JonnyOldBoy

Saints can insist on a "restrictive covenant" on Koeman's departure. Which would state that any player who was approached with 12 months to leave for Everton using inside knowledge and channels would mean Saints would claim a huge sum from Koeman ( in the Millions ). These covenants are perfectly enforceable but would only ever mean he got a huge bill which legally he would have to pay .... it would not actually stop the players moving.

we should price him at £20M.... take it or leave it.... or let him wind down his contract and go on a free... Because playing next season is much better value for Saints than letting him go for £8-10M.

Err no , obviously it was not to take the job last summer... it was to take the job at the end of his contract here subject to certain conditions.... this story came directly from one of his relatives.... so toss perhaps... perhaps not.

Ronald Koeman was offered the Barca Job last summer according to a little birdie .... but just him. Not Erwin..... So he declined it. He had/has specific escape clauses in his contract.

Saints clearly want him gone.... I think its because his initial contract is full of escape clauses and so would the next one etc etc... Everton came knocking at the right time and everyone wins...except perhaps Everton who think they are getting the polished article.

Interesting debate. Football is becoming more of a consumer sports pastime rather than the old tribal addiction. We need to think in the American model way if we are to maximise the use of a 50,000 stadium and attract more fair weather fans. Ticket prices have to tumble for 20% of the seats .... etc etc and refreshments and facilities have to be more attractive... etc etc the "experience" has to improve.

If anyone mourned the loss of the Adidas contract then look no further than the New Manure away kit..... which is .... Disgusting.

this last post is spot on..... Of course drunken Liverpool fans contributed to the situation and indirectly were one of the causes of the deaths.... but.... the inquest delivered the correct verdict because as pointed out , they were behaving as per the norm. Sadly the reality of the time was that the police were paid to protect the civilised from the uncivilised at matches and in this they and the others mentioned failed miserably that day. The Verdict was correct but it should not be confused with the obvious observations of that day and the day-to-day context in which they occurred.

The 89/90 team was pure class in all attacking departments.... defensively a bit out-of-the-park at times but the classics that season were too numerous to mention. CN should never have been sacked... stupid decision... and the start of our real troubles...

sceptical science are not trustworthy..... I was banned from their site(s) for referencing a paper by Dr Jonathan Bamber that proved them wrong about one of their glacier assertions .... If you look at the historical data , and also look at Earth's orbit and ice ages etc etc , its clear that the forcing input for global temperature is not C02 and any feedback effect can not be significant because the driver is almost linear if so on temperature which is counter intuitive... Most rational scientists I think quietly accept that CO2 does interfere with climate to some degree , but that the reason the 1990s models are/were so wrong is that is not a main driver.

Liverpool fans did behave badly that day... but in those days it happened all the time and at many grounds every weekend. The police should not have been surprised by the behaviour of the fans and so the Jury did reach the correct decision in stating that the behaviour of the fans did not contribute to the verdict of unlawful killing.... but of course their behaviour contributed to the actual deaths , thats obvious from the CCTV evidence , but these are two entirely different matters.

just going to throw this extremely scientific point into the fray.... for someone who is convinced by AGW to answer. Historically ( i.e. into the distance past ) CO2 rise has ALWAYS lagged temperature rise on Earth... this is a scientific FACT. SO..... for the AGW theory to be correct [ that Temperature rises are now lagging CO2 rises , i.e. CO2 content is now driving temperature and not the other way round ] at some point in the fairly recent Earth's history , there my be a single point in time and evidence of this that the reverse started happening.... can someone please A tell me when this was and B point to the peer reviewer research that proves it. [ good luck ]

he will stay for next season and then move on... I seriously doubt that he would leave Southampton for another Premier League club.... my guess is that he will go back to Holland or maybe even manage in the French League ... can not see him wanting the Dutch national job or managing in Spain...

yes in a nutshell.... the only realistic way Saints are going to play in Europe , is if Liverpool win the cup.... in which case its 5 for CL and the next three for the Europa....

