I would be very surprised to see either of those two still here next season, both would've happily gone before now too. Stuey is washed up now sadly, Stephens might come back into the fold I guess but seems pretty popular at Bournemouth and might be better off out of this mess.
We will have iFollow next season... didn't have that last time round. Although I do weirdly miss those evenings sat listening to Solent and being unable to see highlights for at least a day or two.
Stephens will have only a year on his contract come the summer, so I'd be surprised if he stuck around - let alone become captain. He'd suit the role perfectly, though. Saints will probably see it as an opportunity to get a few £££ for him, and he did need a fresh start last summer. The Bournemouth fans love him, so wouldn't be surprised if he ended up there permanently.
Have you enjoyed the last few seasons in the Prem? Ever since Pellegrino it has been largely depressing. Ralph gave us some sporadic bright moments but otherwise I've hated it. Yes, I still would prefer us to stay up, given the choice, but the reason I am 'looking forward' to the Championship is because ironically I think it could be good for us in the long term. I just don't see us becoming a good team again while getting stuffed every week in the Prem. Better to go down and try to find our identity again. Sure, it could go badly wrong, but so what? I won't miss being the Premier League's whipping boys.
Lol, sure because there’s been so many positives so far! Just saying it as I see it, not trying to be negative. Just like I foresaw Nathan Jones was going to be a disaster, I also can clearly see that this current team is nowhere near Championship promotion standard without a serious overhaul in personnel & playing style. Not sure why people are deceiving themselves yet again really.
Depends who we retain and who we sign. A forward line of Tella, Alcaraz and Sulemana lead by Adams should be pretty deadly in the Championship. I know... I know, Adams? Deadly? But he is proven at Championship level, I guess we will see if he has genuinely become a worse player at Saints. Same applies to Adam Armstrong too but one misfiring striker at a time. What we do with the central defence and even more so the central midfield with JWP and Lavia very likely off will be the key. Think we will need a weathered Championship unit in there somewhere. Even though we are absolutely dire, we are better equipped to handle the Championship than last time we went down. I know that counts for nothing unless we do actually start producing results though.
It's just tiresome reading your moan, moan, moaning, all the time, mate. Get a grip of yourself. Are you going to be the fan they film crying in the stands on the day that relegation is confirmed? Well done for moaning about Jones before he was even given a chance. Well done for moaning about all of our signings without giving them hardly a chance. Well done for moaning about the guys who have come in and spent loads of money. No wonder all of our half-decent players end up pissing off, if all of our fans are as fickle and negative as you. Such a toxic club right now and the fans are a big part of that. The club, the managers, the players have all been guilty of making mistakes. We all know that. You aren't bloody enlightening anyone by just moaning about them all the time. And you are wrong anyway. It was having a 'complete overhaul' that got us into this mess. How the hell is having another one going to prepare us better for the Championship?
If we go down, sell everything we can. Cash in all of the chips, particularly the veteran players who will be on significant wages. Reorient around the kids. Believing that you'll come straight back up if you keep a bunch of players is extremely dangerous, not least because players who have PL offers won't want to be there, and getting out of the Championship with a number of wantaways is highly unlikely.
I look at this list and of the top 15, it's only Adam Armstrong and Perraud that I'd want us to keep in the Champ. https://www.spotrac.com/epl/southampton-fc/payroll/ Maybe one of DCC and Lyanco. Adams would be great but I think he'll go anyway. Our high earners are not our best players (apart from JWP). We can get rid of them and the team won't be much weaker.
I don't think that's fair mate, the fans bear no responsibility for this **** show whatsoever. We've been ridiculously patient, most people were excited about the summer signings (only to find all but one were dog ****) most were tentatively excited about Jones only to very quickly find out that he was the worst appointment in the history of our club. Most were very excited about our January signings only to find once again its a ****ing **** show Our fans are waaaayyy more patient and forgiving than 99% of the other Prem clubs. We're probably one of the least entitled groups out there. Can you really blame them for not being excited for the Championship? Happy clappers and moaning bastards alike have had a horrible lot this season, they're not wrong for fearing the worst when everything SR have touched has been a disaster!
Mad hypocrisy there. You've got zero patience whatsoever for a start. You say its 'patience' but actually the fans don't have a choice. Most of them would press the self-destruct button after every loss given the power. And I don't call it being patient; slagging off the players, manager, and owners all over social media, and booing them in the stadium. Yes, SR cocked up the managerial appointment. We all know that. But complaining about the players we've bought is like a spoilt kid getting angry at his parents for buying him the wrong presents. SR tried to do too much too soon. They really f*cked up. But they will sort it out. The fact that we have owners who are willing to spend so much is f*cking glorious. I'd prefer to be in the Championship with our owners, than in the Prem with Gao. If you disagree then you're thinking purely of the short-term. Long-term we'll be fine. Just er... be patient.
What part of their reign so far makes you think we will be fine? They’ve got every single decision except Lavia wrong so far. My sincere apologies for talking about the Southampton team on a Southampton forum.. but not sure if you noticed they haven’t given us much to be positive about. If you like, before I post on here I’ll DM you so that you can proof read it first and check that it meets up to your level of delusional happy clappiness?
Come on mate, why does it matter so much? Anyway, to answer. No, Lavia is not the only good thing. ABK, Edozie, Alcaraz, Sulemana, Larios are all very good players who will go on to have excellent careers. The problem, like I wrote above, is that SR tried to do too much, too soon. They were, essentially, too ambitious. As a fanbase we have been crying out for ambitious owners for the past 5 or 6 seasons. Now we have them. Yes, they have f*cked it up this season. But sh*t happens. We were dangling by a thread anyway. If they continue to put in this level of commitment, it's only a matter of time before they get it right.
The fact we gave him a new contract, based on a handful of ok-ish games at left-back and just weeks after saying he was available to leave, is beyond baffling.
There are only a handful of teams who never go down. Outside the top teams it’s pretty cyclical of teams having a decent few years then turning ****. I’m sure I heard that we are the longest serving PL club atm after the top 6 and Everton? For a club like us this is the reality, you are bound to have a **** season at some point and go down. Ours is now. There is no “organic growth” or whatever you want to call it in the PL, without a billionaire owner willing to spend absolute fortunes (And I’m talking Man City levels) the hierarchy doesn’t change. We have a billionaire owner who is willing to spend at the moment which hopefully means it isn’t a complete disaster when we go down. We just never will be more than an also ran in the PL, like every other club apart from 6 or 7
And as we know to our cost, when you do manage to pull some rabbits out of the hat, your team (and manager) tend to get picked apart. I fully expect that to happen to Brighton and Brentford shortly...
Brighton probably as they have some players who the top teams would want. Brentford Toney and ummmm I would say there isn’t much difference between our side and Brentford in terms of quality, they just have a goal scorer and confidence
