my exact thoughts... so looked it up. West Ham United In: Mauro Zarate (Velez Sarsfield - undisclosed), Cheikhou Kouyate (Anderlecht - undisclosed), Aaron Cresswell (Ipswich Town - undisclosed), Diego Poyet (Charlton Athletic - undisclosed), Enner Valencia (Pachuca - undisclosed) and Carl Jenkinson (Arsenal - loan). Out: Joe Cole, George McCartney and Jack Collison (Released).
Here's DLTW answering a few questions on a season preview! https://medium.com/@GGalpinFootball/premier-league-previews-a30fcb08f87e
Those inside the club (especially at the top) are hopeful, excited and can't wait for the new season - and neither can I! Somewhere between 10th-14th, I think. Maybe top half if all goes well from the off. Might be some stuff from the club ahead of the new season floating about soon - I've mentioned it privately to a couple of people.
I really honestly can't. No gossip to it, just some stuff I've been sent that isn't for public consumption. Consider this a 'heads up'.
Early doors DTLW? Early doors? It's a bit early in your career to start leaning on cliches isn't it ;-)
Guardian have us finishing 15th, but with a fairly optimistic write-up from Jacob Steinberg - I'm not his biggest fan, but he talks a lot of sense on football weekly and seems to have cut through the media narrative http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/aug/12/southampton-premier-league-preview-2014-15 Dan Roan has us getting relegated alongside Burnley and Leicester - lazy journalism IMO.
Just listened to 5Live preview Phil Neville thinks we're in free fall as a football club and will be relegated Rory Smith (The Times) thinks we've made some rather astute signings and will have a comfortable lower mid-table finish Think that sums up the various opinions on here as to how the summer has gone
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04d8r7k/south-today-15082014 15:30 in. Southampton season preview. It's so accidental Alan Partridge.
I can relate to what Des is saying there, but people have been moaning about too much money in football for the whole time I've been a fan - same with the plight of the England team. I wholeheartedly agree with him on FIFA and the Qatar world cup, but he comes across a little bit like the bitter old man here. A touch of the rose-tinted specs he celebrates Hansen for not wearing? Let's not forget the football in the Prem (and the Championship for that matter) is more entertaining than ever and attendances have never been higher. Yes football's changed, but I remember going to some of the half-filled shacks masquerading as football grounds in the eighties and watching utter dross - I don't think anyone wants a return to those days...
And before anyone starts romanticising the old days - have a peep of the 'glorious' football on display in the last ever season of Div 1!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GZUVXFkNfY The only thing I miss from those days is the theme tune from 'The Match' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP_kY__KumE
I'm quite surprised by how many pundits are backing us for relegation. They all seem to be quite uneducated on happenings at the club. I reckon there's at least 5 teams with worse squads than ours.