david in sweden

No-one can say he doesn't know his way around. He started his career in League 2 and played in higher levels as time went by. League One, Championship and then 5-6 seasons with Norwich in the Prem. and Championship. Has also clocked up 29 (?) caps with Scotland. Young enough to remember what League football is all about, now the hardest part is motivating the right players in the right way.

A good point to note. If we employed a manager who said he's wasn't ambitious to succeed - we'd sack him on the spot, but when it's a player who improves above and beyond his teammates and leaves, then he is criticised and abused by fans on line. Clearly, Adam Lallana improved out of sight in his final season with us, yet drew horrendous responses from some " fans" after he moved. I recall that some others were upset when Graziano Pelle left us ....after he was offered 300,000 a week to play in China. A certain lack of perspective there, I think.

and of course we should remember..... that a goalkeeper is only as a good as the defence in front of him ......and some of them went AWOL on numerous occasions throughout the season, but even they cannot be blamed for everything that went wrong.. ALSO We lost 12 games by a mere one goal margin ( 9 of them by 0-1 ) and some of the defeats we suffered can be laid at the door of those at the top end of the pitch who often missed more chances than the opposition sides who won those games.

There is a... " what if "... here to consider. We all seem to agree that Prowsey deserves to stay in the Prem. perhaps more than anyone else, but it also represents 20 years of his life and he may be reluctant to move away for 3 or 4 years especially as he is Hampshire born and bred. Certainly for someone already on 100K /week , (not a bad salary by anyone's reckoning) there will be a number of the "big money " clubs who see him as a "cheap buy" compared with some of the huge fees they normally pay out, (but it would have to be at a fee that Saints are willing to accept). JWP is unlikely to uproot himself /and family just for another 10K a week, and Saints will want to get a good fee if / when he does move - or even if he doesn't want to move to a part of the country where they don't speak " English" , or to a club who he just " doesn't fancy ". The " what if " (in my estimation) is that unless he and the club get offers that can't be refused, is that he stays on until the New Year, by which time ....IF Saints are leading the Championship by 6 points, he would stay on and see us get promoted back up to the Prem. Plan B ...is ....if we are " treading water " in mid-table, or worse...one of the big Prem. sides who are struggling to meet their own expectations of success and glory would likely come in for him, and he would move anyway. This may sound a bit strange, but he must be a good poker player because - at the moment - he just doesn't seem to want to move away......

........well fit enough to play for 30 minutes anyway. It' still a long way back to be first choice on the team sheet. Hopefully he'll be able to build more on his fitness with a good pre-season.

you mean ....before he has the chance to make second half substitutions and bring on game-changers to win the match?

Mmm....a bigger name? you mean someone who has played at the top level.. maybe even won things ..How about Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard ? Oh yes... they've tried as managers and failed miserably to motivate their players. Many of such " managers " are not really ambitious - just greedy. It's maybe good to remember that good coaches / managers have other qualities in their locker and two of the 21st century's most successful managers ( Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp ) never played top level football at all in their own careers. There are very few accolades being handed out to Selles a.t.m., but I'll be interested to see how his career develops in the next 4-5 years. ..attract more fans ?.......my days as a travelling fan are long since gone, and no longer possible physically, or geographically, but I take my hat off to those several thousand fans who travel away all the time, and can often be heard "out-singing " the home fans in some of the country's largest stadia ---despite our league status. Those " fans" who leave SMS after a home defeat, having booed the team off the pitch ... are in another category. Potentially better players ?....We'd need a lot of money to achieve that. Sport Republic have shown that they are not afraid to spend money - even if some of it was misplaced with some of the transfer deals, but now look at Chelsea... with a new owner who throws money at everyone, and has spent over 200 million in the last year on a lot of players with individual talent, but still hasn't got "a real team" who can finish in the top half of the Prem. Tottenham have immense debts - after building their billion pound stadium - and are still buying players for huge sums, who simply - aren't up to the job. They've spent over 100 million in trying to replace a right back who they rejected and sold to us for a mere 12 million. ( It' s just Karma Glenn.... Karma! ) Although those things you mentioned at the top of the page may make sense, every real success is built from the ground up and now we have a chance ( in the Championship) to start over. Hopefully the right manager will help us on the way. In my 64 years as a Saints fan, I've learned to be both philosophical and pragmatic, those "fans" who want to watch " top level " football still have two South Coast side to follow - if they don't mind a little travel time. I can't change my blood type.

