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I quite enjoyed the forum but thought that Blackmore let Les and Ralph off the hook a few times by essentially feeding them their likely answer. Also Blackmore should know that the one thing that Saints fans don’t want to hear is people talking about how great Klopp is and what an experience training at Liverpool must be.

 

Les’ response about the sacking of Pellegrino was almost insulting - made out as though it was a perfectly timed, smooth transition, that not many other clubs were able to pull off, seeming to ignore the fact that we were the last club to actually make a change and that Hughes was available for months beforehand anyway. If he had just admitted they gave him too much time I think that would go some way to restoring a bit of trust, but it did feel like his hubris got in the way again.

 

 

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That was a bit less nutter-heavy than the last one. Hughes spoke well but I did find it funny how he'd get a round of applause for repeating something Reed or Krueger had said five minutes earlier to frosty silence.

 

Interesting line from Reed about developing different sorts of youth players to those we have in the past. Any academy watchers who can fill me in?

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That was a bit less nutter-heavy than the last one. Hughes spoke well but I did find it funny how he'd get a round of applause for repeating something Reed or Krueger had said five minutes earlier to frosty silence.

 

Interesting line from Reed about developing different sorts of youth players to those we have in the past. Any academy watchers who can fill me in?

 

 

Its clear to see that we are breeding international players now especially from the ages of 12-6.

Just wish they become amazing players for us that’s all.

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Question from the floor:

Good evening, Mr Reed and Mr Krueger...

 

Mr Reed is the head of all things football here and Mr Krueger, you stated that the buck stops with you. In two years we’ve gone from European contenders to relegation battlers. In that time you’ve sacked two managers. So why have you not done the honourable thing and stepped down from your positions?

 

 

 

Ouch. :scared:

 

Fair question, it’s what I’d have asked and what 95% of fans would have asked. It was a lot clearer than the vague, posturing, patronising response recieved. Neither of them should be at SFC after the last two years debacle, any Saints fan knows that. Hopefully Hughes’s people management skills can get us out of the cart.

 

The Gao takeover is now clearly being shown to be the sham it was, taking us to the next level and investing to keep us top 10 my backside.

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I quite enjoyed the forum but thought that Blackmore let Les and Ralph off the hook a few times by essentially feeding them their likely answer. Also Blackmore should know that the one thing that Saints fans don’t want to hear is people talking about how great Klopp is and what an experience training at Liverpool must be.

 

Les’ response about the sacking of Pellegrino was almost insulting - made out as though it was a perfectly timed, smooth transition, that not many other clubs were able to pull off, seeming to ignore the fact that we were the last club to actually make a change and that Hughes was available for months beforehand anyway. If he had just admitted they gave him too much time I think that would go some way to restoring a bit of trust, but it did feel like his hubris got in the way again.

 

 

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Felt exactly the same with his reponse to the Carillo question, when he said that we do not get it 100% right or wrong and that he was still our player who can still improve do a job for us???? like he will ever grace the football pitch wearing a saints shirt again is completely lauighable, if he had said fair enough we made a mistake and hold his hands up maybe you could give him back some credablity but he just doesn't seem to be aknowledge any accountablity for that and many other mistakes made over the last 2 seasons and instead him and Ralph who backed him up time and again dug themselves deeper holes in the majority of fans eyes

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Thought it was quite good, some questions that fans wanted to ask had been asked and you were never going to get the sort of answers you wanted. Thought Blackmore gave Reed a great chance to defend himself at times and Reed didn't really take advantage of it enough. I often change my mind of whether or not Reed is doing a good job, but I suspect the last year was a wake up call for him.

 

His answer as to why we'll never have a 100k a week player is concerning when the likes of Crystal Palace and others around us surely now have. While its understandable for the club to believe in what they are doing because it worked in the past, the standard of our competition is getting better and they are moving the benchmark of what good players cost and get paid. If Saints do not, we will not be successful.

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Adam Blackmore missed a trick by not asking Hughes for his opinion on Carrillo after Les finished saying how good Carrillo is.
I thought Blackmore did a great job. You have to remember that he is balancing needing to get at the right areas but also protect his future access to the club leadership.

 

Reed was keen to point out that Carillo is still a Saints player and therefore was hardly likely to slate him, and Hughes is too experienced to be drawn into that as well.

 

Overall for me, Ings seems like a great character and clearly they picked him to placate the crowd somewhat. Hughes experienced at these things and says the right things to please the crowd without adding much of interest.

 

Reed looked pained the whole time as if he has been locked in a room with Charlie Austin in full on lad banter mode for an hour beforehand.

 

Krueger - can't trust anyone who cannot say Premier League correctly.

