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Les Reed interview today


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So then. Les and Ralph were both vilified by the bed wetting fraternity last summer during the "meltdown." They had to bite their tongues when the football started because they had done their jobs well and the results were good. Now it seems that they are crap again because a player we didn't own decided he wanted to go to Spuds and not us and that another player, with a year left on his contact, didn't want to sign a new one and preferred to sign for a bigger club. Really, what is the problem?

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With the club selling their best players for the second year in a row, how long do expect Ronald Koeman to remain as manager?

 

What is the point in asking that? What kind of answer could Reed possibly give to it? I'm sure Koeman was always aware if a richer club offers big money to Clyne and Schneiderlin there was a good chance they'd leave. If a big European club comes in for Koeman he'll probably go and Reed will already have in mind who he wants to replace him.

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With the club selling their best players for the second year in a row, how long do expect Ronald Koeman to remain as manager?

 

He has said he will see out his contract so in answer to your question, another two seasons.

 

Why rule out the possibility of him signing a new deal? If he doesn't have an offer of a more attractive club, why would he leave?

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So then. Les and Ralph were both vilified by the bed wetting fraternity last summer during the "meltdown." They had to bite their tongues when the football started because they had done their jobs well and the results were good. Now it seems that they are crap again because a player we didn't own decided he wanted to go to Spuds and not us and that another player, with a year left on his contact, didn't want to sign a new one and preferred to sign for a bigger club. Really, what is the problem?

 

As usual a lecture for fellow posters and the issue of the thread not addressed.

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As usual a lecture for fellow posters and the issue of the thread not addressed.

 

What is the "issue of the thread" in your view? The opening post was merely asking for questions to ask Reed and made one suggestion, not raising an issue.

Edited by Matthew Le God
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Well to be fair he left his last club without a club to go to.

 

He let his contract run down and left Feyenoord to get a job in a higher profile league, probably looking at Spain, England, Germany, Italy.

 

He currently has a job for a progressive club in the world's most high profile league. He has no need to let it run down unless he thinks he can get a job at a more attractive club than us. The number of such clubs has rapidly decreased in recent years.

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"Why do you think fans only talk about players who are leaving and not the excellent players you have signed or are returning from long term injury?"

 

This post should be removed as it is nowhere near negative enough.

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He let his contract run down and left Feyenoord to get a job in a higher profile league, probably looking at Spain, England, Germany, Italy.

 

He currently has a job for a progressive club in the world's most high profile league. He has no need to let it run down unless he thinks he can get a job at a more attractive club than us. The number of such clubs has rapidly decreased in recent years.

 

He was many pundits choice for Manager of the Season last season.

 

He was linked to the Barcelona job during last season.

 

He has let his contract run down before and left with dignity.

 

I'd say there is every chance he leaves Saints when his deal expires based on his prior actions and his rising stock in management, which would suggest the original question asked by the poster is correct and he is more likely to leave at the end of his deal than sign a new one.

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I think he'd come to realise we don't have the resources for Champions League football yet he'd be a manager capable of consistently competing in it. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he fulfilled his contract then moved on to big and better things.

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As usual a lecture for fellow posters and the issue of the thread not addressed.

 

Seems to me that the thread is being used by the more negative of our brethren to start sharpening their knives again and that is the point I was addressing.

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Les, Out of ten, with ten being "incredibly embarrassed we really ****ed up big time and I apologize on behalf of the club" and 0 being not at all, how embarrassed are you at letting a talent like Toby slip through Saints hands to join a Europa league rival team for what's reported as £11.4M (£9.4M to us..) and £50kpw on a 5 year contract - both figures obviously affordable for us?

 

With regards to my previous comment, I use the quote above as an example.

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He was many pundits choice for Manager of the Season last season.

 

He was linked to the Barcelona job during last season.

 

He has let his contract run down before and left with dignity.

 

I'd say there is every chance he leaves Saints when his deal expires based on his prior actions and his rising stock in management, which would suggest the original question asked by the poster is correct and he is more likely to leave at the end of his deal than sign a new one.

 

Which Italian, Spanish, French, German and English clubs would Koeman have seen in 2014 as a more attractive job than Feyenoord?

 

Which Italian, Spanish, French, German and English clubs would Koeman see as a more attractive job than Saints?

 

Do you not think there is a difference between the two lists and therefore the situations?

 

..........

 

Unless he thinks he can get one of the relatively small number of clubs more attractive than Saints then he won't let his contract run down.

