SNSUN

If anyone needs an extension it's Smallbone.

That's why I think the most obvious deal would be a sale and a season long loan back. He gets the minutes in a competitive league as do we, he gets the big move and the team he signs for gets a top prospect getting game time. It could be reflected in the negotiations too. Just seems like a no brainer to me. I do think he'll be sold though.

So I tuned in after two minutes played.

I can't see Willy getting much action but it makes sense to have an experienced 3rd choice. Personally I think we'll stand by Baz as number 1 or 2 but look to replace/offload Alex especially in light of the wages he's reportedly on.

I reckon we'd have got £50-60 million last summer had we sold him then and despite not having as good a season he still tops our goalscoring and assist charts playing in a crappier team. £40 million doesn't sound unreasonable and he still has 3 years on his contract. When Newcastle went down a few years ago they still got top dollar for Sissoko and Wijnaldum so it's possible to get good money. On paper that doesn't look too bad a squad as long as we can bring in some decent additions (LB, CB, CM needs a lot of work, maybe a striker). I'd possibly look to ship out Aribo after a dire season but maybe the Championship will be more his time to shine. Then there's the stick or twist situation over the goalkeepers. Do we keep Bazunu as number 1 in the hope he comes good or do we go out and sign a new number 1? For me I'd be looking for a new keeper.

While I do agree in a perfect world we'd get the outs done quickly to concentrate on the ins, the factors are that a) most players will now go on holiday for a few weeks, b) the new manager has to come in, identify targets and who he wants to keep and c) we are Southampton football club and we never seem to do things the easy way! It's plausible that we'll still be seeing players leave after the start of the new season. We just have to be prepared.

Odd but decent finish to a shite season. Sulemana's second has to be goal of the season for us right? Great run and finish. Depending on who we can hold on to we could do very well next year but I still think there's a lot of players leaving before we'll know even remotely what shape we will be in. Interesting few weeks ahead. Please let's get the outs done in the next 5 weeks and then July we can concentrate on the rebuild.

Cool, park it in front of the goal and we put may concede fewer next season.

Olivier Bernard. Oh you said favourite...

I'll take possession, it's Poseidon I'm worried about as we sink down the Championship. 😎

Pointless though testimonials are in the current rich man's game, I assume JWP will get one?

Everton have been in the top flight for 75ish years, have an expensive new stadium on the horizon and are skint (and awaiting FFP charges). I don't rate their squad much either bar DCL and maybe one or two others and they'd most likely be vultured in the summer. There's a high chance that if Everton went down they'd be in real trouble. I don't think I'd fear Everton next season as much as Leeds and Leicester, who IMO have better 'weapons' in their squad (depending on who they hold on to) than Everton. But sadly it won't happen anyway this season anyway. Leeds and Leicester have left it too late.

Yep a point not the worst result for Leicester due to their superior goal difference over Everton but they still have to hope Everton don't win at Goodison against a Bournemouth side with nothing to play for whilst beating West Ham themselves. Leeds I think are down. I can't see anything other than Everton staying up now though which is a pisser.

Really want a Leicester win tonight but it's not happening. Their line up is pants. A draw isn't good enough for them and Smith has them set up for a point at best. No Maddison or Barnes. Handing Everton survival on a plate. Still... come on Leicester! Make the last day interesting!

I was initially Evolution over Revolution with our squad but now I'm thinking it should be vice versa or this losing mentality is going to follow us into next season. Russell Martin has a fucker of job on his hands.

Next time you want to spunk away £3.50 on something, I suggest you have a flutter on something more likely to happen like, hmm, Christ's next resurrection or me getting a blowy from Megan Fox. 😁

Well he wouldn't be my choice but I'll get behind him in blind hope. The only thing I will say about it is that we needed the new manager in quick and we will have done that. That means transfer targets can be sought quickly and the style can be implemented longer. I still think had we appointed Jones last summer he may have been slightly more successful as he'd have brought players in suiting his system and had longer to coach his style. (Probably would have still gone down though and it seems Martin's system is more attractive than Jones'.) I liked the idea of Viera though so I'm disappointed there but sadly we fans don't get a say in the running of the club. I doubt the Martin appointment is going to unite the fanbase though which is what we need right now.

We're relegated, the usual moment teams start showing form. We'll probably win this handsomely and you'll be delighted. Hell if we win our last two games by a big margin, we could even catch 19th place Leicester. 😁

Liverpool releasing the Ox in the summer. Bring him home! We need an Ox after the bullocks we've seen from our existing players this season. 😁

Six month loan in the summer. Should sort out our striking problems.

That's not me wanking it's me trying to rip my cock off in anger at this news. 😁 I'm really not sure how he managed to get so many goals at Blackburn (particularly as he was playing wide a lot of the time) but I saw nothing at Premier League level to suggest he's prolific enough for us even at a lower level. Poor man's Shane Long and nobody should be a poor man's Shane Long. Still, maybe, just maybe, he can find his Blackburn spark. Maybe. I think Mara will stick around so that's 2 striker spots taken. I'm not sure about Onuachu and Adams I suspect will be off but I do hope that Ballard will be in the next manager's thinking. I know not every young prolific striker makes it (Ryan Seager comes to mind) but what is the point of the academy if we don't at least try to integrate our young players, particularly now we'll be playing at a lower level...

I’m English. Football shirt, shorts and cheap trainers are the attire of the working class tourist. 😁 Actually there was a large percentage of people wearing their own club’s colours.

A personal pride moment was when I was in Barcelona June 2015 doing a tour of the Nou Camp, in my Saints shirt, seeing a huge photo of Koeman on the wall and getting my photo taken next to it. We'd just finished 7th and I thought things would never be that good. Then the next season we finished 6th!

Exactly. We're a Championship club elect fresh from relegation with a clusterfuck of a team, a load of players that want to leave or be sold, in some of the worst form of our history at a ground we can barely win at. Actually fair play to any manager that actually wants to take us on right now. Balls of steel.

I'd be very happy with Viera. I know top players don't always make good managers but he'd be respected. His stint at Palace ended with a fair chunk of draws and losses but up until the WC they were doing OK. His transfers (I thought) were decent and he has ties to City and Arsenal which could help with transfers/loans. I also think a large chunk of the fanbase would be pretty happy with his appointment which is something I want to see, a mostly unified fanbase similar to when we first appointed Ralph. (I note that we were all unified when we appointed Nathan Jones but for different reasons. 😁) Yes Viera hasn't achieved much in his managerial career so far but then, come on, he wouldn't be linked with us if he had.