These days Saints have a different type of player than ever before and it is this hunger for success in their players that will drive the club forward, but it does have both its plus and minus points.

Morgan Schneiderlin's over to Manchester United was a sad day for Saints fans, Morgan had grown with the club and been on a roller coaster journey with us that saw us plunge to the depths of League One and rise to the top 7 of the Premier league, perhaps that is the biggest reason why we are sad to see him go.

But Schneiderlin certainly wasn't the first Saints player of recent times to want to leave the club and he wont be the last, the downside of success is that yes you get better players join you, but eventually they will outgrow the club.

That may not sound good news to Saints fans, but until we sit in our own 50k capacity stadium with a stream of trophies in our cabinet then it is going to be reality, the natural pecking order is there and we have to work around it and not against it.

That mean accepting how the club needs to work, that is buying in players at th right price and knowing when to move the on and repeat the process, of course their will be failures along the way, but if you make the percentage that fail small and in the main succeed in the task then the club will keep moving forward.

But in today's game players are different, the game is different and that is where we need to use the ambition of players to our own ends. We want players who hanker to play for Manchester United, who see Saints as a stepping stone as that being the case they are going to put in the effort to make sure that they achieve their goals and if they put themselves in the target line of the big clubs they are doing something right.

In the past it was different and at Saints we had a different culture back then, we looked to keep a squad together and only have to sell a player every now and then, but that perhaps tells us ore about the quality back then and where we are now

Of course we don't wan to lose players and over a period of time we would hope to grow as a club so that we are challenging for honours and players want to say longer, but that will take time and we need to kept our strategy right now and that means making profit and reinvesting it back in the squad.

It will be tough to see players go but the key will always be what we do next and so far we haven't done badly, measuring success will now get harder, the jump from 7th to 6th is that much more difficult than 8th to 7th, we are now trying to compete with the big boys, that is not as easy as some would have you believe.

But Morgan Schneiderlin moving once again highlights the positive side of Southampton Football Club these days, it shows us how the club now works, with £25 million in the bank we can look to buy two additions to the squad to replace Morgan and if they follow him to be worth that £25 million themselves then we will have progressed.

Photo: Action Images

pintsizedsaint added 09:23 - Jul 14 Here here Nick, well said. Sums it up nicely. In many ways MS was the perfect example. Bought in for £1.5m as a raw talent, developed by Saints by playing to his strengths, got 7 amazing years of service (these days that is a complete exception to the rule) and then moved on to a genuinely bigger club for £25m. Of course he will be missed, it would be great to have seen him stay and grow with us. But he's outgrown us and we have to accept that. Players careers are far shorter than a club's trajectory (if done the right way and not via becoming a billionaires plaything). Really excited about Classie too.

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SaintBrock added 10:41 - Jul 14 It isn't just to do with Saints or 50k stadia. The game is awash with real or imaginary (i.e. borrowed) cash. Success is paramount, vital indeed to the survival of players, coaches, managers and boards. Failure is a dirty word, finishing second is failure and jobs are lost and livelihoods wrecked. Everyone wants to be Top Dog and the Big Dogs are now fighting each other for the best players to ensure success and survival. Man U, Man C, Chelsea & Arsenal poach from each other and from the Big Dogs of the major world leagues, Even Real Madrid, Bayern & Barcelona a re now struggling to hang onto the best players and coaches. Ranieri at Leicester? The football world is getting very ugly and what has passed as unthinkable even three years ago is now the norm. Money is King an unless Clubs have access to hundreds of millions and no doubt soon billions of pounds they will be out of the game forever.

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Jesus_02 added 10:44 - Jul 14 Fare play to Morgan, he was sold a dream (as where we all) and when the team was sold off there was nothing really to play for. And so we march on together, and strive for mediocracy, to fearlessly go where every other small to medium sized club has gone before. We vehemently accept our place in the pecking order and gladly pay £700 a year in the hope that we might get the odd “shock” result. For we are the GREATEST Football club in the land* Cry God for Nick, Southampton, and Saint Marys!! *Apart from Chelsea, Man U, Man City, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool (probably Newcastle) and anyone else with a bigger stadium than ours

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SaintBrock added 10:46 - Jul 14 By the way, letting Morgan go for £25m is a joke when Sterling is perceived to be worth close on double that. The Money clubs have the means so we should toughen up and bleed them dry. Les could and should have done a lot better. Who can you buy for £25m these days that has a talent as big as Morgan's?
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IWOZTHERE added 10:54 - Jul 14 Well put! Sad to see him go but he deserves it. I think the 'growth philosophy' is spot on but I hope it's not too long before we reach the point where we are healthy enough financially and the board are brave enough to take that final step. I thought we were so close last Christmas time. We obviously had the basis of a top four squad and (I thought) we had the money to supplement it and 'grasp the nettle'. Perhaps we're not as well off as I thought because we drifted off the pace a bit. The club's financial position is still puzzling? I hope that when we are approaching that point again, the board recognise it and are able to sort out contracts in advance. That goes together with them committing to a serious push for a Champion's League place and we might not have to suffer another summer exodus. I hope we have a 'shout' this season at fourth spot before the scousers get organised, the top three seem to be pre-booked!

