Match Day Thread Saturday 22nd February 2025, St Mary's Stadium, Southampton v Brighton, 3pm

We will still have the same recruitment team. The same staff. Everything. Spores isn’t Superman.

Meh you happy clappers are probably right. It’s pointless moaning, I guess. We are just saying the same things at this point because there is nothing good to say.
But it’s also pointless supporting this pathetic club at the moment, so I’m not sure what else there is to do.

I just think most of you have ridiculously low standards and expectations. I am embarrassed to support this **** club now and it’s all on the owners. We are a ****ing laughing stock

 

Probably

 

Wolves next for me too!!

 

He’s learned from his mistakes and hired spores. All is well.

 

In which case I'd hate to be wolves that day 4-0 incoming...

 

I don’t have ridiculously low standards or expectations. Yes, embarrassed (and fed up) by the present and recent past, but I support the entity that is the Saints, whoever owns, manages it etc. Whatever we say or do makes not a jot of difference except releases the obvious frustration. Like many others I’ve made my views clear to the Club and continue to do so but when eventually things turn round, and they will, I’ll get double the pleasure of staying the course as a supporter even though it’s been a long time since I’ve felt this grumpy. It’s not like we can just go and support another league club west or east and feel better for it, not for me any rate.

 

Yes it is embarrassing and yes a laughing stock to have only picked up 9 points.

I don't think myself a happy clapper. It's a 6 hour round trip for me to get to a home game, let alone the money it costs and I have not seen us win at home in nearly a year. Iam not exactly singing saints praises from the roof top.

So what do we do. The fans voiced their displeasure in Martin, SR rolled the dice (yes they should have done it sooner) but what difference has it made. We are just as bad. Did SR change managers to want us to be just as bad. I doubt it, were they responsible for all the individual errors that led to goals, not really. They have made errors, yes, but there are many other persons who are as culperable for the position we are in.

 

If you look at the clubs at the top of the football pyramid, and those at the bottom, it's pretty obvious what brings a club success; Money.

We have a billionaire owner who is willing to splash every summer, and our fans want rid. Where is the logic? Okay let's go back to being poor again.

Dragan said from the very start that he is not a football man. I'm cool with that. Don't need him to be. He was hoodwinked by some guys who had (in fairness) a successful football background, but who are out of their depth in the Premier League. Dragan could have pulled the plug and f*cked off already. But no, instead he booted out the chumps, and has hired someone (Spors) who is clearly a level above anybody else at the club, and a real steal for what will be a Championship club.

If we force out this billionaire, it might be another twenty or thirty years before we get another, because we're not a big club. If we are patient, then eventually we will hire the right manager who can really turn this club around.

If the fans who are aggrieved, actually mount some form of protest, then fair play to them. But at the moment all I'm seeing them do is make childish sarcastic comments at other fans. And that's it.

 

This. So much this.

 

It’s the childish sarcastic comments that get you through the dark times. People just want to vent.

 

Has he though? Has he actually splashed the cash, particularly his own, or has he simply sold players and spunked all that money on **** ones? If the out goings are more than the incomings would we know if the money spent isn't loaned against the club?

Not even being snarky, where would I be able to find this out?

Edit- answered my own question using transfer market. Best I could get

 

I didn’t realise that the only thing needed to be successful was a billionaire owner.

I must be looking at the results and subsequent table all wrong.

If said wealthy owner serves up the utter **** we have seen in 2 out of 3 years of ownership, then maybe we don’t need one of those.

I’m not sure so many people are even saying they need to go, maybe a small number suggesting it could be good for us, im not so sure the sniping isnt coming from all sides, in so much as some want to moan, some want to moan at the people moaning.

Isn’t that was internet forums are all over the land.

I’ll tell you what, if you don’t like people having debates and opinions, suggest they go over to the echo chamber of the Politics thread

 

Careful Lincs, you’ll get a hissy fit incoming at having an alternative opinion.

You raise a valid point though, how much has been injected by the owner? And also what good is it having someone wealthy if we can’t be more successful than 9 points at this stage of the season.

And as for the manager picks, we have had better luck turning over random cards with names on.

 

From what I've managed to find, we spent 150m in Solak's first summer here. That is by far our biggest ever figure, and is probably as much as the previous half dozen windows combined.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/southampton/transfers/verein/180/saison_id/2022

That for me, signals his intent. The following summer we managed to pretty much recoup all of that on player sales, because lets face it, we had to, what with the financial losses sustained with relegation. Then last summer, we spent 80-100m, which again is pretty substantial for a club of our size.

I get the suspicion and paranoia, for sure, because let's face it most billionaires are probably crooks in some shape or form. But so far it just doesn't seem like Dragan is trying to exploit us in any way.

 

The most info I can find is from transfer Market.

22/23 - Overall balance was -147.61m
23/24- Overall balance was +165.69m
24/25- (so far) Overall balance is -80.56m

Which gives an overall spend of -62 million pounds or spending £20.6 million pounds a year since they took over. Hardly some sort of benevolent billionaire is he?

20m a season. The equivalent of buying 1 Rhian Brewster a year. Where will we ever strike lucky like that again

 

I think, if I understand it correctly, money has been invested into the club as Katharina Liebherrs shareholding keeps getting diluted by the investment by the majority shareholders. Not sure if that helps, I don't really understand much of it

 

Nah I don't either, and I expect not many of us will which is fair given it's a business and that sort of **** is deliberately and understandably opaque

 

You have to consider we lost about £100m-£120m of revenue when we got relegated. A net spend of £20m a season doesn't mean only £20m has been invested. We had a ridiculous wage to turnover ratio (now resolved) when SR took over, that still needed paying when we went down.

We also had the £75m covid loan, I don't know how much of this has been paid off but I believe just to service that debt is £9m per season.

I am pretty sure they have invested heavily, in fact the financial aspect is the only point I'd say they have definitely done well in. Increasing off the pitch revenue and sorting the wage bill to turnover were important too.

It's the other stuff where I agree with you that they have been pretty ****.

 

Like I said, and Ronnie above, we couldn't expect Solak to spend a f*ck ton of cash after getting relegated. No owner in their right mind would do that, and there are financial restrictions that don't allow it anyway.

Agreed football finances are complex, and I am happy to admit I'm probably being biased. But so are you.

 

Moi??