C'mon Ralph and Les admit it, you ****ed up...

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I Sorry I Ruined The Party said:
I don't think anyone at Saints screwed up. It's just very hard to operate a 1/3 the wage budget of some other teams. And the number of players and managers we have lost to other clubs. It's especially hard when you try to punch well above your level. Those years we were chasing Europe competition, we could have settled for 10th and brought some young players into the team. That might have made losing the star players less.

I think most likely we were clever and forward thinking as far as scouting and academy and maybe some other things. But then the other teams figured it out, and once they applied their much greater resources to the same strategies we were using, then our advantage was lost.

In the end, it's all about spending. So if you want to blame someone, blame KL. Although that seems unfair as well as without her and her father the club might not even exist today.
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The specific screw up i'm referring to is getting rid of an experienced and competent if somewhat steady and safe manager and replacing him with a novice whose only experience was one season at a small club in Spain. It was and has proved to be a gamble that has backfired and one the was wholly unnecessary to take.
 
Saints_Alive said:
The specific screw up i'm referring to is getting rid of an experienced and competent if somewhat steady and safe manager and replacing him with a novice whose only experience was one season at a small club in Spain. It was and has proved to be a gamble that has backfired and one the was wholly unnecessary to take.
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Steady and safe? Perhaps, but it was dull as ditchwater to watch. The results have not gone our way, but objectively, we are showing more enterprise. Last season was more about a lack of chances than the poor finishing of now.
 
Channonfodder said:
Steady and safe? Perhaps, but it was dull as ditchwater to watch. The results have not gone our way, but objectively, we are showing more enterprise. Last season was more about a lack of chances than the poor finishing of now.
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Not the first half the season Channon. The no chance games came in that last third of a season (from memory)
 
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Saint Sosa said:
When the players do good things on the pitch they are applauded and cheered, but after 12 months of the same mistakes being made - patience has rightly run out. Are fans supposed to cheer when we sit back with a 1-0 lead and end up drawing or losing? The only people who are going to change the negativity in the stadium is the players through improved performances, having a manager who is able to read a match and make necessary adjustments, and a board that know what they are doing.

The Palace fans were pretty quiet when we were in the lead. They only started to find their voice in the second half when it became clear only one team was going to score the next goal.

I know that booing and having a negative atmosphere isn't going to help, but ultimately it's only ever going to reflect what happens on the pitch. The atmosphere was quiet under Puel because again, there wasn't much in the way of entertainment or success.
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They weren't.
 
Channonfodder said:
Steady and safe? Perhaps, but it was dull as ditchwater to watch. The results have not gone our way, but objectively, we are showing more enterprise. Last season was more about a lack of chances than the poor finishing of now.
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More enterprise? Not from what I’ve been watching. We’ve regressed from dull and a bit iffy, to dull and hopelessly bad (but with better players).
 
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Last season's team seemed content while passing the ball around pointlessly in midfield.

This season's team seems petrified while passing the ball around pointlessly in midfield.
 
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fatletiss said:
Not the first half the season Channon. The no chance games came in that last third of a season (from memory)
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Yes, I think that is right. 2017 was not good all round. I didn't particularly want Puel sacked but I wasn't that bothered either- and I don't support any revisionism regarding how much better the football was under him- the last half of the season was dreary.
 
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Channonfodder said:
Yes, I think that is right. 2017 was not good all round. I didn't particularly want Puel sacked but I wasn't that bothered either- and I don't support any revisionism regarding how much better the football was under him- the last half of the season was dreary.
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The results were a bit better, that's my main point.

We're in trouble now that was never threatened last season.
 
No manager of a club of our size should be sacked after finishing in the top eight and reaching a major cup final, especially with the problems he had with a crowded fixture list and long term injuries, it was a ludicrous decision IMO.

And after sacking him they should've ensured that they employed a better manager and not gamble on a novice with one season's experience at a minnow club in Spain.
 
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Just looked it up- 12 points clear of Hull, but only six points above Watford who finished in 17th. Fortunately there were 3 teams that bit worse than a very tight group of so-so teams. Hopefully that is true this season, and that we aren't one of them!
 
fatletiss said:
Not the first half the season Channon. The no chance games came in that last third of a season (from memory)
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I also fail to see the plethora of chances being created for the majority of this season.
 
Saints_Alive said:
No manager of a club of our size should be sacked after finishing in the top eight and reaching a major cup final, especially with the problems he had with a crowded fixture list and long term injuries, it was a ludicrous decision IMO.

And after sacking him they should've ensured that they employed a better manager and not gamble on a novice with one season's experience at a minnow club in Spain.
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Am I allowed to like this 3 zillion times? Superbly put.
 
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It'd be interesting if someone looked into the following:

A - Why have I been told that there are certain academy players being pressured into signing with a certain agency?
B - Why does this agency employ Les Reed's son?
C - Why are this agency's clients allegedly being paid disproportionately to their academy colleagues?
D - Why did Les' son only start as an agent when his old man got into a position of more power at Saints?

Plenty of interesting digging to be done there for someone with the time and wherewithal to do it...

I've been sitting on it a while with the intention of doing it myself, but if anyone else fancies it - crack on.
 
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I've been banging on about that since you/Beefy first mentioned it. A and B were known to me; C and D weren't. The first two alone are more than enough reason to sack someone, frankly, but adding C and D makes it astonishing that Les is still employed. Who the hell is in charge here? If he isn't merely pressing kids to join his son's agency, but using the club's payroll as leverage, he has to go. That's one hell of an abuse of power.
 
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