You're right Nick, we are in a fabulous position thanks to Koeman, Kruger and (grudgingly, because I have criticised him plenty in the past and still remain unsure of his credentials for the role)Les Reed. But none of it would have worked without Koeman, he has transformed the team, the squad and the reputation/profile of the club.

Considering the dire situation he inherited and the immense achievements he has brought about on the pitch he surely is destined to be the most successful and most admired manager we have ever had, bar none. That's not to denigrate Adkins achievements and the inheritance of Pochettino

But there are testing times ahead both on the field (obviously) but more worryingly off the field.

Last season proved that a team like ours could achieve considerable success (relatively) but the downside was that our players and manager became the target of larger clubs with far deeper pockets than our own; okay we emerged stronger and better from very worrying circumstances, but will we be facing the same challenges in January and more likely in the Summer?

We now have so many players who are likely to be coveted by teams able to offer much higher wages than ourselves that despite our hopefully even higher than 8th position they may tempt some of our best players to leave or to make extravagant offers to woo Koeman.

In the case of the latter I think he is an honourable man who would naturally be keen to at least see the 'Southampton project' through, but the prospect of mega money is very alluring. PLayers likely to be attractive to others would include Schneiderlein, Wanyama and Cork (still not signed up with a new contract?) Rodriguez, Tadic, Clyne and so on...virtually every player in the team. By the way we should formally sign Aldeweireld and Bertrand long before the summer recess to stop other clubs tempting them away

The key here will be the ability/willingness of the club to extract excessive fees for the targetted players (like last summer) and replace them with just as good cheaper players. That would be an exceptional achievement and not one that I would in any way want to see us put to the test.

But it is one that we might have to face yet again because erroneously we may still have the reputation of a 'selling club' despite making such a success of the deal making last summer and because other clubs will have woken up to the high quality of players we possess

Of course, Spurs may be looking for a new manager by next summer too...!

Why is it always Wanyama and Jack Cork - never Victor Wanyama and Cork?

Perhaps the unsung hero of the group is Jose Fonte. There were doubts among some in the past if he would be able to step up to the mark. To this point in the season, he has lead a defence (and the whole team) so well that Fraser Forster has been left with little to do in most games.

Another good article Nick. I partly agree with Exiled Supporter and partly disagree. I agree that RonKo will see his 3 year contract out (perhaps stay even longer) - he has said and reaffirmed it several times. Although some of the fans lost faith and trust when Poch deserted us, I strongly believe that we can trust RonKo. He has declared himself unavailable for the Dutch national team coach position (if it came up in the short term) and quashed that particular media rumour.

I feel that we should not judge Les Reed on some of his past jobs which were in very different football roles to the one he has here. All the evidence suggests that he is doing an excellent job, especially heading up the scouting team. Perhaps communications could be a little better on occasions (not during any sensitive and confidiential deals). Everyone at the club and on the board plays to their own strengths. Ralph Kruger is a far better speaker than Les. Just as in our 1st team and the squad, the board members, the manager and coaching staff, the academy, the medical staff, the scouting team and other admistrators, all play together as a team and know their roles. This is the happy "family" atmosphere built up around own wonderful owner and is the "Southampton Way"

Turning to player retention - there are some huge differences between this year and last year and it would be quite wrong to base one's arguments on the strength of last summer's exodus. These are:

1. The RonKo effect - the players have tremendous respect for him and they all love him. Quite a few of them have said how he has helped them develop, how he has persuaded them to join us (some, like Graziano, just followed him here), how they want to play for him and/or a combination of all of these. The new signings were partly found by the scouting team and partly by RonKo. Just look at Sadio after he scored his first (allowed!) goal – he ran up to RonKo and cuddled him. He sees him as a father figure. All this should create a huge amount of player loyalty.

2. The Club’s Success – I predicted CL football for us next season 2 months ago (I’m even more confident of that now). If I’m proved wrong, we will get bl**dy close to it and then it would be Europa league next season. CL qualification would be a big factor in keeping any player for next season. Getting close with the prospect of further improvement next season, may be enough for quite a few others.

3. Playing time and Player Happiness - the players thoroughly enjoy playing together as a team and some realise that they may not get regular first team football elsewhere. Just look at what happened to the 5 we sold last summer. Only Chambers has settled. Shaw is just about getting there but the 3 at Liverpool have really struggled. This in itself should make a player think twice about moving on. Ryan and Toby have said how important it was for them to get 1st team footy.

