Giordano

Is it about the players, oops whoever is left right now. And is it about the stripes oops. And is it about the Dell, oops. None of those actually. They change. When all is said and done the only non transferable non changeable not for sale aspect is we support through thick and thin, mainly thin if its Saints. Home and away, at the stadium on the interweb or on the sofa watching on the tellybox. Im a Saints supporter and....I'm "Not for sale not for sale not for sale Not for sale not for sale not for sale Not for sale not for sale not for sale Not for sale...NOT FOR SALE".

Nope. Serious thread. But Saints fans have always had a great SOH so its ok to be funny about it too.

I just repeat. I'm a Saints fan and I'm not for sale. ever. I wonder what it would be like to see a 5,000 signature petition of that , or 50,000 or everyone who went to Wembley that time for JPT all say that to the media, the players and the management at SFC.

In a moment of impetuousness- or total clarity - I today tweeted that it seemed only a matter of time before Liverpool, Man Utd and Spurs starting making bids for our supporters. It's almost getting to that stage isn't it - who will they go for next - the pitch, the tea lady, the mascot? In the absence of anything unequivocally positive without any spin doctoring or anything from the media, our players and the management at SFC I thought I'd put something positive out there instead on behalf of us Saints fans. I feel its time to face up, stop running and start the Saints fightback against all those out there seemingly with faint heart or wanting to break us. So, here is my statement to SFC and the world : Starts quote: "I want to reassure SFC that I am a Southampton til I die true supporter and that my support for the club is not for sale and never will be. I am NOT interested in talks with other clubs who might want me to go and support them. I do not want or need a new contract because the contract between me and Saints is in my heart and that is where its staying. I am a Southampton supporter for the rest of my life, repeat, I'm never not going to support Saints so other clubs interested in buying this support should just go somewhere else cos you're wasting your time. I know why you want Saints fans because they are about as good as it gets and in high demand but NOBODY can ever buy my support for Saints cos its not now not ever going to be for sale" Giordano Orsini. Saints fan.

To be honest, that would be the ultimate sacrifice if England's so called best player was assigned man marking duties on Pirlo. Bit Rooney COULD do it. And there is a precedent. If you read Pirlos autobiography you will see that only SAF managed to snuff Pirlo out using Park ji sung as basically a full time guard dog despite him being about the most famous Asian player at the time and a mega star in his own right. I'm not sure Rooney has got the lack of ego to do that. Pirlo would NOT follow Rooney. He's got de Rossi to do all that sort of stuff and some other hardworking mf's.

There is surely no question that Pirlo will be THE class act on the pitch. He is head and shoulders above everyone including Gerrard and makes Rooney look like a pygmy by comparison in footballing terms, to paraphrase Ibrahimovich in that famous quote - what Rooney does with a ball Pirlo can do with an orange. Only Buffon is even close to that quality. He is a beautiful footballer recognized around the world as a master, even as that rare thing a universally acknowledged footballing genius at 35 years old. With him Iniesta, Ronaldo, Neymar and Messi we are very lucky to have such outstanding quality all present at the same time at this WC. It will be a privilege to watch him play v England irrespective of the outcome. In Italy they revere players like that - think of Baggio, Totti, even Cassano to a lesser extent. And yet its apparently the land of the catennaccio mentality. How bizarre that the home of anti-football should always pick and play genius talents yet one of the homes of attacking exciting football like what England are - always end up picking the mediocrities, and failing by consequence. In England up until this last squad a flair player won't make the squad even if he scores a hattrick v russia in the last warm up match.....Gascoigne was a rare one that slipped through somehow. This squad IS different though. We have got talents. But Roy has to play them and play them in the right positions though. Is Pirlo able to cope with three hot games in a row though and then maybe more matches ~ I don't think so ~ but for the first match versus England he should be fresh enough. Roy must not repeat his previous mistake in allowing Pirlo space like the last time England got taught a footballing lesson by Italy in that embarrassingly one-sided Euro's 0-0 draw that eventually finished the right way for the way superior team when Pirlo chipped the ball over Hart during that penalty shoot out. No, that won't happen again so he will have to appoint one of the attackers or offensive midfielders to essentially man mark him. So that attacker or offensive mf might be picked largely upon his defensive ability. Not how many goals he scored in the EPl last year or his assist record or number of caps. Its on can you stop Pirlo doing what he has done to almost every team he's ever played against - and that is provide killer passes that only he can see and execute, often first time. For the less cynical amongst you we got a player that can see and make those type of passes that are impossible for average players too, and he plays for Uruguay. I can see England being able to snuff out Pirlo for all the praise i lavished on him above.A young guy with good legs should do it. Welbeck or Adz not a Sterling or a Sturridge or a Rooney or a Barkley, not a Gerrard as he will be deep himself nor a Henderson who i think will also be deep but it might be him on a special "mission" to basically sacrifice himself ( well he's ****e anyway ;-) to neutralize Pirlo. Wilshire cant defend for toffee so its not him either. Milner is our token mediocrity "utility" man keeping a real talent out of the squad so maybe that will be his job. I reckon Italy are not going to get through on reputation alone but their experience in the confederations cup will help a great deal (they came third) but lost with honour. This match looks like draw at half time then take your pick for full time. I will be popping a decent amount on the draw and especially 0-0. My target is to see a £10,000 balance in my bet365 account by the end of the WC, starting from just £650.

