S-Clarke

A loan or a perm £5-10m tops, no more than that. A good 6 months for us and a decent loan in Holland before that, but nothing since. He has had a really, really bad injury - a career impacting one. No idea if his pace/power is as good as it was previously, so I have no idea why Chelsea think they can get £30m for him. His little stint at Fulham couldn't have gone any worse, I think Fulham even had to pay a penalty clause to Chelsea as he didn't play enough games when he was fit - he was that bad for them.

I thought it was a great loan when we got him, sort of player who could be a game changer for us in the second half of the season. It didn't quite work out that way, although he did have some really, really big moments - just not the standout moments we hoped for. Gutted he got injured in the final. Overall a decent loan, just slightly less impactful than I thought it would be. He always came across as someone playing as an individual rather than for the entire team.

Technically he's a really gifted footballer, I just don't want to see him as the deepest CM. As long as he has protection around him he can be a real tool for us further up. I'm looking forward to seeing him in the PL next year, I think he's got the talent to do well in that league.

Don't WHU always want someone higher profile? They flashed their bits around in the summer trying for Ruben Amorim, but ended up with Lopotegei. From a natural pov I think they'd be nuts to give away Flynn, a proper fan of the club, a really good footballer - could build a decent PL midfield with the likes of him, Suceck and JWP - but like you say, they will want 'high profile' for no real reason other than an ego stroke. I obviously hope that happens for our benefit, but I think we'll have to be very patient for Flynn - end of August is when this will move if it does.

Absolutley it can be done, I genuinely think SAA could play a part - I hope we get to see him. Not sure we have many others who are truly ready for the mega step up, but the thing with academy kids is that one often comes from nowhere and catches everyone off guard.

Nice to hear from him, he seems a decent bloke and someone pretty trustworthy to me. Forget the stuff Rasmus has cocked up, I think Dragon has been fairly consistent in his approach and has funded a hell of a lot of his own fortune into us. He openly admitted to not knowing a great deal about football, so all he can do is provide the funds and hope others make the right calls. Regarding the stadium plans - it will be way down the line of the 10 year plan he speaks about, maybe one of the last things in that plan. This isn't something that's happening today, tomorrow or next year - we're talking years away and lots of established time in the PL to back that up. With clubs like ourselves we are only ever a single bad window away from relegation again, so we have to be careful - priority for the next good few years has to be squad building.

I still believe the Lallana deal will be more focused around coaching, that's what he wants to get into now. He may be registered to help in and around the squad if rqd, bit like Theo's role in that sense I guess, but primarily I see him as a coach for the academy, working with Drew and co - who may occasionally appear in first team training and first team squads to add a little extra at times.

Not really, they're all a bit naff. I'm waiting for the ''Behind the Scenes' one the club puts out for that, should be an epic watch.

He came in around Christmas time didn't he? He was a bit part in the first part of the season, but made the place his own since Dec. He's not playing what I'd say he was signed for either, he seems really effective for us in that 8/dynamic 6 type role. Very strong and his use of the ball in tight spaces opens up so much for us.

Another vote for Dave, he's great. Never has a bad thing to say. No idea what fabrice thinks he's achieving though, I find it odd when people trawl forums to look for posts which turned out inaccurate, without understanding the context at the time. Everyone has said daft things, my finest moment was proclaiming Ely would be a great signing as he's quick. Doesn't mean it should be trawled up to score points though.

Yeah I think for our 'style', he'd be shown up a bit. We need good technicians who can pickup the ball in tight spaces and move it on quickly, one of PEH's worst attributes is passing so he'd be totally wrong for us.

I think he's coming in as a coach, he's not coming in playing capacity as far as I'm aware. He'll join Surman etc in the academy former player cohort.

I think I've watched every possible highlight package this morning - ITV's, our club one, Sky Sports one, Leeds United's one. It never gets old. It wasn't a memorable game in terms of quality (these Playoff games never are), but when you're on the right side of a result you're just addicted to rewatching it.

They were really looking forward to playing us, bless them. Still better than them as we have been for most of the time in modern years.

He's such a silky player, one of the biggest reasons for us to go up was to keep him. He's PL quality without doubt IMO. I think he's cost us £20m, but he'll end up being sold for three times that once he has a PL season or two under his belt IMO. KWP, THB, Downes, Armstrong - nice having a strong english spine to the team.

I think what's helped Bednarek is having a fairly stable partner next to him in THB, they've really formed a top partnership. Previously Bednarek has chopped and changed a bit with us, arguably his best spell came alongside Vestergaard (Again, a consistent partner), but I think THB really compliments him as a player.

