Ralph Krueger has spoken of how he wants to rid Saints of its selling club tag and make it a place that players consider their final destination.

Ralph Krueger has revealed that his ambition is to make Southampton Football Club a place that players see as a permanent place to be rather than a stepping stone to perceived better things.

Speaking at the Leaders Sport Business Summit in London Krueger said.

"I don't worry. I believe things are going to happen for a reason,"

"The goal is of course over time that this is a final destination. Maybe it isn't yet for players, but we're moving towards that.

"We still understand where we sit in the whole balance of English football and we respect that. But we're working hard at every level in the club to grow in a fashion that it becomes an end destination. We have to earn that."

But with the money raised from transfers having enabled them to strengthen the squad in each of the last two seasons and bring in players such as Sadio Mane, Dusan Tadic, Graziano Pelle, Fraser Forster, Jordie Clasie, Romeu, Ryan Bertrand to name just a few and Krueger says Southampton are happy with their business model.

"The world around us had a problem with it, but we didn't because what happened last summer and this summer gave us the opportunity to deepen the squad,"

"Led by (executive director of football) Les Reed, the decisions that were made and the way we built the side, it's a deeper team."

"It's more competitive within the group, which is healthy. Two years ago we had one truly Premier League player on every position; now we're almost backed up in every role."

"We've come a long, long way in two seasons, so for us it's all been fine, even though the outside world thought there would be disruption and this and that and that Morgan was going to go."

"That was in the stars and we're happy for Morgan. He's going to be a flag-bearer for Southampton and he's going to be a great ambassador for us, like Gareth Bale is, or other players out there."

Krueger also spoke of his hopes for this season.

"At Christmas I think there'll be a pack of 12 teams," he said. "You've just got to make sure you're in it and then you've got a shot."

This was the speech that Daily Mail journalist Sam Cunningham reported in his paper was poorly received and saw bought barely a smattering of applause, it seems that what Krueger told the Leaders in Sport summit had a lot more foundation than Cunningham was prepared to admit and certainly seems to be a reasonable take on where Southampton stand as a club and where they plan to be.

Photo: Action Images

Hugh_Jarce added 18:52 - Oct 9 The Daily Mail are well known in these parts for professional and unbiased reporting of Saints activity aren't they ? What a rag.
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BUCK added 21:53 - Oct 9 I read Sam cunning ham report. What a moron. No doubt a Chelsea fan haha. Bitter much,I think so
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archersrd added 01:20 - Oct 10 Cheap journalism......with apologies for the wrong use of the word 'journalism'
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winchesterbob added 08:23 - Oct 10 A rag for Fascists by Fascists..
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saintmark1976 added 09:18 - Oct 10 Nick, please stop any further reference on this site to the Daily Fail.Much better just to ignore them completely. Put simply, the Daily Fail is only read by "the hard of thinking"in any event.
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IWOZTHERE added 13:39 - Oct 10 Fair enough Ralph, but, to paraphrase what you said in your early speech, the time will soon (I hope) come when the club will take a giant 'leap of faith' financially, in order to break into the 'big boys' club.
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SaintBrock added 07:58 - Oct 11 Already some players have a much better attitude than others towards our club, most notably Grazziano Pelle to name just one. It is quite possible that he is very happy here and will not move anywhere else and why should he? After all he is a leading PL goalscorer and since joining Saints has benefitted from our coaching set-up to the tune of becoming a full and regular international for his country. He seems to be enjoying the best time of his career just like Ricky Lambert, just like Ryan Bertrand and maybe just like Steven Davis. We make great players and must be obvious to the others that those seeking betterment elsewhere may gain financially in the short term but soon start falling behind and out of favour, just like Ricky Lambert, just like Adam Lallana.

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SaintBrock added 08:02 - Oct 11 So wake up to reality Victor Wanyama, Sadio Mane and other seeming malcontents the grass is not always greener over there and this may be for you as good as it gets. Even I would live in Southampton for £3m to £5m a year!
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saintsfantv added 15:37 - Oct 15 One thing they've seem to get right in the last couple years or so is marketing - realising theres a global audience and with ever increasing interest from the yanks - who a'r all neutrals looking to adopt a team. Untapped market which could be moulded into sfc advantage (like the Asian market for manure / liverlool Just look at NBC's 'The Southampton Way' broadcast the tail end of last season.

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