Mowgli

There was a story I heard - don't know how true it was - that Saints were thinking this way in the 70s. After recruiting Lawrie to work as Asst Manager to Ted Bates he moved into the role after 4 months shadowing. Seeing the benefit of succession management they then identified *cough* a certain Ian Branfoot as the next manager. He was youth team coach at the time and they wanted hime to get more experience with senior squad players so he went of to manage Reading with the intention of coming back when Lawrie eventually moved on. What went wrong was he became a little impatient and went to work with his old mate Steve Coppell at Palace. This was where it all went wrong. He became seduced by the long ball game coached by Coppell and when he eventually came back to Southampton as manager he insisted on using that style here. It was totally against everything Southampton stood for. The players didn't respond well and the fans... ...well the rest is history a they say.

This whole argument seems to come up every season. When the stadium was built the club identified the Chapel end as the home 'kop' end. I bought my first season ticket there on that basis (moved to Northam in second season)! Bearing in mind away fans at any ground tend to be a bit more of a challenge for police, they actually constructed the stadium around away fans being at the Northam and installed police CCTV room and cells adjacent to away fans. Quickest route to the station, quickest route for coached to access motorways - made it an easy choice. What went wrong was home fans decided they could not 'bait' the away fans in the Chapel so decided to move closer - first in block 42 and later block 1. It does create a good atmosphere so not much point complaining when the facilities for policing are already in place. You will always get the home fans split because they want to get as close to the away fans as they can - if they can't get seats close on one side then they will buy seats on the other side. It cannot be solved by moving the away fans.

Me too. Hot bank holiday Monday that…

Is the Fulham game here or up there?

Maybe also worth saying some of last seasons transfers in and academy promotions needed time to settle so did not add a lot last season but will be hitting the ground running this year. Salisu, Diallo, Tella and maybe Smallbone (who still has to build up fitness) all fall in this category.

Spontaneous combustion

Championship strikers need a full season to get up to speed in the EPL. No point in signing when Ings contract expires. Sign him now and by next summer he will be a decent replacement for Danny.

Yeah, sorry, I probably read your comment out of context. The reality is that no 'proven' Premier League player on sale for £50m would come here. We couldn't afford the fee or the wages. Which is why we gamble on signings like ...... VVD and Mane for £13m and £12m respectively. Selling them on has kept us solvent and as a result other promising youngsters see Southampton as a good stepping stone. Win-Win really. Of course some don't work out but apart from Carrillo we've always managed to loan out those that don't 'fit'. Adam Armstrong clearly fits the bill but as with all the players, we have to be patient and wait for them to get up to speed. Which can sometimes take a whole season.

You mean like Cancelo, Morato, Keita, Mendy, Torres, NDombele, Di Maria ......? Every player is a gamble. Would rather we gamble £10m for a player than £50m.

No knowledge but this board do not generally make statements that can come back and bite them. JWP is key and has signed a new contract. They won't consider selling him for another 2/3 years. Ings would be sold only if he wanted to go which he doesn't really. Otherwise they would rather he went for free next year than sell him this year without a 'proven' replacement. Of the squad we have left the most likely departures amongst first team squad regulars are N'Lundulu, Long and Jankewitz. Obafemi and Djenepo (loans) and (if we really need to raise further funds and he won't sign a new contract) Vestergaard. That's the only regular starter that we do have cover for (Stephens / Salisu). That would leave us bringing in Perraud, Walcott, Armstrong on permanent deals and Williams (pref Bradley as opposed to Nico) plus another full back and centre back on loan with option to buy. All that, IMO, would be well within our financial means.

Stand by to be astonished

Doesn’t everyone? If they don’t, there’s no place for them here.

At what age do you think we signed Lallana, Bale, Walcott, Ox, Shaw and Bridge? Edit: Should have read down - Wild Saint already made same comment

There's a clue in your description of the event. A forum is about questions. No one really wants to hear a rant unless there is a question there to answer. We can come on here for that. They answered the point on the sponsor. They got a lot of money (a record deal in) year 1 and replaced them with SportsBet in year 2 with another decent deal. I suspect we lost a bit on shirts but hardly a disaster.

Only because we lost our way a bit. Recruitment has been a lot better last couple of years and Hojbjerg is the only one to leave. Add to that a significant increase in commercial income (eg Hummel and - sadly - the betting sponsor) and our potential is slowly moving in the right direction

If that were true there would be people queuing up. The truth is it's impossible to make a quick buck out of a club our size. The sooner people realise that the only way to operate a club our size is to use the sustainable model of the last 10 years, the better. Then we can concentrate, not on the owner, but on the right coach and CEO. Right now, despite the abysmal second half of the season, I believe we are in good hands with Ralph and Martin Semmens

So the only names to be suggested recently are Craig David and Gerard Lopez. Between them they would struggle to buy Danny Ings let alone a football club. Which means they would have to borrow the money and rely on Saints making enough money through player sales etc just to pay the interest. Sounds like fun times!

Classic thread highlighting the highs and lows of a Saints fan. Lighthouse said early on that we were 'a 7-12th team, enjoying a period of good form'. IMO we're now a 7-12th team suffering a period of poor form. No excuses available for last night but for Feb and March we were victims of unprecedented injuries. I'm not going to use VAR as an excuse because the poor use of VAR has now hit most teams. Last night aside there were signs of us getting some confidence and momentum back and I'm not going to totally dismiss that on the back of one really poor game. Maybe they were distracted by the prospect of a big semi final appearance. My point is that supporting Saints has always been an emotional roller coaster and this season has been no different. When we look back on this season in a couple of years we'll hopefully not see it as a disaster. We're not getting relegated (mid table still in our reach) and we are getting a Wembley appearance.... ....and there's still the 'stop the count T shirt' 😉

Not our job. Happy to rely on those at the club who know what's going on both on and off the pitch. We can only comment on what we see on the pitch. Collectively poor today. Including Ralph who admitted he was too scared of them getting behind us at the back. Better second half but damage was done. We know this team can beat anyone on their day and lose to anyone on another day. That's my club. Always has been.

I used to get upset about the knee jerk posts on here. Now they make me laugh so much I enjoy the occasional browse. Potter for England Manager?? 😂 I assume we're talking about Harry Potter...

We should remember that every time we lose to a team we ‘should have beaten’!

That’ll be the Albion that just beat Chelsea 5-2

I have to say the old Hummel kits were all pants IMO - especially the sleeves. If you can't line the stripes up with the main body then don't bother - keep them plain. That said, Hummel have come a long way since then and this seasons kits at other clubs look like decent designs. Quality of material isn't really an issue for me as it's all polyester which when put in the same sentence as quality simply doesn't work.

Agreed. Although it was fairly easy for those players you mention to shine brightly in a Championship / Div 1 side. Even Bale would struggle as a 17 year old getting into todays Saints side - especially as he was such a lightweight compared to the beast he later became. I think the game has fundamentally changed for youngsters who Ralph likes to see 'bulked up' a bit before exposing them to the intensity of the EPL. This reset of the academy structure under Ralph with the playbook replicated across all levels will pay dividends long term but there will probably be a bit of a lull while the transformation takes place. We'll have to wait and see about Valery, Sims and Vokins etc but I'm sure there are one or two that will make us regret releasing them (assuming we do of course - they are still Saints players!!). History is full of those stories so I'm not too worried. I just hope they all make it.

He was awful for his first couple of games then put in a MOTM performance so he is slowly winning them over. Two unnamed Sunderland players returned positive COVID tests this week so that may explain his absence today.