Gordon Mockles

Great post & sums up my thoughts exactly. I don’t understand the blind support of an owner who has little interest in the club and the naive optimism from fans, then the massively arrogant attitudes attacking any dissenting voice. Sadly, the past few years of abject failure have culminating in pushing my patience, hence my rather chastising posts against the club management. I’ve been ground down. I see what the club are doing. Playing games and taking the p*ss quite frankly. The club seem to have beaten any standards out of many fans, if they ever had any. I’ve always been a supporter that supports a club that produces, at a minimum, competitive football. We all have different expectations &, as we age, some, including me, become less tolerant of the prevaricating bullsh*t of an disinterested owner & disingenuous club who seemingly treat fans with mild contempt. Look at how far we have fallen in a few short seasons of the most dire, incompetent management?! Surely a record breaking fall from grace. We have one day left so I will judge tomorrow but look at the clubs whom should be our main competitors. We fall well short of them. Wolves. West Ham. Watford. Everton. Newcastle. Christ, Bournemouth have surpassed us. Brighton nearly finished above us. That’s unacceptable considering we were beating City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea & Spurs & the rest a few seasons back. We were in a cup final when Gabbi scores his hatrick. Now look at us. Since Tadic left, then Gabbiadini, Gardos, Pied, Davis, Matt Targett, Jordy Clasie, Sam Gallagher all moved on. Then we signed a keeper, Vestergaard (who we needed) & 2 pretty hopeless attackers in Carillo and Elyounoussi. Armstrong a cheap squad player of little consequence imho. Earlier signings, Lemina was decent & started superbly but got injured & fell out of favour. Essentially, under Gao more have left than come in. Then I get deriding for being p*ssed off & expecting at least one solid defender (ideally a DM too) considering the money now involved in this league. Am I living in a parallel world full of people with no standards & ambition?! We can and should bring in more quality. We are not a strong squad. We need the lynch pins of quality for these exciting youth prospects to learn from. Klarer. Ramello Mitchell. Etc. Tomorrow is a key day Saints. What gets me so angry is how the club try and engineer fan opinion and keep going back on their word and they have definitely made out that we would be signing more in this window in earlier press releases and general chat and they constantly shape shift & move the goal posts. When Ralph arrived, certain promises were made and words said. I remember them clearly even if everyone else doesn’t. Under Gao, it has always been a case of the next transfer window, too expensive in January, the next transfer window. We have to sell to buy. Let’s have a preseason to build and let Ralph build his squad. Call me cynical but I’m fairly sure RalphRalph building his own squad wasn’t intended to be solely Djenepo and Adams. This club mislead, prevaricate, dangle the carrot, go back on their word and change their tune more than Boris bloody Johnson!! 2 signings is woefully short. 3 with Ings. Yes, we still have a large group of unwanted players we need to shift but that doesn’t take away the fact we need to bring in some quality too which we have failed to do in any number for consecutive windows. We should expect more and I can’t think of many PL clubs that have slumped so fast and so dramatically. We went from 6th/8th/10th and competing in Europe...then lost our comprehensive and competent management team, then Kat took over and decimated the club. Les was left without supervision & we will be years recovering from his mess. We all agree on that. Surely. Ralph K inept and clueless and of no use at all in a PL capacity. The rest of the board have little or no football prowess and no-one seems to want to lead by example. There is a media blackout. The board have no interest in the football and I don’t see who oversees & controls the management. Ross?! We seem in disarray. The scouting network seems to have diminished hugely. The investment in that area has clearly gone. We need leadership. We need financial backing. Kat sold out the ownership to a joker who has no interest in the sport, more interest in property (as is his background which the club must have known all along). Gao has asset stripped much of the squad. Let’s hope he can part with some of his billions to at least buy a decent defender tomorrow. If we don’t bring anyone in, I’ve lost all hope with this Chinese charlatan whom was brought into the club under a tissue of lies and false promises. We don’t deserve to remain in the league if we can’t actually competitively recruit. I love Saints but I won’t support this owner & part with my hard earned money if he’s not willing to part with his. As Clarkie so astutely intimates, how many close shaves does it take these morons to bloody realise? We never learn and never capitalise or take advantage of a situation. Ralph won’t stay patient forever and he’s wise enough to know there will be much easier jobs around for more money, less hassle and much better financial support. Even from close rivals. Then we will bemoan the club board & we will lose yet another good manager who we will watch go on to achieve great success elsewhere. Am I wrong for wanting just a little slice of success or is that too much to expect?! My grumblings are based on our club investing a small amount of money as we have barely spent a penny in PL terms. How much is the TV money now? We sign one or two key players and all my reservations will disappear. Much has culminated to this mindset and to this point, the final day of the transfer window. Time for Gao to put up or f*ck off.

