Judging by the stories coming out of the Daily Echo this morning, Saints are setting the ground for their fans to prepare for a difficult summer. But there is a worrying undercurrent.

The media produces many headlines during transfer windows and indeed outside of them, each of them designed to try and make punters click on news stories or even buy newspapers s that is how the media earn their money.

The trick is spotting which media outlets are likely to put up anything with any real substance, which are just following the rest and which are following an agenda.

That agenda can be for or against a club.

Some Saints fans may vilify the Daily Echo for its coverage of the club at times, but the rality is that a local paper is perhaps the closest to any football club, as this is the outlet that attracts the most interested readers.

Therefore it is usually the local paper that a football club will turn to when it wants to get a message out to the supporters that it can't really put out via its own website etc, or if it has to emphasise a point.

That is why when the Daily Echo dropped two stories out on its website early this morning , the headlines made me sit up and notice.

The first was "Saints have contract dilemma" the second " Saints making positive statement"

Both pieces were delivering the same message and I would be very surprised if this wasn't
co ordinated wit the full co-operation of the club itself.

The Contract Dilemma headline concerned the fact that Saints have three players going into the last year of their contract this summer, Wanyama, Pelle & Martina, the message it was delivering was principally aimed at the Wanyama situation.

It was insinuating that the club was doing everything in it's power to persuade the Kenyan to sign a new deal and stay, but the player himself is not interested.

The phrase to look for is this

"The club, through Les Reed, have tried to negotiate with Wanyama and his agent over a new deal.

But there’s is little indication yet that he is prepared to put pen-to-paper, as several other Saints stars have done of lately."

The message is clear, the club has tried, the players isn't interested, but that isn't the club lacking ambition t's that the player is already had his head turned elsewhere.

It elaborates on this theme further by bringing up the issues at the start of the season to set the scene that Wanyama wants away and the club is not to blame.

Pelle is slightly different, the message is that here is a player that about to turn 31 is in the twilight of his career, selling him is not a backwards step but a forward one.

Martina is almost an after thought in the article stating that he was only ever coming in as cover and as such his performances were a bonus, but he is unlikely to be offered a new deal.

The second "Positive Statement" article is pretty much along the same lines of the first in that it re emphasises the point that the club are ambitious, they have shown this by signing other key players to long term deals and that if the likes of Wanyama leave it is not through the club not showing ambition, it is because their head has been turned by more money elsewhere.

This Echo piece is almost virtually propaganda for the club so gushing in the praise for the way Les Reed has been at work in the last month, emphasising that after Ronald Koeman stated that he wanted to see the club show ambition that the club got in the first shot by signing the likes of Van Dijk and Forster to long term deals, indeed the words used by the Echo could not be more clear if written by Reed himself.

"Actions, as they say, speak louder than words.

So when Koeman stepped into meetings regarding his future, seeking assurances over the club's ambitions and ability to move forward, Reed could point to Forster, Van Dijk and Ward-Prowse and say "there's your ambition, there's the indication that the club is moving forward, towards bigger and better things".

Wanyama should be able to look at his former Celtic team-mate Forster, Van Dijk and Ward-Prowse and realise that Saints are able to sell their ambitions to the best players at the club."

Fulsome praise for Les Reed and Southampton Football Club, but here is where it starts to get slightly worrying.

Although both articles seem clearly aimed at Victor Wanyama, both hint at the fact that Ronald Koeman has not yet signed a new deal, it stops a long way short of brazenly saying that there is a problem, but the language used seems to insinuate that it should have been done by now, that the club has shown it's ambition, so why isn't the contract signed.

As an overview I think that the Club are resigned that Wanyama will leave and are just getting their PR spin in, and that they see it in their best interests to sell Pelle due to age and whilst they can still get a decent fee for him.

This is all fair enough, but I think the club are also edgy that Koeman has not yet signed and although through their own website they have to put out the positive vibes that all is well, they are a little worried and wanted a "neutral" party to put out some positive spin on the work they are doing to tell the fans that whatever happens this summer that although in the past SFC might have been found wanting, this is not the past, it's the present and things are different.

For my own ten pence worth, I think that the club has done all it can, but ultimately money talks and we are always going to be hampered by the fact that certain clubs will have more clout than us.

