Red

£18M for Troy??? Either I have finally gone senile, or the footy gods are having a serious laugh!

Surprised Obafemi wasn't on the bench on Saturday - not a key game as such and would have been nice to give him another 10 mins or so.

Can't agree with you there (which is fine as different people have different opinions). MoPe is on record time and again that defense is his first and only thought and that is how he instructs the team to play - pretty sure some of the players ignore this at times and why they are the benched or out of the squad. If you expect the negative, it will most likely happen. MoPe would be better suited as an insurance assessor or safety officer. Anyway 79% pass completion seems good to me.

The Board not the owner (i.e. BS word bingo Ralph - who has brought bugger all additional commercial revenue or exposure for the club, which is his job; Les Reed - who will have hired two poor managers in a row, and not invested in the right players or positions; Martin Semmens - what does he do anyway??). If Gao wants to p*ss £200M up the wall it's his choice but I would rather he did it elsewhere and does not destroy a club I love in the process, and hence IMHO should yes sack the whole board and get one that knows what they are doing - will not change the ownership.

Board made their gamble and it has not worked - they have to act now and get rid or be 100% responsible for the consequences - relegation. Simple sack MoPe or the whole board (and clown of course) if we get relegated.

This is exactly why the clown has to go! Defend yet again - why not try the new guy or Gabbi in the #10. Just inviting Watford on again - he has learnt nada from the league game!

Think you're right. I was half listening to MoPe on Sky last night and he said as much - something along the lines Carrillo was brought in to cover for Austin as Austin is our best forward but he is injured ..... then seemed to stumble as he realised he might have given the new guy the message he would on the bench once Charlie was fit again! Great motivation! Why the hell didn't MoPe play Charlie earlier in that case?? Also think the new owner has realised just how desperate our situation really is, and hence sanctioned this deal and QP at around £50M combined - very different from the message a few weeks ago where we were going to spend some of the VVD money over several transfer windows. By the time you factor in Celtic cut, agents fees etc. I would say that is pretty much all of the initial VVD net fee, and that's without wages!

What's hard to believe is that MoPo and MoPe are only 6 months in age difference! Looks more like 10 years. Does MoPo do bottox??

To be fair, he is entitled to his views whatever they are - this place is pathetic with it's narrow minded and closed group select few who the only ones allowed to comment and rest of us just have to swallow it like some cheap tart!

If you believe our problems are over because of today, good luck to you. The team today did well (not well enough, but well) and it was largely forced on the manager due to injuries etc. We are still in the bottom 3 and our Board are as inactive as ever. If you do not seek to change the status quo (in whatever way you seem appropriate), then you are no different to our "head in the sand" Board, and please please do not have the hypocrisy to complain should we be relegated.

That is clearly BS - he was here for 3 weeks and is pictured next to Kate, Mr. Spin and Potato Head - are they not SFC staff? Also, are you really telling me he came to the ground and watched the whole game and refused to speak to anyone?? Maybe it's just that he doesn't speak english and so communicated via interrupters - I guess that is technically not speaking to SFC staff directly - so forgive me I humbly apologise, you are right!

Say hello to the Board and owner whilst you are there!