Edited by Matthew Le God
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Seems to me that the thread is being used by the more negative of our brethren to start sharpening their knives again and that is the point I was addressing.

 

Start your own f**king thread then.

 

There are genuine questions to be answered about the Toby affair, and how we will recover from the setback.

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You must be proud how the club identifies some struggling players and develop their game so that they can be sold for vast profits and yet still improve our league position. It must have been satisfying to mug the scouse and Manure.

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Start your own f**king thread then.

 

There are genuine questions to be answered about the Toby affair, and how we will recover from the setback.

 

Then perhaps people should ask the genuine questions and not behave like babies who have lost their dummies.

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There are genuine questions to be answered about the Toby affair.

 

Why don't you use this thread to list the questions you'd like answered? Or better still ask Adam Blackmore on Twitter to ask them for you.

 

But if they are questions people think are flawed, don't take issue with people explaining why they think that is the case.

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Les, there are a number of people on an internet forum who think you are crap at your job and that they can do better. Would you consider job sharing with them so that they can pass on the benefit of their wisdom to you? Can you start with Alpine Saint please?

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Then perhaps people should ask the genuine questions and not behave like babies who have lost their dummies.

 

Who are you rto judge ?

 

I am not the only one who reappears during adveristy. I notice your post rate goes up as well, because you so love trying to take the moral high ground.

 

You rarely express an opinion of your own about the club, much more interested in giving an opinion about fellow posters and their posts.

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Why don't you use this thread to list the questions you'd like answered? Or better still ask Adam Blackmore on Twitter to ask them for you.

 

But if they are questions people think are flawed, don't take issue with people explaining why they think that is the case.

 

I did. I noticed you only sneered at one of the two I offered. I guess the other was ok by you, pedant.

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Which Italian, Spanish, German and English clubs would Koeman have seen in 2014 as a more attractive job than Feyenoord?

 

Which Italian, Spanish, German and English clubs would Koeman see as a more attractive job than Saints?

 

Do you not think there is a difference between the two lists and therefore the situations?

 

..........

 

Unless he thinks he can get one of the relatively small number of clubs more attractive than Saints then he won't let his contract run down.

 

And in the time since he has left Feyenoord for Saints, do you believe his Managerial stock has risen or is it the same as when he left Holland? Thus, whilst I agree the pool of clubs he may leave Saints for is less than that which he would leave Feyenoord for, his Managerial stock has also risen which means he is more likely to get a better job.

 

And I think you over-estimate how much of an attraction Saints are for a Manager like him - I could name lots of clubs I think he would leave Saints for.

 

Chelsea

Man City

Arsenal

Man Utd

Liverpool

Spurs

Real Madrid

Atletico Madrid

Barcelona

Valencia (though maybe not after his last experience there)

Bayern Munich

Dortmund

Schalke

Juventus

Inter Milan

AC Milan

Roma

Lazio

Napoli

Porto

PSG

Lyon

Monaco

 

Well over 20 there. Look who manages some of them now - Koeman will be a wanted man in two years unless he does something very wrong at Saints.

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Who are you rto judge ?

 

I am not the only one who reappears during adveristy. I notice your post rate goes up as well, because you so love trying to take the moral high ground.

 

You rarely express an opinion of your own about the club, much more interested in giving an opinion about fellow posters and their posts.

 

I have the same right to judge as you mate. And isn't sharing opinions what this forum is about? I think I have made it clear that I don't have a problem with the current Board. I do have a problem with people who seem to think that running a club the size of SFC is a piece of p*ss and that they could do better.

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And in the time since he has left Feyenoord for Saints, do you believe his Managerial stock has risen or is it the same as when he left Holland? Thus, whilst I agree the pool of clubs he may leave Saints for is less than that which he would leave Feyenoord for, his Managerial stock has also risen which means he is more likely to get a better job.

 

And I think you over-estimate how much of an attraction Saints are for a Manager like him - I could name lots of clubs I think he would leave Saints for.

 

Chelsea

Man City

Arsenal

Man Utd

Liverpool

Spurs

Real Madrid

Atletico Madrid

Barcelona

Valencia (though maybe not after his last experience there)

Bayern Munich

Dortmund

Schalke

Juventus

Inter Milan

AC Milan

Roma

Lazio

Napoli

Porto

PSG

Lyon

Monaco

 

Well over 20 there. Look who manages some of them now - Koeman will be a wanted man in two years unless he does something very wrong at Saints.

