After a few departures Saints need to show now that they are selling the players they want to and keeping those that they want to keep.

Many of my articles of late have been about how Saints fans need to be patient and how in the grand scheme of things the sale of a player or two can help the club move forward, that does not mean however that I feel that we should sell each and every player who expresses a desire to "Play at a higher level" etc.

There is a point where contracts need to be honoured and that the Club needs to hold firm on that contract, I do truly believe that the sale of the two players gone so far as well as the impending departure of Adam Lallana can be beneficial for the club and building up the squad as a whole, but that doesn't mean I think that this way forward works on a completely wholesale basis.

Like any growing business you have to build strong foundations and then evolve over a period of time, the transfer money so far will mean we have a massive kitty to fund incoming signings, however there is a limit to how much we realistically need.

So now the Club needs to be sending out the right messages to both the players and the fans, of course the media like to make mischief and some members of it in relation to Saints like to make more mischief than others, but a newspaper headline about a player wanting away does not always mean that it is going to happen.

Saints have to show that they mean business, that there will be no further signings unless it is truly in the interests of the club, so far the Club has sold players on their own terms, it might not feel like that but the truth is we hve got a recod fee for a teenager in British football, £4.5 million for a player who has a year maybe two left as a top flight player and possibly £25 million for a player who as much as loved him was worth no more than a quarter of that a year ago, such is the madness of the Premier League in how a price can be pushed up by one good season.

So we have done it on our own terms so far and we need to keep doing so and that means showing we are in control, again the fans have to give the club the opportunity to do this and not overreact every time a newpsaper headline screams something we don't want to hear.

But again it does come back to the Club, we have trusted them so far, they now have to show that this trust is well founded and that they can take us forward.

Photo: Action Images

slynch added 11:29 - Jun 28 I see it all this way: Saints have just completed a new multi-million pound training facility, installed cutting edge flood lighting, dug up an award winning pitch and put down a better one! None of those were truly "necessary" but the investment is there to show players Saints is a top six club. Saints' outstanding development of players has made all Saints players in-the-news and "fashionable" so they command a price greater than they are worth for footballing reasons alone. They can all be replaced talent-for-talent by cheaper players or new ones brought through the system. 3 strokes of a pen and Saints will have a better team than before. Saints don't have to show they mean business cos they are already doing it: Koeman was attracted to Saints as it stands and players better than the ones that have left will be queuing up to join as well as every talented youngster from a huge catchment area. I say spend half the the money coming in on players and new talent, the rest to the share holders and a new 6,000 stand that will push Saints into the top eight clubs.

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montecristo added 12:01 - Jun 28 Back pedaling a bit, arent we?? Unfortunately you cant have your cake and eat it in business, Saints have made their bed now they must lie on it, they are seen as a selling club and there will unfortunately be a feeding frenzy. Anybody who thinks otherwise is deluded. I am very much in the Cortese camp, he knew that in order to progress Saints needed to retain their best players not sell them and add to the squad at the same time. As soon as players realized that this perspective had been abandoned by Liebherr, they were off. And you cant stop it now its too late.

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montecristo added 12:02 - Jun 28 Back pedaling a bit, arent we?? Unfortunately you cant have your cake and eat it in business, Saints have made their bed now they must lie on it, they are seen as a selling club and there will unfortunately be a feeding frenzy. Anybody who thinks otherwise is deluded. I am very much in the Cortese camp, he knew that in order to progress Saints needed to retain their best players not sell them and add to the squad at the same time. As soon as players realized that this perspective had been abandoned by Liebherr, they were off. And you cant stop it now its too late.

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montecristo added 12:02 - Jun 28 Back pedaling a bit, arent we?? Unfortunately you cant have your cake and eat it in business, Saints have made their bed now they must lie on it, they are seen as a selling club and there will unfortunately be a feeding frenzy. Anybody who thinks otherwise is deluded. I am very much in the Cortese camp, he knew that in order to progress Saints needed to retain their best players not sell them and add to the squad at the same time. As soon as players realized that this perspective had been abandoned by Liebherr, they were off. And you cant stop it now its too late.

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montecristo added 12:02 - Jun 28 Back pedaling a bit, arent we?? Unfortunately you cant have your cake and eat it in business, Saints have made their bed now they must lie on it, they are seen as a selling club and there will unfortunately be a feeding frenzy. Anybody who thinks otherwise is deluded. I am very much in the Cortese camp, he knew that in order to progress Saints needed to retain their best players not sell them and add to the squad at the same time. As soon as players realized that this perspective had been abandoned by Liebherr, they were off. And you cant stop it now its too late.

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sidsaint added 12:42 - Jun 28 In a few days time Lovren and Schneiderlein will have gone and every other selling club knows how much cash we have so anyone we want will have their price inflated. Good business! Moral of the story have replacements signed up before selling.
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squidofdespair added 12:53 - Jun 28 Squid doesn't understand the logic, If we want to be a top 6 club players like lalananalana and Shaw should have been kept, with the squad added to. no?
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SaintGeorge added 16:03 - Jun 28 You're missing the point Nick. You're quite right about the standard of players and the quality/cost of their replacements, but how do you suppose we replace the spirit of a team welded by friendship and a journey from the third division and administration to International football? The guys walking away played together in the Johnson paint pot — this was a side painstakingly constructed by Pardew, Adkins and Poch, over five seasons. It could have survived the loss of Shaw, even Lallana, but with Ricky, Morgan and Dejan going, the team is gone and that spirit with it.

