James

Great thread...

Not what the Telegraph and Jeremy Wilson say though and they've got everything spot on so far this summer.

Will believe it when I see it. We didn't exactly set the youth leagues on fire last year and our last manager had zero faith in any of them bar those who were already in the first team. Either way, it's a pretty big risk for a top six club and not a risk that any other top half club would be willing to take. Hope it's not a case of us believeing our own hype.

But the Telegraph (which correctly predicted Puel and clearly has the clubs ear) say we aren't going to. Also, all the noises out of the club say we are focusing on youth. Very worrying with our extra commitments. All sounds a bit Jan Poortveilt at the moment if I'm honest. Hope I'm wrong.

Bonkers. We've got more games this year. Do the board not realise? Very very disappointed and a huge gamble. Relegation struggle on the way I fear.

To my mind it's not Austin that's the risk (as I agree with the above), it's any kind of reliance on J Rod which is the big worry. For me, he can't be relied upon (which is a horrible thing to admit).

All the noises point to us not spending big this summer even though we've received a club record fee for Mane along with the money for Vic and Pelle (assuming he goes). With a more competitive Premier League and extra games in the Europa league we needed to increase numbers yet the noises from within seem to suggest we aren't going to do that. Absolute madness in my mind, could all go wrong this year I think.

This is as bad a footballing performance as I can remember from England and that is saying something.

Saints would beat both of these teams with ease.

Can't see us scoring here.

Sterling was actually doing ok yet he gets sacrificed. Roy has lost the plot here.

Wilshere has been absolutely atrocious. What a pointless substitution.

Good deal in my book. Crazy money for a player who went missing mid-season. On his day he's unplayable but he's still very raw. I'm not sure we'd ever get more for him than almost 35 million up front. Only slight disappointment is that we haven't even announced a new manager and we've already sold two players!

Don't think anyone cares what other fans think but the perception of the club to the rest of the footballing world is a relevant concern. We've seen plenty of players move or sign for clubs because of the manager and all I think is being highlighted is that Puel is a relative unknown to anyone who hasn't played in or followed the French league. It maybe that this inhibits our clout in the transfer market but then again it may not, just an observation. That said, a lot of Leicester's best players are unknown cheap options from the French league. I expect we will pursue a couple of those this summer so just have to hope they are of sufficient quality to replace the likes of Wanyama, Mane and Bertrand.

No problem, not suggesting he's a Gray or a Wigley or indeed that he will be a terrible appointment. I just don't think he was the best we could have appointed and he smacks of a Black Box gamble. I am merely saying that, given where we found ourselves at the end of last season, we could have taken the opportunity to appoint an experienced, blue chip manager who would likely have raised our profile in the transfer market and convinced our big players to stay. I hope I'm wrong but I'm not sure Puel is who we need at the present moment. Anyway, what is done is done so best to see what happens and I wish Claude the very best of luck.

On what basis are you suggesting that I'm not knowledgeable? I've read all there is to read about Puel and I'm still not convinced. He appears to have done a good job with Nice but I've also read a number of things which suggest that it was the form of Ben Afra that made sure they had a wonderful season. I've also read that he was sacked by Lyon for barely mounting a title challenge in a poor league with by far the most expensively assembled squad (PSG were nowhere at this point). I've read the facts and I've got a concern, don't just make blind insults because someone doesn't agree with you.

Tell me this, if Puel did so well with Monaco and Lyon then how come he was sacked? Many managers from the French league with ostensibly better records have tried and failed in the Premier League. That's the concern I'm trying to present. It's basically pointless posting on this forum because, unless you say what a genius Les Reed is, you are just mocked for not having 100% faith in anything the club does.

Alain Perrin also won a league and cup double with Lyon back in the early 2000s.....

I presume you realise that a manager usually only becomes a "name" once they've enjoyed a degree of success? Unknown managers tend to be unknown because they have either a) not achieved any success or b) have not achieved it on a grand stage. My personal concern with appointing Puel is that, bar a fourth place finish with Nice (which I agree is impressive), his record isn't great and he's been sacked by both Lyon and Monaco. I'm willing to put the sackings aside as we don't know the circumstances but there is a track record for managers who have only managed on the continent not doing well in the Premier League (see Pepe Mel, Jacques Santini, Jean Tigana etc.) I'll obviously support Puel when appointed but I can't pretend I think that it's the best appointment we could have made.

Well of course we weren't. I'm only going on newspaper reports same as you are. Personally I'd rather have taken MP than some guy who hasn't managed anywhere but France. Seems to me as though we are trying to find the next Pochettino rather than appointing the best manager available. Just my view and my view is that it's a massive gamble given current levels of expectation both amongst fans and players. Hope Reed hasn't let the plaudits go to his head.

I see it more as: "Southampton ambitious enough to appoint ex Real Madrid manager, maybe I'll give it another year and see how we go" Now I see it as "Who have Southampton appointed? What's Klopp's number?" It's about ambition and presentation, we had the chance to make a mega appointment and by all accounts MP actually wanted the job. As it is we've ended up with Puel who is, for the most part, a complete unknown. He may turn out to be decent and I hope he is but it smacks of the cheap option when we had a chance to really kick on and raise our profile.

Stupid of Saints to leak news of big names like Pellegrini and Garcia and then appoint an unknown French manager with a patchy CV. I was hoping we'd use our current standing to make a blue chip appointment but we haven't. Can't see that Puel will be a big enough name to keep hold of Mane etc. Can see a summer of upheaval which will set us back. Big gamble.

Can you name one other club that would turn down Manuel Pellegrini in favour of Claude Puel? It is just absolute madness. The board better know what they are doing here as the fans expected someone high profile, the players will want someone high profile and instead we've ended up with some bloke with a mediocre record in a not particularly competitive French league. I'm not impressed at all and can't help but feel we've thrown away our chance to bring in a real first class manager. Hope I'm wrong.

How much do you want to bet on that?

So England now playing Portugal as it stands. Hodgson being made to look like even more of a ****.