Relegated

[Fox92]

Just now, Old Fox said:

Don’t be an idiot ….we won the league, FA Cup ……..in 139 years of existence the last 10 years has been the best in the clubs history…..mistakes this season - players, managers, owners all of them accountable but KP have credit and I would not swap the last 10 years for anything even if we are relegated

I wouldn’t swap it either, never said that.

[Guest Mickyblueeyes]

1 hour ago, dylanlegend said:

We have always been a yo-yo club. What exactly do you think changed this time?
 

One man deserves more credit than anyone for our rise. We all know who that is.

No, this is wrong. When I was watching us get trampled in the PL we had three players who should’ve been there. Joachim, Roberts and Draper. 
 

When I watched us truly punch above our weight under O’Neil - that was genuine. 
 

When I watched us collapse under Taylor - I couldn’t accept it but understood it was going to happen. 

Micky’s mixture of journeymen should never have been there.

 

This team. Sold players for £50, £60, £70, £80m and will sell another (if not two) for £50m. Where has the money gone ? On a state of the art training facility we now can’t afford. And we don’t have a pot to piss in. We finished 8th last year. This ain’t a yo-yo club. I’ve seen yo-yo clubs. This is a monumental **** up and has nothing to do with heritage. 

[Kasey Keller]

Over and Out

[jim5000]

My nephew got a half season ticket for Christmas the season we were promoted. They renewed it every year since. He's only ever seen our Premier League story over the last 8 years, and never seen the failures that are part of our history.

 

I kept telling him, we are only ever one bad managerial appointment away from relegation.

 

Thing is, I had stopped believing it, and certainly neither of us though that that appointment was Brendan Rodgers. Sure, he's doing terribly, but we're not actually going to get relegated are we......

 

It really is staggering how they have thrown away the progress they made and legacy that Vichai built. The club look completely directionless, going into a relegated close season with no first team manager and a significant number of the first 11 and squad players leaving and no budget to replace them with, or transfer strategy to recruit them under. It does feel like there is more chance of a further drop into League One rather than an immediate return to the Premier League.

 

We'll probably get docked for some kind of financial reason and start on -20

 

QPR away

 

 

Edited 15 May 2023 by jim5000

[dylanlegend]

7 minutes ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

No, this is wrong. When I was watching us get trampled in the PL we had three players who should’ve been there. Joachim, Roberts and Draper. 
 

When I watched us truly punch above our weight under O’Neil - that was genuine. 
 

When I watched us collapse under Taylor - I couldn’t accept it but understood it was going to happen. 

Micky’s mixture of journeymen should never have been there.

 

This team. Sold players for £50, £60, £70, £80m and will sell another (if not two) for £50m. Where has the money gone ? On a state of the art training facility we now can’t afford. And we don’t have a pot to piss in. We finished 8th last year. This ain’t a yo-yo club. I’ve seen yo-yo clubs. This is a monumental **** up and has nothing to do with heritage. 

It’s not 1994 anymore. Even promoted clubs spend 100million+ in this league. Poor recruitment in the main reason absolutely. But it’s the same for many other clubs Southampton had Van Dijk, Mane, Bale etc. Unless we are happy to spend 200k a week on wages for multiple players (like the top 7) then relegation is a possibility. It’s just a fact, football goes in cycles, not everyone can win.

[Guest Mickyblueeyes]

59 minutes ago, dylanlegend said:

It’s not 1994 anymore. Even promoted clubs spend 100million+ in this league. Poor recruitment in the main reason absolutely. But it’s the same for many other clubs Southampton had Van Dijk, Mane, Bale etc. Unless we are happy to spend 200k a week on wages for multiple players (like the top 7) then relegation is a possibility. It’s just a fact, football goes in cycles, not everyone can win.

Big issue here. When exactly did we sell the same number of players Southampton did ? Are we not losing two on frees and two or three others to much bigger clubs this summer ? When did Southampton make 1 summer signing. You’re right, it’s not 1994 so saying we are just a yo-yo club and our time has come is ridiculous 

[dylanlegend]

4 minutes ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

Big issue here. When exactly did we sell the same number of players Southampton did ? Are we not losing two on frees and two or three others to much bigger clubs this summer ? When did Southampton make 1 summer signing. You’re right, it’s not 1994 so saying we are just a yo-yo club and our time has come is ridiculous 

The only reason we have achieved the success of the last 10 years is because of King Power and their investments. 

