With a 2-1 home defeat to Hull City leaving them in 15th position in the Championship league and 10 points below a play-off spot, Southampton’s recovery following their decision to remove Will Still and replace him with Tonda Eckert feels like a distant memory.

The Saints have now lost seven league games in a row, dating back to December 9, however their FA Cup campaign began positively, with a 3-2 win at Doncaster securing a home draw against Leicester City in the competition’s Fourth Round.

Sport Republic’s decision to sell striker Dom Ballard, who had been with the club for a decade after coming up through their youth system, to League One Leyton Orient on transfer deadline day last summer has raised questions about the club’s owners’ intentions.

Southampton owners lambasted over Dom Ballard’s exit; he should’ve been given Saints opportunity.

According to Football League World’s interview with Southampton fan pundit Martin Sanders, Ballard’s growth at Orient has been a primary priority for the club’s supporters.He’s the most talked-about Saints player following Tonda Eckert and yesterday’s loss to Hull City.

Dom Ballard has 15 goals for Leyton Orient, including another hat-trick yesterday. He is one of our own; he graduated from our academy but was never given a senior level opportunity.”

Martin sympathizes with Ballard’s treatment by the club and recognizes who is responsible for the situation.In pre-season, I saw him at Eastleigh in a friendly, among a group of players who weren’t even in the match-day squad. I feel really sorry for him, because he needed to be given an opportunity, and we went on to buy Damion Downs, which speaks volumes about recruitment under this ownership.”They consistently make poor recruitment decisions.”Many supporters want to know if there is a buy-back clause, but there won’t be, will there? Our loss is Leyton Orient’s gain. He will be an excellent striker. Throw him into the Championship, and he will undoubtedly come back to haunt us.”

Dom Ballard is achieving his potential too late for Southampton.

Dom Ballard, who joined Southampton as an eight-year-old, was sold to Leyton Orient for an undisclosed six-figure fee at the end of the summer 2025 transfer window, bringing an end to a 12-year association between the player and a club that frequently appeared to be at a loss for what to do with him.

Ballard signed professional terms with the Saints in 2022 at the age of 17, although he spent the next three years on loan at Reading, Blackpool, and Cambridge United. He had only two bench appearances for the Saints, both at the end of the 2022-23 season, and played a total of 24 minutes.

And the striker has thrived at Brisbane Road in ways he never could have at St Mary’s.

On the same day that Southampton lost at home to Hull, Leyton Orient defeated Reading 3-1 in League One, and Ballard scored a hat-trick in twenty minutes, bringing his season total to 15 league goals from 20 appearances. He has been the undeniable highlight of Orient’s otherwise lackluster season thus far.

Southampton fans have long complained about the club’s management by its owners. It was claimed at the beginning of November that anti-Sport Republic songs were heard during a home game against Preston North End, and that dissatisfaction appears certain to grow if the Saints do not turn their form around and get back on track.

Sport Republic purchased the club in 2022, but it’s tough to deny that Southampton has been in decline since then.

The Saints had an unbroken run of ten years in the Premier League when they completed their purchase. However, they were relegated in 2023, and a future as a yo-yo club between the top two divisions appears to be out of reach currently, based on this season’s underachievement.

Dom Ballard was one of Southampton’s own, and his transfer to Leyton Orient without having proven himself at St Mary’s is another blemish on their record.

His progress this season may have been difficult to predict, but Saints fans are not in a forgiving mood at the moment, given their team’s flat-lining performances on the pitch this season, and protests against the owners appear likely to grow angrier and louder unless their team’s performances on the pitch improve significantly. The Hull defeat suggested that there is little chance of it happening at the present.