The One Constant

[Gemmel]

Fully accepting that his levels of power have varied between the two boards he has served with / under, I was thinking last night that the one constant (If we can go with the slightly cheesy phrase) of our Markus / Katrina "Journey" is "Les Reed".

 

He seems to have many detractors within the fan base (And players according to Adam Blackmore) and was actually much maligned by the press over the summer exodus, but, the reality is that as "Director of Football" he has overseen two promotions, prevented relegation, top 8 finish and an impressive start to a third Premier campaign.

 

He has sat above four managers (I can't remember if he was actually here when Pardew was, but assuming that he was) (And fully understand that MP was probably more a Cortese hire, but he would have been part of the process) which have all delivered success, whilst at the same time playing to a set style (The Southampton way), integrating 10 (??) young Academy players, seeing three players receive England call ups and many others for other countries, managed an unprecedented transition of player sales achieving absolute top money in each case and signed players that would historically have been perceived "Out of League".

 

Of course the role of "Director of Football" varies at each club and I think it is fair to say that Les's role here carries more power than most, but from a CV perspective what he has effectively overseen, is incredible and probably unrivalled. I think it's also worth adding he has probably rebuilt his reputation (Following Charlton) at SFC and he may well be riding the success of others, but here and now, he seems the "One Constant" in some our of most successful years in the clubs history.

[Saint Garrett]

Morgan Schneiderlin. Kelvin Davis

[ratio_decidendi]

Interesting post. As ever, it's very hard to gauge the exact impact executives such as Les Reed actually have on the club. They rightfully stay out of the limelight. Anything else is just flirting with controversy. But, nevertheless, I do agree that as a constant presence in the club he must be doing something right. Southampton has gone from strength to strength. Fair play to him!

[S-Clarke]

I never ever understood the stick Reed got during the summer, I was one of those who said he's one of the guys we need to trust - yet he was wrongfully vilified at every opportunity.

 

But it doesn't take a genius to work out he's done a good job for us. He's been involved throughout our 5 year rise, and I'm fairly certain he has had his fair share of influence on that. He was the one member of the board who kind of kept a bit of footballing sense during the summer, when it seemed as all was falling away around us.

[broncoboy]

I never ever understood the stick Reed got during the summer, I was one of those who said he's one of the guys we need to trust - yet he was wrongfully vilified at every opportunity.

 

But it doesn't take a genius to work out he's done a good job for us. He's been involved throughout our 5 year rise, and I'm fairly certain he has had his fair share of influence on that. He was the one member of the board who kind of kept a bit of footballing sense during the summer, when it seemed as all was falling away around us.

 

Lets not get carried away. The failure of the board was in not keeping the fans in the picture . Very long silence when every day we received bad news from the media.

Ralphs statement was under whelming as it was delivered in the american we are all nice people style. The signings look very good but I think the board should have manned up a bit and responded to the meltdown stories.

The club pursued a very high risk policy of selling lots of players first. We seem to have got away with it but we do appear like a club who sell our top players if they want away. That reputation will mean the big clubs will come calling every transfer window

[Jez]

Don't forget, it was four England call ups - J-Rod too. Plus Clyne in the next squad

[Dellman]

How and why did the mud slinging at Les Reed begin? The fashion on this site was to blame him for everything. Did he have some issue with Pards (if he did, I can understand that now). Anyway, he seems to have come good in a big way and its time he got some credit

[SteveStone]

I'd have thought he played a major and if not lead role in getting Pochettino and Koeman, for that alone he thoroughly deserves an awful lot of credit!

[S-Clarke]

Lets not get carried away. The failure of the board was in not keeping the fans in the picture . Very long silence when every day we received bad news from the media.

Ralphs statement was under whelming as it was delivered in the american we are all nice people style. The signings look very good but I think the board should have manned up a bit and responded to the meltdown stories.

The club pursued a very high risk policy of selling lots of players first. We seem to have got away with it but we do appear like a club who sell our top players if they want away. That reputation will mean the big clubs will come calling every transfer window

 

Not getting carried away, just saying it as it was. They did communicate though, but obviously Ralf did waffle a fair bit. Reed's statement was assured and to the point, and the board clearly did man up and responded to all the stories with a pretty empathic 'NO' to Morgan.

 

I think we can see now that the club was forced to sell before it could buy, not because of finances, but because the players were being complete and utter dicks. Morgan has himself now probably realised he was too hasty himself, and if only the other players had given it a chance they could have realised as well.

 

But we got good money, reinvested it as promised, and retained the 2 players they promised we'd retain. It was shaky at some points, but I think overall Reed knew exactly what he wanted to do.

