mrfahaji

I admit I was letting off a bit of a steam in my previous post! I've been fairly nonchalant about all this stuff but the idea of him forcing a move to Liverpool is finally getting under my skin... I'm just so sick of the state of the game now, particularly with the influence of agents. The McGregor tweet means nothing, but the other two are pretty suspect, surely you can see that? My criticism is specifically levelled at VVD, although obviously that's what I was reacting to. Footballers have a platform on social media, and I'm not sure they're ready for that. Let their platform be the football pitch and leave it there.

Probably giving him too much credit. I expect it's that Stoke have matched his agent's demands and no-one else has.

Footballers are generally a pretty thick bunch, maybe they should stop trying to be so 'cryptic' and clever on social media, when they are actually just self-entitled overpaid idiots. If leaving Southampton was so important to him, why sign a new contract which would make that harder? Oh that's right, more money, and probably because his agent told him to. Add "being a bunch of f*cking puppets" to the list of things (most) footballers are. They want to have their cake and eat it. Really hope the club don't let it happen. Not to scouse-land anyway.

Amazing the bits you do/don't remember. I recall that Everton game being on MOTD, and the Le Tissier goal seems familiar. No recollection of the wonderful Ekelund goal though. Likewise as soon as I saw Dickov playing for Arsenal, I knew it was the game he skied a penalty, but couldn't remember the score or any other events!

Clasie out, Chalobah in please. Would be happy to sign Chalobah but not sure he'll come in and do a job as a starter straight away. Therefore, use him as backup/rotation instead of Clasie and still go out and sign a bl00dy good CM.

Exactly. The Premier League being run like a business (and a successful one, admittedly), means that sporting considerations play second fiddle. There's an increasing shift from footballer "supporters" to football "consumers", and most of the latter follow the big clubs.

My 'cult' heroes, i.e. the ones that I really liked but hardly anyone else did, are all the players who appear on the Saintsweb banner.

He also came to mind for me, was a great character if not the best footballer...!

Sorry but to say that and then group the Branfoot era with last season is grossly unfair and massively misguided. Yes, it was probably the right decision to sack Puel, and yes, the football was boring at times, particularly at home, but we still passed the ball round nicely, had some good performances and/or results and spend a fair chunk of the season in the top half, with relegation at worst only a background concern. Compare that to seeing a side aimlessly boot the ball up the pitch, losing most matches and looking destined for relegation, under a manager that replaced Shearer with Speedie and Dixon, ousted Jimmy Case and replaced him with Terry Hurlock, thought Peter Reid was a good signing, tried to swap Le Tissier for Don Hutchison, and spent most of his tenure trying to work out how he could do without having MLT in the side at all. But yeah, Branfoot and Puel, their tenures were pretty similar. JESUS WEPT.

I would love us to sign Sigurdsson, but not for £50m. Even £40m is a stretch.

Because it's part of me. A part that would still be there even if there was no entertainment value whatsoever. Entertainment is a factor of course, it's fair to want/demand it and certainly makes supporting Saints easier when it's there, but it's not the sole pupose, or even driving factor of being a football fan for many.

I don't want Saints to sign players to make me excited, I want Saints to sign players we need to make us better. (not that the two are mutually exclusive)

Didn't realise tickets went on sale today, I just happened to choose this morning to go online for membership and was puzzled as to why it had crashed!

