Rebel

We should sign Lewis O’Brien just to go with O’Brien-Whitmarsh and there was the opportunity to sign Coventry’s Ben Sheaf to match our Ben Sheaf but I think we released ours this summer

I think the problem was in the Championship Downes is capable of playing as a 6 or defensive midfielder but also acting as a playmaker and getting forward - but in the Premier League he was really only capable of being an 8 or box-to-box midfielder. He lacked the physicality and was overwhelmed by the quality and physicality in the premier league midfields we came up against. We really needed a CDM to play alongside him - and should always have played 2 in central midfield.

I think we all know which route we are going to take! But really it should be a combination of all of them

I would agree with you to some extent - but I don't think any bottom end premier league team or top end Championship team would really want him - firstly he is nowhere near good enough for the premier league and has proved that twice over with us. Secondly after he 'bad spell' on loan with West Brom I don't think any top team in the Championship will be clamouring to sign him. He was supposedly on £60K a week last season - hopefully that drops to £30K after relegation. But his value is probably nearer £5-6M than £12M right now. If we did sell him on anywhere if would probably have to involve us paying of his contract to some extent, plus a signing on fee from the club he joined to bridge any gap in wages. or maybe it would have to be a straight loan with us paying half the wages. With the 49ers investing in Rangers they are going to have more money to spend than they have had for quite a while - but you are probably right we are more than likely stuck with him. But its no impossible. Its about the only place I could see him going. I never understood why we gave him a new contract last summer - when he only had a year left - that was the time to sell him to a top end Championship club for £12M.

I would let Armstrong move on if we get an OK offer for him - they are better centre forwards and better wingers - right or left - out there. He is only really effective as an inside forward - but I'd rather have a forward who is a bit more versatile than that. And I am not sure he will suit the way Still will want to play. I could see him being a good signing and a success at Rangers under Martin. Lets hope Russell feels the same.

It was always talked about as a 2 year loan deal to Göztepe when he signed for us last summer - hopefully that was wrong or there is a break clause as I’d think he’d be good for us in the Championship this coming season

Basingrad or Chavingstoke - take your pick

I think we will be very busy this summer both buying and selling players. For one thing our squad is too large at over 30 players so we need to reduce the size of it. But a lot of players - those who think they are too good for the Championship and those who don't want to take a cut in wages - will be off (Ramsdale, THB, Dibling, Fernandes, ABK, Suelmana, Sugawara, Archer, Aribo, Onuachu). Plus we need to shift a lot of deadwood (Fraser, Stewart, Taylor, Larios, Bazunu, Lumley) and refresh/rebuild the team. Plus Lallana, KWP and Gronbaek will probably all be gone as well. I wouldn't be surprised if Bednarek decides he needs to find new club either and heads off to Italy or somewhere else in Europe. Personally I don't think any of our strikers (Archer, Armstrong, Stewart, BBD, Onuachu) are good enough so I would get rid of the lot of them and bring in two or three with pace and power - so at least they will give us some presence up front and a physical threat.

So which premier league players could we got on loan or should we go for? Am I right in thinking we are allowed 5 loan players from premier league clubs? Jaysun Rak-Sakyi? Sam Iling-Junior? Luis Guilherme? Armand Broja? Callum Doyle?

They will lose Liam Delap and Leif Davis to premier league teams I would think - plus they have quite a few players on loan like Encisco, Godfrey, Cajuste and Phillips who will nearly all go as well. Luongo and Tzunabe are out of contract as well and will probably leave. Burgess is as well but I think he will stay. The squad that's left look a bit weak in central midfield but I would think they will be contenders for promotion once they spend a bit of money on replacements. Unfortunately with Ipswich, Leicester and us going down and Birmingham and Wrexham coming up to the championship and clubs like Sunderland, Coventry and Middlesbrough it will be a tough league next season. Leicester look like they could be in trouble due to their finances so maybe they will implode and count themselves out. They will probably have to cash in on players like Hermansen, Ndidi, Soumare, Faes and El Khannouss, Plus Oedoaurd and Buonaatte are on loan and Vardy is out of contract. We really need a good summer transfer window and a good manager if we are to be in the running next season though.

If Sports Republic are to prove there is any point to them and there multi club ownership model this summer I would hope a number of Goztepe better players end up at Southampton next season - and make a difference to our team. At the moment it seems to be a one way relationship - and all in Goztepe's favour. Not to mention paying £5M to Valenciennes for Kayi-Sanda. About £4M plus than he was worth. I would hope at the very least that Juan and Matsuki who are on loan at Goztepe from Southampton play for Saints next season - and make a difference. I would like to see Novatus Miroshi, Victor Hugo and Romulo Cardoso make the journey from Goztepe to Southampton as well. Unfortunately I have a feeling a lot will depend on whether Goztepe make it in to Europe or not next season - it may seem a but harsh but for Saints sake I hope they don't. If they do they will probably keep all of these players - and take couple more from us. If nothing else I hope the Sports Republic scouting network come up with some unknown gems like these players for Saints in the summer instead of the rubbish Rasmus Ankersen has come up with in the past. I hope Dragan realises where the real money is - and where he s going to get all the money he's lost back from - and that's with Saints back in the premier league and not with a club in the Turkish league.