Tyler Dibling has a real talent, (or else why did Chelsea want to pay 6 mill. for him?) .... but is still a tad behind Dom Ballard in his development, but in a year or two.... we could have a really good squad when the year 2005-born lads move upto the senior level.

or if they do escape.... .will they get the 12 points deduction they truly deserve for their " creative financing " over the last few years.

whilst I agree that the results are meaningless (Charlie W) it will be interesting to see just WHO will put in a really good performance... (with a view to their future) ... or will just " go through the motions " because it's end of the season and they don't care a sh*t anyway.

Can't argue against Peter Shilton........but I could watch Antti Niemi all season long .......great keeper .

Now that we have officially been relegated............isn't this the point in time where we start to play like Brazil and turn over Brighton and then Liverpool will never forgive us if they don't get all 3 points ......and fail to get that last CL spot ......

Perhaps so .... but a few of those girls .. aren't teenagers any longer and deserve to have a life, having done " the donkey work " in getting the club promoted through 3 regional divisions and up to the Championship, and they deserve much credit for that. Time doesn't stand still and the game is getting faster and more demanding, and some of the juniors look to be good prospects. It must have been a hard decision to let them go, but given the club's economy the man's squad will also take many cuts in personnel.

just as long as we get paid in " real money ". Turkey is trying to cope with 80% inflation, and gets worse every day.

.......plus a sell-on clause - just in case.

Prowsey... Like him or not, we had the privilege,( previously granted only to Man Utd. fans) of seeing so many excellent free-kicks from one player along with a number of well-taken penalties. A player who really has given service to our club over a period of 20 years, he deserves better. It is also seemed somewhat ironic, that JWP played in our first Prem. game after promotion back in 2012, and will now leave after our last, before we return to the Championship. We may not see his like again in the near future.

For those people who say they can't hear Prowsey's voice when they are sitting in Row D, should note that he covers more ground than any other Prem. player, in part because he gets around the entire pitch covering everyone else's " absence " from their designated positions. I watched him yesterday and he played everywhere and - even late as the sole striker. In one spell when we couldn't penetrate Fulham's wall, everyone consistently passed back to him - wherever he was - and however he tried to bring others into play, he still ended up getting the ball back. Goodness knows what we will do when he isn't there any longer ! When we buy players we concentrate too much on their ability with their feet, and seldom on that in their brain. There are very few "brains " in the current squad - especially amongst those young players who were still playing " boy's football " last season. Prowsey has been with the club - man and boy - for the best part of 20 years, whatever else you may think, he deserves better than we can provide.

Agreed Charlie, but I don't see us making an immediate return to Prem. - after the sale of our "star internationals " and then releasing those who have failed to come upto standard, we are left with a group of battered one-season starlets who have struggled to make the grade, and are clearly out of their depth. Although we may admit those teenagers bought last summer have some skill, it's also clear that 10 stone weaklings, who lack muscle will not be able to take care of themselves in the tough environment of the Championship, and won't last a 46 game season. The game time lost through injury has accounted for much of this season's problems and our goal tally is nothing to even discuss, and despite their Championship success I don't see the likes of Adam. A or Che Adams suddenly finding form just because we drop a division. I'm enthusiastic about our youngsters, but don't see them taking the Championship title any season soon without the benefit of more experienced types to guide and advise, both on and off the pitch .