4. Contracts – we will almost certainly be extending many of the player’s contracts, especially the one’s with less than 2 years to run. Starting with Jack and then JayRod (depending on him making a complete recovery to full match fitness), I hope. RonKo would like the 2 loan deals to be made permanent. Again both Ryan and Toby have indicated that they would be very happy to negotiate full contracts. I’m sure our club are on top of this and will already have been in negotiations with the parent clubs and player’s agents. There is a good possibility that this might be done in the January window rather than next summer.

5. Ambition – this was brought into focus during the exodus and some players left or wanted to leave (like Morg) as they thought we would be a much weaker team. Then, firstly by appointing RonKo and then by the player acquisitions and loan signings, our owner and the board proved that they were more ambitious than ever. We have a manager with huge ambitions of taking us into Europe and winning silverware. This ambition has become infectious, spreading to all our players. The belief has never been stronger.

6. The money – I’m not saying that this is not a key factor in any player’s career aspirations but again things are different. Our club is far stronger financially than it was last year. We have met the FFP rules fairly and squarely and things are steadily improving. We still have money in the transfer kitty, the surplus from our summer dealings and our share of the TV monies. This will enable, several more signings in January, possibly converting the loans deals (as stated above) and negotiating player contracts with substantially higher wage structures. A higher place in the EPL at the end of the season will bring in more funds and a cup success or EPL qualification even more. We will still be a relatively small club and the biggest clubs in Europe will be knocking on our doors.

7. The future – there are no certainties in football. With better remuneration here than before, plus all the other factors I listed above, I would only expect us to lose one or two players in the summer at worst (none in January). We would again be asking highly inflated prices – Graziano and Dusan have probably already increased their value by at least 4 fold and we should ask 5 or 6 fold – say £50m each and that’s assuming that the players would want to move and be drawn solely by big money. As fans, we need to get used to idea that it is always possible that we could lose several of our favourite players. We need to get used to that. Where we can have peace of mind now, is knowing that we can and will replace these players with others that RonKo wants to fit into our team. Apparently, our scouting team have already identified players high up on our wants list for the next two transfer windows. The future is secured.

The key to this year has been the signing of Koeman. Everything fell into place after that because he is a well respected name. Players knew if he was involved, the team was not falling apart like the media was saying, so they were willing to come here. Also he commands respect in the locker room: he's done it before as a player so the players listen to him, and they know he has the full backing of the club so there is no "inmates runnning the asylum" as you have in many other teams.

If he were to leave, I think it would be at the end of his contract, and he would be honorable enough to help pick his successor and leave the team in good hands.

That being said, why would he leave? It's a solid club with a stable and sane owner-he's not going to find a combination like that in any league!

To add to the posts above; there will inevitably be interest from the biggest clubs across the world for our players in January and next summer, but I agree with nomorerumours that we are in a much much better place now to fend off the offers and stop our players heads being turned, especially as some of the recent big movers have really struggled.
If we are still in the top 4 in January then we'll be ok, everyone will be riding high and will probably want to stay. At the end of the season if we are top 6 then again, apart from the odd one or two players, we should be able to fend off most of the bids and only sell a couple of players for extortionate money. As long as the club is moving forward and progressing then the players will be happy and won't be looking to leave.
The linchpin is Koeman. If he went then the club would need a swift new ultra high calibre appointment to settle the players and keep them on board. A Koeman exit followed by a hesitant, non-communicative board could bring on another 'crisis', but like the comments above I also think Koeman will stay loyal to us and won't leave as soon as the 'big clubs' come calling.

A very interesting discussion took place on Talk Sport this afternoon about the three over-achievers and the three under-achievers in the Premier League. Of the three over-achievers, (Saints, West Ham and Swansea) the informed consensus appeared to be that Southampton was the most likely to retain their top four position. Of the three under-achievers (Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs) only Arsenal was thought to have the necessary potential to seriously improve their position in the league.

Let us hope the pundits are right on this occasion!

Agree with most of the sentiments above- just one question- I know it is highly unlikely in this day and age, but could we even hope that RoKo could do a "Sir Alex"? RoKo seems such a genuine person, could it be possible that if we got into to Europe for continuous seasons, that he would be happy to stay for a long time? Deep down, none of us know how he thinks- maybe he could be here happily for several years?

I hope you're right christchurch - that would be superb. Time will tell