Sheaf Saint

It's really nothing like that situation in reality though is it.

So, to save me from trawling through the 20 pages of undoubted drivel, bed-wetting and abuse that have appeared on this thread since yesterday morning, can anybody offer any further evidence other than yesterday's tweet from the Dutch journo that this is happening? FWIW, I think the club are in a win-win situation here. They obviously would like him to extend his contract, otherwise they would not have offered it. But if, as seems likely, they don't want him to enter the last year of his contract without committing to the future, then they will already have begun the process of identifying his successor. Then if he decides to accept Everton's offer, they can make it look like they didn't want to let him go and claim a nice windfall in compo from Everton, rather than sack him and replace him, which many people were expecting this summer anyway if he doesn't sign the extension. We use the compo from Everton as a dangling carrot, alongside the promise of EL football next season, to entice one of our targets to join us; Koeman gets a massive pay rise to go to Everton... Everybody's happy. I'm certainly not going to lose any sleep if he does decide to jump ship.

Well it's good to know they are not all like this muppet. I have a good friend who is an Everton fan and he fully recognises that the only possible thing Everton can offer Koeman over us at the present is more money. Their bigger history and larger trophy cabinet means jack sh*t in the here and now. Of course, the talk is that he would be offered a huge transfer fund if he went there. But why on Earth would he opt to bail out from a club where he has spent the last two seasons building his own team to join one that is not playing in Europe next season, will probably lose its best players this summer, and will still struggle to attract the really top players no matter how much money they offer? I really can't see it myself.

I wouldn't be so sure. I bought a set of Veho headphones a few years ago, and the sound quality on them was terrible. Wish I hadn't wasted my money.

Excellent interview. Les made the point I was trying to make on another tread recently much better than I could, in that for the last couple of seasons we have been the ones knocking on the door of the top 6, and Leicester came along and smashed that door down to prove that a club of our size can do that with the right attitude and momentum. I'm feeling very positive about the future and next season after watching that. The club clearly have an ongoing vision and they want Ron to commit to it, which I hope and I think he will. The recent tying down to new contracts of players like VVD, Forster and JWP show that the players are buying into the vision as well, so apart from the obvious want-aways like Wanyama, I don't think we will have as much difficulty holding on to our best players as we have done for the last two summers.

Saganowski. He was superb when he was on loan and I was delighted when we signed him, but as soon as he signed up permanently, his motivation went through the floor and I was glad to see the back of him by the end. Delgado, obviously. Looked like an amazing prospect in that one game against Arsenal. The whole episode was an unmitigated disaster.

Don't forget Fog on The Tyne

Hmmm. If Utd and Chelsea are both willing to part with the €60m release fee, then I think we can safely say that rules us out of the running.

It's been reported he is in talks with Everton. That will go down well with the Liverpool fans after last week I expect

There are a couple of precedents of Man Utd assistant bosses who have left to take managerial positions at other clubs... Steve McLaren and Brian Kidd. On that basis, no thanks.

Yeah I hadn't looked at it that way. Come on Utd.... Urgh. I feel dirty

I'm so torn with this. One one hand, I really don't want us to have to play the qualifying rounds in Europa like last season, but if the price of that is seeing Man U lose the final, LVG lose his job and West Ham miss out on Europa altogether, then it seems like a fair trade-off. I guess I'll just be happy either way, for different reasons.

Except head the ball on target, at which Pelle is far, far better. Don't get me wrong - I'm a fan of Long. But he misses far too many easy chances for my liking, particularly with his head.

I disagree. Yes it is a freak one-off, but they have proved that it is possible to win the PL without having to spend upwards of £150m on players, where it was always assumed to be impossible. When we were up in the top 4 in december 2013, there was a discussion on here about whether or not we were in a genuine title race, and many people were derided and ridiculed for even suggesting that a medium-sized club like ours could possibly challenge the super-rich teams. Leicester this season have rammed that derision right back up the backsides of those people and shown that mega money isn't the only factor in achieving success.

Looking on Wikipedia, Strachan and Adkins both did about the same time - just under 2 yrs and 4 months. Ron was appointed in June 2014 so, assuming he is still here then, some time in October this year will see him surpass that.

Correct

On becoming the first Southampton manager since Dave Jones to complete two full seasons in charge... And also the small matter of securing our highest league finish since 1984. And getting us into Europe for a second year running. I have to confess I was starting to have my doubts when results weren't going our way mid-season, but I would be delighted if he was to agree a contract extension now.

So the upward trend in our league finishing positions since L1-10 continues! Awesome stuff! :-) Couldn't be happier right now!

STOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Newcastle 5-1 Spurs!!!!!

Now Davis goes close. That's 3 decent chances in as many minutes. I would prefer if we could get a 4th because I can see Palace scoring another.