Sport Republic: Time To Sell Southampton? | OneFootball

Just thirty minutes into Southampton’s match against Preston North End, St Mary’s Stadium became audibly furious.

“Sport Republic, get out of our club,” sang the Saints fans, as well as, “Sack the board.”

When Sport Republic acquired Southampton Football Club just three years ago, taking a majority stake of 80%, supporters became cautiously optimistic – for the first time in a while. After scraping through four long years under the previous ownership of Gao Jisheng, fans were relieved to see a new ownership group promising long-term stability and investment.

Sport Republic emphasised a patient, long-term project built on sustainability, rather than “buying success”. Then-Chairman Henrik Kraft (who resigned in 2025) promised to be an “active and engaged owner” who would not be “starting any revolutions,” recognising that the club was already well-run and that his impact would be felt over time. But three years on, those promises of patience and progress look increasingly hollow.

In the last 51 league games, Southampton have won just 4 times. Fans are growing tired of a club experiencing a spiralling downfall. Is time up for the failing ownership group?

SPort Republic’s Promises

Backed by current Chairman and lead stakeholder Dragan Šolak, fronted by Rasmus Ankersen alongside Henrik Kraft, Sport Republic presented itself as a modern, data-driven football group — a network built on smart investment and shared expertise, with Southampton as its flagship.

Overseeing football strategy and this new era on the South Coast was Rasmus Ankersen — the FC Midtjylland chairman who oversaw three league titles and played a major role in Brentford’s rise to the Premier League. Cliff Crown, Brentford FC Chairman, summed up his departure:

This excited Saints fans. Implementing a modern and intelligent approach to the club’s football operations felt like the rejuvenation it needed, especially after the slow decline of the past six years.

Many promises were made during their arrival. They had pledged that Southampton would be the “cornerstone” of their network, which included European sides Göztepe and Valenciennes. These clubs were to aid Southampton’s development, creating an effective and efficient pathway for players and staff across the network.

Southampton under Sport Republic

154 matches

41 wins

32 draws

81 defeats

185 goals scored

279 goals conceded

2 relegations

7 managers

The club currently sit 21st in the EFL Championship. Is another relegation inbound?

SEVEN MANAGERS IN THREE YEARS

2022 – Ralph Hasenhüttl: Entered Sport Republic’s new era as a survivor — the man who’d kept Southampton afloat on pennies. However, once real money arrived, his project quickly fell apart. Huge changes were made in the summer: assistants Kelvin Davis, Dave Watson and Craig Fleming were booted, while a herd of inexperienced signings were brought in — Gavin Bazunu, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Duje Ćaleta-Car, Joe Aribo and Sékou Mara, to name a few.

Despite spending more than in previous years, the squad still lacked a proven striker, with failed moves for Gonçalo Ramos and Cody Gakpo proving vitally missed. Just 12 points from 14 games and sitting in the relegation zone led to the Austrian head coach being dismissed — a decision now viewed as the beginning of the end. The first time he was properly backed, he fell short, and the presumed new era started with a controversial sacking.

2022-2023 – Nathan Jones: Arriving in November 2022, with a reputation as an overachiever, he was a passionate coach who had transformed Luton. His January signings were symbolic of a window gone wrong, though: £6 million winger Mislav Oršić, fresh from the World Cup, played just six Premier League minutes — one minute per million spent. The Welsh manager won only once in eight league games, and by February, he was gone, just 95 days into his tenure on the South Coast.

Jones’s struggles were beyond the pitch too. He seemed overwhelmed by the Premier League spotlight, cracking under media pressure and, comedically, proclaiming that “statistically, there weren’t many better than us in Europe (at Luton)” — a quote that summarised his failure at Saints. In hindsight, his brief spell feels less like failure and more like misplacement: a capable, yet wild, coach thrown too early into an unforgiving environment. With his lower-league success at Luton and now at Charlton, it felt like a pre-fire Championship appointment: right manager, wrong time.

2023 – Ruben Sellés: When Sellés stepped in after Nathan Jones’s exit, the momentum looked subtle but real. He opened with a 1–0 win at Chelsea, followed by credible draws against Arsenal and Manchester United. He also showed faith in younger players, particularly Carlos Alcaraz, whose raw ability, passion and goal against Leicester briefly lifted spirits. But the load proved too heavy.

Southampton were a club in freefall, deprived of identity and confidence, and Sellés was a mixed bag overall. Eleven defeats across his short reign showed that the problems ran far deeper than his role. The flashes of resilience couldn’t disguise the rot underneath — and by the end of the year, it was clear that sacking Hasenhüttl had solved nothing and was merely a panic decision.