Goalkeepers: Forster or Pickford. I'd rather have Pickford but it'll be quite a different experience for him playing at Everton instead of Sunderland, in the same way that Mignolet found. 0-1 Defenders: Soares is good but so is Coleman. Van Dijk is better than anything they have, but I'd probably take Keane over Yoshida. Bertrand is better than Baines nowadays. 2-1 Central Midfielders: Romeu is probably a match for Schneiderlin or Gueye, I certainly wouldn't swap him but equally I don't know if Everton would either. Either way, they have a better 'partner' for their number 1 DM. Hard to make a judgement call on Klassen yet, Barkley might be on the way out, but they might end up replacing him with Sigurdsson. Davis is probably our best AMC though, and it's hard to see how one of Everton's options won't be better than him. 0-2. Wide Midfielders: I'd take Redmond over Lennon, and probably Tadic over Bolasie or Mirallas. However, think there's a case to argue on the latter, especially if one of Everton's new players does a job out there. 1-0. Strikers: Well at the moment Lukaku wins, but assuming he leaves, then I think Gabbiadini is better than what they have. Of course, they may yet sign an good replacement, but Gabbiadini still tops Rooney or Giroud. 1-0. First team: 4-4. Obviously others may feel differently but I've tried not to be biased! However, I would note that although the first team looks fairly even, I'm not sure we could compete with them in terms of reserves, and that may well prove critical over the course of the season. For most positions it seems like it is "Saints player is about as good Everton player A and player B", whereas I reckon if you used Southampton backups it would be a clear Everton win. Probably the most stark area for this is central midfield, as they also have Tom Davies and James McCarthy.

They haven't signed Giroud yet. And Onyekuru can't play this season.

As much as I would love Sigurdsson, I don't know if I'd pay £40m for him. And even if us fans would, can't see the club splashing that sort of fee. He will be 28 next season, so little resale value. Essentially we'd be paying £10m per year (+ wages) for his services. He's a great player, but surely there is someone out there who can do a similar job for significantly less money? As much as it's annoying seeing Everton spend this money, I would note that they tend to be using money from selling youngsters (Stones, Lukaku, Barkley) to fund paying big fees for players a few years older (Schneiderlin, Gueye, Rooney). Unless they crack the top 4 in the next couple of years that strategy is unlikely to pay off in the long term.

Hey I'm not saying I agree with it, just pointing out the probable reason! Probably means we'll be on all the time over the Xmas period and be shafted by the scheduling like we were last year.

Isn't it more because we don't play many (any?) of the top sides until later in the season?

Wow this 'Le Tiss' guy is getting a few mentions, I must find out more about him. I remember him getting a few games from the bench now and again but didn't realise he was so popular amongst the hardcore fans.

Yes, that's the point of this thread I believe. It is people listing their own personal 'cult' heroes. The word cult is probably a bit of a misnomer as it implies a group, yet the whole point of this is to find names that are the minority amongst the minority. Francis Benali is a Southampton cult hero, in the sense that to any non-Saints fans he was an average, or below-average Premier League player, a name that has probably been forgotten over the years. But amongst Southampton fans you're hardly sticking your neck out to say you loved Franny.

Sound logic and I'd be on board with the purchase. However, how much of him have people actually seen? Most of his games seem to have come at Championship level. He might look good at Under 21, but I'm not sure that's necessarily a good yardstick. Ward-Prowse and Redmond are two of the best players (if the not THE best?) in that side and neither are exactly first names on the teamsheet for us. This is more of question than a critique, as I haven't seen much of Chalobah to form an opinion.

My dad always fondly recalls a game at Elland Road where those two virtually kicked Leeds off the park (and won, I think). And as supporters knowing that while it was enjoyable during the game, it signficantly reduced their own chances of getting out of Leeds unscathed...

Do you understand why he replied like that though? This thread would be half the length (or twice as interesting) if we cut out the Le Tissier votes.

If the £40m was a one off present, where value for money and resale was not a consideration, I'd probably splurge it on Sigurdsson. He fits the mould of player we really need. How much would Matt Phillips set us back? Weren't we linked with him a while ago? May have been a missed opportunity. If Saints annouce they've spent £40m on Sigurdsson, I'd be in two minds about it in terms of whether it's the best use of resources!

I've always been drawn to the "less fashionable" players. While Le Tissier was obviously Le God, I never bought any Le Tissier T-Shirts from the stall outside Milton Road because... well, everyone did that. I loved Chris Marsden, but I'm not even sure he counts as cult hero as he was generally pretty popular! Random players who I liked and not many others did (though some did, clearly) over the years: Nicky Banger, Frankie Bennett, Ulrich van Gobbel, Cosimo Sarli, Scott Bevan, Luis Boa Morte, Fabrice Fernandes, Yoann Folly, Richard Chaplow, Jos Hooiveld. Not sure there have been many in the last few years, all our players are actually good! Yoshida is probably the closest.