To be fair, I did add the caveat that I “I’m only speculating so don’t shoot me down for not being positive prior to the opening game”. It’s a football forum so football talk, rumours, unsubstantiated gossip, conjecture and speculation are what a forum is about although judging by many, deriding others, belittling suggestions, challenging any opinion and rubbishing rumours and character assassination seem the more preferred mindset of many. As I say, I’ve typed too much and most is probably complete b*llocks but it’s just an opinion so take it or leave it. Take it with a pinch of salt. I did laugh at the “considering in the cold light of day” or comment to that affect, you patronising ****er! LOL. Fair comment. Whilst trying to not overthink matters after my initial reaction, I probably think Danny returning to one of his native country’s top clubs is a much preferred role and Saints are not really setting much alight with their driving ambition under Gao. Yes, to whoever mentioned transfers being part of the optimism. Egg seems to have a strict (egg) counter on quota we can sign and apparently we cannot sign a single player until another is sold. He clearly has a direct hotline to the staff wage bill and FFP. Yes, ambition and signing players is a strong indicator, but not exclusively part of a club or owner’s intentions and often seen as an form of ambition. Let’s be fair, Gao was totally misrepresented to the fans but I think the board probably knew this but Kat was more interested in the business transaction. As you would be with the figures at hand. I am digressing. We do have a weak defence and signing a solid CB is key to our overhaul. Just one quality player is so pivotal. Even Ralph admits that. Re: to broken promises, just look at the club leaked dross put in the Echo over the past 18 months. It clearly emanates from the club PR feeds and they have gone back on their words countless times unless you have terribly short/sh*t memories. Just stating it. Didn’t know Gao attended a forum. That’s positive news. Good. As it stands, it seems odd Danny has left so soon into a 2.5 year contract and I’ll leave it there. I just hope it’s not a sign of losing confidence in the future direction of the club. We may never know. I have no evidence, I always said it was pure conjecture. As most talk on here is. I would feel optimistic if we had more of a lynch in defence. Until we do, we will continue to throw away games. Vestgaard is decent against poorer opposition but gets roasted against pacey, quality opposition. It is exactly a surprise Captain Hindsight. No-on expected Rohl to be gone 8 months into a 2.5 year contract but there you go. Or are you some kind of smug soothsayer? LOL I don’t think having an opinion is classed as conspiracy, old chap.

