They have probably made some mistakes, but it's easy to sit here with hindsight and say this. You not I know the full story. Just as a hypothesis, what if all these players had decided they were off after a little nudge or poisoning from MP or NC, what would you have done? It is so easy to sit back and say, "just say no" or similar, but that brings other issues. A route has been taken and we must let this play out now and see where it takes us. Anyone now saying this could have been done or that could have happened is just guessing as we don't know everything. Time to let it play out. This isn't a "positive spin" it's just me bored of the 'experts' saying how its all been done wrong when they have no bloody idea if what has happened or what has been said, apart from a zillion reports that conflict and contradict anyway.
I agree there is not an easy way to make that sound positive, however it doesn't have to be black and white. I believe the Board have had a very tricky situation to deal with and may not have played some things right, however my judgement will be on how we proceed from here. I think that once getting themselves into this situation (and let's be honest, we don't know all the ins and outs on that), they have at least managed to secure good fees. If they had let people go for poor sums, it would have been a real disaster.
I imagine if I was a footballer playing for Saints I might be tempted to jump ship too. Hard to criticise those who have left too much when the board fills you with so little confidence.
The thing is though Joe, we don't really know what's happened or been said. I am not feeling "little confidence in the board" because I don't know what their plan is or what has been said. It's too easy to throw out sound bites about incompetence and lack of confidence. I'm not feeling anything about them apart from them having a ****ty situation and that things may not have gone how they thought. If a player would kindly do a TV interview and spend half an hour going through the things that have been said and happened then It be easier to make a judgement. That won't happen and it would probably be just them bitching about not having what they wanted. It would be good to actually hear a player being interviewed and going through their thoughts on it rather than all the various reports. Of course, we'd then need the same thing from the board. People will point to the board saying no-one is leaving, but with hindsight I'm not really sure they could have said much else. If they have decided with the new manager that anyone wanting to go is to be considered a bad egg and they must get the best price for them and build again, then they seem to be doing that well.
I'd like to compare the spending of two clubs that finished 5th and 6th last season - Everton and Tottenham. Not sure of the exact sums, but my estimate is that Everton spent around 20% of Tottenham's transfer expenditure. So it is not all about spend, spend, spend. I see Everton as a club who have a philosophy to improve the players skill levels individually and collectively, and employ tactics to see off the likes of Manchester United and City, Arsenal and Chelsea. Contrast that with what Tottenham achieved against these guys. So lets just keep things in perspective.
The perspective I am looking at is why the hell aren't the "big clubs" raping Everton for players? Answer - because they know that Everton really AREN'T a selling club .......... I haven't seen any rumours about Barkley, Mirallas, Baines, Howard, etc being sold to anyone ........................... I imagine it's because any interest is met with a firm "**** off!" by the board - unlike ours ...........................
Top four production line now paid off. We'll be able to provide the big clubs with players now even more efficiently.
Has any PR/comms person in football ever made a statement that so diametrically opposes the (mere weeks later) reality than Kruger? I can only assume that the club had no idea whatsoever this was going to happen, otherwise why make that statement? Credibility of club statements now = 0. Or rather it’s negative.
Everton are a bigger club then us, have a bigger fan base, are in Europe and have a more stable club. We lost Cortese who the players loved as he treated them very well. We lost a manager who started stirring **** with players as he didn't want to be here. The board were naive yes, but I still feel the same woukd have happened.
From that list, I'd say Barkley only one relevant, they've convinced Baines to stay and believe he is happy with that. Howard is long in the tooth (no-one in for Boruc) and Mirallas probably not seen as going much further. You could add Coleman, but after that, the Sainst players who have gone/going offer a far greater prospect. That might be why they're not getting raped. #keepcalmandsupportthesaints
Beefy, we need to get shirts made and start handing out leaflets. I'm beginning to think it'll be just you and me come the 23rd August
Well, I got my ticket for Bayer Leverkusen yesterday, so I'm going to hold back on my derision until after that and pray I am proved wrong!!
Exactly. The difference between Barkley and Llalana is that the latter expressed a desire to leave. The same goes for a number of those that have left, and history shows that trying to hold players to contracts rarely works if they have said they want to go. So, the issue here is not whether we should hold players to contracts, but why many have expressed a desire to leave. That subject has been covered repeatedly, but to reiterate - NC and MP leaving creates instability, and then when Liverpool, ManU etc come calling, I'm afraid we have to accept that heads will be turned.
We've paid a big price for Mauricio's season and a half...he made a good side look ruddy fantastic. Better if we'd passed from Nigel directly to Ron...at least we'd have most of the team. I didn't like looking at past games when we lost Nigel because I hated seeing his smiling face knowing what was round the corner...now I can't look at the last season because I no longer believe in the players' or MP's sincerity. Let's hope Ron gives us some new memories.
That's a very good way to put it. I feel exactly the same. Also, when I tried watching some highlights last night of our 4-0 thrashing of Newcastle, earlier in the season, I found it very difficult. At one point the camera viewed Pochettino. I can't tell you what words issued from my mouth, but it was all heart.
I'm not saying this with hindsight. The club did not need to sell anyone, IF they did not want to. I quoted Liverpool and Suarez last year. the Liverpool Board said that he was not for sale at any price, and was under a long term contract. You cannot get more of a prima donna than that biting racist, but when he was told he had to stay put he had to do just that and "Stay put". If the saints Board had told Man U, and Liverpool that they were not for sale at any price they would still be saints players now. The inference is that they either sleep walked into the sales, i.e. they were incompetent and let players, agents and big clubs set our agenda, or it is a deliberate policy i.e. by design, and we the fans are being kept in the dark. I am no "expert" or ITK but my logic here seems quite sound.
