Question from the floor: Good evening, Mr Reed and Mr Krueger... Mr Reed is the head of all things football here and Mr Krueger, you stated that the buck stops with you. In two years we’ve gone from European contenders to relegation battlers. In that time you’ve sacked two managers. So why have you not done the honourable thing and stepped down from your positions?
Not finding this all that reassuring at the moment. The question "K L promised to sell to someone who would invest, where is the investment?" was batted away and ignored, which is annoying as that is what I wanted to ask.Gao bought us to keep us the same, apparently... "stagnant".
Les came across ok to me although he wasnt put under that much scrutiny. Answered what he was asked quite well. With more time he could have been held to account a bit more but that was never gonna happen.
Ralph thanked the person for his passion and said that if Gao had wanted him and Les to go they would have done. I think, being objective, that was about as much as we could expect from Les and Ralph. Mark and Danny, OTOH, were both funny and informative, and also showed the passion and ambition we wanted to hear from Reed and Krueger.
Said he values the passion of the fans and then went on to say we're not here to argue, we accept that things have failed etc. We're here to serve the club and we want to serve both the club and the fans and we respect your opinions on our performance. Ultimately the decisions on our future lay with the ownership. We are committed and want to make things right and that's why we continue. We will always work hard until such time as the ownership decides that we should not continue. We have the backing of the ownership and appreciate it.
Summary courtesy of Batman on SaintsWeb... Fan Forum round up for those who cant watch/listen. Pre Forum: Blackmore saying it is refreshing to speak to Hughes weekly. He will tell you how it is and he know the local media are not trying to catch him out with daft questions. This is the first of a number of 'forums' this season. Reminder that there is an open training session (free of charge) on Thursday, including a fan zone for all. Talking about Saints Voice with the leader Kylie. Hopeful for ideas on how to improve fan experience. Fans Forum: Q. Les, last season Pellegrino (an honourable man) - did we take too long to move him on A. Easy to say yes in hindsight. There was a lot to consider and timing was a big factor. We had mark in 24 hours after moving him on and that was important with our timing. Q. Ralph, we have new silent owners. How much are they involved A. 1 year since Mr Gao came in. He has been in contact minimum weekly. He is very interested and in love with the club. Strategically, he is on board with how we operate. He knows the club belongs to the fans. Now we move forward. Q. Les, if the famed black box worked efficiently, what happened with Carillo A. He is still our player, we assessed him as having the right attributes to be a saint. We dont get it right 100% nor do we get it 100% wrong. He suffered with the onus put on him. he will develop in Spain. There is more to come from him. We knew about Guido regardless of Pellegrino, he ticked a lot of boxes. He was like Pelle in a way. Q. In 2 years we have gone from a top 6 side to relegation fodder, sacked 2 managers. Why have you not resigned Mr Reed. A. Ralph replies - thank you for the passion. We as a staff report to the owners. We have been together for 5 years/10 transfer windows. Last season, we had to roll our sleeves up. Take the last 5 years, we had 4 excellent years and last year got out of focus. If the owners wanted change, we both would have stepped down. I have seldom worked with a man like Les, he worked for SFC and the ownership backs us up. We are not here to be popular but to be respected. Q. Les, where are the cups in this years targets A. we just want to win matches. Importance of the cups is always up there. We have done well in the last 2 season and want another good cup run. Q. Mr Gao has taken over the majority of the club. He has barely spoken and that was a year ago. What are his ambitions A. He is a very private person, much like Kat. He feels comfortable with the staff speak for him. He is speaking through us to you. It is transparent. he has a sustainable model and carry on the clubs model. Q. is there an increased ambition given we were told he was brought in to take us further. A. we were purchased as he likes the way we do our business. We are expanding in China and that takes time. Gao believes in t he city and the club. Q. Some moron asking about expansion. A. Ralph - nothing changed. Until we sell out every week, we wont be expanding Q. What is our 5 year plan. Where are we going A. it always a loose 5 year cycle. first 5 year cycle, we got into the prem in 3. Essentially, we want to get back into Europe. To do that, we must be in the top half. we believe Mark can do that. We are simply not satisfied with just remaining in the league, we have to be up there in the top half challenging Hughes - Most outside the club have admired Southampton in recent years and we will get better and back to the top half. We are a top level side and a top half side. The challenge is top be top of our league. We have to do everything to be the side that jumps in if a top 6 side has a bad season. We will be judged by our actions. The club worked hard right through the summer. As manager I am very satisfied with the window. now we have to win games. Pre season, you dont