Les Reed interview today

Adam Blackmore ‏@bigadamsport

Looking forward to interviewing #saintsfc director Les Reed this afternoon - hear it in the Sportshour tonight on @BBCRadioSolent after 6pm

If you had one question, what would you ask him?

I'd go for: "how much did the Alderweireld 'saga' have to do with the CFO leaving the club?"

I'd ask him why the club sent so many messages out in the public domain about signing Toby and / or a legal position only for him to end up signing for Spurs.

I suspect the answer will be that the player wanted to sign for Spurs no matter what however I fail to believe the club wouldn't be aware of that.

I would ask if Toby saga has strained his working relationship with Koeman?

Sent from my SM-A300FU using Tapatalk

Les, Out of ten, with ten being "incredibly embarrassed we really ****ed up big time and I apologize on behalf of the club" and 0 being not at all, how embarrassed are you at letting a talent like Toby slip through Saints hands to join a Europa league rival team for what's reported as £11.4M (£9.4M to us..) and £50kpw on a 5 year contract - both figures obviously affordable for us?

Is he concerned that already this summer we have 'lost' two players who both told him and RK that they wanted to sign for us (Clyne and TA) and are we naive in dealing with these sort of situations?

Les, do you fancy a pint at lunchtime? Somewhere with a decent beer garden?

Have you soiled yourself as an adult?

I would ask 'We have a great bunch of young kids coming through, would it be a good idea to buy a couple of top players (pay them £100k a week) and let them learn from them.

Why get a squad of average players like Elia, Mayuka, Ramirez, duejic (no idea how to spell it) that are slowing down their progress to the first team?'

Have you soiled yourself as an adult?

Is it your aim to make saints looks silly every transfer windows! ?

Either :

Has your success last summer in covering departures made you complacent / incompetent ?

or :

Have you got the slightest clue how the hell you are going to replace Toby ?

Do you sometimes allow yourself a bit of a laugh at all the people that panic,when you know everything is under control.

Has your success last summer in covering departures made you complacent / incompetent ?

Alpine, I thought you were impressed with Cedric Soares and Juanmi?

I would ask "Aren't you glad you have a real job working for Southampton FC so that you are too busy to read the ignorant, foolish, malignant drivel so many fans post on the internet?'

When are you going to f off ?

What has changed since you said Saints dint send players on loan as they got a better education training and playing the 'Southampton Way'?

Have you soiled yourself as an adult?

and if so by accident or for pleasure?

Do you really, honestly believe that we can keep selling our best players and get away with it. Do you have figures in mind for Victor and J Rod for the next transfer window?

and what happened to the process of bring through great young British kids that made us all so proud of how Southampton were leading the way for the national team?

and what happened to the process of bring through great young British kids that made us all so proud of how Southampton were leading the way for the national team?

Given that around 4 or 5 Saints Academy graduates make up the England squad at any one time I'd say that process is alive and well.

Do you really, honestly believe that we can keep selling our best players and get away with it. Do you have figures in mind for Victor and J Rod for the next transfer window?

Yes and yes

and what happened to the process of bring through great young British kids that made us all so proud of how Southampton were leading the way for the national team?

What makes you think that has stopped?

Do you really, honestly believe that we can keep selling our best players and get away with it. Do you have figures in mind for Victor and J Rod for the next transfer window?

Its not "getting away with it", it is to their credit they have the recruitment structures in place so we can find good replacements. Its not sheer luck.

How do you propose Saints stop our best players wanting huge wage rises and Champions League football?

Do you read Alpine Saint's posts on TSW and do you consider yourself incompetent as a result?

Do you read Alpine Saint's posts on TSW and do you consider yourself incompetent as a result?

Haha! Very good.

Do you read Alpine Saint's posts on TSW and do you think he is an intentional comedy genius or is that an accidental by-product of his ****wittery?

Fixed.

Its not "getting away with it", it is to their credit they have the recruitment structures in place so we can find good replacements. Its not sheer luck.

 

How do you propose Saints stop our best players wanting huge wage rises and Champions League football?

You cant, granted, but i just wish the club were a bit more honest about what they say to us, but lets see what he says.

What makes you think that has stopped?

come on, there is definitely not the same philosophy going on as there was a couple of years ago. It was, and to his credit, Cortese's view that we should be playing young English players and Poch was behind that too. I don't believe that RK buys into that at all. Lets say, its certainly not a directive from the club any more, you cant deny that.

come on, there is definitely not the same philosophy going on as there was a couple of years ago. It was, and to his credit, Cortese's view that we should be playing young English players and Poch was behind that too. I don't believe that RK buys into that at all. Lets say, its certainly not a directive from the club any more, you cant deny that.

Koeman gave league debuts to 5 academy players last season (plus we have Ward-Prowse, Reed and Gallagher who are all around the first team and have played for them) and regularly has academy players training with the first team. Which other Premier League clubs did that? Let alone one that finished 7th!

come on, there is definitely not the same philosophy going on as there was a couple of years ago. It was, and to his credit, Cortese's view that we should be playing young English players and Poch was behind that too. I don't believe that RK buys into that at all. Lets say, its certainly not a directive from the club any more, you cant deny that.

Was this the same philosophy that lead to him splurging upwards of £40m on Gaston, Osvaldo, Forren and Mayuka?

You cant, granted, but i just wish the club were a bit more honest about what they say to us, but lets see what he says.

What are you saying they haven't been honest about?

Who do you prefer to work with Cortese or Rogers?

