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Episode 309: Let's talk about Sports Republic...
126 Plays29 days ago
Southampton – There's an elephant in the room, lets have a talk about the owners of our club.
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Transcript
Introduction and Co-host Update
00:00:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hello and welcome back to the Daily Southampton, part of the Global Sports Podcast Network. My name is Greg Elliott and as always today joined by my good friend and wonderful co-host, Zach Ingo Finch.
00:00:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
How are you doing today my friend?
00:00:28
Zak
Well, you say, as always, but I was not there yesterday and I can only apologise. However, you had a really good episode, mate. I really enjoyed it. So, yeah, I'm
Emotional State and Empathy in Football
00:00:36
Zak
alright. like I'm trying not to think too much about football at the moment, which is ridiculous because we do a daily podcast.
00:00:43
Zak
And also a a lie, because me and you have talked about a vast majority of the day. But it's... Yeah.
00:00:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
hard, isn't it? It's hard times to to come upon
00:00:51
Zak
so It's a hard... weird place to be in right now. And it's like, also, I can empathise with like Wolves fans at the moment who seem to be going through like a similar thing, wondering if they'll turn their season around. And then there's other bits and pieces that, you know, like the Scottish football just absolutely imploding for some reason, apart from hearts.
00:01:13
Zak
Sure. Brendan,
00:01:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, I don't know, because I actually saw one piece of news that was about Hart's new sporting director who died on the pitch and stole a penguin.
00:01:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
i assume not in the same day.
Odd Football News: Penguin Theft
00:01:25
Zak
to
00:01:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
I don't know.
00:01:27
Zak
right
00:01:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
Football's just a bit mad, isn't it? Like...
00:01:32
Zak
i look some some weird stuff can could happen in the game for sure but I think it's just right I was going to say like I feel like that would be pretty big news either way to be honest but yeah it's just so it's just a hard time to be a Saints fan
00:01:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Sorry, i stand corrected. That's not Hart's. That's Aberdeen. But...
00:01:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Also spent 101 days in a Singapore jail accused of match fixing.
00:01:55
Zak
Right.
00:01:55
Zak
Yeah.
00:01:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
Football's funnier game, isn't
00:01:57
Zak
Yeah.
00:01:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
But look...
00:01:59
Zak
bunch A bunch of Turkish refs as well are supposedly all in trouble because about half over, I think it's like over half from pad like betting accounts or something.
00:01:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:02:07
Zak
So, yeah, we're in a we're at a weird space just overall right now in football, but also for for our club specifically. It's just not great times, is it, really? it's it's not It's not the enjoyment.
00:02:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
No, it's not great.
00:02:18
Zak
It's not going back down to the championship and preferring it. It's going back down to the championship and so far seeing pretty much more of the same.
00:02:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Well, look, let's let's talk about that. let's Let's get into maybe the crux of why. Let's cast the spotlight away from what we normally talk about for a
Southampton's Rise and Decline
00:02:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
bit.
00:02:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
And let's have a chat about Sports Republic, Zach.
00:02:41
Zak
Okay.
00:02:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Let's address the elephant in the room.
00:02:46
Zak
really
00:02:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
it It was almost five years ago to the day when Saints sat on top of the Premier League. Do you remember that?
00:02:56
Zak
Yeah, because then I remember because we we put out t-shirts of like, stop for camp, which which is probably, it almost feels like that was the start of the tin pot mentality, but there we are.
00:03:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:03:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. But look, I mean, they they were arguably better times. But but then, you know, it's been been that long since sports probably took us over, right? Because it was not long after that that they they came in and and took over. And, well, look, it's been ups and downs, right?
00:03:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
More downs than ups. Two downs, one up specifically. It's... It's been a lot, isn't it? It's been a hard-fought journey.
00:03:38
Zak
It's not true. There's at least another two downs. They just play for the team.
00:03:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:03:43
Zak
Adam Tiss.
00:03:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
Amazing. Look, the the stat that's been banded around and that's interesting is that under Sports Republic, only one of the managers they have appointed has won more than two league games.
00:04:01
Zak
Oh, mate. And that's going to be Russell Martin's championship season, right?
00:04:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah Yeah, yeah.
00:04:07
Zak
Man,
00:04:10
Zak
isn't that it's about just a horrible, horrible stat?
