Turkish

Really? I'd prefer Forster, McCarthy is exactly like Jack Stephens, comes into the side and does well for a handful of games then reverts back to the error prone player making big mistakes he usually is.

Not really in one sense, McCarthy has (supposedly) agreed a new deal to stay, Forster hasn't and will leave at the end of the season. I think someone described it a while ago on here as giving a promotion to someone who was working their notice whilst leaving a loyal employee who was staying to kick their heels. Although there is no doubt Forster is the better keeper.

Bit different from his previous stance in January that he doesn't like the transfer window and happy with his squad. Funny how those of us who said he was just playing the company line were shouted down with it being said Ralph wouldn't say he was happy when he wasn't!

To coach what? How to run around a lot?

I am sure the leaders at the BBC would be delighted to hear that you have given them the Sad Old Git personal stamp of approval. How arrogant!

Good news, i like him. Good back up, maybe one of our two first choice off?

here you go hun x Better late than never’: Two years and 24 unsuccessful buyers later, Southampton have finally been sold Dan Sheldon 5h ago 9 At what point do you say, “Enough is enough”? That must have been a thought going through the minds of those involved in trying to sell Southampton Football Club, be it club employees or intermediaries attempting to thrash out a deal. For nearly two years, potential buyers expressed interest but then walked away due to economic uncertainty, the global pandemic, the threat of a European Super League and a host of other reasons. It should be said there was also an element of Southampton being picky in terms of who they were sold to, ensuring the eventual purchasers would have a plan in place should they acquire Gao Jisheng’s 80 per cent majority shareholding. Many prospective owners were spurned because of this. The uncertainty looked as if it would continue into 2022 until Sport Republic, a company backed by Dragan Solak and co-owned by Henrik Kraft and Rasmus Ankersen, entered the picture late last year and left the other interested parties in their wake. Their deal to buy Gao’s stake was officially announced on Tuesday afternoon. But how did Southampton get to this stage, and what did their search for a new majority shareholder entail? The Athletic has reported on the process throughout the last 18 months and is led to believe around 25 different potential buyers presented themselves to the Premier League club. It is thought about half of them managed to sit down with those involved in trying to sell Southampton, and of that figure, five or six were deemed to be serious. So, what happened to the other half of their suitors? A deal had been agreed with an American hotelier at the beginning of 2020. It is thought the only thing left to do was put pen to paper. But after reading posts on fans forum saintsweb the american billionaire decided Southampton was not the club for him with negative, moaning fans — that prospective owner pulled out at the last minute. This meant the club moved back to square one and now had to confront starting their search again amid a global crisis. Supporters will be familiar with Joseph DaGrosa’s intention to purchase Gao’s stake, with the American entering a period of exclusivity with Southampton towards the end of 2020. While the specifics of that deal will remain bound by non-disclosure agreements, DaGrosa later told The Athletic he thought Gao was seeking too much money, especially when you consider the losses incurred because of COVID-19. Those on the other side of the negotiating table stress they weren’t interested in a leveraged buyout. Like Sport Republic, DaGrosa planned to start a multi-club model, with Southampton at its centre, through his Kapital Football Group. Alan Pace’s ALK Capital group, which eventually purchased fellow Premier League club Burnley just over a year ago, also showed an interest in Southampton before opting to look elsewhere. There were, again, concerns about how the mooted takeover at St Mary’s was going to be funded. It was clear from those representing the club that leveraging money against Southampton to purchase Gao’s 80 per cent share was an idea that wasn’t ever going to get off the ground. Crucial to this stance was Rolf Bogli. Bogli sits on the board at Southampton and is an advisor to Katharina Liebherr, the club’s now-minority shareholder having sold that 80 per cent to Gao in the summer of 2017. It is thought his involvement took a lot of heat off Martin Semmens, the chief executive, in terms of workload. Due to Bogli’s background in banking, he had little time for potential buyers who did not have the required funds at their disposal. Gao (left) bought his 80 per cent stake in Southampton for around £160m in 2017 (Photo: Getty Images) French news reports in May 2021 suggested that Gerard Lopez, former owner of current French champions Lille and currently in charge at fellow Ligue 1 club Bordeaux, was willing to buy Gao’s stake. The Athletic is led to believe Lopez was recommended to the club by one of their former players. However, there were concerns about his track record. This was another potential deal that didn’t even get off the ground. In what was an incredibly serious and important process, there were times where those taking part in it could only see the funny side to a situation. One of these was when they sat down — via Zoom — with a prospective owner purporting to be a billionaire. When the checks and balances were carried out by intermediaries, it became apparent this figure wasn’t who he said he was. His office address turned out to be nothing more than a hut. A common complaint was that certain investors felt they had a God-given right to buy the club. One is thought to have introduced himself and said he wanted the deal complete within 24 hours despite not providing any proof of funds or offering any kind of insight into his plans for Southampton. At times during the last 18-24 months, names were shared with the Premier League, who then warned of the misdemeanours of some individuals. Those potential owners were quickly discarded. In light of fellow Premier League side Newcastle United’s Saudi Arabia-backed takeover three months ago, Southampton have also had their fair share of interest from the Middle East. Southampton eventually found a suitable buyer in Sport Republic. There was an instant connection between both parties. A December meeting in Europe solidified each side’s intentions and a deal was concluded relatively quickly. There was no media circus and news of their two-year hunt for new buyers ending until a handful of hours before Tuesday’s official announcement. It’s understood everything was completed around Christmas time, but there was a desire to wait until the new year to have a clean slate. Those close to the lengthy and exhaustive process will be delighted it is finally over. The focus has now shifted from finding a buyer to ensuring Sport Republic turns its exciting vision for a multi-club set-up into a successful reality. It arrived late in the day, nearly two years after the deal with that American hotelier fell through, but those close to the situation will almost certainly be thinking it’s better late than never.

