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Daily Southampton: Episode 132 - Who is Johannes Spors and what will he do for Saints?
90 Plays20 days ago
Southampton – Sportsrepublic have hired a new Group Technical Director, but what does that mean? Who is Johannes Spors? Will it be good news for Saints? We set Zak on the investigation and he delivered!
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Transcript
Introduction and Wild Card Wednesday
00:00:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hello and welcome back to the Daily Southampton, a part of the Global Sports Podcast Network. My name is Greg Elliott, and today I'm joined by my wonderful co-host, Zach Ingefinch.
00:00:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
How are you doing, Zach?
00:00:20
Zak
Yeah, too bad, mate. Busy day. As always, seems seems to be such as life in the 21st century, wherever we're now now.
00:00:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:00:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Always the way. It is Wild Card Wednesday today, and we have another fantastically prepared episode by you, Zach.
00:00:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Zach,
Zach's Career Journey
00:00:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
when you did your history degree, did you think that the best application you'd have for it would be a football podcast?
00:00:45
Zak
No.
00:00:48
Zak
no
00:00:51
Zak
To be fair, most people that go into a history degree ah ah usually think I'm going to end up teaching, and about 20% of the people that I know did, and the rest of them were all doing really random jobs like me. I've managed to land myself in IT t because like kind I look like I work in IT, t so I might as well just work in IT. t I use it to some degree in my job because of quote-unquote critical thinking. But the research side of things, no, if you'd told me when I left that I would be doing research on, the way, if you want to know what it's about, us our our new group technical director, and using those skills for this, I would not have believed you.
00:01:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, okay.
00:01:31
Zak
But alas, here we are.
00:01:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, look, I am very grateful for your skills and ability, and I'm looking forward to this. But before we get into your research, I do have one question for you. What
Role of a Group Technical Director
00:01:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
is a group technical director?
00:01:46
Zak
Well you see a group technical director implies that it's essentially a technical director of football club but a technical director of the group and obviously that implies in itself that everyone thought this was specifically a South Hampton hire it is a sports republic hire but we'll get into a lot of that because a lot of my research
00:02:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
but it's not.
00:02:08
Zak
Buddy hops off the back of that as well and yeah be it's going to be interesting but basically what it means is that he is in charge of the footballing operations across the board.
00:02:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
Fantastic.
00:02:19
Zak
What that means for Rasmus and some of the conversations that people have around him and how the Turkish club is his kind of baby, who knows because a group director implies that they're in charge of everything that's going on across the clubs and yeah you're going to learn why we've hired this guy specifically I think.
00:02:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay, I can't wait, let's get into it.
00:02:41
Zak
YTO,
Research Challenges and Networking
00:02:41
Zak
so Johannes Sport is the new group director. He was ah ah previously linked with Newcastle before he was linked with us. So their journalism seemed to be far, the journalism into him when potentially he was going to take control of Newcastle.
00:02:59
Zak
was as a bit more than what's kind of come out since he's joined Saints and even what came out in before him joining Saints. There wasn't a huge amount of information to kind of for me to find. it's It's taken a lot of different sources. Some are slightly dubious. I'll be upfront when I come across those dubious sources. But yeah, it's it's he is somebody who They have definitely brought in to try and, I guess, save the situation, but somebody that isn't just going to be in Southampton. he's He has been brought in specifically but to control the multi-club network that we are building. So yeah, head of football for the group, meaning Gestepi and
00:03:42
Zak
Valencinese, I'm really bad at that. He starts work technically on the 15th, so he starts on Saturday against our game against Borberth.
00:03:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
Not Adobe.
00:03:51
Zak
Technically, if yeah.
00:03:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
Just getting that one in.
00:03:57
Zak
I didn't even mention it, they said a game against Borberth specifically.
00:04:01
Zak
He was already in head attendance in the die game against Burnley and there's an article on the Daily Echo that Alfie House has done. about what work he kind of thinks he needs to do. I want to talk about who the man is, what information is out there, and what maybe we can see going forward. So he is supposed to be bringing a cohesive approach to football strategy, player development, and performance. That is one of the taglines of what what he has been brought in to do so I know that we kind of are hoping that he is going to be laying down the hammer on everything but when we get into his background you're going to start to realize that you know he is mainly from a scouting and analytical background and I think that's how he's going to be running the club going forward.
00:04:48
Zak
or at least the footballing side of things.
