Do we have faith in the board?

in recent weeks I’ve firmly been of the opinion that the manager needs to go but have not bought into the wholesale board must go too movement.

However, having read the recent Krueger IV, having seen the stand in principle over VVD turn to capitulation (considering it in the light of our last 4 years), having seen Puel removed - heavily influenced by player power when the players are only looking to transfer out, the appointment and now backing of MP2, the obvious on field disasters and - imo - the inevitable relegation we are facing.. I’m starting to change my opinion

I then see the post by guan2.0 on saints web and it confirms my gut fears that the club as an organization is in a rapid downward spiral.

I think Krueger and Pellegrino must step down or be moved on. Reed I really want to believe in but the evidence is mounting that he has got by on grace from the Cortese era. Krueger has said it himself. He is to blame, I think we need new leadership.

 

Interesting thread.

I'm too tired right now to respond properly as I'm about to finish work, I look forward to contributing and reading when I get up this afternoon.

I will say one thing though that the goodwill that was built up by Les is quickly evaporating and he seems to think he's untouchable which is never a good thing.

But like I say, too much thinking for this thread for me right now, more later.

 

Will add too that we're in a bit of an unknown right now with the Gao situation. We were told when he bought his stake that it was business for usual for now but for how long? Surely he's not going to sit by and watch his almost £200m asset plummet?

Interesting times.

 

What was the guan 2.0 post on saintsweb?

 

and

Having a part-time chairman with no experience either running a business or in football is a problem in and of itself, but it isn't a fatal one...he's non-exec chairman. But that presumes that someone is actually running the club. Who is? Rogers is gone. Reed can't handle the totality of the football and non-football side himself, even if you believe he's doing a good job. Our ownership doesn't appear to have an active hand. We could really do with a strong hand at the tiller.

 

Thanks. I’m on limited internet at the moment, couldn’t manage to link to saints web.

 

Reed and Krueger are the problem with our club,you/we/us can blame any manager but ultimately it’s those in power that are accountable and I’m afraid those two are ruining our club because of their egos to believe they can run a football club. Poppycock can they,get them out and we might have ourselves a half decent football club that holds its own,and plays a decent brand of football.
I don’t want all singing all dancing football,I want my football club back.
So please Mr Reed and Mr Krueger do one and go!

 

In response to the thread title I would give a firm "no" and have held this view for a while. The Puel fiasco was the final straw for me. It is fast looking like relegation is going to be needed to re-boot the club. But for the intervention of Liebherr and Cortese the club would have wallowed last time. OK, the club may appear to be in better financial shape than the last time we went down, but it is also true that the gulf between PL and the rest has widened. Those of us who have waxed lyrical about the days in Division One may regret what they wished for soon.

The problem now is that the rot may be too far gone. I cannot see how clearing out LR and RK now is going to stop us slipping out of the league. My guess is that as long as relegation isn't a certainty they'll stay and any major overhaul will take place over the summer. Pellegrino is a side show.

 

In principle it sounds rosy. A club with sound standards and ethics, a wonderful place to be and to work. Everyone is happy. Except the football is shot and the club is cruising into the championship rather than europe.

I was kinda gobsmacked when koeman left, I put that down to Everton, I was embarrassed that puel was fired and how long it took and now I’m downright pissed that MP2 has been allowed to play the way he has and all the club can do is blame it on a defender who wanted to leave. There is serious subtext being put out which basically amounts to a warning to us fans that we are headed into a whole load more **** than we’ve had so far.

 

If Gao has any sense he will be getting some independent advice about how this lot are mismanaging his investment or he's going to be £100M plus out of pocket quick time.

 

All our hard work over the past six seasons (that's in the Prem - it's beyond when you consider C'ship & Lge 1) is going to be for nothing if we're relegated this season. We had something to build on to establish ourselves in the league, to push for top 10 finishes every year - a bit like Everton a few years ago. But now our board's in-capabilities look like costing us our Premier League status and we will be back at square one.

How they can't seem to see how out of depth MP is this season is baffling. They think he's a great coach but what exactly is he coaching them? The amount of soft goals continuing to be conceded shows his message can't be getting across on the training pitch!

