Saint Charlie

Anyone still think Poch will stay?

Pretty sure it did. Said "this Bank Holiday Monday SSN understands Spurs have approached Saints..."

Other than an official approach then no. But that is clearly the catalyst to the move happening. Could be very quick now assuming MP's reps have already agreed much of his deal. Sure Ralph is comfortable over in Canada.

Spurs want to get him in place by end of week, have made official approach, and Poch believed to be keen. Would say that is news.

Update on SSN at 3....

Yeah both have some decent players. Must be a couple whonwould settle well to English football, same for Honduras.

Imagine we will be looking at the likes of South Korea, Australia, Japan, Honduras & the USA for possible signings.

52% club career win ratio and played the draft roster system well. Welcome to Southampton Saints Brucie!

He will do a great job there because he is a class Manager.

Hmm. Maybe 13% is too generous. Haha.

Yes. Its a forum for sharing these type of things, no?

Going 87% Staying 13% IMO.

Ralph is good with local businesses though, for the purpose of a balanced argument.

Anyone else heard that he might be coming in as an advisor to the Board? Would be an odd move IMO. Not ITK but someone mentioned last night that they had heard it was being talked about.

Football/Sports Direct News is full of **** and one of the 'sources' to take zero notice of I think. A load of made up stuff in the main.

Wouldn't want either personally. Would rather another foreign manager with a specific style of play.

She has a jaw like Ralph.

Sorry but we don't need, financially, to sell Shaw and Lallana to remain viable.Surely not? In fact, the board said so in Feb. We could sell Ramirez and Osvaldo for 10m for the pair and with the whopping PL money would be more than fine. Can completely undestand why MP feels Spurs are a better bet if he knows deep down that the squad he will have next season is weaker than what he ended this one with.

Not ITK at all but when asked could Ralph not have said, "We have offered Mauricio a new contract, he hasnt signed it yet and needs to work out whether he wants to or not." That, according to Adam Blackmore was the truth, yet instead he was wishy washy and MP every time when asked has referred the question to the Board when it was obviously his decision to stay or not. It wouldnt change the decision, but would provide the appearance of being more in control. Instead, they have stated multiple times that they were "comfortable" with the situation which must surely have been a lie because they knew, deep down, that MP wasnt going to sign a new deal. Any planning that MP has done he did as a professional but I would imagine he has known for a couple of months at least that Spurs was fairly likely, and he is obviously keen on it. Lets hope in that time the Board have identified a candidate of similar style of play and quality to MP. Good luck to them, and Poch who has got the team playing the best football Ive seen in 25 years watching Saints.

I think most fans know Spurs are a bigger club and can understand why he will leave, especially if a couple of our best players also (understandably) leave. The issue is more how it will all have been done. A bit of backbone lacking and Saints looking like a bit of a pushover at best or naive and clueless at worst. They could and should have put a little more onus on MP instead of just agreeing for him to put back talks continuously, in the face of interest from another team.

Spurs will surely want to appoint someone this week and have barely been linked (seriously) to anyone other than Poch and De Boer who has not heard anything since the first approach. Would expect its been sorted out in the background for a few weeks. Will be gutting to lose him and as many said when the new board came in - MP's decision to stay or go would be our clearest indication as to their true ambition.

I understand Clyne is lined up for a £60m move to United. Being ratified at the moment.

They have articles like that every week in that section. Its meant to be light-hearted and tbh that is a decent bet.

Ive changed my Agenda so best clarify: Currently unsure of the new Board who seem a bit out of their depth. I know we wont be challenging for titles etc, but as end of the day with all the good players and Manager we came 8th. I fear if we lose MP and a couple of our best players (plus JR injured) then we may do a WBA next season and struggle. Having met RK he is a positive guy but I don't think he understands how cut-throat football is. In 6 months the new Board have barely done anything on the football side whilst a lot of issues remain unresolved.

No. Im not wishing for it to go tits up. Im bashing the new board because they aren't appearing to be doing a good job. If they were, I would be happy. Im sure most fans arent that happy at the moment so its ok to say that surely rather than pretend its all great? People say "we will keep all our players" and it has no base but that is ok because its a positive thought?