SaintJackoInHurworth

Whenever I see a thread like this one it prompts me to think we should have a thread somewhere where we name and shame trolls, attention-seekers and P*mpey fans who masquerade on here as Saints fans. I'm not saying this just in reference to the original poster although he certainly seems to fall into one of those categories with the rubbish he has posted. I am also referring to others who have backed him up like aintforever. On P*mpey forums they don't stand for anyone they suspect of being a Saints fan and while I don't think we should stoop to their standards, I certainly think we should expose anyone who continually spouts rubbish like this with the apparent sole aim of causing disharmony among the club's supporters. Whatever we do I think we all need to be aware that there will be a number of the blue few among us pretending to be Saints fans. I know it happens because I have done it the other way around when we were in League 1 and they were in the Prem. I only did it a couple of times over a week or two, but it showed me just how easy it is to play on your rival's fears and spread discontent.

According to the interview with the manager Lee has shown a good professional attitude and is set to return to the First team - might we yet get to see what attracted saints to sign him in the first place?

Adam Lallana has been without question one of our most consistent quality players of recent years. His quality remained there for all to see at the start of last season. Many clubs would love to have a player of his quality. I suspect there are too many WUMs on this board - some with decidedly fishy tendencies. That having been said, maybe there were a few games at the end of last season where our opponents identified his threat as significant and nullified it as you would expect from any good Premier League team. This, coupled with some loss of edge in his fitness after injury (which then also affected his pace) may have led to Adam trying a few different things, as you would expect of any player seeking to improve. Sadly, some of these did not come off and people immediately start to have questions about his ability. Yet what people are seeing as a lack of ability is instead the complete opposite - these are the marks of a quality player seeking to be even better. With the right support - both from the fans and from within the club's management - Adam will continue to improve and will find the ways in which he can best utilise his (IMO) undoubted ability. Playing against quality opposition, with quality players around him and quality coaching will lead us in time to see a new improved Adam Lallana. So, let's be patient and enjoy seeing him attain that next level! Incidentally, a few years ago, there was a new star in English football who very quickly became the glorious hope of English football. However, as people began to learn about him, so opposing managers began to identify ways of nulifying his threat. Wayne Rooney has not got worse as a player, but he has got to work much harder nowadays to achieve the same results as he saw in his early days. It was much the same with Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlaide Chamberlain and it is also the same with Adam Lallana. As well as allowing Adam the freedom to express himself so that he can discover what works in beating Premier League quality players, so also we need to ensure that the other players around him also provide such a threat that Premier League players cannot afford to focus all their efforts on nullifying Lallana, Ramirez and Lambert. Instead we must ensure that every player is such a threat that no such tactics can be effective. Finally, I believe that Puncheon's success (and he DID have a great season for us!) has perhaps come largely as a result of his direct style, but also maybe because he is not perceived to be as much of a threat as Lallana and Ramirez.

Just wear a shirt (or more) from a previous season! This year's away kit is probably one of the worst ones we have ever had, as is the home kit; so be bold enough to stick with a better kit from a previous season. I am still wearing our home shirt from our championship promotion season and our away shirt and training shirt from our League 1 promotion season - all far better than our current offerings. I sometimes also wear my Saints home shirt from our first season in League 1 - and occasionally older shirts than those! They are all perfectly good shirts - with all of the home shirts being striped.