The amount of points we've dropped at home to clubs in and around us is embarrassing and looks like it could cost us a place in the league - I think we've got less fight than all those around us, the only hope is MP somehow gets us ticking as the teams we're fighting against are also pretty woeful and we should be performing better (how this happens in the Premier League with the money floating around also just shows how mismanaged many clubs are in this league, signing so much crap and playing ****e.)

The players also don't seem to be up to a relegation fight and again that falls with the board. They failed to strengthen our strikers and our attacking midfielders when the majority of us highlighted them as areas to sign players.

Kruger's interview yesterday was fall of complete waffle - more than usual - and made hardly any sense. I barely understood it and it was a complete contradiction to the usual stance from the club.

Each season we seem to have a bad patch and come through it, but our bad patch has stretched pretty much the whole season and there's been very, very few signs that we have what it takes to turn it around and battle out of this situation.

MP is at fault for the football and awful tactics, the board are at fault for appointing him, not improving the team and having a mare with VVD.

Wholesale change needed.

 

I'm interested in Katarina's point of keeping 20% so as to keep an eye on her father's legacy. So.....

 

I lost a lot of faith in the board (well Les mainly) a few seasons ago when we actually had a genuine shot at CL football at this stage of the season and we didn't go all out to sign another striker to complement Pelle. Instead signing 2 fringe players on loan. That was the final confirmation to me (after selling half the team 18 months before) that all the chat about making CL was complete bollocks and just said to appease fans. We had a realistic chance to do it and opted not to go for it, spouting soundbites after the window about a long term plan to get there, which is basically impossible in football. Since then virtually every major decision has seen the club go backwards and for me the time has come for a change.

I think we need a shake up at every management position. I was all for giving Pellegrino til the end of the season, mainly because I didn't think we would go down and couldn't think of any realistic decent alternatives. The situation we find ourselves in we have 2 options. Firstly to spend a large chunk of the VVD money and hope that keeps us safe or to change the manager and hope the new guy can get the players performing better. The squad we have, whilst over rated by most Saints fans, should still be good enough to finish lower mid table. I think the board will opt for option 0.5 which is to spend a bit of the VVD money but not that much of it and we will have a nervy end to the season.

FWIW if anyone fancies a bet we are currently 9th favourites to get relegated at 6/1 which seems pretty incredible to me given our current run, league position and remaining fixtures. Might be worth trying to lessen the pain slightly by having a bet on it if you are so inclined.

 

She has no say at all. It is looking more likely that the reason she kept 20% was because she really wanted/needed to sell and the only interested party could only afford 80% of the club.

 

What did people expected the board to do with the VvD situation ffs? Sell and everyone would have moaned as they have every summer. We kept him and there was so much moaning. And now we sold him for a world record fee and people are STILL moaning?

As far as I can see they played that out as well as they could. They both got several extra months out of VvD which picked up our form and is probably why we are not in the relegation zone right now and holding firm with the £75m price tag which they put out in the summer meant we got a load of extra cash out of Liverpool and will help stop clubs lowballing us in the future.

Board played that one brilliantly as far as I can see.

 

Yeah, I'm not bothered by the VVD saga.

 

I've said all along that we should've sold in the summer and re invested then. Obviously just guessing but I would suggest we would be in a better position now if we had sold VVD early-ish in the summer and brought a couple more players into the squad.

 

So you would be happier with 50m in the summer than having VvD for as long as we did and £75m now? And liverpool knowing we would fold with low offers and tapping up?

We might be on a better position in the table but not as a club imo.

 

Most fans have backed Les because of the success we have had, but for a couple of seasons the relationship has started to strain. Now it's as though the goodwill he had banked has evaporated and he needs to prove he is still up to task. I know it has been mentioned he is pretty untouchable, but with a new owner now it's probably not the case. If Kat's 20% includes having RK on the board it may not benefit anyone.

 

Unless we have no one in line to replace him surely this week would of been the most ideal week from now until the end of the season to sack MP2 and get someone else in. The Fulham game should mean nothing to us considering our league troubles , so pie that off , let the youth have a chance and if they get a result then fair play, if they don't then who really cares. That then Gives the new guy 1 and a half weeks to see the players in training etc ...get comfy so to speak , and we go from there against Watford with a bit of fresh positivity and optimism.