26 Jul 2014 18:23:09
On Calum Chambers, heard today from Pat Rice that the deal is done, he was asked to look at Calum at the last U19s England game and apparently it was between him and a guy from Olympiakos. he recommended Calum as his verdict was that he is better than Shaw as a complete player, especially interested in him becoming a CB for Arsenal. Pat knows a good player when he sees one. Don't understand why we are letting him go so early, he will be worth £25 million plus in 12-24 months time and we need him playing for Saints.

1.) 27 Jul 2014
27 Jul 2014 01:32:14
Something has been bothering me because rumour has it that most of the people calling for us to sign Forster have actually never seen him play. If true would you employ someone on top money if you didn't know what you are getting. I am not saying he is lousy keeper just wondered where all this knowledge is coming from.

2.) 27 Jul 2014
The club is letting him go because the player told Southampton he wanted to leave.
No point in keeping an unhappy player.

Fans have to grip this: the Board can't control what players want. They can't force players to sign and they can't order players to stay

3.) 27 Jul 2014
I think l'll put my trust in Dave Watson not anyone else. If he thinks he's good enough that's good enough for me.

4.) 27 Jul 2014
They can force players to stay, if they've signed a contact.
The problem is getting them to play well if they're heart's not in it!

5.) 27 Jul 2014
27 Jul 2014 08:56:39
how can a 19 tear old dictate to a club
telling the club he wants to leave and gets his wish more or less straight away
have this board got no balls at all
forestsaint

6.) 27 Jul 2014
Fatdave: the player did not say he wanted to leave, absolute rubbish!!

7.) 27 Jul 2014
I tell you why, £16m is a lot for a player when you have Clyne in the same position.

8.) 27 Jul 2014
27 Jul 2014 10:11:31
chambers did tell the club he wanted to leave fact
forestsaint

9.) 27 Jul 2014
Some fans are so deluded they think the board/owner are actually trying to do the best for the club which is absolute tosh! even if true then there best is not good enough!

10.) 27 Jul 2014
Talking about trusting someone, who did we trust when we signed Osvaldo? Doesn't always work out you know. Just seems loads of dough for an untried keeper in the Prem. He may be 3rd choice England keeper but do you know how many English keepers there are in the Premier League??

11.) 27 Jul 2014
Depth of squad?
what about injuries?
It's very rare fpr players to play every game, there will be times when we need to rest players and rotate the squad. We can't do this if we're selling, selling, selling and not replacing them.

12.) 27 Jul 2014
27 Jul 2014 10:59:52
St Tony you miss the point here. Calum Chambers is not merely a Right back he has the potential to be an influential central defender. And WHEN he plays for England it will be as a centre back. Arsenal and England under 19 recognise it why can't Southampton. Especially when the central defence is our Achilles heel. It is in this very area which will condemn us to a long hard winter in the bottom 6.

13.) 27 Jul 2014
Naive

saintben: As someone else confirmed, Chambers told the club he wanted to leave. Nonsense to believe otherwise.

Shaw told the club he wanted to leave over a year ago. Lovren wanted to leave blah blah etc

What is it with fans and naivety? This inability to understand that players don't see the club in the same way that fans do.

I warned on these ages that Shaw wanted out but fans repeatedly denied it over and over again. Until Shaw himself admitted it.

Players rarely ask for transfers nowadays; to avoid losing their loyalty bonus, they just indicate their desire to leave. Equally, tapping up doesn't really exist because agents do it all. When any club claims there has been no approach for a player from another club, what they aren't admitting is that the agents are negotiating with each party.

Equally, transfer fees are not paid in one lump sum like Football Manager. Chambers is being sold for 7 million, increasing to 16 million depending on clauses. The 7 million is being paid over 2 years; this is pretty much standard procedure.

Boards and managers can't stop players from wanting to leave. All they can do is maximise the price. New contracts are meaningless: it gives a player and agent extra money but fundamentally won't stop the player from asking to leave at a later date.