[Guest Mickyblueeyes]

12 minutes ago, dylanlegend said:

The only reason we have achieved the success of the last 10 years is because of King Power and their investments. 

Mahrez at £400k. Sacking Pearson. Hiring Sven. Ranieri getting it right. Kante £6.5m (Top probably telling us he scouted him).

 

KP group under Vichai is NOT the same group as the one apparently run by Top. Top is the guy who wanted Pearson sacked and Sven hired. He had to be reigned in by his father. Why cant people understand this. We currently have someone with no real life experience effectively destroying what we were BEFORE they came in. Because in a years time, that is what will be happening. 

[hejammy]

I'm afraid the.... 

 

 

 

[Sir Shep]

Please spare a thought for the players though. They'll see their wages drop by up to 50%. That is until we pay them a loyalty bonus to sign for another club who will also pay them a signing bonus. Poor flowers.

[Sir Shep]

On a serious note, working people at the club will no doubt lose their jobs as the inevitable cuts happen. 

[whoareyaaa]

Still a chance albeit a slim one

[oz was my hero]

36 minutes ago, Sir Shep said:

Please spare a thought for the players though. They'll see their wages drop by up to 50%. That is until we pay them a loyalty bonus to sign for another club who will also pay them a signing bonus. Poor flowers.

This is why I really hate this team. Watching players who earn in a week 3 or 4 times more than I earn in 3 years who really don't give a shit , going through the motions and hiding. Not once this season have I seen any player show any pride, not one has got frustrated and lost their rag. Liverpool  as many other sides this season took the piss and they will not have had an easier game all season. Not one crunching tackle went in, never did we get in their faces. These players have no fight, no pride and have been taking the piss out of us supporting  that spend a good chunk of their income supporting  these arrogant twats.

[Old Fox]

3 hours ago, Sir Shep said:

On a serious note, working people at the club will no doubt lose their jobs as the inevitable cuts happen. 

The whole club is a shambles - sadly people that do care will lose their jobs but be it ticketing, food kiosks, travel arrangements they have lost site of who counts - us fans !

 

In 50 years of following this is as disconnected the club as I have felt and I am not sure the owner knows this - Whelan and her leadership team have forgotten why we exist!

 

big big job ahead and I will not be surprised if we are at the wrong end of the championship than less the board make strong positive decisions on lots of fronts over the next 6 weeks - I believe the next 6-8 weeks could define the next 3 years !

[Old Fox]

2 hours ago, oz was my hero said:

This is why I really hate this team. Watching players who earn in a week 3 or 4 times more than I earn in 3 years who really don't give a shit , going through the motions and hiding. Not once this season have I seen any player show any pride, not one has got frustrated and lost their rag. Liverpool  as many other sides this season took the piss and they will not have had an easier game all season. Not one crunching tackle went in, never did we get in their faces. These players have no fight, no pride and have been taking the piss out of us supporting  that spend a good chunk of their income supporting  these arrogant twats.

That’s modern football sadly - how you manage this is by a clear culture and stance on playing contract terms - anyone who gets down to 2 years and won’t sign should be shipped out!! 

[FOXSE]

Here is my take on why it's gone wrong.

 

The defence:

 

We lost fofana and didn't adequately replace him, Evans hardly played, soyuncu hardly played. Effectively played with 4th and 5th choice Centre backs all season. Ricardo missed most of season. Justin missed most of season. So back up full backs.  Not had a first choice keeper Effectively.

 

Soyuncu not playing was self inflicted. Not replacing Schmeichel was self inflicted.

 

Fitness:

 

In particular, since the world Cup, the squad just haven't been fit enough. This is why we can't press the space.

 

MADDISION:

 

Awesome pre-world cup, trying to get in to the world Cup squad.

 

Having spent a month in the England squad, doesn't seem to care now. 

 

Ransom player omissions:

 

In addition to soyuncu, iheancho and Mendy have been notable unenforceable absentees

 

January transfer window:

 

Any big club who is in trouble buys there way out of trouble. We need experienced quality players who were proven. Permanent or loan.

 

Kristiansen 19, souttar, championship, tete, 22 and unproven. We need three nailed on starters. And probably a goalkeeper too.... 

 

There are lots of other things, but these are the main failings for me. And so avoidable.

[The boy Linacre]

In the end its like Sliding Doors, mathematically we'll actually be pretty close to staying up, a few different directions we would still be in the FPL Club, but would love to see Rob Tanner's book for this season.

