ant

Plans are afoot, somebody just needs to find capacity to put some graphics together *ahem*.

I don't believe my emphasis was on it being well-executed. More that every time a spokesman commented, their words were distorted and used out of context. It got to the point where it was perhaps more sensible to do business and then explain. At several junctures they faced with lose-lose PR situations which could only be alleviated by holding hands up and saying, "look, we'll sort this in due course." At no point have I claimed that the board got absolutely everything correct this Summer. Surely I wasn't the only one to find Blackmore a little hysterical throughout the whole ordeal?

Said last night that I'd have done exactly the same. Was hilarious watching some frothing at 11pm, only for the club to unleash a steady flow of information thereafter. Social media-wise there's few clubs that can touch us.

Staying balanced throughout the turmoil was never about point scoring or acting superior - it's about acting like an adult. Pragmatism and emotion need not be mutually exclusive. Some have said that you can only work with the information you're given but that goes both ways. So many ridiculous assumptions were made and conclusions jumped to about who would be leaving; Katharina Liebherr's intentions; the board's and staff's competencies etc. All without the possession of facts or substantiation. Basing opinions and emotions on diddly squat is instantly setting yourself up to look daft. Over-use of terms such as 'fire sale' and 'meltdown' were media constructs as much as anything. Incorrect terminology angled towards crafting a narrative and - if you believe the conspiracies - carefully targeted by friends of the 'big boys' towards destabilising our remaining playing personnel. It's been an interesting contrast to see how little we've been talked about since the signings started rolling in. The so-called 'silence' from the club was punctuated by relatively frequent statements. When they talked, it was claimed they said the wrong things. When they remained silent and asked for our patience that was wrong too. Some of the comments and slurs directed towards our club's owner and board were nothing short of shameful. Even on the less extreme end of the scale, the sense of entitlement and constant need to have metaphorical heads patted was frankly embarrassing. Perhaps that's just indicative of modern society. A difficult situation was dealt with by maximising return from the disruptive want-aways and carefully reinvesting it in quality replacements. Minimal panic buys and a relatively steady flow of incumbents spread across the entire transfer window. Krueger and Reed asked for patience. They have delivered us a strong, charismatic manager and a strong, deep squad in an incredibly short space of time. A squad whose performances so far have hinted towards a continuing stability and cohesion. In my eyes they have been vindicated and deserve immense credit.

Quite interesting how many loans have gone through for our young players after Les Reed explicitly said that's not how we develop players. Not a criticism, merely an observation. All the best to Jake for the season.

Of course I don't, thus I remarked that it can't be possible or productive. Still an odd thing to come out with though. I don't doubt Forster is the better 'keeper. However the impression I get is that there was no 'fight' to be had. Fraser's gone straight to the top of the pecking order without opposition and Boruc is claiming he's been told there's no way back. I agree that it would be daft to only listen to Artur's side of the story but if that's true then arguably knuckling down is futile. Sounds reasonably plausible - and fair. Easier said than done when he's actively fishing for controversy! FWIW, Friedel was still Spurs' #1 at the age of 41. Van der Sar retired at the top level at 41. Schwarzer's 41 and looked solid enough when called upon by Chelsea last season. All this decade.

Artur Boruc, He's having a barney, Bring your Pampers, Bring your Barbie. I jest of course. Love the big man for all his foibles. I can sort of see where he's coming from - shame he's not concentrating his efforts on knuckling down to impress Koeman rather than posting these wet 'inspirational' quotes. That said, I saw Artur reply to one fan's message with a comment along the lines of him having been told that he's 5th choice. Surely that's neither constructive of the club nor possible for him to be so far down the pecking order? If you believe everything he's said then it was never going to be a fair fight for the '#1' spot anyway.

Good to see the pitch is sorted. Don't think I've ever played at BTC before. Feeling pretty fit after a decent pre-season - well up for this!

