CanadaSaint

I agree with BadgerBadger. I opened the link expecting to read something that someone else had written, but I could see Rickie's lips moving as he continually wiped non-existent sweat off his forehead and temple. What we've experienced - and what fans of other clubs experienced after his England call up - was one of the precious few modern players who seem "just like us". He was almost more a fan than a player. And it's that very dimension of Rickie's personality that makes me very happy for him even though I'm sad as hell that he's gone.

Anyone else catch the irony in this post?

My God, WTF is wrong with some of you? I'm as p*ssed off at Lallana as most of you but - as many of them are when it comes to the Board - some of these comments are way, way over the top. Lallana's conduct may be symptomatic of the ills inside football these days, but he didn't exactly invent those ills. He has been, until now, a loyal and highly valuable player for us - for more years than Rickie, and nobody (as far as I can see) is defending his actions; they are just saying that he deserved to have his phone call answered/returned. By all means, tell him things he doesn't want to hear, and even be quite pointed about it, but return the damn call. As I said earlier, let's not lose sight of the fact that (with Spurs' interest apparently waning, and with Liverpool setting out an ultimatum - and having other options) Lallana could still be a Saints player next season.

Can anyone tell me whether the "5% clause" is still in effect? (The player receives 5% of the transfer fee if he doesn't request a transfer, 0% if he does) If so, I'm all for telling Lallana that he is under contract and we don't want him to leave, and, if he wants to go, he'll have to request a transfer. That doesn't just suss out whether Lallana really has his eyes on Champions League or a 1.5 million payday - it also acts as a club principle that won't be lost on other players.

I agree with all of this, and the last line is especially true. Most of the problems of the past few days have developed and worsened precisely because the "man management" strength that was one of Pochettino's fortés has been replaced by a disastrous vacuum. It's also important to note that, if Spurs really aren't interested, Liverpool may well be Lallana's only option. And if they're true to their last position and turn their eyes elsewhere, he could still be a Saints player in August. Burning bridges isn't going to help anyone.

I'm not sure how things stand these days but it used to be the case that a player received 5% of the transfer fee if they didn't ask for a transfer, and 0% if they did. Rickie supposedly "forced the board's hand" and it worked for him, so I fear that he and Lallana have been comparing tactical notes. But, in fairness, the Board (Rickie's case apart) has stuck to its word that nobody would leave until the new manager has arrived, so they probably have nothing to add to that in any phone conversation with Lallana. That said, in the interests of at least trying to avoid ill feeling, they (which means Reed) could have returned his call. Recruiting the new manager - I suspect and hope - is their sole focus right now because everything else flows from that.

To further Kingsland's suggestion, I've pulled this from the "Replacement for MP" thread. The last line is the key part for this thread. This sort of thing magnifies the importance of getting a top-notch manager in ASAP.

I would hope that the club remains true to its word and keeps all the key players until the new manager has had a chance to talk to them. And I would hope that, by the same token, all the key players remain true to the club until they've had a chance to talk to the new manager. Amidst all the stuff that has been flying in recent weeks, including a lot of irrational panic on here, that is so far what seems to be happening. Despite the critical absence of a manager/head coach, despite Les Reed doing nothing on some key player contracts, the dyke is just about holding. Perhaps we need someone Dutch in case the dyke does spring a leak. But if Rickie is determined to force our hand, despite saying that he wanted to end his career here, we should let him go.

The evidence seems to be mounting that Reed might be the problem - I just hope that Katharina and Ralph are becoming aware of it. On a side note, I can remember when we used to fear our players getting England call-ups because, after chatting with other players, they would soon find out that they were under-paid. There was also, supposedly, some player-to-player "tapping up" going on. It may be just a coincidence but the three players most likely to leave us all became part of the England set-up his year. I don't think we know half of the story behind what's going on now, and yet that doesn't stop people from firing bullets at Katharine and Ralph.

What did Gerrard say about Reed? I thought Rogers was much more focused on the finances than anything to do with the playing side, and the only real "head honcho" in a team of specialists would be Ralph, but please correct me if that's wrong.

Dave, the only real reservation I had about Ralph when it was clear that his role would be away from the playing side was whether he could acclimatize to football quickly enough. The jury, at least among the open-minded, is still very much out on that one. Your post forces me to add another caveat to Ralph, and this one is equally troubling, given where things sit. He is not a guy to don "hob-nailed boots", even in a situation that may cry out for them. Reigning someone in takes a lot longer if you take the kind of gentle, subtle approach that Ralph is very likely to take. If we are to turn the corner on this horror period, the impetus will come from a strong-willed manager rather than from Ralph.

Agree with this, although I think they're definitely suffering from being naive rather than probably - and that problem is greatly magnified by the fact that Reed is their only attachment to football reality. The "asset stripping" suggestion is ridiculous. I've tried to make the point again and again that the very private Katharina would not have come out of her preferred shadows to take on a high profile leadership role unless she wanted to continue to build towards her Father's dream. She could have sold the club and stayed in the shadows or paid people to do any dirty work. Her heart is entirely in the right place, and so is Ralph's, but Les Reed is letting them both down badly IMO, and the only salvation is bringing in a top-notch, strong-willed manager/head coach ASAP. Having said that, I fear that Katharina's appetite for Saints has taken a pounding in the past three weeks - not just from the Pochettino saga and the player unrest, but also (if she's aware of it, and I suspect she is) from the sheer nastiness that some fans resort to in times of stress.