need to win, now we do. Q. Danny, what made you sign for Saints A. Love this club. Had a difficult time with Liverpool, have been good for the last year but their front 3 are quite good. Am excited to be here. I started well with Liverpool under Rogers, got and England call. Klopp is a great manager and have huge respect for him and have worked with some really good players. I have been fully fit for a season and raring to go. Q. Good god, the first Look at me fan...Net spend, 2013-2018. We are in profit. Why are we not looking at £30-40m players. A. We have increased the premier league level players in the squad. You all want a big squad, so that is what we are trying to do. Les - Net spend figures that are published are incredibly inaccurate, always. We are in a shifting marked place. Lets say we spent £30m, he will comes with £150k a week wage bill, his signing on fees will be big as his agents fee and loyalty fees. Spending that sort of money is not our strategy, regardless if Bournemouth have. We work long term, we have bought players for very good fees, it is the way we operate. We ultimately buy players with potential. We like to make them better. Use the Southampton Pathway. They will then come to the attention of the bigger clubs. All money goes back into the side. This model has brought us success and no reason to change it. Q. Mark, what do you think on how the club operates? A. In comparison to other clubs I have been at, this club works day to day very well. There will always be frustrations and I get that it is a difficult business. I do not think we will struggle this season. You never know but I just cannot see it. The players are ready to give more than last season, the quality we have is good and we will have a good season. Q. Mark, what is your opinion on Style of play....we have bee frustrated with the blunt attack. A. I get that. Many teams hide the football. I want my teams to attack more. Obviously at times, you have to retain possession. As a rule, I want the ball at t he top end of the pitch unlike what has been the case here before. It is hard to break premier league sides down. The must be given license to make mistakes, to take risks in order to make those chances. We are still trying to make the players more confident than they have been. We have players with that bit of stardust, and we have to allow players like Nathan Redmond and your frustrations do sometime make it a little harder for him. He understands that but we must allow him to try. Since I have been here, not really heard any negativity. Heard it was going on at t he ground before my time. Q. Les, where do you see our academy in the next 5 years. A. The players do come through in waves, the recruitment in the academy has been excellent and some very talented kids at the younger age groups. Significant work has gone in at that level. We now play against foreign opposition and take the boys on more tours. We dont like to shout about too much. The younger lads are incredibly successful. The idea is that we develop players for the first team. It is harder for the players to get into the squad, the benchmark is higher. They have to be international standard to get into the side, where that was not the case a few year ago. We have more players in various national side development teams outside of city, united, chelsea. It is misleading to say we dont produce players anymore as we are. Just it is far harder for them to play in the 1st team. Chelsea and City have a different strategy to us. The Chelsea model work very well as it is used as a business as opposed to a view of playing for their 1st team. But that is not how we view the academy. Q. Ralph is the club in good health A. Yes it is, we have to improve communications and interaction with the fans. We are extremely disciplined and that makes us financially healthy. We hope Saints Voiceis a success, with a few more fans forums. Q. Mark, 1997 was our last win up at Everton. A. Wont be an easy game, they have a lot of new players. We should have won up there not so long ago. Even though the huge blow at the end of the game, the players were determined to put it right.
That was better than the last one I went to IMO,still some waffle but what can we expect. You wouldn't want to get stuck in a lift with old Ralphie would you?
This is interesting, in large part because whenever we do sell players on, we deny that selling players on is intentional. There's also some small irony that we're admitting to having a buy-to-sell model now, when in recent years we've been buying far fewer of the sorts of players that garnered large fees in the past.
Just got back from the forum. Pretty darn impressed. £2 ticket for free beer and we’ll hosted event - no censorship on questions and in the main real good feeling and positively- totally enhanced by the legend that is Danny Ings. If we can keep him fit I think he will make a true legend of himself at this club. Carries himself brilliantly. Loved Hughesy as well. Ralph and Les answered as best as they could. I think Les’s mistake is hiding away for so long. Well done Saints
I was interested in watching RK's reaction to the forum, it looked like he felt uncomfortable with the underlying frustration of the fans in the room. Love to be a fly on the wall when he and LR get out of there & talk through what happened. They were let off the hook as is the norm at this type of forum
I did notice Ralph’s attempts at humour falling completely flat. I’m sure he’s a decent guy and all that, but...
