| And now for the really important games. 12:13 - Apr 27 with 2685 views | saintmark1976 |
Saturday was a brilliant day and although we didn’t quite get over the line a credit to the Manager,Players and Supporters of Southampton Football Club.
It’s now imperative that we get promoted from The Championship this season either by finishing second ( unlikely ) or winning the playoffs ( more likely).
Why? Because I suspect that if we don’t, our Owners will not resist the opportunity of breaking the current squad up by selling our better player to balance the books, bearing in mind that I believe the club made a £58 million loss declared in their last annual accounts.
Not forgetting of course that when The Premiership manager merry go round kicks off again, Tonda is now inevitably going to be a name in the frame.
The next few weeks may well be some of the most important in the clubs history.
Either a return to where the proper money is or continued financial struggles.
[Post edited 27 Apr 12:15]
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| And now for the really important games. on 12:24 - Apr 27 with 2626 views | DorsetIan |
Fwiw...
I don't think Tonda is going anywhere. Whatever happens he'll manage us next season. No matter how good he knows he is, he seems level headed, he's young and this is his first job. He's going to stay for a bit I feel.
Yes, we will probably lose some players but I now have some confidence that Spors would use any profits to improve the squad.
As for promotion, I cannot even begin to contemplate how the team could recover from the physical and emotional cost of Saturday to beat Ipswich tomorrow night.
Ipswich are a good team and they know that a win will pretty much guarantee them automatic promotion. Even a point would leave them just needing a win on the final day.
I'm not saying we aren't going to win because this team and this manager are excellent and can do remarkable things. But the task is huge and if we do win, that would be the result of the season for me by a country mile. |  |
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| And now for the really important games. on 13:06 - Apr 27 with 2541 views | 1885_SFC |
Everton are already sniffing out Leo Sienza according to reports today & Leo has said he wants to play in the Premier League and that if we don't go up this season, he will evaluate his future in the Summer. Apparently he has a £25M release clause.
Ipswich tomorrow night is incredibly important of course. Not only is it our last (league) home game of the season, but it's important to finish 3rd or 4th and have the 2nd leg of any play-off game at St Marys - rather than having to play it away. Ipswich know that a win tomorrow night will see them promoted automatically along with Coventry. Their goal difference is vastly superior to anyone else so a win will send them up. It's up to us to make sure that doesn't happen while looking after our own affairs & destiny.
Tomorrow promises to be a real humdinger! |  |
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| And now for the really important games. on 13:08 - Apr 27 with 2534 views | SaintNick |
Why not also credit the owners, people are quick to criticise them when thing go wrong, so give them credit when things go right, the appointment of Johannes Spors was crucial , he got the Will Still appointment wrong, but he was decisive quickly and appointed whom he thought was the right man, even though the fans were up in arms at the time.
To sarcastically suggest that our owners will not resist the opportunity to sell if we don't go up is also unfair.
The owners arent calling the shots, the players call the shots, if Leo Scienza is offered a lot more money to go to a top flight club either here or in Germany and a chance of European football etc, then the club would find it hard to stop him if he wished to go.
This isnt the 1980's or even the 90's where players had loyalty
The owners do have to balance books though, as you say we made a £58 million loss in our last years accounts, but those accounts ended on July 1st I think (Maybe 5th) so take into account a big expenditure in the summer of 2024 to June 2025 when we went up and spent about £120 million that summer.
Last summer we have spent around £47 million, but raked in around £120 million, so we should have covered our losses to a degree.
You have hit the nail on the head success for clubs like us have their price, it's a food chain and bigger clubs in that food chain come after our managers and players.
So May will see us either back in the Premier League, but if it doesn't it should not mean financial struggles, we have balanced the books already, but we might see a player or two depart.
However perhaps we should also be positive about our ability to replace them with others who are just as good given our transfer track record since Johannes Spors arrived |  |
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| And now for the really important games. on 13:28 - Apr 27 with 2480 views | DorsetIan |
| And now for the really important games. on 13:08 - Apr 27 by SaintNick |
Why not also credit the owners, people are quick to criticise them when thing go wrong, so give them credit when things go right, the appointment of Johannes Spors was crucial , he got the Will Still appointment wrong, but he was decisive quickly and appointed whom he thought was the right man, even though the fans were up in arms at the time.
