Southampton Banter Archive May 30 2014

30 May 2014 23:03:09
Lambert Shaw and Lallana OK that I can just about stomach,
BUT Lovren and SPider as well.
Come on get real. What is going on?

This had better be a joke otherwise Southampton football club will be.

We're in a particularly unique and negative position when it comes to player sales. That is, that the players are worth much more to the club then they are to anyone else, therefore they become irreplaceable. Selling Lambert for £4 million? How do you replace a player like Lambert, in both sentimentality and use, for £4 million? It's moronic. And Lallana? Tell me, what £30 million attacking midfielder will be willing to come to Southampton? See the problem. Even though the money is good for Lallana we still would not be able to replace him with a player of equal/higher calibre, only a player with good potential like JWP, and what's the point in that if they're likely to just be sold on anyway? The same situation applies for Schneiderlin and Lovren. Shaw is the only exception, if we got £30 million for him that'd be a great deal and we'd honestly be stupid not to take that. He's replaceable. The rest? Not so much. And it's more then that, these are fan favourites, club legends. If you remove to many in one window, which names do fans get on the back of their shirts? What player pulls the fans to the stadium?

We're eviscerating ourselves, our vital organs are torn asunder and the board will wonder why the club will only limp on at best. I cannot see us replacing these players with better talent, or even as good talent. It's why I cannot understand for the life of me why we'd be willing to sell. It reeks of naivety and misplaced optimism from the board to think they'd be able to recover from this. It's like an Airline Company selling all it's jets. We cannot continue to function at the current level if the board sells these players; this is the simple reality.

TJ, CALM DOWN!

Nothing has even happened yet! No players have even been sold and we can only be certain that one deal has been agreed; for a 32 year old who would be replaced in this coming window anyway. Neither Lallana nor Shaw nor anyone else has asked for a move and the only reason Lambert would be leaving would be to achieve his dream.

There is no disembowelment of the team and the board has already released statements with their intentions! It's been two days since Krueger made comments about the club's situation and goals. I for 1 believe that Krueger is trying to do good things for the club, he's already set up a link with Veho and is trying to broaden our fan base overseas. He's a good man and his work so far can only be seen as positive.

Watch him again
http://youtu.be/hwhE5NlzhEo

31 May 2014 09:44:35
well said
forestsaint

Happy mando you work for the club?The perception is Krueger failed to allay fears that our best players would not be sold, in fact in his interview it was clear that he did not rule out comings and goings he confirmed that would be the case. its not what the fans want to hear, we need to retain our best players. This is not an american franchise where players are interchanged at the drop of a hat they are idols household names you don't sell them where is the clubs ambition.

I'm with TJ on this one and I don't for one second believe a word the board has said regarding transfers (players out). RL was a legend - 4 million = madness. Some posts have made assumptions he's only got 2 more years, who are we to know, look at Sheringham. This is the start of an exodus.

30 May 2014 20:43:36
i have followed southampton through thick and thin since 1960, worried I am from 8th in the league to all these rumours just over a manager leaving is unbelievable. if the manager was that good surely southamptons ambitious directors should of gone out of there way to stop him going. shaw, llalana, lambert, lovren, spider, wanyama, all rumoured to want to go. nobody will be leaving they say. worried i'm not, because i'd support saints in any league, i'm just petrified that it could be the championship next season

30 May 2014 18:41:48
Mungo

I remain positive!
As the man said we are probably in the best position we have ever been in.
And well done Rickie, thank you.

COYS

Exactly, a much better manager is odds on to take over, we'd have needed to replace Lambert anyway - make some money whilst we can.

