Daren W

Only about 3 weeks too early....

Personally I think Gold has a bit of a nerve to talk about financial fair play when he's got his whole stadium on the cheap...

Arsenal fans are gutted... £30 million spent more than them....

We have the strongest midfield we've had in years, competition will be fierce and Ward Prowse knows this. If he features more then we'll be the benefactors here as Jack Cork, Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama are first rate midfielders, as good as any you'll see in this league. As for Lallana, he's suffered from a drop a form post injury. In my humble opinion he's as good a player as any we've ever seen at Southampton over the last 4 years. His play in the Championship was, at times, breathtaking. Get him fit, get him focused and watch him go this season...

Easiest article I've ever written for the pink... "I’ve long suggest that big money has ruined England’s national game. The advent of Sky has produced a slew of feckless multi-millionaires who seem more interested in appearing MTV cribs than Match Of The Day. I once wrote “Rickie Lambert, your country needs you” and it’s never been more apt than now. Your country needs the lad from League One to have the game of his lifetime to inspire a raft of players who feel their chance has long gone. It needs you to provide the closing scene in “Goal Machine!” the movie in which a young Sean Bean rams home the winning goal against the auld enemy… Fade to black, cue credits…"

I quite liked the quote "Southampton are playing tuxedo football..."

No one, not no one on here, could have predicted Bale's rise. The9's absolutely on the money here, it's amazing what hindsight does on here, I saw few complaints when we got a Tottenham goalkeeper for what was money for nothing. The fact that Bale is now the expensive player in the world is beyond anyone's predictions. Using Bale as a stick to beat Lowe with isn't on really. He was desperate for money, the family silver had been sold by Wilde and we were desperate. I wonder how people would have reacted if he'd said no? "No I won't sign a former Tottenham goalkeeper with the money we got for a left back that we sold for a good price at the time" Chances are he'd have been absolutely slaughtered.... Damned if you do, damned if you don't..

Or rather they know there's no competition in the SPL, they'll never progress further than the semis of the CL and have decided to make a commercial decision?

Not really fussed either way. It just shows how obsessed they are with us and highlights their inferiority complex that they try to "hide" a shirt in a complex they can only dream of. That said, putting a video up when you've probably not been paid yet and could get the sack is unbelievably dumb... No doubt they'll be touted as heroes for a right good slumming... Which says it all really.

And both have been quite useful for us too....

Astori surely?

He does come across a lot better in that article... Mainly because it's direct quotes from him and not internet speculation as to what people think he wants..

Interesting that after the slagging he got off here from some, he's now quoted as saying he turned down bigger wages from Cardiff. So he's either holding out for the better deal for his old club or not money motivated so much...

Wes,you can't just take Bale's goals out of the equation and come up with 21 points. His replacement might not have scored his goals but who's to say his input might not have lead to Spurs not conceding the goals they did? It's not just as simple as saying no Bale = no goals = No 21 points. That said, right now, the boy's world class... I agree we're not oceans apart and I'd take Shaw and Schneiderlin all day long, but as you well know you can't just go by individuals, it's how they play as a team and, sorry, Spurs are a season or two ahead of us at the moment. But that gap can shrink rapidly depending on who the two teams get for this forthcoming season. Sorry fellas, but even with my best red and white glasses I can't see us being better than Spurs right now...

Really? Sorry, can't agree with that. Spurs may rely heavily on Bale but they're still a fair distance better than us right now. They would have been better than us under Redknapp and have, if anything, improved under AVB. Don't usually do the icon thingy but if you think Bale is the only difference between us and Spurs.... I can go with the idea we can compete with them in a few seasons time but to say we're on their level already is just crazy... You're saying our defence is better than theirs? Centre backs? I think our right and left backs are but in the middle of defence? Really? We should be looking towards Spurs and aiming to be up with them but for the life of me I can't see how we're on a level with them right now...

Good post. You have to start somewhere, and even if that starting point is just showing an interest in better quality players, it's a start. Yes maybe these players are beyond the perceived grasp of a club like Saints, just where do you start? Accept you should take the scraps from the big table or say "Please sir, I want some more?" For what it's worth, yes of course clubs like Liverpool are bigger than Saints but how many modern professionals go with history compared to the here and now? That being the case Villa should be getting first dibs on some players surely? Let's be realistic, modern footballers will look at wages first, ambition second, facilities third and history way back in fourth at best. Liverpool are a bad example, they're nowhere near the force they were, Tottenham are a far better example and one that we'd be hard pushed to overtake right now... That's not to say that without showing a little bit of ambition and flashing a little bit of cash, we couldn't later on... Personally I'd much rather we try and fail than go for the mid table dross we usually went for and actually got.

Just out of interest, how does any of us know if we are not actually looking at realistic targets as well? Surely the more high profile targets have the most savvy agents and any interest in them is put in the public domain quite quickly?

Surely the issue we have this season is that we've got a pretty good squad already. We need to take a step up in quality and that a) Doesn't come cheaply or b) Is tricky as more established clubs than us want the players we're looking at We're looking to get to that Tottenham level, which is or isn't realistic depending on who posts on here. I think if you spend wisely then getting to that level or Everton's level, is very possible. The problem is getting them to sign on the dotted line and succumbing to the "vision". We could quite easily get certain targets but they'd realistically just be squad players and wouldn't improve the squad that much... That said, none of us have a clue how transfer strategies work or whether we're efficient or inefficient. The last few seasons would indicate we're getting better and better at it and it's only naivety with agents that holds us back...

But he is right, if Wanyama snubbed us he'd be the sh1t on our shoes, if he does sign he's brilliant... That's football fans for you, fickle as f**k..

You know, I hadn't thought of that.. We seem to have been "luckier" without stripes... It just goes to show how fragile the argument for/against stripes is. It's the people wearing the shirt that count, if you won't support them because of the colour of their shirt... well it does make you look a bit shallow, doesn't it?

Any change away from Heinz ketchup sachets and I'd seriously have to reconsider my support for the club...

In the history of football, has anyone seriously boycotted a game because of fashion? I'd prefer stripes, I can live with red just as long as things add up on the pitch...

The whole kit argument's a bit tricky, as the link to the kit website on another thread shows, there have been many occasions where we've not played in stripes. If you'd have gone back to the dark days of administration and asked fans would you play in just red and just survive in League One, most of us would have bitten your hand off for that. I can live with the kit, I'd prefer stripes but I'm not overly fussed with plain red... My only gripe is the lack of imagination with the design, it's really just a rent a kit design....

Personally, the worse aspect isn't the price.... It's the blatant lack of imagination. It's the same fecking design ffs...

To be fair he was stitched up a bit by Sky when they covered his first home game in charge against Everton. They did make a seem to dwell on his lack of English as a reason Adkins' sacking was "crazy." I'd be hard pushed to offer up any concrete evidence that he was the victim of any agenda but they certainly didn't do him any favours...