Saint-Armstrong

It's almost as if playing someone who has scored 24 in 36 for a title-winning Premier League side is a good idea...

VARDYYYYYY!!!

Hodgson going balls out for it as he heads into arguable the biggest 45 mins of his career.

Biggest team talk of Roy Hodgson's career, right now...

Bale gives Wales the lead in the 42nd minute.

Philippe Montanier

Nice, a Jeremy Wilson piece. So we're down to the final three: Garcia, De Boer + mystery man. Fitness testing is in 12 days so Saints want someone in place soon. Looking forward to the next development...

Middlesbrough have agreed a deal with Gastón.

Rudi Garcia can actually speak English...

My understand was that K Billy was answering the following question from BirchSaint, above: 'Are these two out ahead? Would you be happy with the mystery man?'

For those who don't want to wade the internet, quick summary of Garcia's managerial career... 52-year-old three-time French Manager of the Year in 2011, 2013 and 2014 and won the French title and French Cup with Lille before getting the Roma job. Started off in the lower league with Corbeil, saved them from relegation and then moved on to Saint-Etienne as a physio after a spell with Ilê-de-France. He then progressed to become scout, chief opposition scout and then assistant coach, before taking over as manager with the club headed for relegation. This time he didn't turn it around and he left. He then became Dijon manager and got them promoted from the third tier to the second tier and took them to the semi-final of the French Cup. Next up was Le Mans, where he took them to a 9th placed finish in Ligue 1 and a semi-final appearance in the French League Cup. After his success with Le Mans, he moved to Lille in 2008, replacing Claude Puel who was criticising for boring football. Garcia turned them into an attractive attacking side, bringing through and improving Obraniak, Michel Bastos and a young Eden Hazard. He took them to their best league finish in four seasons and qualified for the Europa League. He was sacked after a row with a board member, but after the board member himself was sacked soon after, Garcia was offered his old job back just 16 days after his sacking and he accepted and returned to the role of Lille manager. They then improved once again the next season, moving up to 4th and being the highest scorers in France, before beating PSG in the French Cup final the following season and lifting the league title to seal a league and cup double, Lille's first trophies since 1955. Left Lille to take over after Roma finished 6th and the club's fans were pretty much at war with the club. Finished second to Juventus in two full seasons in charge of Roma, where he built one of the two tightest defences in Europe. (the other being Saints under Pochettino...) He then got sacked after one win in seven league games in January. He has a strong reputation for being an advocate of adventurous attacking football and developing young talent, largely at odds with the general coaching approach of many French coaches. League finishes in top flight European leagues... Le Mans 07/08 - 9th in Ligue 1 + cup semi-final Lille 08/09 - 5th in Ligue 1 09/10 - 4th in Ligue 1 10/11 - 1st in Ligue 1 + French Cup win - (first trophies for Lille since 1955) 11/12 - 3rd in Ligue 1 12/13 - 6th in Ligue 1 - (at the time he left to take the Roma job...) AS Roma 13/14 - 2nd in Serie A 14/15 - 2nd in Serie A 15/16 - sacked by Roma in January after one win in seven Garcia said to be looking for an ambitious project and has a record of hanging around. Managed three or more season with four of his clubs. Time spent at clubs and reason for leaving... l'ASCE: 1994-1998 - (left to become a physio, then scout, then assistant coach at Saint-Etienne) Saint-Etienne: 2001-2002 - (sacked as joint-manager alongside Jean-Guy Wallemme after they failed to save the club from relegation) Dijon: 2002-2007 - (left to move up to Ligue 1 with Le Mans) Le Mans: 2007-2008 - (left to take over Lille) Lille: 2008-2013 - (left to take over at Roma) Roma: 2013-2016 - (sacked after one win in seven in Serie A)

Signed Dimitri Payet, developed Obraniak, Michel Bastos and Eden Hazard as a youngster. Signed Gervinho twice, once to Lille and once to Roma and he was a star for both sides.

Another decent read on Garcia. http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11946/9526763/champions-league-from-caen-to-roma-via-lille-rudi-garcia-has-beaten-the-odds-and-is-ready-for-bayern-munich

Yeah, but after going from Spurs to Newcastle I'd bet he's on a damn sight more than Redmond, who went from Birmingham to Norwich. Redmond suits us pretty well, he's younger and hopefully has a higher ceiling to reach with us.

Steven Davis on Koeman leaving Southampton: "I'm obviously disappointed but we're in a strong position as a club & we'll deal with it."

Excuse me if I don't take contracts and promises at their face value much these days.

Fair enough. Did well at Valencia, took Espanyol to the UEFA Cup Final. But as you say, his best record comes in Greece. Wonder who the mystery manager could be, if not Valverde...

Sounds a bit harsh. 5th in La Liga last season, plays attractive football, promotes academy players. Won Bilbao their first major cup in 31 years by beating Barcelona 5-1. He's been around a while but has experience of doing well with more than just one club.

Ernesto Valverde sounds pretty interesting. Could definitely get behind that appointment.

Deleted.

Looks like we're replacing fringe players like your Juanmi's, Taider's etc of this world with younger British talent, in addition to the established senior pros who we know are good quality and have shown it on the pitch already. Fine by me.