captainchris

I like him too - a good influence it seemed from the outside. Have to say more recently he was less animated so maybe he knew things we going tits up...

So Koeman is so impressed with Everton and so determined to work for them that they put 7m on the table - he doesn't sign and goes on holiday!!!! You couldn't make it up.... I am just curious how the Everton multi squillionaire will react when Koeman wins a game and makes five changes to the personnel and changes the system completely for the next match..... Also how will the Squillionaire react to a sequence of one win in ten matches???? You might well regret this rude incursion Evertonians - good luck - you will need it, he is no world beater as many have said.... In fact it has often been said he is too clever for his own good and this episode kind of proves it.... Weird does not begin to describe the choice he has made - pure greed. It's not even as though Everton are anywhere near as big as Spurs even..... On the slide as a club and it would be a surprise if Koeman is talented enough to reverse that direction.... If you had properly researched your data, his managing traits, results and some of his good fortune i.e. that Pelle got injured and he was forced to play the better Shane Long who won us a shed load of points at a time when Pelle was not delivering anyway and we were really struggling etc etc... He was lucky in the end or we would have finished 10th or 11th at best if Pelle had not got injured and forced his hand. So 7m based on a handful of decent games where his team selection was forced and not based on his strategy. He also likes his holidays btw, even when things are not going so well, picks his favourites indefinitely and doesn't favour bringing through youth. Also many of his substitutions were like his behaviour now - totally bizarre and without logic or reason. I think many Saints supporters were very angry to start with - like I was but now, in the cold light of day we will be better off with one of the very talented other managers that will be applying for the post of running a team built on long term strategy, bricks and mortar as opposed to money and rash knee jerk decisions to go poaching an ordinary manager who had a touch of good fortune and that's all... We will see but don't get your hopes up too much......

However, Reed has had all this time having all these wonderful long chats with. Koeman every day and still didn't manage to close the deal before he went on holiday! Reed provaricates and fumbles at per Toby and to some extent MP too when he left. Snooze and you lose! This is what Reed does. He doesn't negotiate well and doesn't read the situation allowing others to swoop in and steel his chips.... There are some excellent industrial negotiators out there who would and are indeed making Les look stupid. We need them working for Saints. Les is not up to the business tasks these days and should be shunted sideways to look after recruitment alone.... I agree with Echo article.

Does anyone know what the latest '5 year plan' actually is? Does it involve getting managers in for one to two seasons only? If so the 'plan' is likely to fall on the ground at any time? The 'Plan' seems to be half baked with little detail of how it will be achieved. Everything we do should work around the plan, it it doesn't fit then it's not put in place. We now need to learn lessons regarding being used. I'm no expert on contracts of this nature (not that I believe it is a strength of Les Reed) however, buyout clauses would appear to need to be very robust... This policy would also serve as test of the expected loyalty from managers. If you want to jump ship there is a hefty cost to pay and in this day and age 3m would be derisory. 3m is small change, let's face it....

Would doubtless just use us a stepping stone to a team like errrr Everton!! When you actually write that down it sounds like s joke !!!! We'll blow me it's real, someone has actually left us for 'Everton' - that is hillarious when you look at it....

Like this very much !!!!! Les is so naive it's frightening...

Adkins boat sailed a long time ago I'm afraid. The egos in that dressing room now are huge and a small time manager would find it very difficult to cope....

Really poor behaviour Koeman..... I hope it goes badly wrong for you there and it could! You will be cash rich but spiritually poor.... Just shows money cannot buy you happiness. Your disloyalty and disnonesty will wake you at night and haunt you. Football is somehow so uncivilised now with such monumental greed and lack of generosity of spirit and loyalty that it is becoming quite unattractive ...

They progressed badly - hint Koeman didn't sign!

