Of course I'm not offended.... guess you're right.... it also led me to think of Uncle Les having pink fluffy slippers.... so it's not all wasted energy....!!
I found this season disappointing as far as style went...I understand the frustration of Saints fans who expect entertainment. 'Results are everything' only applies when fighting relegation at the bottom or going for the title....we were doing neither. It would be a bit tough to take if next season is the same. It is necessary for the club to discover the reason: Puel's style, not enough good players, players not getting the system, players not giving their best, or injuries to major players. Or any combination of those. I had a point when I started, but have now lost my thread
Why would I think you are rude fats? Because we disagree? No mate no worries there. You say you understand what the club are trying to achieve (or the method) so the only disagreement for me is how they achieve that goal. Not what they are trying to achieve. You are right though it is discussions that are held year on year I wonder why? I have one advantage over you though fats and that is the number of years I have heard the clubs rhetoric about what they are trying to achieve. We have heard that too year on year in varying different forms. Once upon a time I had your beliefs and enthusiasm. Sadly over the years that has declined more and more. That doesn't mean I won't support them or even consider it. As I said I just don't think the way they are trying to achieve things is right. So on that we will have to agree to disagree........
Certainly not by selling the best players. They need to sustain the growth and continually improve the squad. They do not need to go broke to do that. Just imagine them adding players to the squad without losing their best players. That way if a player really has to go eventually they in theory should already have a ready made replacement. Then it is only the replacement that needs replacing. Ideal solution granted but it should be the aim.
Forgive me for butting in, but fwiw, I understand FLT's position and sympathise with yours Beddy. Yes, the business model means that every best player Saints have will possibly get picked off, but for that model to succeed fully, and Saints to continue progressing, the club have to make the buying club almost want to back out of any deal, it costs them that much money. 1] Because buying two or three £10-15M players is all very well, but inevitably you can only play one or two of them anyway, and you're losing a staggering amount of quality in one key position. 2] At least the supporters will feel that Saints didn't make a gift of any player the sell. Last season, for example, Mane went for £34M. I said he was undersold and still believe it. It's not the money, it's the value of the player that he brings with his presence on the pitch. If anyone gave me the choice: Mane or £34M, I'd take the player every time, though I have to appreciate that his contract wasn't that long remaining. We've got to make these potentially outgoing players on long contracts so expensive that even the most loyal supporters want to drive them to the airport. So, in the case of VVD, if a club wants to buy him. let's not have Saints being reasonable. We don't want to sell [if we were happy to sell it would be entirely different], and besides, he'll almost certainly be worth just as much, if not more, at the end of next season, because I expect him to improve. Stones cost £50M and a fit VVD is a lot better now. Let's not quibble and fuss, let's start at £95-100M and see who bites. Unrealistic.? We can always drop a wee bit. But not too much. Make the buggers pay, or we keep the player. And that's how it should be with every player on a long contract, that Saints don't want to sell. I'm sure Levy would approve. Having said that, the club needs to know also that fans won't put up with this hesitant progress or non-progress, when they say what they want to achieve short and long term, pretty much every season. You can't raise hopes and dash them from the start and get away with it every season. Plus, favourite footballers get under the supporter's skin. With Saints business plan our players get one, two, maybe three seasons, just long enough for every Saints fan to become really attached to them, and then off they go. It ends up breaking the belief of the average Saints supporter. That's the purely emotional side. Of course, all the above could change with the entry of the Chinese.
It's not just buying and selling, the net flux, but the salary structure that dictates what we do. Players move for more money, Europe/CL/titles come 2nd. PL wealth has given players a sense of entitlement. If a player wants to go then it's difficult to stop them. Disruptive influences in the dressing room can outweigh any benefit from that player. Unless salary caps are brought in this will always be the way. FFP has cemented this.
Meanwhile back on Topic: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/3719...-Sport-_-TwImageandlink-_-Statement-_-TWITTER
It's all about opinions. I still don't think we undersold Mane. For two thirds of Koemans last season, half the fans seemed to want Mane out. He had a little burst of form towards the end of the season ( a cynic would say on purpose), but for large parts of it he was anonymous or dropped. I remember it well, because I was one of the people sticking up for him when he was getting slaughtered. I still don't think you can say hesitant progress. If you're on about this season then it's one season in 7 and if you refer to the current Puel situation hesitating, then as I've said before, it is only two weeks. I'll also repeat what I said last night: just because a club say what they want to achieve, doesn't guarantee it and a fan should be able to manage that. I can think of 5 clubs that would have said the wanted to achieve winning the league. Only one did.
Taken this from our neighbours at SaintsWeb - seems to be a Saint Etienne fansite: http://diablevert.fr/ce-devrait-etre-puel/ Roughly translates that he is likely to sign a contract with them next week - and they seem pretty satisfied with that.
Media spiel - Tuchel not interested in Leverkusen. May take a break but managing in a foreign league is high in his list. Interesting possibilities.
as an ex project manager one thing I learned was that if you have a difficult decision to make, you make it early. If you make a decision that is possibly not the best decision, it's better than making the best decision too late, because by then it's not the best decision anymore! comprende?
I've just had a thought (OK, beer may have helped) if Puel is on his way out, by choice or otherwise, and we want to make it clear to other clubs that Virgil is not for sale, let's make him player manager. Two birds with one stone! If we repeat this enough times, the red tops and other journalists will pick up on it, and the story will have a momentum all of its own. You heard it here first - Virgil Van Dijk to be the next Saints manager, whilst still playing in our defence
The best decision is the right one. The second best decision is the wrong one. The worst is no decision.
it's already too late, the decision should have been made weeks ago, if he's staying it should have been stated. It's poor management, very poor management. If you allow a project to drift it will drift, people lose focus. People without focus look for focus somewhere else. A simple statement, that's all that is needed.