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Felt exactly the same with his reponse to the Carillo question, when he said that we do not get it 100% right or wrong and that he was still our player who can still improve do a job for us???? like he will ever grace the football pitch wearing a saints shirt again is completely lauighable, if he had said fair enough we made a mistake and hold his hands up maybe you could give him back some credablity but he just doesn't seem to be aknowledge any accountablity for that and many other mistakes made over the last 2 seasons and instead him and Ralph who backed him up time and again dug themselves deeper holes in the majority of fans eyes

 

Like it or not, Carillo is still a Saints player and may end up comming back. Do you really expect his employer to slag him off in a public forum.

 

Some of the stuff onhere about Les and Ralph is just spiteful. They are not the owners, and are clearly operating wihtin the parameters they are set. They get pretty handsomely rewarded mind for taking the bulletts. Shouldn't think they mind too much.

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I attended the forum this evening with my mate and I thought it was an enjoyable evening! Ok you will not please everyone but I thought both Les and Ralph answered what they had to well. Both Hughes and Ings were a breath of fresh air and added to the general good vibe. Big credit to Adam Blackmore who I thought put on a very good show and made sure that the balance was right in between different questions that were being asked from the fans. The only negative were some people behind who talked most of the way through it which made it hard to always hear properly what was being said. And people shouting out (why??) If you have something to say, put your hand up and wait your turn.

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Like it or not, Carillo is still a Saints player and may end up comming back. Do you really expect his employer to slag him off in a public forum.

 

Some of the stuff onhere about Les and Ralph is just spiteful. They are not the owners, and are clearly operating wihtin the parameters they are set. They get pretty handsomely rewarded mind for taking the bulletts. Shouldn't think they mind too much.

 

I didn't say slag him off did I, I just wish he'd just admit he we wrong as he clearly wasn't good enough to play premier league football and they didn't scout him properly,

 

So get off you high horse and berate fans who get a toss, you must really love Les' and Ralph getting away with it then mate, I don't know.....maybe your their love child or something? but most fans think they should not still be here, I so sorry you do, so just clap away every week and take all the crap they spout just like the last 2 years and enjoy it ok :).

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Went tonight and watched it back again on YouTube.

Enjoyed it to be honest. Especially the free bar. Hughes came across brilliantly. Thought Blackmore deflected away from Les and Ralph too much. Why would we care about Liverpool’s manager and questions about Everton?

There was quite a bit of heckling that didn’t get picked up on YouTube. Ralph embarrassed himself with some of his responses to it. “9.2”. Jesus.

Both Les and Ralph looked genuinely annoyed at times. I don’t think they expected to get a hard time which tells a story in itself.

They didn’t seem willing to admit mistakes which didn’t help. I’d bet that 1 if not both of them won’t be at the next one.

What is now 100% clear though... Gao will not be investing his own money to take us forward. So that’s that.

 

 

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Went tonight and watched it back again on YouTube.

Enjoyed it to be honest. Especially the free bar. Hughes came across brilliantly. Thought Blackmore deflected away from Les and Ralph too much. Why would we care about Liverpool’s manager and questions about Everton?

There was quite a bit of heckling that didn’t get picked up on YouTube. Ralph embarrassed himself with some of his responses to it. “9.2”. Jesus.

Both Les and Ralph looked genuinely annoyed at times. I don’t think they expected to get a hard time which tells a story in itself.

They didn’t seem willing to admit mistakes which didn’t help. I’d bet that 1 if not both of them won’t be at the next one.

What is now 100% clear though... Gao will not be investing his own money to take us forward. So that’s that.

 

 

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I thought Ralph was poor on You Tube as well, quite arrogant and not someone the fans can relate to. Reed was miles out of his depth and came across as a dinosaur, especially when next to two articulate football people in Hughes and Ings.

 

Not surprised about Gao, hopefully he doesn’t take too much out either and he’s taken his shilling before we next go down.

 

I see Faz the club plant has been on here again

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Someone had been on the beer with something about expanding the ground.

 

Anyone know who that ****ing idiot was? Wtf was he on about and what relevance does away ground not being full have on us expanding ours :lol: I think everyone was correctly miffed at this bloke.

 

Getting absolute morons along like that, softens any / many valid points made that evening and sort of turns the whole thing into a joke.

 

Also, if who asked that question is reading, please smarten up you scruffy sod.

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I didn't say slag him off did I, I just wish he'd just admit he we wrong as he clearly wasn't good enough to play premier league football and they didn't scout him properly,

 

So get off you high horse and berate fans who get a toss, you must really love Les' and Ralph getting away with it then mate, I don't know.....maybe your their love child or something? but most fans think they should not still be here, I so sorry you do, so just clap away every week and take all the crap they spout just like the last 2 years and enjoy it ok :).