2023-2024 – Russell Martin: Undoubtedly the most successful manager out of the many Sport Republic recruitments, Southampton fans learnt to love Russell Martin in the 2023/24 season that saw the club promoted from the Championship through the play-offs.

His style of play, that had worked well in the second tier, came to Southampton’s detriment in the Premier League, and St Mary’s grew tired of a system built on repeating the same passing out from the back sequences. The squad just couldn’t cope with the technical aspect of the top flight, and Martin was sacked in the December of 2024. A sad ending, but the Scotsman was just too naive.

2024-2025 – Ivan Jurić: Sport Republic’s replacement for Russell Martin, Ivan Jurić, was supposed to bring in a ‘no-nonsense’ approach in ruffling a few feathers to sort out the team’s fortunes. He did, in fact, ruffle many feathers, but far too many.

Just one win and a period of disorganised chaos, playing players such as Joe Aribo in a back three high-line. The same number of mistakes, and even more woes. Relegation was confirmed under Jurić, who suggested he’d happily stay for the club’s Championship rebuild, but was fired swiftly.

2025 – Simon Rusk: The rest of the season was given to coach Simon Rusk, who simplified things. The problem was, that the complete lack of identity meant there were no means for Southampton to win Premier League games. It was a squad out of their depth completely.

2025-present – Will Still: The latest manager, this time appointed by new Sporting Director Johannes Spors, appears to be yet another lamb to the slaughter. The last thing Southampton needed in a period of chaos was another gamble, but the appointment of 33-year-old former-Reims and RC Lens boss Will Still has spelled more trouble.

After thirteen league games, the club has won just twice. It is evident that the problems lie much deeper, and fans are voting with their voices for change. This time, not in a manager but ownership.

DISASTROUS RECRUITMENT

Sport Republic’s problems stem from their shambolic recruitment over the multiple transfer windows they’ve had. They have amassed a spending of £311.28m (as per Transfermarkt), which simply has not translated onto the pitch.

The mood was set after their first winter window, where Sport Republic should have made a statement signing for a team that was pulling together decent results and had a feel-good factor, to help then-manager Ralph Hassenhüttl. However, they did not; they chose to wait and assess, which ended in Southampton going on a run of 1 win in 15, a trend that continued into the following season.

2022/23 was a mess and the catalyst for everything catastrophic. Ralph realistically overstayed his welcome at the club and should have gone over the summer, allowing Sport Republic to get their man in (didn’t end well anyway). They also failed to get a striker, with deals for Cody Gakpo and Gonçalo Ramos faltering and nothing materialising for Armando Broja.

Then Nathan Jones happened (less said the better) and along came Paul Onuachu and Mislav Orsic too, just summing up their failures as owners.

Southampton’s inevitable relegation came, and then there was a breath of fresh air with Russell Martin and how the day-to-day club ran with Jason Wilcox, and for some time, there was a sense of happiness and fans having their football club back.

Wilcox leaves, and this is where the unacceptable begins. Sport Republic decide to do things their own way again (as if it went well the first time), and it was a catastrophe. They signed below-average Championship players when returning to the Premier League, and bar Mateus Fernandes, was a complete catastrophe, failing to back manager Russell Martin with the quality he needed and assuming a strike force of Archer, Brereton Diaz, and Armstrong would keep us up? Impossible.

They then sack Russell Martin and appoint Ivan Juric, who adopts a polar opposite in footballing style. The team wallowed in self-pity and go out with a whimper, breaking all sorts of unwanted records in the Premier League.

Nobody can ever succeed with the loser mentality culture that Sport Republic have instilled. New manager Will Still will probably get sacked and do a lot better with another team elsewhere. The players are a disgrace and it’s down to the handling from Sport Republic, who came in and wanted to make Southampton a top ten Premier League team. However, they derailed a stable club, who now look set to rot in the Championship for years to come unless something of a miracle occurs.

BEWARE THE DRAGAN

Early 2025, Dragan Solak, who until then had only been Sport Republic’s investor, made it clear that he’d had enough of his money being wasted.

Henrik Kraft stepped down as Chairman, with Solak assuming his role.

It showed Solak’s patience had wavered completely thin, but now all the pressure was on him to deliver, in charge of the club

multi-club model

Drawing inspiration from the City Football Group model, Sport Republic arrived on the South Coast with a proposition: to add Southampton to a network, alongside Turkish side Göztepe and French club Valenciennes, creating an interconnected pathway to develop young prospects.

The City Football Group popularised this modern multi-club approach – linking clubs across countries to share scouting, coaching and commercial infrastructure – and Sport Republic described itself as the same idea, but on a smaller scale. That influence was clear early on: Southampton began recruiting from City’s youth ranks and even went on to appoint City’s Academy Director, Jason Wilcox, as Director of Football at St Mary’s.

