Balanced Southampton claim made on Dragan Solak - area that's a "disaster" highlighted | OneFootball

FLW's Southampton fan pundit has given his verdict on Dragan Solak's running of the club

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Dragan Solak took greater control of the running of Southampton earlier this year by becoming the club’s chairman.

The Serbian businessman is the leading investor in the Saints’ owner Sport Republic, and he is now taking a more hands-on approach by taking over from Henrik Kraft in January.

The Hampshire outfit suffered relegation from the Premier League last summer, albeit their place in the bottom three was all but guaranteed when Solak took over as chairman.

A busy transfer window period also saw the appointment of Will Still as manager, but it has been an underwhelming start to the new Championship season.

Southampton will be keen to gain promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt, but they are currently in the bottom half of the table.

Dragan Solak’s mixed record at Southampton

When asked about the job Solak is doing at the club, FLW’s Southampton fan pundit Martin Sanders claimed it’s a difficult one to judge as he’s had good moments and bad.

He believes their transfer business has been mixed, and their record with manager is poor, but that other moves behind the scenes at St. Mary’s have made for positive changes.

“Tough one, really, since they’ve come in it’s been tough for them,” Sanders told Football League World.

“I like Solak, I think he likes the club, loves the club.

“I don’t think he’s probably had the right people around him at times, I think he’s maybe had some bad transfer business, some good transfer business.

“Two relegations since they’ve been in charge, so they get a lot of criticism down here. I guess they’re going to cause of the relegations and the **** time we’ve had.

“I don’t think it’s been great, has it really? I think he’s a good guy, and I like that Sport Republic have done a lot behind the scenes, trying to get stuff in place at the club.

“Just the footballing side’s been a bit of a disaster.

“They’re not very good with managers, they’ve gone through a lot of managers.”

Southampton’s poor start under Will Still

Still will be under pressure to turn around the team’s form when the league returns to action from the international break.

A run of one win in their last eight league games has left them sitting 17th in the table, with just 11 points from nine fixtures.

Next up for Southampton is a home game against Swansea City on 18 October in a 12.30pm kick-off at St. Mary’s.

Southampton’s owners need Will Still to come good

Still was a promising appointment because of his track record in France, and the fact he’s only 32 and already in this prominent role shows he could become a top manager in the future.

Since buying the club in January 2022, Sport Republic have appointed the likes of Nathan Jones, Russell Martin, Ivan Juric and now Still.

To go through so many coaches in such a short space of time is not a great look for prospective hires, so they really need this to work out with Still.

There is no doubt there is still plenty of talent in the squad, even with big player sales in the last few years, so they should at least be in contention for a play-off place by the end of the year, or else Still and Solak will both be under a lot of pressure.