Saint86

Was going to post this as a response in the matt target room, which is totally off topic and will deride that thread more than it is currently. At present, I am delighted with how the club has performed this last year (lets be honest, summer 2014 was a bit hairy) but somewhat concerned with the direction of this summer.... "People are saying they are literally delighted with the performance of the board and les reed in recent weeks... I am not, I think he is all too ready to talk the talk, but actually, his actions do not measure up. I think the board have done a good job all in all, but can do much better still. My points below are in response to posts that say they are "delighted with Les Reed and the boards performances and hope they continue for years to come etc etc etc"... Don't hang me, I'm not a bed wetter by any stretch, i think every season i have been one of the most optimistic people on here, maybe my issue is that at long last (after 5-6 consecutive seasons) my expectations for the club finally exceed what we can achieve... (for me this is establishing ourselves as a regular europa league qualifier with cup runs every now and then). *************************** So in response... How delighted were people last summer? Because it wasn't LR that signed Tadic, Pelle, Toby... We got those players because of Koeman. I think the board got very lucky with that appointment in that it saved their backsides with regards to shredding the squad (although credit to the recruitment process for scouting him out - something i think we excel at now and a nod to Les Reed for that)... Overall though, I worry that this season just gone has made them complacent in the transfer market and in contract negotiations. In fact I think the way they handled clyne and how it compares to Poch, chambers, lambert, lallana, shaw etc and the communication to fans/players is very similar, which is complacent and dangerous, and shows little signs of lessons learned). Although some say there are none to learn because we improved, had a cracking season and can expect to do it every year ) In my view, we erupted from the lower leagues like a rocket and the momentum carried us upwards building and developing the team as we went. But we built that team with a large financial clout and competing against teams with no where near the set up that we had, nor with the set up of the teams we are now up against. If the club want to progress they need to do better than the Toby saga. Which frankly was a terrible waste of an opportunity. The structure and momentum was created under cortese's watch and the financial muscle the club now have come from his management of ML’s / KL's funds. They say he had left debts, but people forget that he may well have sold off players as well, such as the £10m deal for lambert that was scrapped only for him to then leave for £4m less than 6months later under LR’s watch. That was a deal that caused upset amongst the fans and was rumoured to cause boardroom trouble for cortese! So frankly, Les Reed / the board don't get any additional credit for the clubs performance... he has performed well, I agree! But people literally act like he is flawless. He is not. And needs to do better for where I (and some of the fans?) want the club to push onto. Lest our entry into europe fails to become a regular event which is what we should be aiming for and is within reach. For example, after last summer you would hope that they tied players contracts down, yet Clyne (despite being told it was imminent) was allowed to expire and leave, Toby was not closed out (despite making all the right noises for months on end - to the point that spuds snuck in and did the deal) and there is no sign of new deals for other key players like Wanyama. In addition they ignored and failed to tie down Cork at that time such that he was then left feeling unwanted/disillusioned and tempted by Swansea… It is sloppy and we cannot afford it! We are competing against the top clubs in the land now, cock it up and we'll have thrown away our one chance in recent history to break into the top echelons for a prolonged period. The club have done fantastic and reached a new height last year with the league finish and European football, it has been a pleasure to watch them these last 5 years... But all that pleasure will be soured if they don't see this through and really push onwards because the potential is there. Sadly, I don't see them really building enough on the opportunity we now have which is a terrible shame. Losing Morgan and Toby with no like for like replacements in sight is a real shame and disappointment. One I hope will be remedied. Clasie is an exciting player for sure, but he is in no way a like for like replacement for morgan. Our midfield is now weaker defensively and if we lose wanyama it will be populated by small technical midgets who are sadly not called Iniesta or xavi and are not those players in their prime!!! We must have the cash to strenghten... There have been 2 years of record tv incomes, we had the 6th smallest wage budget in the league and have banked over £110m on transfers in 12 months... with profit left over from last summer and from Morgan and clyne this summer.... I don't ask them to go crazy by no means, we are not portsmouth or west ham etc etc.. But for crying out loud I wish they'd put the money in to buy the 1 or 2 quality players (DM and CB) that would make us rock solid and give us a great chance of competing. Signing James Chester or Caulker is just settling for where we are (granted a massive improvement from where we have ever been in the prem). But to me that is a disappointment, there is scope to go for more without stretching ourselves. We have the manager, we have a great core to the team and we have the money and the kids.... pad them out with that sprinkle of quality and really go for it!! If we're not going to do that, then the club should stop giving it all this about how marvellous we are... because whilst it is great publicity, all they are actually doing is selling (both physically and commercially) NC's and ML's legacy..." Eventually it will just wear thin and mean very little and trading on past glories (no matter how modest) is a false economy. *********************** Fully expect to get slammed on here ( ) but interested to know other fans thoughts and whether I am the only one who is a tiny bit disappointed with the summer so far and what it may mean for the clubs progression.