[Wes Tender]

Lets not get carried away. The failure of the board was in not keeping the fans in the picture . Very long silence when every day we received bad news from the media.

Ralphs statement was under whelming as it was delivered in the american we are all nice people style. The signings look very good but I think the board should have manned up a bit and responded to the meltdown stories.

The club pursued a very high risk policy of selling lots of players first. We seem to have got away with it but we do appear like a club who sell our top players if they want away. That reputation will mean the big clubs will come calling every transfer window

 

Was there a very long silence when those players were sold? I seem to recall assurances that the monies received would be reinvested in their replacements, but what else could have been said? How exactly do you prevent a player from leaving against their will? You either extort a vastly over-inflated fee for them, which is what we did, or you dig your heels in and attempt to get them to honour their contract, risking having them sulk and affect team morale. If this is what the board decided as a strategy, why should they tell us the fans and alert the buying clubs and the players as to how they would proceed?

 

So the club should have responded to the meltdown stories in the media? The board had responded that the club was not for sale and that the money received from the sales would be reinvested. But naturally it suited the media better to whip up hysteria into a feeding frenzy, didn't it? As it has turned out, it is preferable from our point of view that it happened like this, because the journos have egg all over their faces and our progress is seen as all the more remarkable as a result of the dire forecasts that were made. We have proved that we are nobodys' fools, that we are well run, well managed and have a very good team. Messages have been sent out to the players that none of them are bigger than the club and that we can replace them relatively easily and do very nicely without them, thank you very much. The message to those clubs that you say will come calling every transfer window is also clear. If you covet our players and we wish to keep them, you will only be able to buy them if you are able to pay an extortionate fee for them.

 

Those clubs might also have noted that it is perfectly possible to buy players of equal or better calibre if they could only be bothered to get off their backsides and do a bit of scouting abroad. If they expect us to do the legwork for them, then it will cost them a hefty premium, and even then players who shone under our style of play, are not guaranteed to excel under theirs.

 

For ourselves, we have achieved success beyond our expectations, having not only replaced the manager and players with others as good if not better, but we also banked a considerable profit on the exercise. Although the circumstances were exceptional, if the scenario is to be re-enacted at a future date, there is no particular reason that with the same board, manager and scouting network, we could not reproduce a similar result.

[shurlock]

I never ever understood the stick Reed got during the summer, I was one of those who said he's one of the guys we need to trust - yet he was wrongfully vilified at every opportunity.

 

But it doesn't take a genius to work out he's done a good job for us. He's been involved throughout our 5 year rise, and I'm fairly certain he has had his fair share of influence on that. He was the one member of the board who kind of kept a bit of footballing sense during the summer, when it seemed as all was falling away around us.

 

Lost count of how many bed sheets you went through this summer.

[The Saint]

And let's not forget he has worked under three very different 'bosses', each putting their own stamp on things.

 

Cortese's way was well documented, KL has put her touch on things and although RK is still an unknown quantity I'm pretty sure that none of these suffer fools gladly. And he's still here

 

I too never understood why he was the target of so much abuse on here. He seems to have guided us through our recent history rather well.

[S-Clarke]

Lost count of how many bed sheets you went through this summer.

 

Not many really, had my disagreements and frustrations as all of us, but if you want you can see that I've never had an issue with Les Reed.

 

How about you actually have a debate and discussion for once?

[Beckenham Saint]

Not many really, had my disagreements and frustrations as all of us, but if you want you can see that I've never had an issue with Les Reed.

 

Can see his point, even if his phrasing is a bit heavy... You do certainly come across as very reactionary most of the time, I get the impression that when reading new information and articles etc that you forget most things that have gone before it and always form a brand new opinion on what's immediately in front of you!

 

But yeah, Les Reed has done a great job for us, and we most likely wouldn't be where we are without him. He certainly was wrongly portrayed on here over the summer, as was everyone on the board, but mainly I suspect because a lot of posters on this board have very short attention spans, and can't see the bigger picture beyond "Oh, we've sold some players!" Those who vilified Krueger and Reed and co are probably those who don't have any understanding of what it is they actually do!

[Gemmel]

if the scenario is to be re-enacted at a future date, there is no particular reason that with the same board, manager and scouting network, we could not reproduce a similar result.

 

That's an interesting point Wes, as I don't think we are quite done yet and January or next summer could prove "testing";

 

1) Jay Rod Still not signed a new contract, suggests he wants a big move

2) Morgan will go at some point (Regardless how professional he is being at the moment)

3) Rumours around Wanyama (Did the non goal celebration tell us anything?)

