Southampton has experienced significant change under Sport Republic’s management.
Southampton’s goal this season will be to return to the Premier League as soon as possible.
In an extremely dismal first full season under Sport Republic’s ownership, the Saints were demoted from the top division last season.
Sport Republic, led by Serbian tycoon Dragan Solak, acquired an eighty percent share in Southampton in January 2022. In their first summer at the club, Sport Republic pursued a daring transfer policy, bringing in the majority of young players.
Longtime manager Ralph Hasenhuttl was fired in November following a dismal season opener, and Nathan Jones took over as manager at St Mary’s, but the Welshman had a terrible three months at the helm.
After Jones was fired in February, Ruben Selles took over for the rest of the season, although he was unable to keep the team from being relegated.
Despite some difficult moments this season, Russell Martin’s Saints are still in automatic promotion contention. Martin joined the team in the summer after leaving Swansea City.
Southampton has games in hand on the teams above them and is presently ranked fourth in the Championship table, nine points behind leaders Leeds United and second-place Leicester City.
Southampton fan pundit rates owners Sport Republic
Martin Sanders, a Southampton fan commentator for FLW, feels that Sport Republic’s ownership is still in the early stages and that the team needs to improve after making some bad choices in the previous season in order to return to the Premier League.
“It’s still quite hard to judge Sport Republic, to be honest,” Martin said. “I’d give them a 6/10 right now, we were a Premier League club when they came in, and we ended up getting relegated under their ownership.
“We had a terrible January transfer window when we were trying to fight to stay up, two terrible manager choices in Nathan Jones and Ruben Selles, two of the worst Southampton managers I’ve ever witnessed in the 40 years that I’ve been supporting the football club.
“Selles was the most stubborn manager, and he got left off quite lightly actually because he did a terrible job in my opinion. “It’s not been great, and they’ve got to get us back to the Premier League, which is really important.”
Sport Republic is picking up tips from past Southampton errors
It makes sense that some Southampton fans are still wary of Sport Republic, and they definitely made some dubious choices in the last campaign.
They should be congratulated for holding out for high prices for players like James Ward-Prowse, Romeo Lavia, and Tino Livramento in the summer so that Martin could rebuild the team. Nevertheless, their management of the team has significantly improved since relegation.
Their strategy of signing young players could pay off in the long run. Players like Gavin Bazunu, Samuel Edozie, and Sekou Mara, who were all signed last season, have all appeared much better in the Championship.
However, Sport Republic will be evaluated based on results, and if the team doesn’t get promoted back to the Premier League, this season will be seen as just another setback.