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ChristchurchSaint added 16:04 - Jun 28 Unfortunately, the panic mode has set in. Yes, okay we did not want to lose players until we had new ones lined up. LS, AL and DL had made it clear from the end of the season that they wanted to leave. As much as we don't want to admit it, we are not a big club and cannot afford to pay £100K a week in wages, and we cannot afford to substantiate the club on 30,000 attendance in the same way that the clubs who get 50,000 a week can. Even Markus said that we had to stand on our own feet, and he would not bankroll us in the same way that some clubs (Chelsea and ManC) are. The players that are leaving just do not have any loyalty to any club and will move on again, if/when it suits them. Let's all calm down and give it time. RoKo doesn't take the helm until Monday, so we won't be signing anyone till next week at the earliest. The most important thing is that the funds are spent wisely, and I have faith that he will have sufficient input to do that. I admit that to get to last seasons level will not be easy, but if we are in a mid table position or even higher by Christmas, then I will be more than happy.

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abingdonsaint added 16:25 - Jun 28 I am usually the eternal optimist, but Saints are entering very dangerous territory here in my view. The problem we now have is that we were trying to break away from the eternal perception that we are a 'selling club', but that is now here with a vengeance and is unsettling all our best players. For all Cortese's faults, he realised it was necessary to change this, hence all the bold talk and overt ambition which was intended to make players want to stay and be part of the success. No matter how much money you have, and bigger clubs than us have found this, it is very hard in this day and age to keep players who want to leave. Once one or two go, a snowball effect kicks in and the others think we are going nowhere so look to follow. The issue then is that even though we have loads of money, we need to replace high quality performers with comparable talent, but will they want to join a 'selling club'? I also think you underestimate how good Shaw, Lallana, and potentially Schneiderlin etc are Nick. Our strongest team last season was not far off the top six. We will probably have a deeper squad this coming season, but a weaker first eleven. This creates another issue of where the points will come from. Last season we were miles better than the teams in the bottom half, and gave the top sides a decent test. We may now struggle to blow away the lower teams, and be even further away from the top ones. I desperately hope I am wrong, that Koeman will have something up his sleeve, and we can bring in some real quality to complement the academy products, but I'm afraid history tells us that selling your best players is rarely a recipe for success. All very frustrating because we were so close to breaking in to the upper echelons. And before you say we not good enough, how come the Champions League clubs want half our team!

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SaintStu7 added 21:03 - Jun 28 Montecristo needs to cheer up and and needs to crawl out of the Cortese camp (he's gone and probably spares us very little thought). As said the club did not have to spend millions on new training ground and facilities. Why would this money be spent when the doom and gloom merchants state the club is being assest stripped. I am glad the club is now in the hands of sensible business people who are making sound business decisions to grow the club. If Cortese had his way the club would have brought a group of overpaid premadonnas in the unstainable hope of Champions League football, how is that good for our fantastic, historic, family club. A good way to do a Pompey perhaps. In relation to Lambert, brilliant player and man he will be sorely missed. Good for him though. Lallana great player for us but one good season has totally over inflated his ego and his value. Great time to cash in. Shaw, oh my god, take the money and run! Target or Chambers could worth the same in 2 years. Get behind the owners who saved this club and put THEIR money on the line. Looking forward to another rollar coaster under a great new manager.

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1teeminants added 22:36 - Jun 28 Abingdon saint tremendous post I agree 100% with your post.
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pintsizedsaint added 22:49 - Jun 28 Nice article here to help us get away from the negativity: http://thepremierleagueowl.com/in-decline-no-southampton-have-never-looked-bette
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Newdawn2014 added 10:09 - Jun 29 pintsized thank you, I`m just a Saint`s fan & ruffled by all the carp that's going on, this has been one of the most positive pieces of journalism I`ve seen on the subject so far. Now lets have some good transfer news next week . COYS
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SaintNick50 added 11:15 - Jun 29 Please, please, please, spend the transfer kitty, wisely. Is it time to welcome back Osvaldo no SRL is out of his way?
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SanMarco added 11:45 - Jun 29 I think the comments on this confirm that we are all very disappointed by the break-up of our team. Some temper this disappointment by looking on the bright side and others get angry and allocate blame. I draw two conclusions: 1. All the bright and breezy 'five-year-plan, 'challenge for the league title', 'not a selling club' stuff was great for morale in the dark days but was all basically waffle and those that actually believed it are settling into NC worship and talk of the good old days and 'what might have been'. It is perfectly understandable but it is the road to nowhere. 2. Despite that we have reached a point where, after Lovren goes not too many more can. The '100 million war chest' optimistic line is all very well if you have to buy 3 or 4 players + 1 or 2 the strengthen the squad but a whole team? The players/manager who have gone/are going wanted to go and had no intention of staying - the only honest one is Lovren who did the decent thing and put it in writing. The others, particularly AL should gain nothing from us for their moves as they essentially walked out. They are all history and would have been whatever the club said or did. Koeman needs to get back from holiday and draw some important lines in the sand now. Are my two points contradictory? To a certain degree but that is football support - a mixture of romance and hard common sense. I will continue supporting whatever happens...

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ChristchurchSaint added 12:11 - Jun 29 Pintsized saint: good article, like the viewpoint and does show that there are options- the only thing is, it did include Lovren and Schneiderlin who have already hinted at leaving!
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montecristo added 18:03 - Jun 30 Saintstu7 I think we will have to agree to disagree. I see little to be optimistic about , the heart is being ripped out a very good team which will be immensely difficult to replace regardless of how good Koeman might be as a manager. Replacing our stars is going to be mightily difficult, Koeman is going to have to convince them to come in the first place, and I doubt that Saints are seen as a good place to come to as we are virtually having to start again from scratch and build a team. For me, its a disaster, it was tough enough trying to get Ramirez to join and now you want the club to find six or seven top players who will join us. Cloud cuckoo and comes to mind, sorry. I d love to be wrong and heres wishing but I wouldnt put money on it if I were you!!!!

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