Well, 55 is still relatively young for me compared to the real international heavyweights like trappatoni but point taken, he's not early thirties. :-)

If its not Koeman it must be because hes working out if he will be the next dutch national coach. I would be happy with him, but have changed my mind on Moyes. Some people have made some really good arguments about "style of play" from our under 8's upwards. If first team start playing different that is a problem and so despite Moyes and others excellent records its either their way ~ which undermines everything else, or we change our philosophy. I don't want us to change our playing style and philosophy. I'd be delighted with Ralf Rangnick actually.He is the next off the young pressing attacking style managers conveyor belt, with a way better record than Mopo ever had. Check his record out for those unfamiliar with the name. He also speaks perfect english. Studied astrophysics here in UK. He is German so communicating with the Board is no problem. He's perfect. And available (apparently).

With the amateur hour shenanigans going on at SMS right now we need an immediate impact man of substance EPL manager. No maybes no perhaps no " let him have time to see how the EPL works". No let him Learn English or develop contacts with other EPL clubs for players both on loan or as transfers. One guy is available right now and has all the doors open for him. One guy has instantly credibility and an unsurpassed EPL track record with our kind of club. Its Moyes all day long.

From the importance of being Earnest. "To lose one parent me worthing may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose both looks like carelessness"....

Just wish he would remember that we are "Saints" NOT "The Saints". Know the name of the club you represent at least mate.

Yes that's true- but I think we have it clear now that RK and LR have issues.If they communicated better then RK would not have made himself look a right eejut with what he said - or LR would not have given the OK to LFC about Rickie knowing it contradicts what RK said barely a day earlier. Given that evidence it points to making it up as they go along. If they saw the sale of Rickie as a good bit of business for SFC then I'm sorry- I disagree with them strongly. I really don't think they have thought this through. The bit when RK was asked why it took so long to sort MP out and he said that they were just focused on the football and everyone was cool about it - well i'm sorry that is just nonsense and incompetence. Any half decent businessman needs to anticipate the dangers to his business. Losing your manager is a big risk. That should have been taken care of well ahead. But we lost him. We are now entering Oscar Wilde territory of carelessness with losing things now that talisman rickie is going youth team coaches are gone, first team captain is going and best young player is going.....

The ONLY reasonable alternate explanation I can come up with is that Rickie personally asked Les as a massive favor to let him go in respect of all his service to saints. And that Les, with respect for Rickie, agreed. That is the only reasonable alternate explanation.If SFC came out and said that I would lay off the rebuke for LR and RK. If its not that then any of the alternate explanations are enough to get any saints fan upset and incompetence does not start to describe this action or its potential consequences.

What would actually get me excited was Moyes as manager and Gary Neville as his number two. That would be a result.

Looks like we will need the new manager to bring some players with him. Kpeman is a good draw obviously for dutch players. But i agree with Batman. Given the loss of key players managers coaches and the morale issue- plus the fairly obvious confusion upstairs at the highest level they need a credible epl operator who is someone who can hit the ground running in the EPl and stop the rot. That man is Moyes.

Yes and Yes.He is an Outstanding man.

Osvaldo is unwanted by them.I doubt he will return to Saints though. Quaglierella is for sale. Nope. As is Vucinic. Used to be good but would he joining Saints plus hes not a spring chicken? And probably Giovinco. Not really for me. And I reckon Llorente could be available for the right price. Hes the best of those but would not join Saints. The best turin based player has already been taken by Dortmund- Torino's Immobile...and/or maybe our new dutch coach will bring that Italian 6ft 4" striker Graziano something over with him.

Spot on. But he is having to be disingenuous with us. His last interview was very revealing. There is no "Plan". That is not really a problem for a lot of people but fact of the matter is that the last 5 years culture has been based on having a plan- and its worked a treat. We are in for a culture shock as well as what looks like a virtually brand new team and management come August. Hope for the best, but some too obvious cock-ups and straightforward bad and slow decisions happening now by people who even though are mega respected world wide- should still really know better. Most important being waiting too long to tie Mopo down. Catastrophic mistake. But selling Rickie is even worse for me. I would not be surprised if Ralph resigns soon.

