Ralph Krueger has been on the PR trail as Saints look to raise their profile in the United States, however although he was positive he was coy on who would be in charge next season.

Ralph Krueger has been talking to the American media and it is positive from a Saints fans perspective as he confirmed that for the first time the club is now in a position where it does not need to sell its best players, however he would not be drawn on who would be in charge of the squad next season.

Krueger told the media that he was welcomed by a small squad on "extremely weak contracts'' upon his appointment during the 2013-14 season, and that meant that they needed to sell astutely and buy even smarter to build.

That money has allowed them to give the club strength with contracts, meaning they do not plan to sell any of the crown jewels.

"Here we sit in the summer of '17 and we now have 18 top, or above average, Premier League players under three or more year contracts,'' Krueger said. "We actually have 12 players that have more than four years, so 49 months, left on their contract and even a couple with 61 months.

"So 18 players have more than three years, gives us control over the summer for the first time.

"We will decide if anybody goes and we will decide who comes in, in the best interests of the club.

"We do not need to sell any player for the first time since I've been here.

"I can make that statement and -- unless football decides it's in the best interests -- we don't need to do that.

"I think that we're moving into a new era at Southampton Football Club after three-and-a-half years of building this foundation of depth, where we have more than 25 players that can play a Premier League game.

"We now need to consolidate. We're going to do everything possible to keep the core in place because the one thing that has been lacking here is developing synergies within the squad because of the changes.

"It has been difficult to maintain the synergies we would see at times during the season.

"I think that's one of the reasons we would like to keep the core in place to give the synergies an opportunity, and we are extremely hungry to push back into Europe next year. It is our obsession.''

Having spoken in general of the club's strategy Krueger was asked about Virgil Van Dijk and whether the club could turn down a massive bid for him.

Krueger said:

"Can we? Yes.

"The big thing is here again I want to underline the strategy, less the detail.

"You know I really respect our lead in football, Les Reed is doing an excellent job, and Ross Wilson has taken on a big role assisting Les and leading our football-specific decisions.

"They will continue next week once they've analysed the season and really de-brief completely, they will make then the football decision we need to make.

"I'll tell you again, we do not need to sell anybody.''

"The club's hunger for European qualification outweighs "hunger to set some record [sale] any moves made will be because it is better for Southampton."

However when the subject of the manager came up Krueger was less committal.

"In my role as a chairman, I like to have people expecting more and wanting growth and wanting development because that's what we are expecting from ourselves and that's what we are expecting within our staff,''

"Again, the football analysis, let it take place when these games are over.

"We have two really important matches -- what a beautiful thing to finish the season with two home games in five days, so right now we want to celebrate the moment.

"The bigger picture football-wise will become transparent as we move into next week and the week beyond.

"It hasn't been easy either to come in here as a manager, finishing eighth, seventh, sixth.

"It was definitely tough circumstances with Europe and we'll be looking at everything, and then we'll again be clearer after the season's over.''

Hopefully this statement from the Chairman will make some fans think again about what Saints are trying to achieve and what they have to do to achieve it, all good things take time and now we are seeing the fruits of three years of having to slowly built the club up to a position of strength and just why although it has been frustrating to watch some big names walk away from the club that now Saints themselves are in total charge of who goes and when.

That does not mean that players won't be sold in the future, the sad reality is that we can never compete financially with the big six, they have a global presence that enables them to make far more money than Saints will ever do, that means that we do have to nurture players and then sell them at a big profit and then hopefully repeat the process.

Some say we cannot keep doing that, however the answer is that we have to, because there is no other way, we cannot generate the income of Manchester United etc, so we have to do so in other ways the only other option is to follow the path that others follow and stagnate.

Over the last three years Ralph Krueger and his team have repeatably proved that they have a solid structure, what they don't deserve is the fury on social media everytime the press link a player with a move or a player is sold.

The moment something is wrong the same people are out predicting the downfall of the club without any real substance other than we have sold a player or lost a game or two or even that the manager is dull.