Osvaldo, ramirez, Toby, Clyne, "no one will leave" etc etc etc etc.... If you read, you will see that i said Les Reed does a lot of great things, but he also tries to put PR spin on every single situation.. If we are such a model little club I would like us to have the integrity to be honest and not lie about situations to save face. Sadly we do. Don't know why you bother to deny it or get so wound up about someone pointing out that the club (and in particular Les Reed) try to spoon feed the fans positive news at "convenient" junctures. Simple fact is we have a tremendous wage structure for the league and our position in the table. Have had 2 years of bumper tv deals that we have barely touched relative too all clubs, as well as a nice net take from Liverpool and co last season.... plus a profit this year. Yet we seem to let contracts run down (clyne, morgan, wanyama etc etc), play silly buggers with players we are clearly after (Toby being the latest) and then come out with PR rubbish when we cock it up. Then everyone acts like we are marvellous and this model club (because they are spoon fed it constantly). We have a great club, and it has been a pleasure to be a fan for these last few years in particular. However, people need to stop settling for what we have. There is still room for improvement and better contract management and real ambition in the transfer market are attainable given the clubs financial structure. There are serious discrepancies between finances and intent at present, and less interviews by Les and/or either some action or honesty would clarify this. Please don't take that as being anti the club, because it is not! I simply want them to keep striving upwards and I'm dissatisfied with parts of how Less Reed /The PR department work. I think they deliberately flatter to deceive.

I think Les Reed is full of more and more poo with every article. The club make mistake and all of a sudden there is an interview with Les Reed and how wonderful the club is with little snippets and hints about the dark forces in football that worked to the disadvantage of the club in that instance (toby being the last of many instances)... the simple fact is that the club dropped massive clangers, and Les' ability to spout what ever sunshine ballarks he wants to cover it up is starting to wear thin. Far rather he kept stum or just told the straight and honest truth rather than painting a picture of a non-existent rosiness on certain occasions. He does many great things, but covering up every cock up the club make is not one of them.

What with the 6th lowest wage budget and one of the lowest agent fee spends etc...

You are right, we have circa £20m left over from last year, 2 years worth of record tv monies, the 6th lowest wage structure in the league... and another tidy profit this year. Investment needs to match the fans ambitions tbh.

Worries me far more that their is no space for a new CB or CDM. Haven't re-invested the summers transfer income, let alone all of last year's or the tv monies from the past 2 seasons. Dissapointed that we could really push on with some quality players but the club would rather have an massive bank balance.

Sorry mate, but if you commit to getting tickets for the season you should automatically be a member. I go with my old man who has concession ticket. Once in a while I want to go with my brother or wife etc... Because of this system we now need to pay extra for a ****ing membership when we are already making more commitment than members. That is a joke. Travel 4 hours round trip for home games as well. Club are taking the ****.

Don't know why we have to have another thread for this guy. In the other one its well documented that he was SUSPENDED!!