4) Clyne must surely be attracting the "big boys"

5) Cork will be out of contract in the summer

6) Tadic will be acquiring a whole host of suitors based on his performances to date

 

I hope that doesn't come over as "doom mongering" and obviously we wont lose them all, but at least if some do move on, we can have the confidence, suitable replacements will be found.

[Turkish]

I was ridiculed for my support of Les During the summer and I'll say it again, in the future people will look back on him as a modern day Ted Bates. He worked tirelessly behind the scenes when cortese was here, whilst little Nic took the glory it was Reed who was in the trenches leading the troops. it's no surprise that now he has been handed the power his selfless previous hard work has earned him, without miniture Italians standing in his way his influence Stronger than ever and as such is now permeating through the club. the air of positivity sweeping the corridors of Britannia Road is unrivalled in this clubs history.

[KelvinsRightGlove]

If only a certain someone was still here to tell us he has no place anywhere near a football club.

[Wes Tender]

That's an interesting point Wes, as I don't think we are quite done yet and January or next summer could prove "testing";

 

1) Jay Rod Still not signed a new contract, suggests he wants a big move

2) Morgan will go at some point (Regardless how professional he is being at the moment)

3) Rumours around Wanyama (Did the non goal celebration tell us anything?)

4) Clyne must surely be attracting the "big boys"

5) Cork will be out of contract in the summer

6) Tadic will be acquiring a whole host of suitors based on his performances to date

 

I hope that doesn't come over as "doom mongering" and obviously we wont lose them all, but at least if some do move on, we can have the confidence, suitable replacements will be found.

 

I don't disagree with any of the names on that list, but with luck, there might be a few factors that mean that some might yet stay. Taking them in order, my thoughts are:-

 

1) Jay Rod hasn't signed a new contract, but that might be because there is no urgency to do so in light of his injury. Although I'm sure that he would like to progress to a glory team as would most players, he might feel a debt of honour to us for the immediate future, because we have stood by him during his injury and deserve to have him back playing for us for a while. Also, whereas he might have felt the urge to go to Spurs, that might have been tempered by Schneiderlin not going, Pochettino off to a shaky start and us off to a cracking start.

2) Morgan. Yes, he will go at some point, but again, maybe not to Spurs. Arsenal would be better for him, but credit to him for buckling down and putting in the shift that he has. He might yet be pursued by even bigger clubs than Arsenal at the season's end at this rate.

3) Wanyama. I think that Big Vic is relatively happy here for a while longer and that it might be his agent who is the agitator. Koeman seems to be improving him game by game and perhaps he will see that it is worth getting the most out of that before he goes for a big move.

4) Clyne. Quite how he's slipped under radar of the big clubs, I don't know. But I haven't heard any whingeing from him, so perhaps he likes it here for the time being. He will have seen that as tempting as a big money move might be, it hasn't worked out too well for his ex-team mates so far.

5) I think that Cork will get a new contract and will be happy to stay with us.

6)Tadic. He has to be the biggest concern. He's right up there in the Modric class for me and could command the highest fee of all of them.

 

But then by the end of the season, Pelle and Mane might also be tempting some big clubs too, depending on how their season progresses.

 

But the better we do, the lesser will be the clamour to depart for some of those players. And with luck there are further academy players on the way up and we have proven to have the ability to find very capable replacements for any who go. But if the likes of Schneiderlin, Tadic, Rodriguez (if he's back to his best) and Clyne were to have several top clubs vying for their services, the sums of money we received for the last lot will be surpassed by quite a bit if we are forced to sell them against our will. The bar would need to be set at £30+ million for Schneiderlin and possibly Tadic, surely?

[Frank's cousin]

I am not sure who instigated it, but it think that the reason why we may be 'bucking the trend' with respect to new managers and players and doing quite nicely thank you... (And yes I am surprised it's worked so well.... ) is that we seem to have adopted the 'German' strategy. All about deciding on a culture and a style and sticking with it regardless of the personnel... Begun with Pardue, developed by Nige and POCH and now Ronald with evolutionary steps rather than revolutionary ones we usually see attempted at many clubs when a new manger beings in a whole new style/ culture etc... If Reed has been instrumental in this he deserves a huge amount of credit.... Managers and players identified, not because of their 'name and reputation' but based on whether they might best fit/slot straight in to the team.... As the Germans have done from U17 through to first team... With club sides coaching the same skills / ideals to fit with national team model, so seem to have adopted same all through academy levels and in recruitment.

 

it's also why we have IMHO down better than the sum of our parts, just very well drilled and with continuity of style... With small evolutionary improvements... And maybe why I was very concerned when we sold so many... Would we be able to maintain that continuity of style and momentum built with that side.... Thankfully I appear (early days yet but) to be wrong... And as with any fan, it's great to be wrong on this occasion. ;-)

[Wildgoose]

Can see his point, even if his phrasing is a bit heavy... You do certainly come across as very reactionary most of the time, I get the impression that when reading new information and articles etc that you forget most things that have gone before it and always form a brand new opinion on what's immediately in front of you!