If and IF Lallana and Shaw go it's not the end of the world, we'd have 50-60 million extra to get top quality players in and other players could step up (Clyne covered left back well this season and Lallana missed the last 15-20 mins of most games this season) it's not like we can't play well without those 3

we might be looking back at xmas wondering what we we're worried about

What makes you think Liebherr will invest all of that money in new players? You really are naive. If you listened to Krueger s spin you will have noticed he did not give a straight answer to any question Blackmore put to him. He does not care about Saints he's there to do a job for Liebherr who wants out he is a spin doctor nothing more. it would not surprise me if Saints had let clubs know that players were for sale the amount of bids we are getting is simply unheard of.

". the amount of bids we are getting is simply unheard of. "
What? Did you not witness our season? A team full of young English players, who managed to beat Liverpool away, draw with Manchester United at home and reach their highest ever points tally in the Premier League shouldn't be attracting interest?
This has been a breakout season for the entire club, 3 England internationals, 5 U21 England internationals, 1 player reached double figures in goals and assists, 1 player reached 15 goals this season and 4 players made their debuts with one already on the scoresheet.
Considering the lack of English talent in many Premier League clubs, Southampton will always be looked at during the transfer window, and they always will be. Although that doesn't mean that we shouldn't have full faith in Krueger, who really looks like a good man with ambition for the club. If he were only here to do a job then why join in in all of the fundraisers and charity events? There was no need for him to be apart of the cycle challenge from Southampton to Birmingham but he did it anyway. Judge him when the time is right, as of now he has done nothing for your slander.

I have never seen the amount of speculation surrounding Saints players in fifty years that there is now Happyman. The fact is regardless of your opinion of Krueger he abysmally failed to confirm that our stars would not be sold and I suspect that most fans are dreading the prospect of the likes of Lallana being sold. Say what you like but Poch would not have left if there had been any real ambition and selling your best players is not the way to do it. Especially as the press are reporting that the board proposes to sell Shaw and replace him with Neil Taylor who can't even get into his first team. Forgive me for feeling slightly underwhelmed. The other worry is that top managers will want a sizeable transfer budget and what's the betting KL won't be willing to provide it. The current set up simply does not inspire confidence, plus we still don't have an acceptable explanation for the departure of Dodd and Williams. I don't believe it had anything to do with not spending enough time with the younger players, that is not a a sacking offence you correct a situation like that in house you don't get rid of the culprits.

I respect your dedication to the club, Monte Cristo but a lot has changed in 50 years. Most notably the economics and the larger focus on youth. Shaw has already been touted for great things; the same with Chambers and Reed and even for Matt Targett. If you look at Manchester United or Chelsea, most of their money is spent trying to build a team of already world class players; at Southampton the club has strived to grow world class players from the ground up.
The brilliance of our job has made it evident that some of our players could go on to be better than many of the players Chelsea or Man U could ever buy. Lallana is a special case because he is the captain of their philosophy, he is the man there to help bring them into the game by assigning them roles.
For that reason the richest clubs will try and buy out all of these players in order to take the same philosophy into their clubs. It was different 50 years ago because there was never the amount of talent in the squad as there is today (bar Le Tissier).

Apologies for the essay but I hope that has she's some light on my opinion of the club is in it's best ever postition in 50 years and that the demand will be greater for younger, well taught players in a money run world. :)

01 Jun 2014 02:13:21
I really don't get your thinking Happy man What may I ask is the point of creating a world class training facility if all you are going to do is flog your best to the opposition?I rue the loss of Cortese, he at least shared my view that Saints could go on to better things, and that the purpose of the academy was to provide the club with quality of players we could never hope to buy ourselves. Lallana is a case in point. Sell him and automatically all the other better players will want out, and we will then be left with the next generation of academy players who are unlikely to keep us in the Premiership because of their inexperience. that's how we got relegated in the first place remember. This whole argument has been created by KL herself ,as it is clear she does not want to fund acquisitions herself, which is why Cortese and Poch left. The best option by a country mile for Saints would be for Liebherr to sell the club now and let someone else progress the club. But i'm afraid like all rich people she is greedy, and probably wants to pocket as much cash as possible before she does sell. Its tragic but this seems the likely scenario. If any players are bought they are likely to be relatively cheap options like Neil Taylor who some have identified as a replacement for Shaw.Really disgraceful thinking but its what we are dealing with. Strange that we have not been linked to one decent player yet in this window, what does that tell you? I am really disappointed in the owner and the board, fast becoming our worst nightmare.

