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

1.) 30 May 2014
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

2.) 31 May 2014
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.

3.) 31 May 2014
". 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.

4.) 31 May 2014
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.

5.) 31 May 2014
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. :)

6.) 01 Jun 2014
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.

7.) 01 Jun 2014
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 :)