saints not ambitious / selling club etc...

If he is still here on 1 September, then absolutely. If he continues to sulk etc beyond then, then hopefully we continue to dish out the fines.

But it doesn't mean that he's wrong for wanting to leave (or that we are not a selling club). He'll get paid better elsewhere, he's more likely to play European football elsewhere, he's more likely to win trophies elsewhere, he's more likely to play alongside better teammates elsewhere. (And we do continuously sell our best players)

 

As I've said numerous times before, he is playing the game and trying to get his move. If he is still here on the 1st of Sept then we will see if he really is a twat or just a player trying to grab an opportunity when it arose

 

Stelling lives in Winchester I believe and I know he has a ST (well did last year) in the Itchen - block 9. I know because on non Saturday games I saw him there!

 

We have sold players in the past it's true, but there have been statements from the board that we are now debt free and no longer need to sell anybody we don't want to. Yes, I get why VVD wants to move, but he shouldn't have signed the contract if that is what he intended to do.

Plus, if we a selling club, surely we would've cashed in on VVD already by now?

 

Yeah, that's what I thought.

 

On that note I'll see you on Saturday mate... Using same ST I used for City game

 

I am really surprised to hear that. I used to think he had a soft spot for us, but put it down to Matty. But during last season he has become a real dick. Some of the critique has been totally unjustified. To now find he attends matches here & lives in Winchester is bewildering.

 

Which is very admirable. My fear though is that we'd soon then stop seeing the Virgil's and the Wanyama's and the Mane's coming through the door. The fact that we can so easily be used a stepping stone must be an appealing factor for some of these players. In this day and age, I find it hard to believe that the likes of Stoke and West Ham and Swansea etc aren't aware of these players too, but invariably they come to us (just look at Lemina, and how heavily he was linked to Stoke) - and our recent transfers somewhat wipe the floor with those of our rivals. Selling to bigger clubs is our USP, if you like.

(There's also the point I made on the Virgil thread earlier. What we spend on transfer fees we roughly seem to balance out with what we receive. So unless we change that stance too, and quite significantly, then limiting our future sales would tie our arms when it comes to funding acquisitions.)

Now hopefully that fear isn't realised. Spurs managed to make the transition from something of a mid-table selling club, to a solid top six club, CL featuring club who retain the majority of their players. Indeed, barring a City/Chelsea-style takeover, I think Spurs are pretty much the blueprint we're faced with following. And to me that starts with moving aside the likes of Yoshida and Davis as I have mentioned. (Fortunately, we may already have a replacement for the former. I was so impressed with Stephens last season, that I would happily continue with him in the hope that he is the next top cab off the rank).

 

St Elling is ace - he always has MLT sitting next to him. You always know when Saints have scored before they break off to go to the pundit, because you see MLTs right fist in the corner of the screen.

 

Usually Sell Players?

 

I'm happy about us being a selling club, as long as we only sell the players we want to sell. I did like MLT's tweet though, "at least we've got food in the first place"

 

Must admit, I've always thought that Jeff Stelling had quite a large soft spot for Saints. He likes the underdog [Hartlepool], and Saints are always the underdog whoever they play. He's been occasionally seen at St Mary's, for several seasons, for midweek matches, and it hasn't been to cheer on the opposition, as far as I know.

 

It's funny, but it's really the sports media who say Southampton sell players. It's lazy sports journalism in the extreme to say so. If it was down to the boardroom here we wouldn't have sold half the players when we have. We would have sold them on our terms and time, not circumstances outside of SFC's control. So Southampton is a selling club, but don't let anybody get the idea that we want to be. This club wants to win things but we believe in doing so without buying all the best players and therefore all the competitions.

 

So we should expect to sell our best player because we have done so in the past?

In that case, how do we reverse the trend?

 

We should be aiming to reverse the trend. But until we've actually reversed the trend, rather than simply talking about doing so, we shouldn't exactly expect players to shrug and get on with it. Watch as many players cycle through on their way to bigger clubs as we have in recent years, and the current ones will understandably believe that they're owed the same privilege whenever they make known their intent.

That's why we cannot sell him this season, for any sum. If we do so to be shot of a player who was behaving in a fashion deemed toxic, every player with a desire to be paid more elsewhere has an incentive to be toxic. They have all the reason in the world to believe that "not for sale" is an invitation to cause as much fuss as possible...and teams chasing our players will have every reason to push, too.

 

To be fair he wasnt alone in the critique last season. We were rubbish, a lot.

 

Sunderland were rubbish. Hull were rubbish. We were far from being rubbish, even if we were sometimes disappointing.

 

Yes, but he doesn't have a season ticket at those clubs.
He got into a rather nasty public spat with Dave Jones last season as well over his management of Hartlepool.

Basically, Jeff can not be considered a happy clapper

 

My point was that he is more likely to have a pro saints interpretation that Phil thompson and Paul merson from soccer Saturday and of course almost every pundit on the evening shows who overwhelmingly favour Liverpool above any team in the league (with hardly any attempt at impartiality)

 

Interesting string of tweets from Rory Smith about selling club. It's about Liverpool, but the point stands with any club.