SPORT Republic have endured a difficult first year as the stewards of Southampton Football Club and might now accept it likely ends in relegation.

It has to be time for those making the decisions on behalf of the investment firm to admit their mistakes and take their share of responsibility.

Firstly, a few things must be made clear. Lead investor Dragan Solak is not understood to be directly involved in day-to-day decision-making. 

It is largely his money that has been poured into the club in order to fund player investment the likes of which we have not seen in years at St Mary’s.

Equally, the austerity under Gao Jisheng due to Chinese foreign policy even further restricting cash flow to foreign enterprises had left Saints stale.

There remained an ageing squad that had been continually stripped of its best assets and was, although surviving on each occasion, dicing with death in the Premier League.

The club also had a manager worn from nearly four years of combat in the top-flight in Ralph Hasenhuttl, who needed fresh inspiration.

This is not to say it was or has been an easy job for Sport Republic, Rasmus Ankersen and Henrik Kraft. However, you only have to look at the timeline.

After acquiring the club in January 2022, if they were not going to fully back Hasenhuttl to be their man – they should have made a definitive decision sooner.

To their credit, they sacked the coaching team he had inherited and appointed a fresh load of new faces to support the Austrian in the summer.

But what followed was a media circus that undermined the experienced boss, while he also did not get given the striker the club so blatantly needed in the window.

Sport Republic doubled down on a youthful policy the club had already pursued and did not sign any Premier League experience other than loanee Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

Notably, Gavin Bazunu was made number one immediately following his move despite having never played above League One with no viable number two at the club.

Fraser Forster was allowed to walk to Tottenham Hotspur on a free transfer with Alex McCarthy and Willy Caballero staying at St Mary’s.

On an individual basis, the summer window has brought impressively found high-value assets to the club in Romeo Lavia and Armel Bella-Kotchap.

But, along with Juan Larios being ruled out for the season, both of the two young stars have spent significant time injured – perhaps not surprising given their youth.

Hasenhuttl was sacked in November and while his legacy was destroyed by gossip, Championship manager of the year Nathan Jones was picked as his replacement.

This was indirectly briefed as Ankersen’s man and someone he had wanted for a while – but he went on to win one game in eight in the league.

Ankersen was also left in a difficult position after Joe Shields – head of recruitment – departed the club just months into his tenure for Chelsea.

It meant the Dane was placed in charge of the January recruitment – which again saw significant money invested to try and save the club bottom of the Premier League.

Mislav Orsic has played nine league minutes, goalscorer Paul Onuachu is not favoured and Kamaldeen Sulemana – acquired for a club-record fee – has scored six goals in 58 games across Europe’s top five leagues. Kamaldeen is clearly a good player, though.

Luton Town’s James Bree was a Jones signing, obviously, and plays more for the B team than he does the seniors. Only Charly Alcaraz has found the net of the five, and he is a top, top find, which Sport Republic can claim credit for.

Ankersen then backed Jones in the fans’ forum in February despite his bizarre comments following the 3-0 defeat at Brentford, which lost him all remaining support externally.

Multiple sources within the club have commented on the basic level of Jones’s tactical interactions with the players and although it seemed an inevitability he remained in charge before a late defeat to Wolves.

To replace him – via a failed negotiation with Jesse Marsch, which was all but done before reconsidering from the American after speaking with the club chiefs – the search was extensive.

All the way down the corridor at Staplewood Campus was assistant coach Ruben Selles. In February, with 16 games to go, he’ll do. At least the players like him.

In all seriousness, the Spaniard had never managed a senior side before and was expected to lead the club from the bottom of the Premier League to safety.

Selles is polite, passionate, considerate and can go on to be a successful boss, but surely to end your season with the number two of the first man you sacked is never the plan?

Over the course of the year at times while Saints needed a manager, Aston Villa hired Unai Emery, Wolves went for Julen Lopetegui and Everton got Sean Dyche.

Only the latter is in trouble of relegation still, although the Toffees sit outside the drop zone for now - and Villa could even qualify for Europe.

For somebody outside of the club, it must be difficult to see how Selles was anything but a cheap and easy way out of another rather embarrassing situation.

It is time for some kind of public acknowledgement of the gravity of the situation from those making the decisions, for supporters to begin to forgive.

This is also not to say nobody else is culpable. All three managers and especially the players have played their roles in this downfall and should accept responsibility.

However, ultimately it was somebody’s job to appoint the men in charge and somebody’s role to assemble a squad good enough – not just in talent, but in mentality – to survive.

The beauty of football is that another season starts in the summer and it is a chance to put everything right. If they start winning games, much will be forgotten.

Kraft and Ankersen have both already moved to ease supporters’ concerns surrounding the financial implications of relegation and the goal will be an automatic return.

Hopefully, everybody involved will have learned from this situation and ensure that, if the Premier League journey is to come to an end soon, a new, improved one begins.