Just found out that season ticket holders can't buy additional tickets for friends without a membership £25 as well. Bit of a joke tbh, gives membership as much power as season ticket holders without the same commitment. They should at least offer each season ticket the option to buy an additional ticket for at least say 5 home games a year. Basically means they've devalued the season tickets. Joke.

I like that the taller they get the worse they get

Squad Depth Goalkeepers Forster (From January) - Good Stekelenberg -Good Gazza – Capable/Cover Kelvin – Capable/Cover Defenders – IMHO - a weak area for me at present. CB's Yoshi - Capable Fonte - Key Player Gardos - Capable Martina - Assumed Capable Stephens - Unproven Turnbull - Unproven McCartmey - Unproven LB's Bertrand (injured) - Good Player Target - Capable Yoshi - Can cover but not in an attacking sense so changes tactics by playing there Debayo? RB's Soares - Good Player Martina - Assumed Capable Stephens/McCartney - Unproven in the extreme in this position. DM's Wanyama - Good Player Reed – Capable Gape? CM's JWP - Capable/Good Davis - Capable/Good Tadic - Good Ramriez - Capable/Good Maybe?!?!?! Sadly all of these fill basically the same position when they play central midfield. Wingers Mane - Best player imho Jayrod - Hopefully comes back firing and therefore good, otherwise capable Tadic - Good Ramirez – Capable Hesketh? Sims? Isgrove? Forwards Gallagher - Capable Pelle - Good Jayrod - As above Seager? Depth when looking at solid/good first team players (no cover/capable listed): GK – MS/FF RB – Soares LB – Bertrand (Injured) CB’s – Fonte CDM - Wanyama CM’s – JWP/Davis/Tadic RW - Sadio LW - Jayrod Striker - Pelle In summary, we currently have no real competition amongst our better players. If wanyama goes we’re up a creak. If fonte goes we’re up a creak. Similar if gardos or Yoshi go down with injuries :/ If soares goes we’re up a creak If pelle goes, jayrod is up front, and we’re back to Sadio and tadic on the wings with no solid cover for either. If sadio or Tadic goes we have good/proven wingers to step up. We can realistically survive knocks to the attack, because the kids need their chance. But we have to reliable right back cover at all tbh, we need 1 good CB ASAP, we need a CDM/CB to cover Wanyama and we need JC in the CM role. That is a RB, CB,CDM and CM – 3 new players to tick those boxes is solid improvement. 2 is treading water and will lead to us sliding down the league imho.

I am disgusted with you for choosing any CB over Fonte.

Still here Glasgow? And bitter that someone is actually ITK. Oh how you've been missed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3155487/Southampton-miss-ditch-attempt-sign-Angelo-Ogbonna.html Southampton made a late attempt to sign Angelo Ogbonna from Juventus on Wednesday night but the defender is due to have his medical at West Ham on Friday before signing. The 27-year-old opted for West Ham over Everton after the London club agreed an £8.5m fee. Juventus turned down Southampton's offer, understood to be £10m, because they had already given their commitment to West Ham. Napoli also made a late enquiry. Southampton are weighing up midfield options too with Morgan Schneiderlin set to depart. Marseille's Mario Lemina has been discussed as has Feyenoord's Jordy Clasie and former Arsenal player Kyle Ebicilio, 21, who has been playing for FC Twente. Schneiderlin was the subject of much transfer speculation last summer too, but it appears the France midfielder will complete a move away from St Mary's, with Manchester United the likely destination. If true then it is becoming a joke this summer. Board look to have got very lucky with Koeman last year but are currently on a mission to hamstring him utterly atm.

JAYROD!!!!!

Not only saved the club for us all, but set the foundation stones in place to lift us to greater and sustainable heights. Will never be forgotten!

I'll say this much guys. This would simply not have happened had Cortese never left.

You know that's happened right?

Reckon he'll become a cult hero Someone has to be positive right?