Johannes Sport's Public Presence
00:04:49
Zak
So he's actually quite active on social media, but the only the only social media he's quite active on is LinkedIn. And by quite active, I mean his last post was three months ago, but he consistently posts on there about the different things that he does.
00:05:05
Zak
So he's been speaking like we're speaking on a lot of panels across multiple sort of like football conferences. I imagine that this is where they found him if I'm totally honest because I remember like Rasmus and that lot banging on about attending these kind of conferences where it's like fantastic conference about the football transfer blah blah blah blah blah.
00:05:24
Zak
sora saw a a talk of his about potentially multi-club ownership, which is one of the things he's he's spoken about a few times, and gone, we should probably bring this guy in. know there were also rumors that we interviewed the technical director at Wolves, so I think this might be one of the things that kind of pushed him push him over the edge, is this ability to kind of deal with the situation that we have.
00:05:48
Zak
So, apparently he uses a very scientific approach to selecting targets, so I guess we'll have to see how that pans out. I feel like the way our transfers have been in most recent times, and I know that Wilcox was very focused on like domestic talent, and then there was whoever wanted and decided to pick all of the players from that they thought were good from the teams that went down. That's that's at least the strategy I see at the beginning of this year and a couple of little gems in there like Matty Fernandez.
00:06:19
Zak
So it's been difficult to get information on him, Greg, because like even from a a standpoint of Wikipedia, he does not actually have an English Wikipedia page. even if I wanted to get like baseline information, he only has a Wikipedia page in Dutch, which kind of shows you how behind the scenes he is and how a lot of the what he has put out into the footballing world is
00:06:44
Zak
I don't want to say controlled, but it's it's not like he's a front and center guy. like I very much doubt we specifically are going to get like a ton of press conferences about what he's doing.
00:06:55
Zak
I do think...
00:06:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's good, though. That's what we wanted, right? Just someone... It didn't need another public face. What we need is someone to do football stuff.
00:07:02
Zak
Correct.
00:07:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
And i've I've also found that Dutch Wikipedia page, and I haven't translated it, and I do not read Dutch, but I do see the word just wrote it himself, boosting the team profile.
00:07:13
Zak
Yeah, don't worry. This is all this is all here. and And that is one of the ones where I'm quoting that the only thing with this Dutch Wikipedia page, it doesn't seem to have any sources listed for most of this information. So some of it is could potentially going to be word of mouth or whatever.
00:07:28
Zak
yeah but this is the other thing is it does kind of feel like that and one of the things we'll get into we'll probably take a quick break in a minute but i'll start with what he studied ah ah and he studied political science and sports science so he is a sports scientist that is his original sort of uh choice like trade and started off as a video analyst for Hoffenheim in 2011 and within two years rapidly raced through the ranks to become the head of scouting which he stayed in for a couple of years and then he moved to RB Leipzig which is where a lot of this information that you've just got is but we'll talk about
00:08:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
this
Career Progression of Johannes Sport
00:08:14
Zak
that.
00:08:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
makes sense This makes sense that we're getting, and this is ah ah someone who has experience dealing with football from the technical perspective. It's not an ex-player trying to shoehorn his way into a technical or a director of football role. This is someone who's risen through the ranks in a different league, admittedly, with proven potential in that league that we're hoping transpires across the group. So it's, it feels like a bold risk. still, but at least it's ah ah like a bold risk in the right direction, right? It's not just let's put all of our eggs in the Russell Martin basket.
00:08:51
Zak
Yeah, I think when it comes to comes to risk, judging by what he's dealt with so far in his career and what he has to deal with now, I actually think that he's going to be able to focus a little bit more and I think it's going to be a good thing.
00:09:10
Zak
But we'll discuss that a little bit more after a word from our partners at Zencaster.
00:09:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay. Yeah.
00:09:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
Absolutely. So here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform. Zencaster came out the clear winner with 4K video recording from your phone and AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and ahs. It's super easy to start a podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently. If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description to learn more about Zencaster.
00:09:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah ah Okay, right so what have you got for us next?
00:09:44
Zak
Yes, as I said, he he started his his first job as a video analyst at Hoffenheim before he went on to become head of Scouting, which I think is quite the promotion within ah sort of two, three years, which must have made it something right. And then he moved to RB Leipzig at the end of 2015 and stayed with them until very early in 2018. So whilst he was there, it was supposedly him that enticed Tino Werner and the Bayern Munich day out to play for the club. So but you know yeah that's stuff some big names and it was during his tenure at RB Leipzig they got promoted and then after that promotion season got second place and also gave the club Champions League football. Obviously you can't put all of that on his shoulders because he is you know
00:10:27
Zak
he would be the the the de chief scout but obviously selecting the right players to get into that position is you know one of the things that that would have resulted in in them having so much success. right We saw it with Leverkusen when like we thought Nathan Teller going to Leverkusen was kind of insane and then they went on to have like an unbeaten season.
