MarkSFC

It is essential that we sign at least one CB - would be happy with either Dann, C Davies or Mariappa. I wouldn't expect another one as Martin could/should be enough at number 4 but if worst comes to worst there is the loan system. Central Midfield is my main concern. I like Morgan and think he will definitely become the deep sitting play-maker type. Cork still has a little improvement to make I think and is probably closer to Morgan than an attacking mid-fielder. We definitely need one real quality player here - which sort probably depends on whether we stick mainly to 442 or maybe go 433. I think the reason Swansea were so good last year is down to their mid-field so if we can match them there we will certainly be better. Right wing is certainly a spot that is up for grabs. SDR has not yet shone, and nor did Guly there. some players bizarrely do get better as they come up against better players, and also play with better ones. If we mainly go 442 I would like to see Matt Phillips added - raw pace, certainly improving (despite his sluggish end of season) and could be very good, very soon. Right-back is interesting too - how far is Stephens away? Even if "good enough" wont be ready for the whole season. I'm not convinced by Richardson but has played in the Prem before so that may help but I fear that against pace he will be done. Maybe a loan signing here or maybe an investment in Trippier or Clyne. I like Fox, the only thing for me is that he does not get beyond Adam enough- maybe that's instructions, who know. I doubt we will see any addition here. Up front I really hope JRod signs - massive potential - and well worth the investment. I would not be surprised if we sign another striker either. Lee will potentially be a useful (if not firing them in anyway!) sub as can play up anywhere across the front so may well act as a "back up" to Adam as well as striker. Barnard should leave. Guly I think is a good one to keep because can play on the right, in the hole or up top. Remember 7 subs in the prem. Finally we obviously need a GK. I hope to see one who is better than KD and possibly just coming into his prim, late 20's early 30's. Gordon springs to mind, especially for no fee!

Here we go again...Mr clueless is back....making assumptions based on his own detached theories. I was enjoying this forum again for a while!!

This will be a great signing if indeed it does go through. When is the last time that Saints signed a player who is in his early 20's, highly regarded and whom some people think has the potential to play for England? If you think about it £7m+ for a player who has scored 40 in 121 games at a young age is pretty good. The price reflects mainly potential and so if you compare to AOC at £12-15m depending on who you believe, he is certainly better than half as good as AOC, especially if in 2 or 3 years they are leading the England line together. Very smart business if NC and NA can get this done.....1 or 2 more of a similar ilk would would be just great!!!

The OP describes "returning fans" as those who for whatever reason stooped supporting Saints and started supporting someone else. These sort of fans imho are NOT real fans in any sense......but if they want to put money into my club so be it. For me "returning fans" means supporters of Southampton who for whatever reason may not have been to St Mary's during the football league era or at least only two or three times a year, and now decide to buy a ST or end up going to at least 10 games this season. This is quite obviously going to happen because as the team improves - and so does the opposition - more people are going to turn up. The definition of real fans is someone for whom Southampton FC is in their heart and ALWAYS will be. It is NOT about having a ST and going to every game because there are so many different reasons why people cant go to every game and therefore do not purchase a ST. Equally I know people who have/have had ST knowing full well that they are not going to go every game - does that make them better? No, it means they like to sit in the same place when they do go with the same people. It's their choice to pay for that. If you knew me you would very quickly understand the passion for Saints I have but do I go to every game...no. Have I ever been a ST? Yes, for the last 7 years at The Dell. Why then over the years have I not gone as often as these self-proclaimed super-duper-A list- fans? A complete mix of work commitments (working away/working weekends), living the other end of the country, mates not around to go with (although I have been to many games on my own), finance, family commitments, weddings, stag-do's, holidays, cross-over fixtures with England cricket or Hampshire Finals, illness, injury, and once or twice when I could of gone "I really could not be arsed"!!!! Those who sit in judgement of others need to get in the real world. As long as you love Saints F.C. that's good enough for me....

life's a ***** get over it. I'm unemployed through no fault of my own. I can barely afford to eat let alone buy a ST. Get real OP....things change...put up or shut up.

If you look at the teams at the bottom, they all spent small sums and it can easily be argued that is a big part of why they went down or nearly did. Wolves spent about 5m plus two undis.(R Johnson and Jonsson) Bolton spent about 6m plus 1 undis. (Ngog) Blackburn spent about 10m plus 4 undis. (Orr, Yakubu and 2 unknowns) Villa spent about 10m plus 2 undis.(Given and Hutton) QPR spent about 10m plus 4 undisc. (Traore, Ferdinand, Young, and DJ Campbell) A few free ones were thrown in the mix at most clubs which aren't as free as they sound so my point is that it is realistic and quite possibly very necessary to spend 15-20 million. I would expect this to contain 2 or maybe 3 players that beat our record...2 or 3 players in the 1-3 million bracket and 2 or 3 "freebies". I would expect the "fee breakers" to be young and english - JRod/Hooper/Jarvis types The "1-3million" players to be foreigners, playing abroad And the "freebies" to be quite well experienced - Gordon/Cuellar types (not that I would want Cuellar but cant think of any more!) The big money (for us) will go on players who are still not at their full potential but are certainly developing quickly. It's interesting when you start talking fees on here how us spending possibly 6-8 million on JRod is regarde by many as too much but it was perfectly ok for us to squeeze Arsenal for every last penny for Chamberlain!! IF we do end up buying 2 or 3 "youngsters" it would show a massive sign of intent and how far things have actually changed. We may not shop at the top table but perhaps we are at the level below....

very well put.

