OFFICIAL: Ronald Koeman appointed as the new manager of Southampton Football Club

Actually, I'm relieved anyone wants to be here. Go Jan! (Sorry, too much USA soccer ).

 

Hey everyone, shhhh a minute. Look at this ^^^^^ It's all LTL's fault. Need someone to blame? There he is.

 

MP, Lambert, Adam, Shaw, Morgan and Lovren. Some already gone and maybe all will be come the new season. But i guarantee at least 2 of them will seriously regret their decision to leave Saints.

We have replaced one of them already and one i'm very excited about. I'm also very excited to who he will bring in. We have a big name manager with a big wad of cash, how can anyone not be excited about that ?

And we still do have a lot of very good players still here. JRod, Gaston, Cork, Boruc, JWP, Chambers, Clyne, Wanyama, Davis. And i believe Fonte will have his best season yet!

I'm really looking forward to the new season. I think we will have an even better season then last, i really do.

Also looking forward to what will happen to that crazy Osvaldo chap!

 

Are you still drunk?

 

If he is, I want some of what he is on Always darkest before the dawn...

 

It'll be more exciting, like the old days I imagine.

 

Haha yea i do sound drunk compared to tone here lately that's true. Nah i'm just numb to losing players these days. Especially ones that don't want to play for us anymore. It's different than the old days when we had to sell, that used to piss me off more. I would obviously prefered them to have all wanted to stay but there's nothing the club could do except offer crazy wages and we are Southampton and that's simply impossible at this stage.

So i can only look forward to who we bring in instead. Which is basically the biggest name manager we've ever had by far with possibly the biggest transfer budget we've ever had by far. And that surely is something to put a smile on any saints fan face

I mean it's not like days of old when we could only attract/afford the likes of David Speedie and Kerry Dixon to replace the likes of Shearer is it

 

Pelle will racially abuse him for being a fake wop.

 

The smile will come when the good signings come. Until then it's the enormous worry that the signings won't be as good as who we've lost, and the greater worry, in my opinion, that something is fundamentally wrong at board level which is the cause for players not wanting to be here.

I had accepted the loss of Lambert and Lallana a long time ago. The mention of losing Rodriguez, Lovren and Schneiderlin has brought along a fresh concern that this isn't just individuals wanting better moves for themselves. It'd be too coincidental for it to be all of them at the same time. My feeling now is that they hate it at the club and have a good reason too.

 

I'm really confused now - after feeling strangely nonplussed about seeing Saints at the World Cup, other than Gastón now (and who knows), it seems we might not have any representatives at the World Cup. Or do we? Could we actually be watching some future Saints without knowing it? Could they already pretty much be Saints already, much as Shaw and T**ttana were all but gone?

So come on Bruno Martin, Jan and err Lionel (worth a go?)

 

Sure they didn't hate it here. Great team togetherness, but although that is a fantastic thing, it can also be a curse. A solid wall until a few bricks are moved, then it tumbles. We made the players look good and highly desirable. Nicola and MP leave, they become unsettled, then they start to talk. Once a couple of players mention their potential moves, the others wouldn't want to be left behind. You could have a great group at your office, but imagine if one day someone came in and said he had doubled his money by joining a new business that had just opened down the road. A lot more would upsticks and go.

Don't read more into it than there is. Saints is sound as revealed by the fact that all funds are being reinvested in players. We are just being confronted by a circumstance...nothing more.

 

Yep, the reason we've not signed anyone yet is because the players we're buying are still in the world cup - which of course makes them better

 

Or they didn't buy into the club they brought into Cortese. Now he has gone they want to go.

 

Wouldn't be surprised if the fact that he's gone has also resulted in them disliking the board.

 

I'm not saying your theory has no credence but so far every player move or reported player move is a step forward for that player. I'd be really concerned if players were jumping ship for sideways moves to a Stoke, West Ham or Newcastle say

It's a shame that the players don't have faith that this board can bring the club forward, but I wouldn't say they actively dislike them

 

Hello Mr Morata, Ronald Koeman here.....

 

Well of course they're going to bigger clubs, because they're good enough to play for them, but they were good enough last summer and they weren't jumping ship.

 

True, though other than Schneiderlin none of them really proved beyond doubt that they were ready for Champions League standard. Clubs are not buying these players for loose change. I doubt anyone would have offered even £15m for Shaw last summer

 

They may have been good enough but they didn't really show it till this season past. The season before we spent pretty much the entire season battling relegation. Adam had a poor season compared to the last. Shaw was just a promising youngster, no one outside of us had heard of Morgan, and Lovren wasn't even here. And none of them were internationals. None of the top clubs were interested in buying this lot at top dollar and paying big wages. That's why none of them were jumping ship back then.

And when i say didn't show it i mean to the rest of the footballing world.

 

Well I think Rickie was probably a bit better last summer. I know we can all understand why he would move to Liverpool, and that's why he's not getting the reaction Lallana and Shaw have got, but we seem to be suppressing the knowledge that he very nearly went to West Ham in the winter. Something's not right there and I think we all know it.

Also Shaw would certainly have attracted big clubs in his first season here, and Lallana would definitely have had interest too. I think they could have forced moves if they'd wanted to. Let's not forget Lallana had shown a lot of loyalty prior to our promotion. He couldn't have attracted Champions League football then, but he could have made a relatively larger step up.