1) The Board told Rogers he had no money to spend in July/Aug, that was the WHOLE news for 6 weeks, and Rogers and the players let it get to them

2) Brentford at home gameday 1, Rogers played the childish dick by making 1 sub to prove he had no players, Frank played 5, 2pts lost

3) Southampton H, threw away the lead coz of 1) & 2) 1-3pts lost

4) Recovered 5 good wins and 1 draw in next 8 games

5) S##thoused out of a point by Fulham at home, after we decided to stay in Dubai in Nov/Dec 1pt lost

6) Southampton away, should have got a point Kel, Rogers should have been sacked afterwards 1pt lost

7) Brentford draw, needed to lost so he was sacked BEFORE the international window

8) Palace, this is where the last 2 months really started, hold them out for another 30 secs and tackle even though we were horrendous, 1pt lost

9) KDH think!!! 1pt lost, even a Villa STH said we were the better side

10) Driver picked the worst team ever for both Villa and Bournemouth, NOT A CLUE, Maddison back pass 1pt lost maybe 3

11) Everton 2-1 up, with a chance to shoot with only the keeper to beat from 12 yards to get to 3, a number they didn't reach, 2pts lost and 1pt gained for them and 7pts and confidence out of 9

12) Fulham & Liverpool, players have left the club

 

9pts gents that would have had us lower mid table, contributed to by the Board, Managers (BR, Driver & now "same side Dean") and checked out/lazy players.

Bet Top wishes he had spent £40-50m in the summer, coz its going to cost him 2-3 times that now and 2-4 years of total unsettlement in the club, we now have to start again because that wallet was closed.  A bad decision, backed up by a childish/arrogant/conservative manager, and eventually lazy disenfranchised players.

There may be others

 

 

[st albans fox]

3 hours ago, Sir Shep said:

On a serious note, working people at the club will no doubt lose their jobs as the inevitable cuts happen. 

I noticed a distinct change of pre game attitude in staff yesterday 

I think they’ve been following instructions to be positive up until now but yesterday they all looked like they’d received a redundancy notice ….

[TJQuik]

Does anyone here like fig rolls? I'm about to go to the corner shop so I can bring some back if you want.

[The boy Linacre]

51 minutes ago, Old Fox said:

That’s modern football sadly - how you manage this is by a clear culture and stance on playing contract terms - anyone who gets down to 2 years and won’t sign should be shipped out!! 

IF and its a big one, we come back, learn from the mistakes, play hardball on what we play and contracts, we won't have gone down if we hadn't have signed Vesty and Bertrand for £65k per week, just say no next time, don't bring and untried FPL midfielder in on £85k pw (Soumare).

Bring them in cheaper AND IF they prove they have it or make a difference THEN increase the contract.

Agree with the above and absolutely sell 1 player per end of season, we have proved we can't afford not to.  Run with King Power, or Top if you've had enough, sell it on to somebody with more money and we go again, the Arabs look like they might not get Manure!!!

[The Year Of The Fox]

Let’s say we get promoted at the first time of asking (which we won’t) 

 

Or even let’s say it takes us 5 seasons to get back up to the PL.

 

Then what? 
 

We set about aiming to become a mid table team (arguably again)

 

For what purpose?

 

It’s so difficult to feel anything other than apathetic to the whole thing. I know we’ve been spoilt rotten over the last decade, but that’s why I think our club and its fans are in a unique position to anyone else in the country. 

Edited 16 May 2023 by The Year Of The Fox

[jim5000]

On 16/05/2023 at 11:55, The Year Of The Fox said:

Let’s say we get promoted at the first time of asking (which we won’t) 

 

Or even let’s say it takes us 5 seasons to get back up to the PL.

 

Then what? 
 

We set about aiming to become a mid table team (arguably again)

 

For what purpose?

 

It’s so difficult to feel anything other than apathetic to the whole thing. I know we’ve been spoilt rotten over the last decade, but that’s why I think our club and its fans are in a unique position to anyone else in the country. 

 

 

All true - it's unlikely we will have a repeat of the last decade anytime soon, it's been amazing. But that is the life of a football fan unless you are a glory supporter - clubs bobs along on the tide sometimes having good times, sometimes bad. We can't really complain about our lot, our recent highs have been amazing and the lows actually quite funny. We've had it better than most other fans in the country, thats for sure!