Disco Stu

It will be interesting to see what the clubs response to this will be. Probably silence... He leaves out many details that would portray him as the party in the wrong in this statement. His secret conversations with Liverpool and the fact he signed a 6 year contract less than 12 months ago. I'm not sure what he hopes to achieve with this statement. This whole fiasco was already about as public as it could get so I'm curious what difference he hopes this statement will make. I'm certain our bridges with Liverpool are completely burnt so I guess either Chelsea offers our asking price or he's stuck in the reserves as he's just forfeited his third choice which was to return to the first team.

You want a stadum you can sell-out. Besides, the majority of games last season still had seats in the chapel itchen corner so the capacity is fine to me. We need to be selling out games other than the ones against top 6 and first/last game.

I'd love a stadium expansion, especially looking from an architectural perspective however those figures just go to show that our stadium is the perfect size right now. Give it another decade and our circumstances may justify it.

What p*sses me off is these people actually believe the perception that we all have it easy down here.

I have. I was going to mention it. In my book that's an excellent sign.

I hope he learnt a thing or two from Pogba.

Seems like a Wanyama with better passing range. I'm a fan.

In all honesty, signing 18 year olds goes against what I thought this clubs philosophy was (blocking the path for our own players surely?). Add to that the source is 'The Sunday People', I'm not that excited no. I was always under the impression we were filling our sqaud with academy players with 2-3 signings of proven professionals aged 23-26 in key positions.

How exciting!

Definitely Davis. Our longest serving player now. True professional. Nobody else in our team deserves it more. EDIT: Double checked and technically Ward-Prowse is our longest serving player. I think he needs to gain more experience and maturity to get the captains band though. Also the armband seems to be a kiss of death as far as remaining at Southampton is concerned so I'd rather he didn't.

I feel like I'm watching Sunday league.

Nope.

Seconded.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place here. If we sell, our whole 'finding a backbone' display would look frankly pathetic. Not only that but the fans will rightly feel deceived (again) and the deteriorating trust between the board (espeically Les Reed) and the fans will be left in shatters. Alternatively, we keep hold of him and hope for a similar scenario to what happened with Morgan. Obviously, there is every chance we could have a Berahino situation on our hands. If we do swallow our pride and sell him, the club must make certain he is sold on our terms. We are in the strongest position. We have him tied down for another 5 years so we should not accept a penny less than the £70m initially touted. Personally, I think our bridges with Liverpool should be well and truly burned after their total lack of respect for not only the rules but our club. I can already imagine the gloating 12 year old scousers (and no doubt older as well ) all over twitter and the like if they get him. Considering how much empthasis the club has put on branding and the clubs image globally these last couple of seasons, I genuinely believe they want to stand firm and lose this stigma of being a selling club (especially to Liverpool). Unfortunately, despite holding all the cards, this kinda feels like a lose/lose.

Yes, I'm suggesting people shouldn't get a knighthood for simply working in the entertainment industry. For the record, I actually quite like Ferguson but I can't see that he's done anything exceptional for this country in any meaningful way.

Alex Ferguson does not deserve his knighthood. Nor does Defoe deserve to get one. In fact, the majority of knighthoods given out these days are completely undeserved. It's just a thing you get for being a big celebrity for a few years...

Firstly, I'd go to the boardroom tab to switch the transfer/salary budget balance so that it goes up to £50m. Then I'd invest it all in some unknown Brazilians with 5 star potential ratings that my 80 year old scout from Sweden found...

I know nothing about the guy. Feels like another Gardos situation. Got a feeling he won't take on much of a role for this coming season.

http://outsideoftheboot.com/2015/08/05/tactical-philosophy-markus-weinzierl/ This article suggests Weinzierl's another defensive manager (he does use wingbacks though which suits us). You would have thought Reed would be fully aware of the reasons the fans were dissatisfied with an otherwise acceptable season.

I must admit, I'd be disappointed with Pelligrino or FDB but I accept they're looking the most likely. Shame as we were the most attractive we've been in decades this time last year...

I would say the manager still has some say based on this article from the Koeman era. Perhaps not as much as other teams, but signings in the past such as Osvaldo, Martina, Pelle and Pied have very clearly been managers picks. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/11366206/Gary-Neville-The-era-of-the-gaffer-is-over.html

Love it. The kit. The animation.

Do us all a favour and get a job will you? There's a nice chap.

Too good to be true = Not true. I've learnt that the hard way.

There was more traction on the Pellegrini appointment and nothing came of that. I won't allow myself to get excited.