00:10:48
Zak
so
00:10:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:10:49
Zak
Sometimes the science pays off. Sometimes, you know, life gets in the way. Like you might have a player that scientifically on paper looks amazing and then breaks a leg. that's just That's just life. But he seems to kind of live and die by this a little bit. So he then moved on to Hamburger SV from 2018 to 2019, where he was put in charge of transfers, scouting, and analytics, but left after a conflict with club management.
00:11:17
Zak
So this is where I'm a bit like, hmm, I was unable to find any further details at time of recording, but
Conflict at Hamburger SV
00:11:24
Zak
that's never nice. But obviously we don't know whether that's him not getting the support or alternatively him asking for things that they aren't going to give, them asking him, them getting involved.
00:11:36
Zak
It speaks a lot of potentially needing that little bit of independence, right?
00:11:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, he's a man who's not scared to share his opinion one way or the another by the sounds of it, which is fascinating when you think of one of the videos that came out or came to attention when we signed Evangirich as our manager, was him in a fight with a technical director, was it not?
00:11:41
Zak
like And that's the problem that I worry about
00:11:47
Zak
Clearly.
00:12:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
so
00:12:01
Zak
Yes, this is one of the things that I'm thinking about because it depends. you know I don't know how much sway he's going to have over choosing the manager, depending on the things that he's being put in charge of, you know, I don't know if they're going to keep the so that side of things and then Sports Republic will have their little book of who they want to get in.
00:12:25
Zak
I know a lot of people, including in the article by Alfie House, talking about sort of, oh, well, the manager question is still up in the air. And I'm like, well, like it kind of is. But at the same time, in my head, if you've signed like an 18 month contract, I know things can change.
00:12:39
Zak
Do we really want to pay somebody out? If I remember rightly there, wasn't there a break clause?
00:12:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think it's, I think it's madness to say that the vote on the manager is out when it's very clearly come out and been said that he's going to be our manager in the championship. And it's clearly the fan opinion that he might go and might not be our championship manager. But when you think that the fan opinion was to get rid of Russell Martin as early as it was, and the board opinion was not that, if you think they're going to get rid of Ivan Djuric in the summer,
00:13:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
you are kidding yourself silly. And whether you like it or not, and I'm fine with it. I liked your rich and I think it'll come good. But I think if you think they're going to make that change, nothing coming.
00:13:22
Zak
I'm not entirely convinced like I know that there's a lot of people I think people are are upset about missing out on Danny roll. They really wanted him to be in charge for I don't really understand a lot of the reasons why maybe the football that they would have preferred maybe the just
00:13:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
on affiliation with saints in the past mate and it was an obsession.
00:13:38
Zak
yeah Yeah, like there's a lot of things that we have. We are very obsessed with our little period of time where we are flying high, right? But on top of that, the only thing the only argument that I would give against that is that if he is being put in charge of footballing and he is being given free reign and he turns around and says, no, this guy isn't going to suit the long-term plans and he's not going to suit the transfer targets that I've picked and they're not going to play to their potential under this manager, I could see them maybe changing their mind at that point.
00:14:06
Zak
because they have made all of these decisions without the kind the consultation of a technical director.
00:14:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:14:12
Zak
and this is the you know There are a lot of clubs that do it without sort of that kind of insight. There are a lot of clubs that do it with it. It is becoming a far more popular thing, especially as this kind of multi-club model grows.
00:14:25
Zak
I could easily see a scenario where they get to the end of the season. He makes a decision and basically pushes the board and then the board have to decide who do we care and like more the current manager or this technical director that's meant to overturn the side.
00:14:40
Zak
and you know depending on It's really hard to know what they would decision they would make but at least from a financial one getting rid of somebody unless there is that clause where they can break his contract after the six months.
00:14:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:14:52
Zak
Yeah, it'll be it will be interesting to say the leaks because what it means is that there will be probably a different sense of direction.
00:14:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:15:00
Zak
I do wonder if it means that if Djuric doesn't do well in the championship early, whether they go on to replace him earlier than how long they stuck with Russell Martin. That's one of the only other things I think.
