doddisalegend

and yet every manager we've had since Koeman prefers to play Tadic over JWP..

I'd say that its the exact opposite the one reason he gets a free ride despite being very average is because he is an academy product. If we had brought from abroad and he was called James Wardic-proswic people would be banging on about how he was a poor version of Gaston. Tadic is a far more talented player and always gets grief from our fans.

I've always said he is a squad player that sort of player who can handle a few different roles competently but not really be great at any of them. Useful on the subs bench as a utility player but I wouldn't be overly bothered I he goes to be honest.

If I'd just made a million pound bonus I'd probably go for a cheeky holiday to even if I had just had one.

Though this season bottom four clubs where all considered established PL sides Stoke, West Brom and saints where all considered mid table certainties to boot. I'm sure its no coincidence that all four clubs have some of the biggest wage bills outside the top six (and Everton). It seems to me that for longer serving PL clubs wages become an issue where it seems the longer you are in the PL the more bloated your squad becomes with average players on big wages. You can afford that if have a sugar daddy, massive sponsorship deals or constantly finish top 4-6. for the "mid table" sides its a problem. Bournemouth for example have a wage bill one third of saints yet actually earned more TV money than us which weirdly probably gives them more money to spend on new players than us. Money from player sales should certainly be going back into the squad especially the VVD cash (where's that gone?) but really a 100 million on new players this summer where do you think that is coming from? Personally I think we need to trim the squad and wage bill far to much dross in the squad at the moment I'd rather we went for a policy of quality over quantity and use the academy a bit more to cover injuries and suspensions (mostly because I quite like seeing an academy lad get a run out every so often).

30 million in one summer seems like a decent spend for a club our size...

What like Pep and Poch? lets hope Hughes is up for some good old fashioned 4-4-2 with a big man little man combo up top.

Whats the problem with selling to buy? Seriously I'm the only one who would quite happily see the back of several of the current 25 man squad. I'd happily have a bit more quality and a bit less quantity in the squad.

The Clasie signing always smacked of Koeman doing a mate a favour more than anything else.

Last thing I saw on the web reckoned we have a wage bill of £92 million this season we got a £107 million in TV money (assuming that's correct it is the internet after all) that doesn't leave a lot of TV money left for buying players as far as I can see. Whether you agree with it or not the club haven't (at least since Cortese left) ever hidden that they want to run a self sustainable club not spending more than they make.

Ralph has already said that in a public interview its not like the club are keeping it a secret. Judging that our alleged wage bill takes up most of the TV money its not really a surprise we have to sell to buy. I'm not sure its a massive problem we could probably sack off at least half dozen of our ****e players to make that sort of money. I'd quiet happily see any of this lot sold to raise funds Boufal, Forster, Hoedt, Gudio, Long, Clasie, JWP, Stephens, Targett, Reed, Redmond and Hoj . The big issue I see is where has the rest of the, minus Gudio and Celtic, VVD money has gone?

He should have said a far better manager than the one we replaced him with. What ever people feel about Puel I don't think there is any debate he was/is a better manager than MoPe? Generally the point of replacing a manager is to replace him with someone better than you had we managed the exact opposite last summer.

I'm pretty ambivalent about Reed but he has become a bit of a pantomime bad guy ever since Nic-nak left. That is not to say he hasn't done stuff to warrant criticism (far from it) but a percentage of our fan base seem to want to blame old Les for everything from the cost of a pint at SMS to Shane Longs 5% conversion rate. It's a bit like Eric Black who was the root of all evil in the squad for a season and half then he left.... and oh wait we got even worse.

I don't think you do have to scratch your head very hard. Making terrible defensive mistakes where a hallmark of the season. We'd been throwing away leads, conceding late goals and generally looking a mess at the back all season. After Chelsea Hughes switched to five at the back because our defence was so bloody awful. Even after switching to five at the back our defense still looked **** poor. We where lucky McCarthy hit some serious form when he did. Several end of the season games basically swung on the fingertips of McCarthy's hands.

on the other hand saints 2013-2014 8th 2014-2015 7th 2015-2016 6th 2016-2017 8th and we had people complaining that wasn't good enough so it's interesting people think Hughes record at Stoke is now really good.

Are there any quotes from Marcus about making saints a CL side? My take was that saints was an investment the idea was to get us back to the PL and then sell for a tidy profit pretty much what happened. As far as I know there was a five year plan to get us back into the PL but nothing beyond that.

Really? I thought he was a mistake waiting to happen every time he played even at the end of the season with five at the back he looked like the weak link.

Good Yoshida is decent enough as along as he gets a good partner at the back. Personally I'd be happy to sack of Stephens and the incredibly poor Hoedt. Keep Yoshida and Bednarek and get in at least one (ideally two but that might be expecting to much) really good CB with some leadership qualities and aerial ability.

The fact that JWP and Redmond get picked ahead of him most likely speaks volumes about his attitude. Three different managers have not seen fit to make him a regular starter.

We to have a saying in the UK "obvious troll is obvious"....

Its pretty clear Puel was not a "yes" man and wasn't dictated to. If anything the picture that emerges of Puel is someone who will do things his way come what may even if it means upsetting senior players.

So what? We have Ralph making the footballing decisions now? or the owner has know decided he is an expert in English football? I realise a lot of people hate Les with a passion but of the current club hierarchy he is the only one with a bit of football knowledge. I certainly don't want Hughes (or any manager) given carte blanche to do what he wants. If Les is on his way out the club really needs to get someone with a football background as DoF I dread to think what it will be like if we get Ralph and some random Lander management bloke running the show.

LOL you couldn't make it up what tossers...

Personally on the strength of this post I say keep up the good work CB