I agree with most of that, but the problem is that Reed is supposed to be the football guy on the board. If you have to hire someone else to "keep checks on him", he probably shouldn't be there in the first place. The bigger problem is that it might take a while for Katharina and Ralph to realize that he's not up to the job, and a lot of damage could have happened by then. They need some effective counsel from someone other than Reed, but will they know where to look? The hope rests in hiring a strong-willed manager capable of taking the playing/player side on his shoulders, but will Reed want to see a strong-willed manager now that he has more power of his own?

It has to be. Krueger will (rightly) have been cautioned about interacting with the players because he's a hockey guy and is unlikely to have their respect, at least initially. His role in the club exists in other areas. Reed is the football guy, and the lead guy on most of the In and Out decisions and negotiations, as well as things like agent interaction, contract negotiation, manager 'supervision', the academy, and keeping a finger on the pulse of the dressing room. If it's not him, who else would it be? The things that seem to be going pear-shaped are all in Reed's area, and his apparent weakness (including lack of player respect) is exposing Krueger. I have a sneaky feeling that Pochettino may have fuelled some of the player disrespect for Reed, and we'll soon see if that was a self-serving exercise. In the absence of a manager/head coach, Reed's communication with the players needs to be very strong, but it seems to be almost non-existent. In fact, it almost seems as though he isn't communicating effectively with Krueger, either, judging by how he's been "hung out to dry" lately. We desperately need to appoint a new manager so that these links with the players can be rebuilt as quickly as possible, because I don't think Reed will do it.

That might be the best idea yet - and we might all be pleasantly surprised.

I agree that things would have been much different if Cortese had been here but I'm also of the opinion that Cortese was unsustainable because his modus operandi became unacceptable to the owners - and would soon have become unacceptable to new owners if Katharina had opted to sell the club instead of sincerely trying to make things better. As I said, I also think Pochettino (whether Cortese had a hand in it or not) left behind some impending major problems. We'll soon see if that was as self-serving as most of MP's recent conduct - if Spurs come after any of our players. Ironically, Rickie would (allegedly) have been gone in the January window were it not for Katharina & Co, and now they're getting butchered for selling him in May. The price is another issue but it's clear that Rickie forced their hand - which, in itself, drove his price down. What I'm saying is that there's so damn much we don't know, so jumping to conclusions about them and their capabilities is flat-out wrong. Protesting is asinine.

You don't know the circumstances of Pochettino's departure - I think he was a goner in January because he wanted to be somewhere else, and I suspect that time will show that he left some hand grenades behind with the pins pulled. Kruger continually referring to him by his surname (so unusual for Krueger) suggests that there's a ton of nasty stuff that may or may not see the light of day. As far as the two boards are concerned, let's not forget that the Spurs board DID sell the family silver and then DID p*ss away most of the proceeds. You just think that ours are going to do the same thing. And that's forgetting about the managerial firings. If that's what you mean by "outstanding ... compared to ours", we probably agree.

The article has barely been discussed on here - despite its potentially major significance, which just goes to show that a lot of posters prefer to wallow in misery than embrace opportunity.

FC, I note that you're now just a Registered User. Does this mean that we'll only hear from you three times a day?

So you think he'd make those statements without even talking to Koeman? I like them as much as you obviously do, but we won't be signing any managers or any players unless we deal with agents. That confirmation of interest is the first piece of positive news we've had for some time.

I wouldn't call direct quotes from his agent "loose factlets and circumstantial happenstance".

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/11246503.Dutch_legend__open_to_becoming_Saints_manager_/

Do you seriously think that you're making anything more than a laughable 'contribution' to the discussion with a thread entitled "All fart, no sh*t" and comments such as "Krueger is a complete c u n t. The only thing worse than a c u n t like Cortese is a disingenuous c u n t like Krueger. Do us all a favour and f u c k off Krueger"?

It seems clear to me that there's a massive cultural shift occurring inside the club, and we’re going to have to be very patient while it plays out. All this panic and vitriolic criticism without facts to support it will not help anyone. The first element of the shift was triggered by the Cortese situation and the fact that he controlled everything and didn't feel anywhere near as subservient to Katharina as he did to Markus. That was always an accident waiting to happen. The second element of the shift was that Cortese hired a manager who demanded complete loyalty from the players but also gave it back - at least to some. He created an almost cult-like presence inside the player group, so - if he left - some of the favoured few would probably want to leave as well. I suspect that some of those players have known for some time - at least since Cortese went - that Pochettino was not long for the club. The Cortese/Pochettino axis had the club by the nuts, and Les Reed was probably - from most angles - an outsider and perhaps even something of a joke. That is a huge problem if the only person in the current SFC hierarchy who knows something about football is someone they don’t like or respect. The culture shift was necessary because the situation was unsustainable. All the important things at SFC were controlled by an egomaniac control freak and a manager whose aspirations (at least after Cortese went and probably before) lay elsewhere. The very things that made us better would also eventually destroy us. When it dawns on the players that, while Pochettino made them better he also used them and left them behind when it suited him, things will stabilize, but one thing has to happen before we get there. We have to hire a manager capable of inspiring loyalty and excitement. Leaderless, the players are doing their own thinking right now, and footballers aren’t always the smartest of people in situations like that - especially when their main counsel comes from their self-serving agents. The leadership for the player group has to come from the new manager because it almost certainly, I suspect, won’t come from Les Reed. I stand by my view that Ralph is a major positive in this situation – as long as he stays away from the dressing room and as long as he doesn’t allow Les Reed to make all the football decisions without some oversight. I really, really hope that Ralph and Katharina are using an outside consultant to help them keep a handle on the playing side without relying entirely on Reed.

Where do Osvaldo and Ramirez fit on your list of "you get what you pay for" players?