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I hope Billy Sharp finds a good club. Doesn't mean I think Saints is a bad one.

Than you for that undoubtedly well-informed and insightful post. The fact that there is absolutely no evidence for any of it won't stop it from becoming accepted fact a few posts down. Honestly, this place sometimes...

Yes that's it. Because the board is either incompetent or secretly trying to sell the club or take the maximum amount of money out of it but they still care enough about fan opinion to get a couple of panic buys in to keep us happy. Who would want to be involved with a club like Saints? Why don't we chill and let the club do what it has to do and then judge? We don't know what is going on being the scenes. We've signed a couple of good players and the club says more are coming. I'm happy to accept that until it proves to be false. I can't influence it either way. I'm as impatient as the next person for news of signings but I don't feel that the club needs to tell me all the details until deals are done. The board may be lying , although that would make the signings they've already made a bit of a mystery, or they may be incompetent. But why not wait a little before rushing to judgement?

You've got to remember that Batman knows more about football than our coach, director of football or tea lady. If he were running this club we would not only be in the Champions League we'd have won it every year. Why don't the numpties at the club l listen to him? Running a football club is really simple. Why don't they listen? Why? Why?

The difference is probably that the internet covers more than "anyone you talk to". It is therefore likely to include people who realise that bringing in the right players, on the right terms, in the club's best interest is more complicated than clicking an option on Football Manager. I apologise for helping to keep this thread away from its proper topic of transfer rumours.

It seems to me that this journalist has phoned Lallana and got all his information from him. I mean, come on, many people on here questioned whether Adam was the right choice to be captain long before we knew he wanted to leave. A captain generally plays the whole game for a start and he didn't seem to show any leadership on the pitch. Perhaps, and Clattenburg's remarks hint at this, we had to make him captain to keep him happy. The guff in the article about other players being influenced by his poor treatment seems unlikely. He said he wanted to leave but somehow also wants the board to have fought harder to get him to stay. Maybe the board thought they were being offered a load of cash to get a giant ego out of the door? I realise that this could read like sour grapes after Adam's departure but it really isn't. I just think that maybe the board faced with a player's desire to leave and the prospect of a silly load of cash in return couldn't believe their luck.

Care to reflect on Krueger's statement today re Morgan?

How does this square with Krueger stating they were definitely not leaving?

Those "It's happening" posters at St Mary's have been up since last season. You may have misunderstood them.

Clearly BS. It contains the phrase "But their Premier League title rivals...". As if Liverpool are going to be anywhere near the title.

Oh god. You've given Alpine a nickname to use of he ever has a lead than perfect game. Or even if he doesn't.

He couldn't even be bothered to wear a tie? #rupertwouldhavesackedhimonthespot

The club's twitter announcement has Lallana on one side and Shaw on the other. Somebody making a point?

Back home in England preferably.

I just thought that this couldn't be reposted enough.

I believe there have been 10 transfers into PL clubs since the end of last season. Some of these are to the same clubs and so we are in the majority of teams who have yet to sign any players. Reed has stated that nobody else will be let go before we have a new manager. He has also stated that a new managerial appointment is imminent. He could be lying but why would he? I'm the same as anyone else and look every day for news. But I trust the club to go about things thoroughly and professionally as they have for the last five years, which haven't been too bad. The club is not going to rush things just to keep a few impatient forum dwellers happy. They, like me, have probably realised that some people here are happy only when seeing the worst possible motives and the worst possible outcomes.

I think that confirms what a previous poster said about the Mirror (and Mail) knowing absolutely nothing. There is nothing in Steve Bruce's managerial CV that sounds anything like what Les Reed said about the new manager. Steve Bruce may be a nice enough chap (who is one of the few not to blame defeats on the ref) and I like him, but if he were to come here it would mean Les Reed lied throughout a 20 minute video. And I don't think he did.

Yeah, I'd heard that too. I think there must be something in it. What do the bookies say?

I have a friend who is friends with a taxi driver who drove home one of the Saints media team yesterday. Apparently, the stumbling block over Koeman is the board's insistence that he appoints Gerry Francis as his assistant. Apparently, the board feels that with a Swiss owner and a Canadian Chairman, the club needs an English presence to keep the fans involved. Sounds reasonable to me.

So, to sum up 63 pages, some people think Les Reed and/or the board are either incompetent or mendacious. Others think they are doing the right thing. But nobody knows who our next manager is or when there may be an announcement about it. Carry on.

Why is that the logical conclusion? As you say, in the crazy world of football finance, it's a paltry sum. I don't think the money is the motivator. I think it's more a combination that Rickie stands out as not being the young, energetic, chasing player that the club favours and that, for him, this is a dream move to a club he loves. Had it been any other team I think our board would have resisted at least until after the World Cup and the appointment of a new manager. Players move on. I'm sad to see him go but don't begrudge him the chance. Let's see who we bring in before we condemn everyone.

The PR considerations should be secondary to doing what needs to be done. Clearly, you don't get rid of two long serving (in football terms) members of staff without a reason. The PR part should be explaining why and that is certainly absent so far. But risking bad PR is not a reason not to do something thought to be necessary. I'm assuming that those in charge are not idiots and felt that they had to act now even though it would cause PR difficulties. Adam Blackmore seems to think they are idiots and either should not have taken action or should have waited for a better moment.

I cannot believe anyone is ever sacked without being given a reason. It may not be the real reason but can you imagine that conversation? "I'm sorry we're going to have to let you go." "Oh. Why?" "I'm not going to tell you."

Back in the seventies my old school beat Rydens in the final of the English schoolboys trophy. First leg was played at the Valley. The second in some non-league ground in Hersham. We even had seventies style football violence even though we were a bunch of grammar school boys from Blackheath. It's why I remembered the school name as our wannabe "hard cases" were chanting "Rydens where are you?" This is of course entirely irrelevant to Luke Shaw and Southampton.