Would it really be that bad if we stayed down??

[earlscourtsaint]

Firstly, on a scale of 1-10, how many of us have enjoyed this season, I'll go with an 8 pushing 9.

Secondly, would we really want another season in the Prem like last year, getting stuffed most weeks, and scrapping against relegation, again?

Thirdly, and I've read all the threads about which players we lose, which might stay etc, some on here have suggested we wouldn't be competitive, but is that really true? Ipswich seem to have done ok with a far 'inferior' squad to us, Leicester & Leeds - so why couldn't we? Russball has it's critics, I agree that overall we have underachieved, but it is what it is, plenty of well thought out and justified debates on both sides of that coin.

Could this squad do better than this seasons??

Keepers - McCarthy/Lumley/Baz

Full backs - Bree/Larios/Manning/Meghoma (Perraud???)

Centre backs - Bednarek/Stephens/Simeu/Lawrence

DCM - Charles + a purchase

CM - Aribo, Smallbone, Dibling, Stu (offer new contract)

AM - Edozie, Amo-Ameyaw, Fraser (maybe)

CF - AA, Stewart, Ballard

[saintsfan73]

From a fan's perspective I think many of us have no issue with being away from the PL in a league we can actually win games of football in.

The real issue with not going up is the financial one. Promotion, even for a season, will clean up the mess SR have created. Without it I think we will be in a very bad state and would not be at all surprised if we were deducted points next season.

[threehundred]

Apr 30, 2024 8:54:24 GMT saintsfan73 said:

From a fan's perspective I think many of us have no issue with being away from the PL in a league we can actually win games of football in.

The real issue with not going up is the financial one. Promotion, even for a season, will clean up the mess SR have created. Without it I think we will be in a very bad state and would not be at all surprised if we were deducted points next season.

Yes - this.

We need the cash.

My anger at not getting promoted would exceed my anger and sadness at being relegated.

I understand people enjoying the Championship, but I’d rather eat at the top table. We’ve pulled up trees in the Prem before and will do again… we’ve got to get there first though.

[theallseeingeye]

I'm in 7 minds....

Of course I'd rather be in the prem, but I don't like the way its run

I prefer the championship but that's a one way ticket to ruin and being cut adrift from the bigger teams / money.

So... its either a the great money chase and putting up with the evils of the prem, or sinking further down and being an old skool football team..

Either way, Saints will disappoint...

So... meh

[threehundred]

Forgot to answer the first and 3rd questions.

For large parts of the season, it’s been a 9.

That’s all been rather sullied by recent results/performances and I’m leaning towards a 7. Let’s see what the playoffs bring.

And yes, that squad could do better next year, depending on the identity of the new CM. Without Downes we are crap and he’s the biggest Sick Boy since Trainspotting.

[OneBeat]

I have enjoyed this season more than any for a long time.

It's odd as I obviously want Saints to win every game, but I have no interest in the Premier League and its focus on the top few teams, VAR and the stuffings we will no doubt suffer.

I also like the fact that in the Championship you start the season with a chance of winning the league, getting to Wembley in the playoffs, finishing mid-table or getting relegated. In the Prem if we have a decent season we may be fighting for 10th, but probably we'll be in a scrap to finish 4th from bottom.

[yateleysaint]

I’d give this season a 5/10 TBH.

We had a crap start, decent middle and crap finish (to date) so I think 5/10 is about right.

Some of our recent performances have bored me to tears. I don’t like Russell Martin, I don’t rate him as a coach and I don’t like his brand of football. I don’t like a lot of the current players either, which is due to poor recruitment. Who looked at Ross Stewart and thought he could stay fit? Who thought Sulemana had any end product? Who decided Bazunu was a decent keeper? Who liked the look of Mara? Why didn’t we sign another keeper and striker in January when we had the chance?

Saints are going nowhere under Sport Republic, who have so far made good on their promise to deliver success for their top club - Göztepe. SR can take a running jump as far as I’m concerned. Our best keeper is playing in Turkey FFS.

Saints look like a club whose owners have got other priorities than success on the pitch. The club won’t improve until SR have cut their losses and fucked off whence they came.

[theallseeingeye]

Apr 30, 2024 12:22:44 GMT yateleysaint said:

I’d give this season a 5/10 TBH.

We had a crap start, decent middle and crap finish (to date) so I think 5/10 is about right.

Some of our recent performances have bored me to tears. I don’t like Russell Martin, I don’t rate him as a coach and I don’t like his brand of football. I don’t like a lot of the current players either, which is due to poor recruitment. Who looked at Ross Stewart and thought he could stay fit? Who thought Sulemana had any end product? Who decided Bazunu was a decent keeper? Who liked the look of Mara? Why didn’t we sign another keeper and striker in January when we had the chance?