OK, there is a lot of unpleasant posturing from contributors on both sides of this debate. It really isn't necessary. Let's just accept that people have very different views on this one shall we? The way I see it is this.... 1. Gaston is a player with huge potential. 2. Gaston cost a lot of money so many people placed huge expectations on him. 3. Sometimes last season we saw him live up to that potential. 4. Sometimes last season he failed to live up to his price tag and to show that potential. 5. Gaston seemed to never have the level of fitness of other players last season - witness the number of times he was subbed after 60 minutes. 6. Gaston remains a player with huge potential - of the sort that draws interest from top clubs. 7. This season Gaston will start having had some sort of pre-season (even if it is sadly less than others have had). 8. If we sign Ever Banega then Gaston will have a real battle to be in the side. 9. If we sign Banega and play him and Ramirez together it could be amazing! 10. Even when he is having a poor game Gaston like other flair players has the potential to do something that can change a game. I personally hope that we will have Banega, Ramirez, Lallana, Puncheon and maybe some new winger all competing for a starting place in the side next season and that we will see each of them raising their game to compete. I also hope that each player will have a higher level of fitness to be able to effectively implement the Poch's high pressing game. At the same time I would love to see Isgrove also learning from them and developing into a top talent too. Finally, as to my opinion's about certain posters on here, my view is let them have their opinions, learn to understand their jokes and sarcasm and appreciate the positive things they bring to the forum instead of seeing only the negative. Ironically, some of them seem to spend a lot of time focusing on the negative side of our players - so, if you don't like that, try not to treat them in the same way - it only increases their negative outlook. Treat people more positively and they will slowly but surely become more positive too! One poster who has had a lot of criticism lately (rather taking the mantle from Alpine) is Glasgow. Personally, I'd like to thank Glasgow for taking the trouble to repost the post I had previously made about Banega, but which I had posted on the wrong thread (the Damiao one!). Unfortunately I had used up my three posts and so Glasgow was able to post the news in the right place! So thank you mate! I may not always agree with you, but I certainly appreciate what you bring to this forum!

Tweet on the Spanish Premier League twitter feed in the last few minutes: NOTICIA BOMBA:Se ha producido un avance y nuevos contactos entre Southampton y Valencia por Ever Banega. #EPL#Fichajes Translation: News bomb: There has been a breakthrough and new contacts between Southampton and Valencia by Ever Banega. #EPL #Fichajes -hmm - interesting!!

Hmmm... I'm not sure that includes all the groups. For example I can't see the TOSSA and COLSLAW groups listed there: TOSSA - The Oxford Saints Supporters Association COLSLAW - Committee Of Loyal Saints Living Around Watford These two generally operate as effectively one group and have a presence through Yahoo here: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/COLSLAW/ I am a member of Northern Saints as I live near Darlington. There are quite a lot of us around and we are growing in number all the time! There are quite a few in the Northwest, including the organisers of the group, so there is always likely to be someone travelling down through the Midlands on their way to a Saints game - though I don't know how many drive to games.

I'd agree with a lot of what you say there, but I would argue it is BOTH an issue of strength in depth AND having players that fit to the different systems that the manager will employ against different opposition (I don't think he will have one system/style of playing exactly, though he does have a single ethos of how to win). I would argue, for example, that at left back we have a lack of strength in depth (if both Shaw and Fox get injured we have few other options), a lack of quality in depth (Fox is not as bad as some suggest, but he is positionally naive and gets caught out too often) and a lack of personnel that fit to Pochettino's system (Fox's approach of bombing up the wing only works where you have a system where someone else is tasked with filling the gaps he leaves behind him). Similarly at right back if Clyne gets injured, Stephens and Chambers are options that could fill that role, but both are only young and inexperienced and while both have played in that position, they have both also played elsewhere. Cork is another option, but this has not generally been his preferred position (though if, as we all suspect, he loses his place to Wanyama, I guess he will play wherever he can get a game!) So, there are a lot of question marks in this position if Clyne gets injured.