OK, so now we are in the bottom IMHO we really need to push the board to act. I get that some don't want to accuse individuals, protest, boo players/manager/Reed, so I suggest we all (or as many as are concerned about our club) send letters to Ralph with copies to owner, Les and Echo (please send separate copies as it has more impact). Cost of 4 stamps and no abuse - surely that is the least we can do to try and save our status in the PL? Mine is on the way. If it helps, just copy and paste my letter below - it is no way rude or blaming individuals etc. just stating that we are not happy with the current state of affairs. Believe me, 2K to 5K (yes I know I am being optimistic) of these types of letters (even if they are identical but from different people) will have a huge impact. Thanks to all who make the effort in advance. Mr. Ralph Krueger Chairman Southampton Football Club Britannia Road Southampton SO14 5FP UK Dear Mr. Krueger, Re: Current Southampton F.C. (Saints) situation I am writing to you as a long term loyal supporter of the Saints, and am extremely concerned at the current poor situation the club finds itself in. Every single aspect of the Club seems to be disorganised, lacking any leadership and totally rudderless. As a fan, I am particularly concerned about our on-field performance, or rather the complete lack of it! In your recent interview with the Southern Evening Echo http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/15802679.BIG_INTERVIEW__Saints_chairman_Ralph_Krueger/ you claim “Ultimately I carry the responsibility so knock my head off first” and “We are all speaking honestly and openly.” I am not calling for heads unlike many other supporters, but tell us honestly and openly, what are you/the Board/owner doing to address the current crisis exactly? Surely the fans deserve at least an admission that we are in trouble and what is being done to address this? No platitudes, fancy words or pledges please – actions speak louder than words sir! You further say “So fans bring it on!” and whilst you say you were kidding, let me assure you NO Saints fan is taking this as a joke! The mere fact that a senior member of our great club can even contemplate a funny aspect of our current situation is very telling of our current custodians! The Club and fans will continue no matter what, but you/the Board/owner are in temporary charge – however long that is, and history will ultimately judge the impact you had on our Club during your charge. I implore you – make it positive – if not the fans will never forgive or forget! I hold you/the Board/owner responsible for the fate of Saints – you are on notice sir! Yours faithfully, Red Cc: Gao Jisheng Les Reed Southern Evening Echo

Sadly they will. I work for one of these companies, and the competitive/market view (yes they spend millions on this and fan social media) is that whilst the traditional broadcasters will not want to/cannot pay more, the new media platform providers (Google, Amazon, FB, others) will. More worryingly, they are not looking to make a profit from it, rather drive more eyeballs/traffic to their site. As an example, Amazon spent billions a year for around 10 years to setup their Amazon Web Service (AWS) cloud service at a huge loss, just to 1) get people on to their site and 2) build a platform that no new entrant could complete with. Now they are the leading Public Cloud platform worldwide and making frankly indecent amounts of profit. Add to this a bun fight between these "new media" companies, and the only way is up sadly! As an aside - if you think these wages are ridiculous, Messi is on €1M a week after tax!!! Is he 10 times better than Kane (at 100K per week) - yea I know different currencies and all that, but Kane is not after tax, so orders of magnitude are about right. INSANE

And here we have it - all the constant moaning on this site for weeks and weeks about how people would have fired manager/Reed/Board/Owner/Players etc. etc. ad nauseum and when someone comes up with an actual suggestion to do something, 90% cower and say get behind the team (bit like your meal is crap and you moan like hell to your friends and tell them you're going to give the waiter/chef/owner hell and demand a refund, only to say "yes, lovely" when the waiter asks you if everything is ok?). Well, we will get what we deserve - it is a democracy after all, but please please stop posting all the macho cr ap if you are fine with the manager etc.! Guan clearly states he is open to other suggestions - none so far, and that he is opening another thread for people that don't agree this is a good idea. But no, we love our good old English sport of having a good moan at everyone and everything, and bottle it when it comes to doing anything about it. I for one am with you Guan - will blast all the channels I can. BTW - just a thought for those who want to get behind the team - why not wholeheartedly support the team first half (best support so far this season), and then if we are still cr ap, or a few goals down, then protest like hell for the second half or when we are so far behind there is no hope of a result? The contrast will send a massive message in front of live TV. If we somehow manage to get a result, then sing "We love you Reds, but we still want the manager out!) after the final whistle?

For what it's worth, the best way to get the attention of the board is via widespread public attention. The recent telegraph article is clearly placed by the club to try and get fans on side. So (and as Guan mentioned) get your messages (as politely as possible - crudity will work against us) on social media etc. repeatedly. Also write to the club, owner, Ralph, Reed, MoPe, separately and cc. the Echo, Telegraph, Daily Fail etc. etc. and they will not be able to ignore it. Few chants at a game will get forgotten soon enough. I am happy to draft a letter for people to copy and send, if there is willingness on here? Some thing has to change or we are surely down, and I want to try whatever I can to avoid that if possible.