00:04:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
Just seeing the realisation dawn over your face of that, like, the the implications of that and how how horrible of a time it's been.
00:04:17
Zak
i
00:04:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
And this is no surprise, right? Because it's been, what or did we say the other day? Like, four wins from the last 50 games in the league.
00:04:35
Zak
Yeah, something like that like at 8%, I think, was the percentage point floating about.
00:04:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. And it's just a bit, it's been much in it. But so I
Club History and Demographic Shifts
00:04:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
know. Our opinion on sports public on the show has always kind of been where it could be worse, right? That's, that's kind of what, where we're at and have been for a while.
00:04:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right. We remember what it was like before Sports Republic and before that, when we were very nearly out of business. Right.
00:05:08
Zak
i think I think the very fallout business thing, I think, is now so far removed. you know You've got a lot of, I don't know how many, the age group range of people that watch us, but if you're like 17, 18, right, or even like early 20s, it's almost you were either a kid and didn't really know what was happening other than the fact that you got to, you know, you kind of have fleeting memories of those those players and those games and stuff, right?
00:05:34
Zak
So that means that you've you've grown up with sort of, if you've grown up with the likes of sort of like, Pella and Mane and the kind of where we were at that point. And then obviously that was the sale to to Gao and then everything started kind of being stripped a little bit. And then like I've got, I've seen people talk about it with almost nostalgia.
00:05:53
Zak
And Ralph Huston, who must have been like a really good coach. And I'm like, i don't know, like, I feel like the recruitment was quite good, right? Like we replaced Dejan Lovren with Virgil van Dijk. like right and then obviously then it started to not hit like there are some people who've had a saint shirt on that have we don't have incredible memories of right like vestergaard that's a bit harsh to maybe point him out but remember that he was the story of the time that mark hughes was in charge of our club and given like a two-year contract for keeping us up which was bizarre uh
00:06:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. And loads of examples like that though, right? Like you think about Danny Osvaldo, Wesley Hoyt.
00:06:28
Zak
And it's like the but the the whole, and the Sports Republic thing, like the the one bit that I will give them credit for, and and the thing that does annoy me about the the like league win stats is it's like,
00:06:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
diabetes
00:06:39
Zak
they will pick the season when they were first in charge. They will pick last season and they will pick this season and they will almost completely ignore the promotion season where we had a massive unbeaten run and we did win games and it did feel like there was a better vibe.
00:06:53
Zak
Again, it's just like the planning that they put into a Premier League campaign was non-existent and that's proven as you
00:07:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
I mean, without out and out dismissing your point, we did still only finish fourth that season.
00:07:08
Zak
Correct. But like, what i mean is that the the the the people will jump like we do. it's It's because we work with data and we work with statistics, you can arguably bend any statistic to to point your way.
00:07:19
Zak
Right.
Statistics and Team Struggles
00:07:20
Zak
And this is how I feel about the win percentages.
00:07:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:07:22
Zak
Like it's really low. and And again, it's also how I feel with XG. For me, that's still like even more made up than made up. Like, sure if you want to compare all the times that somebody has sat in a seat and that seat is broken it might be that this person who weighs this much is the more likely to break that seat and if you sat in this seat for 10 years it would probably like i don't care but he tried that quite quite frankly like it's not used that was this was another argument for another time i need to keep stay on stay on track But my point is is that like people are throwing around statistics to almost emphasize the fact that we're bad. And I don't think they need to do that because we know people that watch week in, week out know.
00:08:05
Zak
And like you, Greg, you watch week in, week out. You get so frustrated because they get so close. They don't score. And then they probably you know say it perpetuates this confidence thing. And we've also talked about a lot of the mitigating circumstances as well.
00:08:19
Zak
But we also had a conversation this morning about the fact that you say, I think it was brought up somewhere else. So who was it? Because I don't want to just completely steal that point and not credit them.
00:08:30
Zak
Was it on another podcast you were saying?
00:08:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
but It depends what point you're talking about. We've talked a lot about football today, mate.
00:08:35
Zak
That would explain about the about how Gestepi sold a striker to Germany, who's now scoring for fun in the Bundesliga. And people were surprised that he was wasn't brought into to our club.
00:08:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yes.
00:08:46
Zak
And then it's like, well, were we actually supposed to see any the benefits of the multi-club model? And that's when you start to go, well, actually, does Sports Republic see the benefits of multi-club model? Because if they bought a striker for one million quid and then sold him for 20 million pounds, that's 19 million pounds in their pocket.
