ooh it's a corner

the trouble is, if you play sport at the highest level, you have to give 100% each game, concentrate each game and really think that any lapse will cost you. VVD was injured for a good 6 months, came back and got used to giving 90%. He thought that would be good enough for a move, and it proved it was. Unfortunately, he will now take 3 months to get back to 100% game speed. I doubt he will achieve that this year and it wouldn't surprise me if Klopp "rests" him before the end of this season. He is a great player, but he has no idea how much he has damaged himself by playing half-heartedly since he came back from injury. No sympathy. You reap what you sow.

I agree. Him and Pochettino can do no wrong, yet Mourinho and Wenger get slated, but they win trophies. why the media has a hard-on for Liverpool and Tottenham that doesn't appear to be there for similar clubs, I don't know

That counts for nothing. Most the people that shop in my local supermarket are too canny for Pellegrino. All we need to do is employ a pretty young thing to wink her eye at Pards as he's getting of the coach and we'll take his eye off the ball. Matron.

Perhaps Pochettino has had his head turned by Real Madrid? Good manager, better than our incumbent, but not the fecking mesiah many think he is. He is likely to add another trophy-less season to his CV. And I think given their team, and Europe's best goal-scorer, maybe he should be doing better

I'm with you on this. I have absolutely no inside track to SFC whatsoever. Coming onto a forum where people do (or may, or may not, or may even make it up) is fun. You get to hear a snippet of a story and regardless of whether it comes to fruition or not, it makes for an interesting read and it does allow your own mind to drift into a fantasy based...."I wonder if that could be true".......state. I don't understand the constant picking of holes in anyone or everyone who voices an item of news. The whole ITK thing is irrelevant. If people have heard something from their nan's taxi-driving neighbour, I couldn't care less, get it up on the forum. It leads to debate and conjecture. It is MUCH more interesting than "have you heard anything?", "no, me neither". Let's lay off the criticism of the ITK-ers, take everything with a pinch of salt and enjoy this place for the light-hearted, source of information, mis-information, news/fake news, right and wrong opinion that it ought to be. We are not trying to create a Wikipedia folks.....some of it is allowed to be hearsay, or even downright made up. AR-10, thanks for the post. :-)

"they left for more cash, they left for more cash, you're not f*cking special, they left for more cash", I think works slightly better, but hat doffed for the original thought :-)

I think we were all in agreement that we would be bottom three, if not bottom by the end of January. Let's see if the owners/board/manager/coaches/players have got the ability or imagination to do anything about it. I think the fans have. It generally involves buying a couple of very very good footballers, and for some fans, changing the manager, but the powers that be seem to think that status quo is the right answer, and that, unfortunately, will only lead to down, down, deeper and down.

When it comes to negotiation, we are not in a strong point versus perhaps ten clubs in the premiership. (Let's assume that is the current top ten). When it comes to everyone else, we have as much to offer as pretty much all others (although I do accept we are more precariously positioned that those teams above us in the bottom half). So, it could be argued that it will be difficult to recruit when competing with a fellow premier league outfit (that sits above us in the table). When you look at our recruitment strategy, for the past few years it has not been to recruit from fellow premier league clubs, it has been to recruit from other, typically, European markets. When it comes to competing on these scales, Southampton 17th in the Premier League, will sit probably somewhere near 17th in the richest, highest paid footballers, in European football. If you are a good footballer earning less than 40k per week we can pay you considerably more. If you dont like the prospect of relegation, insist on a sell clause. Come and earn twice what you are earning, for six months and IF we stay up and you are enjoying it, you may choose to stay, and IF we get relegated you leave. It should be a really easy negotiation, providing that Les understands that a) He will have to pay more in salary to attract someone b) He will have to compromise on exit clauses, possibly to the extent on suffering a sizeable loss should we be relegated c) He does not have the same negotiation power he had 3 seasons' ago. All seems fairly logical, but I can't help but feel we don't have the desire to buy the quality we need because of the costs....

I agree with the support being required inside the ground, but I think you have mis-judged the player reaction. Most of our team are experienced grown men, many of whom are non-British, international footballers. They won't **** a brick, but what they might do is think "feck this for a game of soldiers, I don't need to work here, I can work for 100 different clubs throughout Europe, I'll go through the motions for the next few months and this evening I shall instruct my agent to find me a new club in the summer". And at that point, they start dreaming for their next pre-season elsewhere.. They are paid professionals. They are all in it to pay the mortgage and feed the kids (with plenty left over on today's inflated wages). Making them feel apprehensive about picking their Bentley up after the game is completely counter-productive. (Don't get me wrong, the players' application this season has been very poor, regardless of managerial frailties. I would like to stick a rocket up their collective backsides, but that has to be the manager's job, not mine).