This 'new' Southampton plays some bloody nice football. The chemistry in the build-up for Clyne's goal (among other moments) was breathtaking. I'm seeing a potentially more creative team that hasn't lost the ability to get in the opponents' faces and make life hard for them. Deliver us one more CB and I don't anticipate needing until 'September One' to judge our Summer, Mr Krueger.

This 'new' Southampton plays some bloody nice football. The chemistry in the build-up for Clyne's goal (among other moments) was breathtaking. I'm seeing a potentially more creative team that hasn't lost the ability to get in the opponents' faces and make life hard for them. Deliver us one more CB and I don't anticipate needing until 'September One' to judge our Summer, Mr Krueger.

Blimey, I'd forgotten about the little old club shop. My uncle used to take me there to buy assorted bits of club tat with my pocket money. Can't have been very old the last time I went - was it actually situated at the ground?

Probably... That was mine. Close enough anyway. I know it's another Sloop John B chant but it's closely based on what we sang for him, maintaining the 'left' and 'right'. As a bonus it actually scans syllable for syllable. ...and yes, we should concentrate on supporting our own players, Lallana won't be playing, blah blah. I don't see the harm in interspering a few cheap digs amongst that.

https://twitter.com/PrincessKafah http://instagram.com/princess1905gs Actually looks like she's literally been running through #saintsfc favouriting everything.

Tidy. Industrious. Good distribution. Agree that he looks in the Schneiderlin mould. His girlfriend keeps favouriting my tweets/Instagram posts which is a bit weird.

Not cool.

Indeed, heaven forbid we enjoy watching Saints play. Reasonably-priced tickets, strong opposition and the first opportunity to welcome the new lads to St. Mary's. I'm looking forward to a decent evening.

When Krueger stated that every penny generated from player sales would be re-invested, he didn't give a timescale. Obviously we need to bring personnel in, but do we really need to spend all of it this Summer (if we even can)? Last year Spurs spunked all of the Bale money in one go and really didn't get a great return. We're clearly going to be quoted silly transfer fees at present too. It wouldn't hurt to keep some funds aside for January and beyond. That seems more in line with a sustainable approach to me.

A version of this post ought to be displayed after signing up for the forum! As well as the 'Sky generation' I blame the age of entitlement. "Oh, we've signed some quality players? Give us more! More expensive ones, with higher ratings on FIFA." "Oh, you've opened up channels of communication via social media and the like? We want statements - nauseatingly endless statements just to put our fragile little impatient minds to rest. We won't believe a word of what you say, but we want it all the same."

Another article in a similar vein here: http://www.footyplace.com/features/ffp-to-blame-for-southampton-exodus-0730298110 Key assertions: Our wage cap is essentially set for us due to FFP - we cannot match £60k+/w without bringing the whole house of cards down Raising Shaw's wage to United's level would use half of our allotted 4% annual wage increase in one fell swoop Satellite/franchised academies are an intriguing option to sell our youth reputation and increase financial clout (I believe this has already been alluded to elsewhere)

We never actually employed Ronald Koeman, it's Ralph Krueger in a mask - thus his recent disappearance. Man gets about.

Rickie was never likely to reach a testimonial with us (short of doing a 'Sheringham') but I did dream that he'd finish his career at Saints. I get the whole thing of signing for your boyhood club and taking his family 'home'... It appears ever more likely that it'll end his career on a sour note though. Would still welcome him back as a bit-part player if it was guaranteed we'd be his final club.

Nobody does until 9am tomorrow!

Well you sort of need to know in order to log in Also it says this on the login page, which sort of gives the game away: Assumed that it would class me as having used the site before - thought it was a simple redesign before noticing the domain change/full new system.

Yeah, aside from the fact that they've reset everyone's password to their postcode. Top security nous there! Given that the only details required to access an account are now your email address and postcode, I'd suggest logging in and updating it quick-sharp.

Nope. JWP scored for us in the FA Cup, 2012. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/16371777.stm Do I get a MLG point?