00:09:01
Zak
they don't really care about the success necessarily of Southampton Football Club. They care about the success of Sports Republic. And that's where the disconnect that's a problem and the problem that I think I have with this multi-club ownership becomes an issue because it should be...
00:09:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Because that's not the sort of strategy you tend to see from other group models, right? Like we talked in at length in our other episode the other week about multi-club models about the Red Bull model and how, you know, that basically the entire Leipzig team was made up of Salzburg players, right?
00:09:36
Zak
but But if they if they had a if they if they've only realistically brought in a proper sporting director for Southampton this season, what makes anybody think that they had any footballing plans other than maximising the most amount of money out of?
00:09:54
Zak
And this might contradict some of the points I've said beforehand. I think it's just I've been doing a little bit of research into not a lot yet. I don't know if it will be done by tomorrow, but I've been looking into the background of one
Ownership and Business Motivations
00:10:05
Zak
of our our key investors. And so I don't get sued or anything.
00:10:09
Zak
This is just stuff I've read online and I'll link all the sources, but they're all some public information. But like,
00:10:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Hmm.
00:10:16
Zak
the guy basically created like sky in South, Southeastern Europe, right. For, for his area and has, and has bought out different areas and they've been heavily criticized for sort of using, for, for paying the least amount tax they can within a legal sense. Right. Which, you know,
00:10:34
Zak
see when Jimmy Carr went through that scandal, but imagine it on a much larger scale.
00:10:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:10:39
Zak
And like, I guess to get to my point, i what this is, is a business. This isn't a hobby. The guy didn't buy it because he loved football. The guy didn't buy it because... And like... the fact that all the conversations around him are sort of like, oh, well, he's still like falling in love with the club.
00:10:54
Zak
And there's a lot of people as well that kind of were like, oh, he knew he had no idea what was going on. I'm like, well, are that unimportant that like the main investor but doesn't care that we're failing miserably till the last minute?
00:11:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, yeah, I mean, kind of, Zach, because it turns out he's been sort of embroiled in this legal dispute over whether a company that fired him owes him money. So, you know, maybe football's not at the forefront of his thoughts.
00:11:14
Zak
Exactly. And not only that, like it it means that he's like, well, now I've been dragged away from this, I can actually concentrate on Sports Republic. And it's like, for football fans of the Team Southampton Football Club, as I pointed out you before, Greg, could not care less about any of this stuff.
00:11:29
Zak
But you have to tune into it because it has a genuine effect on the on-field decisions.
00:11:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:11:33
Zak
Like I was talking to my dad about it the other day. he was like, yeah, I just need to get a Sports Republic gone. And I can understand why his opinion of but is that is there. So basically what it turned out I did was then send about a string of about 13, 14 messages of, yes, but here's all the mitigating circumstances that mean we're in a horrible position.
00:11:52
Zak
And I still put it down to the fact that some guy that managed to fail the ownership test was able to buy us and then sell us on to just another group of people without the club's best interests at heart.
00:12:03
Zak
But the problem is is with football in general now is I don't think anyone thinks of the club's best interests. They think of who can... make the most money from the clubs. And you're seeing that now with, you know, Rangers, of their new consortium that bought them out. are they They have people in there from NFL and they have people in there from like the son of the guy who owns it. It's the new scouting guy, right? Like, okay, you've got Sheffield Wednesday, everybody's celebrating, but then the real fear is, okay, well, who puts an offer in and who's going to take this over?
00:12:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:12:33
Zak
And like, do you, who you know, the meat ownership's test isn't like you have to have a knowledge of football.
00:12:38
Zak
It's just like, you need to buy, You can afford to buy it and then make it not a problem.
00:12:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
Do you have this much money? is genuinely It's it.
00:12:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's crazy.
00:12:43
Zak
i So lots of those things are a problem.
00:12:46
Zak
And like we've worked in an industry quite close to sort of like utilities. And I remember the one of the people like in our company talking about how it's a huge problem that anybody can just buy an electricity or gas license right and then start up a company.
00:12:59
Zak
And that's why when the energy crisis hit in 2020, So many companies went under and, you know, probably a lot of our listenership suddenly realized they were with different companies because all of these guys had absolutely no idea what they were doing.
