SaintsCorner

Because the club have returned to the pathetic freebie culture in which their main focus is not lofty ambitions but making petty concessions to keep ex-players happy.

Is Nicola Cortese's resignation Southampton's worst nightmare? Our editor's reaction to his departure is now online (http://t.co/DrnLdPIfMW).

Also now up; 'Five Things we Learnt About Saints in 2013' (http://pickourteam.com/premierleague/news/30-12-2013/five-things-we-learnt-about-saints-in-2014/863102), 'Cork Gives Reminder of his Class' (http://pickourteam.com/premierleague/news/18-12-2013/cork-gives-reminder-of-his-quality/861195), the latest team of the week featuring a Saints player (http://t.co/7OfJBuwhM3) & 'Ramírez Deserves More Opportunities' (http://t.co/uuqv95v5gR).

Gastón Ramírez deserves more opportunities, says our editor (http://t.co/uuqv95v5gR).

A load of stuff has gone up since I last publicised the site- like a piece on Lallana's good form (http://pickourteam.com/premierleague/southampton/news/23-10-2013/lallana-finally-hitting-top-form/852614) & his amazing Cruyff turn, as well as why Pochettino deserves credit for our impressive defence (http://pickourteam.com/premierleague/news/03-10-2013/pochettino-deserves-credit-for-saints-defence/849908) & some stuff on Wanyama (http://pickourteam.com/premierleague/news/14-10-2013/wanyama-showing-some-good-signs/851307). zonalmarking.net's Michael Cox also wrote something quite good about Ramírez (http://pickourteam.com/premierleague/news/26-09-2013/cox-ramirez-can-solve-southamptons-problems-going-forward/848731). The player ratings are quite interesting- Lovren's the highest-rated Saints man with an average of 88.7, just 0.1 better than Clyne! onte Schneiderlin & Shaw complete the top five. This powerful piece (http://pickourteam.com/premierleague/news/23-10-2013/everton-and-villa-park-and-hillsborough-and-me/852594) by one of the Everton editors on Hillsborough & Villa Park is also well worth checking out.

This is a plug, but one that's very relevant, & it's about PickOurTeam.com. PickOurTeam is a new type of football community which gives fans the opportunity to have a meaningful say on the formation and selection of their team. PickOurTeam aims to be the voice of fans – collecting their views on who should play where and ratings on how the players, manager and referee perform each week. PickOurTeam compiles the findings of every match and presents them back to the fans. The website has been running for a little over a year now & covers all the Premier League clubs- obviously including Southampton, for whom I'm one of the club editors. Before every match you can pick your Saints team (On a pitch, so useful for print screening & sharing elsewhere.), hence the website's name, & after every match you can rate the players, manager & referee. For doing this you also earn ePoints, which can be cashed in for over 2 million rewards ranging from baby shoes to iPods. You can also have your say in comments sections & join the debate on Twitter as each team has its own Twitter account; ours is @PickSouthampton. As well as the opportunities for you to contribute, the site also features loads of top articles. My fellow club editors & I write articles regularly about our clubs (I've written tonight about how Gastón Ramírez can solve Saints' lack of creativity (http://pickourteam.com/premierleague/news/05-09-2013/ramirez-can-be-southamptons-creative-hub/845826), for example.), & there are really good columns from professional journalists like Jonathan Wilson, James Horncastle, Fernando Duarte, Miguel Delaney, Michael Cox, Mohamed Moallim & many more. It really is a unique site that offers you the chance to get involved as well as read some excellent articles & earn along the way. We also have a smartphone app which makes all of the above even easier to do. Would be great if more people could have a look at it & get involved! Thanks.

Agustín Delgado, David McGoldrick.

In the Telegraph the day before, Jonathan Norcroft said we'd finish 9th, & Jeremy Wilson also predicted that we'd win the League Cup.

Wrote this (http://saintscorner.tumblr.com/post/54634617091/the-tale-of-the-billy-dotes) about the Sharp situation recently.

Don't think there's any chance of Zapata getting a work permit- he's nowhere near the Columbia squad, so can't get it normally, & that in itself suggests he's not an outstanding talent.

Also, if you don't fill a 25 man squad, all players at the club over 21 must be named, so don;t be surprised if you see Lee Barnard or Jonno Forte on there.

Spot on. A good signing.

I think it will be interesting to see who don't play more than who does, from the point of view that an omission may suggest first team involvement later on in pre-season.

Why is this relevant? There have never been any credible reports linking him Saints. None what so ever.

One month of form doesn't make many inroads into £7M.

Exactly like that. We paid well over the top for J-Rod. Well over the top.

Ince is a decent player with potential, but when you consider that he's costing £8M & Maher is costing €8M, Cardiff are staggeringly overpaying for him.

Anders Svensson.

It would take far more than €12M to buy Schneiderlin. Plus Sociedad have arguably the most exciting young defensive midfielder in Europe in Illarramendi. This is hogwash.

Interesting how many people are crying out for Billy Sharp but writing off Tadanari Lee. Let's not forget that Lee was keeping Sharp out of the team until he got injured.

The story about Pochettino's appointment came out a few days before Crook & others claimed to 'break' it, as this tweet ( ) demonstrates.

Would be extremely surprised if we signed Astori, or any other centre-back for that matter.

Not only does Crook spell Naiggolan wrong, but he also seems to think he's a winger.

The "leaked picture" is very conveniently blurry.

Couldn't care less who's captain. It's just a piece of cloth- leaders don't need cloth to lead.