Killers Knee

Murat Yakin

Steve Clarke

my bets is we will sell Lallana and Shaw after the WC for a combined £50m, then bring in 2 players totalling £15m. £35m will go into repaying debts and what-not.

If we sell either of Lallana or Shaw before the WC it sends big signals: 1. Southampton are small time. 2. Southampton have peaked. 3. Southampton have no more ambition. 4. Southampton are a feeder club. Sell after the WC then: 1. Southampton have 3 players in WC finals. 2. Grow the clubs reputation with viewers. 3. Grow the clubs reputation with young players. 4. Grow the "Southampton Way" brand. We can replace them, but we really need to do better in marketing ourselves and this is the biggest chance we are going to get on an international stage.

fairplay

All the best English players are in their respective first teams by the time they are 18.

Greg Dyke on Talksport getting chewed on DriveTime. His argument for this idea was "look at the amount of English players in the top 4!" . FFS why should all of English football pay for the short sightedness of the top 4? The top 4 have the resources to implement academies equal or better than Southampton's, they just lack the will as it would be too difficult to maintain position. So we must all pay for their greed and cowardice.

seconded

Pessimist in me says: Shaw - Chelsea - £30m (Clyne steps in) Lallana - Liverpool - £25m (Ramirez steps in) Schneiderlin - Arsenal - £15m (Cork steps in) MP off to Spain - former Bundesliga replacement Optimist in me says: MP stays and keeps the squad together Adds 2 players to the starting XI CB + CF

But that is the exact problem, the proverbial fan doesn't smell good at all.

mmm, £4k above average UK graduate starting salary, £32k below average Swiss graduate starting salary. I doubt they want an expert, more a "squad player"

Tales from the Secret Footballer: p.116, 3rd para. If thats not the job description Adkins replied to, its damn close and illustrates how close to the pitch business has encroached on the beautiful game. As for Saturday, we rested players, they rested players, we missed 3 sitters, they scored a worldy. Close but no cigar. As for the Liebherrs, I backed them when they were loaded, and I will back them now as well. Out of gratitude, if not respect.

a tough win, Davis MoM.

must have a dodgy stream as I swear i've seen this match before, its the one where we dominate possession in the 2nd half, have twice the shots but score the same amount as the opposition, yep, deffo seen it before.....

CB to replace/cover DL, then creative MF to replace/cover AL, then CF to replace/cover RL. All new purchases to be better than our best player in that position.

Pretty much agree, the >£40m warchest can be funded through the sale of Shaw, Osvaldo and wages saved by letting 20 players go. Only in the next window will we know. The prize money diffrence between finishing 10th and 7th is about £2m, economically not worth new signings when we have the academy option. As for the FA Cup, thats more luck than skill.

We can still recall the services of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations Golden Boot winnner if needs must. I am sure SG will give a good account of himself, and I'm looking forward to watching his development. As for us making the club leaner by having a clearout, as long as SFC doesn't go the same way as the other companies Markus left his daughter, surely thats a good thing?

I like the look of Rhodes, but always thought his club were holding out for a whopper deal, as we are with Shaw.

May I introduce Seria B striker for Palermo, Abel Hernandez, meets all the criteria you state.

Agree that bringing in someone like Ings or Abel Hernandez would have been great. It appears we now have the rare opportunity to blood another couple youngsters in the most competitive league. We have offloaded the deadwood so we have either prepared the squad for summer signings by making it leaner, or its the alternative that we all fear. We will only find out in the next window. So until then enjoy the ride!

Think this is whats planned: http://forzaitalianfootball.com/2014/01/fresh-vucinic-swap-could-be-on-cards-with-southampton/

Does anyone have a link to this thread, honestly one of the funniest forum threads of internet history, needs to go in a book.

Looks awfully like he has employed someone to manage his Twitter account on his behalf.

100% this. Cortese knew the "request for oversight" (PR spin btw) would soon materialise into instruction to asset strip. Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

We were punished for our sloppiness in front of goal. Johnson completely owned Shaw throughout, Lambert looked like he was labouring with an injury. Gaston was extremely unlucky and looked a threat during his short cameo. We played well but our pathetic finishing cost us. Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk