Will Still was given marching orders by Southampton over the weekend. However, if we're being completely honest, this hardly inspires any idea of a fight-back, and instead, fans are just awaiting the next poor recruitment.
Under Still, Southampton reached 21st in the Championship table. After coaching 13 games in the English second flight, he won just two games.
Some might say that Still was not given enough time to prove himself. But others argue that it was better he was sent packing when he was, rather than pointlessly wait like the club did with both Russell Martin and Ivan Jurić before him.
Will Still sacking highlighted Southampton's flaws under Sport Republic
Southampton has taken a straight nosedive under Sport Republic. The owners are frankly some of the worst in the country, and until a change is made above coaching level, Southampton as a club will continue to underperform, and fan frustration will continue to be at an all-time high.
Manager | League Wins |
|---|---|
Nathan Jones | 1 |
Ruben Selles | 1 |
Russell Martin | 27 |
Simon Rusk | 0 |
Ivan Jurić | 1 |
Will Still | 2 |
These stats were provided by Sky Sports, and they show just how poor Southampton managers have been since Sport Republic took over in January 2022.
What's hilarious is that Still started better than most of the managers who came before him. But nowadays, the Sport Republic patience is so thin that he was given next to no time to make things better.
From the squad's perspective, the recruitment has not been great, either.
Ever since January 2022, only a few Southampton signings can be considered as successful signings. In fact, we could probably name them off the top of our heads: Joe Aribo, Ryan Manning and Ronnie Edwards.
Others were successful signings too, but they were sold for a profit before Southampton fans could really enjoy them. Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Romeo Lavia spring to mind here.
On the flip side, some truly awful signings were made under Sport Republic, those including Gavin Bazunu, Paul Onuachu and Maxwel Cornet. It wasn't always the players' faults, but instead, a poor light should be cast on Southampton ownership.
So, Southampton's biggest flaw in recent seasons is impossible to ignore, and that's been the club's recruitment. It is not always down to the ownership to recruit players or managers, but they have the discretion to hold any decision makers accountable, which they haven't done.
Fans do not know what the solution is going forward. However, it's pretty easy to make a guess that Southampton would be better off without Sport Republic - They were before, and they could be again.