I hope not but certain alarm bells ring at this move. Those dismissing this as insignificant are naive or the usual deluded Saints optimists. My comments ramble on below so I apologise but they’re a little suspicious and damning of Gao as I am not a fan of our regime. I think Danny probably felt the club didn’t have the ambition they purported to have when coaxing him in. Under the current dynasty, we do seem to run a disingenuous & disorganised club. Compared to previous years. What little dialogue we do have. Hardly a comprehensive reason why he’s left on the official website. I treat that as suspect. I’m naturally suspicious as too many people lie and deceive and I do notice the short comings of some in the characteristics of their speech. I just hope this isn’t start of an exodus. Bayern are a much better prospect. You can’t take that away. I just hope Röhl walking out isn’t symptomatic of the staff morale under Gao because I am no fan of our current owner & I find it extremely distasteful how our Chinese board promote media and marketing in Gao’s home country (& swings his d**k around by flying the favoured first players to China to show off) yet has the disregard & arrogance to ignore the local fans and city whom ARE the club. Utter disrespect. I fear it’s tangible to consider the lack of transfers and seemingly broken promises made to Ralph may be a factor in Danny’s decision to leave so soon after arriving (ie: miss sold a dream by a prevaricating board). Danny would have definitely been involved in the coaching, integrating & recruitment of new targets, knowing what players we need to progress or tread water. This would’ve been discussed on Ralph’s initial interview which would have been relayed to Röhl. Without suitable defenders brought in, we are simply swapping one glaring problem for another in that the lack of attacking prowess which plagued us since SFC sold all our main scorers & assist playmakers & replaced them with cut price and inadequate (gamble) replacements. Now we have a better front line and an awful defence so we are not much further forward. I fear Danny knew this and decided moving to a bigger & more professional outfit was easier than remaining with a club that didn’t have an idea or backing to achieve what he had hoped the club initially promised. Or he may have just wanted a big club move. Generally, when you leave a company shortly after arriving, it’s down to dissatisfaction and realising you were sold a cold turkey. You don’t tend to move unless you are sure. Unless under a temporary arrangement but the contract duration would reflect that. I find in life, it is easier to judge individuals by their actions and then their words will never fool you. Those fans suggesting it was only a temporary arrangement are shortsighted as he wouldn’t have been on a 2 1/2 year deal. Röhl will not have keft because of SFC financial reasons. I’m only speculating so don’t shoot me down for not being positive prior to the opening game. I feel the carrots dangled, media spin and words fed to the press fall short of what the club promised & what I expect. Please don’t peddle the sell to buy mantra the club conditioned the fans with. It’s clear we have dross to sell but we have space for a CB & defensive midfielder. The finances won’t be released or the more pressing point and judging by the media back tracking, it’s logical to assume this has happened at club level with the first team manager and coaches. I heard rumours that Lemina was being baited to clubs as a bargaining chip & if you were that player, you would be pretty peed off too. They did similar on going back on their word with Morgan. Hence he took to Twitter. The Façade approach with Promes. Going back on their word in Jan re: transfers. Saying Ralph would overhaul in pre season. Ralph wants the ability to allow for the quality academy players to step up, that much is clear but we are also thin in quality in defence and soon, defensive midfield. Gao & his boardroom appear (with scraps I can muster) to not honour their promises and their word. Just a few observations of the club in the past year & their alleged, hidden, brash tactics. The club naïvely try to spin the sentiment & have been exposed by promising players moves after a year or two (no NDAs anymore) and then moving the proverbial goal posts. Different to the reasons the club give the fans when dissatisfied players leave and that shines a whole new light on matters we faced on two consecutive seasons with the mass player exodus. It seems we brought in key players by offering them to use as a stepping stone to a big move. Shocking if this is a repeated pattern in negotiations as it shows absolutely zero ambition for the club other than making money from player sales. Directionless. We clearly aren’t running an overly moral dialogue. If any at all. I’m aware of the ugly inside of football & lots happens we don’t need to know but we desperately & clearly need PL capable management of the club at board room level ( rather than a team of market strategists with no experience ) and I can’t see improvement until we have leadership. Les, Ralph K (in the recent past), Ross, Kat, Nelly and Gao seem woefully unfit for purpose. Then we have the market people...yet no football people, or very few I’m aware of. If there are any, we haven’t been told. I’m almost certain that the list of targets Ralph would have drawn up for this season would have been done in conjunction with Danny. If this is the case, it won’t be long before Ralph loses patience if promised are being stretched or broken. Saints have a proclivity for occasional getting a decent manager (1 in every 10 or 11) in & then totally taking the pee and peeing them off. Les allegedly forced out out the Koeman’s with bully boy, sign a new contract or go treatment. I definitely think the club have gone back on their word slightly as I can see visible examples in the press. You might say that is bedwetting but it’s an interesting thing Danny has gone when only newly appointed and on a 2.5 contract. Look at the facts. Ignore conjecture. We have only 2 players in yet we have had way more leave and have intentions to move on another bunch. Granted, we need to move on the overpaid dross like Elyonoussi, Carillo, Hoedt, Soares, Austin & Lemina (who I rate) but we also need to bring a number of players in and just two players in and no defenders just doesn’t cut in. Surely Romeu needs replacing soon too. We seem so unprofessional and disorganised & disinterested since Cortese & Markus sadly left us. Drifting downstream, with no sense of direction or ownership/leadership. No football heads in the boardroom. I truly rate Ralph and love Saints but my perception of St Mary’s life through various channels may differ to yours. I hope we have a good season but without a bolstered defence of greater quality, coaching alone will not be enough. I feel we may be in for a testing season without new additions. So far a sparse window considering we have moved many on, more needed. Adams and Djenepo excite me but a defender is paramount. Ralph can’t play the way he wants without a solid back wall which is key in his tactics. In any tactics to be fair. Ralph is a very good manager but he is having too much put on his shoulders and he doesn’t have enough quality in the calibre of support. From pitch to board to scouting level. If Ralph loses hope as he doesn’t have the sufficient support to compete effectively, IF the club are pushing his patience, if he goes and we have too much reliance on a single man, it leaves the club extremely vulnerable. Huge speculation and I hope, overly sensational and un-necessarily dramatic. Lol If Ralph leaves, we are screwed because he takes away much more than just a single man leaving the club like Danny Röhl. We put too much reliance on him. I seen no plan of continuity in place IF he left unlike under the previous and much more effective management which had us competing in the top half of the table. Bring back leadership to St Mary’s and support Ralph. We have a few days left. Let’s hope Maguire completes his medical and the other transfers pick up (which I am being told involves our target) and we get our man this week. Thanks for your short service Danny. I know he had a positive impact and his player analysis and insight was supposedly superb. Sorry I went off on one. Not the first time. Largely speculatively b***ocks but it got the worry off my chest. COME ON YOU SAINTS!!

