I think that papered over the already appearing cracks in the strategy. The actual problem started when it was revealed that all of our players had made deals with Cortese to stay a while with sales promised to them in return. That we managed to continue to improve for a couple of seasons more seems more luck than judgement (IMO.) "The Southampton Way" died the season before Koeman was appointed at best although I would suggest it died when we (the club that bangs on about loyalty or lack of) did not practice that ourselves and got rid of Adkins............because players allegedly demanded it. Players that got what they wanted and then F***** off anyway a season after. Were those players promised their future moves before Adkins was removed or after? Was Adkins removed to try and change their minds about wanting to move?
I'm not convinced he promised them moves away, I think if he & Pochettino stayed, then the majority would have stayed. It was only after Cortese left that the disruption came, I can't imagine Cortese & Pochettino allowing such an exodus. Maybe with the exception of Shaw who Cortese was happy to sell for the right price IIRC.
Gao is gonna want to make his money back somehow when we are relegated, which means selling all of our players and not reinvesting. That scares me. Anyway, we can still turn our season around.
Utd had come in for Shaw before he had even made a senior start (no bid). Cortese persuaded Shaw to sign a new contract and stay a extra year, by tell him at the end of the year he can go
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/15804150.POLL__Will_Saints_be_relegated_this_season_/ 72% say yes to relegation.
The current leadership have no experience in managing us out of the mire they have led us into and both aspects of that statement concern me. The club has been riding high off the Cortese era and current evidence suggests it's been gradually slipping away from them. We are now in need of a managerial change and seriously in need of attacking change but we are just a small club currently threatened by relegation. Good luck Ralph going to the market and signing an ambitious exciting forward line and a competent manager currently at another club (who don't publicly announce they are small and not able to compete.). Every club in the league that finished below us last year will be loving what Krueger released.
Since club finances became the most reliable barometer of sporting performance? In the medium term the extra money makes it more likely we will perform better on the pitch. In the example you quote that extra £25m should (or at least could) mean at least one extra high quality signing.
Though in the same post he says we might have been in a better position in the table... So essentially saying he'd rather be where we are but with some extra dough than higher up the league? I honestly don't get why fans obsess so much over money. Baffling.
Summer 2016 was absolutely the turning point for me. As I've said on here numerous times, I let Les and Ralph off that summer - but all the goodwill built up was utilised as a result. Everything since, the managerial decisions, the lack of player investment, the bad football, the poor results, has just been one nail after another in their coffins. Yes I want MP gone. But I also want these two gone too. Maybe, just maybe, they can still save themselves - but that would require replacing MP with a vastly superior manager, improving the squad this transfer window significantly, and finishing some way clear of relegation. A tough ask? Yes, probably. But if they only needed to do small things, I wouldn't be wanting them gone; I'd just be mildly irritated by them.
Yeah but that's not what we are talking about here. The club should be no where near that sort of trouble. It's the general interest in finances I find baffling, like when people moan if a club overspends by £2m on a player? It's not your money and as long as the clubs future isn't it risk then why do people care so much? Not just on about Saints fans here btw.
Dithering is what we do though. Last minute brinksmanship signings, drawn out sackings, protracted appointments. Taking that into account plus Krueger’s statement that we don’t fire nice guys simply because they’re rubbish at their jobs how long do we think it will take to actually fire MP2 at this point. He will be here till we have someone else and the appointment process feels longer than the actual stay of the managers these days.
According to Ralph - he does. He said his head should be the first to roll and according to guan2.0 he is away more than here. He probably has other things going on and is half out the door. Sounds like he should be the first out the door.