To sarcastically suggest that our owners will not resist the opportunity to sell if we don't go up is also unfair.
The owners arent calling the shots, the players call the shots, if Leo Scienza is offered a lot more money to go to a top flight club either here or in Germany and a chance of European football etc, then the club would find it hard to stop him if he wished to go.
This isnt the 1980's or even the 90's where players had loyalty
The owners do have to balance books though, as you say we made a £58 million loss in our last years accounts, but those accounts ended on July 1st I think (Maybe 5th) so take into account a big expenditure in the summer of 2024 to June 2025 when we went up and spent about £120 million that summer.
Last summer we have spent around £47 million, but raked in around £120 million, so we should have covered our losses to a degree.
You have hit the nail on the head success for clubs like us have their price, it's a food chain and bigger clubs in that food chain come after our managers and players.
So May will see us either back in the Premier League, but if it doesn't it should not mean financial struggles, we have balanced the books already, but we might see a player or two depart.
However perhaps we should also be positive about our ability to replace them with others who are just as good given our transfer track record since Johannes Spors arrived |
Dragan was pretty useless until the appointment of Tonda, so the criticism of him and his company was perfectly fair. Albeit with the benefit of hindsight (and particularly witnessing Martin's time at Rangers) Dragan allowed us to completely waste our time in the Premier League by having two complete clowns in charge.
The appointment of Tonda wasn't really a risk. The decision to get rid of Still relatively early for Dragan, was a sensible and timely one and Tonda was on hand to step in as caretaker.
Noone knew he was going to do so spectacularly well in his first four games. and once he had demonstrated that he could get results keeping him was still as risk but there were plenty of us on here, happy to keep Tonda once he had demonstrated that initial success (plenty too who wanted rid mind you!).
It's difficult how Spors' recruitment would have worked out without Tonda there. He seems to have been able to get the most out of pretty much all of them.
So, credit to Dragan for sacking Still pretty quickly and for recognising that Tonda was the man early on too. Credit too to Spors for bringing in the players that has allowed Tonda to built this team/squad.
But it's got to be most of all credit to Tonda. He's clearly got something special.
You don't get to be working with the German national team aged 19 unless there is something exceptional about you. I would love to know how he got that job. Someone must have seen something very early on. | |
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| And now for the really important games. on 14:01 - Apr 27 with 2432 views | SaintNick |
| And now for the really important games. on 13:28 - Apr 27 by DorsetIan |
Dragan was pretty useless until the appointment of Tonda, so the criticism of him and his company was perfectly fair. Albeit with the benefit of hindsight (and particularly witnessing Martin's time at Rangers) Dragan allowed us to completely waste our time in the Premier League by having two complete clowns in charge.
The appointment of Tonda wasn't really a risk. The decision to get rid of Still relatively early for Dragan, was a sensible and timely one and Tonda was on hand to step in as caretaker.
Noone knew he was going to do so spectacularly well in his first four games. and once he had demonstrated that he could get results keeping him was still as risk but there were plenty of us on here, happy to keep Tonda once he had demonstrated that initial success (plenty too who wanted rid mind you!).
It's difficult how Spors' recruitment would have worked out without Tonda there. He seems to have been able to get the most out of pretty much all of them.
So, credit to Dragan for sacking Still pretty quickly and for recognising that Tonda was the man early on too. Credit too to Spors for bringing in the players that has allowed Tonda to built this team/squad.
But it's got to be most of all credit to Tonda. He's clearly got something special.
You don't get to be working with the German national team aged 19 unless there is something exceptional about you. I would love to know how he got that job. Someone must have seen something very early on. |
Was Dragan pretty useless ? thats a generalisation, as an owner he put a lot of money in.
A lot of things were out of his control, appointed Joe Sheilds who was poached within months, then appointed Jason Wilcox as DOF who steadied the ship and appointed Russell martin who got us promoted, Martin really went to pot when Wilcox was poached by Man Utd and he ran unchecked for far too long.
I am surprised that you say that appointing Eckert was not a risk, I think you are in a real minority there, a man who had never managed at first team Professional level, only been an assistant.