Saints are going nowhere under Sport Republic, who have so far made good on their promise to deliver success for their top club - Göztepe. SR can take a running jump as far as I’m concerned. Our best keeper is playing in Turkey FFS.

Saints look like a club whose owners have got other priorities than success on the pitch. The club won’t improve until SR have cut their losses and fucked off whence they came.

5 a bit harsh....

5.3.

Had more good moments than bad..... but the bad.... really really really bad.

[saintsfan73]

Unlikely, but if we did go up we could all tap out for a season and let Rusty pass himself to the sack in the PL and then watch a far more entertaining promotion chasing season in the Champ featuring players from our own Academy rather than underachieving ones from other team's academies who we have paid £10m each for.

[Mandochris]

I have enjoyed this season and fine to stay in this Division and had already made the assessment that we would have a decent team with our younger players a year older and more experienced.

I would like to see a 2-division premier league of 30 or 32 teams with two up two down every season.
Relegation from division 2 would not be automatic and would be done like it was before in the Football League with all the clubs voting on whether the bottom team (or two teams) should be kicked out and replaced.
This would happen if a team was regularly in the bottom two and another team in the football league had been pushing for a few seasons to go up.

It probably wouldn't be great for all the other teams but for the 30, it would make life more fun.

[choixkoix]

8/10 for enjoyment, 5/10 for the manager who has had a bad 2024 with decisions and the de-evolutiom of the team.

Its the most fun I've had since Koeman's glory season. I love the league and some of the craziness it throws up. The 8/10 is not because I thought we would get promoted but because we have had so many games with frustration at performance, result or capitulation. I have become devoutly anti-VAR this season too and football in this league is free of the crap sense of entitlement most PL teams and their fans possess. However, the Championship does have a certain brutality in the sheer number of 3 game weeks. I think this week is Russ's first uninterrupted week of training with the lads since Preston was postponed in March, which isnt an easy thing to handle.

But yes, the financial repercussions are stark and if we dont get up next year, we're facing a Norwich / WBA future.

I have little of your optimism though. I dont believe Bednarek or Stu will be retained, and I can see a world where Ipswich make us an offer we cant refuse for AA.

Even if we get some ok fees for the senior players that want to leave we will be left with some problems that the manager has not really called right / addressed so far: Bazunu and Stephens, both of whom have shown themselves to be potentially not suitable for promotion. Whether Ross Stewart is going to be a non entity or a key player goal machine is a toss of a coin job. Our youngsters are still huge question marks because they havent been developed during this season. The list of outs is huge and I imagine most of the ones currrently on loan will be hard to shift or hard to shift early, making us have to do some significant incoming business later in the window, even after the season begins. At a conservative estimate, we will need GK, DR, 3 DC (!), AMC or AMR, and ST, which is a lot of business to get right. I would suspect that a brain drain of key players yet again may lead us a little lacking in leaders, and leave the team a bit fragile. Russball requires players to get used to the system, so write off September as half the first team will be new. And will he spend the summer working out how to defend a lead better, or how to play something akin to counter attack football when we need to? What happens next season if we dont start well and the stadium is a bit emptier and a bit more impatient or fickle than this year?

On the plus side, its probably 3 weak teams being relegated from the PL. But we need the transfer window of our lives, and we need the manager to up his game big time.

[THE BEAST]

we would be flocked… We will be flocked

However, I don't mind the championship, as everyone has said, at least we can win games.

But the fact of the matter is, we have to build almost a whole new team, with all available data on SR saying they can't even do reinforcements, let alone something on that scale.

Also, we have to have a manager that is flexible enough to win in different scenarios, rusty is not that.

So all in all, I suspect , in short term, i.e. next year, we will be seeing some right crap

and, it doesn't bode well for the medium to long-term future if SR stay in control either…

[Mandochris]

SR got a team promoted on Turkey

[saintsfan73]

Apr 30, 2024 15:32:29 GMT THE BEAST said:

we would be flocked… We will be flocked

However, I don't mind the championship, as everyone has said, at least we can win games.

But the fact of the matter is, we have to build almost a whole new team, with all available data on SR saying they can't even do reinforcements, let alone something on that scale.

Also, we have to have a manager that is flexible enough to win in different scenarios, rusty is not that.

So all in all, I suspect , in short term, i.e. next year, we will be seeing some right crap

and, it doesn't bode well for the medium to long-term future if SR stay in control either…

The good thing is that SR won't have anymore money to waste so will have to come up with something different than buying City's kids for £10m a pop.

[theallseeingeye]

Apr 30, 2024 14:50:52 GMT saintsfan73 said:

Unlikely, but if we did go up we could all tap out for a season and let Rusty pass himself to the sack in the PL and then watch a far more entertaining promotion chasing season in the Champ featuring players from our own Academy rather than underachieving ones from other team's academies who we have paid £10m each for.

I’m in 👍