If the clown doesn't get fired tonight - the board are happy for us to get relegated is the only conclusion I can come to. I would get O'Neil and Keane in ASAP (surely we are a better proposition than Stoke?). Yea, I get the Keane gesture etc. but we need a hard c**t like him and he would be our HC!

ROBIN RETURN? Former Arsenal and Manchester United striker Robin van Persie is set to return to Feyenoord, reports Algemeen Dagblad. The 34-year-old, who is under contract at Fenerbahce until the end of the season, is set to terminate his deal in order to push through his return to the Eredivisie champions. According to Algemeen Dagblad, Van Persie, who spent five years at Feyenoord before joining Arsenal in 2004, will undergo a medical on Saturday. Go on Saints, get him in for the rest of the season - surely we can beat Feyenord to his signature?

And so it should be. I am glad we won, and I imagine the majority of the fans are too, but that does not mean our problems are over. The fan base reaction is as a result of the performances over the season so far not one game, compounded by the rest of teams struggling all taking action, whilst we remain blissfully rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Do you really believe that performance or team would have won at Watford?

Express your views my all means, but do we really need the racial overtones? Not the first time you have used this particular phrase either.

Was there a sell on clause for him? If so do we get that knocked off the agreed price

Then why not rectify that now - if not much earlier? As stated elsewhere, mistakes happen, but true leadership is to acknowledge them and correct immediately. Excuse a "Ralphism" - failure to act, is acting to fail. There is nothing we can do to change the past - however much we might want to. I just hope and pray, we act decisively to give us the maximum chance of avoiding the drop. Others around us have done so.

Think he would still have been binned. Puel wasn't fired for the results (even though some of the football particularly 2nd half of the season was dire). Ralph went to great lengths in the interview saying how last season was a great success - you don't fire your manager if Chairman, and as they are all one team, presumably all the management/board/owner agreed? IMHO real reason was he refused to be a lap dog and probably demanded more support and investment this season. Hence the comments about he would have been kept on if he changed the style of play (what to the crap we play now??), and about MP fitting in with the culture of the club from the get go etc. etc. Arrogant pr**ks want to run the show with a puppet on a string for the media, and good ol' Les would be on more tours and writing books on what a genius he is and discovered MoPo 2. I am sure this is the reason Tuchel turned us down (wanted more/total control of the footballing side), and none of the names mentioned so far will tolerate that either, certainly not Martin O'Neil, Keane etc. Not a hope in hell. I am not entirely convinced we will replace the manager, and frankly there is no point unless Les and Co. change their attitude. One final thought - if they got rid of Puel as a result of fan reaction, why is MP still here? Fan reaction to him is far far worse that it was for Puel?

For now it certainly is - secured against his personal assets. That is not to say it will/can not change in the future of course. Which is all the more puzzling that he is not saying/doing anything (that we are aware of at least). Didn't one of ITK say he wasn't happy after the Leicester result? If so, you need to act now sir!

It is if he tells you that is how to play. I don't mean to deliberately have a bad touch etc. rather the approach - wasn't it OR that said openly in an interview early in the season that MP had them playing differently - something along the lines of their first thought even when Saints had possession particularly in the opposition half was what if I lose the ball, how can I set up to win it back? Confidence is a big thing in football, specially when attacking, so if you set up for recovery, mentally you are not giving everything going forward or at pace. So players are thinking mustn't give the ball away, mustn't give the ball away, and if I do need to be in front of their player to win it back - guess what you slow down, over think it, mind plays tricks and you lose the ball, make a bad pass and the urgency goes out of the game. Did you notice how many times NR pulled out of crossing to the box and pass backward / sideways? 3 to 4 times in one move alone - he was scared to do so. Look at MP's previous jobs - everyone is exactly the same - exactly. In a slower league you might get away with that approach, but not in the PL. Reed either point blank lied about getting a manager with a faster / more exciting / quicker attacking style of play, or is no longer capable of spotting that - either way needs to jog on and enjoy his retirement. Personally I believe he though he had Touchel in the bag and pulled the trigger on Puel and when it didn't come off, panicked and went for MP - when it seemed like Palace were about to appoint him.