SaintBobby

It isn't called "VanDammGate" in Southampton, is it? So, if that's where you're from, that's very odd indeed. Haven't seen that phrase mentioned anywhere. I'm from Winchester, by the way, it also isn't called "VanDammGate" in Winchester, either. Hope this helps.

Mods, please make this a sticky. The insight and info is gold. Thanks.

Probably about right. We'll be somewhere between 8th and 15th. And that's probably only a spread of 6 or 10 points. I'd lean to 9th or 10th. But 12th isn't an absurd idea.

Why's "it" called "VanDammGate" where you come from? Very odd. Where do you come from and who exactly calls it that?

Please, please, lock this thread.

I'd say we need a public apology from him to assuage fans and the club. We should also ask him to change agents, although the decision is ultimately his. We should tell him that we aren't willing to consider or even discuss a transfer until June. Even then, we think it unlikely that we will be minded to sell him and impossible that we will sell him to Liverpool.

yeah, I agree sadly. Although they do seem like the club most in meltdown. Tragedy is that Theo would be a great fit back at Saints, for him, the club and the fans, but despite that, the vagaries of modern football make it vanishingly unlikely it could happen.

I am sticking with the prediction that he's staying. I also think the club have handled this brilliantly if he does (but appallingly if he now goes to Liverpool on deadline day!) If he does stay, which I both hope and predict, this is a total shambles by Liverpool. Had they acted differently and legally, I'm sure they could have got him. Their screw up could cost them very dearly given the weakness of their defence. Maybe the Ox can play centre back? ;-)

Redmond and Tadic are both very good players. They just haven't been very good in the last few games. I'd have both in the starting XI still.

If VVD goes, it is too late for us to complete a deal with the money. Maybe we are already about to sign a new £20m player, but the idea that this would be triggered - and only triggered - if there's a last minute sale of Virgil is hard to credit. The only obvious exception to this would be a makeweight in the deal (e.g. VVD goes to club X and player Y joins us from club X).

I reckon he's staying. The club/Ralph have been pretty adamant on this. They could have left themselves a ton of wriggle room but have chosen not to. The issue isn't just VVD - it's the signal it sends. It's a shame we have our best player in the deep freeze, but the new-ish strategy of signing players on long contracts and keeping them unravels if Virgil leaves by Thursday evening. The club need to send a message so that in the months and years to come Saints players are thinking "I don't want to get into the God awful hole that van Dijk got himself into, I have to knuckle down and put 100% into playing for Southampton, possibly for 2 or 3 more years". If he is still here on Sept 2nd, VVD has one hell of a big hole to dig himself out of. God only knows what step he takes other than - hopefully - a massive mea culpa and U-turn.

So frustrating at the moment. 4 matches played this season. One goal scored from open play. Grrrr. We're not awful, just very annoying.

I'm pleased to report that you were totally wrong. I'm very glad that this was what you always hoped for. Sweet.

Stunning signing.

I think my order would be 1. Austin 2. JWP 3. Davis 4. Gabbiadini 5. Bertrand

I thought we were easily the better team today. Then I saw the stats. So, I have decided to ignore stats from now on!

Can someone explain why the European angle is a problem. The narrative is that no English club could buy once the season starts, but could still sell to foreign clubs. Why not change the rules so that English clubs can neither buy nor sell once the season begins?

Which papers? Genuine question. I googled "Southampton Walcott transfer" and nothing came up on the first few pages (well, nothing recent)

Thanks for this. I was wondering why we didn't yet have a thread on the Virgil issue. Really grateful for you starting one!

Davis as club captain. Romeu as team captain.

This one does look like getting over the line, no?

I'm a fan of the "long contract" strategy, although it hasn't really been tested yet. I don't think you can say that bigger clubs won't still come in, but it does give the club the whip hand. It also acts as a deterrent though. Let's assume (just for sake of argument) that Shane Long is an average player who we want to keep. We'd be battling to keep him if he had just a year left on his contract. For more desirable players (Redmond, Cedric, Bertrand and Tadic), the long contracts act as a major block to us losing them. VVD is an exception - he is a world class player, not just an excellent player.

FourFourTwo magazine predict we will finish 8th.

Pretty pleased with today's performance. We did seem to press high up the pitch with our attacking players, but my impression was that we dropped as deep as normal when the ball was in our half. Cedric outstanding. Stephens, Romeu and Davis very good. The new Flannigan kid looks promising. Redmond had a poor game. Surprised we didn't see any of Austin or Hojberg.

Disagree. You may as well include academy players who get a contract then. If we sign up 10 of them a season, our recent signings list looks poor. If we sign up none, it looks stronger.