Chez

I don't. I was probably crying in my beer by that time. It was a pretty painful summer football wise.

Tell me how the conversation between Reed and Lallana might have gone then. Because Reed telling him "We are are not selling you this summer" and Lallana replying "I'll never play for the club again" seems extremely plausible. I wasn't there, I dont know, but explain the send off on the Saints website to me. I'm more than happy to listen to other arguements and to change my mind. But for me it simply does not stack up that all parties acted appropriately and then SFC decided to throw Lallana under the bus to avoid fan criticism. IMO they were annoyed at Lallana and thus they gave him the short news announcement on the website as they had no inclination to sing his praises. What makes Lallana more reliable than Reed by the way? Was Reed caught lying about other stuff?

I can't remember, but it was discussed at considerable length at the time and the conclusion I came to was it was more likely he made the rant/threat than the counter theory that the club put out fake news to make them look better in fans eyes. Les Reed said shortly before that "Lallana needed to stay a little longer" (they had lost Shaw and didn't want a mass exodus) - basically one more year. They didn't want to sell him that summer. Lallana could see his dream move disappearing so forced the issue. In an interview, Lallana denied it happened. If that's the case, why the curt announcement on the saints website? If everyone was happy, why didn't Saints give him a nice send off? He was absolutely brilliant for us. Signing a long term contract when we went down (all be it for big money) when he could have moved to Wolves was the start of everything good during that period. In my eyes he was close to legendary status.

Wilcox was the academy director before he joined us. He wasn't making big financial decisions on sensor players. We are not losing some DoF tighten. We have financial directors and football management that can fill the void I'm sure.

he played a total of 81 minutes as the manager favoured Muniz, who was on fire. Doesn't necessarily mean Broja is washed up. If there is a better option, lets sign him, but if we get the player I saw run rings around some top class defenders, then we have chance to survive next year.

this "being found out" thing is bollocks. He wasn't `found out', he was completely starved of service. As a side we were utter shit. I'd be surprised if he had a handful of chances in the last ten games. I guess he must shoulder his share of blame as he was a member of the side not functioning, but him not looking as good/effective was not in isolation.

Isn't KWP too old for Chelsea?

He was of little use last season and that was in the Championship. In the Prem he will have less time, space and room for error. If we could find a buyer, we should sell Charles and use the money to get a player RM trusts. Realistically, no one is spending £10-15m to recoup our outlay on him at this moment in time, so we either loan him or hope he makes great strides over the next six months so that we can use him when Downes is tired/injured. Really he needs to be playing week in week out next season to aid his development - so a loan might be the best plan.

I'd like to get excited, but yeah, a 23 year old who scored 26 goals for Feyenord lat season and played and will play in the CL ain't joining relegation candidates Saints. Pity.

see page 5

What a fantastic goal. Obviously some fans are not keen on the slow possession based game, don't like the `risky' passing in and out of our box, and in general want to see us get forward far quicker more often...and their are merits to their arguments, but when a passing move from back to front comes off, it sure looks pretty.

Wilcox himself had to pick it up. For all we know he might not have been very good at it.

Alcaraz simply gave the ball away too much, which for a possession based side is the deadly sin. I can't see Juve signing him, which is a shame, as we could do with that money to buy someone RM does want.

Amen. Slow, technically limited and couldn't wait to leave. If our scouts can't find a better left back than him they should be sacked.

Ouch. That will hurt.

We will need to win a few games, which will require some magic in the final third. We may need to sacrifice consistency to get the flashes of brilliance that create or score goals at that level. Fraser's work rate is admirable, but we might need the pace of Sulemena or a flick from Brooks. If we can get both elements, workrate and skill, brilliant, but if not, maybe we need a mix. It was great to have so many options out wide, even if some fans felt it confused RM. Having AA, Fraser, Edozie, Brooks and Sulemema was good. Lots of fresh and fit attackers, all of which contributed (let's not start a Sulemena aguement...so) although to a lesser extent Sulemena.

He had one hell of a fantasy football season, so was obviously involved in lots of goals. Did his performances match the fantasy figures? Only watched the odd Luton game.

You are not the only one, but I don't share that opinion. He got injured in both Forrest games, which were key games. Both were really bad performances from us and the defeats were nails in our relegation coffin. He didn't go AWOL when it got tough. He did his knee in the first game. He slipped just of the edge of the pitch on the astro and you could see straight away it was nasty. To slate him for that (as Doswell did) doesn't make sense to me. He pulled a muscle in the second game which put him out for the rest of the season. The injury happened when Johnston skinned him, but to suggest he feigned the injury strikes me as just confirmation bias.

sure, but has it forced our hand to give McCarthy another contract. That would be my concern. I do wonder how highly RM rates Baz. Certainly higher than most on this forum, but is it higher than the average Saints fan?

If you aint a stand out player and ripping up the championship, then the Prem is going to be extremely tough or even down near impossible. I think we have three or four that you could make a case for being among the better players in their position in the championship (KWP for example) that will just about make the step up. Even KWP has had periods of poor form in the top flight and he's been just about the best player we have had for the last four years There are a few that had periods in the Championship when they were in that group (Smallbone and Aribo for example) and a few that have showed flashes here. We have to hope they keep progressing and can make the step up, and by that I mean look comfortable and effective).

With you. Once again we have an opportunity to reboot at the position. Let's not `settle'.

Hmmm. It's a perfect fit, as it was last summer, but I'm not counting my chickens. West Ham may have seen progression and want to see if that is reflected in performances for them in preseason. We haven't got money to burn, so will want to negotiate reasonably hard. West Ham hold the cards. I'd be amazed if we didn't have some alternative targets - our scouts would not be doing their jobs if they didnt.

Oh, forgive my hesitancy, I didn't realise he was coaching god. All is forgiven son. Welcome 'home'.

When are the "summer departures" usually officially announced?

Sounds like RM was keen to keep him, at that early point, so you would think it was ABK and his agent that pushed for the move - but you can't be 100% certain. There was a lot of murmurings about several disgruntled players wanting out in the summer and when players left we just joined the dots. Highly likely the ones that left were the ones that wanted out. But a few that stayed may also have wanted out, but we couldn't find the right buyer.