Exactly this was the first forum for 3 years and opportunity to ask questions and for some release a bit of frustration at how **** poorly the football board has performed.

Carillo is still our player because no other mugs would pay 19m.

Blackmore handled it well and some good questions .

 

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Blackmore did OK, I appreciate he was there to keep some order.

 

But when you have a crowd of people attending all (probably) with questions why waste so much time with the general and pointless Q&A with Ings and Hughes, Klopp and Everton.

 

Watching again it's v.funny watching Les and Ralph squirm, they really did look completely lost....The hockey coach and the perennial football loser. I wonder when they will do the decent thing and F off?

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Like it or not, Carillo is still a Saints player and may end up coming back. Do you really expect his employer to slag him off in a public forum.

 

I agree with this. Carillo is just a young lad who was signed for Saints. It's not his fault he was out of his depth last season and his employer is giving him a chance to improve elsewhere and they're absolutely not going to destroy his confidence further in public.

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Exactly this was the first forum for 3 years and opportunity to ask questions and for some release a bit of frustration at how **** poorly the football board has performed.

Carillo is still our player because no other mugs would pay 19m.

Blackmore handled it well and some good questions .

 

What do you want the club to say? 'Yeah, we f**ked up, turns out he's sh!t and we've wasted £20m'.

 

Privately they may think that, but they are never going to say that in public, and neither should they. The player is on loan, has an opportunity to play games and potentially we may get some of fee back we paid.

 

I'll be really worried if people at the top start making statements like this, as it'll show we are run by absolute amateurs.

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Felt exactly the same with his reponse to the Carillo question, when he said that we do not get it 100% right or wrong and that he was still our player who can still improve do a job for us???? like he will ever grace the football pitch wearing a saints shirt again is completely lauighable, if he had said fair enough we made a mistake and hold his hands up maybe you could give him back some credablity but he just doesn't seem to be aknowledge any accountablity for that and many other mistakes made over the last 2 seasons and instead him and Ralph who backed him up time and again dug themselves deeper holes in the majority of fans eyes

 

If you bought a tatty old Datsun for over the odds, while someone is taking it for a test drive you don’t tell the world it’s rubbish!

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If you bought a tatty old Datsun for over the odds, while someone is taking it for a test drive you don’t tell the world it’s rubbish!

 

But this tatty Datsun is starting to win some speed runs in Spain.

The only fears I have is if this Datsun carries on winning the speed runs the club will flog it for 10m.

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That was a bit less nutter-heavy than the last one. Hughes spoke well but I did find it funny how he'd get a round of applause for repeating something Reed or Krueger had said five minutes earlier to frosty silence.

 

Haha yes totally this. Came in to mention this myself. Really evident when talking about ambitions for the season. Reed was even more ambitious than Hughes but still got silence

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In Adam Blackmore's defence, he's not going to sit there and slate the owners, he doesn't want to ruin his access to the club, so has to tread a bit carefully. I think he does a great job tbh.

 

Was a good watch, the bloke who mentioned the stadium expansion...i mean really? We couldn't even sell out the FA Cup semi final...

 

Could have done with being a lot longer, which I guess is what happens when there has been pretty much silence for 3 years, and with a new owner who hasn't said a peep since he bought the club, and after 2 years of sh!te thrown up. However it was mentioned that it was the first of many this season, which is a positive. Always difficult when the season gets going though, and there is a lot of short term emotion involved.

 

At the end of the day, we have a stronger squad than last year, we've strengthened in all areas of the pitch, and now it's up to the squad to perform. The owners / Reed need to make sure they get us back on track after a crap few years. Onwards and upwards....

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In Adam Blackmore's defence, he's not going to sit there and slate the owners, he doesn't want to ruin his access to the club, so has to tread a bit carefully. I think he does a great job tbh.

 

Was a good watch, the bloke who mentioned the stadium expansion...i mean really? We couldn't even sell out the FA Cup semi final...

 

Could have done with being a lot longer, which I guess is what happens when there has been pretty much silence for 3 years, and with a new owner who hasn't said a peep since he bought the club, and after 2 years of sh!te thrown up. However it was mentioned that it was the first of many this season, which is a positive. Always difficult when the season gets going though, and there is a lot of short term emotion involved.

 

At the end of the day, we have a stronger squad than last year, we've strengthened in all areas of the pitch, and now it's up to the squad to perform. The owners / Reed need to make sure they get us back on track after a crap few years. Onwards and upwards....

