Lord Duckhunter

He's not good enough , end of.

The statement is very clear. The board would rather not sell anyone prior to a new manager, but if they felt it was in the best interest of the club to do so, they will. In the case of Rickie , in their opinion it was in the best interests to get it done. Nobody on here knows what was in his contract, I can quite believe he had a clause making him the highest earner as that is quite common in the game. Therefore do not judge his fee on now, but 12 months time, when no longer an international ( probably dropped if he stayed with us) a year older, but earning an ever increasing salary, for a diminishing return. Add to that the fact he really wanted to go, Liverpool said take it or leave it, I think the board did the right thing. Liverpool do seem to be trying to push us into a corner over Adam and they're either trying it on or know Suarez is on his bike. If Suarez goes to Real all of a sudden the price Liverpool pay for players goes up as everybody knows they've got 100mil sloshing around. Either way we should be able to hold firm. All quiet on the Luke front could be because they've got a new guy in charge, but could be because there's already a deal in place. Personally, its not Adams and Shaw I'm worried about as I think they'll go no matter what its lovren, Morgan, chambers ,clyne and those types we need to keep.

He just forgot to log in with his other id

We were a big fish in league 1, that's why he left Rovers.

Spot on Marcoti was on the Times podcast, said Poch is extremely ambitious, really belives he can manage Real or Barca. The line was " you don't jump from Southampton to a big champions league club, but do well at spurs and you may do".

Perhaps you could come up with an example of a club giving a running commentary of their recruitment process and then replaced a manager who walked out within 4 days. Crystal Palace took a while to appoint pulis , its all about making the right choice.

It's a pretty decent bottled beer, as bottled beers go. But I'm not particularly big fan of Shepherd Neame served in the boozer. Having lived in the states for 4 years, I would have said it'll be about 20 times better than some of the pi ss they serve, but not a patch on some real ales here in the UK.

I actually think we'd struggle a bit even if we kept all our players. I think the world cup will be pretty draining for Adam and Rickie and it wouldn't surprise me to see them take a while to get going. Im not saying we'd go down, but could see us falling back to 12th ish . We certainly needed strengthening up front regardless of Rickie going. We also needed another centre half even with no departures. What do people mean by competitive, we were in most games, but weren't in the cups, were nowhere near the top 4 and from about Dec never really looked like making the Europa league. Are we going to be the best of the alsorans again, probably not, but lets not kid ourselves we never looked like winning anything or qualifying for anything even with these wonderful players. Manchester Utd will be stronger, spurs probably will be. I can't see Newcastle blowing up quite so badly again. Where did people thinkk we were going to finish even with Poch,Adam Rickie and all, and wouldn't our attitude towards the cups be exactly the same with the same leadership? I can see it now, a decent solid season finishing 12th and the moaners will be out in force.

Lets see if I got this right? Poch and some of the players want to move on, basically they dont want to play for or manage us.As soon as the first offer comes in, whether from spurs or Liverpool ,they're offski. We get a new manager in who wants to be here, players that want to play for us , and they're the "mercenaries"?

My little lads completely gutted, his dog is pretty upset as well, cause I've kicked him 3 times already. Being named Lambo he's not particularly popular at the moment.

Adam already knew what he can get at Liverpool before he joined up.

Spot on. Makes me laugh. The ones leaving are the good guys and the ones staying are the bad guys. I bet some of the players and their agents were made up Poch left, gives them a ready made excuse to push for a move.

Like Poch under Levy?

My thoughts exactly. Instead of constant criticism of the board why don't people start looking at the players. Its not like they're being sold against their will.

I was out with a few lads last night who support other clubs and the general surprise from the neutrals wasn't that we were selling, but that Liverpool were buying.

Good news, it won't be Fat Sam. My mate bumped into him weds night in a restaurant in Spain ( it wasn't all you can eat, luckily for the other diners), asked him if he had heard whose in the frame and before tucking back into his meal said " no idea".

Unbelievable story really. The main reason we are in the premiership is his goals. I'm sad he's leaving but pleased for the guy. I also think the club have acted in a fair and appropriate manner over this.

Strange that Nicola never leaked this then. He knew her dastardly plan, but it didn't appear in the Mail?

Good luck to the lad, wonderful end to his career ,World cup in Brazil then a dream move to his boyhood club. Will remain a saints legend and should get a fantastic reception each and every time he returns. I'm not getting my knickers in a twist over the fee. What the guys done for the club if we've had to drop a bit to make it happen for him, then that's OK for me. With testimonials seemingly a thing of the past , I don't mind if our thank you to Rickie is ensuring this deal went through . Its what he deserves for fantastic service to the club. The saddest part of all this for me is the breaking up of the league 1 players. Its quite likely that José and kelvin will be the only 2 left come august.

Robin day will be turning in his grave. Anyone who doesn't think the BBC is dumbing down should watch that rubbish from last . Needs a radical overhaul, get Wiggy Neil to present, get serious people on the programme and no audience participation except the asking of the questions. I'm not ****ing interested in their points.

£9 mil fee agreed

Can't believe he fits Liverpool's money ball type buying strategy .

I hope we're not turning into west ham or spurs fans , always banging on about "the Southampton way". I was quite happy the way Nigel wanted to play the game, wouldn't be that bothered if we gave up the high press. Bit more width further up the pitch and maybe Rickie may get a new lease of life. Provided its not route one, there's different ways to play attacking football that is pleasing on the eye.

Its bound to be first game of the season, so "sacked in the morning " will be quite funny. Especially with levys track record. Professionals aren't really that bothered about boos, unless its like the abuse redknapp got when we played at Skatemouth. The people who are bothered are fans. If we start booing and getting our knickers in a twist, the spurs lot will just take the Mick. Personally, I think a funny song to show we don't care and we're better off without him or show our indifference. We should show solid support for the new guy in front of them, even if he's a bit of a chump. It should be a case of, "Poch,who".

My oldest lad met him and said he was really charismatic and friendly. Let's how how he gets on at Sunderland , players seem to like him.