Yeah, with as much as intention as the tyre kicking saints saga pretending they were interested in buying Quincy Promes. Merely tyre kicking to appease the fans we had ab owner trying to invest in the squad

Naive optimism is pretty common at St Mary’s

Rule out? He was never in contention other than to day dreaming fans. Way beyond our standards and levels of ambition under the Gao dynasty.

Rule out? He was never in contention. Way beyond our standards and ambition

Of course. Peculiar point to make. We all have a friend who is more of an acquaintance through association whom we would not categorically pick through our own moral compass and criteria of virtues in accepting a friendship (they are selfish, unreliable, a bit annoying), but we extend a mutual respect due to our peer group of friends and that common level of decency. We also have a friend who is much more value, charismatically (rather than transfer fee). ;o) A friend whom is popular, thoughtful, kind, entertaining, reliable, funny and charming (although rarely all of those positive traits at the same time lol). I know which person I would extend my loyalty to. I’m assuming you don’t have a partner either (or of any note) if you harbour the mindset that “loyalty is guff”. Please don’t tell me you’re a swinger!! LMAO No-one gives a flying f**k about loyalty from wasters. Loyalty from those that mean something is much more sought after, and often the more elusive but that kind of perpetuates the parody of life. Sod’s Law, or the Bosman ruling or something to that effect.

We are looking at centre backs but it - apparently - relies on a string of transfers happening from what I hear. Much like the house buying chain. Fairly standard. Most are pretty much in the dark these days but that’s how transfers should go. No-one should hear about it as that’s how they go wrong and we don’t even hear from our owner/chairman so we aren’t going to hear much concerning transfers. I don’t understand how every Saints expert who posts on social media keeps peddling the belief we have to sell to buy. We have a target in mind, apparently. I, conversely, have heard no evidence to suggest that we will not buy unless we sell a player. It will just facilitate matters to move more off our books although I’m sure some posters may disagree with that because apparently some have a folder of all the players contracts and club’s financial status and transfer budgets. I understand, if we find the right player when they become available, we will sign them. We are playing chess at the moment and I’m only repeating third hand info. We have always been looking to shift the Deadwood but, as I understood it, that will not jeopardise our offer. The target club not being able to find a replacement for the defender we want will prevent proceedings.

You see it as sucking pleasure. I see it as being realistic. I don't think realism invalidates a supporter. Just makes you less happy clappy. I've never been that way. You don't like realism. Point closed. I'm more excited because of Adams, ambivalent about Djenepo. I'll be more more assured if we sign a CB. We will throw away too many games otherwise. Swapping lack of attack for another problem, keeping goals out. A scary bite of reality. Trousers - "Guilty as charged m'lud. More than happy to be deluded and naively optimistic. Much preferable to taking this game they call football too seriously The planet is hurtling through the universe at circa 872,405 miles per hour on a path to certain oblivion. Cheer up" Don't think I need cheering up or to take the game less serious. I'm simply not a happy clapper and naive optimist. You have different standards to me but making do was never in my periphery. I just don't tolerate an owner who goes back on his word. I think we will get a CB but whether he's decent remains to be seen.

