The rumours are flying thick & fast about which clubs want which Southampton players, but at the moment it is nothing more than rumour and counter rumour, however in a few days time that will all stop and some serious business will be done.

Of course we would all like to be in the Premier League for the coming season and if we where then we would be keeping some of those who will leave the club this summer, but the reality is that we are in the ~Championship, we can moan all we like, but we cannot change the past only the future.

Much has been made of where Saints went wrong last season and yes we did make some poor signings, but we also made some good ones and that will set us in good stead to rake in some big money and therefore be able to invest in the squad for the coming season.

Of course there will be those that will decry Sport Republic as an owner who want to make profit from transfer sales, but shock horror that is just about every other club owner in the top two divisions at least.

But the number of signings we have made in the last year who are in demand shows that the issue with the club is not solely the fact that we failed to sign a striker of central defender, but we failed to manage the squad properly.

Armel Bella Kotchap, Romeo Lavia, Charlie Alcatraz & Sulemana are all evidence of good players we have signed, where we have increased their value, but Lavia aside have failed to get them to fulfil their potential.

They alone will perhaps raise £100,000 for an outlay of less than half of that, this is not including those that were here before Sport Republic arrived and again why have players such as Salisu failed to blossom here, but are in demand elsewhere.

We will find out who is in big demand and who has a busy agent after Saturday when the laughable loyalty bonus’s are paid and the real business can begin.

I am sure there will be the usual comments about the club being in disarray etc, but neither the club or those doing the moaning can change the past, but the future can be changed and unlike 2005 when we left the Premier League raking in little money from the sales of players who could get another Premier League club, this time we will get in far more than we need to spend.

So Saturday will be a big day for the club, yes there will be a negative side, but it can be turned into a positive.

Sport Republic have to be given the chance to show that they are the people to learn from their mistakes and turn things round, likewise Russell Martin, many say it is Nathan Jones part two, yes their are many comparisons that can be made, but the big difference is Jones was coming in to do a job in the Premier League, something he had no experience of and was not up to, whereas Russell Martin is not being asked to so that, he is being asked to do a job in a division where with little resources he took Swansea to within 3 points of the play offs.

The next few weeks will see a lot of departures from the club, but it is not about that, it is about how well we use the money.

Photo: Action Images

LoisDeem added 07:53 - Jun 27 There's a few other 'improvers' to add to that list, and I'm vainly hoping they remain under the radar. One of them's been out injured, and such a big miss that I'm convinced he would have made a difference to us staying up or not. I dare not mention his name, but noticed that one of the big hitters is allegedly sniffing around now. Player A is definitely one I'd like to keep, and know that he makes a huge difference to our team, unlike so many who are at different stages of development. Many like me wishing that we can manage to retain some of our more effective prospects for imminent use on 'bounceback'? A clean slate is nothing new to Saints, but it's a lot to ask under this new regime and manager, eh?

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underweststand added 08:23 - Jun 27 I can hear all the moaners, but the truth is that after Koeman's desertion, we lost the plot. The VvD profit was squandered on bad buys and those few signings we made only delayed the inevitable. History may be kinder the Ralph Hasenhuttl who managed to keep us up for the better part of 3 seasons without any real chances to improve a poor squad. No player, or those with aspirations to succeed will want to stay in the Championship. Those who remain are either; a credit to the club for their loyalty OR, will have to stay because of a lack of likely suitors. The bottom line is; with or without Prowsey & Co. in the end ...we just weren't good enough. Sport Republic have been criticised for their "bad buys" but at least they weren't afraid to invest - even if the (former) Board lacked the nous to get the right sort of players. Having spent 150 million in the last 18 months, now is the chance for them to "balance the books" and benefit from the sales of " our better talents" and bring in some new names who can play at the "lower level" and start the revival of our fortunes. Those people who continue to rail against the past mistakes and the lack of Prem. football still have a choice on the South Coast - without motoring up to London. Personally speaking - after more than 60 years as a Saints fan - "I ain't goin' nowhere ".

