Good summary in Daily Mail (blimey) - JAMES CONEY: No ambition at Southampton

[sifter]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2707699/JAMES-CONEY-There-no-ambition-Southampton-I-fear-drop.html#ixzz38itiJxS3

 

With every new bit of transfer speculation about a Southampton player I’ve been trying to stay positive.

‘At least no club demands such consistently high transfer fees for their players,’ I’ve been telling myself. ‘Lots of good players remain.’

But with first Mauricio Pochettino’s departure to manage Spurs, and then Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, and Luke Shaw gone, now Calum Chambers and Dejan Lovren almost out the door, and possibly Morgan Schneiderlin, Jose Fonte and Jay Rodriguez to follow (like most Saints fans I’m ignoring the impact of Dani Osvaldo leaving) - my patience and confidence is sapping.

 

If anything Saints performed too well last year - not just finishing unexpectedly high up the table, but playing attractive football to boot. Six players went to the World Cup. It was a season that left Saints fans full of optimism.

Now we’ve gone back ten paces. In the Premier League where small margins separate mid-table teams from relegated ones - that could be critical.

Everyone’s looking for someone to blame. Is it the all those involved in the departure of Nicola Cortese - the chief executive who left halfway through last season? Certainly many things seem to have stemmed from that moment.

Or Pochettino’s for bailing as soon as he got an offer from a more fashionable club? I can’t blame the players for being ambitious - least of all Lambert for wanting to finish his career at his hometown club. And no matter how resilient the board, they can’t keep hold of players who no longer want to be there.

But you can hold the board responsible for failing to inspire the squad with confidence. If there had been a clear plan and signs of ambition - as in the past five years - then surely many would have stayed.

Man at the helm: Mauricio Pochettino left St Mary's this summer to take charge of league rivals Tottenham

+8

Man at the helm: Mauricio Pochettino left St Mary's this summer to take charge of league rivals Tottenham

Floored: New Southampton striker Graziano Pelle looks on during the Saints' friendly win over Swindon

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Floored: New Southampton striker Graziano Pelle looks on during the Saints' friendly win over Swindon

This is a board that promised transparency and open-ness, so where is the message to fans that behind the scenes the club is signing players? We could have a £100 million plus war chest, what is being done with that?

New manager Ronald Koeman has so far signed two players, but how good will they be? Ask most Saints fans I know, what they do when we sign a player and the answer is: “Look on Youtube to find out who they are”. The club has a good recent history of signing players - that is, at least, another reason for hope - but it takes time to build a squad.

The flying start of last season is a distant memory already. At this rate, the first league game against Liverpool in three week’s time is going to come far too quickly.

[patred44]

NO MORE OUT THE EXIT DOOR UNTIL SOME COME IN

 

Koeman should insist on this, just how in hell is he suppose to organise our pre season, with Reed allowing every other player to leave at the drop of a hat.

Reed has proved to totally inept to deal with transfers in and out. In charge of recruitment? Your having a laugh. He does a better job of getting rid of people than

He promised to make sure no one leaves without it benefitting the club, this has proved as false as Heather Mills leg.

We are told money is no object, so if it isn't ...why do we offer stupidly low bids. Even Reed is not that out of touch ..or is he?

We face starting the season with the youth setup, plus a couple of players attracted here via Koeman. Reed cannot expect Koeman to preform miracles, it's not fair to him, nor the fans.

Reed loves to tell anyone who listens that he is a Director, in charge of football matters. He has had little to offer in that role.

Losing Calum Chambers is criminal, and if Schniderlin follows him, Reed should look at himself in the mirror and ask himself what he brings to this club.

With his statements of a hardline with clubs coming in to raid our squad, Reed has become a joke figure. And, he makes our club look a joke.

Les ...your position is untenable... you had your chance..resign before your forced out.

 

 

In the meantime Koeman should take charge of transfers himself, and let his brother and Sammy Lee work with the team whilst he gets some players in. Ronalds reputation is the only thing we have to attract players of any quality.

Time is rapidly running out for us in this transfer window, and things will have to move on at pace.

[Wes Tender]

NO MORE OUT THE EXIT DOOR UNTIL SOME COME IN

 

Les ...your position is untenable... you had your chance..resign before your forced out.

 

 

By whom? Do please tell us your thinking behind this.

[Bucks Saint]

When players want to leave, they end up leaving. 99% of the time, at any club. Its just the first time in a number of years we had so many good players. Get real

[Unbelievable Jeff]

Really don't agree with saints finishing above expectation last season. Plenty predicted 8th and any lower with that squad would have been disappointing. That's why some got carried away with what we could achieve, because there were so many very good players.

 

we still have a lot of talent and good youngsters. The only thing stopping me being optimistic is not knowing what the owners want, if we're for sale and if the same will happen next season.

 

People say it's an attractive investment, but is it? On the one hand it could be well run and produce good revenues, stay in the top flight many years, produce good players and sell for profits. But that's what we're doing now and fans aren't happy.

 

On the other hand if you want more, you need to invest a fortune on both securing players and keeping them just to have a tiny chances of a one off season in the champions league at some point in the next decade. And if that did happen for saints or another club, you would again lose many players.

 

So I'm not so much angry at saints, more disillusioned with the sport and current way it's run.

 

This.

 

For me what we have suffered from is underachievement in our finish last season, the new Sky deal, and the greed of our players (but I don't blame them, I'd have done the same to double my wages).

[Convict Colony]

The first 5mins of The True Geordie's latest transfer video does a pretty good summary of our current state.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktf4RnI3ykw&feature=youtu.be&a

[trousers]

When players want to leave, they end up leaving. 99% of the time, at any club. Its just the first time in a number of years we had so many good players. Get real

That's the thing - each player that has left thus far wouldn't, in isolation, raise any eyebrows. For each transfer so far you could apply a logical explanation to.

 

Stating the obvious i know, but its the volume of players leaving that challenges the logic of each individual player's natural desire to play for the biggest club possible.

 

The reason the Saints "exodus" is unique and unprecedented at this level is because we had 7 or 8 players reach 'champions league level' all at the same time. Most teams in our peer group only produce one or two players in that category every season. Its a well worn cliche but we are indeed victims of our own rapid success.

 

Yes, if Cortese had stayed and his unfettered access to Markus's legacy funds was allowed to continue then most of the players that have left would probably have stayed 'one more season' to see how things panned out. Its clear to me that they signed up for "Cortese's dream", not for Southampton Football Club per se...

 

I'm still convinced "Cortese's dream" was ultimately scuppered by the constraints of the Financial Far Play rules, which were exacerbated by him taking his eye off the commercial income ball, but I guess we'll never know the full story (as ever)....