Well said. Southampton fans appear more deluded by the season and naively optimistic. We don’t have much player pulling power. Look at how we are run these days and our past few seasons. Ralph aside, we will need to shift out the sh*t & replace wisely and galvanise our squad & overhaul the defence to enable upper table finishes. Then, only then, can we think of offering decent fees and trying to bring in the better, more established transfers if we ever do under Gao.

Please never use Lovren’s name accompanying proper, decent defenders. It flatters that arrogant piece of turd. I get the idea that we now sell ourselves as a stepping stone club. Kind of makes you want to give up watching if our only aspirations are to be a feeder and academy farm. Eradicates success in essence. Look at what Liverpool did with our products. We won’t ever be Liverpool or a proper competing top 6 club bit to have some ambition again would be good. Cortese and Markus were the only 2 that ever seemed to get it. Still, it would be fantastic if we did get this chap but can’t see it. If we sign, I imagine it’ll be a lower PL youth/fringe player or championship hopeful or another European gamble. Let’s hope Ralph has his say. We need more than we have. Testing unproven and youth players in the PL is a risky gamble and will lose more games than win, I fear. We need to blood them and I’m all for that but I’m worried we will push them through in too large a numbers. I think we have exciting prospects but we are playing in the best league in the world. There is no margin or forgiveness for errors.

If Ralph pulls that one off, I think quite a few fans would pull one off. Lol Can’t see it though. I think any defender signing we make is reliant on a string of defensive moves from other PL clubs and not Leipzig.

We won’t get this player. Arsenal or Manchester United or some other top 6 club will get him. It would be a ludicrous move for him if he came to us. He surely wants the money, ambition and trophies, none of which we can provide. Besides, Gao won’t splash out. To galvanise our squad, we do need a costly centre back but seeing as all our record signings have been flops, most on here decided if we sign anyone above 20 million (which Gao is highly unlikely to do), he will be an instant flop. Think lower key. Much lower. If the string of transfers in the PL happens, we may get lucky and we have feelers out but but it won’t be a player of that calibre. Our stock is low and we don’t have a squad capable of much more than lower table. Mid to Lower mid table if we sign a decent centre back.

Don’t say that too loudly. You may end up with egg on your face, so to speak! Lol Apparently Egg has inside knowledge on all club transfer dealings and we absolutely must sell in order to buy another player despite having sold Gabbiadini mid season, shifting out Davis, then Targett & Gallagher. Other will leave but apparently there is no room for anyone else. ;o) What utter cr*p! We are looking at CBS which are dependent on other sales in other clubs & if we shift anymore out such as Lemina, Clasie & Boufal, I understand Ralph has made a list of targets despite us being unable to sign anyone according to some on here. Don’t believe the hype. Some fans are too gullible or just naively short sighted.

No. We should’ve addressed it earlier but the money has probably gone from that now due to Les Reed’s alleged mismanagement although I’m not sure where it all went when you considered the wage bill not also take into account television revenue. A lot of fans on here apologise for the club too much. I do believe we are looking at centre backs and understand that there is a chain of signings which will dictate events. As is often the case. One very large fee for a British defender effecting all the others. We shall see but I hope we have a back up in mind because we really must address this key area. This my last post of the day so I won’t be able to respond further today. Not sure if direct messages work. Everyone seems to have swallow the echo propaganda but there is no evidence to suggest that we are unable to sign a centre back and we don’t have the wage bill. If we can offload Austin, that will free up a decent wedge & a certain amount become available post Gabbiadini & Davis also freed up a certain amount in wages and if you realise over the last 2 1/2 seasons, we shed more as well as loans. I imagine it’s convenient for the club to get you to believe this but the club have proven to be disingenuous by a series of transfer sagas & broken promises and transfer rumours which so clearly emanate from PR agencies or agent baiting. It’s almost insultingly transparent. We shall see. I will give the club a hard time but that emanates from them deceiving fans in recent seasons. All alleged of course. Trust has to be rebuilt and having an owner and businessman that can’t even address the fans does not win favour with me or compatriots. It’s a simple matter of respect. I would like to think when we ship out Austin, we will get a replacement as we are only one injury away from a crisis. A competitive Premier League team needs strength & depth. Mixed with the youth as we wisely seem to manage but only a small number can make the step up and we need to learn from our past disastrous decisions under the chairman we don’t like to mention and Poortvliet. The youth need to be added gradually and Ralph is the man to bring them through but we can’t rely on them too heavily because you need that mixture of established quality to make up a competitive squad. Established quality rub off on the youth & give them incentive and inspiration. Anyway, I’m not sure why people keep mentioning the wage bill because a good portion of our squad players are ex academy who have progressed to the first team whom will be on low wages. We have culled a lot of players. We are not exceeding FFP limits. There is no doubt whatsoever the club and the echo would’ve cited this instantly had we been anywhere near the limit. They use every media outlet available to lower fan expectation & use every excuse going to deviate from the lack of signings. Let’s hope United succeed in signing Harry Maguire soon then the other chain of defensive transfers may start the ball rolling before it cascades down to us.

