Is it all bad?

[OhWell]

In a word yes
Lovren and Schneiderlin will be gone as well before the start of the season and whilst we may be cash rich the spine of our team will be gone all we'll have to try and integrate too many new faces into the first 11

Whilst i'll always love our club the last couple of weeks have made me question what the point of it all is.

Yes, we can try to put a positive spin on it but the only players who are going to want to play for us now will be mercenaries and players other clubs don't want.

The team we had last season really believed in Cortese and Pochettino's vision and great ambitions for the club and were prepared to give their all for it.

[proclaimer]

In a word yes
Lovren and Schneiderlin will be gone as well before the start of the season and whilst we may be cash rich the spine of our team will be gone all we'll have to try and integrate too many new faces into the first 11

Whilst i'll always love our club the last couple of weeks have made me question what the point of it all is.

Yes, we can try to put a positive spin on it but the only players who are going to want to play for us now will be mercenaries and players other clubs don't want.

The team we had last season really believed in Cortese and Pochettino's vision and great ambitions for the club

[PonyFiddlerReturns]

[quote="MattPFC2005"]It is bad all-round for Southampton and for English football.

It is clear now that provincial clubs can aspire to no higher than eighth. Should any club threaten to exceed that then the Champions League clubs will prise the leading players from those clubs- whether it's Liverpool's bulk buying from Southampton or say Scott Parker going from Charlton to Chelsea or West Ham losing Lampard, Ferdinand, Cole and co.

Who benefits from Southampton's academy? Everyone apart from Southampton's trophy cabinet. Financially enriched yes. Is that enough? Shaw is 18. Could he really not have stayed put for another year or two, not least to glean advice from a manager who was once a world-class player? Lallana may have been there for plenty of years, but it is only this season he has grabbed rave reviews. Did the club force them into transfer requests?

For Southampton, what message does it send to the likes of Lovren, Schneiderlin, Rodriguez and c

[cunninglinguist]

[quote="PonyFiddlerReturns"]It is bad all-round for Southampton and for English football.

It is clear now that provincial clubs can aspire to no higher than eighth. Should any club threaten to exceed that then the Champions League clubs will prise the leading players from those clubs- whether it's Liverpool's bulk buying from Southampton or say Scott Parker going from Charlton to Chelsea or West Ham losing Lampard, Ferdinand, Cole and co.

Who benefits from Southampton's academy? Everyone apart from Southampton's trophy cabinet. Financially enriched yes. Is that enough? Shaw is 18. Could he really not have stayed put for another year or two, not least to glean advice from a manager who was once a world-class player? Lallana may have been there for plenty of years, but it is only this season he has grabbed rave reviews. Did the club force them into transfer requests?

For Southampton, what message does it se

[cunninglinguist]

In a word yes
Lovren and Schneiderlin will be gone as well before the start of the season and whilst we may be cash rich the spine of our team will be gone all we'll have to try and integrate too many new faces into the first 11

Whilst i'll always love our club the last couple of weeks have made me questioned what the point of it all is.

It's really a question of what opportunity is there to compete in the PL? The answer is,of course, none. It is a travesty that football has ended up this way. It is supposed to be entertainment, ffs!
It is also supposed to be a competition but that is really only reserved for the top few.
The only real competition, for provincial clubs, is in the lower leagues. In that respect, you have probably just had the best few years you can expect to have. It seems criminal that when a club reaches

[ozzy62]

[quote="cunninglinguist"]It is bad all-round for Southampton and for English football.

It is clear now that provincial clubs can aspire to no higher than eighth. Should any club threaten to exceed that then the Champions League clubs will prise the leading players from those clubs- whether it's Liverpool's bulk buying from Southampton or say Scott Parker going from Charlton to Chelsea or West Ham losing Lampard, Ferdinand, Cole and co.

Who benefits from Southampton's academy? Everyone apart from Southampton's trophy cabinet. Financially enriched yes. Is that enough? Shaw is 18. Could he really not have stayed put for another year or two, not least to glean advice from a manager who was once a world-class player? Lallana may have been there for plenty of years, but it is only this season he has grabbed rave reviews. Did the club force them into transfer

[saintwayne]

Good post by Matt, sadly I agree with him.

[kernow]

Not going to be despondent and disappointed after all that has happened over the last five years.

Saints will continue to grow so it's not all bad. No, can't subscribe to any of that negativity.

What's the point of holding on to players who think that they're too good to be here ? Cash in on them when they're at their optimum value. It's out of our control anyway and personally won't be spending any time pondering what might have been "if only this or that had happened".

Get the business done, and quickly. Keep on moving on and looking ahead.

[theyak2]

Point is, are you growing?
Firstly, after a great season your bank balance or rarather Katrina's is growing. Saints as a team are being ravaged and stripped of quality. Quality you are expecting to be replaced and working to a new managers plan hitting the ground running.in the Orem this season.
That's not growth but hit and hope.
Your academy is the envy of every club and has served you well and no doubt continue to do so.
Norman, that's what comes up in predictive text typing'koeman !has got a credit in his working with youth. I hope it works otherwise your season which is already going to be working from deficit could be an unmitigated disaster.
It was a great post by Matt and I've always had bad words with him.
Fiddled and Oz are just a pair of trolls who should have kept their itchy laden fingers away from a keyboard.
Otherwise some great footie talk.
Great thread

[Pentridge]

[quote="MattPFC2005"]It is bad all-round for Southampton and for English football.

It is clear now that provincial clubs can aspire to no higher than eighth. Should any club threaten to exceed that then the Champions League clubs will prise the leading players from those clubs- whether it's Liverpool's bulk buying from Southampton or say Scott Parker going from Charlton to Chelsea or West Ham losing Lampard, Ferdinand, Cole and co.

Who benefits from Southampton's academy? Everyone apart from Southampton's trophy cabinet. Financially enriched yes. Is that enough? Shaw is 18. Could he really not have stayed put for another year or two, not least to glean advice from a manager who was once a world-class player? Lallana may have been there for plenty of years, but it is only this season he has grabbed rave reviews. Did the club force them into transfer requests?

For Southampton, what message does it send to the likes of Lovren, Schneiderlin, Rodriguez and c