In 2023, Dragan Šolak pledged that the club's owners would be more involved going forward. The club had just suffered its first relegation from the Premier League of the Sport Republic era and the lead investor put that down mostly to having a too hands off approach.
Fast forward two and a half years and Southampton find themselves in an even worse situation. Having been relegated again from the Premier League with an embarrassingly low total of just 12 points, Sport Republic have contrived to plunge the club even further into trouble and into the bottom half of the Championship. What has been going on?
Morphing from lead investor to the Chairman of Sport Republic, Šolak's response after the 2022/23 relegation was to part company with the club's CEO and director Martin Semmens. Jason Wilcox came in as director of football and Andy Young became the club's first ever independent director. Rasmus Ankerson, founder of Sport Republic, continued in his role as CEO of Sport Republic.
Martin's appointment was inspired at first
The subsequent appointment of Russell Martin proved to be inspired and the Saints literally passed teams into submission on their way to promotion back to the Premier League, albeit via the Championship play-offs and a memorable victory over Leeds United at Wembley.
But as Russell Martin's side floundered in the Premier League, Southampton's club chairman Henrik Kraft was replaced by Solak who in turn sent Martin packing and replaced him with Ivan Juric.
There was no improvement and, after Juric was sacked, Saints resorted to parking the bus under interim boss Simon Rusk in search of the odd point or two.
As Southampton head into the busiest part of the 2025/26season, they are once again without a permanent manager, having recently sacked the luckless Will Still and they sit 17th in the EFL Championship table.
The writing was on the wall a long-time ago
The writing was on the wall very early in Sport Republic's tenure. At the end of the 2022/23 season Southampton had been cut adrift at the bottom of the league, a distant 11-points from safety.
That was the season that saw Ralph Hasenhütl fired in November after Saints dropped into the bottom three only to be replaced by Luton Town's Nathan Jones.
Jones quickly became a figure of ridicule among the fans and the media. As results worsened, his interviews became increasingly bizarre. Jones was very soon replaced by Ruben Selles as interim boss and, despite a remarkable away win against Chelsea, Saints' poor form continued and they were relegated.
Solak's response then, as it has been again more recently, was to increase his control over footballing matters to the point of over-interference. Before he was Chairman of Sport Republic, Solak perceived too much distance. In an interview with The Times, he likened it to acting “like a parent who is sending money to their kid but not sending their love and attention.“
“It never works and it didn’t work in our case as well. That’s why we are going to be close, to show support, to know what is going on, and knowing exactly what the club needs. We thought a huge amount of financial support would resolve a lot but it didn’t really.”
It's obvious what Sport Republic must do next
On paper, Sport Republic can show you a crisp organisational chart with clear lines of responsibility.
However, in practice, the lines are blurred and responsibilities overlap. Dragan Šolak has moved ever closer to the decision making process as chairman of Southampton FC and the technical director, Johannes Spors', decision making appears to be both undermined and simultaneously protected by the board. Is this Šolak as the puppeteer and Spors' as the puppet?
Southampton fans are becoming increasingly confused by the lack of clarity and they really need somebody to be accountable for the club's failures and successes. If Johannes Spors is the one making the footballing appointments, then it's Spors who should front up to the fans and explain his thinking.
Currently, Southampton have a managerial appointment to make. Once again, the club has communicated nothing and their intentions are unclear. Fans are crying out for a 'proper' manager with Championship experience, but the board appears destined to appoint another rookie from within.
One key Sport Republic figure who is missing in action
Sport Republic's CEO, Rasmus Ankersen, is conspicuous by his absence. If there is one individual within Sport Republic who should know what is required, it is the former FC Midtjylland chairman and Brenford co-director of football.
Alas, Ankersen seems pre-occupied with Göztepe who are flying high in fifth place of the Turkish Süper Lig at the time of writing,
Southampton fans are being asked to put their faith in an entity, an organisation that operates under the name of Sport Republic. What those fans really need is a human to buy into or blame: the manager; the technical director; a player.
Šolak, the puppeteer, must cut the strings. He must learn to trust 'his kids' to run the football club and stop interfering in football matters. He must let Johannes Spors be the human face of Sport Republic and let Spors face the music if things don't improve.