If your KWP you are going to wait for the summer transfer window - join another premier league club on a free, get a massive signing on bonus and much higher wages than you are on now. The time to sell him was 2 summer ago - or at least last summer j - but I think in both cases we wouldn't accept the low values other clubs put on him. The problem is at the premier league level he is just not good enough defensively - either positionally or physically.

If Big Les gets recalled by Chelsea - which seems likely given Lavia's injury - we have to replace him. Which is partly why I think we recalled Charles, not just to squeeze more money out of Sheff Weds. I think we also realised we need another CDM to play with Big Les which is the other reason we recalled Charles. My guess would be we think we are pretty close to brining in Glen Kamara or someone else to help out Big Les in the middle of the park meaning we could let Charles go back to Sheff Weds. I hope Kamara or anyone else is really a replacement for Charles - and Big Les is staying - as we really need 2 DMs for the system we are playing now so that we have a proper double pivot. Downes was great as a single pivot 6/playmaker in the Championship where we dominated the ball but in the Premier League he's an average box-to-box 8. Smallbone and Aribo are both more Attacking Midfielders or No10s than pure CMs - better on the right or left of a midfield 3 or playing in the 3 behind a striker in a 4-2-3-1.

We are going down again - there is no doubt about that. And that means we should use the January window to start preparing for next season in the Championship. The first step is to get rid of some of the deadwood, reduce the wage bill and bring in some money by getting rid of players that don't give us anything - Tall Paul, Sulemana, ABK, Aribo, BBD, Cornet. Even if it is only loans with option to buy in the summer. Maybe even Charlie Taylor if Welington is fit enough to take his place. Fraser is another one we could probably get rid of without noticing. And if someone offers us decent money for KWP we have to take it. Or if not get rid of Bree. With relegation all but confirmed we are going to struggle to sign players on a permanent deal but we should be able to attract players on loan who want to put themselves in the Premier League shop window for half a season. If we can send Cornet back we need to replace him with a hardworking midfielder to provide cover for Downes and Big Les. Lewis O'Brien from Forest maybe (when he returns from LA as they don't need him), or maybe even JWP (not sure he can play for a 3rd club in the same season). But that stills give us room for for loans from abroad. Surely we can find a 6ft 2 centre forward with a bit of mobility to lead the line on loan from somewhere. Maybe Bojan Miovski as he's not getting the game time at Girona - but there must be others in similar positions.

I think Juric was probably the best and cheapest manager we could get - and If he gets us above Derby's lowest ever point total I'll be happy. A 6 month contract means if we go down we can start afresh next season and appoint the type of manager we should have done at the start of last season instead of Martin - progressive and forward thinking, but also pragmatic, adaptable and tactical. Maybe the we will have a chance of appointing someone like Rohl or Corberan then - but why would they leave a club in the Championship promotion race for a club all but doomed to relegation. Same for any good manager. Juric is in the same boat as us really having failed at Roma. Maybe its a match made in heaven. Neither of us have much to lose at this point except some dignity and pride! I have to say the Swansea fans - and the stats - told us exactly what was going to happen with Russell Martin. A bit like Nathan Jones and Sulemana - but Ankersen and Kraft obviously think they are clever than anyone else. Sports Republic and the board of Southampton FC need to take a hard look at themselves now and put together a proper plan to rebuild the team and squad for a promotion push next season and long term success. We need to stop trying to be Citeh Lite and go back to forging our own path and following the 'Southampton Way' whatever we decide it is. They should start by binning of as much of the deadwood in the squad as possible in January and appoint a proper director of Football for Southampton FC to lead that process. Martk Bitcon joined as the Performance Director for the Sports Republic group and was only made Director of Football Operations at Southampton as we failed to appoint a DoF to replace Wilcox. Apart from a brief period as Director of Performance Services at Manchester City's Academy (whatever that means and more Citeh Lite Shite) and 7 months as a Sport Science Consultant at Bolton Wanderers he has spent his entire career in Rugby. He's just another Clive Woodward - and that is damning. What value can he bring to recruiting football players or giving advice to or challenging the manager on tactics at a Football club. I'm not against taking expertise from other sports but you don't put them in charge of the football. If I was Dragan Solak I would oust the 2 clowns Rasmus Ankersen and Henrik Kraft from Sports Republic, do away with all the Citeh Lite shite and then look to get out myself by selling the whole group to another multi-club ownership group.