I think there will be two strategies to the transfer window. 1) Young(ish) English players ON THE UP in their career. e.g. Rodriguez, Trippier, M Phillips, Ince, Clyne. players who may well be more expensive to purchase but will over time become more valuable (just in case of need to sell) but more importantly potentially International class or very near to it. I expect 4 or 5 of these. 2) Fairly experienced Foreign players who may have reached their peak or are just on their way down so to speak and maybe are a level below International. I suspect these to be the cheaper (in comparison to english/british equivalents) options...and almost certainly players most of us haven't heard of! I expect 2 or 3 of these.

great piece. Full of logic. Shouldn't be anywhere near this forum! Keep up the good work.

like!

Guesses..... 1) Who scored the first and last goals of the Saints Championship campaign Hammond / lallana 2) How many penalties did Saints get in the league this season6 3) How many penalties did Saints concede in the league this season5 4) Who was the only player to play in every game this seasonCork 5) How many league goals did defenders score for Saints this season12 6) How many Nationalities made up the official squad of the season (Including Loans)10, Eng, French, Japanese, spanish, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Belgium, Irish, Brazilian...11 if you include Fox as Scottish 7) How many own goals did Saints concede in the league this season3 What was the most league goals Saints scored in any one week7,birm, prest, burn in september...looked that up! 9) What was the most league goals Saints conceded in any one week4 on a few occasions 10) How many players did Saints use in their Championship campaign26?

Thing is Lowe was not even taking a chance as it was "proven" that we could easily get mid 20's as that it what we achieved before we had to go all seater. If I remember correctly Stoneham was "only 28K" so he wasnt mad, in fact in my opinion he was actually - as he ALWAYS did - playing it very safe. That attitude had a lot to do with why we ended up where we did. Cortese, if we do expand is being brave and visionary. He may get it wrong, it may be proven that in fact 32-35k is all we actually need. Unfortunately until you actually build a larger capacity stadium no one will ever know the true potential of our matchday support. My guess is that he will expand to mid forties. That would equate to approximately a 30-45% increase which seems very sensible. Less than 40k and it could be said is it really worth it - and over 50k may be a stretch. I think that expansion and progression on the pitch will have a bit of a knock on rally effect, i.e. as the team get better, there will be more demand - increase capacity - more revenue, better players, more success more demand etc...guaging the limit of that progression is down to Cortese not us!!

even if it cost us 10 mil for JRod and Trippier, which I doubt it really would, add in the 2 ish mil for Sharp thats 3 good players with lots of potential for the loss of Oxo. Seems like a great overall deal to me.

I think we should actually knock St Marys down and build a much smaller stadium that only those who have been to every game for the last 10 years can go. That way we will never get to the CL will get less income worse players and quickly drop down the leagues maybe get sold to a group of fans never produce good kids because we cant afford the academy and then finally end up in the blue spuare south. At least then certain people would be happy cos no point in doing anything remotely positive with this club as the real fans couldnt handle it. And to top it all off we could play the skates every year. Happy days.

I would be disappointed if we sold the so called naming rights but even if we did it would still be St Marys to every one which would devalue that sale anyway. If the Leibherr family after many more years either extend significantly the stadium or build another I doubt many would mind a formal change of name to say the Leibherr Arena.

we probably only need to take 4 out right strikers as hopefully we will play 433 with young and walcott/or oxo either side of the striker. I would take Rooney, Crouch, Defoe, and Bent if fit, if not Carroll.

Circumstances unfortunately dictated watching the game on tv and in the pub and The Alex was the venue of choice but it could not have been better either during or after. AWESOME ATMOSPHERE. Best pub in town for football!

I expect that we will bring 6 or 7 players in while releasing/selling Holmes, Seaborne, Harding, Jaidi, Barnard, JonnoQuick, Connolly, and Puncheon. I would hope that the 'calibre' of player is one of young hungry and still not quite t their peak. Players who may fit the bill; Hooper JRod Rhys Williams McEachran Matt Philip Tom Ince Guthrie

I wish u every luck in getting rid of the parasites as quickly as possible and hope u survive. I too have always regarded our two clubs as similar in terms of history and size of city and therfore potential support level.

everyone needs to get to the pub early to calm the nerves build the atmosphere and to ensure the singing is pumped and very intense. This is going to be an amazing day.

well we started the season on live tv and I seem to recall we we quite good that day so I have no doubts that we will finish the job off in style. The 'pressure' of last opportunity will focus the minds of this team. When its really properly mattered they have not let us down.

I agree to some degree about Fonte who seems to have stood still - no pun intended - over the season. Hooiveld though has been excellent mostly The problem I think we have is the lack of an out and out defensive centre midfielder. All 3 are niether that or an attacking midfielder so the balance hn midfield has never been quite right and this is the area I think has cost us in our defeats. I have no doubt whatsoever that we will beat Coventry so in the summer we will need 1 CM and CB if not two better than we have. Fonte, Cork and Hammond should not be first choice next season.

always The Alex!

I think we need to make 4 decent signings, a CB a CM, a RM/W, and a ST. Possibilities or wishlist would be: Matt Phillips Gary Hooper Curtis Davies Tom Huddlestone Depending on the progression of Jack Stephens we may need a loan at right back until he comes through. We will also need a keeper at some point in the not too distant future to take over from Kelvin. Players I would let go/sell: Seaborne Jaidhi Harding Bart Forecast Barnard Connolly - although maybe worth a coaching role with the academy It's going to be an interesting summer....

why take it so personal? No....haven't forgotton what he's done but doesn't mean he is good enough now or for the prem. I dont understand why w*nkers like you get hung up on players who have done little and would go tomorrow for 50k extra.