Matthew Le God

We finished higher without them.

No. They are rehashing a story in The Sun. They even cite The Sun as their source, and it doesn't say he will be shortly confirmed as Saints manager, it actually says very little. https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lequipe.fr%2FFootball%2FActualites%2FRudi-garcia-vers-southampton%2F695819%3Fxtref%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2F&edit-text=&act=url This is how journalism sometimes works... Day 1 - English paper runs with story Day 2 - Foreign paper rehashes English story Day 3 - English paper uses foreign newspapers rehashing to justify their story Day 4,5,6 etc - repeat It becomes a loop, with little substance due to constant rehashing of the same original article.

Even if that is true and if he has come to London to meet Saints, its still a leap to think that means he has the job. It could be for another round of interviews, if we still have multiple candidates. This is a job with a multi-million pound salary, the recruitment process will be very thorough.

Political Partridge...

He is French, his grandparents left Spain during the civil war.

That doesn't really mean much. He had similar stories when going from Bournemouth to Burnley and Burnley to Bournemouth. For example... http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/9965252.display/

Giggs would be a massive risk as he has only been a 1st team (interim) manager for 4 games. I'd be amazed if Southampton appointed him, as I doubt he ticks many of Les Reed's criteria at all for a new manager. We've just finished 6th in the Premier League, in the Europa League group stage next season, will offer a decent salary and have a squad full of internationals; this isn't the time to be the testing ground for potential future Man Utd managers. Giggs needs to look for a job in the Championship. The job at Southampton should really be attractive enough to appeal to a relatively high calibre of manager with a good managerial track record.

Saints will be able to offer bigger wages than most national FA's...

You've ignored a lot of what I said and focused on one point. Plus my point with that was the £8m release clause with Delph could only be triggered by clubs in the Champions League. Everton can't trigger such clauses and if it is similar for Saints they can refuse to sell Forster, hold him to his recently signed 5 year extension without fear of his value dropping as we have until 2021.

That is not an example of what I asked for. One is in the winter winter window, one is May. Delphi signed the contract in January because his contract was expiring in the summer, that wasn't the case with Forster who still had a lot of time left on his first contract. Delphi was signing so his contract situation question didn't run into the second half of the season and the club wanted him not to leave on a free transfer. That is notably a different scenario to Forster agreeing to extend after one season for a further 5 years. Also there is a difference between a Champions League team bidding and meeting a release clause, and a team without European football bidding.

Can you name an example of any player that signed a 5 year extension in May and then was sold the same summer? It just doesn't happen (certainly not to any extent where we should be worried), the club can quite rightly hold him to the recent extension and his value won't drop given he is under contract until 2021.

If anyone here has a Pompey Online account, I'd be intrigued to see their views on category 1 academies in the Football League trophy in 2016/17. Especially if they are discussing Portsmouth's 1st team meeting Southampton's development squad. Can you copy and paste some quotes please...

You didn't read my post in the context it was written. It was replying to two posters who said Paco Jemez & Rayo Vallecano had a "good season" in 2015/16. They didn't, they were relegated... that was the point I was making. I wasn't ruling the manager out, I just fail to see how it was a good season. Anyway... going back to the previously discussed Roger Schmidt of Bayer Leverkusen, this is quite an interesting analysis of his style of play...

Only "probably"? The article opens with the line...

??? They were relegated!

What has he done to show he deserves the managerial position at a team that has just come 6th in the Premier League, qualified for the Europa League group stage and a £3m+ salary? He talks a good game, but it would be a huge risk and one I very much doubt the club would consider making.

...and yet we haven't sold any players to Spurs since Pochettino left... so they have new managers at other clubs... so I find that as a theory hard to grasp. They left for the money, not Pochettino.

How does that work? They are opposites of each other.

You failed to answer my question.. Can you name any example in football where a player has signed a 6 year contract extension (van Dijk & Ward-Prowse) or 5 year extension (Forster) in May and been sold the same summer? Saints with those three are in a position where they can refuse a transfer, like we did with Schneiderlin & Wanyama and kept them. You also fail to release just how much any player Koeman would want of ours would cost. It would be huge amounts, that would quickly eat up his "£100m" budget. Perhaps why the Liverpool Echo is linking you with players of the quality of Scott Dann for £15m+. Your condescending and patronising attitude is pathetic. People said we'd lose players when Pochettino went to Spurs two years ago, they haven't signed any of our players since. I'd guess Saints would have been keen to put in a clause in the agreement limiting Koeman from attempting from signing our players for a signicant period. Even if we didn't, any of the players he'd want would cost a huge amount or we'd outright refuse to sell.

Can you name any example in football where a player has signed a 6 year contract extension (van Dijk) or 5 year extension (Forster) in May and been sold the same summer? I can't and if there are its not many. Neither of them will be sold, Saints are able to hold them to the recent contract without fear of value dropping and given the length of time left on their contracts, 2022 & 2021 they are worth vast amounts. Virgil van Dijk is currently a better player than Stone (who still has some flaws to his game despite looking promising). If/when we sell van Dijk it will be for a huge fee, likewise Forster. The condescending attitude of some Everton fans is beyond belief!

BBC Solent Sport ‏@solentsport 9m9 minutes ago #saintsfc coaches Sammy Lee and Dave Watson to remain at St Mary's - both club appointments, not brought in by Koeman

To be replaced with £15m+ Scott Dann according to the Liverpool Echo. That £100m will be quickly used up if they sign players of that quality! The next Southampton manager will be better off with Virgil van Dijk & Jose Fonte and a more water tight defence as the last two seasons have shown!

Paul Tisdale's ear's perked up! Close... But no cigar...

It will work the other way as well if we decide to sign a manager currently at a club, that £5m will go far with a lot of currently employed managers.