In practice, though, the multi-club model has yet to benefit Southampton. While the City Group perfected a structure where knowledge flows both up and down the chain, Sport Republic’s network has felt very fragmented. Göztepe and Valenciennes have remained largely separate, offering little substantial value to Southampton’s football operations. Collaboration has rarely materialised, and the clubs’ recruitment, style and performance show few signs of any shared methodology.

Signings such as goalkeeper Mateusz Lis have summed it up perfectly. Initially signed by Southampton, he didn’t make one senior appearance for the club, despite signing a five-year deal. He was loaned to Göztepe, after a pointless loan move to Troyes the season prior, before joining the Turkish side permanently just a season later.

What has meant to be a functioning ecosystem has, so far, resembled three clubs operating with isolated objectives, rather than working together.

Pre-season games between Sport Republic’s network clubs have offered a minor positive: they give coaches and players the chance to bond and build togetherness within the setup. However, the impact isn’t revolutionary. After all, friendlies can be arranged with almost any team. While these matches support internal unity, they’ve done minimal attempts to address the wider structural issues holding Southampton back.

COMMERCIAL SUCCESS

Since Sport Republic took control of Southampton, on-pitch results have been mostly disappointing. Off the pitch, however, the club has made notable commercial strides. Level 1, an entertainment hub inside St Mary’s, offers varied entertainment, creating year-round revenue beyond matchdays. The Dell, a club-branded pub, provides fan community while generating hospitality income too.

There’s also been investment in fan zones around the stadium, including the Northam Fan Zone, with big screens, food, bars, and live music. These spaces improve the overall matchday experience, keep supporters on site longer, and increase spending on food, drink, and merchandise. Overall, these initiatives help the club diversify income and reduce reliance on purely ticket sales or broadcast revenue.

Fans, rightly, express irritation that off-field endeavours are being prioritised as the team struggles in the league. While some fans find this frustrating, reminding the club that its primary purpose is football, the heightened revenue does offer long-term benefits. By strengthening commercial income, the Saints can invest more in the squad, facilities, and infrastructure.

But when it comes to the team and staff themselves, have they really spent that money wisely… ever?

ACADEMY BACK TO ITS’ BEST

Under Sport Republic’s ownership, the Southampton Academy has continued to show consistent signs of development and talent production. For example, the Under-21s reached the Premier League 2 play-off final last season. While they lost to Manchester City, it’s an achievement for the academy to build and hopefully improve upon in the future.

There have been two standout academy graduates — Tyler Dibling and Jay Robinson — who have made genuine breakthroughs into the senior setup recently, which is a strong indicator of the pathway and improved integration working. Dibling signed his first professional contract with Saints after progressing through the ranks from the age of eight, gained England youth international recognition and made countless first-team appearances last season, as one of the few bright sparks of the Saints’ campaign, thus leading to his £42m move to Everton in the summer – a record fee for an academy graduate of the Saints.

Robinson also signed a professional contract in July 2024 and made his senior debut for Southampton in April 2025, becoming one of the club’s youngest Premier League players. The winger has become a usual figure in this season’s squad, with over 450 minutes played. This demonstrates the Academy is succeeding in creating a bridge to the first team. Youngster Moses Sesay was given opportunities in pre-season, so as his development furthers, he’ll be the next one to keep an eye on…

As a Category 1 academy, also being ranked 9th in a comparison of English clubs in October 2024, Southampton’s youth setup and academy remain among the most respected in the country. This standing reflects not only the quality of its coaching and facilities but also the club’s continued commitment to player development under Sport Republic

JOHANNES SPORS: A LAST HOPE?

New Sporting Director at Southampton Football Club, Johannes Spors, was personally appointed by Dragan Solak, labelling him as the man to rebuild the club.

The little hope left for Sport Republic lies in the job Johannes Spors does.

In 2023, the man seen as the long-term future for Southampton, Jason Wilcox, left for Manchester United. He was not properly replaced until 2025 – a key mistake that appears to be one of Sport Republic’s biggest.

Solak cannot afford to lose Johannes Spors now.

Solak further spoke to Alfie House, of the Southern Daily Echo on the matter:

“At United Group, I developed extremely successful management incentive programmes that allowed me never to lose one manager.

“The combination of equity, feeling, loyalty to the team, and everything else, meant I never ever lost one manager to anybody in this business.

“I still don’t have a structure that I can do that in Southampton, but I’m working on it. I want to keep the talent that we have at home.

“My idea is that next time I really have someone who is really good, I can offer him something that maybe Manchester United can’t offer.

“But that’s a very special offer and these people have to be very special. It’s not easy, we will have to redo the whole organisational structure of the club.”