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GeordieSaint added 11:01 - Jul 14 Always loved watching Morgan but now was the time for him to leave. He is ready for the top end of world football and saints got a huge (but fair) price for him. The situation last summer appears to have been handled magnificently in that it will show other players that giving it another season is beneficial and the club will be true to their word about not standing in their way when the time comes. It is also clear that CLaisse has long been earmarked as the replacement which is an improvement on last year when it was all a bit rushed. I don't know much about CLaisse but am so excited to see him and hopefully it will all be shrewd business. I think the club has enough depth in the two holding players with Reed hopefully getting some more game time and has seriously upgraded in attacking options. Can't wait for the new season. The other thing is that it is clear very few teams can actually always resist selling. Look at liverpool getting a taste if their own medicine for the second time and even Man U are going to lose their keeper, on the world stage juve with pogba or Celtic and Feyenord becoming our feeder clubs. It is a crazy business and the way the club has overseen this transfer to their advantage shows they have the right idea going forward.

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ExiledSupporter added 11:12 - Jul 14 The difficulty with the argument that we sell good players and then we strengthen the squad with the proceeds was certainly valid last year, though mainly due to the signings of Bertrand and Alderweireld and to a lesser extent Pelle and Tadic. More I think we looked better because of RK's fantastic skills. Th is year it all seems different, we haven't yet replaced Toby who most fans felt was a major contributor to our most secure defence (ever?) and we wait to hear that Clasie is actually signed up. Soares sounds like he may be the real deal and Juanmi may prove a good long term investment. But I really don't see that the squad is significantly strengthened (even if we acquire Van Dijk) at present. The real gain, in theory, is the return of Jay Rodrigues hopefully back to his best form by January if we are lucky. But where are the new genuine quality signings to take us forward from last year's achievements? Still to come I hope...a real playmaker at No. 10 and striker to challenge Pelle for his otherwise unchallenged place in the side...and someone who can produce a threatening cross into the area from somewhere near the byeline. Only then will we have advanced from last year's starting point rather than simply playing catch up with where we were before. Look at the key signings made by WHam, Palace and Stoke already this season all teams who are going to be breathing down our necks this year.

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lemmsy added 11:16 - Jul 14 Excellent intelligent article, Hopefully a few moaners will read this & understand where we are on our journey . Every club has to sell when the time& price is right , ( ie Suarez , Stirling ) It's the distribution of the proceeds that is crucial
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no7saint added 13:22 - Jul 14 I can grudgingly accept Morgan’s move to Man U, where he can expect to be playing CL football each year and generally cement his place in his national team. It’s the Clyne’s and Toby’s moving sideways to clubs that can offer them no more than us that really grate. And this is the difficult position the club now find themselves in: despite great financial backing from the owner and a set-up that is renowned throughout football our best players are not convinced that the club can achieve its ambitions. Every big player move away can only strengthen that view. So it’s going to be like walking against a conveyor belt, trying to move forwards quick enough to outrun the distance between transfer windows. Not the fault of anyone at the club, but the result of our success on and off the field.

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davepid added 13:53 - Jul 14 Thoroughly good article Nic. And exiledsupporters comments are spot on,too. My question is why is no one - this site, Koeman or commentators - saying anything about whose coming through from the Academy. ( other than Reed maybe). Why arent 3/4 potential new academy names being touted and why or why can't it produce a goalkeeper?
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DPeps added 15:47 - Jul 14 'Natural pecking order' usually dictates transfers, but not always. Villa seem to be able to be able to keep their better players (maybe Benteke will go this time round, but Delph seems committed to staying there); same with Swansea (apart from Bony). For a while we've been cashing in on our assets. Theo, The Ox and Bale were slightly different cases, but last summer certainly established us a club that is willing to sell. Players coming to us know that they may get a chance at the bigger clubs. This means high-turnover but hopefully better quality players coming to us. Only time will tell if our policy is sustainable long term; it does require the scouting network and the academy to be excellent, which fortunately both seem to be at the moment

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