Match Day Thread Southampton v Chelsea 14/04/18 ....12.30 KO.

Remember we still have £50m in the bank from the van dijk sale, as well as previous profits and no debt to service other than the debt the owner has. we're in a very good financial position compared to most clubs that go down as far as i can see.

 

Decent summary (we can agree to disagree on the defending). They stepped up a gear and pinned us in the penalty area. Frantic defending but you're right - every clearance landed back at a Chelsea player. I guess it's what happens when your confidence is fragile. As soon as they took the lead they seemed to ease up again but unfortunately we could not make it count in our favour

 

The key game ( I know we f them all up is Swansea). Win that, and with our current attacking intent we could. Before that they have 3 tough games, but first we need to beat Leicester to make them nervous. # blind optimism - more enjoyable than the financial crisis in the Championship that dominates the last page.
I thought we played well today, a little naive and poor marking, but at that point their heads had maybe dropped a little when every decision went against them.

 

We have the money from the VVD sale spread over a couple years, absolutely. And we have a decent wedge in the bank beyond that. That money will be long gone before the end of the 2018-19 season without a massive overhaul, however.

And the difference between us and other clubs that get relegated is that they generally have the means to absorb losses. West Ham, Newcastle, etc piled up losses in their year in the Championship, and West Ham in particular could have been in dire straits had they failed to get promoted.

We also have, by far, the largest wage bill of any club ever relegated, a consequence of getting relegated shortly after the drastic increase in TV revenues.

 

She said she'd only wear the ones I'd bought in the last five years. Sadly I don't have any that fresh.

 

That TV Revenue increase also went into increasing parachute payments IIRC.

 

The numbers I quoted (for some odd reason, I see quotes ranging from £41m-47m for the first year) reflect those increased parachute payments, though. They will represent the majority of our revenues next year, because Championship sides make sweet **** all. They decline in the second year, and then are more than halved the following season.

At a minimum, we need to shave £50m off our wage bill, and that's still going to leave us hemorrhaging cash. Ideally we'd take our wage bill down from £112m to something in the £40m range. Which would still be far too high after the first two seasons, but doable while the larger parachute payments last.

 

Essentially; l agree with you. Mathmatically, survival is possible but highly unlikely.

 

**** Pellegrino
**** the board for keeping him on for so long
**** the players that have put in **** all effort all season

We played for an hour today like we know we can - with heart, and effort. If we had played like that all season we would be nowhere near relegation.

This season has been a ****ing disgrace, and the players should be ashamed. Good luck to them all at their new clubs, the pricks

 

Agree .

As I said ages ago , I work in Southampton and a lot of real supporters you and old ther obviously don’t want to get relegated , but if , A’s is looking extremely likely we do , they are not fussed about it from a football enjoyment point of view .

In fact they look forwards to that . It’s the financial impact on the club that really does concern them . Going back to the days of closed off areas of the stadium etc .

My personal point of view is that anyone who thinks we will bounce back up better get ready for dissapointment .

Surely that in itself will need a cash injection , and where is the evidence of that so far under this new bloke ?

I genuinely fear for the long term .

At least the likes of Newcastle , Sunderland , villa etc still pull in big gates when they struggle , not sure we will .

No I doubt I will be going to matches , yes I still think I am entitled to post .

 

Not totally disagreeing with you Jasper I too have said similar for a while. Sadly for a lot of us we could fear this happening for a while and mainly for me at least felt that lack of proper ambition from the very top is the main cause.
However while I except our gates did drop during our lower league exploits the crowds we pulled in at home were one of the highest in each league we were in. Not I grant you on the Leeds, A villa or Newcastle or even Sunderland crowds. Non the less we normally have a good core following.
Our worst problem perhaps is not only good leadership in a match but very poor leadership from the board.
All the time you have these hangers on Saints in my view are going nowhere...............

 

We played well for an hour because Chelsea didn't turn up. During the 20 minutes when they turned it on, they completely outclassed us.

Don't think you can really blame the players for lack of effort this season. The problem is lack of quality, and lack of confidence.

People will continue to blame Pellegrino, but he wasn't the problem either, as our points tally under Mark Hughes clearly indicates.

We are going down because we kept selling our best players, every summer since our return to the PL.

 

Fair comment BT

 

Surely though the confidence stems from Pellegrino ?

 

The lack of confidence stems from keep getting beat.

I understand that people need a scapegoat, and Pellegrino will serve that purpose for most people. But he never had the tools to do the job imo.

 

Pellegrino was a bad manager. Pellegrino wasn't the biggest problem.

 

I agree to a point about Mopo but could argue he had similar tools plus a few add ons that he desired. Although again to be fair his core defenders were torn up before he came and afterwards. It was the way he planned for matches never seemingly having a plan B that cost him as well as playing too defensively.

 

I would phrase that slightly differently; Pellegrino wasn't the solution. But neither was he the problem in the first place.

In fact you could reverse that statement for Mark Hughes - although if the latter, by some miracle, contrives to keep us up then I will have no problem proclaiming him a genius.

 

So it’s looking grim, but before getting carried away with doom and gloom, consider this. We will have far more money than many of the other teams in the Championship-and also because of those long contracts which some see as a major problem, we will not have to have a fire-sale. Look, I am struggling to feel great about the situation we are in but we are in a better situation than some on here think.

 

His defensive style probably cost him the support of the fans. Now that we are playing more adventurously, we have conceded nine goals in three games.