00:13:10
Zak
And it feels very much like that.
00:13:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:13:12
Zak
And we've talked about before that they they seem to be able to nail the business side of stuff. But again, the primary product is football and the primary product is supposedly the flagship is us.
00:13:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:13:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:13:21
Zak
But decisions like that, Once again, pulling it back to my original point, I got there this time, mate. The decision of transferring somebody away when they could have been moved to us isn't a footballing decision.
00:13:33
Zak
It's literally a solely business decision because they sold it us to see what happens.
00:13:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
but It's not even that, right? It's not even a cohesive decision between the group, I think, is what you're getting at, right? There's no one saying, oh, we should be moving this asset from Gestep A to Southampton because they're going to do well there in two years in the championship with them and you know We signed them at Gestep for 3 million. If we get two good years, one in the Championship and hopefully one in the Premier League, maybe we can sell them to fit for 50 million to Liverpool. like Even if that's the the the output they're looking for, it's still not not there. That level of cohesion and cooperation just doesn't seem to exist.
00:14:11
Zak
It's... Yeah, I think and i think that's that's the problem, right? is it You start to question what the the intentions are and like what the ability are of these people.
00:14:24
Zak
And again, we can give credit for the fact that they've brought in Spores to try and, I guess, turn the ship around. And they've invested in some of the right areas, maybe some of the air right areas are not, and then the buck kind of stops with him.
00:14:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
Mm-hmm.
00:14:37
Zak
But it's it's kind of like... For me, it's very, very troubling that you've got someone turning around being like, oh, we've got the correct, you know, now that I'm not distracted by this other thing with my previous company that clearly is more important because it's where I made my fortune, and as much as I want to say that, and also I hold a large percentage in the company.
00:14:55
Zak
Now I can concentrate on this asset because ultimately that's
Complexity of Club Ownership
00:14:59
Zak
what we are. We're just an asset, right? that that's how it feels we are a part of a puzzle and i think that i can't help but remember realize that a lot of the media stuff like we we talked before i have to give him credit for talking to journalists that wasn't a thing he needed to do but but also like i've seen like the amount times that alfie house has had conversations where it's like people have posted him like why are you talking with dragon solid and it's like oh well i've asked to do an interview but the club are stopping it and i'm like it's just a lot there that feels a bit
00:15:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, Johan spores, right? The amount of times he came out on Total Saints podcast this week and said, hmm.
00:15:31
Zak
Yeah, sorry, that was it. Like, I want to have a conversation with him, but I can't because, you know, they're not allowing me to, or, oh, diaries aren't lining up and they don't want to say, and but obviously, like, you can be private, you don't have to do that kind of stuff. but But when you...
00:15:45
Zak
the other thing The other big problem we've got is, like have we really turned as a fan base? We shatter the ground, but we still they're still profiting. And that's one of the biggest problems as well. It's like, what do you do? Do you organise a big but protest? Is that going to make things better? That will make things worse before they get better. the people really want us to drop out of the league to get new ownership?
00:16:06
Zak
Do they really think that we have the ability to change that? And again, as soon as as long as we're not a... loss-making entity that's not going to happen he was interviewed in the summer about selling us and he went no so maybe they are going to get back onto concentrating on their primary asset right but it is i feel like it is very difficult at the moment to take a stance to try and defend them because it's just kind of like how can you defend because again coming back to my statistics as much as some statistics can be manipulated Like, none of them look good.
00:16:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
No.
00:16:38
Zak
There's no...
00:16:39
Zak
What are you supposed to do? Like, don't worry, guys. We're the king of XG for the last three years. I'm like, great. Let's get a trophy for that. like
00:16:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh, wait. Look, I have got some caveats to those statistics. I've got some other information that I've done some digging around for.
00:16:50
Zak
You got so many other points. And I... This is why... youre Sometimes, mate, it's probably nice for you to do a solo episode because you could get past point one without me going on a tie-road.
00:17:01
Zak
So I'll take a break, mate.
00:17:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
But we'll get to that. Let's let's have a little break and hear an advert and a message from our partners at Bionique.
00:17:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay, mate, and we are back. So one of the things I have written down as a caveat leads beautifully from the point you were just making because wrote we have to remember when we look at these stats in isolation, you know, cutting off the point of when Sports Republic took took over, that they, in fact, inherited a club that was bereft of investment, right? Like, they...