00:15:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah Possibly. Also, I think, bearing in mind both appointments are recent and since the realisation that we were in the situation we were in,
00:15:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
it would be really crazy if there wasn't some level of compatibility between the two signings.
00:15:29
Zak
Agreed. But also it's it's having that trust that sports republic are learning from their past and currently we're hoping that that is going to be the case. But there are a lot of vocal voices and a lot of people that understandably so are worried that it could turn out that way.
00:15:47
Zak
So we're just going to have to wait and see, but I think that having somebody in charge of that side of things when we haven't, when we had Wilcox for a bit and then he left, and more importantly, it fulfills the Sports Republic role of dealing with their multi-club approach, right? Like that's one of the that's one of the big things that I think that they have hired him for. So after that he left the hamburger, he went over to take control of viti in twenty twenty until twenty twenty one He stepped into sort of a director of football role there as well.
Leadership at Genoa and 777 Group
00:16:20
Zak
it was One of the only weird things they spoke about was that the entire club at one point were hit with like eight or nine people coming down with coronavirus at the same time, so they kind of had to do a bit of shuffling when all of them were out ill.
00:16:32
Zak
again could be a mistranslation again also could be BS just thought it was interesting to put it there that was just a random thing that they decided was worthy of note so after he left there he went on to become CEO so chief executive officer officer for Genoa and then later the yeah so this is when he kind of moved so he's he's moving around technical director role
00:16:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's interesting.
00:16:57
Zak
But then he later got promoted to the role of global sports director, which is funny because now he's group technical director. there Again, I'm not saying that all of these are just random job titles, but they are. Ultimately, what he means is he was put in charge of the footballing operations for the 777 group, which are the group of clubs that Genoa were a part of. So that included the Belgian side standard liege, which a little bit of saints trivia, I'm pretty sure that's where Genepo left from and went back to.
00:17:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
Isn't it also where bazoonie's gone out online?
00:17:32
Zak
I believe so, yeah actually you're right. Red Star FC, melbournebo Melbourne FC in the Australian League, vasica Vasco de Gama, which I've probably butchered in the Brazilian League. This is also the same group that managed to or tried to buy Everton previously.
00:17:52
Zak
They weren't able to buy Everton. Everton were not successful. They were not successful in their purchase of Everton. Everton was obviously been purchased by they've been purchased now. I can't remember, but they were the first ones that tried to put a bid in. He's also previously worked with Ralph Ragnick, who previous former Manchester United coach and now Austrian manager. That was just a nice little bit, like nice bit of tidbit there. But during his tenure, what is important to note is during this sort of global period,
00:18:20
Zak
Genoa got promoted back into Serie A, Redstar got promoted and the Brazilian team also got promoted. So, you know, if you're looking at his time at clubs, bar the little gap after RB Leipzig where he kind of moved across quite a few football clubs quite rapidly, he has had good sort of good results where he's worked, right?
00:18:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
It sounds like exactly the sort of success in exactly the business model that sports republic are after.
00:18:51
Zak
Correct, right? Because like...
00:18:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
And we will go into that a bit more after a message from our partners at the Global Sports Podcast Network.
00:18:57
Zak
Global Sports Podcast Network is changing the face of football podcasting with dedicated daily content for every Premier League team, women's football, fantasy football and a daily Premier League wrap-up broadcasted in five different languages.
00:19:08
Zak
This is your one-stop shop for your daily football fix. Find GSPN wherever you find your usual podcasts.
00:19:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
OK, so we are back. And
Multi-club Ownership: Pros and Cons
00:19:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah, so you're going to elaborate on on how you felt about his success at the same sort of structure that Sports Republic are aiming for.
00:19:25
Zak
Yeah, I think it's I think it's important because first and foremost, he he is a fan and somebody that has been heavily involved with the multi club approach. Now I know that that is a thing in modern football, not a huge amount of fans are happy about, right? You saw it in, I remember sort of first paying attention to it back in the days when City also owned NYFC or whatever they're called.
00:19:50
Zak
right And then Frank Lampard went on on loan because that was that weird period of time where Frank Lampard was a city player which
00:19:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, and you'll see.
00:19:57
Zak
so seems to skip everyone's mind but then obviously he got to go out and play at the MLS. There's a couple of sort of indicators, there's ah a lot of there was a lot of controversy in Newcastle with similar sort of stuff with them potentially sending players over from Saudi Arabia and vice versa or alternatively Saudi Arabia buying players really really cheap and then immediately loaning them out to Newcastle to play in the Premier League.
