Dan

It's embarrassing. Nobody worth their salt would stick around on these grounds. They must have a right laugh at the state of our support.

Just keep prodding at them for the absolute embarrassment that it currently is. Actually force their hand to make changes to the layout etc... supplement the atmosphere rather than suppress it. What you're seeing play out here is years of atmosphere suppression mixed with being in a league we're clearly better than (hence it being boring). It's the perfect storm for the flattest imaginable atmosphere. The disconnect is still there at this club for a large part, although the difference this year is that the fans are at fault more than the team.

Honestly if Maresca forced the club to take drastic action to sort this shambles of a ground out he'd have pretty much unconditional support from me.

It really is broken beyond belief. You get shoots of good like the Birmingham game but the general level is absolutely appalling. I really do fear it's beyond repair. The only hope you can have is that some of the loudest grounds we've been to this season were Coventry and Middlesbrough and they used to be extremely dead as well. Though I don't think there's that same desire - we aren't a bad enough team.

Very routine. We could've scored more, they were terrible at the back.

Quite like the fact he's identified the lack of physicality - I did fear that he was overlooking this with the Sensi buy. That's good to hear.

Said at the time I didn't rate the Coady signing and we massively overpaid. Nelson is better than I thought however. Actually see a future for him here.

Yep. Think the whole "good test" rhetoric has died a bit here. Worst round we could've got the supposed test in. We have more to play for in a lower league than they do. Bournemouth are one of the worst sides we could've run into. I think the likelihood is they beat a similar side to Saturday quite resoundingly, sadly.

That isn't how I'd have profiled him at all are we talking about the same player here? The ex Benfica kid? For me he was like a poor mans Mahrez.

That is, quite literally exactly what happened to me. You forgive it when you make the first sale somewhat because you are probably in the red. But when you have the money and they wipe it clear there's no point even playing. You'll have to let me know what pans out. I've had instances in the past where I've not been given money immediately and then a couple of months later, usually during the window being closed annoyingly they decide to throw me a few extra million. But I was being expected to work consistent miracles rather than gradually built so I just couldn't be bothered. I'd spun this wheel a while ago and I fancied managing IK Brage for some reason, think I've got something wrong with me.

The first trip was the only one that wasn't disastrous to be honest

Actually think we'll take that simply because so many won't have been before.

Yeah this is how I feel on him, in a way it would help him here for us to not go up. Lets offer him on loan to Leeds in the summer.

That is horrid.

Enjoy that while it's still here.

Might well have been the case at the time. Things move quickly (Unless you're us) People calling bullshit on this story is just pure copium. There is clearly something in it.

Think that's exactly how I feel. My real underlying anger is that I've no faith in the people at the club to pull this off. Look how long it's taken just to sort Sensi (and it isn't even yet finished!!!). We'd probably buy Sensi and loan some Liverpool winger.

Never forget.

The thing that really worries me about this is the fact it's Brighton specifically. Forget all the horse shit about this being wrong - Ornstein is the best in the business. Better than Romano who this forum seems to hinge on. Brighton's entire modus operandi is about well calculated decisions. They aren't some impulsive clowns like Forest or Everton who just bid for everyone. Brighton will have done this knowing that we're in a weak position - well I didn't realise it was quite this weak. I could entertain it if I could rely on us to have a proper contingency plan in place - but give me strength. We still haven't even got Sensi in.

I think what's the even bigger worry than him going is that this just points to us being in far bigger shit than we actually thought financially. Just remember those who put us here are under minimal scrutiny. It stinks.

I don't rate him but the last couple of environments were abysmal for him. The shitshow of Leicester last season and then thrown from that into one of the worst PL sides in years. This is a sink or swim.

As I said also, even when I made the first sale of note (Pedro Santos), I got a deal of £2.6mil up front and then £1mil a year for the next three years, plus a couple of sell ons, so I wasn't expecting loads of that but I saw virtually none of it. I did think OK, the Santos deal wipes out the debt. I'm losing £1mil a year so the Santos sale is basically propping us up. When I can then throw in £17.75mil up front for Ellertson, that's it, surely of that I'll get something but literally zero. Just a bank balance of that kind of value sat there doing nothing while I miss out on other bargains. I bought Romero thinking I could sell him in a year or two for another 20-25mil but by then we'd have a better side anyway. Just gradual progress. Basically taking Braga's place as the challenger. But nothing.

Portugal is arguably the hardest league you can manage in I think because the unfair distribution is like nothing else. It makes La Liga look competitive. I've never managed in it but I think the only other country that could compare to it would be Scotland, but like I say, never done it so I'm a bit unaware, but I can imagine that being similar. It's actually quite easy IMO in Portugal to get from the lower leagues to the top, but the gap between an average top tier team, say Moreirense, and Benfica, is greater than Moreirense and a fourth tier side and that's no exaggeration either. What's so annoying with mine is we were in no debt. We were when we were in the 3rd/4th tier but Setubal were a club that should've never been in those leagues, so despite that we had pretty comfortable resources and were able to get out of there. Once I'd made my big sale in Ellertson we had a bank balance of literally £15mil in the black. I don't get how I can get zero of that. I've always taken the attitude with smaller clubs that you have to just accumulate decent sales to ever be able to spend anything, a bit of a domino effect to eventually get to a point where you can buy quite freely. We'd done the hard bit with our sales and I'd gotten it so we were financially very sound. I'm genuinely patient with these things but I can't be arsed with that. What's the point when I'm being set up to fail. I'd bought that other midfielder to replace him who was a potentially elite player, but what is the point if I'm just going to sell him for big money in a year and get none of that, so I'll see minimal benefit from actually signing him. I binned it because if then wasn't the time to give me some money, I don't know when was. I'm not even asking for massive money either, just £5mil of it and I'd have put together a good team rather than an OK one that functioned to its maximum. I mean bloody hell we nearly came 3rd! I enjoy the grind of the game but I need it to pay off eventually and with that it was just clearly never going to pay off. I hope you don't have the same nonsense at Maritimo because eventually you can pounce on the big teams bad years. It may not be a game glitch. Said on the last page I've gone to Sweden, at a club that are actually in debt and they've given me 100% of a transfer fee received! Makes me wonder if Setubal was a rare case where it was rigged into the game for them to be stupidly cautious because their financial issues in 2019 are what brought them the treble relegation in the first place, but I'm probably giving them far too much credit. What's your projection looking like at Maritimo? Even if you sold that wing back for £3mil you might actually get a bit of it, but I can't promise

If I'm being pedantic there we have the lowest points per game against the top 7 despite being the best of them. But it's all quite tight, and Southampton's is especially helped by the fact they've not played any of the top 5 away.

If we start dropping points in games like Swansea at home then I'll concede that top two is under threat. With the way we've gone this season I think we could win our next 5. I'd take a draw at Leeds.