00:18:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
They took that and ran with it. And and i have done some good stuff. You talked about the business side.
00:18:15
Zak
and
00:18:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
and And I was thinking about it because I think one of the original points I posed to you earlier in the day was... With all of this you know stuff about Johanspors being poached by Juventus and Solak being in this sort of legal battle that I hadn't really read up on, but you know it strikes an immediate chord of, uh-oh, are we like one crisis away from being in the same position as Sheffield Wednesday?
00:18:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
And actually, the more I thought about it, the more realised, no, not really, because at least they have invested in ways that are sort of driving this self-sufficiency, which is at least a positive to take from it.
00:18:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
but But sort of regardless of that, we're not we're not seeing the group model stuff like we said about before the break. There's no cohesion or order. It's just a bloke that owns a few football clubs.
00:19:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
When I was doing some digging, or in fact, I saw it in the Echo in this article, I didn't realise that they actually own a team in Mali, in the Malian second league, which just strikes me as a bit odd, right?
00:19:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
Like, it's such a strange...
00:19:29
Zak
Well, he's trying to sort of build ties closer to to his background anyway. Like he's been trying to purchase clubs in Eastern Europe, right? Like I think it was Red Star Belt, right? But you I think they've tried to put sort of bids in for a Romanian team. That was kind of failed. So but yeah, it doesn't it's not like it's like picking teams that seem to go well hand in hand either.
00:19:54
Zak
So it is making me slightly... say slightly more critical. I think that we are critical, but also have an understanding that the alternative isn't necessarily better.
00:20:08
Zak
Like trying to force the hand of an owner to sell up doesn't usually end well, and it doesn't necessarily mean the person that's going to replace you is better.
00:20:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:20:16
Zak
i don't think there's anybody really, any owners in this game that really, you know, don't know, can you name a club that you think has a really strong ownership that isn't probably also a
Southampton's Identity Crisis
00:20:26
Zak
little bit evil?
00:20:26
Zak
Like...
00:20:28
Zak
It switched. Leicester at one point had a fantastic owner. Unfortunately, that was like, you know, the tragic, you know,
00:20:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
I don't know, mate. I think you'll find that some people find Ed Sheeran's music pretty evil. I don't mind it personally, but that's definitely an opinion that's out there.
00:20:41
Zak
so it's So like, yeah, but like, it's just run well and it's like, what do we want to be? Like, do we want to be a family club? Do we want to be a corporate club? what are they trying to turn us into? Well, like a lot of it now is, you know, you wouldn't have a level one if they didn't try to invest more in the family side of things because, you know, if they're trying to bring in corporate customers, what's the point of trying to get them to do like, you know, a little bit of a ski ball or mini golf before the game kicks off? That's not going to happen.
00:21:05
Zak
But they have tried to expand that kind of stuff. And again, like make it more of a revenue making entity. But they will be massively shocked and surprised the the absolute drop-off that comes if we end up going down to League One, which unfortunately is now a possibility.
00:21:20
Zak
And I know that sounds a bit dramatic, you're talking me about how important these three games are coming up, mate.
00:21:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:21:25
Zak
Like, again, that's so vitally important because if these three games we get nothing out of them, we're essentially heading into, like, sort of the Christmas period without... an international break without, we like what, two two wins?
00:21:38
Zak
So maybe one more than we managed in the Premier League.
00:21:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:21:40
Zak
And then also in the next breath, you're trying to tell me not to panic. Next, you'll be telling me we'll go on an unbeaten run in December. And like, the problem is, is where does the buck stop?
00:21:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
oh You can clip up that part from last year where I said the same thing. That's the real worry, right? Like, it's... I don't know. You're right. it's It's vitally important and scary and worrying, but but yeah, it's...
00:22:03
Zak
but But we're not in a sup position where the entire club is going to collapse. But like at the same time, if results don't change, if we do end up going down to sort of League One, I like think that would be a catastrophe.
00:22:18
Zak
Genuinely like you know worse worse than sort of than it was for Luton. because just because of the way that we're structured and what we've had to deal with. and And then we do get sold off and then we get to rebuild or whatever.
00:22:29
Zak
Like the fact that that seems to be an outcome that people would prefer to get rid of them is baffling because you don't know who the next man in the building is going to be anyway. So just don't know. don't know what the right answer is, Greg, but all I know is that I am far more weary of them.
