washsaint

Wow...if Puel that seems totally underwhelming. Poor win % at all his clubs and no experience outside of France. Would still rather have De Boer over any of the others mentioned

Nice!

Good luck with the treatment. The roads over here are wider than the UK and many are 2/3 lanes wide so groups can be a bit bigger than the UK. However, sure this is the same in the UK, there are some (mainly younger riders) who really are quite full of themselves and refuse to listen to anyone or anything. Last night yelling the usual 'car back' was totally ignored and cars had to follow for 1/2 to 1 mile because riders were choosing to ignore the warnings. Even on the faster rides it is still good to outpace these 'elite' folks when the hills kick in!

Worst group ride I have been on tonight. Over 50 in the 3s - way too many and it was not good. Many in the group were riding 5 or 6 abreast and refusing to move over for cars coming up behind and a lot of drama and anger. Also the group warned by the cops for running a stop sign but chose to ignore the warning. First time experiencing this and think I will go back to the 4s which is a little slower but far more sociable. Unfortunately tonight showed why so many motorists have a problem with cyclists: the few ruining it for the many.

Valverde could be very interesting - he has been linked with Real Madrid (hence the new contract) but the new contract is only until June 2017. Learnt under Cruyff and played for Barcelona and has done really good stuff at Bilbao. Sure this is all made up but sounds like just the sort of manager we would go for and seems to fit the SOuthampton Way.

something obviously is not right. You would have expected the announcement to have been made by now - the fact it hasn't would probably indicate everything has not been agreed yet.

For me, RK undid all the good work he did while here with his outright lying. He flat out lied and has lost all respect because of that (not that he'd give 2 hoots about a handful of Saints fans on a message board). While he did great work I can';t help but remember the dross served up when we were on the losing run, the performances in the Cups and while we got results it was nowhere near as attractive as the football under Pochettino. Time to move on from RK - I couldn't care less if he failed or did well at Everton and am only interested in who we bring in and hoping that they can continue our upwards progress.

I think FDB would be a great fit for us. Young, ambitious, believes in the youth system and speaks good English. Ticks all the boxes and should ensure continuity and is a good name to attract decent players. Sadly, like Adkins before him, I don't believe Howe would have the same sort of pull - and as he has full control at Bournemouth not a good fit because that is not the Southampton way.

This is comedy gold. The old woman Old Nick reappears to roll out his same old tired sh**e that is based on nothing more than his own deluded parallel universe. Crab Lungs reappears with his sky is falling in sh**e. Ditto with the usual suspects who disappeared when things were going well. Even the great Saint Richmond has made a cameo appearance. Some of you are utter dins.......trying to pass off Saints successes as 'luck' and in spite of the backroom team (including Les Reed). On the UI Patred is in his element ripping Reed a new one - conveniently forgetting the role that the whole team has made over the past few years that has resulted in our unprecedented success (7 years of continual improvement). Gotta laugh - quite a few on these boards truly stretch the belief that they are really Saints fans - they seem to revel in it when things are tough.

Dear lord, life goes on: the club is not about one individual. All you people ready to jump off the ledge: is it pure coincidence that we have continued to improve despite the Board you are so quick to put the boot into? Judging by people who are obviously in the know this is something that has been brewing for a while and I am absolutely certain the club have a successor lined up that can, hopefully, continue to move us upwards. The Board are damned if they do and damned of they don't and surprise, surprise the same old suspects pop their heads above the bridge at this time of year every year and then disappear when things go well. RK does not come out of this well and we'll see how he does at a club with much higher expectations.

Really good article - lets hope this summer is uneventful with 2 or 3 in and only 1 first teamer (wanyama) out

My apologies....thought you were showing Newcastle up as to what happens when you buy cheap and look to sell big.b

Oh, and we have the strongest squad in years. Yet that isn't enough for some.....we bought poorly last summer, blah blah blah (yet still lucked our way into 6th because it must surely be all luck right?), net spend, blah blah blah. We had a better team when Pochettino was here, we were stronger last year (despite getting 3 points more this year), we never replaced Schneiderlin (yeah right). We now have, on the whole, 2 strong players in every position and the wage bill will have increased significantly as we now have more squad depth with quality. I would take our position over most other clubs in the country. Financially sound, owners that care and a system that is working and is not over-reliant on any one individual

wtf you on about? Newcastle were one of the highest net spenders in the League last year. Our club has a method in the way it moves forward. Some of you lot on here are seriously deluded.......