 

Could be wrong but think they were referring to Saints voice.

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I thought Ralph was poor on You Tube as well, quite arrogant and not someone the fans can relate to. Reed was miles out of his depth and came across as a dinosaur, especially when next to two articulate football people in Hughes and Ings.

 

Not surprised about Gao, hopefully he doesn’t take too much out either and he’s taken his shilling before we next go down.

 

I see Faz the club plant has been on here again

 

:suspicious:

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I think most questions that we wanted were asked .... only one missed was who sanctioned the FF contract extension & what now for him?

 

 

Hughes is talking about Forster at the end of this echo article

 

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/16439149.southampton-manager-mark-hughes-on-sam-gallagher-and-fraser-forster/

 

There have been approaches but as yet nothing that has taken Forster’s fancy, but Hughes admitted a move abroad could provide the answer if the right team comes in for him.

 

“There have been clubs in, some that Fraser didn’t feel were right for him, and that’s his prerogative,” he reported.

 

“I think if a good option comes for him then Fraser will look seriously at them.

 

“His situation is not what he wants because he wants to play and I have told him he needs to play.

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Hughes is talking about Forster at the end of this echo article

 

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/16439149.southampton-manager-mark-hughes-on-sam-gallagher-and-fraser-forster/

 

There have been approaches but as yet nothing that has taken Forster’s fancy, but Hughes admitted a move abroad could provide the answer if the right team comes in for him.

 

“There have been clubs in, some that Fraser didn’t feel were right for him, and that’s his prerogative,” he reported.

 

“I think if a good option comes for him then Fraser will look seriously at them.

 

“His situation is not what he wants because he wants to play and I have told him he needs to play.

 

You missed the best part. The Daily Echo at their editorial best

 

“If there’s an interesting option abroad, I think he has intimidated he wouldn’t be adverse to that, but if he doesn’t go out I’m quite happy because I’ve got three outstanding goalkeepers.”

 

Mind you he always was scared of coming off of his line.

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In Adam Blackmore's defence, he's not going to sit there and slate the owners, he doesn't want to ruin his access to the club, so has to tread a bit carefully. I think he does a great job tbh.

 

Was a good watch, the bloke who mentioned the stadium expansion...i mean really? We couldn't even sell out the FA Cup semi final...

 

Could have done with being a lot longer, which I guess is what happens when there has been pretty much silence for 3 years, and with a new owner who hasn't said a peep since he bought the club, and after 2 years of sh!te thrown up. However it was mentioned that it was the first of many this season, which is a positive. Always difficult when the season gets going though, and there is a lot of short term emotion involved.

 

At the end of the day, we have a stronger squad than last year, we've strengthened in all areas of the pitch, and now it's up to the squad to perform. The owners / Reed need to make sure they get us back on track after a crap few years. Onwards and upwards....

We couldn't sell out for the FA cup because the club made it impossible to buy tickets. I had loads of people wanting them
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I thought Ralph was poor on You Tube as well, quite arrogant and not someone the fans can relate to. Reed was miles out of his depth and came across as a dinosaur, especially when next to two articulate football people in Hughes and Ings.

Not surprised about Gao, hopefully he doesn’t take too much out either and he’s taken his shilling before we next go down.

 

I see Faz the club plant has been on here again

 

Did anybody ask him why he didn't retire when he reached the retirement age of 65? Wether you think what he did in the past was good or bad or a mixture of both, in the last couple of years he has appeared physically and mentally tired and his decison making has been poor. He's not going to get any better in his late 60s. So, why does he keep hanging on to the detriment of the club?

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I agree with this. Carillo is just a young lad who was signed for Saints. It's not his fault he was out of his depth last season and his employer is giving him a chance to improve elsewhere and they're absolutely not going to destroy his confidence further in public.

 

Exactly, what decent employer would public crucify their employee, who is also a commercial asset. A player who may yet turn out to be a very good player....

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Exactly, what decent employer would public crucify their employee, who is also a commercial asset. A player who may yet turn out to be a very good player....

 

Careful now, you'll be accused of being a club plant.

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Exactly, what decent employer would public crucify their employee, who is also a commercial asset. A player who may yet turn out to be a very good player....

 

The reference to Pelle was a good example by Reed.

How many games did it take him to score for us? A good ten games i reckon and we weren t exactly in free fall at the time.

 

What i don t understand is why we shipped him out on loan if we still see a future for him?

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Name one first team player who has not represented his country at some level then.

The comment by RedArmy was pretty stupid, I thought the same because I believed what Ralph said was true, but actually on checking Charlie Austin has never represented his country. He was called up for England once (May 2015) but did not play. As far as I can tell he has never represented England at any level. The only other player in the squad who has no international qualification is Jake Hesketh.