OK, there is a lot of talk about where we need to strengthen, but I thought it might be helpful to look at our squad visually, so I have created a chart showing the squad as it is at present (with the assumption that Billy Sharp will be leaving). I have created a column for first choice players and a column for back-up players. I have also indicated which players are under 21 and do not, therefore, count within the 25 allowed squad players. I have based the squad on a 4-4-2 system, but please don't worry too much about the details here - I recognise that this is a simplification and that we could play a very different formation to 4-4-2 and that Ramirez and Rodriguez (etc....) cannot necessarily be guaranteed to be first choice. I also recognise that putting some players into one position is an over-simplification. Those are details and not the main thrust of this exercise! So, without further ado, here is the current squad as it stands at the moment (unless a player has suddenly signed while I am typing this in!): [table] [tr] [th]Position[/th] [th]First Choice(s)[/th] [th]Back-up(s)[/th] [th]Under 21 [/th] [/tr] [tr] [th]GK[/th] [td]Boruc[/td] [td]Davis, Gazzaniga[/td] [td]Gazzaniga[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Left back[/th] [td]Shaw[/td] [td]Fox[/td] [td]Shaw[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Centre Back[/th] [td]Lovren, Yoshida[/td] [td]Fonte, Hooiveld[/td] [td][/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Right Back[/th] [td]Clyne[/td] [td]Stephens[/td] [td]Stephens[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Defensive Mid/Box-to-box[/th] [td]Schneiderlin, Wanyama[/td] [td]Cork, JWP, Chambers[/td] [td]JWP, Chambers[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Offensive Mid[/th] [td]Lallana, Ramirez[/td] [td]Puncheon, Guly, Davis, Isgrove[/td] [td]Isgrove[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Striker[/th] [td]Lambert, Rodriguez[/td] [td]Mayuka [/td] [td][/td] [/tr] [/table] My thoughts as I look at this are these: 1. We have only got a first team squad of 25 players of which 6 are under 21. We could therefore sign up to 6 more players aged over 21! 2. We have a lot of midfielders but many of these are not quality players for the future and could well drop down the pecking order quite quickly with some more quality additions. I would suggest that Guly will probably be one of those who will see less game time if we do sign another quality midfielder like Banega. 3. We have at first glance very limited options at full-back... except for the fact that Yoshida, Cork, Chambers and potentially Wanyama could all do a job there! 4. We have even more limited options up front - although, again, Lallana, Ramirez, Puncheon, Guly and Isgrove could all be called upon if need be. The obvious (imo) conclusions from all this are: 1. We definitely need to be looking to strengthen up front, especially if Billy Sharp does move on. 2. Despite the numbers of midfielders in our squad we do still have scope to bring in a quality player like Banega if we can get him as there are a lot of players who are not upper Premier League quality (if that is what we are aiming to become!) 3. We could do with strengthening further in defence. Anyone else got any thoughts looking at that?

Would be a good day to announce the shock signing of Ever Banega.

I agree that this is a way that Pochettino is sending out a message of intent, though I doubt we will sign all those three players if any of them. However, this announcement will signal to other potential signings that we are an ambitious club. It may also serve as a smokescreen to other potential purchases. I can't predict who - maybe some of the others about whom we have had rumours but who were not mentioned by Pochettino yesterday. Of course, it may have been lost in translation that Pochettino was actually saying those three names with a kind of dry humour as if to scorn the rumours of the market! I haven't actually see what was said in the press conference to have any clue as to whether that may be the case. In terms of who I hope we will sign, I would definitely include Ever Banega and maybe a winger and/or striker. Another defender could also be useful.

Thanks! I have just tweeted Alan Nixon on Twitter and he makes big hints that your information is correct: Me: Any news on Southampton signing a player this week? Is the rumour of one out, one in true? #transferwindowopen Alan Nixon: Waiting on a call on something. About time The Don landed one. Enough cheque-book waving ... get them signed. I wait to hear more news!

i don't know whether this is true or not, but I hope it is. As a very regular poster on here I guess Glasgow is taking a very big risk posting this if it is not true! So... Glasgow... any clues as to who we might be signing? What position? Is it someone with whom we have already been linked in the press? Is this likely to be a first team player or a back-up with the potential to break through? Also, is your source someone who is definitely ITK? Thanks!