Dragan had no real input into either the appointment of Still or Eckert, he was paying Spors to do that.
Perhaps Spors recruitment might not have worked without Eckert, but he was the man who brought him to the club and believed in him to appoint him.
You are right the results on the pitch are down to Eckert and the way he has got the best out of his squad, but without Dragan, no Spors, without Spors no Eckert, so credit should be given to all points in the chain of command | |
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| And now for the really important games. on 14:19 - Apr 27 with 2395 views | yateleysaint |
| And now for the really important games. on 13:06 - Apr 27 by 1885_SFC |
Everton are already sniffing out Leo Sienza according to reports today & Leo has said he wants to play in the Premier League and that if we don't go up this season, he will evaluate his future in the Summer. Apparently he has a £25M release clause.
Ipswich tomorrow night is incredibly important of course. Not only is it our last (league) home game of the season, but it's important to finish 3rd or 4th and have the 2nd leg of any play-off game at St Marys - rather than having to play it away. Ipswich know that a win tomorrow night will see them promoted automatically along with Coventry. Their goal difference is vastly superior to anyone else so a win will send them up. It's up to us to make sure that doesn't happen while looking after our own affairs & destiny.
Tomorrow promises to be a real humdinger! |
Leo would be mad to stay if we didn’t get promoted.
He’s only got a few years left in his career and he’s spent a long time working his way up the leagues in different countries.
Even one season in the PL in a struggling side would mean the world to him. |  |
| You cannot reason a person out of something they were not reasoned into. |
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| And now for the really important games. on 14:28 - Apr 27 with 2385 views | Butty101 |
| And now for the really important games. on 14:01 - Apr 27 by SaintNick |
Was Dragan pretty useless ? thats a generalisation, as an owner he put a lot of money in.
A lot of things were out of his control, appointed Joe Sheilds who was poached within months, then appointed Jason Wilcox as DOF who steadied the ship and appointed Russell martin who got us promoted, Martin really went to pot when Wilcox was poached by Man Utd and he ran unchecked for far too long.
I am surprised that you say that appointing Eckert was not a risk, I think you are in a real minority there, a man who had never managed at first team Professional level, only been an assistant.
Dragan had no real input into either the appointment of Still or Eckert, he was paying Spors to do that.
Perhaps Spors recruitment might not have worked without Eckert, but he was the man who brought him to the club and believed in him to appoint him.
You are right the results on the pitch are down to Eckert and the way he has got the best out of his squad, but without Dragan, no Spors, without Spors no Eckert, so credit should be given to all points in the chain of command |
4 years of poor stewardship isnt put right by an an amazing 3.5 months. Hopefully this is the start of something special and we get back up to where they found us. For the first time it looks like they have some one that can pick a player and manager |  |
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| And now for the really important games. on 15:21 - Apr 27 with 2323 views | SaintNick |
| And now for the really important games. on 14:28 - Apr 27 by Butty101 |
4 years of poor stewardship isnt put right by an an amazing 3.5 months. Hopefully this is the start of something special and we get back up to where they found us. For the first time it looks like they have some one that can pick a player and manager |
What about 23/24 season that wasn't a year of poor stewardship, we won promotion and the players we signed that season, including Flynn Downes, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Ryan Manning, Shea Charles & Ross Stewart, have been part of the backbone of the side this season
It has been an up and down ride these last four years but it hasnt all been poor | |
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| And now for the really important games. on 15:39 - Apr 27 with 2293 views | DorsetIan |
| And now for the really important games. on 14:01 - Apr 27 by SaintNick |
Was Dragan pretty useless ? thats a generalisation, as an owner he put a lot of money in.
A lot of things were out of his control, appointed Joe Sheilds who was poached within months, then appointed Jason Wilcox as DOF who steadied the ship and appointed Russell martin who got us promoted, Martin really went to pot when Wilcox was poached by Man Utd and he ran unchecked for far too long.
I am surprised that you say that appointing Eckert was not a risk, I think you are in a real minority there, a man who had never managed at first team Professional level, only been an assistant.
Dragan had no real input into either the appointment of Still or Eckert, he was paying Spors to do that.
Perhaps Spors recruitment might not have worked without Eckert, but he was the man who brought him to the club and believed in him to appoint him.