00:22:46
Zak
I also just don't think that hugely fan opinion matters in this.
00:22:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
No, I agree with that. And I mean, I've seen some calls on social media and I think it was talked about some of the other podcasts about, you know, like... you know have to vote for your wallet, you want to hurt them, stop buying food at the ground and stop doing this and stop doing that. And I don't know at the end of the day, i don't know if that vocal minority, I feel, is going to be loud enough. But maybe if it gets worse and worse, it will become that.
00:23:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
But I...
00:23:17
Zak
this is This is what I mean. You you target families so that you switch your trajectory. You're not going to...
00:23:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:23:22
Zak
You don't have the most sort of Arden ultra fan base, ultras-based fan base, right? we're not let We don't have like sort of the the aggression levels of like the Geordies if something like this or when this did happen with other Sports Direct stuff.
00:23:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:23:36
Zak
and And also, it's like the crisis point is that, oh, we almost won a couple of games, but we've lost them. It's been terrible. It's been like this forever. But it's not like the club is on the bricks of collapse. They're not paying the players.
00:23:50
Zak
The players are trying desperately on Like a lot of this comes down to, in my opinion, personnel on the pitch.
00:23:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:23:57
Zak
But I know that they're going to have something because the criticism is going, well, if the personnel on the pitch changed a little bit and the managers changed like 17 times, but you guys haven't, and we're still in this position,
00:24:09
Zak
what what do we do? But I do, the only other thing I do want to emphasize how important I think your point is that the club they inherited wasn't doing the best, right? There is a reason we were sold off by Gao.
00:24:21
Zak
It was the whole Chinese owner debacle where they weren't allowed to invest in foreign companies. Like, again, you're not tuned into it. If you're not tuned into this stuff, you don't, sit and dig through all of the meat.
00:24:32
Zak
It just feels like we were doing all right in the Premier League and then we got sold off to like some random company that has like sunk our results into the ground. Not really how it's gone, but also they aren't doing themselves any favours to try and win back support.
00:24:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
really not.
00:24:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, I mean, look, i I think the thing is that they are trying just unsuccessfully so far, right? But at least, I mean, to my mind, at least they're trying and I don't know if they'll ever get good enough to to turn the tide, but maybe the answer lies in in a solution that's been pointed out before.
00:25:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
And I think we'll have a good talk about that. So let's do it after a final break and a message from our partners at Zencaster. Here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform, and Zencaster came out the clear winner.
00:25:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
With 4K video recording from your phone and AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and ahs, it's super easy to record a podcast that sounds great and to deliver efficiently.
00:25:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description and learn more about Zencaster. Alright, mate. Whilst I was doing some of this reading and digging back about Sports Republic and and stuff, a line jumped out at me from the very interview with Dragon Solak that we were talking about earlier
Solutions and Managerial Challenges
00:25:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
with Outfair Couts.
00:25:59
Zak
Mm-hmm.
00:26:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
And it was a line about, hey, if you want to invest, I'm not not against working with partners. Send me a letter with your proposal and let's sort something out.
00:26:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
Is that... Is that like the golden path now? Because I don't see... Sports Republic leaving and barring something like catastrophic, some sort of massive controversy.
00:26:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
I don't see if Sports Republic pulling out. I don't see them wanting to leave their investment that way before you know the the structures they've put in place to make those returns have come good.
00:26:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
so So is that the answer? so We just need someone with a big wallet and a good footballing brain to come in with a good proposal and help them set it straight?
00:26:47
Zak
I'm starting to just believe that unless it's like catastrophically large amounts of money, right? Which again, you're going to be able to spend, but like stopping from being a problem. So you can afford to buy all the best backroom, all the best equipment, all that kind of, unless it's that like, no, because like, look at man, you're not, you're not going to take it glazes with a problem.
00:27:07
Zak
Their fortunes have turned around very recently in the last three games, right? Look how long before that, you know, everything's still falling apart. They're firing the dinner lady. They're firing this, and other. Like...
00:27:18
Zak
but again, because of primary primary investors. So somebody invests a bunch of money into it that is is significantly more footballing-brained and makes decisions and they go wrong.
