Ralph Krueger's interview with Radio Solent last night was very much a statement of two halves, one which was full of intent and the second is yet to come.

Last night Ralph Krueger gave an interview to Adam Blackmore of BBC Radio Solent, in that interview he tackled some very difficult questions and did not shirk them, in the main he said just what Saints supporters wanted to hear, they wanted to hear that the club was still focused and still ambition and that Katharina Liebherr inteded to invest in the club rather than asset strip before a sale, Krueger said all that they wanted to hear, but his answers signalled that there will still be stormy waters ahead.

One interesting point was when he accused players of wanting to take a short cut to Champions League football" here he alluded to the ambitions of the former CEO and gave an opinion that there was no shortcut to the Champions League, that the no club let alone Saints could do that, that there was a lot of hard work and progress needed to be step by step and that the club now saw the Europa League as being the next step in a natural progression and that they had a focused plan going forward to achieve that.

He also hinted that rebuilding was necessary, referring back to his comments he said.

"We did not put any players up for sale," he added. "To get the best deal we needed to stay silent. It was not in our style to leak things out."

He accused the departed players of wanting to take a "shortcut to Champions League football"

"Those players were wanting to have it immediately," he said. "Once you end up with a group with that type of attitude you need to do what is best for the club. We did not make any decision on financial grounds."

In the sale of the players he indicated that Saints were running the Club along a continental "Soccernomics" basis stating that in the case of the players already sold that in each case Saints had received a price in excess of what they considered the "Premium" level, those who have studied the way that Soccernomics works will understand that the concept is that you know a players worth and that when you receive an offer in excess of that, you sell and reinvest, this is the structure that Liverpool have adopted over the past few years.

Of course these were all fine words from Ralph and he will know more than anyone that words do not count, it is all about actions and there can be no doubt that Saints have been found wanting in certain areas and these need to be addressed and that leads us to the second part of his statement, actions !

Now having made the bold statements about Schneiderlin and Rodriguez not being sold and stated that there will be several new signings in along with talk of how the squad will need to be rebuilt, these words now have to be put into actions, many Saints fans have felt let down, we have sold before replacements are in place and that is very dodgy ground to be on, so the next few weeks are crucial.

But we Saints fans have to give Katharina Liebherr and Ralph Krueger the chance to show their intentions are good, firstly for the reason we have no other choice but mainly for the fact that they have a big job to do and we have to trust them to get it right in the long term, reading social media sites over the past week you would have thought that the last five years have been a smooth path without any rocky periods, some forget that if we had judged Nicola Cortese after a year in charge he would have been long gone.

In his first season despite spending more than the rest of the league put together we failed to get promoted and his second season was no less rocky with a poor start, managerial upheaval and a season of playing catch up only gaining automatic promotion virtually on the finishing line.

Our first season back in the Premier was one of upheaval and mainly a fight against relegation, but some have short memories.

This should tell us that we need to give our new board the time to make the changes needed especially with the playing side of things, Cortese didnt get it right first time, so we have to get off their backs and give them that chance to prove their intentions are true.

On the plus side we have a great manager in Koeman and Krueger confirmed that the Dutchman had full input into the transfer dealings, something that was never the case under the previous CEO and this is something that Koeman does well as we can see from his time at Feyenoord.

There is no reason why the following season should not be as exciting as the last one, Krueger spoke of realistic ambitions and that means looking for another top 10 finish and as he confirmed looking to qualify for Europe perhaps through one of the domestic cups.

If we can look to achieve that then this is truly progress, the fact is that even if nothing changed then it would have been very difficult to progress beyond what we acheived last season and Pochettino was on record that he was not interested in Europa League qualification as he felt that it would be bad for the club, for him and Cortese it was Champions League or bust, so given the impossibility of the former, just what did we have to look forward too.

Now we have focused and achievable aims, last season Hull finished 16th we finished 8th but they had two appearances at Wembley and now look forward to a European campaign, I would ague who had the most exciting season last year, us or them ?

So fine words from Ralph and ones we needed to hear, but that is only the first part, now we need to see those words put into actions and make no mistake Ralph and his board need to realise the mistakes they have made and what they need to do going forward to put them right, and we as fans need to support the club rather than deride it at every opportunity as some seem to be revelling in doing so now.

I want to see the club continue its path forward the way to do that is to support it rather than whinge about wasting money on season tickets, supporting a football club is for life not just for a good season or at least that is the way it used to be.

Photo: Action Images

brady100 added 12:15 - Jul 30 Fine words but naive strategy believing the club can sell 5 top performers and then decide to keep two against their will. Surely the board must have realised that if you sell 2 or 3, you risk having to sell them all. As you say, nothing more to do now than sit back and let the club do their work. I'm still not sure about calling Koeman a 'great' manager before a ball is kicked. I like his philosophy and style but he has much to prove working outside his native Holland. As for Les Reed, it seems many of the players dislike him for whatever reason, it's time for him to show the fans he can negotiate the deals we need and thus keep the fans off his back.