I was really emotional watching him celebrate at the end, it was really authentic.

So we know that THB is ours, I really like the Bednarek and THB partnership and I think that has provided us real foundation. Downes is a must, I think this one is a goer now. It might take a little while as WHU's new coaches may want to see him, but I can only see him ending up here eventually. Someone like Jack Clarke will happen I imagine, he'd be filling a hole in a position we'd need filling (Brooks returning etc). So much to be excited about now. SR cocked up our last PL summer window, let's hope they get this one right. I think we have a real foundation to start with now.

We've all had our critiques over the season, it's part of being a fan. The frustrations have been borne out of knowing we could do better, or we could keep tighter etc - my biggest criticism has been that we cannot keep needing 3 or 4 goals to win a game, it wasn't sustainable. But since the last game of the season we have played 4, let in 1 goal. A massive shift in approach, some flexibility allowed and some real focus on certain tactical tweaks. Today he absolutley had Farkes number tactically, we played it perfectly - we played it perfectly against WBA too, and Leeds in the final game. I think we can put the silly games against Blackburn, Stoke etc to bed. When we've needed to show up, when the pressure was bigger than it's ever been, we've done that.

If that was his last game for us, then all I can say is thanks. He kept us in the PL under Hughes, and contributed big moments to help us back up today. Some shaky moments during the Ralph years, but his two key contributions have been pretty epic. I fully expect him to leave, but he'll leave with my best wishes.

One of the greatest days of my life, epic, amazing, phenomenal - all the buzz words required. I had no idea what to expect today, but I was full of excitement and nerves with the occasion being one of the biggest I've ever experienced as a fan. I was at the JPT win, I was at the promotion wins under Adkins, I was at the FA Cup and League cup defeats....but as I sit here it feels as if this topped it all, from the Semi second leg to today. It's hard to really analyse a game in much great detail as emotions are just pouring out of every orifice at the moment, but I thought it was a really gusty performance - really strong out of possession, not amazing on the ball...but we limited Leeds so well, we played the dirty game today and mixed it up a little. it was refreshing to see us not be walkovers or soft, we were much more aggressive than them and gave us as good as we got. Over recent years that has been a huge weakness of us, too meek and rolled over too easily - but we stood tall today and repelled everything they threw at us. I didn't think Stephens had a particularly good game, but I can't help but feel a bit emotional when I saw him lift the trophy and celebrate at the end it meant so much to him and you can see how authentic it was. My MOTM was Bednarek who was immense, repelled everything, won so many amazing challenges and was always there - he was a one man defence at times, but I really, really love his partnership with the silky THB - I think as a pair they are really, really strong. That was our strong point today, we were so good as a defensive unit and didn't allow Leeds 'much' - they had a lot of the ball, but I felt we kept them at bay (well, I can say that now - but it did feel like an eternity during that second half) It was somewhat fitting that AA got the winning goal, capping off what was an amazing season for him personally. He lead us as captain for months and was amazing, finished top scorer and had the most goal contributions. I know some have question marks over his PL ability (myself included), but this season has allowed him the opportunity for another crack - I certainly want to see what he can do in the PL now he's settled here and has proven with us what he can do. It's hard to think about next season yet, but I'm just going to soak up the next few weeks and probably replay that game 10 or 20 times. Those are the moments you pray to experience as a fan and I'm so lucky to have experienced the last two weeks - easily some of the most incredible moments of my Southampton supporting life, and I didn't think I'd be saying that after the Stoke home game.

An extra angle to today - denies Newcastle any European football next season, quite funny.

At a much smaller-scale, we were kind of the same back in 2022. Spent £100m on players, some of the brightest talents around, got the most sought after talent spotter in Joe Shields, appointed a very respected/highly rated assistant coach in Selles.....yet in the same breath appointed Nathan Jones as our manager.

Sadly not now, he was good for us for 6 months. Got a bit too big billy bollocks because clubs kept sniffing at the crazy 30-40m price bracket. The injury he had was terrible though, but the form before and after that has been horrendous - he looks like a pub player now whenever I've seen him. Fulham fan's didn't see much of him and even they don't want to touch him based on the fleeting moments they saw. Best bet for him is to go abroad and make a name for himself elsewhere.

Yep fingers crossed, looks like he'll be good. The script could be set for Che though, his last goal for us is one that takes us up. The whole Stewart situation is pissing me off a bit, exactly the same happened when he made his tiny sub appearance in November - took a knock, vanished from training and wasn't seen again until May. It's getting to the stage now where we just have to move on from him for good, isn't it? I really hope the club don't have any daft ideas that we already have our 'Che' replacement in the building.