00:27:28
Zak
Part of it for me is like, realistically, you want to look at the mistakes they made, like letting Wilcox go, obviously sea was Man United, but like the fact that that wasn't even like considered and the fact that they didn't replace him fast enough and the fact that they let Russell Martin have a a transfer window with a network and like dis dismantling our scouting network to make it Sports Republic Scouting Network was probably the big thing, right?
00:27:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:27:49
Zak
So one of the reasons they bought us was basically, oh, they're really good at identifying young new players.
00:27:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:27:54
Zak
like We were like two or three years prior, you know, and then straight away we had the guy from the scout from Man City that ended up at Chelsea, right, within six months. He brought all of his old guys like Bozzuno, Lavia, Adosi, a huge list of people that he brought in from the academy that he was like, yep, this would do well.
00:28:11
Zak
And then immediately got poached left, and centre. It's like, My problem is that... is what what's, what's, is if it's because it's just that they come out and go, well, this was just an opportunity I can't turn down.
00:28:24
Zak
Or is it that you get out the checkbook and you pay 20,000 pounds an extra a month or whatever, all of a sudden they're staying different story. But that isn't how you end up keeping a profitable organization.
00:28:35
Zak
So it doesn't actually matter.
00:28:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
Mm.
00:28:36
Zak
But I think that I struggle to believe that currently, if you look at the state of the football club, you look where the football is, you look at what's going on. Every manager is going to see it kind of as a poison chalice. you know Will still basically said the reason he really took it was because he wanted to move to the yeah UK and it was going and he wanted to manage in the championship. and It looked like, and you know again, the the project word.
00:28:56
Zak
But like if you're an investor and you look at our club right now with potentially you know people worried that we're going to go down League One, all the money we've spent, what do you really want to invest in?
00:29:07
Zak
Do you think there's a good end product there right right now?
00:29:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
No, I don't know, mate. I don't know if it's an additional financial investment that's needed, but maybe just another bouncing off point. Someone with a bit of a different viewpoint. Clearly this, clearly the surrounding, no, just, yeah.
00:29:20
Zak
then if they wanted somebody to concentrate on the football, they brought a director of football in. So I was going to bring in, this is my point. Like somebody with money to make more financial decisions.
00:29:30
Zak
like Okay, they made some pump decisions. Should have brought a striker.
00:29:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
Look, you you were saying about United and maybe with the levels of illness going around the club at the moment, maybe firing the dinner lady is the option we need. Like, maybe that's the answer all along. don't know. Yeah.
00:29:46
Zak
Oh, it's just, it's it's so it's so much more complicated than I think people understand it will give it credit for two. And the idea of just we we switch owners and that'll be it.
00:29:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:29:56
Zak
We switch the manager multiple times. We've switched some of the personnel, but we've we've also said clearly multiple times we haven't switched all of the personnel. If we'd switched all of the personnel, I think this probably would have been different.
00:30:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:30:07
Zak
might have been more betting in time. The idea that we're going to get a manager that comes in and starts screaming and shouting at them and then, like, kicks them up the kicks them up the rear, gets them into gear, also just doesn't seem viable. I think that at this point, the mentality the players is they're more likely to cry than react.
00:30:24
Zak
Like... which maybe is a a criticism, but maybe I'm tired of following this team day in, day out and not feeling like I can criticize the people that ultimately decide the results. Because that's the thing. You can you can break drag as many people as you want in a boardroom to sit around and discuss meetings and pick players that, you know, but slightly better.
00:30:42
Zak
What the actual thing is going to happen here is that, you know, next time they they pick a director of football, like don't, Don't experiment, don't cheap out. But then also, can you or can anyone name me a managerial target?
00:30:54
Zak
Not Brendan Rodgers, before anyone suggests that, he ain't going to come in. Because again, we're not attractive prospect right now.
00:30:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:31:00
Zak
But can anyone name me like a proper managerial target and a proper director of football that can come in and and turn around the club? Because I just think it's like chasing a golden goose, right? It's not going to happen.
00:31:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
if
00:31:11
Zak
I don't know what the answers are. don't know what the answers are, mate.
00:31:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
mate While they're at it naming those, let's let's get them to name a 40-goal-a-season striker that we can nip up as well.
00:31:15
Zak
It's just a horrible situation.
00:31:21
Zak
Yeah, exactly.
00:31:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:31:21
Zak
if you If you've given us golden goose, if you've given us a pig that can fly, and let's have a 40-goal season striker. And it if it's Adam Armstrong and it needed the right delivery.
