washsaint

That would be Zaha I assume.....but in relation to Cork, makes no sense to not offer him a new contract yet pay stupid money for the dross that is Shane Long

oh dear....if it was anywhere close to 12 million I would seriously question just what the board are up to. After promises of good signings this would be a real let down and we would be right royally fleeced - 67 goals in 270 appearances is cack. Pretty uninspiring all round and starting to wonder what style of football we will be seeing this season and whether the youngsters like Reed, McQueen, etc will get any game time over some of the signings that have been made. And pretty much no resale value. Horrible suspicion we are going to end up a lower mid table side that is not even that attractive to watch any more.

shane long.....bloody hell. All for being realistic but that feels like scraping the barrel. Not exactly a prolific goalscorer or one to get excited about. Here's his stats: goalscorer he really is not: 2005–2011 Reading 174 (44) 2011–2014 West Bromwich Albion 81 (19) 2014– Hull City 15 (4)

Thank god we did not sign Rojo......if he is "going on strike" now this would have been a Lovren situation all over again for us in 12 months time if we had secured his transfer. At some stage, we (as a club and fans) have to accept that in todays market making a marquee signing is not necessarily a good thing. Didn't work with Osvaldo, wouldn't have worked with Rojo (judging by his character traits he is displaying) and won't work with the next one (e.g. hernandez). We should concentrate on signing young, hungry players that actually want to play for Saints.

Why spend everything that we have got for departing players right now? Seems sensible to me that we keep some back for January (if we need new players) or next summer rather than, like Spurs, spending the windfall all in one go

Dear oh dear. Did anyone expect us to sign a 10 million keeper and then sit him on the bench. Am loving RKs' directness: says things direct (just like van Gaal) and at least players/supporters will know where they are at with little room for any confusion.

Professor - you ought to change your handle, because you don't come across as one! 2 loans in our SQUAD. A squad of around 22 so less than 10% and yet you try and spin it that our team is made up of cast offs/loans. Truly pathetic.....plus the 2 loans we have, we have the option to buy.

Good choice the Giant Defy. Bought one last year and it's a great bike for long rides (I have the carbon fibre variety) and still feel comfortable and strong after 80+ miles on this bike. Great for the mountains and flats - as View From The Top says, well worth waiting until the bike becomes "last season". My bike was half price at $900 (yeah, know that's not the UK).

so hypo and old nick....are you there in person to give your judgement? Or just interpreting from the Twitter feed. Nothing the club does would ever please you two.

Another very interesting read Redslo. I find it fascinating that the US takes head injuries so seriously (finally after the lawsuits) yet in soccer it is not: as witnessed at the World Cup. The famous case of Jeff Astle who died way too early should have been a wake up call: but was not.

Read into that we didn't want him and his agent is dressing it up that he didn't want to come here

You really are a nasty piece of work Window Cleaner. Your snidey, personal attacks are quite nauseating and as for saying that all Krueger needed to do was say nothing is beyond the pale. So many fans were bemoaning the fact that the Board were not saying anything and then when they do communicate they just get flak. So how do you suppose we should have handled MS then? Just let him go because he sulks? I am confident about the coming season. Seems like we will have a top quality CB (possibly 2) coming in, a quality Keeper and then I think we only need another striker to be in good shape for the coming season.

captainchris - so you blame Cortese and Pochettino for Osvaldo too then? As FF says, the pendulum has swung way too far in players favor where they can just sulk and refuse to play to get their move. What seems to have been lost in this is that Spurs have supposedly offered 10 million for MS: which is derisory. What MS needs to realize is that someone has to come in with a bid that matches our valuation. So impressed with Koeman though - what you see is what you get and obviously does not suffer fools gladly.

Well I hope we do hold firm. If it means MS training with the youth team, so be it. He still has 4 years left on his contract so plenty of time to think about his behavior and attitude. Plus if Spurs truly have offered 10 million for him, that is just plain insulting.

Good man - we need committed players like FOnte. All of a sudden our future is looking much, much brighter and I have every confidence we will go into the new season with a much stronger squad depth than last year and a manager who has a PLan B.

21,492 gingeletiss~!

measure success....in whose minds? We already have neurotics like Saint Robbie making their own facts up. It has been a difficult summer, no doubt but what exactly Krueger spoke about can you take the hump with? He's right re disgruntled players - in my workplace we had a number of disgruntled staff who were bringing everyone else down. They were let go and we got new staff in who wanted to be part of the team and surprise, surprise results improved. Now should they have had replacements lined up sooner - absolutely. But if you are going to give Krueger et al a hard time, do it for the right reasons not for some self-obsessed, entitled view that has no semblance in reality.

Rojo and Hernandez? To be honest, I would be quite happy with regular signings and not "massive" signings as they have not always worked well for us: Osvaldo being a prime example and believeing he is above the club and other players.

Art - that;s what the headline says but read the article and there is nothing to suggest that is the case.

Redslo....welcome and really interesting stuff you have been posting and makes a lot of sense. Completely unrelated, just got back from a vacation in Morro Bay and spent a fair amount of time in San Luis Obispo - and loved it. The Bishops Peak hike was fantastic and the town itself had a fantastic feel around the Mission.

Guan - really appreciate your little tidbits: even if they are somewhat cryptic sometimes! I cannot really recall your info being way off: I feel fairly unhappy - not just with the Board but with this sense of entitlement posters on here now seem to have. We've got 90 million, spend it now or I'll throw my toys out of the pram attitude. I am feeling fairly comfortable that we will have a stronger squad than last season (where once we had 1 or 2 injuries we started to fall apart due to lack of cover) - although it would be nice to get some signings in (and not just loans). Think we are a CB (possibly 2), GK and Striker away from having a stronger squad. Also love how the Scousers are already on SRL's back: boy had Lallana better watch out!

Some of the press claiming we are about to go on a 70 million spree with the likes of van Dijk, Hernandez, Forster, Vlaar, Ashley Young(!!!) and Zaha as likely signings. We'll see.............

On his twitter page (the real one)

Taider has confirmed he is joining us

Batman/Delldays/Jamie has become a parody. First of all he says 14th through 8th is much of a muchness then says the 8th through 4th are of a different class. Thereby grouping 8th in both brackets! Then says Villa are a bigger club than us because they've won the League, finished runners up, etc. So by his deformed logic that means Portsouth, preston and others are bigger clubs than us. How anyone could argue that we are not a bigger club right now than Villa is beyond me. We finished 8th last season, our Academy continues to churn out new talent, we have had the truly big clubs taking all of our talent (how many bids did Villa get Batman?) and we have had a far better pre-season than Villa and have made the Tadic and Pelle signings whereas Villa have signed the likes of Joe Cole. Add to that we have Koeman ( a true legend in the game) as manager and they have Paul Lambert. You couldn't make it up...............