Spors has been handed the ultimate control of the club’s football decisions at Saints. He decided on Will Still to become the new Saints manager, chooses the club’s transfer targets and gives Solak a list of Saints players to sell.

He has also built an executive team at Staplewood, including the hiring of former colleagues Elliot Stapley, Nikola Ladan and Tim Lederer.

SUPPORTER’S VIEWs

We spoke to Glen de la Cour, the writer behind League One Minus 10, who discussed Southampton’s recruitment strategy, Sport Republic’s multi-club model, and the importance of Johannes Spors’ role in the club’s future.

“There have been too many gambles in areas that we couldn’t afford for it not to work. Signing a 21-year-old striker from Bundesliga 2 (Damion Downs) and expecting him to hit the ground running was ludicrous on the face of it. We needed a central striker to play in the team and be productive straight away, and that was very obvious, and that was identified.”

“By definition, we are always going to be taking a bit of a chance because we haven’t got the money to splash out on anyone who would be any sort of guarantee, but [if] you are going to sign a player from abroad, you can make it more likely to work by signing a slightly older player who has a better chance of adapting.”

“We don’t do this, however, because we have this thing about resale value, but that needs rethinking because most of the time, young players don’t sign a contract extension anyway.”

“Sport Republic have usually signed players because of the individual player and his potential for a big fee further down the line, rather than signing what we need to put a functioning team on the pitch.”

“This season, the recruitment seems to have failed around understanding what was required in the Championship. For me, we needed three big, horrible bastards for the spine of the team.”

“The other side is, of course, the selling of players, and though I acknowledge it is difficult, mainly because of the money that players in England get, we didn’t get enough out of the door in the summer, which both limited the amount we could spend and left us with a bloated squad of very average players, many of which I’m convinced the manager doesn’t want.”

Something that was so unique about Sport Republic was the multi-club model. Have the Saints seen some, if any, benefits from this?

“On the face of it, we have seen absolutely no benefit as the main club in the multi-club model. Players have come into Göztepe and then moved on outside the group without ever setting foot in Southampton.”

“[Kuryu] Matsuki’s loan spell could possibly be seen as a positive, but he is currently not getting in our squad, so it’s very hard to be positive about the benefit that the multi-club model has had for Southampton.”

How important do you think Johannes Spors’ tenure will be for Sport Republic — could his success or failure ultimately decide whether the project survives?

“I’m sure the project will survive at least until the parachute payments run out, at which point Dragan Solak may decide it’s time to cut his losses. Spors’ tenure is vital for stopping the bottom falling out of the finances if we don’t get promoted either this season or next. Personally, I hope he sticks around and learns the lessons from this transfer window for January and beyond.”

“However, if Juventus are really interested, then he is gone, and we are back to square one, trying to find someone else, and if they do need someone else, they have to get someone with experience of this division.”

Will Sport Republic sell the club?

The fanbase is becoming restless, and are becoming tired of Sport Republic’s ownership. The club is a toxic place, and clearly this problem can’t lie with every managerial appointment.

But Dragan Solak “loves the club” and says:

After speculation that the club was up for sale this summer, he addressed the rumour an interview:

Sport Republic made the acquisition of Southampton Football Club in 2023 for a figure around £100m. As a Championship club, the value of the club will not be close to this, with a lack of player assets too.

While Dragan Solak says he’d sell the club if he believed his ownership was a problem, actions speak louder than words, and the reality of taking a huge loss on investment would undoubtedly be a poor business move for him.

WRITERS’ THOUGHTS

Alex Comber: Personally, I think I’ve been one of the more patient supporters with Sport Republic. Dragan Solak admitted mistakes of the past, and appears to really want to address them. The appointment of Johannes Spors was undoubtedly their last chance to make amends, but this season has shown just how deep the problem lies. Simply selling the club is easier said than done, but I’m quite lost to what Sport Republic have to give to the city. It’s upsetting to see what has happened to the club since their ownership began in 2022.

Christian Lovegrove: It’s been a downward spiral during Sport Republic’s tenure. The sheer amount of money spent has been a breath of fresh air, but as good things go for the Saints, there’s always a caveat. The recruitment is constantly a gamble. It seems that, amongst a huge overhaul of signings, which has happened every summer, there’s always only one or two that work out. One or two is never going to be a successful ratio. Southampton have become trapped in a cycle of short-term fixes and costly experiments with no clear vision behind the spending. Until planned recruitment and real leadership return, they’ll keep treading water, no matter how much money goes in.

Alex Oliva: Backing Sport Republic to change their ways has been tough. But enough is enough. They have ruined this great football club for the fans and the city. I backed them assuming they would change, however they have failed multiple multiple times and the culture within the football club will not change unless they leave. Luckily they have built good foundations for the club to look attractive to any prospective buyer looking to invest and take us back to where we belong.