What they do deserve is a little more faith from a section of the supporter base, that faith to be shown by season ticket sales and some patience, everything cannot go right all the time, things cannot be changed at the first blip, time has to be given whether it is a player or a manager, there is no need for panic at every turn.

Southampton Football Club is at it's strongest point in time ever, both financially and on the field where after this seasons first major cup final in 4 years it is only one point away from a fourth consecutive top ten finish, something we have never achieved before in our history.

That shows the standards that we now set, that this season is considered almost a failure, the supporters now need to have a little more appreciation of what Krueger and his board have done over the past three years and a little more faith that they can continue to get it right.

Photo: Action Images

petedoors1 added 10:31 - May 17 Looks like Bye Bye Puel.
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arthurfane added 10:50 - May 17 This looks positive, not that we haven't seen this sort of comment before only to be let down by player sales in the summer. Ralph does have a point though - all the best players are ties to lengthy contracts, so we'll have no repeat of Clyne/Wanyama departures. I still think it's likely the club's resilience will be tested by a £60 million bid this summer and it would fill me with boundless optimism and send out a clear message to our rivals if this bid is rejected.

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highfield49 added 11:16 - May 17 It's a shame that the club don't communicate their strategy to the supporters more frequently. Interviews like this from the Chairman give a greater perspective of where the club has recently been and where it's planning to go in the future. Indeed the expanded version quoted in other media releases clarifies matters further. Whilst I have been critical on here about Puel (more so about his assistant, who has a terrible PR profile) and feel that a more dynamic personality is required as manager I'm now prepared to await developments rather than rant just to try and get my view aired. I find it amusing that Everton are now in the position that we have been in with Ross Barkley reluctant to sign a new contract, one year left on the old one, and RK raging about selling him for £50m. The reality of course is that they are unlikely to find a buyer at that price when he is potentially available for free in twelve months. Echoes of Clyne, Wanyama, Schneiderlin etc.? Krueger learnt the lesson and, together with Reed and Kat, acted to rectify the creeping death by player power. VVD may leave at some point soon but it will be on the club's terms and not the agent, player or media driven frenzy of the past. We march on.

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Hugh_Jarce added 11:17 - May 17 I believe VVD will go on to play at the very highest level in Europe and we shouldn't stand in his way if the market rate of over £60m is offered. Replacements can be bought and the squad strengthened overall. Absolutely want him to stay another season or so but we have to be realistic.
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SanMarco added 11:21 - May 17 The wording of this interview is very careful: We don't need to sell but we will if we want to. The Chelsea bid for VVD therefore needs to be big enough. I share arthurfane's sentiments over rejected bids but I will be absolutely astounded if VVD is still playing for us on 1st September. I hope the coded message from RK is that no one else will go unless the bids are very, very high. There will be bids for Bertrand and Romeu and it is these rather than the VVD thing that will be vital. Of course the Puel situation may have an impact on whether the likes of Tadic, Long and Bertrand want to go. If petedoors is right, and he could well be, then let's get a new manager in quickly. Why wait to the end of the season for a review and then bumble along for vital weeks 'searching' for a replacement.

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BaselSaint added 11:33 - May 17 Apart from VVD the departure of other key players will depend on whether Puel stays or leaves. This will make a big difference.
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BoondockSaint added 14:01 - May 17 Sorry, but as soon as you see the word "synergies" you know you are getting a load of corporate double talk. This just seems like a big PR statement. "Les Reed is doing an excellent job." Looks like he felt he had to say that because he is aware of the criticism. Notice there were no tough questions such as "Why did you not land a big name manager to replace Koeman?" "We don't need to sell any player" doesn't mean they won't. The club was not in financial trouble the last three years (unlike when they had to sell Bale) yet they still sold the top players. If a player wants to move to a club that will pay him more, there is nothing you can do. You could have a 10 year contract, but if the player want's out, he'll just down tools until you sell him and the pressure is on you since if he stops performing, the price will drop. OK, so there are teams richer than us, but that excuse went out the window last year with Leicester's win. Rich teams can be mismanaged and slide down the table--the Scouse, ManU, and Spuds in recent years and teams like the Saints have to be ready to take advantage. Other clubs might have a bigger global presence, but Saints could try to grow their fan base--but you are not doing that playing in Baltimore! This was just more "We are a little team, be happy the big boys play with us, and don't upset your betters."