Dear lord, meltdown because some ITK'ers post 5 players want to move. Heck I'd love to move to a job paying double on the California coast but just because I want it to happen doesn't mean it will! Surely the Board have done enough these past 2 years to show that the Club is about just that (the Club) - no single player, manager, coach, etc. is irreplaceable. For those saying give Koeman a 100 million to spend and let him do what he wants: that would go against the Southampton Way and would inevitably store up trouble further down the line. Every summer the same people throw their toys out of the pram and yet, year on year, we continue to improve. Chill out, enjoy our European adventure, highest Prem points total, highest Prem position - for the second year in a row. But obviously the Southampton Way is completely flawed according to our resident experts. And you can lay money on Old Nick appearing to say we have no ambition and moan about everything under the sun. If you can't enjoy this period in Saints history then I would suggest that you never will!

Jeez....you lot are a bunch of old women. Most successful season for years and now Long and Tadic are no longer the whipping boys you have to find some other scapegoat. Soares did OK: good in some games, bad in others (like every other player) and will no doubt improve in his second year. A good buy and plenty of promise for the future. Thank god this little message board is not a wider reflection on society/our fanbase. Ungrateful clowns.

A beautiful ride out in Brandywine country (Wilmington, DE) today. For the second weekend in the row wind played havoc.....with 20mph+ winds. Lots of hills and lots of wind but stunning countryside made up for all that. And a very well organized Fondo - with beer and BBQ at the end! Finding out that Saints are in Europe again, Spurs imploded and Skates lost just capped off a great day!!!

What a bunch of bedwetting pansies on here. If nothing else, you should have learnt your lessons from the last 2 years: namely, the club is not dependent on 1 player/manager/person. Even if there are any legs to this story (and why would Everton be a step up - we have finished ahead of them twice and are on an upward curve while they are going backwards) the club will have a plan in place. Still guess all these players signing long extensions is a horrible ploy by the Board to make as much money as possible in the summer.

I well remember going to WHU for the last game of a season (quite!) a few years ago. Saints were winning and West Ham fans invaded the picth and ran to the Saints end. Supposedly reported as all good natured but it was anything but and effectively Saints let them score to tie the game to prevent any more trouble. Still....suppose West ham invented football and everyone loves Upton Park (s***hole that it is) and they certainly didn't fleece the UK taxpayers with their move. F****** hate them

All the best for a speedy and full recovery

Wow....what a performance and VVD is bloody immense. Truly tying him down for 6 years sends a real statement and means we don't have to sell.......I would already say he is probably the best signing since Keegan! Wonderful to see Spurs lose and hopefully even lose 2nd place! You have to think that Liverpool now need to win all 3 of their games to overtake us (as we should beat Palace) and 6th is a real possibility now. Dulldays - do you still wish we were more like Everton?

Did not realize our record was so similar last 3 seasons. Guess the unanswered question is how, or even if, we can push on to the next level.

omg......now you can see why Martina ha splayed recently. Cedric has been worse than abysmal. COmplete liability. Him and Davis have been pathetic

Cedric and Davis have been abysmal. We should be out of sight but yet again poor finishing lets the other team have a glimmer of hope. Story of our season really - Villa look abysmal but we have not been clinical enough.

While folks might be disappointed with this season it is worth considering the following: 1) This will be only the second time we have had 3 consecutive top 10 finishes in the top flight 2) Anyone who was there for the opener against Everton would never have thought we would be as high as we are and Everton as low as they are. It was terrible 3) Each year our best players are cherry picked by the glamour clubs (not lower level clubs) yet we still remain fairly consistent 4) We are still 8th despite losing 8 out of 10 games during the middle of the season 5) We still have a (outside) chance of matching our points tally from last season It just shows how expectations have changed that people will consider themselves disappointed with an 8th place finish! This season has been strange: great performances interspersed with terrible performances - but it is clear we need a creative midfielder as opposed to yet another winger who will flatter to deceive. Hopefully we can continue to progress next season despite the likely departures of Wanyama and Mane.