Ralph Hasenhuttl is not a man who minces his words, nor does he fear taking tough action and he has again spoken of the need those with contracts running down to commit and get with the programme.
The two main contract issues are those of Danny Ings and Ryan Bertrand and both are differing situations.
Ings of course is the key man in the Saints squad and is perhaps at the peak of his career and therefore value, he has to decide whether Saints are where he will finish his career or whether he will seek one last pay day or shot at glory, Hasenhuttl alluded to whether some of his players are receiving advice that is best for their career or best for their bank balance in past statements.
Bertrand is slightly different in that he is a few years older and at the tail end of his career, Saints have had good value for money from him and his transfer value diminishes with each window, his shelf life is far shorter and there is already talk of a replacement arriving in January, that man being Brandon Williams of Manchester United who was being linked with the club in August.
The bad news is that it appears that contract talks with both seem to have made little progress in the last week or so, that is not necessarily ringing alarm bells though, in the case of Ings he has had other things to worry about in getting fit again after his knee operation.
Hasenhuttl had this to say.
"Every player who wants to extend their contract here, and that we want to extend, we show them that we want them and we show them that we really want them to be here, but we also show them that we have our limits and I think that this is very healthy for the club.
"Whatever they are asking for, that's okay, they can ask for anything - but if we are not the club that can offer them this then they must go somewhere else. That is very easy, I think.
"For us, that is a very clear way of showing our clear limits. We are following this and anyone who wants to be a part of this is invited to do it, if not then he must go somewhere else,"
The message from Hasenhuttl is clear, that Saints have limits in what they can offer players and can't be held to ransom on wage demands, it is not great to hear this, but the Austrian knows that no matter what League you are in there are those that are richer than others, Saints have their restrictions, he can live with that and so do any of the players.
He knows that there are two issues the first being where the club is in the challenge for honours and the second is what they will offer in wages, the two are not exclusively linked.
He like most Saints fans would be gutted if Danny Ings was to leave, but if it was for a Big Six club who have a chance of honours or European football he could understand it, but there are several clubs out there who will pay their players big money although they have not chellenged for a top six place and are in no better a place than Saint.
Hopefully Danny Ings can see what Hasenhuttl is trying to do here and he will listen to his heart, even his head and not his agent.