Saints

[Pragmatist]

Saints are indeed a great role model. Their Academy over the years has produced an endless stream
of high quality players which has funded a lot of what they do today. They had a blip with ownership 4 or 5 years ago after Rupert Lowe (very similar to Peace) sold out, but they’ve got back on track superbly. They’ve recruited really well too - top scouting.

But as a poster remarked, they have flirted with relegation in the last 3 years and that’s the stark reality - many clubs in the Premier League can gave a 3-6 month form blip which makes relegation a constant risk. The key is not to get in debt or to have big contracts without flexdown clauses.

We tick the Academy production box too. It’s scouting where we need to really up our game. We aren’t that far away.

[Shabby Russian]

Lost their way after Koeman left and made some very dodgy transfer dealings, but have stumbled on a diamond with Hassenhutl - they were extremely lucky to get him as he should have gone to a much bigger club.

Their board have made mistakes but knew when to get rid of Pelegrino, Puel and Hughes before it got toxic...  Hassenhutl has improved several players and made them much better than the sum of their parts... a really excellent manager.

I doubt they stumbled on him.

Their recruitment and development of players has been very good, generally.

And it gives them a competitive advantage over clubs like us. Players are willing to join them, because they can see the way in which other players who joined Southampton have developed their careers, and have been allowed to progress onto 'bigger' clubs . Southampton have tended not to dick players around by making it difficult to move on.

Also by making significant profits on players they have purchased and on academy players, it gives them a financial advantage, they can be competitive on both transfer fees and wages.

Their strategy does depend on how good their talent spotting is, there was a period when they seem to buy players who were comparative flops. The strategy will also fall down if they get the wrong coach in.

[Squid]

Lost their way after Koeman left and made some very dodgy transfer dealings, but have stumbled on a diamond with Hassenhutl - they were extremely lucky to get him as he should have gone to a much bigger club.

Their board have made mistakes but knew when to get rid of Pelegrino, Puel and Hughes before it got toxic...  Hassenhutl has improved several players and made them much better than the sum of their parts... a really excellent manager.

Until someone poaches him and the cycle begins again. Will he really want to spend another season at Southampton?

Well, that’s when you poach the next one in line... it works both ways, Southampton are a big enough footballing brand now to have their pick of managers too

Possibly, but it doesn't mean the next manager will be a success. My brother in law is a Saints fan. He has not always had very good things to say about their owners and many fans feel that for all the money they've received for their players, it's not being invested back into the club.

In 2018, they were down in the lower echelons with us and only just scraped staying up with Mark Hughes as their manager. So they are hardly some long-running success story. I'm sure last year everyone was praising the vision of Sheff Utd and the abilities of Chris Wilder.

[scotbaggie]

They have had some good managers there. Koeman and Puel both had them in the top 10, now Ralph H. When they had weaker managers they were in relegation zone for a lot of the time. One thing they have done is find young guys who can play and fit the managers system. Plus they got lucky with Ings. He was injured and Liverpool didn't have a spot for him. He makes a huge difference.

[Hopalong]

Jealous. Not a dissimilar sized club to us. Excellent recruitment with not a huge (by Premier league standards) budget. High energy football

Get a grip CiM.      They're having a decent season at the moment, it won't last. 

Their recruitment has been brilliant, they have sold players in recent years for 300m and have therefore been able to spend a relative fortune.  Financially in a far better place at the moment but football goes in cycles. 

In the grand scheme of things, they will never get anywhere near us historically in any metric, unless you believe football started in '92. 

Won the FA Cup in 1976 and that's it.  

Sooner or later they'll be relegated.  

Keep the faith.  

Jesus...

Yes,  my son.... 

[albion_pigeon]

Don't forget that during all that time we spent in the Premier League, they went into a downward spiral, administration and a spell in League One. They then built back up and are where they are now. It can be done with sensible owners.

Or owners who are even remotely interested..

[MGalea]

They have had some good managers there. Koeman and Puel both had them in the top 10, now Ralph H. When they had weaker managers they were in relegation zone for a lot of the time. One thing they have done is find young guys who can play and fit the managers system. Plus they got lucky with Ings. He was injured and Liverpool didn't have a spot for him. He makes a huge difference.

Don't forget Potch.

Recruiting the head coach does seem to be a particular weakness of ours at the moment.

Dowling is currently sitting at just below neutral in my books and I think in the long term he doesn't really offer the club the strong identity which helps the long term planning. 

Norwich seem to have it right - they're basically a German club now and it may take them a while but I wouldn't be surprised to seem them stop up for a few seasons soon. If so and Farke is taken they've probably got a list of 5 other German coaches constantly in motion - I wouldn't be surprised if Farke actually has input on the list either!

You'd hope if Lai sells the new regime brings in some proper football people to run the club for them.