There seems to be a lot of confusion on this thread and part of it boils down to a failure to understand some simple economics, so as I have an economics degree perhaps I can help... There are two issues here: * What is his value to the purchaser? - Many are saying Morgan is not worth a certain fee because clubs wouldn't be prepared to pay that much. This is true but it fails to acknowledge the other key factor... * What is his value to the seller? - Others are pointing out (correctly) that Saints will not sell at a price that is below his value if he stays. Now here's the key thing to note: A sale will only be made at or above the point that a seller is prepared to sell and a buyer is prepared to buy. So, most importantly, we need to understand what influences a club's willingness to sell a player. Here are a list of possible influences: 1. The player's age - beyond a certain age their value will fall, before a certain age a player's value will generally rise. 2. The player's ability and experience - obviously! 3. The importance of the player to the club. 4. The replacement cost of a player - i.e. what would it cost to buy a player to replace the player if he were to be sold? 5. The length of the player's remaining contract - a player's value will drop significantly the closer they get to the few final months of a contract (though that player's ability to negotiate higher wages for himself may also rise as a result!) 6. The player's disciplinary record. 7. The player's relationship with the manager and the rest of the team - i.e. could he adversely affect the team performance because he has fallen out with his manager or team-mates. 8. The player's loyalty/commitment - if he wants away this could again adversely affect the rest of the team by unsettling them. 9. The club's wealth and it's need to raise finance to buy other players - a wealthy club is less likely to need to sell a player than one which needs to sell in oder to raise the finance to purchase other players. Now, on most of these points I would argue that Morgan's value would be raised. The only doubt that exists lies in point 8. If Morgan wishes to leave strongly enough and if it is perceived that this is liable to unsettle the whole squad then this could reduce the amount at which the club would be prepared to sell him. Nevertheless, the other points and especially point 4 will ensure that, assuming Cortese knows what he is doing, if Morgan is sold he will not be sold at anything less than a highly demanding fee. If a lower offer is received, Cortese can simply turn round and point out how little that other club valued him and that Saints valued him more highly! For this reason, while we may feel that Morgan's value based simply on ability and experience would not be as high as some other players, when taking account of other factors and especially the time remaining on his contract, the club should be able to demand a fairly high fee to other clubs - of a level that will put off most (if not all) other clubs. I would argue that there is a big disparity between what many clubs would be willing to pay for Morgan and the price at which Saints would be prepared to let him go and that consequently we will not sell him.

"Southampton have bid 20m € for Leandro Damiao, according to Sky Italy. Meeting set in next days." - ccording to Tancredi Palmer, Italian football pundit - CNN italian sports correspondent and Gazzetta dello Sport contributor.

I'm just hoping as others have said that this is an elaborate wind-up. The fact that the badge on the 'home shirt' is skewed gives me hope that it is a hoax. Also the fact that the logos, etc. are all in gold makes them look like transfer stickers that someone has just stuck onto some training tops or kit-wear that they have got hold of from somewhere. I suspect if they had been in all white they would have looked even more like transfer stickers, so I reckon if I were wanting to mock up a hoax kit, running with gold logos, etc. would be more effective than anything else, unless I was prepared to go to some expense. If this turns out to genuinely be the Saints kit, then I shall know it as the 'Gullible Saints Kit' as anyone who is prepared to buy it must be incredibly gullible! That having been said, it is possibly not the worst and most un-Saints-like Saints kit ever - that award must go to last season's abomination of a Liverpool/Forest 1980's kit (which is what I will continue to call it whenever I refer to it!) SAVE OUR STRIPES!!!! Here's hoping for good news in the morning that it is a hoax!

So... just to return to this thread which seems to have gone quiet lately... any news on Banega? I notice that this French website lists the transfer of Banega to Southampton as being under discussion: http://www.football.fr/football/espagne/mercato-foot.html (or does 'on en parle' mean 'people are talking about it' i.e. it's a rumour?) I also notice (and I am sure this must have been mentioned elsewhere) that there is some discrepancy as to when his contract is up for renewal. Goal.com suggest that his contract expires on 30 June 2013 - i.e. this coming Sunday, whereas Sky Sports have previously reported that his contract runs until 2015: http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11837/7441959/Banega-signs-new-deal Personally, I think he looked phenomenal on the video footage (and yes I know that SDR looked very good on YouTube too, but this video showed more than a player making a few mazy runs!) and if he is as good as he looks I hope we will be announcing we have signed him very soon! Unfortunately, I know nothing to suggest that we will!

Ok - it's taken ages to read all of today's posts about Wanyama and I have come to the following conclusions: * He is a good player and will probably do a job for us in midfield if we sign him. I will be pleased to see him sign for us rather than Cardiff. * He is not as good as Banega. * I'm puzzled why we are concentrating on signing a player in a position in which we are relatively quite strong (Cork, Schneiderlin, Davis, JWP) * Nevertheless he would add strength in depth to the squad. * £10-12M + extras is maybe a lot to pay to just add strength in depth. * What do we know? We are not the experts! * This signing (if he is signed) needs to be put in the context of all our transfers this summer and we may not see its full realisation straight away. * Wanyama's agent doesn't have a clue or is going in deliberately very high in the knowledge that Southampton do not pay much to agents (maybe he will end up with £200k, but by Saints standards that is huge!) We will have to wait and see. It will be great if we sign him (just purely for the fact of another quality player on the books) but I suspect it won't be the end of the world if we don't!