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Boris1977 added 08:44 - Jun 27 Like many old skool fans (I was a kid in the 80s) I'm not particularly interested in the premiership and even as a teenager in the 90s thought it was a divisive idea - and of course saints were one of the clubs to vote in favour of it reflecting this countries wider schizophrenia of voting against its own interests. What do I want from my club? A well run, respected club which is exactly what we were until 5 years ago. As you say nick what's done is done but as history is the only barometer of the immediate future sports Republic are on trial. Everyone who contributes loves the club but we also get hurt and angry when it's damaged or humiliated. When the humiliation is self inflicted we are naturally going to blame the mistakes of those in charge. Reading the above sounds like an admission that the owners funded the playing staff but skipped on focusing on a suitable management set up. So despite going down we used the talent we had in the squad as a shop window for suiters to pick up when we were relegated so that the owners could make their money back. This is a kamakaze plan and makes no business sense. Using the argument above, with the correct management team in place we would have stayed up as they would have realised the ability within the squad and we'd still be in the premiership. As it is the strategy was get relegated, sell the talent from a position of weakness and appoint a manager who might push for the play offs. Sports Republic are renowned for owner several clubs in lower European leagues. That's exactly what we have become and could well remain white sports Republic remain in charge

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Frank_Xerox added 09:17 - Jun 27 I'm trying to decide if I've contradicted myself by agreeing with both Underweststand and Boris, but both their comments make good sense. I've still not heard anything that convinces me that SR have really understood that relegation is on them and they haven't come near to apologising. That lack of humility worries me.
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A1079 added 09:54 - Jun 27 I am not bothered about not being in the Premier League. In fact, I am looking forward to playing in the Championship. I am bothered though how the club is run and in that I have to agree in the most part with Underwestand and Boris. I want the club to be well run on and off the pitch and get back the respect that it once had. It has been a number of seasons now of mismanagement, poor decisions and decline.

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kenchilds70 added 10:00 - Jun 27 With 60+ years of support, I was so happy when Saint Marcus dragged us from despair and promised us good times again. His untimely and truly sad demise was heartbreaking. My seat being very close to his I remembered his beaming smile as he and his CEO powered us back to the top tier of English Football. Since then we bumbled along with a" not a clue board "apart from how to be self serving and greedy. And now SR are here and with similar ideas to Sir Marcus. They will have to admit they have made some grievous choices in key management roles. But this season is their chance to get all their ducks in a row and prove to SFC fans, who have their lives invested in their club, that good times are worth fighting for. Listen to the fans SR its their club too, you know.

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lemmsy added 10:25 - Jun 27 Personally I don’t believe that SR wanted us to be relegated, look at how much they spent in January trying to avoid relegation.Misguided spending most definitely & I also believe if Ralph was given those funds in January he would if done a far better job than NJ & RS. As you say nick we can’t change the past so I feel we should build around Bazuna , livramento, Alcaraz , smallbone, tella , edozie & so on .If certain players want to leave then surely we must achieve absolute top dollar for them, then use these funds wisely unlike January.

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Monksway added 13:45 - Jun 27 Loads of crazy speculation at the moment surrounding who will leave and for how much money. In theory, up to 22 players could leave for around 200 million if SR want to maximise their income to offset their expenditure to date and the loss of income through relegation. Alternatively, they might limit sales to a few obvious candidates who either should be playing in the EPL or need to be got off the payroll. I hope that they stick to their strategy of developing a core of younger players ( Livramento, Alcarez, Edozie, Bazunu, Doyle, Ballard, Sulimana,) keep some of the "championship players" (Tella, Smallbone, Adams, Adam Armstrong, Stephens) and add some senior players already known to the new management team.

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YosemiteSaint added 14:54 - Jun 27 I'm with A1079, and am looking forward to leaving the biggest poker table in the world (i.e., the EPL), at which one must compete with the likes of huge conglomerations and entire nation states. If this season proved anything, it's that there's considerable bloat at the club, so we should embrace this downsizing as an opportunity to shed dead weight and balance the books. So i'm not too bothered with who stays and goes. I am, however, still concerned that Sport Republic are the right ones for the job—in which case, if they'd like to step aside for a better buyer, i'd be all for that as well.

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