S-Clarke

Luke Shaw's short little ''thanks to southampton'' was pretty pointless to be honest, he does come across as a bit of dumbass to be fair. But the club aren't going to be flashing around bigger contracts for players who only signed new contracts last year, they're already on a decent whack for a club of our size - I don't think we're in a position to offer a great deal more, certainly not what Liverpool and Man Utd can offer - so in that sense, the players heads will be turned and it then is with the club to ensure they get the best possible deal and most importantly - correctly reinvest it.

This is one I don't expect to happen, I think we need to play hard ball with this. But if it's a case of him really wanting to leave, then what can we do? When a player makes it clear they want to leave, and there is legitimate interest for big money from big clubs, then you kind of have no real choice but to do what's best. And I do know that the club is hoping to absorb some of the sales with academy kids (Tagget/Mcqueen/Reed/JWP/Gallagher), that's kind of been common knowledge in and around people at staplewood anyway. It does have some worrying similarities with our infamous ''Let's rely on DMG/BWP/Ryan Smith'' season - but I think we've got more about us this time and I still think we'll be ok. I know I said it earlier, but it makes me damn frustrated that we didn't actually achieve anything with all these great players. We could lose Lovren, Shaw, Morgan, Lallana, Lambert, Jay and earn like £100m - yet the side never won anything! It's damn frustrating because it was bloody well good enough to do so. Blame for me lies with MP for that one, god knows what his intentions were from January onwards, but it certainly wasn't long-term planning with us.

He may well be right, but what from today actually proves that?

I think we're a bit more shrewd than that. Being a dutch manager doesn't mean he just signs dutch players by the way....he will have contacts all over the world. I'm sure RK has been briefed on these deals, because he's been told he will be able to reinvest the fees to replace the players that are going. Personally, I believe Shaw and Lallana have been done for a while in all but signatures, I'm sure RK was aware when he got the job that they were not going to be around. The Lovren/Morgan/Cork/Fonte situations are slightly more interesting and RK may have a little more pull in that area.

Umm, slightly OTT. Shaw and Lallana were always going to leave, fact. Deal with it. It was just up to us to get the best deal, on the clubs terms and in the clubs time-scale - which they have done. He will have failed if we have sold Shaw, Lallana, Morgan, Lambert, Lovren, Osvaldo, Gaston and not replaced any of them come 31st of August - but you'll get amazing odds on that.

In the background are the temporary huts which they used at staplewood.

It's obvious we're interested, I think now pre-season is almost upon us this will accelerate. Didn't Les Reed say we had no contact from clubs back in May for our players? Exactly. Doesn't mean the club isn't interested, they're probably waiting until our sales have gone through before making an official approach. Ings and Pelle as our 2 striking additions for the summer, to compliment Gallagher and Jay - not bad, more fire power than last season if we're honest (Write Osvaldo off, as I don't think he was ever really here!).

Griezmann is probably out of our league TBH. Caulker would be quality though, forget last season and look at how he did with Swansea a few years back - top quality. Shawcross would cost too much and is a bit of a lumbering oaf to be honest. Rodriguez is my personal pick to replace Shaw...but reckon it will be Kolo.

How can you accidentally bump a thread from 5 years ago???

No ****.

Nope, not claiming ITK on that....! It's been obvious this is going to happen for weeks.

I think most people do rate him, to be honest. Back in our L1 days there were some who probably didn't, but I'd say that 99% of our fan base would say he's easily one of our best players now.

£8-10m apparently. Probably a tad more than I'd personally value him at, but then how much was Bony from the same league? about £13-14m I think? He could fail, or he could be an absolutely epic edition. The bonus is that the manager knows him, and he knows the manager. Could work out well. (or it could be an Osvaldo....!)

I prefer to refrain from shouting it, as it only goes tits up then. Let's just wait and see.

Credible, I think. Same person who broke the Gaston story to me a few years back - take a look through the archives, still proud of that being my 1 and only ITK claim to fame.

How do you make it £45m out of interest? Please show your workings.

Jesus, now you've done it...

Who do you expect out of interest?

Don't get me wrong, I still have my question marks over the board - notably a certain RK, who I really have no time for - but I think we should trust Reed, that's my feeling and take on it. He has been true to his word. At the end of the day you also need to take an eye away from the club....and look at the players. They've all had amazing seasons, we only finished 8th. They will have been tracked and monitored by much bigger clubs than us. Talking and chats will have gone on in the background with agents and so on, so the players would have known that there are opportunities to move on this year - and also the financial awards of doing so. The players have clearly made it clear to the club of their intentions - they wanted to go, and so did MP. The club have them been put in a pretty tricky decision in terms of getting the best deals, but I think they've managed it thus far. In excess of £30m for an 18 year old left back is epic, but it will be very sad not to see him play for us any more. But I think the major issue here is talk of the champions league - I think too many people saw that as a possibility, when it frankly wasn't. Players will therefore leave for clubs who can offer that, and of course the additional $$$ which is obviously just as important these days. I think we will all be pleasantly surprised and quite excited by the additions we bring in. So let's just wait and see, Les has kept his word so far.

I'd say that was a really stupid thing to say, but he didn't put it across right. I think he should have STFU personally - but he clearly meant that if anyone does want our players, then they will have to pay very much over the odds. So goodbye.

I'll throw this one out there. We should have won silverware last year. That was our chance. For some reason the management didn't give 2 hoots about the FA Cup or the league cup. I don't care what anyone says, or what the management said back then, we put understrength teams out in both games and we came unstuck because we played understrength teams. It set the tone to the players and the fans. If we'd have attacked the league cup or the FA Cup with the same gusto as we did the 8th place finish, we'd have won one of them at least. For a team who has lost 3 players, totalling almost £60m, we should have been where Hull were last year and in that damn final. As good as finishing 8th was, it means nothing - last year was our chance to win something, we had the players, the management and the quality to do it - but we decided finishing 8th was more important. That will always be an utter, utter frustration for me - probably for years to come.

I doubt Liverpool, Man Utd and Spurs give a **** about how we feel. Couldn't care less about Burnley, he's a good player and if we want him - make it happen saints.

He's young, and therefore guaretneed to improve?

I was totally against all the tosh from Ralf at the start, he waffled a load of crap. But Les Reed has been true to his word. We secured a top, top quality manager. We got the best deals for players who wanted to leave, be assured that if they didn't want to leave, they'd still be here. We did the deals on our terms and in our time-frame. Anyone would have been naive to think they wouldn't have happened, but the club have stuck to their guns to get these sorted at the times which suited then. I'm also reassured and somewhat excited that the majority of this will be reinvested back into the first team. It's of course a shame we are seeing a good team taken apart, but as I said above - the players made it plainly clear that they wanted to go, therefore we had no choice but to ensure we got the best possible deal. I think we can come out stronger from all of this. Koeman is a name who will attract attention and players - of that I'm sure. It may be a bumpy ride next year, but I think long-term we will build again. It's not the complete collapse that I assumed it was going to be at the start.