Reckon he'd come down to 80-100k a week. That's basically Aribo plus any other. Get rid of them, bingo.
This is a big predicament we are in. Even changing manager may not be enough now, to be honest. I remember when West Ham were relegated from the PL with a squad that was far too good to go down (wasn’t it Lampard/Carrick etc.) Sometimes the atmosphere at a club is so bad that even good players and replacing the manager won’t help. I am starting to fear that we are there and heading down again. The toxic stadium, as much as it’s warranted, won’t help that either.
We only have one space available in our squad though (until 1 January). So if you were the decision maker, and could choose one free transfer, who are you choosing?
I honestly think we’ve been there since October last year. Each season since Koeman has been a slow downward spiral with Ralph doing his best to keep a sinking ship afloat. But now no one at the club has been there a long time on and off the pitch. It’s what happens when you run your football club as nothing but a business, it loses all identity and passion. No one at the club ctually cares about the success of Southampton Football Club they either care about their own careers or their own pockets. I can’t think of one player or person behind the scenes that I feel proud that they are still apart of this football club. Everyone just feels like a gun for hire that will leave at the earliest opportunity for something better. No one at the club is representing what the fans want to see from the club, not that a club should be run by fans but you’d at least hope to feel a connection between fans and club. I’ve never felt so detached from the club in my lifetime. At least the Lowe years brought anger, now it’s just abject apathy. I felt pretty much nothing stood in the Northam yesterday, I honestly don’t know where this club will be in the next 5/10 years but we aren’t building ****.
Yeah the worry is the rot is so deep it doesn’t matter who comes in to replace Still. We aren’t really fielding too many of the players from last seasons shambles, and brought in almost an entire teams worth of new faces to freshen things up, and all that’s happened is they’ve all been bogged down in the quagmire that is SFC.
Yeah it’s bad. Even stuff like inviting Adam Lallana back is just a spit in the face to the fans. You’re absolutely right. No one cares about the badge. Club is seen as a stepping stone and a joke by everyone.
Would he? Didn't seem to do much to keep professionalism up in the first relegation. Never really seen him as a leader tbn.
I think Ward Prowse was useless when we got relegated from the Premiership. We had over relied on him . I can see why Nuno has rejected him twice. I would be more inclined to recruit someone with more character.
I never saw him as a leader either but I think he actually wanted to play for us which right now would be a breath of fresh air. He just fell victim to being the last of the dregs of the good era and is what happens when you get rid of all your quality, your average long term stalwart suddenly becomes your best and most important player but it kind of clouds over the fact that he is just a decent first team player and not exceptional. Hence why when he left he disappeared off the Earth, because he was only good for us because everyone else was so ****. I like JWP but he could easily be outplayed in games. But give me those free kicks again any day. So we are now in cycle where every year we have to sell the only player that’s had a good season. That year it was JWP, last year it was Fernandes, next year it’ll be Scienza and we won’t be able to dig our way out of it until we actually get a squad of 6 or 7 quality first starters. But that won’t happen because our board doesn’t know how to buy players.
He might do the shouty shouty stuff on the pitch much. But he is a model professional, would lead by example, and I reckon would be hugely respected by our young squad. He's Southampton through and through, and actually cares for the club. Can't think of many other players still playing that we can say the same about.
Out of interest, when was the last time Adam Armstrong or Jack Stephens actually gave an interview or tried to say something reassuring to the fan base?
I wasn't really listening tbh. But there's a snippet from the BBC live text page yesterday: Skipper Adam Armstrong has told BBC Radio Solent: "It's not good enough - we have spells in the game but we're not doing it. "We've had a few honest conversations this week but it's two sloppy goals." On the pressure mounting on boss Still: "But the pressure should be on us to perform - we're just not doing it right now, this league is crazy and we have to use all the experience we've got to get out of this."
Yeah just read it on the official site. I've got no problem with Adam; like I said a few days ago; he's one of the few players that play with passion. Interesting that he doesn't really offer much support at all for Still.
Do we still do captains notes in the programme? I've not bought one since the championship adkins days. Otherwise Stephens hasn't spoken publicly since post Pompey.
I don't see him having a huge impact on the squad personally, just as he didn't seemingly in 22/23. Either way though for the money it'd cost I think other positions would be a priority.