I was born in Southampton and grew up in Hythe but as a child I had no problem with Pompey. In fact through listening to Radio Solent I actually stuck up for all the south's teams to do well, but especially Southampton of course! However, having moved away from the area when I was ten I came back to the city for university and I shared a flat with three others in my third year including a Pompey fan. His continual over-the-top banter drove me mad. I didn't hate the guy - he was still a friend, but I loathed his support for Pompey and thus I came to dislike Pompey with a venom too. Having said all of that, I think the hatred that some people have for Pompey goes too far and is very dangerous. Worse than that, such hatred for them only makes us like them. If we really think their attitude to us stinks (and it usually does) then lets show that we are better than them by not stooping to their level. Furthermore, I have to seriously ask some fans which is more important to them: 1. That Pompey fail. 2. That Southampton succeed. To me it seems that some fans have got to a stage where they would rather Pompey fail than that we succeed. That is not supporting Saints - that is anti-supporting Pompey! So let's get it sorted and first and foremost, let's support Saints! SO, if we are to be true Saints fans rather than Anti-Pompey fans, our priority must be to sing songs about Saints rather than songs about Pompey. Finally, the song is called "You are my Sunshine, my only sunshine" not "You'll never know dear, how much I love you..." and here are some Southampton supporting words for it (and in particular in support of Luke Shaw): Our left back's Luke Shaw, Only one Luke Shaw, He makes us happy, in every game; A great defender, great going forwards, For sure he is the new Gareth Bale! OK - anyone improve on that?

Judging by that he might well be better than Skacel or De Ridder...! Also judging by that (and more seriously) I would be incredibly shocked (to the point of delirious delight) if we sign him... at least until we discover that for all his all-round potential in practice he is woefully inconsistent and rarely performs to that standard! However, I think it has got to be a mere pipe dream - surely?! If he really is as good as that video suggests (and there is certainly enough evidence on there to suggest that those were not just isolated lucky moments) then I really do hope that MC will astound us and pull-off what could be our greatest signing since Keegan!

You are right - though it was of course 1978 that Saints were promoted. My recollection was that it was a 0-0 draw as it was the first game I ever saw, but having checked my facts, I was wrong. So, yes, 1-1! Over to you...!

OK - think that's well gone 15 minutes... This season having been promoted, we witnessed a poor QPR side get relegated. However, when we were last promoted to the top flight in 1977, a QPR side featuring Rodney Marsh were one of the best teams in England. What was the score between Saints and QPR in the home fixture at The Dell that season? (NB I'm only a registered user so I will only respond if someone gets the right answer - or else, Colin, email me at jacko_neil@yahoo.com)

I agree with much of what has been said on this thread, although I think some comments are a bit unfair in their treatment of aging players. In particular, I don't think Idiakez was that bad for us at first. However, many people are clearing remembering his form towards the end of his time with us when he had completely lost it. Idiakez is not the only player to whom this applies. On another note, I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned 'Arry on this thread yet! I think that most of his signings were a complete disaster. Try Callum Davenport, Mikael Nilsson, Andreas Jakobsson, Jelle Van Damme, Jamie Redknapp and Olivier Bernard. Maybe you could give some credit for Henri Camara and Nigel Quashie, though not much. Ricardo Fuller may also have been a Redknapp signing - I'm not sure. For a whole load of other players, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Southampton_F.C._players_%28fewer_than_25_appearances%29 and also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Southampton_F.C._players_%2825%E2%80%9399_appearances%29. Not all of the players on those lists were rubbish - some were so good that they didn't stay with us long (e.g. AOC, Theo and Bale). Yet there are also plenty of players on those lists that were poor for us.

Just to revisit this thread briefly, I also thought that it was sad that we were releasing Reeves and Hoskins. I remember in particular Hoskins work-rate when he came on as a sub for what must have been his first team debut last season (away at Forest if my memory serves me right - but don't quote me on it!) My surprise at the sale of Hoskins was compounded this evening when I noticed that he had won the U21 goal of the season award at this year's awards dinner. Here's the video of the goal that won him this award:

Isn't that more the case for Tadanari Lee? He just got an extra 6 points to add to the 6 he's already earned.