Last summer saw an unprecedented campaign in certain parts of the media to try and unsettle Southampton Football Club and its players, now it seems that it is starting again.
The old saying is that just because you are paranoid doesn't mean that they haven't got it in for you and those in Southampton Football Club must wonder why at every twist and turn the media seems to be whipping up a frenzy to try and spread rumours about potential transfers in the summer.
For those that say Im exaggerating just take a look at the news gathering website "Newsnow" in the past 24 hours they have collated approximately 50 stories concerning Southampton Football Club, only around 20 of these stories are not transfer rumours about one or other of our players leaving the club.
Of the remainder 20 are about Toby Alderweireld supposedly wanting to go to Tottenham Hotspur with one story even claiming he is desperate to leave Saints because Southampton as a City is too quiet for him and he would prefer to be in London.
Of the remaining ten the bulk are about Steven Davis commenting on Rangers with several saying he would like to go back there.
So if anyone wants to say that the media hasn't got an agenda with Saints then the absurd numbers of stories linking Alderweireld with Spurs is just ludicrous, how many headlines can be made from a comment made in a completely different context.
The truth is that Alderweireld said little different in his last interview than he had done a week or so earlier when he said he would like to stay at St Mary's, he has been very non committal in all his comments, for the most part as he did in his latest quote stating that it is not his decision but Athletico Madrid's.
It is all about how the question is asked, but someone interviewing him seemed determined to ask loaded questions, what is the player expected to say when asked if he would like to play with his countryman Vertonghen at club level ? should he say no ! should he insult his countryman ? what Alderweireld did was give a diplomatic answer, pretty much the same he would have given if asked about any of his fellow Belgium's I would suspect, however it enables the press to make mischief and when it comes to Saints there is an element of the London press who love to do Spurs dirty work for them in stirring up anything from transfer rumour to the sacking of a manager.
Yes I would be surprised to see Alderweireld back here next season, he is a quality player and Athletico are sure to want to auction him to the highest bidder that is if they don't want to keep him for themselves, but that bridge needs to be crossed in the summer and not now and i am flabbergasted by not only the number of stories about the predicted departure of Alderweireld to White Hart Lane, but the shallow content of most of the stories.
Of course we now know what low regard Mauricio Pochettino has for this football club, despite the fact that the club and fans did nothing but show him love and loyalty, we now know that he never had any affection for this City or the Saints fans, so why should we be surprised that he and his new employees would be content to sit back and watch their dirty work be done for them by a few sympathetic journalists willing to try and stir up a hornets nest.
So far Toby Alderweireld has shown himself to be nothing other than professional, its sad that there are some in the media who would like to try and portray him as otherwise for their own ends.
This is of course 2015 and football is a dirty game that if it is not careful could see its bubble burst due to the greed of clubs and players, Saints in the past year appear to be doing things differently and that enabled us to not only survive the traumas of last summer, but to march on to better things and that leads me to believe that whatever happens this summer we will again move forward rather than backwards.