It is incredibly disappointing When important players leave. but let's be realistic. Lallana has been with us for ages and didn't Abandon ship in league 1 and I believe he has served his time. My biggest gripe here is the way he has handled himself rather that criticise him for wanting to go to Liverpool. You could make a case that having graduated from the academy, Shaw should have stayed for another season but again I can't really blame him for jumping to united and in any case we have to be happy with the fee. coming to pottechino he served out his contract and didn't leave when NC walked out but we knew he was always going to go as the result of the boardroom shift. My big worry is Schneiderlin as he is citing ambition as a potential reason so is this the nub of the problem and where do the club stand on answering his concerns. If we end up amassing more than £100 m from fees I bet only a third of it will be ploughed back in to the team.
Mauricio didn't serve out his contract...he had another year. However, we got 2 million for that missing season.
Just spoke to my dear old mum on the phone. Her words? "Well, at least we still have Rickie...." Oh mother......
Koeman will get lashings of dosh, but spending it well is the problem. We (like most teams) have been disappointed with purchases. The difference is that teams like ManU and Chelsea can afford the odd duffer...we can't at this moment when we are trying to reconstruct a team.
I think that both Morgan and Lovren are unlikely to be in the Saints squad next season and it would not surprise me in the least if Wanyama and Ramires are off-loaded. In the fluid world of today's football transfer system the fact that last season saw Saints playing the best football since the days of Lawrie Mac made it extremely difficult to retain the squad once one part of the jigsaw came apart. The writing was on the wall as soon as Cortese left. In the light of Koeman's statement about the better players needing to stay and the fact that both Lallana and Shaw have joined Lambert in departing to fresher fields is indicative of either a strategy in place to enhance the squad with Koeman's input or a case of Koeman being undermined even before he has had the first training session. It's good to see Saints linked with players like Danny Ings but I can't see him joining us having secured promotion with Burnley who may be a smaller club than Southampton but one that has a deeper footballing tradition. What worries me is that Saint's have generally been better at signing players for a middling sort of fee with big bane transfers often going wrong. Osvaldo and Ramires may be the latest in the expensive flop category yet records transfers from the days of David Hirst, Augustin Delgardo and even Alan MacLaughlin have all been spectacular disasters for us. For me, I feel the emphasis has got to come through the academy which is then augmented when "Southampton type" players become available. Poch was almost unique amongst Saints managers in that the larger sums of money paid in transfer fees generally added to the squad in terms of ability. Next season will never match the last one nd I think the PL will be a harder proposition in 2014/5. Koeman is an exceptional acquisition but my worry is that he has already been somewhat undermined in that our best three players have been allowed to leave with our potential next best two cited as also going out the door before August. I'm not connived that Clyne or Wanyama will still be Saints players next season although Calum Chamber's mooted move to Arsenal would be good business for us as I think Clyne is far superior. Chambers is good yet somewhat over-rated. It will be interesting to see what happen to Ward-Prowse as he does look a good prospect and seems a cultured player. Next season will be a relegation battle and unless the team is radically strengthened, the likes of QPR and Leicester will easily surpass us. However, Saints look like being amongst the likes of Palace, Hull, WBA, Swansea, Sunderland and Burnley who will struggle in the next campaign.
Blimey Ian, you need to have a long, slow G&T... with lots of ice. Let's just take your last sentence. Now you may be right, but let's just wait 4-6 weeks shall we and see who does stay and who does come in. Then and only then can you even suggest a relegation battle is around the corner. I have some sandals you can borrow. Be happy and join my happy, clappy cult
Ian is right that our talented squad started to break up once Nicola left, followed by Mauricio. The main reason that we are having such an unusual number leave is because we have never had such a huge number of players wanted by top sides before. It is noticeable that the players are going or are linked to top sides. They wouldn't have left us for any other clubs. I'm not going to lambast the board for letting Nicola go...we don't know why and we don't know how hard they tried to keep him. However, I doubt that Koeman has been misled. Lambert, Shaw and Adam left so promptly that it must have been sorted by the time he signed. He was probably promised the funds (+ other money set aside) and felt he could live with it. The board has also been aware of Lovren and Morgan wanting out apparently. They may still have hopes that won't happen or deals may already have been struck...who knows. However, although I agree things will be tougher next season as Ronald has to get the team sorted out, I don't believe we will be relegation fodder. Saints will once again be one of the biggest spending clubs. It's not as if we have lost a coach who had been here for a zillion years...we have survived changes of manager over the last few years and will do again. There will be 3 (and probably more) teams worse than us.
Interesting he's not coming here until the 1st. His English is plenty good enough - I think they want to start him on a clean slate by getting all the crappy stuff out of the way before he begins, so the fans ire won't be turned on him. Perhaps a pretty smart move in reality.
