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The wheels on the bus round & round


saintquin
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For the last few seasons fans of other clubs keep saying "the wheels are coming of the Southampton bus" and, again this summer they're saying the same. Yet we keep proving them wrong.

If we get anywhere near last seasons finish it would give me a bigger grin then I had the previous years!

Looking forward to a couple or more signings to help me feel a bit more confident though.

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Whilst Liverpool continue to show they have more money than sense, why should we refuse their largese ?

 

I had a conversation yesterday with the sort of arrogant Liverpool fan who makes you wish all the bad things for that club.

 

He dismissed any suggestion that Saints do things differently to other clubs and do not - like Liverpool - think a problem can only be solved by throwing money.

 

He derided Saints way, and said that if he was a Saints fan, he would want to know where all the money we pulled in through transfers, was disappearing to.

 

I had to contain my laughter when he said - without any hint or flicker of irony on his face - that any club owned by a billionaire should be buying players in the the £30m-plus bracket, not shopping around for bargains at around the £12-15m mark.

 

He dismissed our recruitment policy and the use of the black box, and said; "I don't think Southampton are doing anything different to what any other PL club is doing. They might just have a better scouting system."

 

I asked him what he thought of Liverpool paying £34m for Mane, when they could have got him from Red Bull Salzburg two years ago the same way we did, and his astonishing reply was: "we can afford to let other clubs take the risk for us."

 

Best of all, I thanked him for the £100m-plus Liverpool had contributed to us, and he regarded every single signing from us as a huge success, especially Lovren. When I asked whether he considered Lambert a good purchase, he said: "Who? I don't recall us having signed Lambert, he's never played for us."

 

I thought I would dangle the bait and told him Bertrand had signed a new contract, and he gobbled it up. "It might make him a bit more expensive when we come and get him next year, but we can afford to do it."

 

You may think I was talking to a vacuous teenager in a Liverpool shell-suit, but the saddest thing is the he is an intelligent man, a CEO in a major southern regional company.

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it is rather sad that the money one's club spends turns people into this sort of chap, as if it was his own money. I do recall a Liverpool supporter (I think he said he was in his 60s) who came on the board and was almost apologetic that Liverpool were signing all our players as it demonstrated what was wrong with the PL, ie the money, and those with the most could usually trample all over the smaller clubs what with stitching up what ever player they wanted.

 

That to me is the worst thing. The stitching up and turning the player's head which tends to have a knock on effect throughout the squad. Of course players want to generally go to bigger clubs for more pay (except our young Dane at this current point of his career) but what Liverpool try to do is financial bullying with their tapping up. Spurs are the same. I guess it's dog eat dog, but not hugely attractive. Having said that I am not sure that United acted in the same manner over the transfers of Shaw and Morgan, although maybe that is a little naive of me.

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I had a conversation yesterday with the sort of arrogant Liverpool fan who makes you wish all the bad things for that club.

 

He dismissed any suggestion that Saints do things differently to other clubs and do not - like Liverpool - think a problem can only be solved by throwing money.

 

He derided Saints way, and said that if he was a Saints fan, he would want to know where all the money we pulled in through transfers, was disappearing to.

 

I had to contain my laughter when he said - without any hint or flicker of irony on his face - that any club owned by a billionaire should be buying players in the the £30m-plus bracket, not shopping around for bargains at around the £12-15m mark.

 

He dismissed our recruitment policy and the use of the black box, and said; "I don't think Southampton are doing anything different to what any other PL club is doing. They might just have a better scouting system."

 

I asked him what he thought of Liverpool paying £34m for Mane, when they could have got him from Red Bull Salzburg two years ago the same way we did, and his astonishing reply was: "we can afford to let other clubs take the risk for us."

 

Best of all, I thanked him for the £100m-plus Liverpool had contributed to us, and he regarded every single signing from us as a huge success, especially Lovren. When I asked whether he considered Lambert a good purchase, he said: "Who? I don't recall us having signed Lambert, he's never played for us."

 

I thought I would dangle the bait and told him Bertrand had signed a new contract, and he gobbled it up. "It might make him a bit more expensive when we come and get him next year, but we can afford to do it."

 

You may think I was talking to a vacuous teenager in a Liverpool shell-suit, but the saddest thing is the he is an intelligent man, a CEO in a major southern regional company.

 

As Keegan once said - 'I will LOVE it' if we finish above them again this season.

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My dislike for them seemed to be in inverse proportions to the amount of love the press showed. This season he seemingly has to share the love with Jose, Pep and Conte. Then Koeman has a bit as does Poch, but they are well behind in the love race.

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it is rather sad that the money one's club spends turns people into this sort of chap, as if it was his own money. I do recall a Liverpool supporter (I think he said he was in his 60s) who came on the board and was almost apologetic that Liverpool were signing all our players as it demonstrated what was wrong with the PL, ie the money, and those with the most could usually trample all over the smaller clubs what with stitching up what ever player they wanted.

 

That to me is the worst thing. The stitching up and turning the player's head which tends to have a knock on effect throughout the squad. Of course players want to generally go to bigger clubs for more pay (except our young Dane at this current point of his career) but what Liverpool try to do is financial bullying with their tapping up. Spurs are the same. I guess it's dog eat dog, but not hugely attractive. Having said that I am not sure that United acted in the same manner over the transfers of Shaw and Morgan, although maybe that is a little naive of me.

 

The worst thing for me is the quibbling the other clubs do on the amount they have to pay.

 

Hopefully as the club become more stable and commercially more successful, if a player does want to leave the price will be closer to the full compensation the club sets rather than an acceptable one.

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I had a conversation yesterday with the sort of arrogant Liverpool fan who makes you wish all the bad things for that club.