00:20:21
Zak
and you know Arguably we are kind of doing that on a smaller scale. How many appearances did our Polish goalkeeper Matthias Lisz actually have at St Mary's? None to my knowledge. I think maybe he had an FA Cup.
00:20:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
I don't think any at St Mary's but I do think he played in a pre-season friendly maybe at the Silver Lake ah ah when we went and saw them easily.
00:20:39
Zak
There you go.
00:20:41
Zak
So so so like he was entirely a transfer that came through us that were ended up at Gostepi, right? And then you've also seen some development loans where Matsuki, for example, who I'm very much looking forward to eventually seeing, he was a big player in the J-League. so whether or not he ends up coming back to us, apparently the players that we have that are on loan there are on loan to develop and come back to Southampton. right We have taken one of the players, you know, Joachim from the our French sister club, and we've brought him into... so So we are already kind of doing this stuff, but the idea is that if they can grow it properly, it can be something that's both successful in football and successful financially.
00:21:27
Zak
And he has a track record of being you know successful successful both in football and financially. But on top of that, I don't think that he would have had the interest interest from a club as big as Newcastle, who also have a similar model or a multi-club model.
00:21:44
Zak
you know if it wasn't for him having the accolades and of doing it successfully and that seems to be sort of his area of expertise on top of the fact that he's also just quite a good scout so bringing all sort of a data-driven scientific approach but also being able to manage the expectations properly means hopefully like from their perspective and an ownership perspective they'll be able to kind of bring all these things in rather than having such a disconnect which we've got currently where they're kind of laughing it up and clapping happy over in Turkey sending messages out and then kind of over here not ignoring the situation but reacting far too late and then with the French club you know the first season they took it over you know they got demoted same with us right so they having somebody as like a kind of anchor to potentially
00:22:30
Zak
build this model into something they actually want and who actually has a footballing background can only be a good thing. And with him get coming from a multi-club model that had five clubs in it,
00:22:46
Zak
That's now shrunk down to three. And we are, hopefully, very much considered the crown jewel. But what it might end up relating to is that, depending on how finances go and other things go, I wouldn't be surprised if, in the future, they start to acquire maybe another club here or there. That was always kind of their intention. What that means for us, I don't know. It's its difficult to say. But like I don't think you would bring in someone with this level of expertise on specifically that.
00:23:14
Zak
unless if your plan was to kind of just sit on it right or it will be a simple case that he helps develop the football across all three and we actually get to get use out of this multi-club system because at the moment it doesn't seem that Southampton itself has really benefited from it right and that's the problem is we're not we are not sports republic fans we are Southampton fans and it's hopefully finding a way of like keeping that identity and maybe that is one of the reasons he's not as public with the way that he does things because again if you're going to football conferences to speak to specific technical football people in the background and you're not really getting involved with I guess the fan culture side of it it speaks to how his mind will work. All I'm hoping for is it brings some sort of stability, brings some sort of plan and it brings you know some sense of ah ah positivity
00:24:07
Zak
And with any luck, he won't get poached after six months, right? Like I'm really hoping they learn their lesson there, but...
00:24:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, it sounds really promising. the The thing with multi-sports and multi-team models, right, is that it's all about building for a sustainable future.
00:24:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
And you don't always see that straight off the bat. And especially with Sports Republic, where, let's face it, they've got some stuff wrong at the start.
00:24:31
Zak
lot.
00:24:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's hard to come back from that, but let's hope that they manage it. And this seems like a step in the right direction. We've cried out for a football person to do the football stuff. And this
Impact on Southampton's Future
00:24:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
screams of that, not only a football person, but football person that seems compatible with our owners and the way they want to do things properly, instead of them just guessing the way they want to do it properly and assuming that whatever stats they had in their background worked, which
00:25:06
Zak
Yeah and and like he's a spring chicken by the standards of footballing as well he's 42 so he's not allowed like he's got a a big yeah big career ahead of him for something like this but like I think that showing his career trajectory from video analyst to kind of chief scout to technical director to then all of a sudden being put in charge of you know go when you're in charge of one club anyway and then they get promotion and then all of a sudden you're in charge of tons of clubs it's very much
00:25:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Good.
00:25:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
The baby.
