Toon Saint

It's not clearly anyone. The photo quality is terrible.

Would be surprised if Lovren is agitating for, or expecting a move. Always seemed content at the club and an integral presence in the dressing room. As Simon Peach tweeted yesterday, the real worry is how the new board are communicating with the players and whether that has become the most de-stablising influence rather than external forces. I'd never really worried about Lallana leaving the club given how effusive he was in media interviews about seeing out his career with us. It's only over the last 6 weeks or so that the mood has changed. Now he seems most likely to leave. How many hints have players like Fonte, Lambert, Lallana, Morgan, dropped in interviews that they want the board to demonstrate their ambition and intentions? None of that seems forthcoming...

Aye, it doesn't tell us anything. Merely a piece to add to the puzzle of Poch's future.

Not had the time to contribute to this, but is the secret diner pictured not Jonathan Barnett? Agent of Poch and Bale among others... The earlobes seem like a match.

He's been riding on the coat-tails of Juve's procession towards the Serie A title, contributing almost nothing. That must be humbling.

...to Nando's.

Really what? Assuming Van Gaal takes over at Utd, can you see either him, Rodgers, Wenger, Martinez, Pellegrini, and possibly Poch (if he does go to Spurs) being sacked next season? I didn't compare FdB or Poch. I'd obviously prefer Poch to stay because he is tested at this level and respected by players. FdB is not, but his experiences with Ajax suggest he would be well suited to Saints. Hard to underestimate the lure of EPL. Even if he will miss out on CL football by leaving Ajax, we (currently) represent the most attractive option outside those top 7 clubs - though that could well change if KL flogs off our best players. Whether the new board has the ambition to attract him is another thing entirely. RK has had problem enough communicating plans with fans let alone a prospective manager.

Realistically, De Boer wouldn't get a crack at another job in a top 8 EPL side for another 18 months, assuming Poch leaves for Spurs and is also sacked within that period. May well feel he has achieved everything he can at Ajax and with our academy and relative riches of EPL, could actually be a natural fit for him. Jumping the gun massively here, but would that mean that Dennis Bergkamp would be our no. 2? That would be incredible.

Certainly spun that way to suggest NC f***ed it up. Maybe he was (rightly) ****ed off with the Bristol City template served up to us and had a hissy-fit? Who knows? The fact that an announcement will be made over next couple of months suggests that we aren't close to finding a new supplier either, esp. if talks with Adidas in Feb-March were too late in the day. Maybe just sack a shirt off next season and wear red bibs with 'Veho' on them. Better than whinging about having our stripes back all summer long.

Ridiculous that Tottenham's search for a manager is defined by whether they pipe up or not about an approach - especially when Spurs have been quite content to make those approaches while Sherwood was still in the job. Forget all the other qualities that a manager might bring to a club, but focus on how good they are at keeping schtum. Levy has absolutely no idea what he wants to implement at WHL and just seems to like to swing his d1ck around in the transfer window a lot. If Poch is seduced by that then good riddance really, sadly he won't last much longer than a season.

I think the Ox counts as 4 to be honest.

Can we move it to Byker? If so, I'm game.

Yeah, sorry noticed this after posting. The briefest of reports though.

Strange that there has been no report on the OS about the England World Cup call-ups. Something else in the pipeline?

Here to help

What did you hear on Friday? I think they are just talking him being away at WC for a while: Equinox MaleGrooming ‏@EquinoxHair 4h @DejanLovren05 Thank u 4 getting us tickets no haircut or shaves 4 a while cu soon #saintsfc #southamptonbarbers pic.twitter.com/s25I26tjqL

Fair comment, but I see their potential exits before the WC as a question of morale more than money. If Lallana and Shaw leave before the WC commences it would be absolutely gutting to see them profiled as Liverpool/Man Utd players when they have spent their entire careers with us and not yet kicked a ball for them.