The title of the thread is the important thing to focus on here. We do have an alarming issue with losing key personnel consistently causing major upheaval and unbalancing the structure and continuity of the team. Whilst Les has directed replacement choice well the point is he appears to be poor at man management resulting in people looking to move away rather too often now. Whilst we get a lot right we get a lot wrong too. I would keep Les in a re recruitment role at the club but take him out of the contract negotiation role which is evidently not his skill set. I would also distance him from team affairs as he appears to have a negative effect there which is back to man management. In fact I would IF this develops into another player exodus the Les needs replacing all together... The Five Year plan cannot possibly include another two Or three major upheaval, that is obvious. Our luck will run out as will team/club spirit. For me, there is always evolution in a business but not continuous churn of key management and staff on our scale. A more focused role for Les would be good and take him out of the 'General Manager' position. Les has become quite conceited and arrogant now and this is not a behaviour which fits with the major privileged roll he has at the club.... His skill is recruitment not negotiating, harmony and General Management. Sorry Les but this recurring theme must lead to a review of your role at the club.

J Very concise and evidently accurate ..... As I said before, Les Read is the problem and not the solution, he is consistently drifting from crisis to crisis and now his negotiating skills, man management or both must be called into question .... Enough is enough .... Having said that Koeman is a total let down and is culpable for blatantly going back on his word to the fans.... We need ultimately now need someone a lot smarter than Les Read in charge of contracts for he is obviously way out of his depth..... Other clubs do not have this massive turmoil and loss of top members of staff like we do - not on our scale or regularity.....

Get a new man in and put Koeman on gardening leave for a year. At times in life you need to stand by your principles and we don't, hence we are an easy touch and this cycle will continue until we eventually collapse... So far we have been fortunate in our weakness, however luck will run out ..... We must stand our ground on contracts at some point ... Or why bloody bother with them...?

The personnel 'churn' if Koeman is off is alarming. It was alarming when Koeman didn't sign the contract extension... We know if he goes that this could lead to yet another high risk of churn in the team again... Les Read is far to complacent in these circumstances - is he the problem rather than the answer is the question now ....

You are the negative one! You are the one who always slags people off for their comment and opinion - have an opinion of your own instead of running people down who have a mind of their own and make constructive comment....

Highly questionable .......!

O Spot on.... Cringeworthy posts on this thread. 'Selling to reinvest' We are not playing shops here! This is a football team where the aim is to create a match winning team with match winning players. You do not sell known match winning players in order to buy A.N Other player who might be crap! That is not reinvesting, its Russian Roulettte. We are not a Casino we are a carefully constructed football team... Sell 'fringe' players by all means if they have been proven not to fit the team criteria.... Shane Long does not fit this model by any stretch of the imagination. You cannot win a war with money alone, you need weapons..... This thread advocates a very naive policy....

OMG Have you actually watched Burnley lately??? They are genuinely terrible... Watched their last game of the season I think it was and if they strung two consecutive passes together the whole game It would be very surprising....Dych - not in a million years at this club and our level.... Sorry but NO

Hilarious - tough luck chummy! As someone else said, get you priorities right mate - crying over a football match - joke!

Simple, to Spurs he is 25m, anyone else apart from Liverpool 15m!

Pelle has some strengths but one of them has evidently not been 'holding the ball up' .... When he starts against certain opposition we are very predictable and he is easy to mark when he does his statuesque back to goal routine.... Has scored some good goals when he feels bright and most importantly energetic.... On balance would keep him but coach him not to continually face his own goal and cut out the 'flicks' which Koeman is starting to do with him I think ....

That's our strongest team..... Better keep them quiet though ...

That is your opinion, however not everyone shares it.....

Have to agree with Lord Duckhunter in this one... Morgan was over rated here and is being found out at Man U.. That was always going to be a risk for him which will cost him .... He is clearly struggling in a very similar role as he had here.... Against West Ham he was again a passenger and rightly subbed...

'Obviously' this is reasonably interesting.... JWP has lots of improving to do ..... Let's hope he can manage it !

Black box genius ! Didn't even have that much talent so what was that all about ????