26 Jun 2015 13:40:13
Liverpool fan here.
Do you not feel your club should look to hold onto your best players at the end of a season. I understand you get offered a lot of money and look to re-invest it with smart cheaper purchases. On the face of it this makes sense but what happens when if you get it wrong this summer? Once again the best players in your squad are leaving and a few bad purchases could see some of your already suspect players found out. Clyne and Schneiderlin both gone. Without proper investment this summer Southampton will find it tough next year and moving forward. To achieve what you achieved last year will be so much harder this coming season. You will be lucky to finish in the top half yet I see fans here talking about possibly qualifying for Europe. Dreamboats.

1.) 26 Jun 2015
26 Jun 2015 17:57:42
why hold on to a player who does not want to stay. Better to get another player who wants to be at our club. same theory applies to Sterling and Suarez. Sterling will be of no loss to you but Suarez was. You now have Saints players at your club who got us to 7th. Enjoy. and enjoy paying back the £200m you will owe while we collect the interest on what we have. Calm Down!

2.) 26 Jun 2015
26 Jun 2015 18:14:42
You seem to forget we have a very clever manager in Ron Koeman
unlike bodgers at liverpool
Also saints got bwetter players in to replace the moneygrabbers lallana and lovren
No doubt saints will replace clyne and schneiderlin with better players than the ones leaving
May I suggest you worry about your wonderful team who have been living on past memories for years and will do so for years to come
forestsaint

3.) 26 Jun 2015
26 Jun 2015 18:17:32
Liverhampton will spend spend spend but still not get anywhere. Can anyone name one decent buy Brenda has made?

SFC will strengthen their squad wisely and with ROKO will match LFC any day!

4.) 26 Jun 2015
26 Jun 2015 18:38:59
That will be over 6o million quid now off little ol liverhampton for 4 players that just run of the mill players
THANK YOU
just hope woy hodgson stays on as your clubs recruiting agent
he is as bad at being an agent as he is a manager
forestsaint

{Ed001's Note - do you not feel the biggest issue is that players feel they have to play for particular clubs to stand a chance of getting picked regularly for England? Surely it should just be who is the better player for that position, rather than who is English that plays for the biggest clubs? Clyne is moving to secure an England place, which is ridiculous. England would rather play a poor Man Utd player out of position, than put in a Saints player in his correct position! It is insanity. I am not Clyne's biggest fan, I think Southampton use a system which protects him and makes him look better, but which English right back was better than him last season? To me it is showing a lack of respect to Southampton to leave him out, because it can only be based on who he plays for.}

5.) 26 Jun 2015
26 Jun 2015 18:45:13
The thing everyone forgets about this club is the scouting network. The club research every league, find the gems then they research the players backgrounds, family, everything. The club know which players will work (not just ability wise but who will buy into the ethos of the club). This is why the players we sign work and it seems like a seemless transition between the 20 million player we sold and the 5-10 million one no ones heard of we just bought.

Sure we won't be able to survive selling 6-8 first team players a year, but 1-2 a year is exactly what the network was set up for.

It's hard to hold on to a player who's wanted to leave for over a year, great player and deserves to play at a higher level than we are at the moment. More than likely he's off but there's no concrete proof of that. All he said was he was hopeful his future would be sorted before Monday.

It's even harder to hold onto a player with a year left on his contract, who won't sign a new one. Good luck with him though, seems another Lallana type, where he's a better player in his head than he is on the pitch.

6.) 26 Jun 2015
26 Jun 2015 19:12:28
Obviously knows nothing as usual for a Liverpool fan. Clyne is in his last year of his contract and won't sign a new one so not selling now would mean he leaves for free next summer. And Morgan was stopped last year from leaving and has a gentlemans agreement that if the right club comes in for him he can leave. I suggest you worry about Brenda buying from teams that finish below you rather than our transfer policy

7.) 26 Jun 2015
26 Jun 2015 19:20:34
Coutinho and Sturridge would walk into your side. Brenda bought them. As would Sakho and even Lovren(but only because fonte is your only decent cb) Also I understand you now hate him and call him a moneygrabber but do you not remember how good lallana was when he played with ye? He has never been replaced and would also walk back into your team. Brenda bought him too. I understand you all love Koeman but he has been far from a success in his managerial career but did do well with you lot last year. Sterling and Suarez both disgracefully forced their way out of the club and didn't simply ask to be let move to a bigger club like your players. You seem to think that its just automatic that when you sell a player whoever you buy to replace him will be better. What happens if that doesn't turn out to be the case this summer? Just think about it. What if Cedric proves to be not all that. You will do well to find a midfielder of the same quality as Scheiderlin and it doesn't look like Alderweireld will be back. One or two bad signings there would leave you in trouble.