Posted this on Lallana thread, but probably better off here: 1) Ralph came across well in his first couple of interviews, and is obviously engaging and likeable, but there is a striking lack of substance in anything he says. He talked about being recruited because of his experience in 'developing new models of leadership', but has yet to demonstrate anything remotely resembling leadership in his efforts to retain Poch. Although he mentioned that talks about extending his contract were evolving organically in his first interview, since then, the talk has shifted to Les Reed being in charge of contract negotiations and sitting down at the end of the season to discuss. Poch, in the meantime, has been worryingly off-message, telling the press that nothing has been discussed with him regards a new contract. What is going on and who is in charge? 2) What is his long-term plan? Is he a careerist looking to add an impressive bullet-point to his CV, or is he genuinely interested in establishing himself as a football chairman and overseeing a period of success? He has said that he will be here next season but beyond that he does not know whether he will return to hockey. Perhaps he is saying that to appease hockey fans over in Canada, but it is the type of statement that is hardly going to suggest to Poch that we have a long-term 'project' in place that he is committed to seeing through. Given the close bond between Poch and NC - Poch actually blubbed when Nicola left - this new transient dynamic doesn't inspire confidence. 3) RK spoke yesterday of 'Les having a plan' - nothing about the plan or the ambitions of the club in general. This seems like a worrying devolution of responsibility to me. Surely he and KL should be intimately connected with whatever decision is being made about players coming and going? Yes, it's great to call upon Reed's expertise but surely the whole club should be being mobilized to support a more positive and assertive message, and not the pathetically passive admission that we will be talking to clubs about selling players from 8am Monday morning. When he spoke about LR having a list of targets this came across as almost an afterthought. We were then told that we should be excited about the upcoming transfer window. Good luck with that. 4) Given the amount of speculation that has been unleashed on the back of the release of the financial results, and Hans Hofstetter's admission that the board have inherited a 'difficult financial situation', is there a risk that the new onus on openness and communication is actually proving rather counter-productive? There is a fine line between being honest with fans and serving the best interests of the club. While I appreciate that the finances might dictate a tightening of the belts off the pitch, there is a way to voice that without willingly summoning the circling vultures. In trying to distance themselves from the reign of Nicola, I wonder whether they have either grossly underestimated the speculative forces of the British football media and Cortese's pettiness, or were just actively seeking the cash all along.

Good post with regard to how Krueger's appointment was stage-managed in the press. The board have obviously been very keen to manage fans expectations throughout the process, and RK, in particular, seems a little bit preoccupied with how his success at Sochi supposedly won us and the media around (as well as how those 51 stitches in his face make him seem well 'ard). Honesty, openness, and transparency? Maybe more of it - sometimes needlessly so - but there is still a PR machine whirring away. A few things have alarmed me: 1) Ralph came across well in his first couple of interviews, and is obviously engaging and likeable, but there is a striking lack of substance in anything he says. He talked about being recruited because of his experience in 'developing new models of leadership', but has yet to demonstrate anything remotely resembling leadership in his efforts to retain Poch. Although he mentioned that talks about extending his contract were evolving organically in his first interview, since then, the talk has shifted to Les Reed being in charge of contract negotiations and sitting down at the end of the season to discuss. Poch, in the meantime, has been worryingly off-message, telling the press that nothing has been discussed with him regards a new contract. What is going on and who is in charge? 2) What is his long-term plan? Is he a careerist looking to add an impressive bullet-point to his CV, or is he genuinely interested in establishing himself as a football chairman and overseeing a period of success? He has said that he will be here next season but beyond that he does not know whether he will return to hockey. Perhaps he is saying that to appease hockey fans over in Canada, but it is the type of statement that is hardly going to suggest to Poch that we have a long-term 'project' in place that he is committed to seeing through. Given the close bond between Poch and NC - Poch actually blubbed when Nicola left - this new transient dynamic doesn't inspire confidence. 3) RK spoke yesterday of 'Les having a plan' - nothing about the plan or the ambitions of the club in general. This seems like a worrying devolution of responsibility to me. Surely he and KL should be intimately connected with whatever decision is being made about players coming and going? Yes, it's great to call upon Reed's expertise but surely the whole club should be being mobilized to support a more positive and assertive message, and not the pathetically passive admission that we will be talking to clubs about selling players from 8am Monday morning. When he spoke about LR having a list of targets this came across as almost an afterthought. We were then told that we should be excited about the upcoming transfer window. Good luck with that. 4) Given the amount of speculation that has been unleashed on the back of the release of the financial results, and Hans Hofstetter's admission that the board have inherited a 'difficult financial situation', is there a risk that the new onus on openness and communication is actually proving rather counter-productive? There is a fine line between being honest with fans and serving the best interests of the club. While I appreciate that the finances might dictate a tightening of the belts off the pitch, there is a way to voice that without willingly summoning the circling vultures. In trying to distance themselves from the reign of Nicola, I wonder whether they have either grossly underestimated the speculative forces of the British football media and Cortese's pettiness, or were just actively seeking the cash all along.

Ruddy and Redmond? I really hope our targets are slightly more imaginative.

At the end of last season Poch was asked about Chelsea potentially bidding for Shaw. His response was 'perhaps we'll buy a few of their players'. How times have changed.

Gone from whom? Players and managers suddenly lost any form of drive and ambition after NC left?

Think he's referring to the word 'fenian'. That's obviously what induced my hysterics.

Brilliant.