Toon Saint

Depends on how many we sell. Currently I would say we need 5. 2 strikers, a goalkeeper to provide competition for Boruc, a replacement LB for Shaw, and a quality CB to battle it out with Fonte and Lovren. Expect some of the youngsters like Reed and McQueen to step it up and provide a bit more competition for midfield positions, but there certainly looks like being a big turnover of players and that is without any more exits!

Isn't it rational to value a player you have seen play multiple times over ones that you have barely seen play, or probably have only heard about through media speculation? I really hope we spend the money well and improve the squad with a few purchases but that is no guarantee of quality is it? Only have to look at Spurs last season - though you would like to think our scouting department is a bit more clued up than theirs.

Don't get this attitude Dan. We don't know the fee yet and another hugely promising talent flies the nest after barely a year and a half of first-team football. The money is likely to be a lot better than received for the likes of Theo, Ox, Bale, but we can only say its a 'fantastic' deal once assessing how the money benefits the squad as a whole. Hopefully it is re-invested and spent well. P.S. Isn't Martins-Indi mainly a CB anyway? Think he only fills in at LB if he has to. I have absolutely no knowledge of the Kolo fella so hoping he is up to the task if we decide to move for him - he has big boots to fill. Playing Football Manager with the expected money received and spending it on players most have probably only read about, doesn't always pan out the same in real life.

Adam Blackmore ‏@bigadamsport 1m I understand Luke Shaw's move to #mufc is getting closer & that he's due to have a medical in North-West very soon #saintsfc

Medals on the table boys and compare with our new manager, Ronald Koeman.

Obvious Shaw will go, it's just a question of how much - anything north of £30m is bloody good money. Frustrating, but out of Morgan, Lovren, and Adam he is the least valuable to us as a team but the one that will command the most money. Let's hope it is stage-managed well and we secure a few transfers before it is announced though, otherwise fan/player morale may well dip again. Build on the good vibes with the Koeman appointment, bring some fresh faces through the door (Kolo, Drasic, Pelle), convince the unsettled ones to stay, then let him leave for as much we can squeeze out of Utd.

Bit of an oversimplification that. Personally, I don't care too much what the shirt looks like - I rarely purchase the official strip, and I've never really been a fan of the stripes that so many seem to clamour for. That said, for a supposedly ambitious top-half team in the most televised football league in the world it is pretty shoddy if we are playing in an unbranded kit that is poorly manufactured. While it is clearly not as important as the club, these things obviously matter in terms of global image and trying to tap into commercial markets abroad. Ralph has been quick to tell us about recruits from Apple on the marketing side of things - they are going to be having to be bloody good if they are flogging some tacky piece of crap.

That is Doggface who has already posted almost exact same comments on here. Doubt he would go to the trouble of posting so much info if it was just BS. Not massively concerned about kit myself - especially whether it will contain stripes or not - but not great for perception of the club if it is some cheap bit of tat. White tracksuits sound pretty vile too.

Believe Koeman is working his Dutch contacts to bring in Abraham Van Helsing to further shore up the defence in time for the crunch clash.

I think Kat has a 'type'.

Bit of an ambiguous tweet by Sky Sports Amy, but this interpretation seems to make the most sense to me.

Words of a bitter man trying to make it seems he understands the root of the problem.

Really weird. The tragic fall from grace of the prodigiously gifted poster, Saint Charlie. So sad.

Two things I hate: God and the Queen. Wouldn't be caught dead singing it.

Welcome to the forum Riin. Just wondering which of our current players you think might benefit most from Koeman's man-management? I wonder whether someone like James Ward-Prowse could reach a similar level to Jordy Clasie in a few years time. He has all the attributes (excellent vision, touch, passing, set-piece ability) but just doesn't seem to impose himself enough on games at the moment - though it is easy to forget that he is still only 19! I noticed that Clasie stated that Koeman taught him 'to be a leader', so just interested to know how he might develop individual players, particularly the younger ones? Thanks.

Neil Lennon? He was asked what players he most enjoyed working with by some Brazilian fan of Celtic. Mentioned Fraser Forster, then Virgil, then Wanyama 'who is now at Southampton'. Did not say anything about Virgil van Dijk being a Saints player.

One of my old flatmates used to study criminology at Northumbria University in Newcastle. I can vouch for the city as a great place to live (especially Jesmond) and know that Northumbria can be very good for certain types of courses - though not as prestigious as the likes of Birmingham etc. What sort of criteria are you looking for in choosing?

Purple Aki got locked up for doing that sort of thing. I guess as long as you look but don't touch, you'll be ok.

Average source? What constitutes average?

Yes he speaks a lot of psychobabble and PR guff and I've been pretty critical of him, but still see a place for Ralph if Les Reed is left to all public statements on football matters. He's obviously helped secure the new sponsor, gets involved with the Saints Foundation a lot, and he has alluded to a lot of changes behind the scenes in terms of marketing and the commercial arm of the club. Difficult to judge what difference he is making at the moment as all of these changes are behind the scenes and aren't going to interest a lot of us until we see the balance sheets at the end of next April. On top of that, he is clearly a decent man with the clubs best interests at heart. I put his multitude of gaffes down to inexperience both in his role and within football in general. He really needs to improve on that front as he has projected an, at times, rather hapless image of the club. That would probably be most disconcerting to himself as much as anyone, as he is so versed in motivational guru-speak. Once the club has worked out how to best utilise his skills I'm hoping our opinions towards him will start to soften.

Yep and more fool Poch for thinking he could tame him. I do wonder why Cortese was always so averse to taking players on loan. With such a high-risk transfer that surely would have been the better option, and we wouldn't be left saddled with a want-away player that no other club seems to want to cough up a transfer fee for. I'm still expecting him to go and with Rodriguez sidelined for a while yet, I think we definitely need 2 more strikers - or at least one proper centre-forward and a wing-forward option.

Would be amazed if he gets another chance. The players can't stand him and his attitude has always suggested he thinks he can do better than us. Seems like quite a cosmopolitan person with interests outside football, and can't imagine Southampton ever did much for him on that front. I'd rather a slightly lesser player with the right attitude, commitment, and desire to do well for us. The absence of all those qualities no doubt contributed to his form with us, and he seemed more interested in fixing his hair in place than doing what he was paid to do. A shame and a bit frustrating that Poch has f*cked off and left us with this little hand-grenade to get rid of, but better to do that than indulge him and allow him to spark off again. He's a complete liability.

Should never have posted that bloody article on here as someone has taken it upon themselves to use it to whip up a sh1t storm about it on twitter. (It will probably be Alex Crook's next news item) I don't speak German so had to rely on a poor Google translate of the article, but nowhere could I see anything about Ralph quitting. It's most probably just a rumour and as the9 says we'll find out soon enough anyway. Getting a bit ahead of ourselves assuming he is already out of the door.

Guan, my Dad has a subscription to Which magazine. Back home this weekend so will have a look for you. Besides that I know next to nothing about purchasing ovens.

Make it an own-goal hat-trick and a missed penalty for Liverpool and we'll be evens.