However that does not mean we cannot compete and as Leicester have shown actually win things, whatever happens under Katarina Liebherr and Ralph Krueger Saints have shown that they can put things on a sound business footing with the right corporate governance, that they have a strategy and are ready and prepared to implement it and that they are ambitious.

What more can they do !

Photo: Action Images

StRipper added 09:51 - May 31 Obviously all speculation at this point, but if Koeman doesn't sign a new deal it is fundamentally because Saints have not shown sufficient ambition. Obviously open to interpretation of what 'ambition' means, but I would suggest that if Saints had decided to cash in on Pellè against Koeman's wishes then for the pig headed determination to make a profit whenever we can, Saints had pushed Koeman out of the door. I was a but surprised yesterday when I saw that the Koeman to Everton story was back in the media as I thought they had moved on by now. But suddenly there's talk about paying him £6m a year. I so hope this isn't an orchestrated thing that it comes to pass that Koeman goes to Everton, with the club saying they couldn't match their offer, when the real reason is because Saints wouldn't support him by retaining players he wanted to keep.

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SaintNick added 09:55 - May 31 I would disagree, Koeman dropped Pelle himself near the end of the season, Pelle will not be an issue, we ave plenty of attacking options. If Koeman leaves it will be because either a true big job has come up or he has been offered stupid money. Saints have shown their willing to back his judgement, the fee they will get for Pelle will be peanuts, it is not about that, it is about moving forward, Saints are trying to do a deal with Juventus for Simeon Zaza to replace Pelle.

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Bettwsresident added 09:57 - May 31 I think Pelle will go with Jay Rod coming back (+ a full summer/pre-season to regain his sharpness )and Austin on the bench (not to mention Ryan Seagar), Juanmi must go, as he will never get a kick in this team. Wanyama will go to spuds, but I think and hope Sadio will stay. I hope Harry Reed gets some game time next year. He has been really solid and reliable every time I’ve seen him.

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SanMarco added 10:03 - May 31 Koeman's position all along has been that he would see his contract out and go from there. We know he may well go but he has made repeated statements about how it has been at previous clubs - he prefers rolling one year contracts. I think the club, Koeman and the rest of us seem to have been manipulated into a position where if he doesn't sign now it is a crisis. Obviously Koeman's position, with more than half an eye on Barca, is not ideal but he has been open about it. We all know Wanyama is going so not sure why the club need to soften us up about that. My worry is that it won't stop there. One more year of Koeman + only Wanyama going would be good news for me. Lose Mane and Long on top of that and we are back to square one.

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SaintNick added 10:30 - May 31 San Marco speaks a lot of sense
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SonicBoom added 11:24 - May 31 Well if I were a player I'm not sure I'd join a club where the manager has less than a year on his contract. That is the problem. It looks good for Koeman that he states he sees out his contract - all very honourable but getting into his last year is certainly not what's best for the club.
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SanMarco added 12:20 - May 31 The man himself says I speak a lot of sense so I craftily go to give him a +1 and press the down button by mistake. I hope Saints are more efficient at pressing the right buttons this summer...!
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DPeps added 13:09 - May 31 I agree with SanMarco, but also think that Koeman has made a rod for his own back by being so honest about his contract. For the start of the contract it works to say 'I'll see out my contract', but then the media etc. expect him to be equally honest about what he's doing after that. If, like now, he can't say what he'll be doing after fans, media, and prospective players maybe conclude that he won't sign an extension. What I'm saying is that you can be too honest! I likewise agree with others that only losing VW this summer would constitute a success overall, as long as we sign another quality CM. I only struggle to see who would sign VW. I rate him but do Spurs need him? Realistically he'd go there and sit on the bench, at least at the start, and his alleged sulking might put MoPo off. I also really like Pelle, but now might be a good time to cash in. Again, he would have to be replaced. Too many uncertainities over J-Rod and Austin for me, and neither do the job Pelle can do.

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ElSanto added 13:13 - May 31 I helped you out with a +1 there SanMarco
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SanMarco added 13:34 - May 31 Good man ElSanto. DPeps - VW will be relatively cheap, one of the 'big' clubs might sign him just to weaken us. I say 'might' because I am not sure if it works like that but I certainly agree that Spuds don't need him.
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Stevebish added 18:39 - Jun 1 As far as Koeman's contract is concerned I thought it was left with agents and solicitors while he was on holiday and he would probably sign when he got back from holiday. I did think that the reports in the Echo were PR but really just preempting losing/ letting some players go
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