 

23 clubs in the whole of world football is not "a lot" of clubs. I'd say its quite the opposite and is actually a very small number of clubs.

 

Only a handful of those clubs will lose a manager in the summer his contract ends. Yes, he'll be appealing to some of them, but he wouldn't be the only manager that they'd want. Its then quite a risk to leave Saints and not get any of them and have to end up looking for smaller progressive clubs like Saints again.

Edited by Matthew Le God
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23 clubs in the whole of world football is not "a lot" of clubs. I'd say its quite the opposite and is actually a very small number of clubs.

 

Only a handful of those clubs will lose a manager in the summer his contract ends. Yes, he'll be appealing to some of them, but he wouldn't be the only manager that they'd want.

 

It's a lot of clubs who are far bigger than us and would be appealing to our Manager. He is already talked of as a Barcelona Manager. If you think he is more likely to sign a new deal with Saints than move on after three years then I think you need to take your Saints tinted glasses off. It is far more likely, in my opinion, that he moves on after three years. I don't think his default will be to sign a new deal with Saints even if he doesn't have something lined up. He hasn't done it in the past, and I see no reason for him to do it again.

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Here is a question for you Alpine. Given that Toby clearly wanted to sign for Spurs and Clyne was clearly not going to sign a new contract, what you do suggest that Les should have done differently to make them change their minds?

 

I don't think the Club could have done anything to change their minds, but, they could have been straight with us Supporters

 

What the Club DID do however, was to keep all the "bad" News suppressed as much as possible til they had got a fair no of SEASON TICKET RENEWALS

 

So, the Club are consistent in that respect. The "Mushroom" Ploy

 

Clearly, Toby had knew he wanted to go to Spurs for at least TWO months.It therefore was no shock to anyone within the Club.

 

But that was not the spiel that came out from the Club was it. No, just the usual load of Bull sh*te

 

Krueger made it vey clear a short while ago. There will be NO expansion of St Marys, so, with a circa 32500 capacity, we ARE a mid table Prem club who punched above their weight last season

 

Food for thought. What would Miss Leibherr and Mr Krueger have done if we had not dropped stupid points against Krap teams, and finished in the Top Four

 

Not beyond the realms of possibility last season, but last season was weird, and their will not be another very "open" season again for a very long time

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It's a lot of clubs who are far bigger than us and would be appealing to our Manager. He is already talked of as a Barcelona Manager. If you think he is more likely to sign a new deal with Saints than move on after three years then I think you need to take your Saints tinted glasses off. It is far more likely' date=' in my opinion, that he moves on after three years. I don't think his default will be to sign a new deal with Saints even if he doesn't have something lined up. He hasn't done it in the past, and I see no reason for him to do it again.[/quote']

 

I also have this concern for the long term future. Koeman will probably only be here to the end of his contract regardless of whether he has another job lined up or not. I don't have a problem with him moving on, as I do believe he will honour his contract. However I am worry how many of the players he knows from the Dutch clubs he has and will bring in, that will want to move on then as well. It could end up being another really big rebuild that summer. Les often talks of the planning that is in place for departures. It would be great to know that they have something in place well before we get to that situation.

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We have been made to look very naive yet again this summer when it comes to transfers. I am starting to wonder if Saints transfer committee believe their own hype a little bit too much sometimes. I certainly think we started to believe all the hype and propoganda about our black box and transfer strategy after the great start to last season.

 

Maybe Paul Mitchell leaving for Spurs was a bigger blow than it looked.

 

The questions I would ask Les Reed is do we have actually have a long term transfer strategy or are we just running around in a blind panic trying to fill short term holes. And do we actually have a transfer fund to spend.

 

Losing Clyne this summer was inevitable - but losing him to Liverpool and not a Champions League club for just £12.5 million was just stupid. After they way he left Crystal Palace he was always going to do it to us. We should never have let it get to the stage of just having 1 year on his contract.

 

But I guess we couldn't sell him last year after losing Chambers to Arsenal unexpectedly - who would have provided cover at right back, holding midfield and centre back supposedly - and who we also haven't replaced yet.

 

Losing Alderweireld to Spurs is even more stupid - and makes us look incompetent and there for the taking again. We should have made it a permanent transfer in January or pushed a deal through right at the start of the summer - and given Spurs no room to push their way in. It looks like we have been on the back foot and caught right out when we should have been on the front foot.

 

Lets hope we can sign Virgil Van Dijk or some similar to fill the hole and provide some competition for Gardos and Yoshida.

