Gordon Mockles

Yeah, but surely you must realise he set the Bedrock. The scouting network back then, the coaching staff, the backroom staff, their attention to detail was phenomenal. They even bloody took their own hypo-allergenic mattresses to away games. It was nice having a club that was funded and was run by people with competency and ambition. It was only brief but it was wonderful while it lasted.

Yeah, how dare he. He was such a disaster. Cortese was the only person in years, in the upper echelons of the club, to actually have any ambition and he managed to spend wisely. They would identify the right target, put in a sensible bid, negotiate hard and acquire them. This current joker has sent us back about 5 years after asset stripping us and perceives the value of the club has gone up by 40 million. No person in their right mind would buy us at that price

Good riddance. Bad news from the start despite the mental apologists but I fear it won’t happen overnight. As I stated from the outset, the Chinese like to make money but they do not like spending spend it, as a rule. Gao really is a tight fisted a**ehole. He didn’t put in a single penny according to reports and I will take great interest in the next accounts. He sold VVD & half the squad (don’t know the figures but say circa 150 million - that’s probably an under estimate but he sold Gabbiadini, Targett, Austin, Gallagher, Soares will go in summer, Clasie, Davis, Pied, Tadic, etc.) No doubt countless loan fees from Carillo, Forster, Elynoussi, Lemina, etc. That’s a big waste of money in loans but they make fees but every club in the league has a big waste of money. It’s part of the Premier League and not all players are superstars. None of ours are because we sell those to the first high bidder. Gao reduced the wage bill substantially and we still have the television money which is circa 130,000,000. So, Gao paid circa 210 million for us and asset stripped us to oblivion & led us to successive relegation battles. He never spoke to the fans. Created loads of hollow promises to his staff and manager. Led a prevaricating media campaign. He will leave the club, the quality of players and depth of the squad woefully much thinner (it will require well over 100 million to get a suitable squad assembled for the next campaign). We can’t even field a full & capable squad FFS. Playing Valery, someone nowhere near PL level, and losing a game due to this is a perfect example of Gao’s chronic underfunding. Yet a*se squeaking Gao sees that as a 40 million increase in value? If you were buying a house from this dotard, he’d be laughed out of the street. So, Gao (hopefully) leaves the club with less tangible assets and not even a full team as we are sooooo woefully thin in numbers (due to 3 seasons of selling and barely any signings) and he now deems the club worth more than the figure he paid for it? The bloke has more front then Harrod’s. What a complete c*^t!! F**k off Gao!! F**k off and never return. Parasite. I did like the comment that people get on the case of Mike Ashley yet we have far far worse in Gao and people on here used to bizarrely battle and defend him. Strangest fans in the Premier League. The worst owner in our history.

Better the ghost of Maxwell then the physical apparition of his daughter. Urghhh!! Not with our academy.

I blame Gao. Everything got worse after his arrival Introducing his revolutionary, envy of the premier league, catering. I said bat soup was one step too far but got called an uneducated, Southern yobbo!!

To be fair, I think some of your opinions are odd and I never thought I'd read a strong defence of the current board / Gao for what they haven't achieved yet here we are. You aren't the only culprit. On this forum we have a strong cross section of people (strangely) defend this abysmal owner compared to, perhaps, other cross sections of the fan base. But that's ok...I guess. Base this uncharacteristic club cheer leading (or barbed comments and a resentment tone against a dissenting voice) that predominates this forum on whatever suspicions you may have (very different to TUI, most Southampton pub goers and long serving fans) but I won't speculate, opinions vary. That's the idea of a message forum. Lemina is undoubtedly talented but, seemingly, has an attitude symptomatic of many a modern day football millionaire. Able to put in half the effort yet still get handsomely rewarded. Seems crazy when he could put in the effort for the talent he undoubtedly has and possibly double his salary and build for the future but he clearly hasn't the foresight or will to do so.

I concur he wasn’t always the most committed and went off the boil but there were times when he was a leading player in the squad and I distinctly remember it from the Liverpool game so I’m just correcting you. I don’t care about consensus. I know what I saw.

