Two weeks ago some Saints supporters were convinced that Ralph Krueger and his board were about to cave in and sell off all the players before the World Cup, we can now have the faith in them that they perhaps do know what they are doing.
For some Saints supporters the sale of Rickie Lambert to Liverpool showed that the Saints board were incompetent and would sell players to whichever club waved a big wad of cash at them, it is easy to see why some would think that way, but they failed to see the bigger picture regarding the Lambert deal, to survive a football club must continually keep moving forward, unfortunately age catches up with all players and it was about to do with Rickie, the best clubs are pro active, they anticipate things going forward and make their plans before the event happens, Manchester United did not do so 18 months/2 years ago and therefore David Moyes inherited a squad that had grown old and had not been overhauled by Sir Alex Ferguson in a way he would have done a few years ago.
With the Lambert deal the club realised that this was too good to turn down, they have to keep moving forward and like Southampton Football Club has done and indeed 99% of clubs in the World, the issue is not selling players and getting over inflated prices, but getting in replacements.
The main worry of those who panicked was that the board would now cave in to Liverpool and Manchester United, that they were not strong enough to turn them away, well now we have that answer, perhaps there are still a few questions to be asked about the experience of the board, but they have passed their first big test and with the England squad now having arrived in Brazil there will be no sales of those in Brazil till after the tournament is finished.
Perhaps now those sceptics can give Ralph Krueger and his board some breathing space, let them prove that they can do the job or otherwise, rather than screaming at them the moment there is a blip.
The blip was not the fault of the board, history will not hold Mauricio Pochettino in high regard in some respects, the board did its best to keep them, he was determined to hedge his bets in the hope that the Spurs job would come up, the fact he did suggests that he knew more than he was letting on.
The Saints board have held steady now its the turn of the fans, we have to trust them to get things right between now and the new season, countless rants at their incompetence only add to the troubles, the situation with Liverpool chasing Lallana was fueled by certain elements of the media, it seemed much worse than it actually was due to the knee jerk reactions of some of the fan base.
There can be no doubt that the next couple of months will be rocky, after all we have some good players other teams are going to want them, however we have shown that when a player leaves it will be because its the right time for Saints, I still expect Adam Lallana to go to Liverpool and Wayne Shaw to Manchester United before the new season starts, what Im confident of though is that we will get the best price for them and that if we use the money wisely then as a squad we will be stronger and in a beter position than most in the Premier League