 

He dismissed any suggestion that Saints do things differently to other clubs and do not - like Liverpool - think a problem can only be solved by throwing money.

 

He derided Saints way, and said that if he was a Saints fan, he would want to know where all the money we pulled in through transfers, was disappearing to.

 

I had to contain my laughter when he said - without any hint or flicker of irony on his face - that any club owned by a billionaire should be buying players in the the £30m-plus bracket, not shopping around for bargains at around the £12-15m mark.

 

He dismissed our recruitment policy and the use of the black box, and said; "I don't think Southampton are doing anything different to what any other PL club is doing. They might just have a better scouting system."

 

I asked him what he thought of Liverpool paying £34m for Mane, when they could have got him from Red Bull Salzburg two years ago the same way we did, and his astonishing reply was: "we can afford to let other clubs take the risk for us."

 

Best of all, I thanked him for the £100m-plus Liverpool had contributed to us, and he regarded every single signing from us as a huge success, especially Lovren. When I asked whether he considered Lambert a good purchase, he said: "Who? I don't recall us having signed Lambert, he's never played for us."

 

I thought I would dangle the bait and told him Bertrand had signed a new contract, and he gobbled it up. "It might make him a bit more expensive when we come and get him next year, but we can afford to do it."

 

You may think I was talking to a vacuous teenager in a Liverpool shell-suit, but the saddest thing is the he is an intelligent man, a CEO in a major southern regional company.

 

Every Liverpool 'fan' I've ever worked with thinks like this. None of them from Liverpool either. I just end up not bothering to speak to such bores. I tend to find I get on at work far better with the skates and fans of London clubs that I've worked with.

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Liverpool's approach is going "oh that player has done well in our division and become well-known, let's buy him!", paying way too much for him, giving him stupid wages and wondering why they haven't done well. Their squad is full of players like these.

 

We know we can't compete financially with them or other clubs so we go under the radar, look for bargains and players who fit in with our style of play and 'philosophy' and who can become great players. For clubs like Liverpool, it doesn't matter who it is as long as they get big names, even though they don't fit in with the team. They do it year in year out, thinking that because they are LIVERPOOL that they will win everything, but they never learn.

 

Manchester United were good at it. Yes, they splashed the cash on some big signings, but most of their team were youth players or fairly cheap workhorse players who formed an actual TEAM. Arsenal are good at it too. Wenger may get stick but they're always in the top 4, better than Liverpool can manage. More recently, it's been Leicester. I'm not worried about this season, we'll be fine.

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I guess though that that Liverpool fan was right in that they can let others take the chance and pay 3 times what they could have paid. However, that isn't a terribly good business model, not least as there is no guarantee that the player will be successful with them after having paid the inflated fee. It's fine to do with a player or two, but not all of them!

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The Liverpool fans I know are pretty pragmatic, they recognise that most of the players they have bought from us have been overpriced and not been that successful.

 

They also realise Liverpools place in the world, rich enough to throw money at clubs like us for players but not rich enough to stop those same players going to City or Chelsea or Barca.

 

One thing they said is they can't understand how Liverpool can fleece clubs like city to pay £50 million for Sterling or Torres but then show none of that shrewdness in their own signings.

 

they go get £50 million for Torres then throw it away with signings like Andy Carroll or Lovren or Markovic

 

That is probably where the bitterness from fans towards us comes from, we drive a hard bargain for our sales and then use that money wisely.

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I had a conversation yesterday with the sort of arrogant Liverpool fan who makes you wish all the bad things for that club.

 

He dismissed any suggestion that Saints do things differently to other clubs and do not - like Liverpool - think a problem can only be solved by throwing money.

 

He derided Saints way, and said that if he was a Saints fan, he would want to know where all the money we pulled in through transfers, was disappearing to.

 

I had to contain my laughter when he said - without any hint or flicker of irony on his face - that any club owned by a billionaire should be buying players in the the £30m-plus bracket, not shopping around for bargains at around the £12-15m mark.

 

He dismissed our recruitment policy and the use of the black box, and said; "I don't think Southampton are doing anything different to what any other PL club is doing. They might just have a better scouting system."

 

I asked him what he thought of Liverpool paying £34m for Mane, when they could have got him from Red Bull Salzburg two years ago the same way we did, and his astonishing reply was: "we can afford to let other clubs take the risk for us."

 

Best of all, I thanked him for the £100m-plus Liverpool had contributed to us, and he regarded every single signing from us as a huge success, especially Lovren. When I asked whether he considered Lambert a good purchase, he said: "Who? I don't recall us having signed Lambert, he's never played for us."

 

I thought I would dangle the bait and told him Bertrand had signed a new contract, and he gobbled it up. "It might make him a bit more expensive when we come and get him next year, but we can afford to do it."

 

You may think I was talking to a vacuous teenager in a Liverpool shell-suit, but the saddest thing is the he is an intelligent man, a CEO in a major southern regional company.

 

Sounds like he was having a bit of a laugh with you to be honest. You need to take yourself a little less seriously.

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Manchester United were good at it. Yes, they splashed the cash on some big signings, but most of their team were youth players or fairly cheap workhorse players who formed an actual TEAM. Arsenal are good at it too. Wenger may get stick but they're always in the top 4, better than Liverpool can manage. More recently, it's been Leicester. I'm not worried about this season, we'll be fine.

 

I think the word you highlighted in capital letters is the key here.

 

We Saints fans believe that we have a TEAM with good spirit, which is in turn composed of good players. Maybe Liverpool's problem is that they buy such players but then find it is not so easy to massage them into an effective unit; a TEAM. Instead they end up with a disparate collection of players.

 

Similar analogy to England - and, in converse, to Leicester who clearly got the TEAM thing right.

 

We all know the outcomes for England and Leicester.......

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