S-Clarke

Doubt it. He's just a nutter, would have happened if we still had Cortese I imagine. With his history at Roma i wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt here, but what a disappointment.

Does anyone get the feeling that the club is in meltdown...?!?!?! He has been nothing but a complete and utter failure for us. So disappointed with him. So much worse than Gaston in the fact that he should be at a level to produce, he's not a young player trying to learn. First out of the door in the summer hopefully.

I think their top 4 challenge will be long way finished by then, 5th is the highest they can get this year in my opinion. Liverpool and Spurs are just a level above them squad wise at this moment in time.

I think Mata is the type of player they're lacking, they don't really have a true number 10 in there. But they also need some top class support behind him, at least 1 new CM...but probably 2. I'd also say they need a new top, top, top CB. and a new Top class left back, experienced and mature. They don't need a complete rebuild, but they're lacking 3-4 top class players in that spine.

I can't believe how bad Utd are this year. Utter fodder.

So much is going to change this summer. I don't think the talk will be about players coming in for the most part, that's for sure!

Serving his notice I expect.

Jay is probably worth in the 7-10m bracket, wouldn't expect to get much more than what we paid at this stage. Potentially will be worth more though.

People are trying to guess way too much to suit their own personal feeling. But it's a CEO, why the hell are some people using the words ''Underwhelmed'' for a CEO? Seriously?

Really good post Pap. It does seem that some odd characters are coming out of the woodwork on the back of all this. 'Plants' come to mind for some reason.

Yes, this is also something that is very possible, but we'll never know for sure.

It certainly doesn't read as ''corporate waffle'' to me, seems very genuine and honest. The next step will be to establish the core structure at the top, which may help us a lot. Not trying to create a Cortese debate here, he did a great job. But he took on everything, so if he wasn't around, nothing ever happened. Having a structure like this ensures that everyone is accountable and more flexible. The general tone from people over the last 5 years is that we're almost impossible to deal with, that was to be seen as a negative. Hopefully that changes from here.

Also interesting that she also closes it with 'The Southampton way'', which I think we all assumed was a Cortese brand and gimmick. Maybe the Liebherrs have had more involvement in the past few years than we actually realise.

Will be ignored hopefully. But it's a really good statement, and she does sound really committed. We are so lucky to have fallen into Markus lap and be linked to such a great family.

She means business. Very impressed. Do I notice a couple of hidden digs at Cortese in there as well?

Or we could just bring in a CB! Wanyama is a midfidler exclusively if we're honest, not really a fan of square pegs in round holes. We had that for years under the likes of Burley etc.

At least it's not season ending, could have been bad. But yeah, we now need a CB pretty sharpish in order to stop our season petering out pointlessly.

It's hard to say with Martin to be honest, he didn't really get much of a chance to show himself at Championship level - so who knows, he may be ok there. He's still young, and I imagine at the same age people were saying that Lambert is no where near premiership quality. Who knows what will happen.

They won't be buying us, he won't be buying us. Thread is pretty much closed to be honest.

They were actually pretty good under him. European football, mid-table finishes, players coming through the academy. No disrespect, but I'd take the views of people who have worked with him over yours. And they are all amazingly positive.

Yeah, and of course that will happen.

I don't think you'll get much more than what you're hearing at the moment. To me, it suggests that she will continue to invest into us. Not a great deal, but enough to allow us to continue a stable path whilst being a sustainable outfit. You also need to remember that the TV Deals change the goal-posts for a lot of clubs. Teams like Swansea and Norwich were able to spend upwards of £20m in the summer because of that, they don't have g investment at either club. So, whilst we may not be able to sign £100m worth of players, we will still be able to attract and bring in decent players in the 10-15m price bracket which we will continue to operate in.

The apparent decision to appoint John Williams as Chairman did suggest she's actually interested in retaining the club, as opposed to shifting it on. I alluded to it last week, we'll know the plans for the club once the new CEO is in place - i.e. if we're to be sold, or if we're to carry on. And it seems as if she's keen to continue on. One thing that is interesting is that it suggests the KL will continue to fund the club in a sense, as there will still be some payments required for the training ground and also additional players in the not so distant future. Would imagine this quashes any plans to get into the CL or to win the league though (not that it was ever really likely, anyway). But the long-term realistic path we're on is to become a stable, self sustaining, youth driven premiership club. To me, that's a pretty good situation to be in.

Yeah, Jose pretty much said Ba is going no where - they need him.

Here is a good writeup: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/smooth-operator-new-manchester-city-864038