UpweySaint

Chris Perry. Remember thinking christ he is old and a bit naff and on loan from Luton, glad it's only a short-term loan while we rebuild ... and then we signed him. Kinda summed it all up for me.

Genuinely chuckled at this. Nice one!

Its an opinion from a man who has not even trained under the new coaching team yet or seen the type of player we are bringing in. B**locks to no ambition. Maybe we aren't saying we can bankroll our way into the champions league any more but we have appointed a top manager, invested heavily in player development and may yet make some decent signings. We are showing ambition but to do things our way - ie not the Pompey, QPR, City, Chelsea way (which we simply cannot, and should not, do). If, by the start of the new season, no decent signings have been made and none of the academy lads are looking like they might come good I will apologise whole-heartedly but, until then, I think Dejan is being an absolute tw*t.

Thanks for the insights as usual Guan! As much as I understand the worries of our fans and am inclined to be a tad more pessimistic than Guan about the current state of our squad I do think patience may be required. Clearly the board thought the Tadic deal was as good as done so for Everton to swoop in is unfortunate! If we haven't made any decent signings by August I may be sitting uncomfortably mind you ... I do hope though that we compliment the signings with continuing to promote our academy players. It is a point of pride and a workable longterm strategy of success for the club.

Absolute f**cking disgrace! I hope we ship him out to anywhere but liverpool now. Wanting out if one thing but mouthing off like this is beyond disrespectful to the club who pays his sizeable wages, the fans who supported him last season and everyone associated with sfc. The one thing that keeps happening is Liverpool's failed bids keep landing in the press absurdly quickly "I found out about the bid from other people" and it was much the same with Lallana. Can't see the leaks coming from anywhere else but them. They have shown no class at all. Honestly hope they royally balls up next season and miss out on the europa league!

Thanks for the input. We had a feyenoord fan pop up recently too and you've both made a nice contribution. I think most of us would be delighted to see Tadic join us (sooner rather than later!) and hope we have enough to attract his kind of player. Anyway thank you again for sharing your insight, best of luck with the season and the finances (we've had our share of issues!)

I see both sides here. Football careers are short and if Dejan wants out, to some extent, it sucks but that is ok. But he has a contract with us (a well paid one!) and we brought him to the premiership and did wonders for his reputation so I think he owes us a little. I would like to see us play hardball ... £24mil to a premiership side or £20mil to a foreign side. We turn to Lovren and say this is our line, if anybody wants you enough that is a fair price ... if not don't worry son, have a blinding season and next year it will be barca, juventus, city calling not spurs and liverpool. Seems fair and relatively realistic right? (Ok a touch optimistic but it's how I see it)

Im glad we can all stay chirpy even after having players poached!

Thank you for the insight pal! Do you think Pelle is likely to bang the goals in over here? Apologies if it looks like we are disrespecting your league. Just look at the way the national team has played and you can see that the players must be up to standard! There has been a history of Dutch strikers being very hit and miss in the premier league mind and I would suggest that is where some of our doubts about imports from the Dutch league come from.

Accept your point but disagree. Though some of the comments, perhaps my own included, have been a tad harsh in the immediate aftermath I honestly believe this has been a d**k move by Adam. Putting aside all that wanting to leave despite all that had gone before; pledges, captaincy, support from the club etc. We proved with Shaw we would let players talk to other clubs IF our valuation was met. When we told Utd to match our valuation or sod off he didn't publicly grumble. Low and behold Utd realised if they wanted him they would have to come closer to our valuation ...they did, he left. No hard feelings. Liverpool were playing hard ball, can't blame them. Had AL had kept things quiet the board could have held out for a better fee, could have shook hands and Adam could have left us, despite a touch of bitterness about losing him, as a saints legend and wish our respect.

Anybody with a good eye for the academy lads and a bit of time want to make notes on who is in pre-season with the seniors? I know it is not entirely reflective as our squad will change in the coming weeks but will be nice to know who is around the first team.

As above. His deal has left a sour taste for sure, would have gone down as an absolute legend even if he had left us with a bit of dignity. Now he has forced a move and had eyes elsewhere while still captain last season. May feel differently after letting the dust settle in time but for now can't help but think what a tw*t!

If we only discussed things we, as fans, could genuinely expect to hold much influence over on this forum I imagine we would lose about 90% of the threads. The chap has not asked if we should all sit down and decide Reed's future but is, perhaps a little cynically, seeking to gage the opinions of other fans on somebody so crucial to the running of our club. If you really want to make things more relevant we could always pop the resulting chaos of this thread onto a few sides of A4 and post it to the board ... Either way back on topic .... Les Reed has been a part of a committee that has served us relatively well. You don't make the progress we have by making, generally, decent decisions. A couple of mistakes along the way for sure but, on the whole, our recruitment has been rather decent. I was massively sceptical of Reed when he came in, his track record had blemishes, but he has done ok so far and I am quietly optimistic we may see some decent transfer activity soon enough.

