Whilst this is an interesting thread, if Ralph has the backing of the board and owners (which apparently he does) then the discussion is academic. That means the the only issue to consider is how we back him in the transfer window. For me, I think the time is up on Long, Broja, Djenepo and Redmond, We need experience and we need leaders.
I think it's fair to suggest that the Board are likely to be very concerned with 5 points from a possible 30 in the past 10 matches. I think it's supposition to suggest there is a warm fuzzy feeling about Ralph coming from the boardroom at this time. If we lose the next two (most probable) l would be immensely surprised if the subject of replacing him was not discussed.
Time is up on Broja? We haven't even signed the lad yet! He will be one of the most sought after young strikers in the league this summer, with bigger clubs than us in for him.
asking the wrong person mate. I have no idea and am only paraphrasing a podcast and offering my own take on it.
They don't say they're going to back him in the transfer market. Ralph isn't getting sacked anytime soon.
He may well be one of the most sought out strikers. Which is why we won’t retain him. His time here is up.
And whilst we are picking just one or two lines from the Daily Mail article, let me: "Ralph Hasenhuttl still has the backing of the Southampton hierarchy despite increasing fan pressure on his position as manager... with the Austrian set to be backed in the transfer market this summer to overhaul his Saints squad" The very same article that ends : "While they are not planning to splash the cash the arrival of new owners is expected to allow Hasenhuttl to be more proactive in the transfer market than he has been for much of his time in charge at St Mary's" It's the Mail unfortunately. They manage to contradict themselves in the space of a few paragraphs. Me being the half full type of guy I'll hang onto the first quote https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...Hasenhuttl-backing-Southampton-hierarchy.html
I'm loving the idea of being very active in the transfer market whilst not splashing the cash. Shopping for supercars without supercar money isnt likely to yield many supercars. I guess the question is what does splashing the cash actually mean in the modern game? I'd like us to move Bednarek, Stephens, Diallo, SArmstrong (I think he wants out) Redmond and Djenepo. Combined that wouldn't raise much, maybe 35-40m? I could see us spending 80mill on replacements for a 40mill net but realistically to move forward we would need to spend over 70-80mill net to really move forward.
What's not supposition is that we have abandoned our pressing identity in favour of... no identity at all... and that is hard to accept.
My theory on that is that we have become so vunerable at the back, the whole team (and Ralph?) have lost confidence in the high press, high energy style with which we scored the majority of our goals this season and others. The team just simply are pretty toothless when we play a pedestrian, possession game.
Worth considering that the reason that article (and Athletic) state we will be busy but are not looking to splash the cash is because we want to appease/reassure fans but dont want to reveal our hand. The club are basically telling fans they are aware of the need to spend following years of no investment, without wanting to end up in Newcastles situation where they are bent over a barrel everytime they offer for a player.
Or the club are saying we will be busy to appease fans who are pissed off with this ****e into renewing their season ticket. I know which one is more likely
Dragan Solak has invested something like 200m into buying Saints and clearing our debts. I doubt he's that fussed about making a couple of million from season tickets. Even if he is in it for the money, no doubt he's got better methods of making money from a football club than through season ticket sales. At the same time I'm sure he knows that the fastest way to lose all of his money, is through relegation, so he's probably even more eager than us to improve the squad.
Ticket sales make up a tiny amount of income for a PL club. The easiest way to make money for Solak is to get Saints as high up the PL as possible. Therefore he will invest in the squad.