00:25:36
Zak
he's kind of showed that he's got accolades and you know I don't think that having I don't I would prefer I guess someone solely concentrated on Southampton, but like it's not it it helps bridge that gap with what the ownership want and expect right rather than having to try and figure out what all the people are doing at the different clubs. And also it means that there will be consistent attention on the footballing and the results. It's a results driven business at the end of the day. will They are starting to realise and will probably realise the cost of going down. Yeah, I'm sure parachute payments help out, but you know it's better to be in the Premier League than not.
00:26:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, absolutely.
00:26:13
Zak
at the end of the day and hopefully this means now we're going to get some sort of direction to to head back and head to it and you know it's not about necessarily the managers as much as it used to be I think but I yeah and I do think that it's important that
00:26:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's about structure.
00:26:34
Zak
we we all recognise that and we see that this is an opportunity and that I think they've brought in somebody that actually knows their stuff. And, you know, it remains to be seen, the jury's still out, but like where I'm at is doing all of this research, I feel a sense of positivity. I don't want the next Tino whatever, that doesn't bother me, but what does What does excite me is the fact that you know he has built in most of the places that he has been, or been a part of something that has built in all of the places that he's been.
00:27:08
Zak
If he is some sort of fraud, he's been very lucky to just slot into teams that have then accidentally got promoted multiple times, right?
00:27:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, it is a good track record with huge promise and let's hope that that translates up to this level and that we can look forward to what we were talking about the other day and in 10 years time be winning the Champions League.
00:27:16
Zak
so
00:27:24
Zak
Yes.
00:27:32
Zak
Exactly that and perfect.
00:27:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's what I'm taking from it.
00:27:35
Zak
and so So on that, i just a quick thing about sources of information, misinformation. I use quite a few extensive, there's the transfer market website that has this entire career history. I did use the Dutch Wikipedia as well. There's been multiple articles. There have been lots of, he has a LinkedIn, his LinkedIn is public. If you've got LinkedIn, you can go check it out. That's where he has a lot of the things about, he has lots of different videos on him speaking about multi-club ownership i'm not going to pretend that i haven't read them all this is a daily podcast i
00:28:05
Zak
I also have a job. So like I can't spend all of my time, but I did put a significant portion in. So yeah, take it all with a pinch of salt. A lot of it's going to be journalism, some of it is directly from the man himself. So yeah, I hope that at least it gives people an understanding of who he is, as opposed to the the tagline that has been released by Southampton and the BBC Sport article that really annoyed me where they have his name as Johan's Soars and in the article they have it as SPORS but they've just never corrected the title because it was like a breaking news story and they just added nothing to it.
00:28:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Perfect.
00:28:45
Zak
so So that's all the information I could get. I hope everyone's learnt something. It gives me a little bit of positivity towards what could come in the future. And maybe if Sports Republic don't get it right, at least maybe they've hired someone now that might.
00:28:59
Zak
So...
00:28:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
Fantastic.
00:28:59
Zak
Is that like positivity we need going in for our not derby?
00:29:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
well mate you like This was a fantastic episode.
00:29:03
Zak
Good.
00:29:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
I love love it when you teach me things that I don't know.
00:29:10
Zak
Maybe I'm a teacher after all.
00:29:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
it was
00:29:12
Zak
yeah
00:29:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
in that history degree to the use it was meant to. I think there's an Egyptologist joke somewhere about a pyramid scheme but we won't go
00:29:25
Zak
No, you'll find me. I've heard them all. My current boss, as you well know, did not realise that I had a degree until two years into my job and was like, you've got a degree!
00:29:36
Zak
Which says a lot for how often managers read CDs.
00:29:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:29:39
Zak
But I'll leave that.
00:29:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, thank you very much, Zach, for preparing that.
00:29:41
Zak
I'll leave everything there.
00:29:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
It was wonderful.
00:29:44
Zak
You're welcome. Thank you for listening.
00:29:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you, everyone, for listening. I hope that you feel enlightened and educated and optimistic off the back of that research.
00:29:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
I certainly am. So let us know in the comments what you think. Are you looking forward to winning the Champions League in 10 years' time? Let us know. Can't wait. We're on X, Blue Sky,
00:30:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
YouTube we're on the global sports podcast Network YouTube channel oh Check us all out all of the other football podcasts on there. There's a whole wealth of football content for you to devour We're on tick tock. We're on Instagram Give us a rating on Spotify leave us a rating on Apple podcasts. Thank you very much We will be back tomorrow with our crossover episode with Bournemouth. It's not Darby and Look forward to seeing you then.