) 11 Jan 2023 07:17:35
Would love to see ings bk he only went to a bigger club for the money.ad like most things the grass isn't always greener. he played the best football of his career here. Surely that counts for something? He's what we need someone who can grab the game by the struff of the neck.not all these overated unexperienced kids.
6.) 11 Jan 2023 13:30:00
It’s amazing everyone knows what players think and why they leave. Would take ings back in a heartbeat but need someone else with his injury record
7.) 11 Jan 2023 15:41:36
Trouble is he has prem experience ad we no he can score goals. Ok he will cost 25-30 million but right now it's all about digging yourself out of a hole. Can't keep taking chances with kids doesn't work. Any one decent your looking at 50 million plus. What a someone like tammy Abraham?
8.) 19 Jan 2023 11:54:48
Think we just have to trust in the recruitment it's all well and good saying about our signings not being tried tested and good enough but we've scouted these players and I'm sure our scouts have a much more accurate opinion of these players than our rants. The truth is we look likely to go down. There's some real quality in our squad and up until the last three games it's not quite clicked. I think a massive bid for takam moffi would have been my route and a second player in attacking midfield but we know nothing about these players we're bringing in. Let's just get behind them and Jones and we can put our 10 pence in at the end of the season. Our fate is in the hands of our staff and players so let's do our bit and support the decisions they make until its certain we will stay up or go down. It's easy to throw mud when things aren't going well but that's when our support is needed most. COYR
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22 Feb 2025 17:43:50
Always have been and always will be till the day I die a Saint. However my support will now be from afar. I am no longer willing to part with my hard earned (in a climate where every penny counts) to line the pockets of sports Republic who by the hand of rasmus ankersen have turned the club I love into a top to bottom disgrace and embarrassment of a football club. The only way this toxic group will leave is if there is no money to make, so I will vote with my feet and stay away from the club I love. Painful but necessary I believe
1.) 22 Feb 2025 18:18:00
It’s all very sad for all supporters to watch the serious decline of Southampton FC. I’ve watched Saints for nearly 60 years, I can’t remember a worse time for the club. Liquidation relegation etc etc, there was always hope, not so sure this time.
2.) 22 Feb 2025 18:35:55
Bloody predictive txt…. Administration not liquidation!
3.) 22 Feb 2025 19:14:23
Totally agree 2408. At the worst of times there was always hope. The feeling of all hope is lost while sports Republic remain may be the worst feeling of the lot
4.) 22 Feb 2025 20:00:12
With the deepest respect 2408 the administration era did bring us to the brink of liquidation (no longer existing as a club) . We fell from the premier league, down through the championship and into league 1 on our way. So for me I will always remember THAT as the worst time in our history, doubled with the fact Pompey was flying high above us and some of their fans actually felt bad for us. You can't get much lower than that.
As for now, we're only sinking down one division, it's not the end of the world but it's more the obscurity and blandness of it that's going to annoy me more than anything i.e. the way things are I see us being a mid table championship team for a while, not really going anywhere or achieving anything. Our board is bad but I would say they're more naive than crap. The Chinese consortium we had just before seemed proper dodgey, whereas these guys do invest but they seem to keep bringing in the wrong people in the wrong places. As business people it blows my mind how they keep getting it wrong, but then I look at Man united, with almost endless resources in their grasp, at least compared to us and yet they keep doing similar too.
Unless the search for a decent championship/premier league manager has already started to replace Juric I don't think we're bounce back up next year. I don't think he'll do a bad job in the championship but he won't do anything spectacular either.
As for fans attitudes they felt the same couple years back when we got relegated then we started winning in the championship and suddenly presumed we were on our way to the champions league. Fans expectation/management/reality check is something I've always strived for and if anything these recent years of turmoil I hope at least have adjusted things. If it wasn't for that expectation Ralph would still be here and this whole thing wouldn't have snowballed the way it has, at least that's what I think.
Ralph at his best though was a duo with Rohl and maybe, if we do somehow manage to get Rohl back and if he was indeed part of the success we had when he and Ralph were together then we can start believing again. At the very least he has championship experience.
5.) 22 Feb 2025 22:37:11
Hi Leslie, for me this is the lowest point because practically every game we are second best in every position. There seems to be little pride and fight from a vast majority of players, but for Ramsdale our goal difference would be 10-15 goals more. Even when we struggled in the championship and then relegated to League one we saw a team fighting and trying to give their all.
Portveliet definitely goes down in Saints history as the worst ever manager and the performances this season would place Martin and Juric in the worst five. The reason I say that is both seem to lack the ability to make any significant change to personnel and shape, basic coaching really.
I can see us emulating Luton if the board are not very careful. Then where do we find another Markus god rest him.
6.) 22 Feb 2025 23:22:38
Yea but you kind of have to write off this season now, we don't have a squad or manager capable at this level.
