david in sweden

not necessarily. If you're buying an established international from a top Euro side ...then YES, he'll cost big money but we've already invested in Ramirez and Osvaldo .....and I'm not totally convinced. Looking at those mentioned.. Luke Shaw (ex-Academy)cost NOTHING... replaced ...who?......Danny Fox. I call that a good call - don't you? Adam Lallana (with us for 12 years) has graduated to the top. He wasn't that great at 19, but he made it. Hard as it may be if he goes, I don't see him as irreplaceable. JWP hasn't disgraced himself in games - has he? ... so given time he will improve (as Adam did )....AND....Gaston Ramirez ..(if he stays) won't have to compete against AL to get a game. Rickie Lambert (need I say more) bought for £1 million at age 27 ...now sold for £4 million PLUS aged 32. Surely few of us would begrudge him the move back to Liverpool. Next : Morgan Schneiderlin (I'd be sorry to see him go) but he came as an 18 y.o. starlet,(for 2mill.?) ... fought to get a regular spot and at last getting his full cap for France, is priced at £15 million. or maybe :Dejan Lovren(?) Great CB, but wasn't he on the way to Spurs last season and was side-tracked by Pochettino. His decision in the end, but at a fee £15 miilion, it represents 100% profit. (The last CB we sold to Spurs (God rest his soul) ...didn't fare so well as memory serves after he got there). With £50 million..or was it £70 million?.... at his disposal RK can (within reason) buy who he wants....and he doesn't have to spend it all by 16th august. If he's smart, RK will hold over a lump of it for the January window....that's assuming that he isn't satisfied with some of the current crop of Academy graduates (who look a pretty promising bunch to me). I've no doubt RK will buy wisely, his real task is getting them to gell into a good side. That's what he's paid for. I don't expect miracles in the first season, but will be well-pleased with a mid-table position.

I wish !....these " team coaches" come in small groups. If Sammy isn't going to Brighton, does that mean that Anntti will become the proverbial second-best man? A.N. is definitely someone with a real Saints' connection......once seen never forgotten.

Whether he's on holiday,(or wherever) is immaterial. He doesn't need to know the difference between a hockey puck and a football, or understand the offside rule.(although I'm sure he does now) He doesn't have to have a bunk bed in his office ....and be at SMS 24/7. Important decisions are made at Board meetings, he should turn up then. It's about making decisions, and delegating to others. Les Reed said (in interview) he has the authority to make " footballing decisions " and the club relies on him for that, (the same as the CFO to control spending and the CEO for day-to-day activities). The Board have no possibility to affect results on the pitch, that's why we employ a manager and coaching staff....in the final analysis ....it's down to those on the pitch, not the ice rink.

That may have been one solution, but this time last year we'd managed to survive the relegation zone and some people were tipping us to struggle again and only a brave few suggested otherwise Commiting to enormous wage deals for several seasons is what ruined Leeds, Pompey and a quite a few other clubs. Fortunately (for them) several of the top clubs have mega-millionaires as owners, who seem to have a different perspective on money to the rest of us. To have committed ourselves to expensive contracts that we might well regret if things went " pear-shaped " in a year or two. Personalities aside..different circumstances seem to have worked in our favour. ...if Lovren goes were to go...we would have made a 100% profit on the deal. Who on Earth would have paid over £4 million for a 32 year old in the Prem?....Liverpool did. Neither is totally irreplaceable. Though I admit that he will be our biggest loss......Lallana's 26 year old legs have already had run over 12 years (for Saints)...so a £25 million fee sounds a pretty good deal to me... and who in their right mind would pay nearly £30 million for an 18 year old - very few. Not only is Shaw the most expensive teenager, but has a lot to live up to in the coming years. That's quite a burden for anyone to carry. I hope their new clubs get value for the money, but first the players have to fit in...that's another story. Fortunately, their " reported salaries " are not Saints' problem...or our future liability.

well has it? . I don't think they threw out the baby with the bathwater when NC left. It has been built up over the last 5 years, but no-one has suggested there is "alternative formula" in place, nor was there anyone there to change it, although I do think that the " vacuum " has left uncertainty with some people. Admitedly, there is " a new megaphone (Kreuger / Reed) now, and no two bosses have the same manner, but in both videoed interviews I've seen have references to the " Southampton Way," is the accepted structure for the club's future. Les Reed has been here longer than anyone else on the Board and he seems to have bought the original (Cortese) idea. If great visions, simply died with " the man " who created them...we'd have no Democracy ...or, Christianity in the World. I think it's an amazing opportunity to start over, but this time with a good structure in place and seemingly (a lot of ) money in the bank to support it.

