Southampton are majority owned by Sport Republic.
The London-based sports investment firm acquired the St Mary’s outfit in January 2022 and have overseen a difficult period.
Since taking charge at Southampton, the firm founded by Rasmus Andersen and Henrik Kraft and financed by lead investor Dragan Solak have seen the Saints finish bottom of the Premier League.
They have also had four different managers during their tenure, with Ralph Hasenhuttl initially keeping his job when the takeover was completed but sacked in October 2022.
Nathan Jones replaced the Austrian, before coach Ruben Selles stepped up to become manager after taking temporary charge following the Welshman’s short stint at the club.
Relegation was seen as a fresh start, with since-departed sporting director Jason Wilcox coming in and appointing Russell Martin as manager as the Saints looked to shift to a more possession-focused style.
There was also a huge turnaround of players last summer, with 18 players either leaving permanently, on loan or retiring according to Transfermarkt.
Whilst that is enough to keep any owners occupied, Sport Republic have to balance their running of Southampton with their two sister clubs: Goztepe in Turkey and Valenciennes in France.
Southampton sister club Goztepe enjoying successful season
With Southampton’s relegation last season it meant that all three of Sport Republic’s football club’s played in their respective country’s second tier.
The aim at Southampton has been clear from the outset of the season, with an instant return to the Premier League the target.
The Saints have failed to do that via automatic promotion after a disappointing end to the campaign, but have a second chance through the play-offs with one game to go in the conventional Championship season.
Ahead of the play-offs, Southampton players and staff could do worse than look at the achievements of one of their sister clubs.
In a weekend in which Martin saw his side slump to a 1-0 home defeat to Stoke City, Goztepe secured promotion to the Turkish Super Lig with a 2-0 win over Gencelerbiligi.
This victory wrapped up a second-placed finish for Goztepe with two games remaining and the celebrations were a sight to behold, with the official Southampton ‘X’ account quick to acknowledge the achievement.
The Saints account posted: “A fantastic achievement. Congratulations from everyone at #SaintsFC!
Goztepe defensive record envy of Southampton
As well as looking across to Turkey for promotion inspiration, Southampton could well do with some of the defensive resilience their sister club have shown this season.
The Turkish outfit, managed by Bulgarian Stanimir Stoilov, have conceded just 19 goals in their 32 league games this season.
In comparison, Martin’s Saints have let in 62 in 45 Championship matches.
All the more impressive is the fact that Goztepe have managed to keep a remarkable 19 clean sheets, with their promotion built on solid foundations defensively.
Southampton first-choice goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu is likely to be sidelined well into next season due to an achilles injury sustained in the warm-up for the 3-0 win over Preston.
Even prior to that, there were question marks from many around Southampton’s goalkeeper situation, with Bazunu performances raising concerns when you look at the statistics.
The Goztepe goalkeeper who has kept all 19 of these clean sheets is Mateusz Lis.
The 27-year-old stopper is on loan from the Saints and is yet to play a competitive game for the club he signed for in summer 2022.
Given Bazunu’s injury – coupled with the fact neither Alex McCarthy or Joe Lumley are likely to be trusted to be the Southampton number one next season – this likely means Southampton will be after a new ‘keeper this summer.
Could this open the door for Lis to stake his claim to be Martin’s goalkeeper next season?