Of the five big name signings who have gone permanently we meet up with three of them on Sunday for the Premier League season opener at Anfield.

All eyes will be on Anfield on Sunday afternoon as Saints face Liverpool in the early televised kick off game, it will be a strange occasion in that three of our heroes of last season are about to be proclaimed by their new adoring fans, although it is likely that only one of the three who departed to Merseyside will be in the starting line up, with Adam Lallana injured and Rickie Lambert looking set to be more of a bit part player for Liverpool with his main starts being in the cup games.

So how should we treat our ex players ?

The first thing to take into consideration is that all three transfers were different in the way they were conducted and the circumstances behind them.

Firstly there is Rickie Lambert, although SRL was a God at St Mary's the fact was he wasn't getting any younger and whoever had been the manager at St Mary's when Rickie left back in May, it is highly unlikely that he would have had Rickie as a first choice striker, any football team needs to keep improving and those that hold their staus in the league do so by making changes before it becomes obvious to all that they should have been made before.

That being the case Rickie is leaving Saints with his reputation still high, we haven't had to watch him decline due to his age and therefore he leaves as popular as he has been throughout his five seasons at the club, the travelling Saints supporters will give Rickie a standing ovation ad deservedly so.

Next up is Adam Lallana, this is more difficult, it would be easy to paint Lallana as a changed man, someone whom success has gone to his head and threw his toys out of the pram, now I do not doubt there is some truth in this, whatever the circumstances, Adam did not behave in a professional way and he could have and should have conducted himself in a more mature and respectful fashion before his departure.

I can see why he was desperate to go in that suddenly he was presented with the opportunity to join a club who will be in the Premier league title chase and in the Champions league, not to mention the little sweetener of wages far beyond what he could ever earn at Saints, why would he not want to go ?

But there was a desperation in his actions and that was borne of the fact that he knew if this move fell through there would be no other offers from the big five clubs pending, unlike Luke Shaw who would have the pick of clubs if United fell through, Adam would not and the best he could have hoped for would have been Spurs.

Sadly Lallana more than any of the five who left could say he deserved this move, he was the longest serving, he had been loyal to us during the dark days of administration etc when he could have moved, he had given eight years of first team service, really in another situation he should have gone with the best wishes of the fans ringing in his ears and a big cheque in Saints bank account.

That didn't happen though for several reasons, it could be said that the club handled it badly, rumours abound about poor contact between club and player etc, but that still doesnt excuse his behaviour, he should have behaved with more decorum and the poorly worded ad he took out in the Daily Echo only pointed further to a player who at best was being very naive and at worst was being poorly advised and had let his ego take over not to mention the aforementioned desperation that this was his one and only chance of a move to the real big time.

If Adam rears his head on Sunday, I think he should be politely applauded, nothing more nothing less.

Lastly is Dejan Lovren, whilst with Adam Lallana there are reasons and excuses why it all ended so messily and we can point to his past record and loyalty for some sort of redemption, with Lovren there is none of this, here is a player who the moment that he is offered something better takes it and Liverpool supporters should take note here in case a bigger club than them comes calling.

Lovren claims a lack of ambition at the Club, but the reality is that he didn't know that as he used it as a convenient excuse, but the truth is the club has no more or less ambition than a year ago, Lovren claims that he joined the club because he wanted to play in the Champions League, but did he really believe that ? either he is thick, naive or just plain stupid, did he ever question just how a team that had flirted with relegation the season before and finished 14th were ever going to jump 10 places in a short period of time, I don't think so, he joined Saints last year due to the fact that we were the best club paying the highest wages that were in for him, any football fan would have told you Saints chances of Champions League qualification were slim, any reading Liverpool fans I suggest wouldnt put even a fiver on us qualifying for the Champions League, even if we had held all our players and signed Lionel Messi.

Lovren used lack of ambition as an excuse, like the previous summer he wanted to go to a bigger club offering more money, plain and simple, nothing wrong with that, after all thats how football has operated from virtually the day the football league started, that being the case don't dress it up, don't try to ease your own conscience by claiming that its not your fault and you are the wronged party not the club or its fans, Lovren's behaviour was appalling, he more than any of the big five who went to the big five, should have been made to stay this coming season, no wonder Morgan Schneiderlin is so livid when the club bow to a mercenary like Lovren and force a loyal servant such as Morgan to honour his contract, someone within Southampton Football Club has got their priorities wrong.