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Not that I disagree with the point you're making' date=' but you did ask for it - Charlie Austin.[/quote']

 

I think people are taking Ralph's point too literally.

He was obviously trying to illustrate the higher level of quality required for a youngster to break into the team as opposed to 5 or so years ago

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For my sins I thought it was generally OK

 

Contrary to majority opinion I thought Les Reed came over OK but Ralph, as expected, was fill of waffle

 

Completely agree, I thought he answered everything as honestly as he could. It does baffle me sometimes how us fans seem to think we (or anyone else) could do a better job.

 

Reed would probably love to be able to keep our best players and splash loads of money on big name signings, but thats all out of his hands, its not his money.

 

So given our net spend is low, and we are probably about the 15th - 20th biggest club in the country, I think we have overachieved to have finished 8th and above for 4 of the last 5 seasons. Lets just hope last season was a blip (as Sparky alluded to), but even if its not, I dont see how its Reed's fault!? In the real world, no matter who our 'director of football' is (or whatever his title is) you cant stop your best players from going to the big boys, there is a hierarchy (even Liverpool lose players to Barcelona, etc) and Reed/Ralph cant spend £30m - £40m on a player if the owner wont sanction it.

 

Apart from last season, our recent league positions have been strong (and above where we really should finish as a smaller club), our academy is still healthy, the players facilities are great, and we appear to be running the club sensibly profitably.

 

I better put my tin hat on, but I for one would like to get behind the club and give Sparky (and the owners) the chance to put right the awful season we had last season.... let's just hope that was a blip.

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Completely agree, I thought he answered everything as honestly as he could. It does baffle me sometimes how us fans seem to think we (or anyone else) could do a better job.

 

Reed would probably love to be able to keep our best players and splash loads of money on big name signings, but thats all out of his hands, its not his money.

 

So given our net spend is low, and we are probably about the 15th - 20th biggest club in the country, I think we have overachieved to have finished 8th and above for 4 of the last 5 seasons. Lets just hope last season was a blip (as Sparky alluded to), but even if its not, I dont see how its Reed's fault!? In the real world, no matter who our 'director of football' is (or whatever his title is) you cant stop your best players from going to the big boys, there is a hierarchy (even Liverpool lose players to Barcelona, etc) and Reed/Ralph cant spend £30m - £40m on a player if the owner wont sanction it.

 

Apart from last season, our recent league positions have been strong (and above where we really should finish as a smaller club), our academy is still healthy, the players facilities are great, and we appear to be running the club sensibly profitably.

 

I better put my tin hat on, but I for one would like to get behind the club and give Sparky (and the owners) the chance to put right the awful season we had last season.... let's just hope that was a blip.

 

 

Pretty accurate tbf. Await the oncoming hysteria from those who think we are Barcelona

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Not that I disagree with the point you're making' date=' but you did ask for it - Charlie Austin.[/quote']

 

I think people are taking Ralph's point too literally.

He was obviously trying to illustrate the higher level of quality required for a youngster to break into the team as opposed to 5 or so years ago

 

I stand corrected although as VectisSaint mentioned Charlie was called up for England. Similarly Jake was called up to the U18s under RK. The point was made by Les and the original quote was accurate. He went on to say that recruitment to the academy was no longer based on 'will they be good enough to make the first team' (an easier target when we were in Div 1) but will they be good enough to regularly represent their country at international level. Our current academy includes more players at international development level than most academies in the country (apart from Chelsea and Man City where the strategy is different). We're also recruiting a wider range of players to academy level so the future does indeed look bright both in terms of strengthening the first team and making good returns on sales.

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In my view, Les Reed has made an error with the strategy that he’s implemented. The club have spent a lot of money on wages because they’ve decided to go for numbers over quality. Can anyone genuinely say we have a clear starting 11 that are really better than the subs? Ralph mentioned about numbers last night being a reason for the cost to the club. Personally, I think it’s an error to have 25 generally interchangeable players. I’d rather a starting 11 who are clearly starters and we spend the money on these guys with subs made up largely by youth players. Spending the wage budget on a large group of players causes us to have many we can’t shift. Bournemouth have players on much lower wages and then buy one or two fairly expensive players per year. They are on a par with us, if not better.

 

Long, Forster, Carillo, Boufal, Davis, Austin. These wages are too high for what we get in return. For example, I’d rather us spend our limited finances on two decent strikers rather than having 4 pretty average players. I’d give Sam G the chance to shine when we have injuries or suspensions.

 

That’s my view. Quality over numbers.

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