angelman

True, but I am not talking about the subjective, but something definitive. Like an end to the career, recurrence of the injury etc. As I say, not exactly sure how it all works.

I had thought about the insurance aspect. I imagine that we would be in the same boat as Liverpool and Spurs in that a new arrangement would have to be taken out on any new contract. An extension is a new contract.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11700/9052466/transfer-news-southamptons-dejan-lovren-happy-to-have-turned-down-chelsea

Rafa to return if Rodgers makes a muck of it?

Why not let another club do all the spade work, then come in at the 11th hour and offer exactly the same and a little bit more. Leave the wording as is in the about to be signed contract, change a few figures and club details and hey presto. Seems entirely sensible to let another club do all the hard work. Must save a fortune in lawyer's fees.

That may be so. No doubt his heart could be made to go to SW6 and then his head rejoin the rest of his body there.

Have to really really agree with this. Actually, where ever he goes, it is good for us to have a bidding war. When Vidic announced he was off last season, I thought it would be Utd who would come calling.

By that token, why have we offered a 5 year extension?

Read some article in some red top that he is weighing up the full extent of the offer from Liverpool, Spurs and us.

Firstly well done for supporting the club for so long. Does that mean your opinion is any more valid? If not, I am afraid I can't see the relevance that you have been supporting Saints for 60 years save to question your....anyway. The suggestion that you might want to go and support someone else is because you seem to have nothing but negative comments to make. So one might presume you aren't happy. You say that it's almost like I am SFC plant, but I could retort that you are like a PFC one. And really, who supports the board? I support the team on the pitch not the people in the boardroom, even when they are relatives.

Their time might come yet, starting here... http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/manchester-united-transfer-rumours-louis-3877396

Chelsea? Although I suspect they would like bigger. QPR were going to build a new stadium but thought that that was only 40k.

Now looking at things slightly differently..... In the past 10 years (2004/5 > 2013/14) the top 4 finishers have been.... Arsenal x10, Chelsea x9, Man U x9, Liverpool x5, Man City x4, Spurs x2, Everton x1 It is worth adding that at the beginning of that period, Man City hadn't been taken over so didn't feature. Now go back 20 years (1974/5 > 1983/4) and look who finished top 4 Liverpool x9, Man Utd x5, Ipswich x5, Everton x3, Not Forest x3, Man City x2, Arsenal x2, Villa x2, WBA x2, Derby x2, Spurs x2, Saints x1, Watford x1, QPR x1 Variety is the spice of life.

Agree. There is only one way that this will change, and it won't ever happen, and that is a wage cap (as mentioned on the other thread) which all can afford and thus prevent players moving for fiscal reasons alone. Look at the various incomes that the clubs buying our players have and look what they can offer the players. We cannot compete, pure and simple. The PL is happy with the situation, and that is all that matters. Why people are surprised is a mystery. This is why I say I love Saints but hate football - football has been completely ruined and the competition that is the PL is an absolute joke. I really see little point of having a competition where three quarters of the participants have zero chance of winning it. I guess if I supported one of those that had a chance of winning it, I would think differently. It is only my love of Saints that keeps me going to games. I don't bother with Sky or BT football, as I have little interest in other teams and Saints rarely feature. We just happened to have a certain number of players peak, or come to the attention of the bigger clubs, all at the same time. And then, what really is the point of the academy? It is to discover and develop players so that they can play for the team. If we are never going to be able to challenge for the title, then I can only think that they are being developed to be sold at a large profit having played for the senior team for a year or two. So the whole club is set up to produce top rated players that go on to get sold at huge profits, so why be surprised when it happens? We are a selling club and that would appear to be the business model.

Agree. Some seem to be using an argument that means Cortese was the main footballing man at the club. Banking to PL Supremo in 3 or 4 years - maybe a quick learner, but somehow I doubt it and that he relied on a footballing man who (most likely) was Les Reed. Still, Cortese instigated the "Southampton Way" which to this day, and despite asking on here, no one can explain what it actually is.

There is of course the option not to sell. However, with our limited income streams from other sources, maybe you have to sell to accumulate. By that, maybe 1 or 2, not the whole lot. Shaw to me is a no brainer. Ronaldo, Suarez and Bale stand out in a similar vain - OK, their fees were much higher, but given the status of the clubs I can see a parallel. Then you look at Lallana - he was over valued as well, but I can't help but think that it was to offset a cheap-ish Lambert. I know that this is just about selling, and that the continuity aspect is also important as well as getting in replacements. But maybe the board realised what ever they did, they were not going to convince certain players that they were better off with us than tripling their wages elsewhere. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place. People also go on about lack of visibility. How many boards do you see making statements in the press? When the board in the past has made comments, and I am thinking Lowe and Cortese, people seem to have rather wished they had kept quiet. Now that they are quiet, they want them to speak out. The manager of a club is usually the mouthpiece - it's part of the modern football club. Our problem was that it took 2½ weeks to appoint a new manager, so maybe it was seen in that time that we were rudderless. The board did come out on more than one occasion to make statements. There has been a fair bit of criticism of the board, and as is typical in life these days, people offer no positive or viable alternatives to address what they are criticising.

People seem to be forgetting that 1 player half way through the season admitted to wanting to play for Liverpool. Another had his head there and had made comments about playing quite a while ago. Another had an offer put in when the final whistle went, so obviously was well aware of things going to happen well before the end of the season. At least Morgan has not made any public overtures to any club (save for the recent Twitter following of Spurs). The manager was hawking himself around at the PSG vs Chelsea game in January and had absolutely no intentions of staying. Should the board have said to him "You're under contract, you're not leaving"?

I suspect (actually, that is just a hope), that that is why Lovren hasn't departed yet. Nor Morgan.

Erm, no you haven't said how to do it at all. All you've said is that we should do it, without imparting on us your master plan. Or is it "You're under contract, you're not leaving"?

I think that I would have to disagree with you about the poisonous atmosphere. Worst thing that you can have in a club.

I think I am probably in a minority (and a vast one at that) and think that the league needs a wage cap. Say £10k a week or at a push, £20k. Actually, maybe the older members on the forum can remember the day when football players earned "low" wages and were to be honest, more normal people.

How exactly were you going to stagger departures? You sound like the bloke from the Mirror who was spouting ****e on Talk****e this morning.

I am happy enough with things as they are. Sometimes you have to take a step or two backwards to progress. Clear out the old regime and those who don't want to be here, and push on with the new. You Richmond, I suggest you clear out of here and go and support someone like Chelsea. I am sure that you would be a lot happier.

As I say above, business affairs are opaque so you never quite know what's what.

Is that the case? Football business is fairly opaque at the best of times. IF, and I know that is a huge if, reports are to be believed, Spurs are offering the man who can't understand why contracts are important because he is contracted with a year left to run, £3m a year. There are further reports, admittedly not very widespread, that the board offered him twice that much to stay.