 

But yeah, Les Reed has done a great job for us, and we most likely wouldn't be where we are without him. He certainly was wrongly portrayed on here over the summer, as was everyone on the board, but mainly I suspect because a lot of posters on this board have very short attention spans, and can't see the bigger picture beyond "Oh, we've sold some players!" Those who vilified Krueger and Reed and co are probably those who don't have any understanding of what it is they actually do!

 

Really? I think S-Clarke is one of the most sensible posters on the board. I remember him getting a bit frustrated towards the end of the window but we were all probably starting to feel a little anxious that things were taking such a long time weren't we? That's the closest I can remember to him being reactionary. Usually reasoned, and fairly knowledgable I would say. I don't Know the guy personally but I always look for what he posts as a pretty good indicator as to what most reasonable fans would be thinking. Find it interesting that you should think otherwise, or maybe the indicates you were joking? Anyway, that's it for now. I don't comment that often but wanted to respond to that one......

[cellone]

Where's that Violin.

[Beckenham Saint]

Really? I think S-Clarke is one of the most sensible posters on the board. I remember him getting a bit frustrated towards the end of the window but we were all probably starting to feel a little anxious that things were taking such a long time weren't we? That's the closest I can remember to him being reactionary. Usually reasoned, and fairly knowledgable I would say. I don't Know the guy personally but I always look for what he posts as a pretty good indicator as to what most reasonable fans would be thinking. Find it interesting that you should think otherwise, or maybe the indicates you were joking? Anyway, that's it for now. I don't comment that often but wanted to respond to that one......

 

This is going to look incredible petty, but yes, really. I really don't have a problem with him, but, sensible he is not. He seemed frustrated all summer to me - and it's a bit of a jump to say "we were all starting to feel anxious", as I know plenty of Saints fans (myself included) who weren't worried at any point. It was very clear early on that we were going to be OK. Getting the best possible deals, appointing Ronald Koeman, expanding the back room staff throughout the club, not responding to the ridiculous media frenzy, not rushing into silly transfers and clearly going about scouting well and thoroughly and using all the time available...

 

So, some S-Clarke reactionary posts, to back up my initial point:

 

We are in the midst of a fire sale, or board are seemingly inept at everything - so at this moment in time, the future looks atrocious.

 

Pretty reactionary stuff from a thread called "The Start of a New Era", and here, talking about the end of an era.

 

It's been fun, but today was the end of an incredibly fun era.

 

From a thread called "If You Could Undo One Transfer", his answer? "Morgan". One of the best things about being reactionary, is that when the things you were worrying about most don't happen, you get the outcome you want, i.e the Morgan Schneiderlin transfer being undone!

 

Deal is off - Guan says he's off to everton.

 

Game over on this one, and questions will now start to be asked - that's for sure.

 

Reacting extremely to information that he has now proof on the authenticity of, and, which turned out to be false. Questions will be asked! By who?

 

It takes quite a lot of talent to destroy the heart of a club after it's most successful PL season, but this is a pretty talented board by all accounts.

 

Weren't this board incompetent a few weeks ago? (I know, he's joking... so am I, sort of) Anyway, no foresight. Not looking at what was really happening, the growth, the amount of money we were getting, the manager appointed all pointing toward a board that were quietly going about their business while everyone else was wetting the bed and telling the press about it.

 

We're being run my amateurs, pretty clear to anyone.

 

Pretty clear? Well how about those of us who thought the complete opposite and said so and were shot down for being "blind to what was really going on" or had our "Head in the Sand"?

 

Replying to saintforever's post: "I would take 17th right now"

 

So would I.

 

Why not both wait and see what happened? Why hurry into "taking 17th" when they didn't know how the summer would pan out? So many posters appear to be in such a hurry to spout an opinion before considering what was going on, and that's why people accuse them of "wetting the bed".

 

I'd take 1st right now!

 

 

Fairly knowledgeable? Well, his sources told us that Reed was off to Liverpool (deal close to being done), Tadic wasn't coming as he was destined for a top 4 team (so essentially, at the minute, that is true!) and Pelle was going to be worse than Altidore. Pelle scored more goals in 4 games than Altidore has in his last 30... And reasoned? Reasoning always seems to go out of the window once unfounded quotes from nobodies get bought into things. I've seen S-Clarke called the "voice of reason" by one poster before, although he feels more to me like "the watered down voice of other peoples opinions."