CB Fry

Exactly this. There are people on this forum who like to talk about us being at a cross roads but we're really not. It's very very clear what our strategy is, we'll stick to it as long as the Leibherrs (and specifically Les) are in charge. Yep, we want to try and be "best of the rest" if we can, to achieve European football through the league but completely on our terms and completely within our budget. So if that takes us to the cusp of the top 6 one season, great. If it takes us to a more middling 12th place another season, not great. That's football. Neither the first scenario or the second scenario is going to see us break the fundemental strategy - fees, wages, financial structure will remain the same in both situations. Sometimes we will hit heights, sometimes we won't. It's rather strange that Les Reed says pretty much the same thing over and over and over again in all his interviews but people on this forum still don't get it. We hadn't finished seventh for 25 years until last season but you wouldn't think it reading the dins on here who've decided last season is now the base standard for all subsequent seasons to be judged, with any drop in league position from our rightful seventh some kind of outrage. Boo hoo. We've regressed. To twelfth. In the Premier League. Brace yourself girls, Saints might finish, gosh, twelfth or so in 2016. Oh, the humanity. I wish we were Watford. I wish we were Watford.

Exactly this. We are a Ronald Koeman team from front to back to bench. And he's had far more to spend assembling said team than, say, Claudio Ranieri.

How have you arrived at that?

Happy New Year.

What are you ranting about now? Quite aware of the timeline re Clyne, the fact is Klopp has been appointed to get them back in the Champions League, and joined the club expecting to do that, as did Clyne, as did Lallana, as did Lovren. Rodgers got sacked because he failed to get them back into the CL. These are facts. Good luck to Watford, I have no doubt they will be finishing top eight every single season for the next ten years now, because they're definitely not just the latest club that knee jerk forum bed-pi ssers can bawl their eyes out about. Why can't we be Watford oh why can't we be Watford oh why oh why it's so unfair.

Poch isn't an ex player. Toby was never our player. Clyne went to Liverpool, a Champions League contender club, who sacked the previous manager for not making it, and have employed the new manager to take them back there. Clyne would have been bought to help achieve that aim. They've all left us to go to get Champions League football, and the money that brings of course.

Which ones didn't leave for Champions League football? I'll let you have Lambert, who would have wanted to go to Liverpool regardless (but were in the CL when he joined), but who else?

Vardy wouldn't have become Vardy unless he had been written off.

Makes me sick the tedious way Leicester City have gone about being top of the league. Give me the wondrous and romantic way that Manchester City and Manchester United do things anyday - pure footballing heart. When United spunked £100m and City £150m in the summer it reminded me of why I fell in love with the sport as a child. Heartwarming.

Spending loads of dosh is the preserve of the heart now? Fu ck me, how utterly depressing. Your club historian, everyone.

Define "deep ****".

9th in the league. Stoke fans must be living in some crazy crazy dream. Not something we could ever achieve, that's for sure. I mean, ninth. Ninth place. Dreamland.

We are too good to go down because we are too good to go down. That's not complacency. We need about 14 points from half a season to not go down, basically dreadful relegation form for half a season from now, and even if we only achieved that, we probably still wouldn't go down as other teams still need to get to 38 too. 12th at the half way stage is not relegation form so it's not complacency to dare to suggest we're not in a relegation scrap right now. We're closer to eighth than the bottom three. And why would we be relying on Gaston Ramirez in a relegation fight? You've noticed he hardly ever plays, right?

Amen to that.

Probably because every club in the land, including us, have made infinitely worse value signings than we have with Shane Long.

We'd have won eight nil if that walking assist machine Gaston was playing.

Sounds like the kind of thing I'd say about a two year old.

The mere threat of a protest did the business. Well done lads. Keep it futile.

He's scored 8 in two Prem seasons as well. Not an amazing goal return, granted, but no need for forum members to chat sh it.

Why do you keep saying this? It's not true.

I don't think that idea is going to be impacted either way if we finish eighth or twelfth to be honest. It wouldn't stop us signing the likes of Tadic, Virgil or Clasie. We signed Vic and Lovren after finishing 14th. Whoever we sign or keep next season will go again with an aspiration to be there if the big clubs fail, a la Leicester and a la us last year, but generally try and be the best of the other 14. Sometimes we will do it, sometimes we won't. But what won't be happening is a "tide turn" where we take our place amongst the elite. It isn't going to happen under our current ownership and structure and that's absolutely fine by me.

Tom Davis @BigTomD getting some Saints love on Twitter. He's a WHU fan in real life though will be hoping the old Gale force wears out on Monday.

They can be effective but you have to remember that negative comments on an internet forum will have a detrimental impact on the performance on the pitch because the players definitely read all this stuff they do. Get behind the lads FFS.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3011776/Are-Manchester-United-Liverpool-Arsenal-Chelsea-biggest-club-Sportsmail-s-study-finally-settles-football-s-great-debate.html Fifteenth on this article, with our global fanbase and wealth nicely inflated by happening to be in the Premier League right now. Fanbase lower due to the Dell. We are what we are. Above 6th would be a standout/perfect season, 6th/7th an excellent season, 8-14th good, 15th - 17th disappointing, 18th and below underperforming but not impossible, more likely than finishing 4th anyway. Championship, disappointing but typical of loads of similar clubs to us. The longer we stay in the Prem the richer and stronger we get but Villa, Sunderland and Newcastle are rich and strong too. Doesn't actually stop them being dog poo, does it? We will forever be perfectly capable of being relegated in any given season, just like the current flavours of the month Palace and Leicester. Both them, and us, are only a season away from a relegation fight. There are plenty of clubs that could easily claim they are in the top 12 in the country and half of them are in the Championship, Forest, Leeds, Derby, Wednesday all easily comparable to us. We're in the top tier of that tier right now, and even if we finish, say, 12th this year that is perfectly commensurate with our "size".

This is why I still love this forum. Absolute comedy gold.