Our wage bill has come down dramatically over the last few years. Big earners (some of them stealing a living) like Ings, Austin, Hojbjerg, Bertrand, Vestergaard, Lemina, Carillo, Soares etc gone replaced by players on smaller wages. This summer will hopefully see the back of two more in Forster and Long. Every other club seems to struggle on having to pay premier league level wages without having to use proceeds from transfer to cover it, so not sure why anyone thinks we're different

Great to see Andrew is paying his own legal fees!!

So when Shane Long scored on 89 minutes at Anfield that season whilst 3000 or so of us in the ground were going mental you were at home sitting on your hands saying as a season ticket holder that's no good to me. Worst since Chris Nichol, jesus wept.

There were some decent home performances as well first half of the season, it started going downhill after Fonte was sold and Van Dijk injured when we had to play more defensively as we had the worst centre halves in the league. The two top scorers from the previous two seasons had been sold Plus with a Europa league campaign and our run to the cup final he had way more fixtures than Koeman or Pochetino had so you can’t play a high energy, attacking football when your playing 3 games a week most weeks. Never hear anyone talk about that. It’s that boring, useless Puels eighth cup final season was a crap season where we were all bored.

We won’t win the net spend trophy throwing money around like that!

Good news, good player.

it's not a case of believing them or rejecting them. It's that some people simply believe they are all that matter, whilst some of us believe they are relevant but also only part of the picture. They are important and can be a good way of assessing players, opposition etc but they are not the only way and should not be the only way, which is where some are over reliant. For example people were raving about Vestergaard this time last year because his stats said he was one of the best defenders in the league, anyone who knew anything about football knows that wasn't the case.

Their match v Arsenal tomorrow is off but their game v Shrewsbury on sunday goes ahead. So they can field a team for a cup game against a lower league side but cant for a cup game against one in the same division 🤔

It was because he'd lost the players and fans, that was obvious. Once that happens then it only ends on way anyway. I dont think sacking him on results was right given the circumstances he had to deal with.

Better than Koemans the year before

This simply isnt true. Puel took over from Craig Shakesphere in October 2017, the previous season Leicester finished 12th they were near the bottom of the table for most of the season and Raneri was sacked in the february with them one point above the relegation zone. They were a bit of a mess around then with Shakesphere coming and only lasting 8 months before being replaced by Puel. Puel took them to 9th, 3 places higher than the previous season and Kante and Drinkwater had been sold from their title winning side. That summer Mahrez was sold to Man City and Puel was sacked in the February with them 12th. 3 seasons with 8th, 9th and 12th (when fired) tend to prove that he's a pretty decent midtable manager. Whatever he did at Leicester is irrelevant to what he did at Saints anyway.

Cisse is one player who was still at the club, Puel was without half the team of the previous season for at least half of it. If you agree that Fonte and Van Dijk were worth 10 points, then in the previous season Mane and Pelle scored 9 more goals than Austin and Redmond, how many points is that worth? Potentially up to 18, so you're talking about possibly a 23 point swing, which turns usless old Claudes 46 points into 69, level on points with Manchester United. The point being that everyone goes on about useless Puel and how he was such a downgrade on Koeman, without taking into account the other factors. As i said, if he'd had the same players as Koeman he may have finished 23 points better off than he did.

On that basis neither has any manager we've had apart from McMenemy

But again this is another case where stats only tell part of the story. What they dont tell you is that Puel achieved what he did without Van Dijk and Fonte for half a season (arguably one of the top centre back pairs in the league) and Mane, Pelle (our two leading scorers from the previous season) and Wanyama for the whole season. Also Charlie Austin our leading goal scorer in Puels only made 15 league appearances. So without almost half of the team the season before that had been successful. Add in one of the replacements for those didn't even manage to play in half the league games and a rookie Jack Stephens playing half a a season maybe people should be saying how well he did under the circumstances. So yes stats can paint a picture but they dont give you the full picture which is why relying on data alone is not a fair or accurate assessment.

Loves his golf, only reason he is buying Saints is because he wants to buy the land opposite St Marys and turn it into the English version of Augusta.

Very good that, very interesting

I hope he isn’t. No manager should ever not want to improve the squad if there is a chance too

£30k a week with a £5m a goal bonus