| Spors 11:58 - Nov 2 with 1460 views | DorsetIan | Seems to be getting off lightly, all the heat being on the manager and owners. What a disastrous director of football appointment he has been. He’s made us worse and that is some achievement. |  |
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| Spors on 12:18 - Nov 2 with 1387 views | Ifonly | Yeah I agree with that. One or two of the players look decent, but he's responsible for putting the package together and he's failed. In his defence, that's probably partly because SR's business model and so the brief that Spors was given is just unworkable. |  | |  |
| Spors on 12:22 - Nov 2 with 1368 views | DorsetIan |
| Spors on 12:18 - Nov 2 by Ifonly | Yeah I agree with that. One or two of the players look decent, but he's responsible for putting the package together and he's failed. In his defence, that's probably partly because SR's business model and so the brief that Spors was given is just unworkable. |
You don't know what his brief was, so I'm not sure why you're looking for excuses for him. At least part of his brief must have been to assemble a winning Southampton team and, so far, he's crashed and burned on that. After last season it was quite an ask to make us worse but he's done that. |  |
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| Spors on 12:30 - Nov 2 with 1351 views | Ifonly |
| Spors on 12:22 - Nov 2 by DorsetIan | You don't know what his brief was, so I'm not sure why you're looking for excuses for him. At least part of his brief must have been to assemble a winning Southampton team and, so far, he's crashed and burned on that. After last season it was quite an ask to make us worse but he's done that. |
Anyone who knows anything about SFC under SR knows that the brief for the DOF will focus on bringing in young players who can be developed and sold for profit. |  | |  |
| Spors on 12:42 - Nov 2 with 1302 views | Centurion |
| Spors on 12:30 - Nov 2 by Ifonly | Anyone who knows anything about SFC under SR knows that the brief for the DOF will focus on bringing in young players who can be developed and sold for profit. |
The crux of it. |  | |  |
| Spors on 12:57 - Nov 2 with 1253 views | saintmark1976 |
| Spors on 12:30 - Nov 2 by Ifonly | Anyone who knows anything about SFC under SR knows that the brief for the DOF will focus on bringing in young players who can be developed and sold for profit. |
Spot on. They simply want to own and run a player trading company with a fun fair attached in my opinion. The Saints football team that we all knew and loved now appears to me to be merely a necessary evil for them, and is but a vehicle used to enable them to run their primary interest. |  |
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| Spors on 13:09 - Nov 2 with 1220 views | Ifonly |
| Spors on 12:57 - Nov 2 by saintmark1976 | Spot on. They simply want to own and run a player trading company with a fun fair attached in my opinion. The Saints football team that we all knew and loved now appears to me to be merely a necessary evil for them, and is but a vehicle used to enable them to run their primary interest. |
I think player trading can be a successful model (just ask B'mouth) but not the way we do it. B'mouth and others buy players who are already good at the level and turn them into very good. We buy too many players who aren't quite ready, or are far from ready. They have more scope for improvement and so profit, but can't deliver from day one. |  | |  |
| Spors on 14:48 - Nov 2 with 1119 views | DorsetIan | I'm not sure how players are meant to improve playing in a side like ours. It's more likely to traumatise them. Either way Spors is a dud. |  |
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| Spors on 15:29 - Nov 2 with 1065 views | wibbersda |
| Spors on 13:09 - Nov 2 by Ifonly | I think player trading can be a successful model (just ask B'mouth) but not the way we do it. B'mouth and others buy players who are already good at the level and turn them into very good. We buy too many players who aren't quite ready, or are far from ready. They have more scope for improvement and so profit, but can't deliver from day one. |
And thts it in a nutshell. So where do we go from here? |  | |  | Login to get fewer ads
| Spors on 15:59 - Nov 2 with 1014 views | cocklebreath | If the players come to the club knowing full well they are here to make money and nothing else they can’t possibly have a connection with the club. No wonder the losers stroll around, they couldn’t give a shit, every club needs the players to be proud to play for the shirt, how many Saints players do you reckon are? Smallbone was but he was binned off . |  |
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| Spors on 16:07 - Nov 2 with 991 views | PatfromPoole | One can only wonder why the hell Juventus would allegedly be interested in him. |  |
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| Spors on 16:10 - Nov 2 with 981 views | PatfromPoole |
| Spors on 12:30 - Nov 2 by Ifonly | Anyone who knows anything about SFC under SR knows that the brief for the DOF will focus on bringing in young players who can be developed and sold for profit. |
Scienza is 27. Roerslev is 26. Azaz is 25. It's not all youngsters that we have spunked a fortune on. |  |
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| Spors on 17:21 - Nov 2 with 869 views | Ifonly |
| Spors on 16:10 - Nov 2 by PatfromPoole | Scienza is 27. Roerslev is 26. Azaz is 25. It's not all youngsters that we have spunked a fortune on. |
Not all youngsters but that's been the focus since they started. I'd say that the older signings have been more successful on average. I know how mad keen everyone is on stats, so here's one: our average age (weighted by minutes played) has been 3rd youngest of the 24 teams in the championship. I think it shows. Also, "young" is relative. The spine of the team needs more experience than the rest. A spine made up of 22 year olds or so like Baz, Edwards, Wood, THB, Charles, Jander, Archer and Damion Downs just doesn't cut it in terms of experience. |  | |  |
| Spors on 17:25 - Nov 2 with 858 views | mushinexile | While I agree about experience, the biggest problem is that most of our lot have no discernible talent for the game but as long as the price of footballers outstrips inflation, SR are making money and that is what they are here to do |  |
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