Cabrone

You'll never know until you try, at least he might be a big enough name to stem any exodous. Besides which if he comes we'll have incharge. Jumpers for goal posts, rolling the ball into dung and then going for the header,mmm? Marvellous. Now that's the kind of team talk that should do it.

Olic is more of a relic, way too old for our youth focus.

I think this one is going to be a low scoring draw or a tight Italian win. Either way I cannot see it being anything other than a fairly dull encounter, neither team will want to lose and fear will rule over ambition.

For me 3 players completely stand out. No 1 has to be Le Tiss as he took every one of his penalties in the top flight, 2nd is Ricky Lambert with his 100% record for us and 3rd is Beattie who scored 16 from 17 in the prem league (and I think had a 100% rate for us?). We've been very blessed with the quality of our penalty takers over the last 25 years.

England aren't good but they are not bad too, they could go either way in this tournament depending on whether 1. They become proficient at keeping the ball under pressure, as they are going to have to do against a lot of teams esp S.American ones. 2. They get ruthless infront of the goal, they won't get many chances and they have to bury them, Sturridge has to deliver. 3. They all play with real hunger and a willingless to go the extra mile. Equador's 2nd was because the England defence failed to close the scorer down, the goal was not down to a lack of ability moreso a lack of enough hunger and determination to make sure that the striker was never going to get the chance in the first place. We need a bit of the 'do or die' about us. If they can do this then I don't see why they can't have a good tournament, if they can't then it's back home after 2 weeks. Personally I wish for once that England go out and have a bloody good tear up, take it to the opposition and even if they go down they go down all guns blazing. I'd be OK with that.

If he comes from the Dutch league let's hope he's more Bergkamp than Van Wolfswinkel. His record in Italy was nothing special but he does seem to have thrived in the Eredvisie, maybe he's more suited to faster paced football in which case he could be a good buy, he certainly plays in the role we need.

Best of luck Rickie, you've been brilliant for this club and £4M for a 32 y.o isn't too shabby in all honesty. As one of the biggest reasons for our rapid ascendency back to the prem you can leave with your head held high. I'll be giving you a round of applause if I see you again. This is one of those transfers you can't really begrudge, the player has totally earned it.

There's going to be a lot of gutted younger fans this weekend, their hero has just left. As an older fan I've seen it all before, every dog has his day but I would like to say best of luck Rickie, you've been bloody awesome for SFC over the last 5 years. You've earned everything the hard way through putting in a real shift and you'll always get a good reception at SMS. No histrionics, tantrums or diva'ness, just talent and graft. If any aspiring kids out there want a role model then look no further than Rickie Lambert, Southampton goal machine.

The only way I can see him playing is if the new manager is Osvaldo's girlfriend (and even then I'm not too sure).

Rhodes, Ings or Austin are English strikers that wouldn't break the bank, untested at prem level but then again neither was Ricky and he did OK. We also still have the Osvaldo option if needed. Another possible (?) name is Konstantinos Mitroglou at Fulham, didn't really feature for them last season due to injury but could be a cheap'ish option.

Very strange move if true, why would Pool who I presume are going for the title next year be looking at a player at the end of his career? Still if true then all the best to Rickie, been one of our best signings ever - couldn't begrudge him a final pay day and he'll get a warm welcome at SMS whatever happens. So that would leave us with what, a crocked player, a kid and a want-away Italian? Are we doing a total football 4-6-0 formation?

Not atall surprised 'Pool would want the spine of our team, our midfield is one of the best in the league and our first defence is solid, the weak spots are GK when Artur is out and the strikers. Keep what we've got, get another decent GK, a top class finisher and a decent CB and we are well in the hunt for a European place. I'm not atall surprised top 4 clubs are very interested in our midfield, it's top class.

Clive Woodward

Would be a decent signing but why would he come here to compete with Artur when he's already got Prem football lined up at Leicester? If we could get him though I'd welcome it.

Gordon Strachan

Spurs is a poisoned chalice, big club yes but just look at their record with managers. He'd get very little bedding in time and if it didn't click he could be out the door within 1 season. He should have a chat with Hoddle about jumping to join Spurs. It's all on a knife edge, lose Poch and we could see a real exodus, keep him and we should be able to keep most of our stars and add a few extra quality signings to push us on to a crack at Europe.

If Luke is off then best of luck to the lad, £27M is a lot of money and should really help us strengthen other areas of the team. Gutted to see him go but that's life I'm afraid. Money talks in this game.

I'd have him back, a very good striker but needs to sort his head out. If he could just knuckle down and show a little contrition I think he'd win the fans over fairly quickly. Question is can he? We aren't exactly overloaded in the striking department at the moment and it does seem odd to jettison a potentially very good player without seeing if he could be brought back into the fold.

In addition to all the highlights mentioned I also particularly enjoyed our 1-0 at Leeds in the champ season. Having been put under the most intense pressure we came through and that was the moment when I thought we could actually get out of that league. I really enjoyed those 3 seasons in lge 1 and the champ - more than the prem if I'm honest. Low points have been few and far between TBH but I guess the initial start in lge 1, the start in the prem and losing to Reading and Sunderland would just about cover it. Any fans that really got into the club in the summer of 2009 have had a real treat.

Going to be an interesting summer, the club are teetering between really pushing on into European contention or descending back into lower mid table obscurity. Firstly we need to keep hold of Poch then the key players. With the same key players plus a couple of classy additions we could be going places. However if the likes of Liverpool are banging at the door with their Champs league ticket it would be hard for a player like Adam to resist and TBH I wouldn't begrudge him one bit. £25M minimum though.

Spurs is a poisoned chalice, yes it's a big club but it's also pretty unstable. He could find himself out the door pretty quickly unless he got results ASAP. Saints are on the verge of something really good, if the board back the signing of a quality striker, GK and centre half and keep our current players then I think MPo would stay. It looks like he's enjoying it here, the club and fans want him so why risk it all at Spurs?

Big club but a bit of a poisoned chalice, they aren't renowned for being particularly loyal and he could be out the door within a season if he doesn't live up to their high expectations. If we can keep the vast majority of our key players here then hopefully he'll feel that he's on to a good thing at SFC and stay. Better get used to the speculation though, Spurs might be rebuffed but if things continue as they are then sooner or later a club is going to come in that he wouldn't be able to resist, just hope it's not for a few years yet.

Ouch, Bale out - Lamela and Soldado in. £56M and 6 goals all season. Meet the THFC transfer committee....

Top player, should have been in our team from the start of the season as he's as good as any. Should be playing for England too, seriously, a vital cog in our midfield. Sign him up if we're down to the last 12 months.

Sweet, didn't think we'd win this one. Now we need to keep the manager and key players together and make a few key signings. The club could, if they play their cards right, be onto something really good next season.