The England debut of James Ward Prowse and Nathan Redmond has showed that both in the short and long term Saints are getting it right in building their squad.

For the past few years "Meltdown" has been a familiar word and well overused on social media and message boards relating to Southampton Football Club.

Last summer was no different to the two that had gone before and Nathan Redmond followed in a tradition of new signings that a section of the fanbase had decided was sub standard before they had barely kicked a ball.

That was nothing new Pelle was ironically booed 15 minutes into his home debut, Sadio Mane was generally considered to be average until this time last year when he had his end of season surge.

But Nathan Redmond being capped by England should perhaps be a lesson to those that seem to make up their minds about a player in minutes rather than games or months.

There are still those that lambast Nathan Redmond, but they don't seem to be in Gareth Southgate's England set up or indeed Saints own footballing department, they both have seen the potential of Redmond and that with the right coaching he can become a truly sensational player.

But they know that developing players can take time and today's football fan does not seem to recognise that, a player has to be immediately the finished article or in some fan's minds they never will be.

Likewise James Ward Prowse he has suffered the usual trait of most home grown players, early promise has to become the real deal very quickly or the fans assume the player isn't good enough.

James Ward Prowse has had to develop in the harsh gaze of his own supporters, many of whom have made no concessions that these days the average Premier League player does not get into his club's first team till 20-21 at least, he is not physically or mentally tough enough to succeed till this age, JWP was in the team at 17 and judged by those around him not by where his own development should be.

If he had signed for the club last summer from elsewhere the fans would have a different perception of him.

Saints and England know this and perhaps realise that all he is lacking now is the confidence to take the game by the scruff of its neck and become the player that he has been heading towards for the last 5 years.

Both Ward Prowse and Redmond have one thing in common though and that is they have never hidden, they must hear the barbed comments etc, but they keep going out and trying to show their detractors they are wrong and that is why they will succeed.

So their England caps against Germany should be a feather in the cap for Southampton Football Club, it is showing that the club is getting it right not only in the way we are bringing players through the system and indeed has been for many years now, JWP has been attached to Saints since around 2003, but also in the way we analyse signings and make sure they have the right temperament to succeed.

So Saints supporters should take a step back and give both players the kudos they deserve not only for the way they have battled through difficult times personally this season, but the way they have both played big parts in Saints resurgence both in getting to Wembley for the League Cup final but in a Saints side that is again starting to look like it can recapture the form of the past three seasons.

But the club should be also given credit for the way they keep to the strategy they have, one that like Redmond and JWP seems to be more admired by other than those who support the club, there will always be rocky times, but the lesson is that in football there will always be rocky periods, the trick is not to panic, the club never has and that is why we can always come back stronger than before, e are not repeating the usual hire them and fire them policy of the likes of Sunderland.

Photo: Action Images

SonicBoom added 11:12 - Mar 24 Hmm. Not sure the article should have focused on the 5% of detractors rather than the 95% of supporters and you mention Mane and Pelle again! The strategy appears to be on good working order, but the elephant in the room is what happens to our structure and strategy once Kat leaves and the Chinese run the club. What took years to develop can take a few moments to dismantle.

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SaintNick added 11:15 - Mar 24 It was more than 5% and the story is aimed at making the point to those detractors about what we are doing. Change is always a worry, but you would hope that they are buying in for a good reason and that is that everything is in place already
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dixiefrog added 12:20 - Mar 24 Nick good article which most level headed fans will support and by the way, congratulations on getting through a whole article without saying anything derogatory about Yoshi, must be a first for the year.
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BoondockSaint added 12:30 - Mar 24 Getting two players on the national team is nice, but let's be realistic: It's England. Redmond's new-found success has nothing to do with coaching, but with the arrival of Gabbiadini. You have to admit: at the beginning of the season he didn't seem to have his head in the game (although that could be said about others as well) JWP is a good player but not the second coming of David Beckham as the media seem to think. I never think we are going to score when he takes a free or a corner. Why he hasn't been in the weight room the last two seasons is beyond me. He can be pushed off the ball very easily. As I have posted before: If he was as great as the media seem to think, he would have been sold by Les to the Scouse two years ago. Anyway, enough cynicism, on to more worries (sorry a bit off topic): Nick any solid news about the Chinese? A couple of months ago they were reported to offer somehting like 180 million for a small stake in the club. Now the Echo is saying that was rejected and they have come back with an offer of 190 million for the whole club!!?? Kat still would have a very small share. Also they report that her dad only had to put in 16 million while she had to add 53 million herself.

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halftimeorange added 13:26 - Mar 24 The fact that both JWP and NR have made it into the senior national squad says a lot about the low level of homegrown talent in my opinion. The media can wax lyrical all they like about Dele Ali, Stones, Henderson, Sterling plus our two youngsters but England were allowed to play by Germany in a non-competitive match this week and then hit by the knockout punch (twice, if not for Hart). We simply don't have the raw talent or, if we do a la Joe Cole, it's coached out of them. For spectator pleasure in England our indigenous EPL particpants are required to run, run and then run (see James Milner) and we import gloss to make things gel together (see David Silva). The point about Nathan looking better since Gabbiadini's arrival is fair as it has diverted attention from Nathan's rash shooting, failure to beat his man and general moaning at teammates. JWP is no better now than he was when he was seventeen. That said, they are as good as any of their English peers and I will continue to applaud them every time they turn out for Saints. In the case of England I might well turn off.

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landerwal added 14:10 - Mar 24 JWP getaways seems to get stick even when he gets an England call up. The following should be noted. He 's only just 22 years of age. 4th youngest player to make a 100 appearances for Saints first playing at the age of 17. Has played at every level for England including now the Senior squad. Captain of under 21s. Scored the opening goal against Coventry that gave us promotion to the Premiership. Has played under the last 4 Saints managers, which shows that he earnt his place in the team without favouritism. FOUR experienced managers can't be wrong. One day he might get transferred to another club and play really well for them and people will be asking "Why didn't he play like that for us?" The fact is, he did, you just didn't notice.

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SaintBrock added 14:15 - Mar 24 The main points confirmed from the Dortmund game were; Deli Ali & Jamie Vardy lived up to their reputations of being cynical referee-conning cheats who should have been sent off for their diving antics, which are all too familiar to PL fans; Whoever thought it a good idea to put a blue shirt on Backwards-Pass?
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IanRC added 06:05 - Mar 25 Can't understand why JWP takes all the stick from so called supporters. I think he is a great ambassador for the club who always tries. I for one thing he is doing well and can go on to great things.
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SanMarco added 16:04 - Mar 25 It is because they don't think he is particularly good IanRC. You believe he is very good - that opinion doesn't make you a 'so called supporter' in my book. Not sure that the large section of our support who think his call up says more about England than him deserve the 'so called' label either.
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Jesus_02 added 11:33 - Mar 27 Nathan Redmond has always had a talent...however playing him at CF and unveiling him as the next Thierry Henry isn't even fair on him let alone the fans. Personally I thought he looked sharper than most on the pitch for England V Germany JWP has never had anything more than average talent but has worked extremely hard to get to the level that he has. Perhaps that's why he doesn't play with confidence that we would like. When he came on for England he looked out of his depth in all honesty. He IS only 22 and maybe with this age obsessed culture we expect too much. Maybe something will happen and he will suddenly get confidence and improve. At that point after persisting with him for years he will probably bugger off reminding us of players like Kenwyn Jones who followed the previous "career path"

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