Boards also can't force players to sign. Its guaranteed that Southampton will be working hard to bring in new players but RK needs time and he needs time to assess the squad. The club is negotiating hard for Forster and I understand also for Vlaar and De Vries. I also keep hearing about links with Batshuayi.

Calm down

14.) 27 Jul 2014
Fatdave: yes you at naive!

Please tell me your sorce? I will happily put my hands up if I'm wrong. Waiting to hear from my mate who is a physio and told me about every player that has left.

He told me Lallana would def leave long before the World Cup. Chambers he has not said anything about and I don't believe he asked to leave. If wrong and my source says otherwise I will be the first to apologies! So where's your sorce?

Now let's assume he did ask to leave! Why the hell could we not say NO your not going end of story. He would of got over it soon enough. He will now have less playing time than he had with us.

Suarez was told by Liverpool he was going nowhere last season and that was that. He had his best ever season.

Selling chambers was a big mistake and now there at of the squad are naturally going to be considering their future.

Poch was told this would happen and that's why he left!

15.) 27 Jul 2014
I'm in agreement with Saint_ben here.
Fatdave for you to claim someone else as 'naive' and then in the same sentence state 'nonsense to believe otherwise' that is in FACT a naive way of viewing something (discounting other plausible answers/hypotheses/suggestions - call it what you want).
IMO - call it naive if you like, the talk of Chambers leaving is just too much for most Saints fans, since we've seen others leave and others being linked as leaving this transfer window (linked by strong reliable sources).
Our team/squad and vision is being ripped apart and it's us fans who are feeling the brunt

16.) 27 Jul 2014
Saintben: not sure you will ever see this because its already half way down the page.

I don't ever claim to have sources inside the club. My sources are outside the club involved in sporting finance.

I then balance this out will other reporting and informed judgement.
Consequently, (and I wasn't the only one) I predicted that Saints faced a meltdown this summer.
Shaw wanted out over a year ago.
Lovren wanted out.
Lallana wanted out but was uncertain over timelines
Schneiderlin wanted out.
I knew that MoPo was considering his future - but I was wrong in assessing he would stay.

Every time, anyone ever tried to say that players would leave, fans would shoot them down in flames. At times, I wish the Editors would repost some of the denials. "Shaw won't leave, he loves the club, signed a new contract" blah blah. aaaannd he's gone.

I will repeat (fact, as people are prone to say), Shaw was unhappy over a year ago and wanted to leave.

Now for Chambers: Spurs made an enquiry about a month ago. Chambers was interested but Spurs never followed this up. The news that Chambers was interested in a move was conveyed by his agent to other clubs, including Arsenal.

Arsenal have been looking at a full back from the Northern Irish league but based on scouting reports, asked about Chambers. His agent had already made the player aware, so when the enquiry was made, Chambers told the club wanted to move.

And let's face it: Arsenal are an attractive option for any player.

Very few Boards can afford to keep an unhappy player. You quote Suarez - Suarez was never happy at Liverpool and would have agitated this summer for a move anyway, which most insiders believe Liverpool agreed to last season. Suarez agreed to stay one more season before a promised move.

Re: MoPo. MoPo used this as an excuse to leave for Spurs. He wanted to leave anyway but by pinning the blame on the Board, he could deflect blame away from his own treachery. The Board made every reassurance but couldn't guarantee that players would stay because they couldn't afford to keep unhappy players. MoPo knew this but used it as an excuse.

17.) 27 Jul 2014
Yes, we can say no, but we seem only too happy to take the money

18.) 27 Jul 2014
Ok. Enough is enough. Loads of you are talking out of your arses.
The board are not doing their best for the club??
Well, maybe there is one fact to contradict that statement!!
Ronald Koeman anyone??
You really think he would have took this job if the board wanted to destroy the infrastructure of the club.
Seriously - engage brain before opening gobs!!