I meant that when Southampton started this project with the youth system that their intentions were never to sell. I can't speak on behalf of the club anymore so maybe you're right and the only reason there is a possibility of a sale is due to Katherina, but who knows? Perhaps the board agreed with it too.
My real thoughts are that the board don't want to sell but will consider it if they receive an even larger bid.

Kolodziejczak (let's call him Kolo ;)) is actually a very good left back, he has been linked as the most viable left back replacement. He started at Olymipique Lyon, another team who have an excellent youth academy and my second favourite team. They built him into a well rounded left sided defender, he can play centrally and is very quick up the wing with great strength. He is only 21 and is the most similar player to Luke Shaw out there, he doesn't have any evident weaknesses and the scout's know this.

Other than that we have been linked with Rafa Silva (Braga), Nicolas Lopez (Udinese), Cristian Benavente (Real Madrid B), Saphir Taïder (Internazionale), Carlos Vela and Scott Sinclair.

The shortlist is due to be released soon :)

30 May 2014 16:02:26
Why did katharina and ralph have to get involved why not just leave cortese to the amazing job he was doing???

I think she wondered where all her money was going.

30 May 2014 17:09:07
notice les reed has gone very quiet
is he the next to go
forestsaint

I don't think he will be next out

30 May 2014 15:06:24
Looking at the squad, Southampton currently only have 20 players in the team, and with Jay Rodriguez out until approximately October I believe that we won't be able to sell anymore players without going under the squad size limit.
I may be wrong but to me it seems that we'd have to buy before we can sell and if the board stick to the plan of avoiding sales then this could be positive news.

Does anyone (including the editors) know any more about this?

30 May 2014 14:15:31
There seems to be a hell of a lot of abuse being thrown around at the board etc, everyone knows if a player wants to go there is little you can do to keep them, before the abuse let's just wait and see what manager they bring in and then th caliber of player, if it's moyes or Makaay then we could be in trouble

My guess is that it'll be a cheap option, I'm feeling a little pessimistic but I think our spending days are over. I will of course publicly apologise if I'm proven wrong; which, to be honest I hope I am
Best wishes to all Saints fans

30 May 2014 13:22:17
Rough week chaps. Still could be worse, could be pompey fans!

Im envious of Pompy fans and least its run by People who love the club

I'll never be envious of Pompey fans, however, ironically, this will take us some way towards what they have been trough.

Fan to fan, they always had my sentiment - as a team they can fade and die (stuff the local derby), but as fans, you have to respect their strength and loyalty to their club

30 May 2014 12:02:20
Fair play to RL on his dream move (if goes through). Can't see him having too much impact at Liverpool - mainly used as a back up IMO. Wish him the best though.

30 May 2014 10:48:45
Pompey supporters must be happy as a pig in s***. Still nothing has really happened yet so we will see wtfiln once again come start of season.

30 May 2014 06:58:30
Talk of us ripping off Bournemouth via the back door with lambert going over priced is a disgrace can't see us being evolved in anything like that!if we were I would ashamed!

Nah, if we were going to shaft b'mouth we'd accept players and a small amount of cash imo

29 May 2014 23:55:29
Massive sales at Southampton. Lol. Let the Exodus begin.

Magic, you've come to the wrong place if you're looking for a reaction from us Saints supporters. And you clearly know nothing about the club with what you have said.

Who do you support? Come on, don't knock and run like a child.

Defo a Pompey fan - League 2 banter all over it.

Don't upset soton fans magic, tut tut

It's got the clueless, classless, childish tone of a Skate comment. All they can do is pop their head up for a second because they're stuck down League 2 without an ice-lolly stick to laugh at.