VectisSaint

He has a scouse accent

Turns out it was Sammy Lee.

Billy could hardly get a game in the Championship last season (22 in total). Decent bloke and all but really he is not up to PL level, never was and never will be. Neither for that matter is Mayuka, I'm sure it must have been his twin brother who shone for Zambia.

According to Wiki he is joining up with Ronaldo Koema. So that will be 3 RKs. Most likely he is coming to take over from Dodd. Not so bad, at least he is a man with former Saints connections, albeit only 2 games.

I think though where your conjecture is misplaced is where you say thatKL carried on signing the cheques after ML died. This is just plain wrong. After ML died the Club was in the hands of the Trustees of the ML Estate. KL had no real control, indeed she may not have had any involvement, I don't know whether she was or was not a trustee. I believe NC was a trustee, but there were no doubt others. Until the Probate process was completed, which I think happened during the first half of 2013, KL did not own the Club. It was only after she took control that it started to become clear to NC that things would be somewhat different under her watch, and that her ambitions, while still positive and reasonable did not match the ambitions of NC and ML to push us on to the level where European football was at least achievable. I'm reasonably content with my view based on all that has happened that NC believed he could either persuade KL to up her investment or if not he had a buyer in the wings ready to do so. What went wrong was that KL refused to sell. The result is where we are today with coach and players feeling let down and bailing out. KL may still be a decent owner and still invest a reasonable amount in the Club, but it will only be to have the ambition of being a mid-table PL team. And this is threatened currently because the Board are having to cope with an unexpected hiatus where the team is being decimated by want away players. We had a ridiculously small squad already and now we will have to bring in 8 or 9 players to even maintain what we had (if all the stories come to fruition). 2014/15 is going to be a bumpy ride, no-one can bring in that many players in one go without a hitch, hopefully we can at least survive next season and then RK can start to see the improvements the following season.

I think it is quite probable that this is exactly what he was trying to do, but KL refused to sell. From the time last year when KL finally took control of the Club following the conclusion of the Probate process NC was reasonably confident he could move us forward either by persuading KL to invest further or with Plan B to sell us to another owner who was willing to invest more. Where it all went wrong was that KL dug her heels in and thought she could do as well with a lower level of investment than NC knew we needed to fulfil not just his ambitions but also those of his close friend Markus. In the end he could not persuade her to either to buy into the dream or sell and so he left. The dream he sold to the players and coaches may seem unrealistic and perhaps it was but with proper funding it was not impossible. Once that ambition had gone the rest crumbled away, firstly with Pochettino and then the players. We were not so far off of the ambition, last season if it hadn't been for Boruc's broken hand and the injury crisis in December/January, together with a slightly more realistic view of the back up that was needed and was not there we could well have ended up at least challenging for the Europa League spots. Maybe we would have still fallen short but we really were not that far off based on the first 4 months of the season. I don't buy this argument that the players all want to leave simply for money and because they want CL football, they are leaving because the ambition of the Club with its current owners has diminished.

I suppose having 2 J-Rods would be greedy, not to mention expensive.

Yes we can. We can replace the Shaw that played last season with an equally effective LB. Defensively he was pretty good (for an 18yo), clearly better that Bridge at same age. But offensively he was still learning, and had not scored or made more than one or two assists. What we can't do is replace the player that Shaw is likely to become. Once he gets more experience and learns how to attack more effectively he should become a great player. It is similar to what happened with Bale. He was easy to replace at the time, but clearly he went on to much better things. Shaw will (injuries permitting) go on to be a much better player than he was last season, and its a shame he won't do that for us, but he can be replaced relatively easily so that we do not go backwards on last season. More concerning for me is that we not only have to replace him with a good LB, but we need a backup as well, unless Targett progresses much more quickly than he appears to be doing. Replacing Lambert's goals, free kicks and penalties is a much more difficult task. Replacing Lallana's creativity is much more difficult.

Well it certainly won't include JRod. He may appear before Christmas if we are lucky, whether he will be fully fit by then is difficult to know. So thats 7 playere with another 6 to add according to the author. 13 players, complete joke. Not even Guly to bring on.

But it never went to Liverpool and sank like a stone.

You should have thought longer and harder. Katharina did not suddenly take over when Markus died. She only actually took full control last summer. The Swiss probate system meant it took a long time and during that period the club was run by trustees (now that may have included KL but she was not in control and running things). She is not responsible for our rise from L1. We do not owe her a debt of gratitude for that. The best course of action would have been for her to sell last summer as Cortese had wanted. Would it have stopped players leaving, possibly not, but Poch would have stayed under Cortese and players may have thought twice. No one will ever know. The current board are very naive and at the moment the club is toxic and many are jumping ship as a result.

We already had a very small squad. From that very small squad we have already lost Lambert, Shaw and Guly (you could argue Fox as well). JRod is out until around Christmas. We needed a new keeper (don't expect KD to figure again), we need at least one LB, assuming Targett can step up, if not 2. A new CB to replace Jos who is not up to PL standards even as a backup. We need 2 or 3 strikers, assuming Mayuka and Osvaldo will not stay and we will need probably 2 new midfield. That means around 7 or 8. Mental. But that's what has happened, we've slept walked into a situation where we simply do not have a squad of sufficient size and experience to maintain what we achieved last season without a serious influx of players. And a major influx of players is very hard to manage.

The whole team flew direct from Rio to Luton via Manchester.

Read your contract, you play for Southampton (or you don't play at all).

Hopefully not, else Ramirez will have no pre-season with us at all.

Judge him on a performance 13 years ago. It was a one off, ridiculous, really never did much for England again. Gerrard is past it and not very good in the new role he has tried to create for himself. he might make PL teams for one more year, but otherwise he is really not that good even in the PL. He is also a ****.

Was often better than Lovren last season, got him out of jail on several occasions. Made very few costly mistakes over the course of the season. Mad if you are not bothered about losing Fonte.

or evidence that we have to change due to requirements of the PL. I don't have a view which is correct, but there is a view here that we had no choice but to change to comply. "The new lighting system will be in place for the coming campaign with the club moving in line with Premier League requirements for a higher level of light output."

Daily Excess headline: "Brendan Rodgers urged to sign Southampton star Calum Chambers by Liverpool idol" What was actually said by the Slug Balancer: "The best thing to do would be to get a youngster like Calum Chambers" My view: "Get your own bloody right back from your academy" So he hasn't urged anyone to do anything about Chambers specifically, just used him as an example. Funniest part is that Lawro thinks Chambers would have to push for a place against Skate Johnson. Chambers is just so much better than the ex-Skate already that GJ would not get a look in.

I was trying to work out why he was a crook, but if he is a poacher that explains that. Didn't realise much poaching went on in Europe these days. Used to be for rabbits or deer in days gone by.

Queen will still be head of state if Scots vote for independence. Is Salmond any worse than having an Old Etonian in charge?

Like the stripes

I guess as an Englishman you would like to have verse 3 sung as well where the lyrics are about killing the Scots then "Rebellious Scots to crush". Very patriotic. GSTQ is the British National Anthem, the team playing in the WC represent England therefore the anthem is not appropriate. By the way for the poster that asked what Northern Ireland do, you will find at the Commonwealth Games that they play the Londonderry Air (aka Danny Boy).

This. I refuse to sing about being a subject of an unelected German monarch and A deity I do not believe in. In any case England were playing not GB. Bloody durge.

Austrian's may have said that but Germans? Probably not.