Our previous ex-Academy talents all found life hard with top clubs after their big money moves, in part because they "looked good " in our set-up when backed by experienced players who knew their way around. Neither Walcott, Bale , or Ox walked into their new club's start sides, and Luke Shaw had a nightmare at Man U, when he discovered he was expected to put in a shift without the support and encouragement he'd known previously from Jose Fonte & Co. I agree that our future at the lower level is a great chance for our young talents to show up, but that should be tempered with the reminder of Lawrie McMenemy's famous phrase...." young legs, old heads " . You don't win things with " kids ". We need the introduction of a few experienced " hard men " who know their way in the Championship, but who don't necessarily have a Premier career in front of them in a year or twos time. One hard man at CB, and a striker who has a good record at that level. In the pre-Prem. return period (2009 -2012), we had 3 or 4 v. good players who DAJFU (and more) but were never going to be proper Prem. standard, but nevertheless they supported our young talents in their early careers. After the summer clear-out that will inevitably come, we need a few "old heads" to support our most promising lads for the first year or two.

Not hard to understand. For someone his age who's already played in several countries, and enjoys Prem. level salaries and will find it hard to keep his international status if he ends up playing in the Championship . I'd say it's a "no-brainer " .

Probably .....a good representation of ... " an average mid / lower table " Prem. club, but unfortunately not good enough this season. Ironically Forest's ONLY away win this season - was against us in January, whereas we have had 4 wins and two fairly good away draws but it now looks as though they may survive , and we may go down.

As a postscript to my post (above) Once again... Bella-Kotchap was injured on Monday night and had to leave the field .... for the 5th time this season. No-one doubts this lad's effort, or endeavour but clearly he is not physically prepared for life in the Prem. where he often comes off second-best in challenges and hefty tackles. Although technically he is no longer "a teenager" like others in his generation he has not fully developed the physicality that is vital for someone in a CB role in the Prem. Unfortunately, he is not alone in our youthful squad. We recall Broja's fantastic start last season, which petered out after he got battered in the latter half of the campaign.... and we are still awaiting Tino LIvramento's return to the first team. After a great start Lavia was injured in game 4 and didn't return for 10 games, and young LB Larios (injured in November) hasn't started a Prem. game since, and Edozie (injured on Dec. 31st at Fulham)... hasn't started regularly since that date. All players get knocks periodically, but those " more mature " are often back in action after 1-2 weeks, but younger bodies take longer to heal, and the stark difference between a " tackle-free life " in B team games is also psychologically challenging. Everyone has rightly noted some individual talents, but a full 38 game Prem. season is tough enough, but we should not forget that Championship sides play 46 league game .. plus cup matches .. and it will demand an awful lot of our younger recruits. Many of them will need to build up their strength and "muscle-mass " in order to withstand the rigours of "men's football". Most of our youngsters will surely develop into fine players - in a few years time, but the club's real mistake was not in buying so many promising talents, but the reliance on their youth - without the guidance of a few more "older heads " around them.

IF ... Burnley are stuck with one of these " loyalty clauses " that players get ?.. they may be " in debt " to him for his years of service and some clever book-keeping might balance out any eventual signing-on fee ....or, who knows what? The " big money clubs " and player's agents ... have taught us a lot about how to handle such deals. I don't believe in coincidence. IF ....Tella moves to Burnley.... and we end up with Barnes.....no-one will ever convince me that there is no connection.

Excellent post Clarke-y . I can only hope that whoever recommended buying some of the newcomers is among those who have already left the club. Clearly, we will have a generational shift beyond anything in living memory, but importantly get a manager who can find a workable formation and a good squad to make positive something out of the pigs-breakfast we find ourselves in. INTERESTING QUOTE from the excellent interview sequence with Rickie Lambert - ( when he claimed Southampton was the best club he ever played for) ..when he said ..." get rid of ....everyone / anyone ...who doesn't want to play for the club ". By the time we've sold our crown jewels in the summer, SR will have re-couped the money they've spent this season, and hopefully get it right next time. I just they insist on a sell-on clause in every deal.

BE WARNED .... Hopefully, he won't be involved in any sort of shady, part-exchange deal involving Nathan Tella !!!! No-one at the club can remember, but some of we geriatrics recall record deals like selling Martin Chivers to Spurs (1967), and getting Frank Saul ....(ouch) and a later deal that took Alan Shearer to Blackburn (1992) ... and we blew most of the money on the ill-named David Speedie, and Kerry Dixon and ended up with the sh*tty end of the stick both times. Dixon and Speedie managed 20-odd games between them... then disappeared and we were fighting relegation all season.