david in sweden

WOW.....one 20 mins. sub appearance and half a game with the U21's and he's sold on the club already !

Agree Gentlemen. I don't have an ignore list either, but there are several pedantic posters whom I choose to ignore.....in the forlorn hope that they may eventually " lighten up "....but life is short and nothing is certain.

Villa have persisited with the same strikers (who have hardly scored at all this season), but Rickie still has goals in him, but he won't want to spend the remainder of his career on the bench at Anfield. ......think that Sherwood is a bit too canny to pass up the chance of that one.....and at that fee, too. At their end of the table, Premier League survival is a success. All will be revealed at the end of the season.

Ralph's already.... " misquoted quote " suggested that Saints were a bigger club than Man U ......in some parts of the USA. This was referring to fan support, and not finances or club history. ....closer reference to the context of his statement suggests that now NBC have TV rights in the U.S........ far more people can watch more Prem. games, whereas the prev. " supplier " FOX Sports restricted viewing to those games that featured " the traditional big six " clubs. Now, a whole new generation in U.S. has become EPL fans and are "choosing teams" for the first time, and many of them (not surprisingly) are choosing Saints ahead of those " traditional " clubs.

my thoughts too. NC wouldn't be on my Christmas card list either, but few can deny that after the takeover / bankruptcy.... it was a lot more than the team was made successful. His methodology was questioned, disliked and criticised by many.....(what was that phrase about..... means to an end). We might have struggled in L1, but instead had two promotions and got back to the Prem. I'm not sorry he left, but his legacy has been retained, streamlined by others and made " more human ". NOW...It feels a bit more like the club that I've supported for 55 years, ...except that the team is far more successful than ever before ...and we have money in the bank.

Yes, you're right. I missed that, but the rest of the interview seemed fairly clear.

....and was the lucky one to call " heads " every time..you may be correct.....OR ....the only one with biceps big enough to stop the captain's armband falling down to his wrist !

.....just another part of marketing " the product "....(ala Ralph).

Mmm...interesting question, though. My interpretation was that " the product "....is the name / image / structure of SFC, and not just a team of footballers. Ralph cites different areas of the club; finance, marketing as well as the footballing activities. All of the " big name clubs " are worldwide brands, and have fans and sell " products " on every continent. Sport shops in Stockholm not only sell club shirts for the Swedish sides, but for Arsenal, Man U, Citeh and Liverpool,....as well as Barcelona and Real Madrid, too. In short, " the product " is the club in its entirety and not just the 24 man squad playing 38 games a season. I've met Swedish fans, who are very surprised and pleased to see a new name in the top end of the Prem. and Ronald Koeman is legend in some Euro countries (perhaps more so than in England.) (English football has been top viewing here since Match of the Day progs. in the 1970's)

Yes I'm aware of that, but I was observing that none of the " big clubs " have U16 players who are more capable of being team captain. Shows some degree of maturity on the lad's part.

ouch ! ....we've been there and it wasn't a pleasant memory. Can hope the transition goes smoother than ours did ....for their sakes.

now comes the conjecture over valuations. If Schneiderlin does go... .can we say he is as good as / better than / Adam Lallana?... who was a £25 million sell, or is Clyne as good as / better than / Luke Shaw (but has more experience?) and worth more.

I didn't suggest you did, Hypo. It was merely an additional comment ... to yours....on the other guys' post about vocab. and language. Maybe you might have read my text with an emphasis that isn't there. Wasn't any inferred criticism of you ...or him.

only he's almost past it then..... I think qualification is the player's age in the year that the competition begins.

well it's not so much his age, but the fact that he's a young Saints' player and that he was picked ahead of someone from one of those wonderful "top clubs" whose players dominate the full England squad.

oops !.....that's my arthritic finger again...

although I always thought that if ... 'appy ' arry ...hadn't made his fortune in football management, he'd have been a very successful second-hand car salesman.

well I am English AND born in So'ton and understand your comments, but having worked with many nationalities over a long period of time, I'm a bit immune to that sort of thing. Good communication is tops. However, as the club has a Swiss owner, a Canadian/German Chairman, a Dutch manager and a playing staff with footballers from 5 continents....think the original criticism sounds "a bit 20th century". I'm much happier with the management structure at SFC than I have been for decades, and well used to the P.C. b*llshi* that comes out of many Prem. boardrooms, so I've nothing to complain about.

what was that phrase?...." my way, or the highway " . I bet he didn't expect to be the one going out of the door. Well played Katarina.

Having lived in Stockholm for 30 years ....I think you've caught the right flavour of the city. However, if you've been to all 3 cities mentioned you really can't compare them. The more "sophisticated" Stockholm (my words) seems like a Utopian oasis compared to Gothenburg and Malmö, but it depends on your expectations. NOTE: Swedish women love English accents. As far as the football goes......the general standard of Swedish domestic football is poor and Malmö have been THE outstanding side for several seasons. They made it past the CL group stages last year, and in a tough group, but in the Swedish Prem.(Allsvenskan) ..they look like Chelsea playing against Championship sides.

If we make it to ANY sort of Euro competition, it'll be necessary to consider a plan without the likes of Schneiderlin and /or Clyne....and even perhaps Jay Rod. Unless we end up in 3rd place, I can see these three moving onto clubs where they will get regular Euro games....as even " our best squad " will struggle to get us past the group stages. The departure of any of the current squad will mean we need to get 100%, laid-on replacements who can fit the mould in a matter of weeks. Not impossible as we've seen with Koeman's new squad. .....but if we end up buying another Lovren:lol: ....or Osvaldo:scared: ..the whole European enterprise could go out of the door before Christmas.

I've always tried to follow the progress of our younger players (used to watch Reserve games at The Dell decades ago), but the success of our Academy lads never ceases to amaze me, so imagine my (pleasant) surprise when I read that Saints' 15 year old Calum Slattery is captaining England's U16 side in the current international tournament. I've watched highlights of all the Youth games on You Tube and Calum stands out like a beacon in many games. Calum has been a regular in the U18 side all season, (and managed a few goals as well), and didn't look out of place when he came on as a late sub. in a recent U21 cup game. Definitely " one for the future " but don't be surprised if he suddenly turns up at a higher level next season. The lad looks to be a real talent - even at this age.

........haha he must have been breathing heavily

Agreed. Tadic started off giving good service to Pelle, but after defenders started double-marking GP....Tadic also seemed to suffer a dip in form. (tired, or overtrained ?) Now we seem to have formulated a Plan B by having Mane and Elia as alternative front men, and Pellé has always been good at holding up the ball (ala Lambert) and passing it well. The main problem now is that our midfielders, despite their individual qualities aren't hot shots by any means. I'm a great admirer of Steven Davis, but his shooting leaves a lot to be desired. JWP is outstanding with his corners and free kicks - if only we had someone on the end of them, but yet again, he's good at hitting the woodwork, but still fails to convert chances in front of goal. Wanyama either hits a " worldie " ...or the corner flag, and we've been without Schneiderin in the starting side since mid December. ....and although he's not a regular first choice, we do miss the input we saw early season from Shane Long. Tadic really needs to get back to form and show us his shooting skills, it can hardly be worse than the others mentioned.

..in the " Southampton Way " documentary made for USA and screened on NBC in January.....(can be seen on You Tube as "The Southampton Way ") worth a viewing if you haven't seen it ... Ralph Kreuger stated when they (the new Board) ... came in and explained the club philosophy to everyone, he said .......we gathered all the staff together .....over 200 people....