That would indeed have a nice ring to it. I remember in the run up to Spurs firing AVB, I jokingly warned my Spurs-supporting mate off Poch, and he said that though he seemed a good manager with potential, and good for Saints, he was a bit below Spurs' league, and that they would be looking for someone at a much higher level. I chuckled when they got Sherwood, but now it seems that maybe they had sounded Poch out even then, and Sherwood was interim all along, while Poch agreed to finish off his season with us. All that remained to seal the deal was to roll over against an almightily poor Spurs side putting in one of their worst performances of the season at St. Mary's.
Look, if we lose Lallana and Shaw as well we are going to have to rebuild - that takes time. I would take a comfortable mid-table finish (8th-14th) if we lost those two.
If we lost those 2 then there would be alot more asking to leave, whether they were allowed to or not is a different matter but it would certinaly affect team morale.
And this is it isn't it. We can conceive of a world where we lose 2 brilliant players for ~£70m, rebuild and remain a relatively good force in the EPL. BUT if Adam & Shaw go maybe other heads like Lovren and Schneiderlin may be turned, and they will see less reason to stay (even Wanyama maybe). With rumours of JRod to Spurs as well, it's still going to be a long summer! I say get Murat in QUICK, stop the rot and convince the players to stay! (Oh and make a couple of decent signings too)
Agree with this completely, whoever the new manager is going to be the club need to get him in pronto and make a statement signing that convinces the players, fans, media (if ever possible) and the footballing world that this is not going to 'open the floodgates' if they believed that was the case. Otherwise it is going to be a very long summer
Well yes but there's a difference between not wanting to sell him and putting a massive price tag on him to discourage bidders and wanting/intending to sell him and expecting such an amount.
There is no imperative for us to sell Luke for his true value. We don't want to sell, so buyers have to pay enough to tempt us. It's not greed, it's market forces.
Each of our players must now be told that in no uncertain terms will anybody's request for a transfer be considered until the new manager is in place and even then it may not be considered. These other clubs are bullying us and the only thing to do to bullies is to bloody their noses.
We don't want or intend to sell him. If people are going to offer silly money then I don't see how we can be blamed for that.
If we'd kept MP we wouldn't have finished above Spurs next season. In all the matches I've caught this season we were incredible in the first half but never took advantage of our superiority (against the big teams). In the second half we lost it. Never a plan B. Looking forward to a new manager who can take what the players have earned under MP and pace it over 90 minutes. A manager who wasn't a defender in his playing days but a forward. A few more goals when we're on top and we will be above Spurs next year.
Is the earth circling the earth at a slower rate suddenly? I would be all in favour of a long summer followed by a short winter (courtesy of the earth speeding up again). Returning to the football, it's difficult to see how we are ever to keep good players on long contracts if we let many go now. Say we sell Shaw and Lallana and spend the money on other good players. Should they play well, then we will be in the same situation next summer with more speculation that they will leave. I think that we need to show the players that we intend to hold them to their contracts. A totally stupid offer is the only one we should be accepting. The only thing is, we have to also show an intent to move forwards or else the best players will move on as their contracts run down.
I hope the Spuds fans get to have a read of this: http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/35159/mauricio-pochettino-an-appraisal I have to say I think it is pretty accurate and I also just saw that Poch is 5/2 not to be there come the end of the season!
I like MP, think he's worked well here, but he walked into a team custom made for his needs & strengths. Spurs is a going to be a massive wake up call.
I hope not mate but I don't think you can say anything for certain anymore. 6 months ago I didn't think we would lose our chairman, manager and captain with the season barely finished.
The reason I say that with absolute confidence is that they would not sign him in the summer with that injury. Can you really see any club even Spuds spend £15-20m on a player badly injured? It just won't happen. If he gets fit and strong before year end then Jan or next summer maybe different.