8.) 26 Jun 2015
26 Jun 2015 20:57:59
Jack, do try and get some knowledge about what you talk about! Sterling and Suarez want to play for bigger clubs-what is the difference?
Apart from Coutinho, who we tried to sign, I don't think we would want to sign any player from Liverpool. Sturridge and Lallana? How often during a season can they WALK into anywhere?
Why worry about Cedric? A full international already. Why should it be a gamble-we leave that to Brenda to chuck money away on Marios. You will find Eds comment re Clyne is accurate, and like Lovren will look a good player until he is exposed.
Your recruitment "policy"(?) last summer to build a team to challenge in the CL was a total disaster, so you may want to consider whether you are going to make the same mistakes again rather than if our club can continue to progress. A repeat of last years mistakes will be Brendas swan-song which may be what most of your supporters want but would also bring turmoil as I would be uncertain your owners would wish to fund another rebuild.

9.) 26 Jun 2015
26 Jun 2015 23:11:09
Not even gunna bother replying to this lol

10.) 26 Jun 2015
26 Jun 2015 23:18:37
Sakho wouldn't even walk in to the stadium to watch the match, let alone warm the bench or make it on the pitch.

Sakho is plain awful.

11.) 26 Jun 2015
26 Jun 2015 23:25:36
Quoting good old Brenda himself "If you spend more than £100 million, you expect to be challenging for the league", enough said.

12.) 27 Jun 2015
27 Jun 2015 01:19:36
I am going to be hammered here but the Liverpool supporter has a point . Our team should be a dedicated unit however if one or two individuals become greedy which seems to be the case with SFC we are never settled and will forever be the poor payers of the PL . As long as there is stupid money being thrown around we as a club stand no chance of moving towards the big boys and in some way I am pleased about this . Rather be the best of the rest responsibly like Swansea and Stoke than a brutal paid for regime like Chelsea , City etc. Money has killed this wonderful game of ours forever .

13.) 27 Jun 2015
27 Jun 2015 05:59:20
lol @Jack! spend less time worrying about whether our players will work out and spend more time worrying about how your team will ever challenge for the top 4 again when you're buying players (not even the best ones either) from a team who finished below you.

Yes, Coutinho and Sturridge probably would walk into our side, but let's not pretend we haven't got players who'd walk into your side either. Forster, Bertrand, Wanyama, Mane, Tadic & I could go on

how good Lallana was, for that one season you mean? Look at his form for the years before and you'll realise why we all laugh at you for spending 25 million on him. You're right, Brenda did buy him, and he sat on the bench for the season.

Mignolet, Sakho & Lovren - Brenda bought them and you've leaked goals ever since

Balotelli - Brenda bought him and how many goals has he scored?

Koeman hasn't been a success? He's won the Copa Del Ray with Valencia, the Portuguese Super Cup with Benfica, the Eredivisie 3 times, once with PSV and twice with Ajax and the Dutch cup with Ajax.

How man cups has Brenda won?

None, is it?

and how much have you spent on transfers since he's been there?

but he did do well that one year.

So, let's not compare Brenda and Koeman shall we, you're on the losing end of that one, again.

What happens when you realise Clyne isn't the player you thought he'd be or Firmino turns into another Balotelli and your goals dry up?

One or two bad signings in key areas and we'll be in trouble, correct, but, Liverpool are already there.

14.) 27 Jun 2015
27 Jun 2015 10:00:38
spot on SaintySaintSaint

15.) 27 Jun 2015
27 Jun 2015 11:00:02
hahaha angry Liverpool fans, worry about yourselves we've been on the up for the past 4 years whilst you've had one good season in that time, yes it's possible that we could have a bad summer transfer window, but is unlikely with our scouting network and the fact we replaced 5 regular players last year and basically built a new, stronger team enforces that, besides, we can replace 2 players that isn't an issue, you just keep throwing money away to feel suarez's void.

16.) 27 Jun 2015
27 Jun 2015 12:08:32
Haha
You have got to laugh at the lad.

Fair play to him for trying to get under our skin, but I think that it backfired somewhat!

