There probably isn't any true super villainy; I'm jut nudging you, because any time there is the slightest hint of a grey mark against NC, you won't have it. Your style of posting changes form being pretty cool over things to a touch of defensiveness with him. Over the last few days I've been away and therefore read loads of posts before catching up and it is clearer when you read a chunk in one go; it's made me giggle a bit, that's all It is quite funny that you 'appear' to not allow any slight possibility that NC has any involvement with anything negative. So I'm just ribbing you
It would be stupid to rule out any possibility, but when people completely forget about a pretty important principle of "innocent until proven guilty", or as I prefer to call it: "stop making things up, you libelous wannabe tabloid journalist s**ts", this website becomes extremely crap. It's not that I have some sort of boner for Cortese, I'd make the same defense for anyone on the receiving end of baseless accusations. It just happens that right now it's mostly Cortese on the receiving end.
Hate to be a pedant but didn't we replace Poch with Koeman, Lambert with Pelle, Lallana with Tadic? Weren't those seen as an upgrade by many? Koeman has said Targett is an able replacement for Shaw but needs support so a new left back is still on the shopping list. If we sign three players this week and they include Rojo and Van Dijk I think your wish will be granted. Any signings on top of that (Forster, for example) will be real signs of strengthening. That all said, I still feel nervous at how long all these new players will take to gel.
12-18 months ago some of these players had never even played for the first team. And the other two were hardly being courted by the big teams. I can't believe that everyone was so desperate to leave at all. For me the bottom line is our board didn't show enough backbone. All of those players could have been made to stay.
Cortese was the best thing to happen to us at a terrible time. Since then, we have achieved massively under his stewardship. However, there were too many murmurs about him to suggest that all was sweetness and light...not every moaning employee or ex-employee could be incompetent. He was great for the players and team, so we all thought: he may be a crazed megalomaniac but he is our crazed megalomaniac. It couldn't be held together for ever...this was just the year the cracks appeared. Katharina probably had her own doubts, but was also receiving complaints from employees and sponsors...you can't ignore all of them. Not Cortese's fault, but he also introduced the viper Mauricio into our nest. So, Katherina inherited a difficult situation...supposedly including financial problems...small or large, who knows. Can we really be surprised that things didn't just settle down and roll happily on. I ha ve hopes that things will stabilise this season and we will see real progress thereafter. In other words, Cortese was great, but had run his course...he wasn't above sacking people when that had happened, was he? The shakedown at Saints would have happened whether this year or next.
You're not wrong and yet it seems as though you are if you get my point. It 'seems' like players are going out at considerably faster rate than they are coming in. Of course the World Cup hasn't helped because everything was put on hold for a month plus the fact that it took us a long time to get the managerial situation sorted. I think we will end up with a decent side, certainly not a relegation side as suggested by some. But, like you, I worry about the amount of time available to prepare as a unit.
I wouldn't call any of those an upgrade, I'm afraid. Two of them might be personality upgrades, but not in terms of ability for me.
Shaw was going since March according to SaintJoey. Lovren handed in a transfer request on the final day, Lallana had wanted a move for over two months. Chambers was already going to Arsenal since March as well according to another poster. I wouldn't really call them quick they were planned and took there time until we got the fee we wanted.
Makes you wonder how high we'd have finished if our manager and players had actually cared about Saints towards the end of last season.
Probably right Joe, however I chuckled most when one poster posted a comment from Saintsweb that was backing your Cortese view on what's happened and you praised it instantly without questioning the validity of the source. The same day a poster posted a link to saintsweb that contradicted that view and you immediately questioned the validity of the poster and source. I chuckled out loud.
You think the board are selling and then they denie it. Every one has their own opinions which could be based on a few things they have heard or their gut feeling. Yours is Kat will sell and others is Cortese screwed us over. Not everyone liked Cortese as much as you and maybe can see few flaws.
A key difference here is I'm not criticising anyone of anything. You're free to guess as much as you like as long as you're not throwing accusations of guilt around.
Of course they could have Black and the board said that, however one key part you've missed. You may not agree, but they always have said "best interest of the club" and although you may disagree that is what they feel and have stuck to. I think lack of backbone is easy to throw out when we don't know all the information.
Actually you didn't in the post I read, you leaped straight in with glee, almost the smugness you warned us of
But wouldn't some people know about what has been going on more then you? So come on here and say it. As long as people can back it up it is fine. If they can't like me with Pochettino, as the stuff I heard about him is second hand info(even tho I believe the person that told me/DTLW as well) I probably wouldn't be able to prove it. So I have changed the wording a little ha.
Just because the players are squabbling on and off the pitch, another ruck in the training ground?, our posters shouldn't use that as a good example and to follow suit in the threads!
Shaw and Chambers have been tracked for years. Lallana was meant to be our captain, but went behind the clubs back to the media to force a move away. I still don't get how some fans think that if Arsenal/Man United/Liverpool come in for our players they won't want to go.
Sure, but what about the accusations I'm reading this morning that Cortese purposefully created this problem knowing he wouldn't be around to deal with it? Where's the basis for that? Or the idea that keeps coming up that he's still been in touch with players since he left, telling them they should leave - any substance there? These are accusations of guilt which I have seen numerous times, with no decent source whatsoever. It's people guessing, and over time just deciding that's what they want to believe.