FWIW The daily Fail have locked comments on this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3150824/Tottenham-remain-runners-land-Toby-Alderweireld-11-5million.html#comments Pretty unusual for them to stop people commenting on a non controversial sports article after 48posts.... Me thinks he isn't going to spuds and the tottenham supporting journo has got some egg all over his face. It all comes down to the fact that AM have no choice but to legally accept saints offer of £6.8m. They can stall all they want, but ultimately they can't change the contract they've signed. The club will certainly be doing everything to stop tottenham registering the player in england whilst this is unresolved. In addition, there is no credible Tottenham ITK to say he has been to the ground, had a medical or actually wants to be there / agreed a contract. Where as we have a manager saying he's been in contact with him this summer and the fact that we all know Toby and his wife like it in Southampton. Fairly sure he'll come to saints if the legal side of this is upheld. But will probably run and run a bit. Looking forward to spuds reactions if we do nab him lol. They're a club going nowhere with a stadium to finance and a massive wage bill to cut. They've got hardly any money left to invest in the squad in relative terms and will be eclipsed by us or someone like us in the near future.

Alpine you raised a serious point and predictably CB Fry and Batman were here to troll you ASAP. Stick them both on ignore and you'll have far less grey hairs

The thing is, I don't see MS as an improvement to FF... On top of that, we don't actually have FF for at least half the campaign. So actually all we have done is go from one first choice and KD/Gazza to a slightly worse first choice (or the same ability) and KD/Gazza - that is not an improvement nor is it strengthening and should not be classed as such. (It is simply treading water of which I do not complain about in this case overly). Cedric is by all accounts a good player, fine... But as we saw last year, not one of our foreign league players came in and lasted the whole campaign and faded in and/or out. Most also had to get used to the league, and the lack of a christmas break also took its toll. If you are banking on Cedric being different to that then I think that is a risky assumption. He is therefore replacing clyne, who is a very good prem right back and plays like such for the vast majority of the season. We have also lost our back up.... Therefore I class cedric as a slight reccession in terms of defending. We are also losing MS.... he will not be replaced by someone at the same level. Simple fact. We also look to be losing Toby - i hope this is not the case but I can't see Levy flying out there for any other reason (fingers crossed however)!! Junami is what, squad depth for the shane long/mane role. All very good but attacking we are actually very strong in really: Pelle/Jay/Tadic/Long/Mane/Junami/Gallagher/seager(?) So yes, signing Juami is "strengthening" but not in a major way. As I said above, the season starts early and we will need to be better than last year in order to remain competitive. At present we are not, Toby has gone at present, MS is going, and clyne/cedric (you decide if thats an improvement/treading water/worse).... The club clearly has the money having not managed to spend the Looserpool/arse/manure fees yet, let alone the two seasons of increased TV money and prize funds. And they need to invest it in a couple of quality players to replace Toby and MS and get some 1 or 2 further cover players. Considering that we'll bank £39m from MS/Clyne/Toby, still have a nice chunk of last years transfer income and and the tv revenues/prize money... we need to spend and improve! Certainly more than we have done so far. I do believe the club will do this. But its not "getting players in early" from an improvement position if by the end of the weekend we've lost Morgan, toby, clyne and Forster and signed Junami, Cedric and MS..... I think thats a valid point tbh.

Club need to pull their finger out, we have probably regressed with cedric at right back (don't doubt hed good but he'll need to adapt and will tire)... No strengthening of the GK situation, and we've bought a spare squad striker. In comparison, we have lost the best English right back, will lose the leagues best DM, and will lose one of the leagues best CB's it appears. On top of this we face a gruelling campaign in Europe with shed loads of travel and many more fixtures (we hope!).... Not really too impressed with the club transfers thus far, our season starts early and no real improvements have been made nor look like being made. Sorry to go all Alpine on you

Harry kane?

Fairly confident that is rubbish, we have not activated any of the clauses in the transfer deal so straight away the fee reduces to something like £9m... Plus he has been on loan for 1 or 2 seasons? and got a whopper fine for half the first one following newcastle and Fonte. Not to mention sizeable loan fees from his various clubs. Basically, if we spent anywhere near 16million on his first season's wages and buying out the end of it I'll be amazed.