never the tallest man in any side he played him. Sammy Lee's diminutive build disguised the soul of tough, hard-tacking midfielder who won his share of honours with Liverpool in the early 1980's. and 3 League titles, 4 League Cups, 2 European Cups and 14 games for England would look impressive on anyone's CV. Only " nerdy statisticians" would discover that he was even on the books as a Saints' player at one time, after a spell in Spain. He joined Saints staff (in the era of Chris Nicholl's management) as player-coach, but when Nicholl was sacked some months later, Sammy was out of the door with him. (A fate that many assistants suffer when the top man is replaced). He then went to Bolton (as player) before returning to Anfield as coach - then back to Bolton as assistant manager (and later manager), then back to Liverpool as Assistant Manager again, and more recently at Bolton (yet again) as their Academy Coach. (During Sven-Göran Erikson's time as England manager, he was even on the England coaching staff for a while). If the story is true or not, we can say that Sammy knows his football and has " paid his dues " to the Footballing world. Any club who does employ him will get someone with a real footballer's brain.

the fact remains that Ronald Koeman now has a dream opportunity. He can choose / buy his own team. Here is a class international manager with an impressive playing career of his own, moving to a Prem. League side with a seemingly enormous transfer budget, but without the burden of having to play the established " stars " and an opportunity for him to create his own playing squad from scratch. Those players " who stay " are the nucleus of the squad, and the chance to introduce the next generation Academy graduates, alongside his own choice of players he knows already. If RK makes the right judgments ....we could be in for the most radical change in the last 40 years - at least since Lawrie Mc Menemy's arrival.

playing with two overlapping full-backs (call them what you will) worked back in the L1 / Championship days when we had Richardson, Harding and Fox....and was carried on by Clyne, Chambers and Shaw. But in the Prem..... we " got found out ". High possession % didn't necessarily lead to more goals, and we need an alterantive strategy. Now we have the real chance to consider a good Plan B. RK will start with a blank team sheet (well, almost) and so it'll be very interesting to see what he comes up with. The mainstay of our attack has been Lambert and Lallana, both excellent ball skills, but lacking in real pace. Jay Rod manages to provide a combination of both. I always liked a " good, old-fashioned big striker up front " .(...even if they don't spend all their time in the centre circle), but if we are to change anything, expect to see a few fast players incorperated into the set-up, and a bit more (creative) long-ball play. I think many people confuse " long ball play " with......" the big boot upfield " (which is not creative, and only good for clearing your lines). My favourite goal last season was Lambert's long ball out of defence upto JayRod in... " the Fulham game "- was it ? Excellent movement. Rickie may not be with us any longer, but the tactic was superb and well-worked. Seeing the Dutch midfielder feeding Robben in the World Cup underlined how successful this can be. A bit more of this, and a little less of the 30 passes keep-possession football would entertain me.

.......but he'll be worth it, if he can do half of what Rickie has achieved in the Prem.

it's not often we have been able to say ..money's no object, but right now we can. I'd be off with any player who didn't want to follow the " Southampton Way " . Say Thank you and goodbye. No player should be bigger than his club, (except that Liverpool are about to find that out, when they have to start the season without Suarez).

when I wrote the OP , I didn't expect to be so close to the truth ....I wonder what RK has in store for us?

no flames Duncan, but if you consider that; 1) a great number of League clubs (even some in the Prem.) have practically no " youth scheme " to speak of, and rarely produce PL quality players, I think we've done quite well as the half-dozen " big sellings" we've done in the last 7-8 years proves that and most of them have made the international level with some success. 2) Whilst it's true that we haven't won any silverware (I see you're not counting the JPT which was a good win at the time, when you consider where the club was), the ongoing production of young talent is still there, but as around half-a-dozen of the current up-and-coming talents started at aged 8 - it takes time to mature to PL standard. Most observers admit that Shaw's success is quite exceptional for one so young. Adam Lallana has succeeded (after 12 years with the club) but, if any Academy lad is going to "make-it" we should expect to see it before he's ..say 22), and to be fair, many of those who " didn't quite make it," have gone on to make careers in the lower leagues (I counted well over a dozen when looking through all the League sides last season.) 3) We've had 3 different managers (for various reasons) since 2009 bankruptcy (RK is the fourth), and that in itself has been a stumbling block, although each of them had their own share of "success" it doesn't provide stability for the " squad " to have continual changes of leadership, as every manager has their own favourite playing formation / system, and import new faces into the squad. 4) Winning trophies is nice, but most fans like to see good football most of the time, there's a lot of luck attached to winning a Cup , and fans will lament that for all the good he's been credited with, Pochettino threw away our FA Cup chances with his poor team selection at Sunderland. YES, you need to rest players, and give other squad members playing time, but he underestimated badly on that one. 5) with the departure of Lambert, Shaw, Lallana ...and who knows who else, we will see a new era with a vastly different line-up. RK hasn't inherited " someone else's star players " and have to use them as he is literally able to start with a blank team sheet. Whether or not we see names like; Chambers, JWP, Gallagher, Reed, Targett, Isgrove, Sinclair and Rowe on it?... remains to be seen, but we are hardly likely to see more than half-a-dozen at any one time as there is a lot of " good " foreign talent out there - even if we haven't seen the best of it recently. lastly...that Silverware you wrote about in the OP ..(the Premier League title ?)....might I live to see it in my lifetime....who knows? One of the cups ..quite possibly. You'll need to be a bit patient.