Now it's about gritting our teeth until the championship season starts. When the dust settles, the transfer window opens/closes and we see who and what we have left to start rebuilding and what that building might look like.
I'm hoping that the one signing we get is the right manager for the job. But that's wishful thinking.alas that's the positivity I'm hanging onto. I think this board needs direction and it's going to take someone who really wants to get into the thick of it and take charge from the ground up.
7.) 23 Feb 2025 04:29:40
Sympathy for all loyal Saints supporters -but SAME OLD SAME OLD. Team selection approaching h/t could be our best all season which resulted being thoroughly outclassed by BHA.Suggested solution; Sell Club, Stand down. all current Players, Manager and Coaching staff. Re-introduce remnants of squad deemed salvageable plus any outstanding Academy Graduates, with a new competent Manager with a complete new re-build who can identify with New Players who can gel as a team and be of good character and temperament. As Millertime! suggested probably a minimum of 3 yrs.before success kicks in! KOM
8.) 23 Feb 2025 14:28:15
The body language most players display suggests they are disinterested and fed up. Juric looks like a man waiting for his last meal prior to execution.
We’ve been relegated before and no doubt will again in the future, that’s not the problem. We have some very good players, Ramsdale KWP Bednarek THB ABK Fernandes Aribo Archer Dibling Sulemana Downes Wellington are all good enough for premier league football and Stephens Smallbone Fraser Edozie Larios Bree Ugo have all played premier league football and shown worthy of a squad place.
It’s the obvious that SR have a plan for the club as a feeder of talent to be sold for big bucks to the highest bidders. This will not work in the modern premier league unless you have a manager who commands respect and knows who the replacements will be. The last manager we had was Koeman, he stopped a mass exit at 5 players and had replacements already in place… Lambert… Pelle. Shaw … Bertrand. lovren…. Alderwerald. Lallana…. Tadic. Etc etc
Can you see a plan now?
What players are going to want to come to a shambles of a club?
I can only see players demanding to leave and 2/3 seasons of mid championship table will destroy the finances of the club and of the academy.
That is why I think we are in the worst position as a club that I can remember, finance and infrastructure is key to success in premier league more now than ever before.
9.) 23 Feb 2025 17:28:03
I agree with most of the above 2408 except for your assessment of the players you consider are PL standard.
As a collective, they demonstrated they are not good enough but individually several are - Ramsdale and KWP notably with Dibling and Fernandes PL worth to be proved when they leave for pastures new.
Your analogy about the manager having the look of a man going to the electric chair is absolutely spot on!
16 Dec 2024 06:59:17
10 games to late but at least its an early Xmas present. I just hope and pray the next man has prem experience or has top flight experience and new ideas much like poch when we brought him in or brighton and bmouth have done with iraola or huezeler. I understand it maybe difficult to attract those sort of managers in our predicament
but if the f@#£wit ankersen goes with another clueless unproven championship manager like Martin or Jones or the names being banded about like corberon or rohl I may lose my mind as it DOES NOT work and their are LEVELS to management just as their is players
1.) 16 Dec 2024 10:05:42
Rafa would steady the ship and a lot of experience in both divisions. Wiley old street fighter.
2.) 16 Dec 2024 12:55:38
Looking at Available coaches we got
Rafa
Ten Hag
Potter
Moyes
Big Sam
These managers have some sort of prem experience will they do the job time will tell.
3.) 16 Dec 2024 15:03:04
Eh up guess who just become available? Pep Ljenders
{Ed001's Note - you don't want him mate.}
4.) 16 Dec 2024 15:36:12
Cheers mate. Thanks Ed for the intel
{Ed001's Note - very welcome. I saw how his influence on tactics caused Liverpool to get worse. He is an excellent coach, one of the best, but as a head coach/manager he is very poor. He could probably get the same results as the current Pep Guardiola, but that is about it. Shame because he is a nice guy and, as a Liverpool fan, I would have loved him to go on to huge success, but he doesn't have the necessary skillset for being the main man. His tactical acumen is poor, though he does like to take the credit for anything good that happened while he was at Liverpool.}
5.) 16 Dec 2024 15:44:58
He may be a Pep but he's not going be like Pep ?
6.) 17 Dec 2024 01:58:35
Great News! -but to dismiss Candidates because of compensation involved is a bit. rude in the grand scheme of things when the Board have previously wasted Millions on duff Players and Manager blunders.perhaps it would be PRUDENT to consider each Candidate for their Merits as this Critical appointmeent for the Club and Supporters should be the best available (and who knows could compensate for any additional fees paid within 1 season-JUST CONSIDER ALL ANGLES! KOM!
07 Dec 2024 20:13:42
As shocking as martin is, and he deserves the vitriolic criticism he gets after another p%£# poor performance and delusional after game interview where he essentially is throwing players under the bus for following HIS instructions.
