John B

I do not know what you consider struggling is but the results and form from the last part of the season suggest to many that we are candidates for relegation including the bookmakers so sending a young player to us is pretty risky I would have thought. City are trying to develop Delap so sending Delap to the Championship maybe a better option but being a striker in the PL is not easy

Why would Delap want to come to a struggling PL side which is probably going to be involved in a relegation fight May be better to go to Burnley in the Championship score a few goals get some confidence and develop

He is obvisiously a decent footballer but being a decent footballer in the PL is a different matter. Although I fully supported the SFC strategy of buying in players like him the strategy has failed to produce a consistent team playing decent football Our Academy has failed to produce PL players and the strategy seems just to avoid relegation. Compare this to Hampshire cricket which develops young players but also brings in proven players like Gubbins Barker Abbas Brown and Abbott and is relatively successful I started watching football in the early 1960s and have seen really good international players playing for the Saints and especially at home they played really well not sure if I was 16 years old today I would enjoy what was now on offer and from many comments on here neither do a lot of you. Sports Republic may invest in the next few weeks but if they do not we may be experiencing another frustrating season

Strangeley if I invested loads of dosh on players and paid them ridiculous wages compared with most if not all on here I would like some of guarantee that a few of them would enhance the team With our academy players we try them out and find most are not of PL standard Especially after Carrillo Lemina Hoedt Forren Vestergaard Osvaldo Ramires etc never played in the PL were flops Of course some will be OK

Hopefully but I would just like a couple of proven PL players

Without investment of decent players there is every chance will be out of the league We are in the PL surely we should be investing in a couple PL players not just youngsters who may develop into PL players or may not I am not sure who was the last player who came in as an experienced player and was an automatic selection and enhanced the team

Of course you need a basis otherwise what you post is fiction and complete bollix Technically it is possibly libelious as your comment could be contrused as defaming Ralph and the club as you suggested they were being reckless

Based on what? Surely the club has fitness coaches monitoring all aspects of a player so why would they rush a player back

Is this based on any facts or just gut instincts as I thought Tino did have time off prior to his injury I

Any chance of an invite to your family do seems a lot better than being thrashed by Villarreal

Guaranteed starts in a team which is continually struggling with relatively poor pay does not seem particularly appealing to me Especially as his formed dipped as the form of the team dipped

Or maybe like others he does not want to be involved in a relegation fight I am not sure what advantages a decent striker would think there would be in coming to Southampton at the moment as we do not seem to do large wages

So you do not have any daughters who wish to watch and play football if you did you would have a different perspective Giving young people an opportunity to play sport is what it is about

I agree with your sentiments but how long do you think it will take for them to make an impact in the PL which is a more intense environment than what they have been experienced before. I would be great if they started to influence games immediately but it will take time as has happened with Adam Armstrong but of course not with Tino

Perhaps thy were a better team in the final third because Armstrong was not playing for them is a possible explanation

An extremely interesting question which cannot be answered at the present moment but there are certainly risks with this approach

So has he ever played in the PL?

Was that your attitude when we signed the young CB from Forest Green Rovers I think recently Just two young players wanting to better themselves Surely there is nothhing wrong with that

Surely you will not be paying so does it matter

Very true as our attack was pretty poor probably the worst set of players as a unit I can remember since we got in the top flight Without out decent players we were bound to struggle when Broja lost his form

As a matter of interest do you see yourself as a Saints supporter because you always seem to be posting negative comments. Yes it would be great if we had had better players than we have at the moment but we just do not have the financial resources to buy them. Harrassing other posters who want to support the team seems particularly stupid to me so that is why are asked the question

Terry Paine was the dogs bollix in Div 3 Div 2 and Div 1 and went on the a World Cup Winners Medal Not sure Gavin will win a World Cup winners medal but lets hope he does well here if he does eventually join us

How do you know that

Yes I just realised that he was Irish and he is already an international so that is not bad

If he joins just pretend he is 25 years of age if he joins By the way one of our greatest goalkeepers Peter Shilton played for England in his early twenties and lets be positive and hope Gavin does the same