S-Clarke

What was stopping them putting up a quick article announcing his departure? The Ralph article is just the managers feedback on it, not the official club stance. No official club wishes or thanks in any of that. Something sour went on I think. For a club like Southampton, not known to kick up a fuss and always play by the book, to not even say 'goodbye' is probably a damming indictment of what has played out.

It's not about Barca not affording it, everything was agreed. But because La Liga have halved Barca's wage cap they do not have the space in their budget to accommodate him on the terms they agreed. As another said, it feels like a political move by Barca - it'll make La Liga look at what it's imposing and maybe reign in a bit, losing their number one marketable asset is a huge deal breaker. Still expect him to be at Barca come September. Although if we had ambition we'd have signed him by now ffs.

Have I missed something or have we still not officially announced this? Obviously it's happened, I just don't quite understand why we haven't done the usual ''we thank Danny for his efforts with us etc''. It's all very odd.

Evans is out for 2-3 months, they're looking at starting the season with either a young kid Nelson or NDidi apparently. Obviously they're down Wes Morgan as well.

Nothing to do with the board, let's be fair here. They provide Ralph all of the money they can within the constraints they are ordered to operate in. So no, we won't be spending £35m because we don't have £35m. We have about 20-25m in the bank from Ings, no more than that I wouldn't have thought. We have to make that spread around a bit.

They're looking at loan deals apparently.

If we can get a new GK and still replace Ings and add to CM, then i'm all for it - let's do it. I don't think we can though, and as others have alluded to - there's over 100k p/w hooked up already in our two average goalkeepers, it's like a weight around our necks. I think before we get a goalie we need to shift one of McCarthy or Forster - but there isn't anyone crazy enough to provide either the wages they are on now, so as they're entitled to they're not going to kick up to move. So we're stuck.

How do you know he is a close friend and not just a 'work colleague'? People I worked with have gone on to join more impressive organisations, some could argue sideways in some situations, but I wasn't pissed off because most people don't think like that. You're happy for them, but it doesn't automatically mean that you are going to force a move yourself.

There's no denying that we've regressed, I don't disagree. I've just kinda accepted the situation as it's not going to change. It's been a decline since Koeman left, but massively accelerated once Gao took full control and we had Reed and Wilson overseeing the clown years. We wasted so much money, maybe on the naïve thought investment would top that up, but it never did. I know people argue that Gao 'keeps out of the way, and lets the guys run the club' - but bollocks to that. The bloke has been a charlatan since day one, hasn't ever shown any interest, hasn't ever shared any plans. The proof is in the pudding - the regression of the squad and the sale of players to 'mid table' teams just so we can 'compete' to keep our heads above the water is his legacy. Oh, and he still hasn't muttered a single word to the fan base in what must be 5 years of ownership. Relegation is only ever around the corner with a model like this, but we just have to hope and pray that new ownership comes before relegation. Otherwise it could get a little bit messy.

What if we financially can't do that? That's not a fault of the club. It's a fault of the external non-ownership we've been lumbered with. We apparently offered Ings 100k, going to make him our best paid player. If Villa have offered him more than that then good on them, they can swim into the sunset paying £120k for a 29 year old. We couldn't sustain that.

No one is denying that. Our goal is to remain competitive through creative means, thus selling players where we see fit which then allows us to evolve certain things. It's not sustainable, not at all. But...we have no choice. Until we get new ownership this is how we have to operate because we have no input or help from whoever this owner is. Dump and run is all he's done, same as KL, she's as guilty. Martin and co are certainly not operating a shambles - they're holding it all together pretty well given the ridiculous constraints they've had placed upon them by the shambles beyond this country.

If you have a look at Armstrong and watch him, you'd be mistaken for thinking you're watching Ings. They play a very similar game, look very similar players. His goal totals, albeit at a lower level, are huge. The fee, if that is the fee, is way too much and we've overpaid...but that doesn't mean he isn't a suitable replacement.

That is a hell of a lot of money for him if true, and pretty much the entire budget gone on one player. Overpaid if that's the fee. 15m tops for me.

Leicester have made an offer as well? That's new news. Explains why he's literally been no where near the squad if there are two genuine transfer bids hanging around.

What is it with coaches and Redmond? Even Puel came in and tried to tell us he was like 'Henry'. He must look like some sort of prime Henry in training or something, but he's absolutely hopeless when push comes to shove and the pressure is on.

Seriously, sort yourself out. Posting bollocks like that. Have a word.

FT - 1-0. Pretty flat game all told, but a decent run out. Not much more to say about it.

Probably. I don't think we can operate like that, too risky.

To be fair to Jack he's come on leaps and bounds under Ralph, definitely improved as a player. Not first choice, but we're not getting a better squad CB than him.

Redmond is still as infuriating then. Overthinks too much, hangs on too long. chance gone.

The sub situation is really odd, would love to hear the explanation around that.

Cracking goal that, really good break from the back, through the middle.

They're doing what we did when we sold Lallana, Lambert, Lovren, Chambers, Shaw etc and are reinvesting quickly in players who will arguably add more quality to their entire squad, rather than just going ahead and looking for a straight replacement for Grealish. The reinvestment of the fee before it's even confirmed is showing ambition.

We're not spending £30m on a striker. £15m tops.

We might be able to move now though, unless this one has sadly got too advanced.