Southampton Banter Archive May 14 2014

14 May 2014 19:19:22
Hi ed I've seen a few tweets that we are In talks to sign Steven caulker from Cardiff could be a decent signing?

14 May 2014 15:53:09
Fu


not just cranes white goods etc, do keep up!

14 May 2014 14:45:32
Ed002 do you need a cuddle? you always seem quite angry with the world!

{Ed002's Note - Well if you have a sister available Tommi ...}

14 May 2014 10:24:31
With all the hype and rumour-mill in full flow, with half our first team and our manager apparently trying to work out how to use their calculators to add up their additional millions in wages, I thought that it was time for a little sensible reflection.

At times like these, as Saints fans we need to put our faith in our owner Katharina Liebher - the daughter of our saviour Marcus. We need to have faith that she has a desire to honour her fathers wishes.

As a Saints fan, all I have heard from the club is a clear message that they want to take Saints forward, to retain the players, and build a squad capable of continuing our recent progress. It's all very well saying take the money from the sale two or three of these players, but who do you buy? New players need time to settle.

Saints are currently at a crossroads. Go straight on, and they march towards their goal of European football. No there aren't any guarantees, but it is plausible. Start selling players, and that goal is at risk. Take Spurs for example, they were far more likely to gain CL footy had they retained Bale. Not only that, can you imagine how much their wage bill has risen? Not only that, it's clear that Spurs are a selling club!

Saints are on the verge of making that next step. However, the sale of our Captain, or the brightest young English star in recent times, or indeed the loss of our manager, would indicate that as a club, we are fundamentally a selling club. Kruger himself highlighted that commercially we need to become stronger, but to achieve this, we need success, not the sale of our international players!

When I look at the success that Liverpool have had this last season, it is clear to me that that success was largely achieved not on the training pitch, but in the Board Room, where they said Luis Suarez is not for sale.

Take note Katharina Liebher, Mr Kruger, Mr Reed. If you wish Saints to grow, and move to the next stage, then look no further than to yourselves.

The biggest benefit is that it's clear these players enjoy playing together. They are a unit, and I for one have never seen a Saints team full of camaraderie as much as we have now. That definitely was started by Adkins and has been developed further by Pochettino.

This was brought up most recently by Wanyama in a interview with FourFourTwo, who again emphasised on the will of the team to stick together and continue their push for Europe.

Of course it's natural for players to look elsewhere if they don't feel they can achieve their career goals at their club. But it's clear from the messages that the players have given in recent months that they want to stay and push for their goals here.

It would be foolish to think that the Southampton board is not thinking about this daily. Of course it's not going to be as easy as buying 3-4 world-class players this summer and instantly the title is within our grasp. There needs to be time to plot this all out, and ensure that the development comes from another of levels, and then success will come along too.

Bang on Chris.

Although I would emphasise the sale of Lallana and the loss of MoPo as THE END of our realistic chances of progression. We couldn't possibly replace them with anyone as good.

It would signal to the other players that we're not strong and ambitious enough. Lovren, Schneiderlin, Clyne, Chambers, Jay Rod etc are capable of playing for top teams and would most likely look to follow them out. The likes of Lovren came to the club with the ambition of progression, now without that, we couldn't sign players of that known caliber again. I wouldn't blame anyone for going if the board do not keep up the momentum.

I think selling Shaw for £30m+ would be acceptable. At the end of the day, champions sell stars for the right price. An 18 year old left back would not be a huge miss and we have a replacement in Matty Target as well as very capable cover from Clyne with Chambers on the right. I would accept this as good business and steadying the ship with funds to strengthen more needy areas. However, I of course would like to keep him no matter what the offer. At the end of the day, we all want the best players, good football and if Katherina is prepared to lose a few million getting us to Europe, we won't be complaining. Just being realistic because she is a business woman.

I am very worried. I think for Lallana to stay, MoPo needs to stay and vice versa, let alone the others. Plus I imagine they'll want a good bumper transfer kitty. I'll be livid if MoPo goes to Spuds - because that should be sideways step at best if our board are on track.

I really do believe if we keep these together, sell Oswaldo and the dead wood, then get some real quality to add - most notably to attack, we really can compete for top 4. I reckon a striker, a winger/AM, a defender and we've got a chance.

Some people (most notably the clueless armchair jockey plastic club kind) would call me deluded, but I ask myself, who has outplayed us this season? How many games did we dominate but fell short of a win for want of finishing a host of chances or conceding from 1 shot or a crazy sloppy goal or terrible refereeing? How many points did we drop when the fixtures came thick and fast right at the same time we had a 3rd choice clown of a keeper in goal and other key injuries? 10 games in, we could have been top of the league ffs. The only club that deserved to beat us home and away was Chelsea.

The league table is not a true reflection of our capability at all. A bit more depth to cover injuries and perhaps a tiny bit of justice instead of consistent bad refereeing, and it would have been oh so much better. Next year our players will only be better - that little bit more mature, settled and experienced.

It's been very exciting times, I hope our dream aren't shattered.

COYR!

Agree 100% St Tony

Completely right St Tony, I think we all can see it going one of 2 ways either retaining all and progressing further up the table next year or loosing a lot of key players and the manager, I think if the manager stays it will indicate that we have an ambitious board who want to push on and keep improving, but if he doesn't it sends out a clear message that they don't but we'll see, hopefully exciting times ahead still!

14 May 2014 09:24:37
Ok so what is really going on? All season we are talking about not selling being stable etc and now all of a sudden we could loose all of our big names. i'm sure I must have missed something

{Ed002's Note - There will always be interest in players who perform well.}