You are right the results on the pitch are down to Eckert and the way he has got the best out of his squad, but without Dragan, no Spors, without Spors no Eckert, so credit should be given to all points in the chain of command |
What I mean by saying that he wasn't a risk was that (a) appointing the reserve team manager on an interim basis is pretty normal and the obvious choice at that stage. And (b) having suffered so many defeats and so few wins before then, giving the guy who immediately got four wins on the bounce the job, was also less of a risk. Arguably, bringing in someone else who then failed (liked so many before him) to match level or result, would have been even more of a risk. If it ain't broke don't fix it type of thing.
Still, OK, when Tonda had his wobbly patch around Christmas, the questions did start to arise, and it did then look like it might be a rash decision. But thankfully we have moved into dreamland since then.
You can always find positives in amongst the gloom, but two relegations, an absolutely appalling PL season and then the appointment of Will Still were calamitous times with Dragan at the heart of it. | |
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| And now for the really important games. on 18:39 - Apr 27 with 2138 views | kingslandstand1 |
| And now for the really important games. on 13:06 - Apr 27 by 1885_SFC |
Everton are already sniffing out Leo Sienza according to reports today & Leo has said he wants to play in the Premier League and that if we don't go up this season, he will evaluate his future in the Summer. Apparently he has a £25M release clause.
Ipswich tomorrow night is incredibly important of course. Not only is it our last (league) home game of the season, but it's important to finish 3rd or 4th and have the 2nd leg of any play-off game at St Marys - rather than having to play it away. Ipswich know that a win tomorrow night will see them promoted automatically along with Coventry. Their goal difference is vastly superior to anyone else so a win will send them up. It's up to us to make sure that doesn't happen while looking after our own affairs & destiny.
Tomorrow promises to be a real humdinger! |
Leeds were also mentioned and that was before the weekends game |  |
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| And now for the really important games. on 09:45 - Apr 28 with 1880 views | Butty101 |
| And now for the really important games. on 15:21 - Apr 27 by SaintNick |
What about 23/24 season that wasn't a year of poor stewardship, we won promotion and the players we signed that season, including Flynn Downes, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Ryan Manning, Shea Charles & Ross Stewart, have been part of the backbone of the side this season
It has been an up and down ride these last four years but it hasnt all been poor |
23/24 wasnt an outstanding season (with the exception of the play offs). The squad should of gone straight up, the manger and his football was generally disliked. Again signing players for 3 seasons later for them to come good isnt a great strategy.
I forgot the 2nd half of 21/22 was all so under the current owners watch, you know the one where we completely collapsed and only a jammy win against Arsenal kept us up.
Dont get me wrong, this 2nd half of the season has brought so much joy, somthing ive not felt since the Koeman days to be honest. Maybe its all part of their master plan to make the good times feel better. | |
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| And now for the really important games. on 14:24 - Apr 28 with 1691 views | SonicBoom |
I have to say that the last few months have been great. I say that as someone who had severe reservations about TE. But in my defence my biggest gripe over the last 5 years has been our managerial appointments, it was one mistake after another so I had little faith.
Martin did get us up but I can't say I enjoyed the football at all. I understand there are those that point to results but I work all week so I do actually like to be entertained to at least some degree.
I've always been a fan of Dragan. He's pretty quiet but has always spent his money on the club. The problems were with those blow him making the actual decisions.
We seem to be on a good course right now and long may it continue.
I really hope we go up, but one thing just irks me and I can't shake it. I just wish we had given Pompey at least one good beating this year. Going up would be good but that does feel like unfinished business. Something else to blame Still for. |  | | |
| And now for the really important games. on 11:31 - Apr 30 with 1387 views | dirk_doone |
According to AI, the last time a team finishing 5th won the Championship play offs was Aston Villa in 2017. The good news is that at least we're not 6th because the last time a 6th placed team won was West Ham 21 years ago.
4 of the last 6 play-offs, including the last one, have been won by the 4th placed team!
So, based on stats, the difference between finishing 4th and 5th matters. That midweek night game is won by the home team a lot more than the early Saturday kick-off one that precedes it.
The Preston game really is important. [Post edited 30 Apr 11:47]
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