 

This summer we should have been bringing in a long term successor for Fonte and a replacement for Chambers and to give some competition at right back - but now we are looking to fill a gaping hole in our defence. I was also hoping we'd sign an out and out striker to give Pelle some competition but I think we are hoping Rordriguez can do that. I think we are also hoping Targett can take a major step forwards this season to provide some real competition at left back.

 

Cedric Soares look like a great replacement for Clyne but I hoped he was signed to provide some competition at right back - but now we are back where we were a year ago when Chambers and Lovren departed.

 

The signing of Cuco Martins - a journeyman defender from a mid table Dutch team who looks like he's been bought it to provide cover at right back and centre back just makes it look worse - and looks a bit of a panic signing to me.

 

Juanmi looks like a good signing - and he and Cedric are the kind of players we should be signing - young players between the ages of 21 and 24 for £3-5 million who have played at the top level, our internationals, great value for money, full of potential and with a great chance of getting better and doubling or trebling in value.

 

It was also obvious Morgan was going to leave us this summer - and that was obvious a year ago - so why the hell did we let Cork leave the club in January. If Cork was still here with him and Victor Wanymana providing competition and cover replacing Morgan would be so important as it is going to be - or as difficult. Surely having let Cork go in January we should have had a replacement for Morgan already signed and sealed before we sell him.

 

At £12 million Shane Long looked like a panic buy last summer - and I am not sure we can afford any more of those after the failed signings of Forren, Osvaldo, Mayuka, and Gaston Ramirez. Long hasn't been a disaster but at 28 and with only 7 goals he was never worth the fee we paid.

 

I think we rode our luck quite a bit at the start of last season - and had a great start built on a very solid defence. This season we will start our first couple of games with only 2 players from the 7 who started at the back last last season - Fonte and Wanyama. And that does worry me a little bit.

 

Our midfield also looks weaker - with just Wanyama, Davis, Reed and Ward-Prowse to choose from whereas last year we had Cork and Morgan as well. I would liked to see us bring in at least two players to replace Morgan - an attacking midfielder like Wijnaldum and defensive midfielder or playmaker so we can play 4-2-3-1 with a double pivot in front of the defence or 4-3-3 with two attacking box-to-box midfielders. And I'm not sure we have a Number 10 who can play in the hole unless Tadic can fill this role - Juanmi looks more of a wide striker to me and a replacement for Elia, Djuricic and hopefully and competition for Mane and Long.

 

I think we are probably going to finish mid table this year - and probably behind a few clubs we thought we were better than such as Swansea, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and West Ham - and maybe we should be happy with that given where we've been and where we've come from.

 

Maybe it is a case of we're simply not a big enough club to compete with the top six - or maybe we just don't have the money to spend in the short term us fans think we do.

 

But we could still make the three or four great signings we need to stay at the level we reached last season - and compete in Europe - so lets not judge to soon - but I do think we need to take a bit more control of our transfers and show a bit more sign of having a long term strategy to grow and strengthen the team by buying and selling players - we can't always rely on our academy to turn out little gems.

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So we were asked what questions would you ask LR, most of the above are complete tosh. Clyne and Toby have left not because we didn't want them but in Clynes Case for bigger Club, more money and his international career, in Tobys case, just in case you missed it HE WAS NOT A SOUTHAMPTON PLAYER, his club shop windowed him and between them they choose Spuds. Get over it, teams change every year, we have a management team that is set up to cope with that, shame so many of you are not set up to support an outstanding, punch above its weight provincial English football club.

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The questions I would ask Les Reed is do we have actually have a long term transfer strategy or are we just running around in a blind panic trying to fill short term holes. And do we actually have a transfer fund to spend..

 

Great question; what do you think Les' answer will be?

 

The club have made it clear on multiple occasions that they track players for a long time and have succession plans in place for all our players.

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every club wastes money on transfers, its ridiculous that Cortese keeps getting blamed for this, which is not an issue, because it was his fault on Gaston and Forren, maybe Poch had more of a say with Osvaldo. But look at Utd - the guy they had on loan, Liverpool - Lovren, Spurs - where do you start, Arsenal - Uzil.... do i need to go through every club and point out their wastage?

 

Uzil? I assume you mean Ozil but sums you up. Complete ****in mug who is like a spoilt kid.

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You cant, granted, but i just wish the club were a bit more honest about what they say to us, but lets see what he says.

 

The most honest thing is to say nothing at all until a situation is resolved but fans complain about that too.

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