Baird of the land

If there is some money to spend that is nice. No doubt we'll face inflated prices though when we try and buy, especially if we've just made a big sale. However the key has to be to retain the bulk of the first 11. We can't be selling both Shaw and Lallana imo.

Yes there are always going to be bigger fish in the sea, even for the likes of Liverpool(if Madrid come calling). However we don't need to be small fry and right now i'm extremely annoyed at the condescending pity being wafted Saints way as people try and justify why we aren't allowed to try to keep any good players. Whenever Baines was being linked with Man U there wasn't any of that imo.

Hoping that maybe they'll allow him back into the director's box in future when he comes to watch a game.

England are apparently quite happy to muck up their preps for liverpool's sakes and do medical in Miami( daily mail) After that we'll probably hear they are quite happy to do it in rio. Hodgson's I want everyone focused on England was just bs.

Only 3 of them were key players & one of those left in January.

Don't see how koeman's can be compared to the waste of space that was wotte.

Really annoyed England are apparently bending over backwards to try and facilitate Liverpool lallana move and Hodgson is going on record talking up a move. Why can't he just be diplomatic and state that where the players play is none of his concern.

Definitely hope that is the case.

And Mayuka. Though none of them really fill me with confidence.

I do admit press attacks have worn me down some. I still can't wait for the World Cup to start especially as it'll put that stuff down to a simmer hopefully.

We were battling much of that season and it's not if we sold Morgan, Lallana, Lambert and Fonte beforehand. Maybe we can buy really well but history suggests some duds and the pure problems of trying to gel a bunch of players into an effective unit. I'm still at times hopeful we won't lose 4, well at least in my less depressed moments i am.

Agree, i can see the pure financial logic in Cortese's thinking but was completely against it because of what an important player Rickie was. It was one good thing the new board did imo.

Been following prem league since its inception and also just now had a scan through some of the teams transfer history back to the 90's. Losing 2 is rare(remember thinking Sunderland should be worried by losing 2 key players last summer). The only examples i can see of a club losing more than that is Newcastle(the season they got relegated) and Leeds(the season they got relegated whilst bankrupt). Hardly auspicious examples. Would you care to name an example of one that lost 4 and did well?

Reed seemed quite strong on the academy front personally when i've heard him interviewed before. Under the new board though his sphere of influence has expanded and i'm not sure that's a good thing. Hopefully a strong coach and a storm weathered Krueger can balance things out in future. ... sudden positivity has overwhelmed me. No doubt i'll refresh my browser and the world will collapse again.

Wondering how you hide the money, i'm guessing its the add ons. I'd assumed they were crazy extras based on Liverpool overachieving in the coming season.

Part of me wants Rickie to score champions league winner/league decider. That part is lessened each time Liverpool try and bend us over a table and deal on their terms.

Once again no team has lost 4 key players in past. The idea that we can rush out, buy 4 replacements and they'll instantly gel seems naive to me, especially as we'll likely be without our top goalscorer till xmas. Sunderland made masses of changes last season and were extremely lucky to survive due to the sheer awfulness of 3 other teams. Losing 4 will mean a demoralised squad with another group of players thinking maybe i can get out in January. I certainly wasn't bored with 8th. I certainly want us to try and beat our points total and have a cup run. That requires losing minimal amounts of players.

Nice words. Can't help but think that if Tottenham lodge a bid we'll suddenly hear how unhappy he is and how if Saints don't do a deal quickly they risk a relationship breakdown. We need action on the manager front and begin to make it appear we are in control of transfers.

30m isn't Fabregas' market value. It's an artificial ceiling Fabregas' agent installed in his contract, no doubt to ensure he could move to the club of his choice. Liverpool fans may very well feel shaqiri for 15m represents much better value than Lallana for 30m. Lallana is a proven prem player, a good leader, on a long contract, english(so helps with homegrown rule) & in a league saturated with TV money vs a talented foreign player who may or may not adapt to prem league. I don't think club's value of 30m is crazy at all.

Agree completely. If all that happened there could be bouncebackability after these early knock out blows. Like you i'm crossing my fingers hoping for these things rather than being confident it'll happen.

We've lost one top player definitely and are rumoured to lose another 5/6. Tell me of a single premier league club this has happened to in the past. Selling multiple players is akin to playing russian roulette with relegation.

Fabregas is only going for 30m because there's a release clause in his contract. Without that any club would probably be spending a lot more. Saints apparent valuation of 30m for lallana seems much more like the minimum market rate to me. Arsenal paid 40m for ozil, man U paid 27.5m for Fellaini etc.

Everton only sold Rooney In later seasons they only sold Lescott In later seasons they only sold Rodwell In later seasons they only sold Fellaini What they didn't do was sell the entire 1st 11 or large parts of it because that is suicidal.

If we sell multiple players we won't be competitive. I don't know if it will be as bad as that relegation season where we obviously had no centre backs and a very weak centre mid. However no team inside the top 10 has ever sold multiple 1st team members, not even Swansea when they did excellently 2 seasons ago. If we do so we'll slide down the league and be lucky to avoid relegation. Board needs to realise that sales need to be staggered over the years to allow a proper transition to happen. They just can't sell everyone and then bring in a bunch of new players and expect anything but embarassment on the pitch.

Registration doesn't matter. If he comes on and scores, the commentators will describe him as Liverpool's Rickie Lambert not Saints.