angelman

And those saying that the squad is crap now that those players who have gone have gone, let's look at things (ignoring the fees gotten) as they stand at this very second...... Lambert - replaced with Pelle. I am happy enough with this, but time will tell. People saying that he is unproven in England etc. People said Lambert would struggle in PL. Think they also said that about the nPC as well. 50 goals in 57 appearances for Feyenoord is impressive even if the league isn't as strong as PL. Lallana - replaced with Tadic. Must confess I know nothing about Tadic and again time will tell. Shaw - whether Targett will be able to replace him to the same level is doubtful. But then what LB would? Chambers - a shame to let a young one go, but (having said let's ignore fees) the amount offered for 20 games!!! Clyne is there (for the time being) and that is more than adequate. Lovren - OK, currently there is no replacement for him I know that the squad was pretty thin last year, and is likely to be very thin this year and that is a concern.

We finished 8th last year, so not one of the big clubs etc. Who exactly missed out on a place in their national squad because they were playing for little old Southampton?

Disagree. All of the players (save for Lambert) went for over inflated fees, or rather fees that it would be silly to turn down. You could argue that Lovren should have been kept as he was not over valued.. They may be good players, but you have to think where the money is going to come from, and profits on player sales has eclipsed TV rights. Problem with football is that you can let your heart take over and not use your head. Supporters rarely use their head, the board has to. Now it depends on what happens with the money raised. I know what we were told yesterday, that it would go for player purchases & wages so I guess only time will tell. As I said earlier, Morgan can't be sold yet. The rebuilding of the squad would be that much harder. He can choose what course of action he wants to take, but players and agents have forgotten where the real power lies and that is in the contract. If he wants to throw his toys out of the pram, sulk, be petulant and refuse to play but be held to his contract, then that is his choice. It would be very sad, but I look at it as the rebuilding of the squad vs Morgan Schneiderlin and I know which is more important. No one player is bigger than the club and it is about time clubs took a stand and held players to their contracts just as players hold clubs to their contracts when it suits them.

Koeman needs to get Morgan in, sit him down, tell him how it is and get on with life

Promises.....really? What form did they take?

Why don't they come out these journos and tell it how it is? We all know the PL is rotten - "the little guy might enjoy his day in the Premier League but the door to the top six or seven is bolted" - yet this is about it.

Couple of things..... 1) Morgan moving out of his apartment.....very ****ing presumptive and naive isn't it? He's young I know, but you don't move out until you dot the i's and cross the t's. He may have been told this or that, but come on, lets not be naive about things. He would happily shaft everyone (as he is doing now) so that he can what he wants, so he should expect others to do it to him. 2) The French article. It's complete load of bollôx. It goes on about the PL being artificial and all about image, but fails to recognise that the players are the ones most responsible for that. Now I know he is having a go at SFC rather than MS (God forbid, patriotism rules OK).

A euro league won't stop the pillaging.

Lowe isn't THAT bad. A typical banker. He called me up and blew smoke up my backside, while trying to garner the proxied vote that I had. The thing people forget about him is that his intentions were good, even if he did love the limelight. And as he told me, he wasn't shooting ducks it was partridge.

The thing it might do is placate Koeman. Board have come out with a fairly robust statement setting out how it will be. Morgan has replied with a pithy (and if I might say, childish) statement. But frankly, Morgan and the international career bit, if that is a concern, he is wrong. Our side was packed full of internationals, and who exactly missed out going to the WC because they played for us? The only person anyone might say is Fonte, but then, Portuguese CBs were more experienced and (possibly/probably) better than him,

I think Boruc is OK. Why are we so intent on signing another goalie?

This I am afraid, and I don't want to appear to be rude, is an utterly moronic statement. If he wanted a new experience then he shouldn't have signed a contract keeping him at the club for a few more years. Now the thing people never seem to take into account is the "opportunity cost", so to speak, to the club of people breaking their contracts. It makes things damned hard to plan for if everyone is off at their own whim. Sure Lovren buggered off after 10 months, but life Morgan, is not fair. You are 24, and you will learn (hopefully) rather than be the archetypical **** of a pro footballer.

Barkley is a Scouse and maybe supports Everton so accepting £65k a week isn't too much of a problem.

Out of interest Gordon, how old are you? I am even thinking of not really using the ST next season. I'm early 40 and first went to the Dell in the mid 70s. Just ask as I agree whole heartedly with you and am oh so close on giving up, but wonder if it is us of a certain age who feel like this.

If he wants a fight, then he should be careful and not take for granted that he will win. The club is bigger than any one player or group of players, and if he does decide to take them on and they have the resolve to stand firm, he has no chance what so ever of winning. To me, the board has to stick to their guns, even if it ****s Morgan's career - although that would be 100% totally his choice. The rebuilding is more important than Morgan's career, and if we let him go, then the rebuilding is going to be that much harder. People say that players have all the power, but ultimately, the power lies in the contract. It will be interesting to see whether the board will capitulate or stand firm.

That may be so, but a contract is a contract. He might get a nasty shock when he realises that they do actually mean something. (But in all honesty, I imagine he will be off).

All this this player deserves this, this play deserves that, they've been good to the club. Funny how this deserving and being good is only a one way thing. Just look at what would happen if a club decided to unilaterally scrap the contract of a player one year into a 4 year term because they changed their minds.

Sorry, but I don't give two hoots about the CL and whether our players think that that is their natural place to be. If he thought that, then he shouldn't have signed that contract. Life's a ***** sometimes, but you have to live by the decisions and actions you make.

Bôllox. We can and do match his ambition, hence why he was happy enough to sign a 4 year contract. Don't start trying to bring out the ambition shït. It's a very weak argument.

Agree. It seems very strange that you get "he can go for £27m", news outlets reporting that he is going, that he and JRod combined are £35m or £50m. Seems all very specific. I suspect that Les Reed has been usurped and the sale that he probably sanctioned has been pulled by those on high.

He said that he met them to talk about how to push MLS or something like that. He said that he didn't talk about Saints players.

Who did we hoover up from L1. In 2009/10 we paid for 3 players. Fonte from Palace (a league above us), Puncheon from Plymouth (also in the Championship and no doubt they were happy to get rid of) and Lambert from Bristol Rovers. Hardly hoovering up talent and ruining dreams.

Intersting - I thought that fans of those at the top really didn't care about the "prevailing disease" as they weren't so badly affected by it. Sure they are when the big boys like Barca/Real/ManU () come calling but there aren't too many who will out muscle them. That they are protected at the top by FFP could and does invoke a lot of arrogance in supporters, so it is nice to hear that there are those at the top who realise that all is not rosy. To be honest, there are some on Red Cafe who realise things aren't great as well. Where do we go from here? There is only one solution - wage caps. It would do wonders for the game on so many levels, although the players might not agree. And I don't mean wage caps of £100k a week. £20k a week is more than enough for anyone to earn. But can anyone honestly see it ever being introduced? I honestly can't and I honestly cannot think of any other way that football can be brought back from the brink. At the risk of being repetitive, I hate football, hate the PL, hate the CL but my love of Saints keeps me going to the games and following them through thick and thin. I wish you hadn't come on and posted, as then I could have mopped around grumbling at Liverpool and wishing them to crash and burn this coming season. But as I say, it's nice to know that there are some feeding at the top table who look down and acknowledge the reality elsewhere.

Liverpool splash £10m out on Divock Origi (JRod replacement?) 19yo Begium striker playing at Lille. Scored 6 goals ion 40 appearances. Broke into senior national side this year and scored 1 goal in 8 appearances.

As that your opinion or something from them?