angelman

No, and certainly not for the reasons you gave.

Deary deary deary me. Just because their were some (empty?) platitudes about saying how much he enjoyed himself here, people think that Toby was certain to come back. FFS he, the player, Toby, has a choice in where he wants to go. HE HAS (by the looks of it) CHOSEN TO GO TO SPURS. Players do have a choice where they want to go, a free will. While I am sure he is grateful for all the work we did with him that has allowed him to move on, he is looking to the future and sees Spurs a better bet than us to sign a permanent deal rather than a loan one. What is so hard to understand about that? As no one knows what we have offered or what Spurs have offered or how Toby is thinking, it is beyond asinine to criticise the board. If I was him, and had no attachment to Saints or Spurs (which he doesn't), I would choose Spurs over us for the same reasons that seem to have come out. Better pay. More chance of European football. Playing with one's international partner at CB is the cherry on top. I'm sure that he doesn't view Spurs as a bunch of ****s like we do. So really, it is embarrassing all those lambasting the board. Have to wonder whether those doing it are all 16 years old as they are displaying staggering amounts of ignorance and naivety.

Player says one thing and (probably) does something totally different shocker!! Who would have thought that that might happen?

**** me. Far too many people on here think that players have no say in where they go and that if we paid more than Spurs that he would be coming here. If he wanted to come here he most likely would have. A similar or better offer came from Spurs and HE chose to go there (seemingly). Criticising the board is truly pathetic.

Fair enough. He didn't want to play for us, so why try and make him?

http://www.footballfancast.com/premier-league/liverpool/liverpool-told-to-offload-festering-boil-this-summer So Man City should turn round and say £30-35m or forget it. £50m is absurd for a player who has yet to prove himself, other than being a ****.

I said a long time back in this thread, that it should be up to the player. We've had all the platitudes but by all accounts it seems he prefers to go to Spuds, so let him go, but screw AM and Spuds for as much as possible.

Maybe he is frustrated with the valuation we have put on him.

Frustrated with who though? Us, them or both?

This made me chuckle.

So why do you have to add to it?

Are you a Southampton supporter?

What are your views/answers to the questions you posed? To add to my earlier reply, I really wanted Burnley to survive. They were almost 100% British & Irish (predominantly English) throughout the season. Of their squad, they had a Norwegian (2 mins in week 37 and 65 mins week 38) and Australian (goalie sent out on loan with no PL appearances), otherwise entirely British/Irish. A great core, but not good enough.

If truth be told, surprised anyone really thought that he would be happy here over the 6 bigger clubs that finished above us if they came knocking. As I said earlier in the thread, platitudes are very easy to deliver, some are hollow some are not. Now we just have to wait for posts coming out saying that he was only good because of being paired with José (like Lolvren was).

With far too many chickensh*t "supporters"

LOL (I think that's the best thing to do at this time) - looks like AM have shafted us good and proper. Anyone for Virgil van Dijk?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3151505/Morgan-Schneiderlin-join-Manchester-United-pay-s-worth-insists-Southampton-boss-Ronald-Koeman.html Love it - seem some have got all excited. The Utd "followers" seem to think we are the bad ones asking for near £30m

Would we want Cabaye? He's 29 and I am not sure we want to sign too many players who will have no resale value. But the money involved in the modern game is truly ridiculous and rather depressing.

Contracts and football!!! Seemingly too many people don't pay attention to what they sign, and if that is the case here which it seems to be, you only have yourself to blame if you screw it up. I don't buy into things being lost in translation. SFC's lawyers would either have someone proficient in Spanish or maybe a Spanish office, or if not, would have employed a Spanish firm. If it was in English, then Madrid should have made sure their lawyers understood English (which I am sure that they would have done). It by all accounts seems that AM ****ed up big time.

Didn't RK say that he had seen a doctor? Was the doctor in Hampshire or Manchester?

There do seem to be quite a few here who would seemingly be far happier supporting a bigger club.

Liverpool? Spurs?

I think that we all loved the fact that we had a core of English players, but I am now taking a much more pragmatic view of things, after the premium that they attract means that the better ones are just going to be poached. What is more important to me now is having players who actually want to play for us. The English players that we have lost in the past year (and a bit): Lallana, Lambert, Chambers, Shaw, Clyne and adding Morgan to the home grown list. With the exception of possibly Lambert (due to age), I suspect all would be in our team now. So that's 5 English and a sixth home grown. That's some core to replace. (NB this is not a criticism of selling them). So replacing them with English isn't going to happen over night. I think most of us would love to see the academy players playing a leading role next season, but if they are not up to the standards of Chambers, Shaw then it's not really much point having them to prove a point. I am hoping that we will see JWP, Reed, Targett play their part. I think that they are good enough. Then there are a fair number of others that have got a toe round the door - if they have progressed all well and good. If not.... But to your questions....can I ask whether this is the club asking or you? 1: Will a PL club ever be deemed successful (break top 4) with an English basis? If not why? The premium added for the HG rule will mean that the price attached is going to always be inflated. The best clubs will take the best core of players and split them up amongst themselves. How many world class English players are there in the first place, capable of playing in a team that is top 4 and challenging to win it/CL? Say there were 12 (yes I know, there aren't - are there any?), the top 4 clubs would have a couple or three each, and then 5-6 might have 1 or 2 (if that) and then the rest of the league might have 1 or 2 between them. So no, no team will ever be top 4 with an English basis. 2: As a Saints fan, is our intake of foreign players: a) Saints being proactive and using the market cleverly for value? or b) Saints losing their identity? Proactive, losing our identity, or being pragmatic? As mentioned above, we lost our core of English players, and you can't just magic them up. Needs must. I am also bored of preparing players for the big boys, so if you can't beat them, join them. Hopefully we can bring several academy players through in the next couple of seasons, but only if they are ready. I would though like to sign more English players.

Carroll vs Pelle? Carroll is injured again and quite possibly always will be from now. It has happened an awful lot so WHU really can't rely on him. So they want another big striker so Pelle ticks the boxes. They are above us in the wage stakes as well, paying Carroll something like £80-90k a week.