17.) 27 Jun 2015
27 Jun 2015 20:58:36
Totally agree with what ed said

18.) 28 Jun 2015
28 Jun 2015 00:27:45
I am not surprised I got 5 disagrees and no agrees to my post but I think most of you have a grudge against other teams in the PL that want our players . Top players want to not only want to get to the top of their profession but also can't turn down a 100% plus increase in wages and that is not the other clubs fault , be honest you would and don't say you wouldn't . We are a sort of staging post for the next level and unfortunately that is what happens when a club like ours that has great players can't or won't spend big money to try to take us to the next level . We all live in dreamland and that is great to want our club to be the best in the land but we all have to accept that we will always be just that one step short of the top level . I hope I'm wrong but in the cold light of day we have to be realistic .

19.) 28 Jun 2015
28 Jun 2015 11:44:46
You are wrong chrisdownj.

The club are perfectly willing to spend "big money to take us to the next level" but that will mean several steps to get to the "top level". Meanwhile, we will lose some players who want a quick step to the top level (they might find that quick step is a mistake though.) Since our new owners have been in place they have consistently followed a balanced plan along these lines. It has been successful, and I see no reason for it to change now. Yes, it will get more difficult the higher we go but the club show they are well aware of that. Why should they suddenly abandon the Southampton Way-it works!

20.) 28 Jun 2015
28 Jun 2015 16:09:43
I think we are talking at cross purposes here Saint Martin and actually I agree with what you say but when you say I am wrong I think you posted a reply which in many ways agreed with what I was saying . Just to repeat I agree that the club is being run responsibly and slowly moving forwards . My point was exactly what you said regarding the balanced plan however losing Morgan and Clyne and of course the exodus of last summer does not give us the unity required to gel easily with the season being only 4 weeks away . Losing players is inevitable as you say but we seem to be losing our best players on a regular basis which is the opposite to teams of a similar standing to ourselves . We therefore are victims of our own success and therefore unable to compete with the top 4 financially which to me means we will never quite make that level unless we increase our marketing capabilities. Your post makes good sense and remarkably your feelings about what are required are very similar to mine , maybe you are reading between the lines of what I am trying to say and see it as a negative . I am not making derogatory comments about the club and the board in fact quite the opposite but I feel that we may have gone as far as we can for the time being but who knows what the future may bring .

21.) 28 Jun 2015
28 Jun 2015 19:25:54
chrisdownj-I don't consider Clyne going is a problem. He put in a good half season to get into the market and the England team, and having done that was content to coast. We will not miss that sort of commitment-it reminds me of Lovren. If I had an employee who did the same, got his Christmas bonus and then fell away he/she would be gone. Reading between the lines, I think RoKo saw this in his character and was not happy. He may have shown he can be the best English RB but that bar is not very high!
Morgan I will be sad to see leave, and if he is to be the understudy to Carrick (as the Utd. supporters believe)I think he will regret the move. But I suspect a deal was done with him last summer that if he wanted CL next season and we could not offer it he would be allowed to leave at a reasonable valuation. I would have preferred he found a club away from the UK where he would be first choice and have a good chance of progressing in the CL but I suspect his bank balance may compensate for that! Victor has come on a great deal and perhaps we do not need two top DMs at this stage, and may need to rebalance a little to try and get more goals from the midfield which we lacked last season. RoKo is certainly trying to increase the attractiveness of our "brand" and this will be part of it IMO.

We all know that we need a bigger squad this season, especially with the Europa league, and the transfers of Morgan and Nath. should allow this (especially if Osvaldo and Ramirez follow.)

I suspect the club are looking particularly at three teams who finished above us last season and how to catch them and pass them and also do well in Europe. So far, I think they are along the right lines and we will continue to make progress but the marketing capabilities will take some while and will only happen as our "product" becomes more valuable. As an ex. marketing professional I recognise this does happen overnight.

To paraphrase (horribly) "slowly, slowly catchy Manky!"

22.) 28 Jun 2015
28 Jun 2015 21:22:23
The main thing is that SFC keep improving but I still believe we must have a settled squad and the way things are going we may have a battle to keep Mane and big Vic come January . I am still convinced that most of it is all about money and if we won't pay the going rate we will keep on losing our best players . The PL is all about who pays the most gets the best and I still feel something should be done about this but unfortunately that is not going to happen and looking at the current trend it will probably only get worse.

23.) 29 Jun 2015
29 Jun 2015 16:36:23
With 32k at home games we will have to move slowly. TV money etc. is great but we can only pay top money in salaries when other income is increased. Frustrating, I know. It will leave us vulnerable to the best players moving for more money until we build that side of the club, but the alternative is to take the risk that Leeds and Pompey took and I would be shocked if our owners saw this as an option.