Mmm.....???? ...how many " un-named " Premier League clubs have a training facility called Staplewood? " Should we start to guess, or do you want a poll ?

whilst many European leagues take a winter break around Christmas / New Year, the Swedish season (April-October) has one around Midsummer (June 21st). In the all-too-short Swedish summer, fans and players alike enjoy a short holiday break after the school term ends (June 6th here) and try to make the best of the highly unpredictable summer climate. This year it is even worse, as a longer break to take into account the shenanigans in Brazil has meant that it's an even longer break than normal. More annoying for the Swedish fans as they missed out on the party when losing a play-off with Portugal. Those fan I know, rested their hopes on supporting Spain, Italy, Portugal and England....needless to say we are all disappointed. However, it's still around a week until " regular football" starts, and it's difficult for fans to get excited looking at results of lower league matches played in obscure leagues around the country. Meantime, the 12 game start.. (it's a 30 match season) has seen last year's champions Malmö establish a six point league at the top with Kalmar and 38 y.o.Anders Svensson's Elfsborg) (YES..he's still playing) in the following places, as the best of the rest. In true Swedish democratic fashion, many of the games played so far ... have ended in boring DRAWS. An interesting time awaits last years top sides as the qualifying games for this season's Euro competitions will start soon. The Academy-based outfit Brommapojkarna have had a dreadful start to the season and sit in bottom place in the Allsvenskan (read Prem. League), having been granted a place in the Europa League ....based on UEFA's Fair Play rule. Most observers expect their survival in the competition will be about as short-lived as were the ** above-mentioned countries in the Brazil. One interesting prospect will be to see the most outstanding change of form after the long break. Top sides can begin to lose form, whereas mediocre clubs suddenly come back playing like Brazilians.

Whatever the sum involved - don't expect it to be invested straight away. Some of it will surely be held over for the January window depending on how we do in the first half of the season. We may lose a few players, but still have a good squad. Koeman will certainly buy a few in the next few weeks, but we should learn the lesson from Spurs fiasco last season. Sold Bale for £85 million, then spent £106 million on SEVEN new players, most of whom were a total waste of space then sacked the manager (AVP) who approved them when it didn't work out. Then took Sherwood as caretaker, he ignored most of the deadwood , and brought back the " English players "to some effect, but ....he still got the sack. CRAZY, I say.

........and for £40 million........p**ing ourselves with excitement in the process:lol::lol:

as we are still only permitted to play 11 players at a time ..... a transfer fee of this magnitude will surely become the benchmark for (m)any future deals.... ..and maybe even other developing talents from the Academy who become surplus to requirements (at some future date)....even if we don't see a fee anywhere near £40 mill. every time it's a good sign.

I'm wondering if part of Pochettino's strategy (in going to Spuds) was that he would recruit several Saints to follow him? It's an unusual sort of manager who doesn't try to get some of his former " star players "... although maybe he might be interested in....Osvaldo ?.

but I'd be happy with £15 million - just as long as he didn't go to Spurs !

+1 and again

Let's see if Luke can cut it on... " the World stage ". He may end up becoming the new England no.3 (?) A lot of "who-hah " when he was chosen ahead of Ashley Cole, but having watched Baines for two matches, I'm not convinced he's the real thing, either. Go for it Luke, even if it's your last game as a Saint.

one look at Billy in training .....and Koeman will have him on the first train back to Sheffield. (love ya Bill, but the Prem. is just a bit above the mark right now).

alternatively ....maybe the actual sum of money for the transfer fee is unchanged, but this price takes Hernandez' valuation into the deal ? ..means effectively we get him for £ nothing.

Forget the money (well, just for the moment). Football is in the blood, and for veterans like Rio, the next stop was the " Expert Panel " on some remote TV channel. NOTE : I recall Frannie Benali said (near the end of his career) that it was so much fun to play that even turning out for the Reserves seemed like a Cup Final.

Mmm.....do we mean that Croatian guy who got sent red-carded for the appauling foul near the end of the last game ? maybe not !