Agreed. I remember the pundits singing his praises as the best player on the pitch at the start of the season when he first arrived.

Just to be clear, I wasn’t saying he was always the most motivated but there were a lot of games when he was the most motivated and with undoubted ability so I don’t take that he was always unmotivated as it’s simply not true.

Absolute rubbish. A cold, hailing home game at St Mary‘s against Liverpool a few winters back he was the one motivated player on the pitch, chasing down players, hustling players off the ball. He was motivated and interested where the rest of our players didn’t have a leader amongst them and were noticeably lack lustre. I appreciate the club reported Lemina had a seeming attitude problem or some falling out they don’t want to divulge but the times I saw him play, no issues were evident he was not motivated. In fact, It’s crazy he is being loaned out when he is the type of player we are crying out for and we are desperately short in midfield. Furthermore, many times, Lemina has stood out as being more motivated and committed than most. Unusual of you to be towing the club party line Egg.

Who are you referring to as our better players? I wouldn’t mind Højbjerg going if you refer to him as he won’t sign a new deal so is gunning for a move. I don’t rate him anyway. Romeu I wouldn’t mind leaving as we should be looking for a long term replacement anyway. His legs have gone and he doesn’t have the pace & energy to suit Ralph’s style of play. Good servant that he is. Any new contracts, I imagine players may look at their options as, judging by Gao’s strong resistance to spending any money on running a football club, I would imagine he’s reticent to offer an overly competitive wage package. However, I would hope the club would offer something decent with Ings, realising his importance. I suspect players could easily improve their wages following a move so it’s totally feasible for players to be moving on.

I wouldn’t bother mate. I admire your drive and determination to strive for common sense and logic, but you couldn’t grow sense on them if they were an Asian virus in a massively unambitious Petri dish. No point wasting energy talking sense and finding links if someone is determined to be the prize bell or the cattle. Your cheerleader term sums it up best. Either that or senseless squabbling, like Brendon FC. This link may settle a few squabbles. Try not to be smug and highlight it coming from the daily telegraph which is definitely NOT the club’s mouth piece and this is surely, like every previous Saints article, an outright lie made up purely by the newspaper as no club representative swore an oath on camera or gave a name or made anything attributable to the club. So, certain people should be careful which facts or supposition they choose to cherry pick to suit their unrealistic, unambitious, standards lacking agenda. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/02/07/southampton-expect-ralph-hasenhuttl-sign-new-contract-major/

Ssshhh now. The adults are taking.

**haven't even. If you have something worthwhile, maybe shut up anyway if this is your barometer of judgements

I asked a question, not for your advice on how to spend my spare time. Perhaps you should keep on topic, this is the January transfer window thread. If you have anything worthwhile to contribute, maybe shut up.

So, now the January window is over and our January defensive strengthening of the full back areas and general defence is complete, how do people think we did? Do you think we did well and delivered what the club alluded to? I use use the term “alluded” because, according to club apologists on here, any manager intending of signing a player has to say I promise and do a Boy Scout salute towards camera otherwise he can plead diminished responsibility. I’m very curious to know if the club apologists on here class it as a good window or how they will spin some positivity on our market trader club? Can they bear to suggest any criticism towards their beloved club? I hope our defence is deemed stronger by those apologists. Draughting into a midfielder to play at RB today facing the league leaders. I was going to suggest how Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or Wijnaldum would fare down the left but seems the counter attacks of Liverpool have answered that question, despite going against the run of play.

We are crying out for a player like Lemina in our midfield. Seems crazy he’s out on loan but there was clearly some underlying issue we were not privy to. Whether it was his “bad” mental attitude which was fed to the press or more contractual, payment clauses for appearances. I have no idea but - knowing our club - it is tangible to consider Lemina may have been pushed out on a move elsewhere to avoid paying an appearance clause lump. Only conjecture. Just seems a shame a player of his undoubted quality is on loan elsewhere. He’s the exact sort of player an ambitious club should be going for (Wolves previously showed interest and they seem to have risen above us in Premier League status now. Ambition)

Wise words but we seem to see short term cash before even looking at the wider picture. Hence going into the season with just Bertrand at LB. We ride our luck and never seem to learn. Did the same after selling the whole squad to Liverpool and getting away with it. Would be great to get back to the days of being ambitious and not taking outrageous risks for the sake of a quick buck. For supposedly intelligent billionaires, it's actually a wiser method to adopt. Mind boggling short sighted behaviour.