So no respect to Lovren for the way he has behaved, he is the consumate mercenary footballer of the 21st century, this is a job to him and therefore why should we thank him for just doing a very well paid job for us last season, ironically perhaps his finest hour was at Liverpool last season where his header ended Liverpool's unbeaten start to the season and ultimately was probably the goal that more than any other cost them the League title.

Personally I would not give him the time of day let alone lose any energy on booing him, im sure there are many that will though and I can't say he doesnt deserve it, not because he left Saints, I can fully understand why he would want to do that, but for his behaviour once he knew that Liverpool had made a bid for him, famously he was livid because Saints hadn't informed him about the bid, well someone had and if it wasn't Saints there could only be one other source, very rich seeing as not 12 months ago Liverpool themselves were complaining about how Arsenal knew the intricacies of Luis Suarez contract and the alleged underhand dealings, yet a year later here they are indulging in the same sort of shenanigans.

Anyway in many respects its good to get this game out of the way, the past is the past as far as Southampton Football Club are concerned, all that matters now is what we do in the future.

Photo: Action Images

bigrob68 added 10:25 - Aug 12 utter contempt
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slynch added 10:37 - Aug 12 They all left and gifted Saints millions of pounds more than they are worth, I think a huge round of grateful applause is in order!! Especially when their third-the-cost superior replacements shake their hands. ;-D
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mgprobert added 10:39 - Aug 12 SRL - always a hero and due respect by Saints fans Adam - Mark Clattenburg was right,... I expect the Messi song will be sung with gusto by the travelling fans Lovren - Would love to see him score the winner again at Liverpool.....as an OG
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dirk_doone added 10:59 - Aug 12 This article is very childish. They all left to further their careers. Trying to discriminate between them is pathetic.
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Steve_N added 11:04 - Aug 12 Would love to see Lovren score a headed own goal this weekend, showing he had found his head but put it back on the wrong way around!
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SaintNick added 11:24 - Aug 12 Dirk why is the article childish ? I have sought to bring some clarity and defuse the situation, why should we not discriminate between them, each transfer is different and i think that needs to be made clear,
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ItchenNorth added 11:51 - Aug 12 Spot on Nick.
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SanMarco added 12:05 - Aug 12 I don't think the article is childish - is does after all address what is, sadly, a main talking point amongst Saints fans. I will be glad when we have got the visits to Liverpool and Spurs out of the way so we can move on and stop obsessing over those that have gone. The best insult we can inflict upon them is to forget about them...
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bstokesaint added 12:54 - Aug 12 I'd never hear a bad word said about SRL. He can go down as a Saints' legend as far as I am concerned. He acted with complete professionalism as a Saint and on his departure from the club. He gave us the best part of his career and I enjoyed every single minute of it. Adam Lallana was, up until his departure, my most respected Saints' player as I thought he was one of us. In interviews during his time at the club he always went the extra mile to reiterate his love for the club and being lucky enough to play for the Saints. He basically **** on us when he left and revealed his true colours. He deserves whatever backlash he receives for the total disrespect shown to everyone associated with Southampton FC. And then there's Lovren. A modern day football mercenary. He will never be a legend or a hero anywhere, but he'll always have a huge bank balance. That's him, that's what he's like. We know that now, the Liverpool fans will soon realise it when Real M/ Barca come a-knocking. I don't hate him, but I do hate his kind. They represent everything I won't be teaching my kids when they grow up. I hope he has a shocker.

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saintandy11 added 21:30 - Aug 12 How will we greet our ex players on Sunday? Well the slimey Snake is out injured so we won't be able to greet him. The fat snail will be warming the bench so our chances will be limited to him following the hot dog van along the edge of the pitch. So realistically the only one we will be able to give any reaction to is lovren & surely the best we can do is treat him with the same contempt he showed us. wouldn't it be great if we all turned our backs to him.

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BlackRod added 21:18 - Aug 13 And how should we treat JRod, Spiderman and Poch? To suggest that everything that has happened is down to the players mentioned above misses the mark. When management communicate by letter/email and don't bother to talk to their employees let alone consult them it's no wonder morale collapses. Classic mushroom management - keep them in the dark and throw manure on them from time to time.

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