Ralph - Stick or Twist..?

I think either side of this Ralph debate, we can all agree that Gao is a ****

 

Would we be better off following the Norwich yoyo model? Do you earn more if you parachute and return?

I am too lazy to check.

 

This is spot on.

Anyone calling for Ralph to go is insane IMO. The guy is brilliant, our players just look fatigued and it’s not surprising playing high press football with such a small squad. There is absolutely no chance we could get anyone better with our budget.

Keep Ralph, spend some money and we are Gucci.

 

The counter argument is Leeds who play equally higher press if not more so and have (to my knowledge) a similar sized squad with arguably worse players

 

That is true. But they also have the first season back syndrome at the moment to help them. Every game is huge still is the only counter I have for that.

tbh I just don’t trust Gao to bring in anyone better than Ralph

 

What has Ralph Done? I assume you don't mean he won the "we beat Liverpool cup" or the "I've only lost 9-0 twice cup" or the "My Playbook is so good that even the U23 team are now just as **** as the 1st team cup" or the "We were top for 1 day at the beginning of the season cup"
Apart from those triumphs what has Ralph done?

 

Managed to get a team and squad that have been **** and fighting relegation battles for years to be the 5th best team in the league over an entire calender year. You mean apart from that?

 

I still believe if you had any so called world class manager in charge of Saints with the squad we have and our injuries etc etc they would not have fared any better than Ralph

 

7th best during a season which was blighted by lockdowns etc. We only achieved that because other teams struggled with the stop-start nature of the season. Hardly a success. So by your thinking that makes him a success & means all his number of bad points are forgotten/forgiven. Some people truly are in denial.

 

Those are your words not mine. Where did I say that negates the poor parts of Ralphs reign? A years worth of good football and good results certainly show that Ralph has the potential that other recent Saints managers have not. The fact is you asked what has Ralph done. I gave you an answer...and you have done your best to think of any excuse for why it's not an achievement. But then if you're going to come up with excuses for why our good form over an entire year was just lucky (which is a pretty weird mindset to have anyway), well then you should accept Ralph supporters providing all the excuses for why we have been poor for the past 3 months. Injuries, Covid, intense fixture schedule, bad luck with VAR decisions etc etc.

If anyone is in denial it's you. The vast majority of Ralph supporters have criticised him and continue to do so. But we can also see the bigger picture and take his whole managerial reign with us into consideration. Nobody thinks he's perfect. Nobody thinks our recent performances or results have been good enough. But most people can see that Ralph has shown enough over his whole time managing us that he will get us out of this rut and back to batting above what our level really is with the players we have.

 

This.

Once again, RSS has answered this already.

But can I ask why you're so desperate, each time, to say "SEVENTH"? Do you care more about being right, or finding any more negative metric you can find, just to be 'more' right? If so, that's a really, really, really weird mindset for a person who is meant to be a fan of the club.

As has been said, we were fifth over the course of a whole calendar year, yet we're meant to wholly discount that because of Covid (and more importantly, because it makes you wrong), but we've been terrible over a period of time 66% shorter, but that's the period that really counts, despite being under Covid conditions etc. Because that's the 66% shorter period that makes you sound right.

As I say. Weird.

 

You say The vast majority of Ralph supporters criticise him yet they seem to find excuses why he isn't doing well, Wrong players, bad pitches, covid etc
The Pro Ralph brigade seem to be either incapable of seeing he has more flaws that bonuses or they're just happy to ignore them. Whether we finished 5th 6th 7th or whatever over the course of last season is irrelevant, or even the fact that we may not have the players good enough to play his system or any other excuses the pro Ralph Brigade come up with. The facts of the matter are that he is either incapable of seeing what our failings are & how to change them or he is just not good enough to do anything about them.
Any manager worth his salt would look at a group of players & see that they are not good enough to play the way the manager wants them to play & then that manager would work out a system which suits the players at their disposal in order to get results. Again Ralph seems incapable of doing this & just keeps on playing the same system time after time & not getting the results, love him or not you have to agree that this is not right & any other manager in any other team would be heading out the door.

We have 10 points from a possible 42 yet still the pro Ralph Brigade come up with excuses as to why it is not his fault.

Yes you say look at the bigger picture & usually I'm the same but imagine this scenario if you will.
Saints get a new owner in the summer who then gives RH a huge transfer kitty & he buys the players he thinks will suit his system. Saints then get off to a good start for the first few games before being dragged in to the relegation places at Christmas, the board finally have enough of RH & bring in a new manager who then has to deal with the players Ralph bought & who don't fit his/her way of playing. We are then in the same cycle of wrong players for wrong system roundabout.

Instead why not thank RH for his service & move him on so as to get a new man in who can then build their own team using said new investment etc during the summer?

 

Because the pro Ralph brigade don’t think that would be the scenario if he was allowed to bring his own players in and think that based on 2020 he deserves the chance?

 

I am in no way desperate to be proven right, I would like nothing more than for us to be a success under Ralph as I actually like him but, I'm also a realist who can see that he is struggling & is probably out of his depth.
You suggest I am " meant to be a fan" I have been a fan of this club for 45 years have gone through more lows than highs over that period & have loved the club throughout, so please don't come the holier than thou attitude with me just because I happen to have a different opinion to you.

 

Well let us hope you are proved right. The jury is still out for a number of people.

 

A) Because Ralph is a good manager
B) There is no one out there who could do a better job with this squad.

Who would you suggest to replace him who would do a better job? It wouldn't matter anyway because after a few bad results you would probably be calling for his head anyway

 

I am not pro Ralph as I have said before, I'm very much on the fence. But I can see that he has had his hands tied in his time here so it is hard to see what the "real" Ralph is. Whether that be getting the team to play very well for 2020 or what we have seen since the turn of the year. In your scenario where we actually have money in the summer to spend there is no guarantee that a new manager would bring in good players as well so I'm happy for Ralph to be given the chance given the rapport he has built up with the fan base. If it all goes tits up and we are still seeing the same types of games/performances then I think the majority would turn and he would be gone. Of course I'm sure some would blame the recruitment rather than Ralph still but that's all part and parcel of supporting a football team

 

Who would you suggest to replace him who would do a better job?
As i said there would be a number of suitable candidates out there, That is what the fabled BlackBox is there for. It wouldn't matter anyway because after a few bad results you would probably be calling for his head anyway This is actually only the fourth time in 45 years that I have called for a Saints manager to be sacked, Branfoot, Gorman & Pellegrino

 

The Black Box hasn’t really existed since Paul Mitchell left. There was a list of managers which Les Reed used to such wonderful effect, but that was discarded and wasn’t used to recruit Ralph. Anyway, answer the question, who would you recruit?

 

Stick with Ralph. We are not going to get anyone better in our current situation. Although, arguing with myself here, that should not be the justification for keeping him.

Honestly, l like the style he wants to play, but l do have concerns when we get outsmarted on the pitch and he never seems to have a Plan B or C.

So reverting to my first comment, we are not going to get anyone better. Our real problem will be if someone poached him from us. Then we are really, as the proverb; in a ****-creek and paddle scenario.