0

Toussaint added 12:41 - Jul 30 It does seem more like an Ice-hockey pre-season than a football one..in football its much harder to create the spine of a team.but the thing that bothered me the most is he admitted that, he did not have a say in the transfers of the players that left ,yet now he seems to all of a sudden, be the final word .somethings not right here
0

montecristo added 12:44 - Jul 30 I remain totally unconvinced by Krueger. As brady100 puts it selling five players before having replacements in place makes the job of recruitment twice as difficult. How on earth are saints to convince Rojo to join them rather than Liverpool? Either the Board has been incredibly stupid, or we have been duped: I dont believe him when he says it was the lure pf Champions League foot ball that made players leave. Cortese had a project in place, the players believed in it, and it was the abandonment of this that caused all the trouble.As for Liverpool, I am sure that the appointment of an ex Liverpool director as adviser to KL led to an agreement to sell three players to Liverpool for roughly the sum needed to achieve KL s expected return from the sale of the club, which I believe is still the most likely outcome. The sale of so many players makes no sense in any other scenario for goodness sake.

0

thegeneral added 13:04 - Jul 30 Players don't leave for champions league football, they leave for champions league money. If the club is so ambitious to play in the europa league why did MP throw the Sunderland FA cup game? did he know at that point he was going to Spurs and didn't want to compete against us? I thought the sale of young players was a club strategy to provide revenue income and this is backed up by the investment in the new centre, ok thats understandable, but the wrong precedent is set with the sale or maybe i should say the inability to keep the likes of Lovren, Lallana etc, still knowing that as soon as the right offer comes in for any of the young players they are gone without a second thought, and surely one good sale every couple of seasons is enough i.e. 27m or so for Shaw, but we have lost two of our best young players this window alone. Our academy is good but the blind faith that it can provide season after season troubles me.

0

simmo400 added 13:13 - Jul 30 On a more light hearted note has anyone tried to squeeze into a new Saints shirt ?? The sizes must have been set by the chinese people who made them. The biggest size 5XL should be as big as a tent yet is still like a tight vest. Come Saints sort the shirts out.....us larger fans enjoy a slack fit for football not a second skin.
0

StEdmund added 13:32 - Jul 30 It's interesting to compare this with the goings on at Atletico Madrid this summer after a wonderfully successful season. They have lost FOUR key players - David Villa, Filip Luis, Diago Costa, and Thibaut Courtois - AND may lose two or three others as well. Horribly familiar tale of woe, which sounds though money talks not playing in the CL after all?
1

BoondockSaint added 13:41 - Jul 30 This makes interesting reading: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/southampton-board-cannot-blamed-exod Sorry if someone else has posted it earlier. Basically it's the old "follow the money" I'm a little bit worried that Ralph didn't clarify the status of the tea lady! Rumor has it she was the only one MoPo spoke English to, and I think she Tweeted that she had ambitions of brewing tea in more expensive European delph.

0

BoondockSaint added 13:44 - Jul 30 P.S. Nic, could you please find another picture-this one of everyone's reaction after Les has let one rip is unsettling to say the least!
0

mayfairsaint1 added 13:46 - Jul 30 Credit Krueger for coming onto Talk Sport. His statement that Morgan and J Rod were not going anywhere was most welcome. However, this raised one serious question. Had anyone told Morgan this? Surely to god, the hierarchy should have held meetings with the two want aways and explained the situation to them before going public on national radio because Morgans tweet then became the story. I can only presume that no meeting had taken place with Morgan and his agent other wise, he wouldn't have tweeted in a fit of pique. Ralph has now painted himself into a corner. He can't go back on his guarantee that both players will not be sold but someone (RoKo) has got to get the players back on message. I want to feel confident that the board know what they're doing but I'm not.

1

SanMarco added 17:00 - Jul 30 Come on montecristo: 'Cortese had a project in place' - that has nothing whatsoever to do with any of this. You think that Luke Shaw would have said no to MU and AL no to Liverpool? Really?? Cortese's bluster was great for morale while we were on the way up but once we got there it became a liability. Reality always has to strike in the end. These players can get a lot more money and have more chance of winning things at the clubs they are going to. Full stop. The fact that the board are making a bit of a mess of Cortese's poison legacy is a big problem and a fair criticism but Cortese is last year's news and he is now totally irrelevant (apart from the fact that his worshippers use him as a big stick to attack the people trying to repair things of course).

0

BlackRod added 17:05 - Jul 30 Statement of two forked tongues might be a better title for this piece. Ever the optimist Nick apparently cannot see the deep breakdown in morale and commitment that has developed. Whatever else anyone says Schneiderlin's reaction demonstrates an appalling lack of communication from Kruger and Les Reed. Did anyone talk to Morgan before Kruger made his statement? I think many of us will be entirely sympathetic to his tweet. Rodriguez can be expected to follow suite. With Fonte desperate to go to Cardiff (more money), Corke to Swansea (only one year of contract left) and Clyne wobbling there is much more behind the last few weeks than players leaving because they want to play in Europe.

-2

apb added 10:18 - Jul 31 I can understand the situation, and why players want to move to a TOP four team, even just for more money. I would swap job to double my salary, hey even 20% more. Kruger explained this reasonably well. But then he referred to Saints as being a "Product" on talksport. I think the comment was "the Fans will enjoy the Product", I understand we need to control cost, think like a business but that is the last thing I want to hear. We are Fans supporting our team, not customers buying a product, we won't just switch to a nicer product, if they don't give us what we want. We will sulk and come back for more next year whatever league we are in. It primal more like being in a tribe, I wish we had a "Football Man" who really understood this.

0

zonehead added 16:36 - Jul 31 If Chambers can walk in and say "my futures not here" ok off you go (good money though) not surprised they all want to leave. Les you should have said NO your under contract and your future will be somewhere else in a few years time once you have learnt your trade (and be worth double)
0

Blogs 31 bloggers

MK Dons Polls