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pete_boggs added 15:20 - May 17 He's talking his usual gobbledygook b******t and has said nothing important except that Reed is promoted to Chairman in Ralph's absence. Ralph will be gone when the club is sold and the s**t hits the fan in the summer with player sales inc VvD, when all the S/T holders realise they've been duped again. The squad quality has been eroded systematically over 4 years and will be weaker next season.

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richsaints added 15:27 - May 17 I don't like change for the sake of it but puel doesn't fit and never did so a change is necessary if saints finish eight they will pull in over 124 million in TV and league position money so no one has to go if they have reasonable length of contract left so we will see if at last the big selling days are behind us fingers crossed.
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halftimeorange added 16:43 - May 17 Oh, my goodness. There's more predictions on here than Russell Grant's astral page. We do not know if VVD will go or whether it needs more or less than £60M to persuade Saints it's good business. Neither do we know what makes Bertrand, Romeu or any of the other players want out. We don't know if Claude will be invited to stay or, indeed, want out and we certainly don't have a clue if Krueger is on the point of leaving and whether the much maligned, sometimes unfairly, Les Reed is in the running for the post of chairman. True, we don't hear much from the board but when they have spoken, when has it been patently deliberately untrue? There have been mistakes but less at Saints than most other EPL clubs. Too many doom-mongers have become vocal.

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VancouverSaint added 18:00 - May 17 I like Ralph and the way that he drives the club forward with a long term plan. We, as fans, see just the day to day progress and do not have the vision that management obviously have. We just see the turn over of players, the weekly results and performance on the pitch. In the big picture rolls marketing, longer term contracts, infusion of capital etc. Sure we will be disappointed if VVD or the other two or three key players move but I feel more now that Ralph and Les are in control of that situation. Maybe astronomically crazy offers come knocking.....so what would you do? Maybe they will be resisted but the best interest for the club will come first, thats the message he passes on. I do feel that Puel is going to go under the microscope and his review may not be good for him. I'm sure replacements are already in the gun sights. Keep the faith, in Ralph we trust.

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bstokesaint added 18:54 - May 17 This is a very positive message despite what the doubters may think. If you read what RK has said about the club being vulnerable because of short term contracts for top players, then you can see we've been burned and learnt from it. To me the "we don't need to sell" suggests now the club believe that we can improve the squad through commercial means and TV money alone. If we don't sell anyone in the summer this would send out a huge message to our rivals and maybe change the views on our club going forward. I say "if" but let's be honest RK was good on his word about Morgan and Vic and did all that he could. I'm going to remain glass half full on this as personally I think this is the best we've had things as a Saints' fan of 30 odd years and I believe that is largely down to the work RK and Les do behind the scenes. Maybe RK could do more on the keeping us updated front. It would be nice, but then at the same time he may be thinking with what he has helped deliver to date, that we'd repay him with a little faith.

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luffy22 added 21:55 - May 17 He said - 'Here we sit in the summer of '17 and we now have 18 top, or above average, Premier League players' Is the man on drugs? VVD is well above average, Bertrand and Remaro above average the keeper on one of his rare good days, but None of the others, to say above average they would be wanted by other teams in the top half and would easily be able to walk into any of those teams, sorry but no, we have too much mediocrity, I'd actually like to see some sales this year, too much dross in our team. I'g agree if he said above average for a championship side, but not the premier. are clearly above average that you see the other teams wanting to sign,

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SaintBrock added 15:07 - May 18 Krueger said that all will be revealed before the end of May - he actually said next week or the week after but clearly that is what is implied. Obviously an announcement is planned after the season ends but before the players head off to their summer romps so they will know what they will be coming back to so can consider their futures before the window opens. Some will be told that they have no future here, others might ask to leave perhaps because Puel is staying but politely told 'no'. His tacit lack of support for Puel is mainly because the manager's future is in Les's hands not his but it certainly looks like he knows that Les has decided that Puel must be moved on.

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