Ivan Katalinic's 'tache

Cole Palmer on loan (Weds 12th July)

So, "I'd like to stay and repay the club's faith in me" equates to "I'm off to the first club who can agree a deal for me"? In which case, I hope plenty more of last season's squad would like to stay and repay our faith in them... In reality, if Tino had played the whole season and we'd gone down, he'd absolutely be one of the first other teams would be after. I guess Newcastle are willing to take a punt on him having recovered sufficiently if they can get a price that suits them.

Cheer up Russell Martin, Oh what can it mean, To a Sport Republic fall guy For a shit recruitment team...

I've heard they plan to announce him 5 mins before the kick-off of our first game back in the Championship. The latest data Sport Republic have - based on their 3 Saints managers to date - suggests the further away they keep a manager from the playing staff, the less chance he has to cock things up.

Can't he work remotely, so he doesn't have to move house? Perhaps kick a ball around Swansea while his new team-mates are at St Mary's in a ground-breaking new (presumably data-led) Saints initiative? We've played with less than 11 players for a couple of years now, with Elyounoussi, Walcott, Djenepo and others in the team, so those that remain will be used to this...

Oh when the Saints. Christ, why have we taken Spurs' song and tried to make it our own? 😉

Got a couple of Swansea fans in the office and they seem really disappointed he's going. Possession-based attacking football is what he'll bring, in their opinion. Sometimes a bit dodgy at the back but I guess that works for us as it's The Southampton Way! They said he wants to be at a club who can back his ambitions financially and their US owners won't do that. I imagine he'll see us with parachute payments plus player sale revenue (and maybe even a bit more of Dragan's wealth) as giving him that backing.

Chris Perry

Ah, good old Jim Joyce. I was there when he did his hammy running on to treat one of players. Good times.

He's from Brighton and puts his name to his own soccer schools in the area. We've probably seen Brighton doing really and put 2 and 2 together... 😂

The only reason I will renew is because it will probably be the final season before my son goes off to Uni (hopefully!) and, depending on where he ends up, it might not be practical for him to have a season ticket the year after. It will not be because I 'believe in the project' or the quality of the product/experience as a customer.

I hope he does. A more clinical finisher than Adams or Armstrong at top flight level.

Oh, and we'll win, results will conspire to go our way and the inevitable can be delayed a week longer just to string things out.

🎶 Saints club, there ain't no party like a relegation party 🎶

I was there last night. I thought the home fans were excellent - as a Forest player it must be uplifting to run out to that wall of scarves and noise. Whilst we have our Saints Brass band, and it's nice to listen to, we need to find a way of translating it into every fan on their feet before the game belting out OWTS as our anthem. Maybe Dragan & co. could leave us all a scarf on a seat for the first game of next season to try something similar to Forest. Light shows and those fire things are all well and good for US-style entertainment but what we need to generate is a proper atmosphere to let the opposition know they're at our place. I thought we, the fans, turned out well too, tried to back the boys in the beginning but the 2 quick goals knocked the stuffing out of the team (& support) for a bit. I can't help feeling some of the "passion" we saw on the pitch afterwards was desperation rather than a real desire to fight for something. AMN, ABK - dreadful defensively and, impressively, even worse in possession. Not sure Macca did too much wrong but, equally, he didn't look like saving anything either. Kyle doesn't seem the same player, Prowsey buzzed around but is always that little bit too lightweight to be truly influential. Up front we were our usual mix of slow build up and ineffectiveness until, presumably, someone pointed out we were losing at half time and we resorted to panic and desperation. It's a massive rebuilding job, even to conspire compete in the Championship. I look forward to seeing how Jason Wilcox kicks it off! Once again, it looked like the opposition had a shape and a plan and we lost ours when the first goals went in (if we even had one). Credit to each and every fan who went up there, got soaked but sung their hearts out. That's what we need to bring home next season and find a way to energise our fans before kick-off in the same way Forest do. I hope they stay up, their fans deserve it.

I genuinely don't think James Bree could be any worse. He's looked solid but unspectacular when he's played and lord knows our defence could do with some sensible play...

I think the Saints players have generally been very good with the fans, particularly the younger ones, even in recent times. In the lower leagues, most of them would stop for a chat and a pic but, when we arrived back in the Premier League, that still continued even as the quality and status of the players improved. Steven Davis and Rickie were both brilliant with my kids and we often had to stay behind after a game to meet them. One time, Davo was working his way down the line when he reached my son and daughter. My son had his pic taken with him and when Davis went to have a pic with my then 5 year old daughter she looked him straight in the face and said "no thank you, I'm waiting for Rickie Lambert". He took it in good heart, "kids, eh?", and a couple of the other players were dying with laughter behind him. I suspect he might have heard about it a few times on the training ground the next day, from those players especially! But can you imagine the reaction she'd have got from some of the so-called superstars now? Although maybe they wouldn't have heard her with their headphones on anyway...

Good lad. One of the few I'd hoped to keep.

Ruben, mate, this isn't a positive?!

We need a proper reset in the summer. That means getting rid of a number of the players who have dragged us down over a number of years and "Ralph Lite" needs to go too. Maybe we got a little suckered by the results against Chelsea and Leicester but the football, mainly caused by the selections, has been dreadful recently. Starting must win games without at least one striker should be a sackable offence alone.

Got my ticket and ready to back the lads (well, at least until one of them monumentally screws up and the usual depression sets in). Anyone got Mickey Evans's number to see if he can improve our odds of pulling it out the bag? (Although, as Ruben hates playing strikers, he wouldn't get on the pitch even if he was identified as our bona fide saviour)

Our relegation is entirely down to the home shirt. We thought we'd look like Ajax and play like Ajax but it became apparent we also needed Ajax's players to do that and, when we looked around the dressing room, we hadn't got any of them. Worse, from behind, we found out the team looks like Derby County in the worst ever Premier League season with white shirts, black shorts and white socks. Morale was destroyed among players and staff as we lost our red and white stripey identity. The Southampton Way was gone. Che Adams went from clinical marksman to the sort who would head the ball onto his own hand in front of an open goal. Uncertainty blighted new goalikeeper Gavin Bazunu as he expected to see our previously unbeatable defence in front of him only to not know which guys were supporting him with no-one there in stripes. Our penetrative attacking midfielders, so adept at cutting through massed defences, became a confused mess as they dithered over through balls trying to recall which team were wearing the right coloured shirt. So I blame Hummel. I blame them for coming up with the abomination in the first place. And then I blame whoever signed it off as a good idea at the club. Maybe it's why the Commercial Director left. And finally I blame whoever came up with the "Bold is Brave" slogan to whom I say: bravery and stupidity go hand in hand. Look where it has got us...

Southampton academy director Matt Hale to leave at end of season in latest St Mary’s exit - The Athletic Maybe Rasmus thinks he can do it all himself?

A fine feat during his latest loan:

Haha! Brilliant. Cracking banter Rubes. Now, tell us the real team. Please??? 🙏