Saints have a precious brand identity in that our name is also the name of the city with an international historical past..... [ unlike some "big" , or "biggish" clubs ] , so along with a nice new shiny kit deal , I would also like to see a shirt sponsor that leaps on the back of the reputation and recognition of the city as a whole... so I would be courting the likes of Royal Caribbean , Cunard and P&O for a shirt sponsorship deal...

there is absolutely no way Katharina will allow a betting site sponsor on our shirts.... [ thankfully ]

which is totally pointless because 14-17 year olds wear adult size small to medium usually.... Gambling should not appear on football shirts that are marketed to U18s and since adult shirts are , then it should not be allowed... in my most humble of opinions....

Shirt sponsorship should be better regulated... Betting firms should be banned... I have got nothing against betting firms or course , but its for over 18s and since replica shirts are sold to kids its a no brainer....

interesting thread... UA have shown lack of expertise in the UK market with regards football deals. For a start they should have lined up 2 or 3 deals , not just pinned their hopes on Spurs. Now that spurs are possibly going to jump ship from that deal [ Nike would pay over the odds to allow them to pay their way out ] , Saints could end up with either a great deal and a decent kit run with UA , or the opposite if UA ( as Pony did ) decided that this market is not worth the effort.... Saints illustrated that big established brands are not interested really in the "smaller clubs" with Adidas taking the **** with their laughable season 1 effort and this years fab 1st team kit only to be supported with training wear with no stitched badges... Would perhaps have been a better business decision to support a smaller but established footballing kit brand that has a lineage for quality... Hummel springs to mind but there are a few others....

he had some chemistry with some of our players now gone... but once he got too big for his boots he became a headless chicken.... he will do a great job in many Premier League sides... just not ours. so that would be a huge NO from me !!

Spurs are going to find it hard to get the best out of Alderweireld..... He has not got the quality players around him as he did at Saints..... I think both Spurs and Toby will soon regret their liaison and it would not surprise me if he goes back to Spain next summer...

if he had a stomach bug midweek, then he was always gonna be a doubt. Koeman said he is not leaving so why do so many people think RK is a liar ?

One leads to the other... when strikers miss chance after chance... the midfield tends to want to make more sure higher up the field and there in it leads to less creativity... it can be a vicious circle... and usually the only way to break it is for a striker(s) to suddenly find form or the addition of a proven goal scorer who generates goals with their own initiative and/or pace. I said it all last season ( and was ridiculed my most of my mates and family ) .. Mane is not good enough as a consistent striker .. and is a bit of a luxury player. Its just how I see it. I like watching him play and do not want to see him go but he needs a different formula around him. RK will get it right , but it may be a season-long juggle and forming exercise.. I have no worries.. Just quiet concerns at the moment.. LOL...

I predicted the 1-0 defeat on one of the FB supporters page. The reason was simple. What little I did know of the opposition, its was enough to know they could sit out and stop us scoring fairly easily. We do not have goal scorers at the moment with a anywhere near decent enough conversion rate. RK will steady the ship with regards the defence, of that I have no doubts.... we will not be relegation material. But this has to be viewed as a season for a team-in-progress.... and we can expect nothing more than mid table and hopefully some great football to enjoy. It was obvious during the run-in last season that we would loose Clyne and Spider and probably Toby too and that we were not converting chances game after game. I do trust RK will get it right, but he has had to transform almost a whole team from 13/14 and you can not do that easily... last season was a bit of an illusion in the grand scheme of things. We have to get real.

All goes to show... have a good agent is key... His is clearly a greedy fool. Chambers could have been a very lucrative proposition in 5 years time had he continued his development instead of bringing it to grinding halt. I am amazed that people still think Theo and Oxo made the right moves... they are a fraction of the players they should be. Arsenal is the graveyard for talent. They are even currently making their established overseas stars looks ordinary... Chambers also looked a bit gormless and was never going to be able to make his own optimal decisions. Do i feel sorry for him ? a bit... he will be rich at the very least for a few years but within 3-5 years will be playing a pedestrian role in the Championship....