Fitzhugh Fella

Well I spent an hour in the company of Beattie and Benali just recently and not one anti board word passed their lips, in fact Franny in particular was full of praise so that rather flies in the face of your rather unpleasant guess work. And a very good friend of mine spoke to Jason at the weekend and again not one bitter word about the board came from his lips and his dismissal came up in the conversation. Manji you are just full of nasty sh it!

Like you do you mean before posting on here?

yea me too

or mention the bed-wetters

Again you fall hook line and sinker into "shoot the messenger mode". You do it every time without ever bothering to check the messenger's credentials. You are so bleeding predictable. Crook is a local Hampshire based journalist who does have good Southampton sources. A friend of mine who is a big saints fan and an ex journalist who you would have heard of, rates him. There is a lot of s+it out there I grant you but you need to be a little less scatter gunned in your attempts to be one of the forum bandwagon jumpers.

Yep pretty much sums it up for me. This close season has been unprecedented in terms of us being weakened.

Guan I appreciate a lot of what you say but you can hardly blame the natives for getting restless especially after this morning's comments by Lovren which indicated the Board knew about MP's departure in April. As of yet we have yet to get one decent transfer over the line, which in "normal" summers should not be a worry but with half of last season's team either left or in the process of leaving, is whichever way you look at it, something to be concerned about. I am worried by the board's inexperience, the only man with any football knowledge is Reed and his expertise was not earned at director level. Rogers statement after the Shaw transfer was ham-fisted and showed a lack of appreciation in the way fans think. This is an unprecedented close season in terms of decimation to our squad, the players are back in training and another tough season in the Premiership will start quicker than we think. Prevarication in the market due to inexperience or an unwillingness to go the extra mile, cash wise, cannot be rectified post August 31. I am glad NC has gone and I back the board but I am not convinced despite their best intentions they are properly qualified to the task ahead. Thanks for your post however but permit me to voice the growing concerns amongst us on the outside as it were.

Got to say as much as I am behind the new Board, this is a very well stated post.

It was a Sunday tea-time

With regard to the Lambert to West Ham scenario in January I honestly think NC was trying to destabilise the club in the weeks before he left and selling RL to WHU would have upset quite a few. Then there is the debacle re the kit which it seems NC was engineering. And then there is his spiteful banning of the book despite placing a large order for it. His departure may well be the catalyst for all our stars departing but I am still glad this most destructive of men has left our football club. I said all along it would, with him at the helm, end in tears. It was inevitable. Now we must concentrate on picking up the pieces, nurturing those who want to stay and making sure we get some decent replacements in. I would be happy just to avoid relegation this year. With all the comings and goings that would be a satisfactory achievement.

Pretty much spot on. I said all this a week or two ago but got laughed at but I still maintain the truth lies in there somewhere.

Can't see that especially as we seem to be struggling to sign 2 sub £10m players at the moment

Pleased, nay delighted the stripes are back, should never have gone away. Love to see navy blue shorts a la pre-war, but can't see that ever happening. Now we just need some players to put into the new kit, it's a worry we are struggling to land two players from the Dutch league. At the end of the day it's the players not the kit that will keep us up.

I would believe it if I were you. Had a long e mail exchange with Gordon Simpson and trust me he would not write it if he wasn't certain it was true.

The only drawback to waiting for September to have a moan about not signing players is by then it is a bit late to do anything about it. HTH

this is going to end in tears

Dear Window Cleaner - next time look up the spelling of negotiate too! Love from your favourite pink-jacketed militant

According to the Mail online Feyenoord have rebuffed a £5m bid from us for Pelle

According to the Mail our £5m offer has been rebuffed by Feyenoord

Ron you are too close to things, take a break. I have sat back and tried to be rational about this. I have no problem Lallana leaving, let's be honest he is at the right age etc etc but what does get my goat is, him refusing to play for the club if not granted a transfer and also what he said when he signed an extension to his contract. I actually think he will not settle at Anfield and, if he had left on decent terms, there would have been a good chance we would have bought him back a la Kevin Davies, but the silly idiot has well and truly burnt his bridges. Don't get irked with the fans, get irked with whoever is advising Lallana.

Well has he turned up for pre-season training? I somehow don't think he will

Adam Leitch has not quite got his facts right (has he misplaced the Echo copy of ALL THE SAINTS?). Sammy Lee came to us on a free transfer not a loan.

Cheers a fool I must be then. I know it is what his agent is saying (yes I know it's his agent) and for me it adds up. Why would he be seeking a move after just one season then? I honestly believe this time last year the players collectively bought into the "this club is going somewhere" scenario. Morale and team spirit was high and it got higher. Then the rug was pulled and once one player decided to go it was like a house of cards.

Yes you are right (although perhaps add Wanyama) but things changed and Cortese's vision that they could attain CL while at SMS raised expectations that have since been dashed. Cue the dash for a top 4 squad place.

Of course I don't, like most of us I am trying to make some sort of sense of what is happening with some joined up thinking. I remember thinking when I heard of ML's death that it was a bad day for Southampton Fc, because it was his dream. I think NC then picked up the baton, raised the bar and for a while KL was happy to sign the cheques because she wanted to carry on what her father had started. NC then stepped out of his lane, spent (and wasted) too much money, made promises he shouldn't and she finally had enough. This is all conjecture, as are most things on this forum, but I do base it on a knowledge of the past and talking to people better placed than me.