Ok Beddy, can you name a player who we sold in the last two seasons of "treading water" that we didn't have to?
Or to put it another way, who might come to Saints as an upgrade on Sadio Mané? Or Victor Wanyama. And when VVD leaves, I would be interested to know who you would consider an ambitious upgrade!!!
I think loyalty over wages was, at one time, reality. There is no loyalty anymore and money talks ( sadly) maybe the differences these days count?
Sorry for the delay-just checking the facts; Pelle-one year left on contract or he walked for nothing. Mané-entering last 2 years of contract so value would have halved if not sold (like Clyne) Lambert- we all know that he wouldn't have got many starts and sadly were proved right. I await possible replacements which would satisfy your desire to upgrade with interest!
I'm not coming across very well am I. I may try again in the morning. I just think money is killing all sport.
Which was part of our problem, IMO: we tended to allow players' contracts to run down too long before offering new ones. Crazy though it may be, if a player on a four year deal has a good first season, that's the time to give them a significant pay hike...and a longer deal. We seem to have adjusted to that this summer; now to see whether we were being forced into these transfers in years past.
You are quite right. We sold because we had no choice but the question isn't necessarily whether we had to sell but why we had to sell. Why have we become this club that creates and sells great players. Like I said before, we are pool or spurs if they sold their best players every season and replaced them with premier league virgins. That's the gap between us plain and simple.
Of course you can't force a player to sign. They may play along like Clyne and Pochettino and even TLD thinking about it until the board has no option but to sell cheap. But let's assume that you are correct in that we have learnt from past mistakes. Do all those long contracts signed this season fit Beddy's narrative of drift and lack of direction?
Which is why the closer to the top we go, the slower the progress will be. You do have to pinch yourself a bit here though. Why have we become this club that creates and sells great players? Bloody hell, we were playing Dagenham and Redbridge a few seasons ago!!!
If we're largely signing them to longer term deals in order to have more leverage in transfer, it does. We're in a position where every player of any stature save Romeu is signed through at least 2019, and every other save Jay through 2020. If we make it through the summer without selling anyone, we'll know that it was our hand being forced. If we still sell players, we'll have a greater idea of what our aims have been.
No disagreement. And I for one haven't forgotten the recent past. It's a genuine question though not an unappreciative whinge. I expect the board are very conscious of it too because it is absolutely going to cap progress and get more and more infuriating to everyone. It's pointless being a club that produces great players to the benefit of the clubs above you right?
That's a great point. If we sell a player with a long contract to replace with a cheaper alternative that would be troubling. The only two exceptions might be older player nearing end of first team selection or if there was a mass exodus. The board let Adam, Lovren, Chambers and Ricky go because they felt that so many wantaways might cause a crisis of morale. I am not convinced that this summer will see many leaving the club; they really haven't played well enough, VVD excepted!