I posted this on the List.... Adam Blackmore tweeted that SFC (presumably Reed) were told that it had to be done before players left for Miami or else they would forget it. And with Rickie keen to return to Liverpool they chose not to stand in his way. From my perspective : 1. £4M for a leading goalscorer and assist maker in the EPL is peanuts. Really peanuts. The only example of a worse mistake I can think of is when Milan released Pirlo to Juventus on a free. And it IS in that category for me. else they would forget it. And with Rickie keen to return to Liverpool they chose not to stand in his way. 1. £4M for a leading goalscorer and assist maker in the EPL is peanuts. Really peanuts. The only example of a worse mistake I can think of is when Milan released Pirlo to Juventus on a free. And it IS in that category for me. 2. That “take it or leave it” is about the oldest trick in the book. Rickie still has 2 years on a contract with Saints. For Blackmore to be fed that line for it to be passed onto us – and to expect us to go “oh yeah well in which case at least we got the £4M “ is akin to suggesting Saints fans are idiots who will swallow any old codswallop. Its total cr$p. Just say “No” Les, “NO, you cannot speak with our talismanic legend ”, that’s it. It is that easy. I do not believe Rickie would ask for a transfer. Just say “NO”. 3. It renders Ralphs comments regarding not letting anyone go until the new manager is in and happy with it only a few hours/days earlier looking rather stupid. Les has made Kruger look a right chump with this move and it makes it look like the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. I bet that he’s not a happy bunny about that. 4. I’m a recently (12months) qualified certified NLP practitioner +coach. Whilst watching the Kruger interview ~I was intently observing his body and especially his face during and in-between questions. When asked about if there was a plan he almost imperceptibly shook his head before answering, he changed colour and there were a number of micro muscular twitches evident before starting a flowery story about Europe. Even his posture during interview was guarded and sideways on. This was not the Kruger of first public speaking on behalf of Saints times only a few months back. It was a man with secrets and things to be worried and concerned about – and especially a man in the dichotomous situation of saying one thing but knowing something else is true( or truer) – but he cannot say it. There is NO plan to speak of or it’s not a plan that it’s a good idea to let us know about – probably because it’s not all that good news – or what he knows we want to hear. That’s my deduction. 5. Lastly, Rickie is much more than a SFC player. He is a talisman. His value goes beyond £££ and goals and assists. £4M – or any amount frankly given the uncertainty of the merry-go-round that is SFC at SMS is insulting. He is THE club symbol and – quite literally, the nation’s favourite boy done good story. He has brought the name of Southampton to the outside world in an incredibly positive and uplifting way. What a role model for the youngsters. You just cannot buy such a story… well apparently you cam and its £4million pounds. It is astonishing we let them speak to him and beyond reckless that we let him go.

UJ- what do you mean? It took Jrod quite a while to be the player he is. Do you mean you think Borini could become as effective? He for sure has technical ability in abundance seeing as he is Italian :-)...and maybe he needs shorter lead time because hes had a season or two in EPL already. I think he is decent and probably a good buy- but maybe im bias as I'd think anyone coming after Rickie has got big shoes to fill and i feel MeH about anyone replacing him....and Borini is like 5ft 10" i think :-).

Can't say I'd be massively excited about signing Borini in isolation. He is decent but not deadly - though he would suit our style of play. I guess that costs £9M in the EPL these days. I would prefer young decent deadly speedy and English frankly. A couple more Jrods basically - but a bit deadlier lol. I love that Saints=England. I also love that SMS=Wembley. Keep it rolling....:-)

Well said as ever Minty. We all have our personal views on this as saints are so very close to all our hearts but a lot of what's being said is simply unfair nonsense and the result of leaping like lemmings into negative conclusions from the scarcest of real "facts". It is only human nature to react as so many have done ~ but its disturbing nevertheless that its turning into a lynch mob mentality : all this vitriolic lashing out at RK KL and LR is scarily unsaintly. The outpourings of written anger by many posters here is fair enough- its a saints web forum thingy so i guess that is one of its raison d'etre's - for fans to sound off on one when they feel like - but there's not so much of this on the Saints List I have to say- perhaps a more emotionally mature set of contributors? I don't share the pent up hatred and nastiness towards the new Board. I know I know its because for the first time ever it looked like we could crack the glass ceiling into the top table of football with all our great talents all in one generation all at the same time - and some people fear that this is - or was - our once in a lifetime chance to do it - and now we are resigned to being that little Southampton FC that know their place in the pecking order of football. I know I know. But people - we had 4 kids playing England under 19's JWP is England captain out in Toulon... the system for producing the new young players is in place. There will be more. Losing iconic players is gut wrenching. But at least we have had iconic players! Be grateful.

I know from private sources that he has applied for the position as Saints Manager/head Coach in the past.

That's the first time I've looked at it like that. It's a contrarian view but actually I think it's entirely valid and got a fairly good chance of being how it will be. Adam is not worth £25m to Liverpool but he IS worth £50m + to us. We should look at it like that and do whatever is necessary to keep him.

True. And I understand your point - BUT Adam And Luke are not in that position for starters and LR summarised the club position on transfer policy very recently and very clearly so there is no additional clarification of club intentions needed until and unless anything changes- which it has not. MoPo has also made the transfer policy chain of decision making equally clear. If you can't remember it - or like some others here - choose to pretend it did not happen it's this I paraphrase " nobody leaves that MoPo is not happy that they leave" - How often does SFC need to repeat this? NOW......if MoPo leaves is it any wonder that this renders that very public statement ( I'd call it a corporate public promise myself ) null and void- and hence why a definitive answer cannot be given to poor little downtrodden professional footballers in the last year (or 4) of their deals needing reassurance of their insecurities. It's common sense. But then again maybe it's foolish to expect too much of that from professional footballers.