Four wins this season. He has to go or we are down. I cannot fathom why Les and Ralph and Mr Gao cannot see it. Never mind sack the board, let's go straight for the new Chairman, maybe then we will see some action.....

I do hope so, but can't see it. If the ref had seen it, it would only be a yellow card for deliberate handball. But always annoying to be cheated out of something......

I see that the BBC are now reporting Everton are in negotiations with him. This thread feels pretty 50/50 whether we want him or not, with perhaps most "no thanks" being concerned with value for money rather than whether he would improve the first team squad. But, if he goes to Everton, then I think 99% of this board will see it as a Les Reed failure......... funny how the human mind and ego works.......

Normal human beings don't earn £100K + per week. But I get the point, if someone offered me a job in Southampton, or £50k per week more in another English city, I would be packing my bags.....

"Now then Les, the last two experiments haven't worked very well, so who do you think we need to choose as our next boss?" "Meee, meee, meee, meeee"

that's Dirty Sanchez....Diego's randy cousin

Arsenal refuse to sell for less than £30m My Arsenal ST holding mate reckoned for £20m most Arsenal fans would drive him here themselves...... Can't see us stretching to £30m and nor would I want us to. Just sack MP and get the players to determine their best formation......

Assuming that the "winning" formula of 4-2-3-1 isn't Les's idea and the only way we are going to play, regardless as to who is in charge. I cannot believe the current manager has stuck with it, unless he has a clear remit from above, or he is really, really, really stupid.

I think this looks a tad tenuous. Midas Sports is owned and operated by Steve Wood, who played 46 times at centre half for SFC from 1991-1994. His employees/associates include Andrew Reed, but also Mickey Adams and David Hughes, both of whom have history with the club. Midas sports last published accounts are those of a small business, and therefore quite limited in what they reveal, but debtors (money owing to them) of £1.2m and creditors (money they owe to others) of £1.1m, plus about 350k cash in bank, would imply their turnover is probably somewhere in the £7-£10m bracket. Which is pretty good for a small business and a small number of employees/associates. Given that SFC is not a public company, it is at liberty to spend its money wherever it chooses. It is also at liberty to recommend to its youth players one agency over another. The only thing that may be amiss is if the shareholders are unaware of any relationship that could be perceived as a conflict of interest. If they are aware of the relationship between SFC and Midas and any individuals that could create a conflict of interest, then we're all good. Also, interestingly, Les is now 65 and whilst I appreciate you no longer get shown the door, I wonder what his retirement plans are?

Does anyone know the name of the agency that his son works for?

Did he think Grobellaar intentionally let goals in whilst playing for Southampton? Has he ever been approached for a bung? Did he ever want to swear/kick a bottle of water at/wade into the supporters giving him bantz behind the goal? Which away supporters behind the goal were the best/worst? What was his career highlight?

pig sick with this. Can't blame the club for keeping hold in the summer Can't blame the club for selling now, especially if £75m is close to the real figure. But my dislike for Liverpool increases with every transaction with them. As someone said previously, thanks Virgil, hope you like living up north and I hope you have as much success as Lovren, ****s the pair of you. You'll fit in well at the self-important, success deserving team that is Liverpool (but please don't tell us you have gone there to win the title, because that isn't what Liverpool do).

I wouldn't buy a single new player. I would advise the current crop of players that the war chest would be used to pay their wages in the Championship, and tell them that they will not be sold in the event we get relegated. see what motivation does for a few (10+) of them.....

Everton forum rumour mill is claiming Koeman has gone. Announcement by the club at 5pm. As I type this I feel sorry for him, but as I finish typing it, that feeling has passed. hahahaahaha Karma for Koeman if it is true.

Thirteen competitive home fixtures since the start of 2017 and we have scored in 3. We have scored 5 goals at home in 2017, in these competitive games, three of them in one match. Ten blank sheets. We've got eight more home fixtures this year, if that ends up being 6 blanks and 2 games with home goals, we will be in an awful lot of trouble. Absolutely woeful.

Go on strike Phil coutinho we will love you more than you will know wo ho ho.....