 | News
Comment | Southampton Receive Formal Transfer Request In Writing From Player
at 15:22:42
I'm with WoolstonSaint. Imagine finally fulfilling your dream of getting a move to the Premier League - almost certainly his one and only shot at it. Being sold the club and how you'd be our saviour from relegation, giving it everything you've got - even if that's not enough or the wrong style - only to hardly be given a game.
Our scouting and how much we decided to fork out for him in desperation is hardly Paul Onuachu's fault. If we've paid so massively over the odds for a player that only a handful of clubs are now interested in at comparatively low money, then that's on us not him.
It's obvious that RM doesn't want him to play for us, we're committed to RM for a while, so it's time to cut our losses, get the best offer from whoever wants him and move on. Hopefully learning some lessons on the way. Lessons that the club seems to have ignored over many years and different owners. |
| News
Comment | Charly Alcaraz Says He Wants To Be At Southampton
at 14:26:01
So just to get this straight, the Ugly is reporting that Givemesport is claiming that The Athletic are stating that club chiefs are saying that Charly told them he intends to stay?
Well that's good enough for me. |
| News
Comment | Saints Must Wear Third Kit At Wembley Due To Petty EFL Rule
at 17:20:10
I'm with Jesus - in the 'ask for forgiveness not permission' sense at least.
But imagine the looks on the players' faces when they're told they'll have to replay the final they've just won because they had the wrong socks on.
The game's gone, Jeff. |
| News
Comment | Should Russell Martin Put Out Another Reserve Side For Leeds United Trip
at 10:04:13
If ever there was a match we could do without, this is it.
I'd go for an obviously weakened team to protect our key players. That way, even if Leeds get a big win it shouldn't be too much of a morale boost/loss either way.
That said, if he risks our strongest line up and they gain some injury-free momentum then I'll be happy to be wrong - again! |
| News
Comment | Southampton FC Finally Realise That Their Stripes Are Iconic
at 14:47:03
Thanks for your take on this Nick or can we call you agent Dragon Rouge?!
Whoever they aree, it's comforting to know they'll probably have picked up half a week of Alex McCarthy's wages to tell us what we already know.
I remember the campaign you ran back in the day. It stuck in my mind as SICK - Saints In Conventional Kit. Looking forward to some good old stripes next season and for a few years more if they follow Dragon Rouge's good advice. |
| News
Comment | Southampton At Norwich City The Verdict
at 09:13:41
I'm pretty sure I heard Russell Martin saying in an interview that Jan Bednarek was ill and not up to coming out for the second half. A shame, but maybe it will be good for us to have a weekend away from the league to recover after a busy, but successful, Christmas period.
Definitely points dropped against Norwich, but the run continues and I can hardly believe how quickly we've reeled Ipswich in. Looking forward to the next few months and hoping we can finish the job. |
| News
Comment | Burnley Set To Hold Grudge With Southampton For Sour Grapes Over Nathan Tella Transfer
at 08:50:32
I find it hard to believe that the daughter of a football club's American owner would behave in such an entitled way!
Strange behaviour from Burnley, who seemed to both underestimate our financial position and forget that we'd lent Nathan Tella to them in the first place. He played an important role in their promotion, so you'd think they might even have been a little grateful to us. Instead they thought it was an opportunity to squeeze us because they thought we were broke. Embarrassing. |
| News
Comment | Southampton V Plymouth Argyle The Preview
at 10:18:16
I'm not sure Russell Martin needs much advice picking the team at the moment.
Playing Jack Stephens and KWP where he did against Swansea was a gamble and the first substitutions seemed to take some of the steam out of the performance. Yet it turned out ok. If it hadn't, he would have taken some stick.
Haven't we got to accept that he'll know things about injuries, attitude, the need to bring some players up to fitness and to ease off a little on others, that we don't? And that some decisions will work out and that others, for whatever reason, won't. We should judge him on results over a run of games and otherwise trust him to do the right thing.
Given the run we're on, I'm prepared to let him get on with it. He seems to be doing quite well at the moment! |
| News
Comment | Ward Prowse Deal In Jeopardy As Scott McTominay Linked With West Ham
at 08:08:54
Interesting analysis Agrella and certainly shows he's had a greater impact than many say, but I'd like to know it's methodology.
Does it assume that we we would have gone for the cheapest of all the alternatives and played with only 10 men in his absence? |
| News
Comment | Ward Prowse Deal In Jeopardy As Scott McTominay Linked With West Ham
at 22:42:45
"whatever happens we wish him all the best and hope that he goes to a club where he can flourish."
Well said Nick. Whatever anyone thinks about him as a player, surely no one can doubt him as a top top character and loyal servant to the club.
If West Ham pull out having taken it this far, then shame on them. The one saving grace would be JWP's character which has led him to keeping silent on everything, so he could continue to hold his head high at St Mary's if he stays.
Like you say, whatever happens I wish him all the best. |
| News
Comment | Chelsea Blow Liverpool Lavia Offer Out Of the Water
at 17:15:50
NYC, I like your idea of pushing the deal along, but this is a player's registration that's up for sale, not a house. The player gets a say in where he'll go too.
