Ronald Koeman in talks with Saints over new five-year contract

That's right TinTin. You've hit the nail again. The rest of us love losing. Love it and we're having the time of our lives.

 

We've had enough chances to win most of the recent losses.

 

I like that.

Question: can you point me in the direction of a Saints fan who is unconcerned about our current form?

 

Bugger, I need to read a thread then post.

 

Let's get really detailed and say it is also less 5 of the best players from the team before... Koeman must be a God. All hail Ron.

 

PMSL .

 

People on here really are getting their knickers in a twist over this. I suspect if they'd have lived through through some of the dross saints have produced even in my short life, they'd have exploded a long time ago.

Some people have very short memories on here. We used to be perennial strugglers with barely a shoestring to call a budget, due to one special player and a whole heap of work horses, we survived. The Lowe era ended in the worst possible way, but a new club rose with new direction and new impetus.

Cortese promised the world but little did we know that he was doing this in a Peter Storrie fashion and rightly the new non football based owner protected her asset and got rid of him whilst the same time continuing to invest in the whole club from top to bottom. I'm no mathematician but I'd hazard a guess that in the history of the club, we've never invested as much in infrastructure as we have since the takeover.

We have gone from the days of Paul Sturrock and Steve Wigley to Nigel, someone is widely acknowledged to be a United/Barca manager of the future in MoPo to a football legend in Ronko.

Ronald has overachieved since he's been here and has spoiled us last year. There is a rough patch at the moment and it is a storm that needs negotiating carefully without panic and rash decisions, honesty and purpose.

This season was always going to be difficult, the effect of losing 3 of the most influential players of the season in Clyne (an England rb) schneiderlin (a French international) and Toby (not our player, but a Belgian international and one of the reasons spurs are succeeding so much currently) but that combined with the cumalitive effect of the precious seasons exodus has left the club having to start over again. Even if you have the resources financially, it takes time to get it right without getting your pants pulled down over the price.

We haven't been a knee -jerk club and I expect whilst there is concern behind the scenes the board are working together to solve the problems. If that process ends in Ron walking away after giving it his best-so be it, if we show him the door, it won't be a decision taken lightly on any level and will be done in a considered and professional manner.

The fact Ronko is so brutally honest about the academy is a breath of fresh imho. It actually shocks me that people think that just because we have risen through the leagues and our standard had risen to top 8 finish potentially that all we have to do is ask our youth to play a bit better and then they will. Year on year you can only attract a certain amount and type of player, it's always going to be peaks and troughs on recruitment; if as Guan suggests the parents are furious that their children aren't playing, I'd tell them to dry their eyes and bugger off. Ronko out of anyone including les reed is best placed to say these things from his considerable Dutch experiences. Should we accept mediocrity at the academy and u21 level-of course not.

All in all, there is a manager in place currently and a process to go with him. I believe in him and I wasn't a fan of his initially, Katherina will want to protect her asset and will do what she needs to do be that spend a bit or close the purse and open the door.

I honestly can't see anyone coming close to Ronko. Howe wouldn't come as I can't see him showing the bmth fans the disloyalty. Rowett/Benitez et al would bring their own ideas and upset the applecart when stability is needed.

If people think things are bad-just look how bad things could be. It's nothing short of farcical what is happening in the red half of Manchester. Woodward and LVG have savaged a once proud club and it's going to take a long, long time to repair the damage.

 

*applauds post*

 

Wish I could like that more than once

 

The fact Ronko is so brutally honest about the academy is a breath of fresh imho. It actually shocks me that people think that just because we have risen through the leagues and our standard had risen to top 8 finish potentially that all we have to do is ask our youth to play a bit better and then they will. Year on year you can only attract a certain amount and type of player, it's always going to be peaks and troughs on recruitment; if as Guan suggests the parents are furious that their children aren't playing, I'd tell them to dry their eyes and bugger off

Fair comment , but two sides to a story . What about the comments rK is arrogant & barely has time for the youth ? I DON'T know which is true , but BOTH are being mentioned .

 

I can't really say because I don't know... But it may be that Ronko doesn't like the way the academy is run. Although it's been successful, that doesn't mean it's beyond criticism or development.

Reed seems to be the overlord of the academy but Ronko has nearly 50 years experience as player and manager. Friction and disagreement don't necessarily mean there's an issue.

 

Fair comment, but iirc Poch had no such issues. Anyway, Time will tell!

 

Maybe one of the reasons Poch walked.... He knew what we're finding out now....

 

50 years experience (although as he's only 52 it's more like 30 years) as a player and manager doesn't necessarily make a good coach.

And what ever he thinks of the U21's it is a bad move to say it in public. By all means speak to them in private but given that he very rarely watches them I'm not sure how he can make a judgement from isolated matches. One of the issues with the U21s is that they don't play week in week out. They can go 5/6 weeks between games and nobody can be expected to perform to their maximum in those circumstances. Training with the U18s instead of the first team doesn't help either.

 

I enjoyed reading your post but differ on this bit. I too have watched the dross over many years. I cannot be objective about a current saints team if I simply compare it to our worst sides. I base my opinion on our recent results. When we were in league one I wasn't disappointed that we went out of the FA Cup because I was looking at us relative to the ability of the team.

Last season we finished 8th and regardless of whether we think we over achieved or not I will base my observations on whether we improve or get worse from the season before. I want us to always get better. In reality that is not always possible. However I don't have to simply be satisfied because we were once crap.

 

Thanks....!!

You're right of course not to be satisfied with mediocracy because we used to be crap. I was merely trying to put it in a context.

I'm disappointed that we're out but it seemed more indicative of a team lacking confidence and having a paper thin squad than anything else.

I always take the end league position or cup position as history and not the default setting for the current season. That's just what I do to protect myself as a Saints fan, it's not accepting the lowest acceptable outcome or accepting that we may not progress-it's just that I know, regardless of how much I want it, crave it or rant and rave on here there's a process behind the scenes which is largely protected from the fans.

 

We have £10million plus, international players in almost every position. They should be performing better than they are.

It's no good banging on about the old days, when we were crap. We were crap then! We aren't now, so some fans expect better. I don't think the staunch defence of Koeman is the correct attitude. It's right to ask these questions.

Having said that, I'm optimistic that Forster and Pelle coming back will be the catalyst for some good results.

 

What he said. He's right. I'm still optimistic, too.

 

Indeed there is and putting aside the recent slide I think we have some decent people running the club these days; a far cry from the past