The sensible thing would be to keep Soares until the end of the season and sign a pre-contract agreement with ARSEnal (or whoever), as has been done before. Soares would love it as he seems totally the money / status type of professional. Then we bring in KWP to be first choice RB if decent enough, replacing Soares in the summer. Not saying that may not be in our plans but we tend to favour the maximum financial return combined with max. risk strategy, much like we did with Targett and entering this campaign with the same relegation battling defence for a third season *boardroom fingers crossed*. Judging the club historically before I get accused of being inherently negative prior to any retort. I can't second guess the club. Only to cynically assume the worst transfer wise which has often been a good guessing foundation. Let's hope we can buck this trend soon

Wouldn't surprise me. "The Saints Way" seems to be selling off and downgrading the quality. Soares isn't up to much and is weak and not physical but he's a decent dribbler when he can sort out his boy band, weak-willed mentality. Valery is inferior and not of PL quality imho. I have now idea if we will sign KWP and, if we do, how he will do (obviously) but conversely to what I said, I do believe he could offer an improvement with regular starts and good coaching but that is by no means guaranteed...if we do actually sign anyone. Any transfer movement tends to be dependent on selling still which is utterly ridiculous when you look at options available to Ralph. Particularly the defensive and midfield options available but we have done that to death but injuries are a current concern. Personally, I would like us to strive for more rather than "make do" as so many nonchalantly capitulate. We should push for more, for ambitious improvements to offer better competition and success. We should just make do. Don't let the mantra and low expectations grind you down. #TheSouthamptonWay

**advice even (typo) **aren't even going to employ **that mate we all have FFS predictive and rushed messages

Yeah but fans are fickle and all these people are forgetting one simple fact. They’re spurs fans. Their opinions are in the same arena as the Skates, deluded & stupid. I bet some of them still think they’re still a big club and have a entitlement to win trophies!? Asking rival fans advice on a departing player is akin to asking your ex-girlfriend her opinion on your new date. Advuce from a rival fan is never going to be of a balanced and unbiased view. Add to the fact it is a Spurs fan, then all sense and logic disappears as soon as their lips move. They’re not going to use lateral thinking. They probably aren’t egej going to employ thinking. It’s the same philosophy of that mate we all gave whom constantly points out & chats to women. They’re all amazing to him until you point out or speak to a lady who is clearly of a better standard and you ask his opinion, then he responds reticently and belittles your choice. I think it’s called having your nose put out of joint. True opinion is tarnished by ego. With a good bit of coaching and support from the manager, KWP will come good. Then you will look back on this thread and wonder what you were even worried about...I hope.

We won't take up the Danso option.

Judging by the chatter, it looks likely KWP will be loaned in although this is more a necessity (likely pushed by Ralph and staff) with Soares out rather than a direct move to improve the squad. A lot of people writing him off before he's kicked a ball. Give him a chance. Jose has a habit of turning away quality players. I would hope we would bring in another left back to cover Bertrand who is being shockingly overplayed. Wasn't even rested for the cup. Outrageously risky game we play at Make Do FC.

It’s not a good idea either. Danso is not a good centre back and there’s a reason why he hasn’t started in that position, probably not helped by his match for Austria in which he was shocking. I find it odd everyone criticised the potential signing of KWP, yet many are keen on a 4th choice CB who hasn’t barely played for us in that position, barely played for us in any position. A huge and unjustified sense of optimism seems in hand here. A hope that Danso will miraculously start playing well and force himself into the starting 11 as first choice CB. I suppose it’s possible but from from the noises I’m hearing, he’ll be returned at the end of the season and we won’t be pursuing our option to buy. Waste of a large loan fee.