I truly believe we are where we are because of one man.Rasmus Ankersen. The guy has literally got 99% of footballing decisions regarding saints wrong. From jones to selles to martin. The money, couple of hundred mill spent on utter dross barring fernandes and ramsdale.
Giving martin a 3 year contract before gaging his premier league ability to which we are now tied and will be the reason we challenge Derby as worst prem team ever! I would also hazard a guess he was part of the reason wilcox left to.
The guy has turned the club we all love into an embarrassing mess and we are stuck with him unless solak decides to sell because as CEO and Co founder of sports Republic its highly unlikely ankersen will do the right thing and sack HIMSELF!
We are a shambles from top to bottom and will continue to be as long as Ankersen and martin are around which currently will be another 2 and half years minimum. Totally devastated at our current plight and hard to see light at tge end of the tunnel: (
1.) 08 Dec 2024 02:36:56
What a disgraceful, pathetic, weak performance against the most tame side they’ve faced so Farr this season. Apart from KWP nobody shone.DOWNES was like a Jack Russell when we needed a Rottweiler and a blow up rubber dolly balloon would have been more effective than Armstrong! However regretfully nothing will change until both Andersen and Martin are replaced. Sadly the onlyf way this is likely to happen (as previously suggested by others) is to hit the Owners’ pqocket by qway of much lower Attendancs to get some action to our grievances
06 Oct 2024 07:39:18
{Ed's Note - Murph st raven has posted a new article entitled, Should Southampton FC Sack Russell Martin?
05 Oct 2024 21:22:17
Unfortunately we find ourselves in a state of deja vu. It was around this time we sacked Ralph (who I believed 100% had to go) and here we are again with Martin. To start with the guy got us back to the promised land and at times we have played some good stuff both last year and this. However as with all sport and life their are LEVELS! This is where martin and Jones before him fall down. They are championship managers and no matter how much backing they receive always will be, no different to the players such as Stephens and smallbone who are and always will be championship standard. The problem with martin is its ok to have a philosophy but it is a managers job to also put those under him in the best position to succeed, which is a million miles away from what he is doing. If it was easy and every player was capable if it every team in the prem would play like city but IT IS NOT! Probably 10-20% of players are capable of playing this way in the entire league to that standard so martin by asking the likes of Stephens, bednarek, Armstrong smallbone etc etc to do it he is literally setting up to fail. Sometimes you have to realise that as principled as you may be admitting you are wrong is the way to move forward. Unfortunately he has already admitted he won't and In my opinion it will only get worse. The bmouth performance was devoid of anything and was compounded by Martins ridiculous after game thoughts and statements a couple of days later about "needing an aggressive
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22 Feb 2025 19:14:23
Totally agree 2408. At the worst of times there was always hope. The feeling of all hope is lost while sports Republic remain may be the worst feeling of the lot
14 Sep 2024 17:44:22
Agree Leslee there are definitely positives, as I said I believe that starting 11 is almost there and can be solid moving forward but like i said in my post but the problems are always the same and don't seem to be fixed. Whether it's the manager, players not executing the tactics correctly or a combination of both its still slightly off and we will continue to be punished at this level. i'm not saying he shoukd go but do you think RM stays if we don't beat Ipswich and what do you think are the answers to our current plight?
31 Aug 2024 17:08:09
Jesus man really. I managed to catch the last 15 minutes and the difference with dibling, fernandes and lallana on the field is night and day. The amount of times I've heard RM use bravery and courage I've lost count of but he isn't brave enough to pick our best side! So what if dibling is young and fernandes, archer and ugochukwu are young/new, we are gunna be a million times more likely to stay up with them in the 11 than smallbone, Armstrong and aribo. Our goal being a prime example of the football we xan be playing and goals we can be scoring with our best 11 out there
03 Sep 2023 14:10:15
Hard at the mo I suppose as don't know the headspace of players like sulemanna and fitness of Stephens and thb and larios but I would go (if all fit)
Bazunu (but barely)
Kwp, Stephens, thb, larios
Downes, Charles, alcaraz
Sulemanna, adams, edozie
Balanced with Charles sitting and alcaraz and downes taking turns to go forward. Che hold up play and edozie and sulemanna allowed to run at their man every now and again rather constantly keeping possession and working back inside. Got legs, ball players and on paper at least not many stronger 11's in the championship
04 Feb 2023 18:23:46
Would have to agree to disagree with those thoughts. I believed Ralph's time was up, and performances were only going one way and looked like he had lost the players and dressing room and believe he also would have taken us down. Who should shoulder the blame is whoever thought Jones would be a capable replacement? How a man, who had he been left in the job, could quite possibly of taken Stoke into league 1 could possibly been seen as capable of managing in the Premier league truly blows my mind. I thought give him the benefit of doubt and 6 week break during World Cup to implement ideas and systems and who knows. But obviously the man is sooooo out of his depth it's unreal and the football really is the stuff if nightmares. If he does go then whoever appointed him should be leaving with him: (