00:31:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah And a goalkeeper that's going to keep – a goalkeeper that can keep 30 clean sheets.
00:31:31
Zak
And then we've had Azaz that scored two goals for Middlesbrough so far this year. People were like, yeah, he'll be really good. Can't wait to get him in. Fantastic piece of business. Just hasn't kicked on. Don't know why
00:31:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, I've got got several thoughts on that and points that we'll get to later in the week.
00:31:42
Zak
Not sure.
00:31:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
But frankly, I feel like maybe we just haven't actually played him in his position, which is a problem that has also transferred seemingly from manager to manager.
00:31:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
So I don't know.
00:32:01
Zak
it's It's just, it's really difficult to identify where everything is going wrong. You could sit there, like genuinely, you could do a podcast, mate, for probably like a week solid. I reckon i reckon discuss various different things, various trigger points, various moments that have led us to where we are now.
00:32:18
Zak
I still think one of them was allowing a guy who failed the ownership test once and to purchase a large stake in our business, do nothing with it, and also allow us to be essentially sponsored by a company that turned out to be an illegal shell company before then...
00:32:37
Zak
selling us on to the first bidder that had a lot money, right?
00:32:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:32:40
Zak
Regardless of whether or not the football was right. where They thought, okay, it was right fit for the club. Is it the right fit for the club? So far, it doesn't really feel like it to most people.
00:32:53
Zak
i understand that and kind of agree with it, but I don't really know what the alternative is, what what power we have. but Because it's kind of like when you go, I'm going to boycott Starbucks. It's like, all right.
00:33:06
Zak
We're still going to sell pumpkin spice lattes out the wazoo. Like it's not going to make blind bit of difference. I'm just, don't know if, if that's going to be the answer or what, but also all of these questions will go out at the door.
Hope for Future Wins
00:33:18
Zak
If the upturn in form happens three games in a row that we win, we're back on the train.
00:33:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. nine points in Nine points in seven days. Conversation goes away, at least for an international break, hopefully. And that's all we can hope for. Yeah, you're right.
00:33:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's difficult. It's tricky. But that's why we love talking about it. And that's what we're here for.
00:33:36
Zak
If it wasn't my club, I'd be fascinated.
00:33:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
Mate, that is...
00:33:38
Zak
That's where I'm at.
00:33:40
Zak
Like, it's a it's an incredible, like watching Karl Anker, who was a journalist for Athletic that covered us during the Haslam Hoogle season, right? Now covers Man United. i think he's fantastic journalist. Great guy. Really, really, like, enjoy his his pieces.
00:33:53
Zak
And like, but I saw him turn around the other day and was like, what is happening at Southampton? And the comments were incredible because it was like a hundred things from, well, yeah, we just don't have a good right back. Like we sold James Moore Prowse.
00:34:05
Zak
Probably should have kept Nathan Jones. It was Hassan Houtel going, man. And like, there are a thousand different things that have put us in this predicament right now. And I think that simultaneously they're all wrong and right at the same time.
00:34:16
Zak
And what we need to do is just hope that if the the results start to change at the football pitch,
00:34:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:34:22
Zak
we go back to just supporting the club again and not having to dissect the international banks banking of our owner to see if that will mean that he's going to buy another club that might have a knock-on effect to our academy.
00:34:35
Zak
Like, But yeah, you're right. You tried to end the episode had another the three minutes on. So good luck with that post-prod, mate.
00:34:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's fine, mate.
00:34:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
Look, look la that is... We could talk about this for hours, and I'm sure that we will over the weeks to come, regardless of the results, because it is fascinating, is interesting, and it's not a point that's going to go away any time soon, let's let's be honest.
00:34:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
So... But look, that's all we've got time for in today's episode. As always, Zach, thank you for joining me, and thank you everyone for listening.
00:34:56
Zak
Alas.
00:35:04
Zak
Thank you, mate.
00:35:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Let us know your thoughts in the comments. What do you think? Sports public. Is there still the possibility that they come good? Or is that just my eternal optimism?
00:35:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
Let us know. We're on all of the socials. Blue Sky, TikTok, X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. Everywhere. Hit us up. Let us know. We love hearing from you.
00:35:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
And... Yeah, we love it. We will be back tomorrow for something else football related, that is for sure. But until then, everyone, have a wonderful day and we'll see you tomorrow.