We certainly missed a big chance in the previous two seasons...the big clubs were dropping points...often to us. They are restoring status quo now. We have a decent squad, but it is noticeable that only VVD and Bertrand are considered prime targets this summer. We need a couple of game changers in, especially if we lose two of our best players.
Or..,. Just because I like to look at both sides of a coin.... VVD signed a new lucrative contract with Saints to allow us to ask for top dollar, on the understanding he'd get his move if a CL club came in for him. Two sides to every coin.
They could have. They may not have. The better we do, he harder it is to keep the players. Maybe we should ask for a **** season and then nobody leaves.... I bet that would go down well.
Which would make nonsense of the board's "We are not a selling club" policy statement.......... You will have noticed I did say, "Unless they are offered stupid money"
Now when we sell Virgil and Bertrand, we will have no players left which we're desperate to keep so it will be a lot easier to cope with our selling policy
It bugs me how we've become a laughing stock with this constant selling, especially to Liverpool. Every transfer window now it's a running joke.
If you have a girlfriend who keeps breaking your heart there comes a time when you tell her to just **** off. I am starting to feel that way about Southampton FC, a local business to which I no longer feel any emotional attachment. Fans go to watch a game and if it is poor they just get up and leave and if the players are underperforming they boo them. This is what the club have done, they have disconnected the fans' affection for the club. The passion of many fans for the club has now gone. The smart Alecs will call it meltdown but it is correctly called being disappointed and pissed off.
I think this is what pisses me off ... I can take VVD going for £60m, but it's the fact it's the ****ing bin dippers again that enrages me.
Ahhh, the days of fighting relegation every year. I remember them well. Exciting, to say the least. Dancing in the streets on the odd occasion & yep, crying as well.
Very well said! The identity we had in the Adkins era starting to crumble when the players and managers started leaving. Even though we have progressed, we've done it by rolling the dice somewhat. Granted the scouting and recruitment is a lot more calculated than that. I think as a club we've lost a good deal of respect, that's my feeling anyway but perhaps I'm being unfair. Do other teams' fans respect us or are we now seen as a one-stop player shop every transfer window who despite promising to hold onto our best players ultimately wilt under media/player/agent/big club pressure.
Come on beddy, they said we don't have to sell, not we won't sell. Same every year. Same response every year from the fans.
This smart Alec will say it's not a meltdown to be disappointed, it it is when people continue to bleat and make over the top statements, showing no attempt to view it from the other side. The club have not disconnected this fan's affection for them. That's a choice.
Interesting point about other teams fans. My view based on the dozens I speak to is that they don't really know about us. Thy all seem To like us but with little or know knowledge. Best example is this: I have stopped putting people right who say to me every time a player is about to leave, what a good youth set up we have. I used to say, "We do have a good one, but these players leaving are not from that, they are players we've scouted and signed." A lot have no idea.
The annoying thing I completely understand why we sell. I know that clubs like saints can't keep hold of players forever but we need to be realistic and acknowledge that keeping these top players for just that little bit longer will bring better results on the pitch. One more season of van dijk won't change his price but it could be the difference between us winning a cup or breaking up last seasons top 7.
