trousers

Check complete and I can confirm it's definitely David Dein...

9 months, wasn't it? So around Christmas/New Year I guess

Confirmed leaving https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/mens-retained-list-published-for-2024 Having helped Saints return to the Premier League, Stuart Armstrong will depart the club upon the expiry of his contract at the end of June. The 32-year-old arrived on the south coast in 2018, making 214 appearances in six seasons at St Mary’s. Scoring 25 goals in that time, the Scotland international featured 45 times in 2023/24 as promotion was secured via the play-offs. The club would like to thank Stuart for his commitment and effort during his time as a Saint, and we wish him the very best in whatever comes next. Long-serving goalkeeper Alex McCarthy and striker Ché Adams are also approaching the end of their contracts, with talks ongoing regarding potential new deals. Outside of the current first-team squad, the club has also confirmed the following players on professional contracts will leave this summer: Jake Vokins Dynel Simeu Matt Carson Luke Pearce We would like to express our thanks to each of those players and wish them well for their future.

Great interview with Fonte by Adam Blackmore on Solent just now. Worth a listen on playback if you didn't catch it. Still talking about Saints as "us" and "we" and obviously still loves the club. Legend.

...

He's been stalling over the offer of a professional contract for some time now by the sounds of it.... I think we all know how this ends.... https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/24307925.southampton-make-final-contract-offer-promising-academy-youngster/ SAINTS have made their final first professional contract offer to academy forward Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez. The 16 year old is an early physical developer and impressed at under-18s level this season, registering a goal and nine assists in 10 league matches. Gomes Rodriguez was rewarded with a step up to the under-21s, where he scored on his Premier League 2 debut. He has made 15 appearances across the under-18 and under-21 age groups this season, netting twice and setting up nine. Saints are not scrapping to keep the England, Portugal and Venezuela youth international but have made their final offer for his first pro deal. They believe the offer accurately represents his level and potential and is in line with the academy wage structure. Gomes Rodriguez can not officially sign a professional contract until he turns 17 next March, as is standard for any young player. The academy wage structure has been crafted based on actual potential, to encourage ambition and to keep pay consistent in the dressing rooms. For example, Sam Amo-Ameyaw and Jayden Meghoma, signed from Spurs at 16 years old, are on deals in line with their potential but not earning significantly more than their teammates. A new academy director - in addition to recruitment chiefs and coaches - was hired last summer to help overhaul the setup. As exhibited with the exit of Kami Doyle to Brighton earlier this season, which pocketed the club millions, Saints accept they may lose players this way. Despite being pushed to other clubs, there is limited interest in Gomes Rodriguez in England - hence why the foreign route is also being explored. However, transfers between English clubs before a player has reached 17 have become commonplace and are always a big risk. Saints have experienced such deals with Jimmy Jay Morgan, Tyler Dibling and Max Alleyne in recent years. In the event of Gomes Rodriguez exiting the club, Saints would be entitled to training compensation and potential future solidarity contributions. Saints signed the youngster from local Junior Premier League side Eastleigh Tornados in the summer of 2022.

Given what happened in said season, is that an argument for spending more or less this time around...?

Our relegation last season was as much to do with the management situation as it was the quality of the players, per se, as highlighted by McCarthy in his 'issues in the dressing room' post match interview last week. In true Trousers sitting-on-the-fence tradition, Stu is a difficult one to decide upon.... On his day, he makes the team tick, on other days he can be a waste of a shirt. I'm probably leaning towards the "keep him as a decent squad player" camp but wouldn't be too fussed if he left at this juncture in his career.

He's in the provisional 27 man squad announced yesterday: https://khelnow.com/football/world-football-albania-27-man-provisional-squad-euro-202405

The 567th politician this week to start an answer to a question with: "When I talk to people on the doorstep..." Doorstep, my arse.

How's that going to help the unemployment figures...?

Sainsbury's flawed product substitution policy for deliveries... when I order 450g of gravy for 4 people, I do so because that's the amount of gravy I want.... cue the numpties at Sainsbury's substituting it for 300g of gravy for 3 people. If I wanted gravy for 3 people I'd f***ing order gravy for 3 people, you f***ing imbeciles. Happens all the f***ing time with all sorts of f***ing produce. Twats.

Apologies, just seen there's a separate thread on the Dragan interview

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/24349450.every-word-southampton-owner-solak-said-new-interview/ Saints are back in the Premier League - how are you feeling? DS: I feel amazing. I'm so blessed to be part of the Southampton story. Obviously, I don't know that much football, but I'm trying to help with my experience, my knowledge and my energy. I found that with Russell Martin, with the players, with the board and even with all the fans, we can all share this kind of passion. I'm happy for me, but I'm so happy for all of them. It's amazing. This is a special club. Did you think that when you looked at the club at first? DS: Oh, yeah. Well, honestly, when I was offered the opportunity to take care of Saints, I did a lot of research, and everything I learned about Saints was so special. They are completely, I know, I'm a kid born in communist Yugoslavia who made his way into the world, and I love that they are fighting for what they want. They are fighting for their success. They are passionate, but also they are family club with beautiful supporters and I share their passion 100 per cent. Now you're in the Premier League, the thing is that you have to stay there? DS: Honestly, it's a 10-year plan, 10-year project, and we are just at the beginning. I'm glad that we had this sporting success. We'll try to capitalise on it, but we'll continue working on our long-term projects to make Saints a real, stable, forever Premier League club. For that, we need to do a lot with the enlargement of the stadium, with the enlargement of our commercial capacities, with many things we have to do. We are going to play with the biggest boys there are, and we are not afraid to play, but also I want to somehow provide the club the basis to be rightfully there. You know, you can always have a luck with one generation of great players. It can last for three or four years. You can make good money if you let them go somewhere else. But what we want to do is to create a real basis that Saints should rightfully think they're a Premier League club and actually aim for even more. Dragan, is it now so important to spend within your limitations? DS: I think that's super important because that gives some fairness to the whole game of sport and game of football. Obviously, we will look into our abilities. We'll try to spend to the maximum we can, but also we try to spend wisely. We'll try to continue developing young players, but also we also learned one thing. You cannot just have young players and focus on only player development. You need the leaders on the pitch. You need personalities who are able in games like this to find this 110 percent and to win the game. And you need a good owner. How do you describe yourself as an owner? Tonight, I'm a very happy owner, but most of the time, people, it's very funny, people ask me because we had some not so happy moments. Everybody asked me, what do you think now about your investment? And I always say, I really love it. And I can tell anybody, as long as you can afford it, it's a wonderful thing. But unfortunately, you have to be able to afford it. My day business is still going pretty well. So I'll try to help the Saints! But again, I think we have to stay within the smart environment of financial fair play and try to do most with the money that we put in. We don't just throw money in a basically careless way. Dragan, welcome back to the Premier League! DS: Thank you so much. It is so good. I told the guys from Championship, I really enjoyed the season. I think it's a great competition. I love the competition. I had so much fun. Obviously, I'm so happy we are back to the Premier League. But I really love the Championship as well. I think it's a bunch of unbelievable clubs and it's always a great weekend.

Debatable...

Oh boy.... That's almost got me going again...

My favourite post of the day 😂

Yeah... He's defo got a soft spot for us

Ok Mr Robot...

Feel so happy for Jack today... The emotion on his face is palpable. Southampton through and through.

Anyone else sat on their sofa blubbing like a schoolgirl, or just me...?