I'd be very interested to hear what strategies the geniuses of SWF would utilise to stop bigger clubs picking off the best of our talent.

Actually, no. It'd be uninformed drivel. Might be interesting to hear Reed's thoughts on the matter though.

Koeman gave league debuts to 5 academy players last season (plus we have Ward-Prowse, Reed and Gallagher who are all around the first team and have played for them) and regularly has academy players training with the first team. Which other Premier League clubs did that? Let alone one that finished 7th!

I don't believe any other club that finished 7th last season in the PL gave so many debuts and used so many academy players.

However, ignoring that, the idea that we still have the same philosophy with regards Academy players as we did even 2 years ago are deluded. We have become in one year just about the least English and we have also become a club that has no academy graduates as regulars in our first team. Last year only JWP was even close to being a regular. There is very little sign that this will change in the coming season, Ronald does not appear to trust academy players in the first team, possibly because there really aren't any real stars coming through, possibly with the exception of Harry Reed.

Is Fonte staying at Southampton? http://www.sportinastorm.com/mobile//Premier-League/Southampton/Fonte---I%27d-quit-Saints-for-top-four-club/X1Y72Z1949763

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

I don't believe any other club that finished 7th last season in the PL gave so many debuts and used so many academy players.

 

However, ignoring that, the idea that we still have the same philosophy with regards Academy players as we did even 2 years ago are deluded. We have become in one year just about the least English and we have also become a club that has no academy graduates as regulars in our first team. Last year only JWP was even close to being a regular. There is very little sign that this will change in the coming season, Ronald does not appear to trust academy players in the first team, possibly because there really aren't any real stars coming through, possibly with the exception of Harry Reed.

That's a pretty idiotic comment. The reason we have less first team players from the academy is because other teams have bought them, certainly not because we haven't been up for giving youth a chance.

Is Fonte staying at Southampton? http://www.sportinastorm.com/mobile//Premier-League/Southampton/Fonte---I%27d-quit-Saints-for-top-four-club/X1Y72Z1949763

 

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

..

"By waiting on players to leave before we look to sign their replacements, are we in danger of missing out on our top targets?"

Is Fonte staying at Southampton? http://www.sportinastorm.com/mobile//Premier-League/Southampton/Fonte---I%27d-quit-Saints-for-top-four-club/X1Y72Z1949763

 

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

Yes.

Was this the same philosophy that lead to him splurging upwards of £40m on Gaston, Osvaldo, Forren and Mayuka?

every club wastes money on transfers, its ridiculous that Cortese keeps getting blamed for this, which is not an issue, because it was his fault on Gaston and Forren, maybe Poch had more of a say with Osvaldo. But look at Utd - the guy they had on loan, Liverpool - Lovren, Spurs - where do you start, Arsenal - Uzil.... do i need to go through every club and point out their wastage?

What are you saying they haven't been honest about?

we're a selling club, like just about everyone else aside from Madrid and Barca, and if we get a good enough offer, anyone can go.

What was all that crap about Clyne staying? Did you actually buy that from Reed a couple of months ago?

we're a selling club, like just about everyone else aside from Madrid and Barca, and if we get a good enough offer, anyone can go.

What was all that crap about Clyne staying? Did you actually buy that from Reed a couple of months ago?

I'd be very interested to hear what strategies the geniuses of SWF would utilise to stop bigger clubs picking off the best of our talent.

 

Actually, no. It'd be uninformed drivel. Might be interesting to hear Reed's thoughts on the matter though.

http://lifehacker.com/5952455/how-to-create-a-blackmail-file-on-someone

Koeman gave league debuts to 5 academy players last season (plus we have Ward-Prowse, Reed and Gallagher who are all around the first team and have played for them) and regularly has academy players training with the first team. Which other Premier League clubs did that? Let alone one that finished 7th!

surprising statistics, how do they compare in terms of minutes played on the previous season? Clearly we have sold Shaw and Chambers, so maybe a bit misleading, but just feel that the emphasis has gone a bit.

Every club is a selling club, we have to be sustainable, no one really should have a problem with that.

fine, but dont give us the BS about Clyne might be staying...

surprising statistics, how do they compare in terms of minutes played on the previous season? Clearly we have sold Shaw and Chambers, so maybe a bit misleading, but just feel that the emphasis has gone a bit.

If the kids are good enough they will play. We had a 'golden generation' that has been taken away from us. Our Academy is outstanding but we won't always produce players who go on to be full England internationals in their teenage years.

surprising statistics, how do they compare in terms of minutes played on the previous season? Clearly we have sold Shaw and Chambers, so maybe a bit misleading, but just feel that the emphasis has gone a bit.

It hasn't. Our first team is now packed for of internationals (more so then ever before in our history), it is a very different task for a teenager from our academy to surpass international players. The bar is a lot higher. That does' mean the club doesn't have a youth policy of getting players into the first team, it just may take them longer to get there now.

fine, but dont give us the BS about Clyne might be staying...

Why was it bull****? "Might" doesn't mean "definitely will".

I really don't think they would have said anything about Clyne if they really didn't think they thought he would defo be off. It seems like he waws hedging his bets to see what was on the table for him. As for Toby, apparently the club didn't know of his wish to go to Spuds until Monday. Unless Reed can get himself a decent crystal ball I don't see what else he can do? And as for buying replacements before players leave, isn't that what happened with Soares?

Is he concerned that already this summer we have 'lost' two players who both told him and RK that they wanted to sign for us (Clyne and TA) and are we naive in dealing with these sort of situations?

100% this !