Was that an option? Quick, somebody get Dejan!

I normally slate alpine but, even if I think he is being a tad melodramatic, there is some uncertainty over next season and with a new manager and x amount of new players we may need time to find our feet once more. I don't anticipate a relegation scrap but certainly would not be shocked to see us in the bottom half at the turn of the year.

Doesn't come with proven prem goals but how many strikers could we realistically get who do? Honestly the championship is a decent standard and players, as a general rule, tend to find it easier adapting then say their continental counterparts. Ings has potential. Has shown he has an eye for goals. The fact he is a soton fan is a side-perk. If the scouting team do not honestly believe he could develop into a good premiership player I very much doubt we would bid.

I had a conversation about tactics with a fellow soton fan ... I speculated that, considering we play the "saints way" from academy up, drastic changes to our style of play seems unlikely. But I have been wrong so often lately in regards to saints it is only a theory! As for shopping list still too early to say but I like Redmond, Hughes, Rodriquez (swiss), Ings, Bony, Borini ... dream signings post wc would be Cuadrado, would love him across our front three, or Blind for lb but I admit both are unrealistic!

Meh. Some clubs do offer to refund tickets for disgruntled fans but I would be amazed if that happened here! Doubt we'll even get the £2 booking fee taken off the matchdays ... Honestly though I understand the frustration, gutting to see our teams core ripped apart but just think where we were not so long ago ... We still have quality internationals, money to spend, the best academy in the country and a promising manager with genuine pedigree. Next year might be more about consolidation and rebuilding , we may even find ourselves closer to the bottom and the top ... but worse things happen! Besides your ticket price might get you a view of the next bright young things off our conveyor belt (Targett, Sims, Rowe, McQueen ...) and that is a brilliant feeling well worth a couple of quid. I remember the anticipation in the crowd every time Theo would come off the bench in the early days and scare teams half to death ... you never know that may happen again!

This precisely. Sick of having fans of other clubs telling us what our players are worth. Value is subjective. Don't want to meet our value? Kindly sod off.

I had a conversation with a fellow saints fan the other day where we tried to decide which current premiership centre backs are better then our Dejan. Honeslty struggled to find too many. Kompany obviously ... Maybe Koscielny at Arsenal ... A case could be made for Terry ... Beyond that? Nobody at Utd, Vertonghen spends half his life at LB. So essentially Lovren is, at least, the fourth or fifth best CB in the league. He is not even in his prime yet. He has a long contract. We aren't exactly spoilt at CB. Essentially his value is bound to be sky-high!

Not sure we could say went backwards but maybe stood still a little in his development. Still plenty of time to kick on mind and I, like others, see him doing so at better pace when he can nail down a position. Worst case we make use of his versatility and he sees 15-20 apps a season for the next couple while developing before stepping up when we lose others.

Respect for being big enough to admit you are wrong, we all can be ... I had us getting out of the group stage! Surprised though your opinion improved of Wellbeck in the last two games, has been rather on the periphery and has certainly played much better in an England shirt. I think as an out and out wide-man he is wasted and a little lost but, the way we interlink (assuming we will play a similar style next season), he could flourish with us (perhaps!). Could we get him? Maybe. If Van Gaal does not rate him and some of the 'bigger' clubs don't fancy him that leaves the likes of us, newcastle, everton and teams abroad. We have a good manager, a track record of progressing players, play 'good' football and he would get plenty of game time.

I would suggest, though it is Koeman and the committees decision, Fonte and other squad members would have to be involved in any decision to bring him back into the fold. Though of course this could suggest a little too much 'player power' I believe that the best barometer of whether fences can be mended is the squad itself. If Osvaldo was to make genuine apologies and got his head down it is not impossible to have him back in the squad ... and, seeing as we are not looking likely to see much of a fee for him, that may not be such a bad thing. He is far from a bad player but getting the best out of him is a real task for Koeman - or any other manager should he leave.

Would you want to do Katie Price ...? Back on topic it is unlikely but the bookies have narrowed the odds in response to betting markets and betting markets usually respond to gossip. No smoke without fire and all that Have to admit I would be shocked if he came - a 'big name' and maybe not what I would have seen us going for, not exactly know for the academy side of things, but would be the kind of manager to hopefully attract, and keep, good players.

Nah Forte is off to spurs to get them back for forecast! All sounds a bit silly to me but if we end up having a firesale we may as well try and get every last penny ...