I agree. We leaked too many goals and threw away too many games last season due to concentration in defence and stupid mistakes. Unforgivable at this level. I hope plans are underway to recruit for this key area. No press reports suggest that but that's not to say we are not looking but I am sceptical on actions so far by the club under our current regime. It needs to be a club record signing as decent quality cannot come cheap. We have learnt spending more on less quality is not necessary cost effective (Mayuka, Forren, Carillo, Osvaldo, Ramirez, Boufal, Gabbiadini, Hoedt, Vestergaard, Elyonoussi, Taider, Juanmi (I rated him but never got a chance), Filip Djuricic, etc.) Caceres was a bizarre one. A CB of undoubted quality we never used. Hate to consider the loan fee and wages paid. RH came in and performed minor miracles but for all his motivation, expertise and man management, the realisation of his monumental effort and positive effect only culminated in finishing one league position higher. ONE PLACE. So, that is a key indicator of personnel and the need for improvements. Even Ralph admits and knows this but he is much more subtle in response as he doesn't want to sully his name and reputation with his employer. The man isn't daft. Our key area of fault have been defensive lapses and creating chances and finishing, a huge lack of attacking quality (an issue ignored for 3 seasons) which occurred when Reed sold Pelle and Mané and never effectively replaced them and the club have used poorer quality replacements ever since that moment (biggest effect being VVD and replacing him with Hoedt). It seems we have brought in 2 attackers but seem to have ground to a halt in recruitment. Sensible money would say we are waiting until the last minute but reasoned logic would say this is down to a stringently controlled transfer budget. Centre back, as striker which we have addressed, should be top priority. No point in finally addressing our huge deficit in attacking quality after we sold all the family jewels and replaced them with inferior knock offs, to only have a make shift defence which leaks goals. Then we are solving one problem but creating another. No point scoring more goals if we are leaking them the other end. Vestergaard can be decent against inferior opposition but seems to be found out against faster, quality opponents. We need a suitable and defence leading replacement for VVD (we made enough from the sale) and until we recruit for this, our team will continue to thrown away games (often from dominating with attacking, good pressing play). A strong centre back will galvanise our first 11, as Che I think (and hope) will transform our attacking throng.

I'm not sure how you can cheer Djnepo as he is an unknown quantity. I am pleased with Che Adams as he is familiar with English football but too many cheap, inexperienced PL imports playing outside of Britain have not succeeded well other than Gabbiadini who hit the ground running but poor managers missusing him seemed to kill his creativity and ability to find space and bring other players in. I hope Djnepo bucks the trend of European failures in the scouting department. I don't think fault lie with the scouts. They willl produce their reports and recommendations. The person at St Mary's overseeing the spending has final decision and they clearly took gambles due to budget restrictions authorised by the ownership of financial director. I applaud past ambitious signings that didn't work such as Ramirez, Boufal & Gabbiadini who had so much potential. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I think Osvaldo was a silly risk as he has previous form for being mental and aggressive. Part of the gamble is taking the risk and, at one stage, at least we strove for more and had ambition which sadly seems to have dissipated, to be replaced by making do. New owner, new set of goals or targets. Sadly, they don't seem to be on the pitch. It would be nice to know the ambitions of our owners but sadly, fan communication isn't deemed a priority.

WTAF?! You should work for the Daily Mail. I think that says more about your character then the player you criticise whom is only earning as much as he is possible, like most of us try to do, in a short career. A contract he was awarded after multiple clean sheets when his stock was at its highest. If you want to blame anyone, blame Reed. Wow! Imagine you got a bonus you didn’t deserve as you are ostensibly, a work shy tosser, and your directors wanted to make your life living hell. Smearing your rep, shady photos on social media leaked, family exposed to news about your coke habit. I’m guessing with your moral code, you’d be ok with that as it’s only fair. What a strangely ruthless & twisted mind you have. This is to someone that apparently had mental health issues.