All the noise has been about how keen he is on Liverpool. If he doesn't want to go to Chelsea then we've got a tough decision to make, as he could go back to City for £40m next summer if they both want it to happen, so Liverpool might not need to be the highest bidder to win. |
| News
Comment | Saints Summer Sale To Start On Saturday
at 09:17:55
I'm trying to decide if I've contradicted myself by agreeing with both Underweststand and Boris, but both their comments make good sense.
I've still not heard anything that convinces me that SR have really understood that relegation is on them and they haven't come near to apologising. That lack of humility worries me. |
| News
Comment | Southampton Know Exact Date Russell Martin Will Be Appointed
at 11:16:54
We remain shareholders in the Premier League until its meeting later this month where, alongside Leeds and Leicester, we officially transfer our shares to the promoted clubs. So technically, Swansea are probably right.
I can see that Swansea don't want to help us out when we're Championship rivals, but it seems to be holding them back just as much as it does us. Everyone knows Russell Martin will be working on his plans for Saints next season, just as Swansea will be arranging their replacement who will start doing the same.
No doubt someone at Swansea is patting themselves on the back for being a very clever boy/girl, but there doesn't seem to be any benefit in Swansea arguing the toss over a technicality. It all just seems a bit small-time. |
| News
Comment | Liverpool Lining Up £50m Swap Deal For Romeo Lavia
at 10:55:34
Romeo Lavia has been a good find. He and Charly Alcaraz show that there is at least some method in SR's madness provided they reinvest profits into the squad. If only they'd also brought in experience and made wiser appointments, we might all have been hailing them for their vision. Oh well!
But what has always stuck in the throat for me has been the buy-back and sell-on clauses we've been told are in the transfer contract.
They make it feel like he's never been much more than a loan player and have been yet another sign of how much power City/Abu Dhabi effectively hold over the footballing have nots like Saints.
While the £40m buy-back clause no doubt would be enforceable against Saints, I can't see how it could make the player himself go back to City if he didn't want to.
So the bottom line seems to be that the player has pretty much all the cards this time next year if he's worth >£40m as wherever he wants to go and however much that club might value him at, he always has the threat to Saints that he'll go back to City for £40m if they fancy him - or want to sell him on for a profit. So his value next year seems to be more or less capped at £40m, however well he does for us. |
| News
Comment | Southampton Managerial Appointment Set For Tuesday
at 10:41:58
Let's get it right. SR have made some awful decisions so far, but as West Sussex Saint says, this appointment seems different to the Nathan Jones one and calling him Nathan Jones Mk 2 is lazy and unfair.
As for timings, reading this, SR are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
Assuming they didn't leak the news, then what are they meant to say? Lie and say it's not happening and make relations with the fans even worse when it turns out he is being appointed in Tuesday after all? Confirm it is happening and humiliate Ruben Selles even more? Sack Selles one match earlier?
The idea that the news about Russell Martin will lead to more abuse for Selles doesn't work for me either. The Selles experiment clearly has failed, but you'd have to have a heart of stone to abuse the man today, knowing that he's a decent bloke who has given it his best (albeit it a pretty poor best) and is definitely going. Pressure off at last, I would say.
So that just leaves the timing of the discussions between SFC, SCFC and Martin. Does anyone seriously think Saints should not have been working night and day to get next season's team in place as early as possible?
If they hadn't done that, we'd all be even more annoyed that they'd lost an opportunity to get ahead with their planning. You don't need to be a Spurs fan to realise that hiring a new manager doesn't always go the way you'd hoped!
I'm not sure Russell Martin will turn out to be the manager we need, but back to West Sussex Saint's comment again, the least he deserves is our support ... until he doesn't. |
| News
Comment | Saints Forward Commits Himself To The Club Next Season
at 16:39:46
Player commits to remaining on the contract of a lifetime shocker!
Cynicism aside, it's good to read some sensible comments here about a lad vilified elsewhere, but who seems to give his all - even if it hasn't been good enough at Premier League level.
Played in the right position and given opportunities in an attacking team, there's no reason he can't reproduce what he's done in the Championship before. |
| News
Comment | Saints Forward Commits Himself To The Club Next Season
at 16:39:44
Player commits to remaining on the contract of a lifetime shocker!
Cynicism aside, it's good to read some sensible comments here about a lad vilified elsewhere, but who seems to give his all - even if it hasn't been good enough at Premier League level.
Played in the right position and given opportunities in an attacking team, there's no reason he can't reproduce what he's done in the Championship before. |
| News
Comment | Southampton Football Club Issue Statement After Relegation
at 10:47:38
That is just a holding statement asking for calm before SR releases something of substance at the end of the season.
When they publish that, the first thing they must do is show some humility and apologise for their obvious mistakes. The second is to set out their plan - not just state the obvious ambition of returning stronger.
But the thing that will mean most will be to appoint a strong manager with the know-how and personality to galvanise a demoralised squad, sell and recruit well and drive the plan forward.
Let's hope they get it right this time.
Onwards and (back) upwards. |
| | Frank_Xerox
|
Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 0 | | Comment Votes: | 46 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 46 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.