UpweySaint

I'd be gutted if we ended up like Barca ... not like they've stonked clear in la liga or made it into a champions league semi final without a manager ... No but sarcasm aside I hope you'r right and we've looked far and wide. It'd be good to take the best bits of what is around and add our own spin on it, we could call it the "southampton way"

Not even a single conosolation goal..? That'd make it five games without scoring ...

Done. good luck!

Yhep you'r right, even with ffp the established sides look likely to dominate but, the right investment, a golden generation out of the academy and a fantastic manager we could edge it one day Again true. Though i'd fancy we wont have a cheap summer and, should any of our players go, they'l hve hefty price tags which would hopefully allow us to reinvest. I know it's some way off and pie in the sky but I would love a european away day or two, was too young last time around!

You never know pal, keep an eye out closer to the time, people bound to have to try to move tickets on due to other commitments.

Hope it spurs some of the players to go out and prove a point. Puncheon has shown before he hates sitting on the bench so hopefully he'l have a good game and give Mauricio something to think about! But, frankly, i'd still love a point from this one

It'd be foolish to say Wigan couldn't pull off another great escape but, seeing as I don't see us losing four on the spin, we are far from likely to be having the listen intently to the Wigan Villa game while trying to get anything from our game against Stoke.

Good luck pal but I wouldn't hold your breath on three together, might be worth trying to get three singles or a two and a one hoping for the occassional drop out

Fair shout, my sentiments exactly just perhaps more eloquently expressed! I wont say never about anything in football but I concede europa league would be a cracking acheivment. I still remember us going out to Steau Bucharest! Crikey that was dire! All downhill from there ...

True yes but prior to that ... I think roman took them on to another level. Not saying we can emulate that I just think they're an example of whats could, one day, be possible. I dont buy "champs league in two years" or any of that but in a decade where will we be? My guess is as good as yours!

Our following isnt exactly small and has potential to grow, lots of those day trippers so many on here hate True Everton, the Moyes factor is massive but we have more ability to kick on with the clubs infrastructure. Again true, to a point. But if we end up selling these players later and later in their careers and for larger sums we can reinvest and grow ... Ok i'm not expecting half of eastleigh to turn up but success on the pitch is likely to result in growth in fanbase. I hail from Dorset and you'd be surprised how many folk travel to london and beyond for prem football. If we find ourselves in and around europe in the everton mould we'd certainly attract a few more, the hope being of course these day trippers become long term

Fiar but they certainly were not established top four side, nor were spurs or city. My point was that history and prestige while nice and helpful for building a club its far from the only decisive factor. Money, being the only half decent side on the south coast (somebody tell bmouth) and having one of, if not the, best academy in the country all give us a fair shout. It's not liekly but I disagreed with the posters use of "never".

And where were Chelsea before Roman...?

The only thing I would say is that England, as a general rule, dont produce an abundance of quality goalkeepers so that one is certainly not rare to us. Would be nice to know if any clubs had a particularly good record and, if so, what it was they were doing well or if its simply a case of lucking out with the players available to them ..

Not even as a player who can play lb, lm and, im told, down the right flank as well? I imagine the english player premium would mean there are better options but we could do worse! Lowton was pure class though and has played every game this season for Villa, if we didn't have clyne i'd love him!

Lee Clark may not have much choice! He's not in charge of the ins and outs, the club may well find themselves in even more trouble soon and he only has one year on his contract with the uncertainty at the club at least something that will come under consideration should he be offered another.

I think you missed the boat on this one The whole villa vs wigan game may cause some problems ...

I've got it as twelve but either way double figures is decent for a rb! Not sure why you think he couldn't play against spurs. Is he likely to command a starting spot in a prem side, maybe not, but surely he's a better option then Yoshida, who has had some terrible displays out of position, and Cork who has been vital to the way we play alongside morgan in midfield?

He was FAR from the worst offender tonight. Albeit not his shining hour but been one of the few bright lights fur sunderland this season and they seem pretty keen on keeping him, must be a reason.

Likely but they could yet go down or we could offer him a chance to stay down south being a london lad. Worth a punt at least.

Money where mouth is, fair enough. I think we'l stay up but wouldn't mind a grand to console me if we went down!

Doubt anybody else is watching but Villa Sunderland cracking game. Got me thinking I'd take Rose. On loan from spurs and rumours are he's likely to have a permanent deal at sunderland but could we hijack it? Can play lb or lm, has pace, eye for a pass and defensively sound. The price quoted around in a few papers is up to eight mil with so much of it up front. Sidenote Lowton looks cracking! Not a player we need with Clyne established at rb.

Perfectly fair point but I dont think utd can be our benchmark, aspire to the best and all that but we dont have their pulling power and may have to play the long game to attract the best players. Ramirez case in point, had Liverpool, Spurs or AC Milan come knocking we'd be in trouble whereas I imagine Utd dont have similar issues, not many sides can wield that kind of pulling power.

Spot on. Was a very good player last term and I dont see that he suddenly couldn't do a job for us even with conceding Clyne looks the better player at such a young age!

Ok we might be more likely to look abroad but I certainly wouldn't rule out championship players. Look at how a lot of our lot made the step up, is they're good enough and the price is right, whyever not