Fair point but I wasn’t sure if this new guy was an out and out winger or better in the hole. I think we still need another attacking midfield outlet. Competition for the new guy & Redmond. Armstrong, squad player. I’d still like to see Boufal played properly in the centre attacking - in the hole - with players around him, rather than on the wings. With decent coaching he could be a real threat. I’d almost build tactics to suit that formation but I’m unsure if Ralph would accept his glaringly clear problems with attitude & team work. We definitely need a strong striker, someone like Che Adams, who can hit the ground running. Someone to run off Ings’ intelligent passes. A solid centre back is an absolute must as is a full back to replace Soares. Critically important and a weak link in our squad.

Totally agree. RB & a strong CB. A team leading CB won’t come cheap. I would say three attackers really but I will be happy with two as long as one is an out and out striker as we are seriously lacking in that department. Lookman would be a good edition. It’s a shame Promes was used as a carrot to dangle & appease the fans & we never really had any intention to sign him as it he would have been another signing with a lot of ‘promise’ *gets coat* and could’ve really added something to this league. He ended up in Spain for way less than we were touted to offer. It doesn’t look like he’s set La Liga alight. Very suspect approach by us that and strange how the club said they would go back for him and not another word spoken about him. Also strange about the fee being potentially 8 million less than we “supposedly” bid. Something stinks of fish. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.hitc.com/en-gb/2018/08/31/do-southampton-should-feel-frustrated-as-sevilla-seal-17m-quincy/ I’d like to see Che Adams come in & I believe we are doing a lot to pursue this transfer. Possibly being one of our prime targets. Captain obvious I know. I’m unsure about the ex Arsenal lad plying his trade in Italy. Southampton have apparently asked Juventus about striker Stephy Mavididi on a season long loan. I’d rather have Lookman.

If we sign a player and he turns out to be good, I will have a nose bleed and withhold my cynicism for a day or two.

I totally agree with you. Little snippets of information feel like they’re going back on their word & promises to Ralph and I hope I am wrong because, as you say, he won’t hang around and there will be a number of clubs more than willing to back him up with a transfer kitty from the television money or their past player sales. A man of his calibre won’t wait long. He will go on and get some other Premier League club into the top six and we will moan but we deserve all we get. Since Cortese left, so did our ambition. We went back to the days of being mediocre & incompetent FC. The feeder club.

Gao out from me (unless my instincts are wrong & he does a drastic turn around and allows the signings that Ralph was intimated to have been promised upon joining). If Gao or the club’s management’s dialogue with the manager over transfers is anything like the misleading and broken promises to fans over transfers, then I fear we will lose our manager and he will succeed elsewhere in the Premier League and I wouldn’t hold that against him. We seem to have descended into a dishonest and manipulative club with seemingly little integrity. I have no time for disingenuous owners with a divisive agenda. As a rule, if a business owner doesn’t outlay their plans it’s generally because the reactions would not be well received because those plans are bad to supporters/shareholders so instead, the owner chooses silence. Like Richard Gere in Pretty Woman only with a sh***er outcome. If Gao had good intentions with the club, he should outline them rather than appear to be using the club as a mechanism for expanding his property portfolio. The owner has done nothing for Saints yet other than shed staff but under his regime we have been constantly misled in every transfer window and he is, therefore, answerable. Fans deserve answers. If he continues to hold the fans in contempt, then Southampton fans should start voting with their feet. #GaoOut

I would love that to be true and that would completely fly in the face of my patience obliterated conjecture on the ridiculously overlong response to the post about Newcastle possibly being takeover by another of the UAE Al Nehayan house. Why couldn’t we get someone like that? Instead we get empty promises and tumbleweed in the boardroom. I would love to be wrong and I would love to see the club back Ralph but we need to see it now. No more words. Actions. This window is the last chance saloon for a number of fans I know including myself. Fans are rightly impatient. Fans won’t be flanneled anymore. We need positive action FFS. Bring in some quality and let’s see Ralph does when he’s given a few key tools. Not tools.....I meant good players. It would be nice to see a solid English attacker who doesn’t need to learn too much to adapt to the the physicality & pace of the league.