David Kelly 1115 Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 He's busy over on RTG seeing how much they are obsessing about us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 8947 Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anorthernsoul 1221 Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Look who's got a job at Sky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClubSpinDoctor 0 Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Lazy, ugly bastard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitman 2188 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Look who's got a job at Sky. Surely they can't get away with calling him a defender? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew 4183 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Rudi Garcia sent to the stands for this after Juventus were given a penalty in the match against Roma.https://vine.co/v/OKOuOwMEPXYWhy didn't we go and get him from Lille? I'd much rather this than shoving linesmen and headbutting players Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 8947 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 A win against Leicester could take us 17th, then we face Spurs & Liverpool. Meaning we could well be bottom 3 in November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew 4183 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 A win against Leicester Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 13804 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 That would involve scoring goals but not conceding them. Don't you think your expectations are a little high you deluded Geordie twat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 8947 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Yeah I know. It seems to straight forward to play good football and keep within a tight financial constraint. The inside story of Southampton's brilliant start to the Premier League season under Ronald Koeman Predictions of a meltdown at Southampton following a summer exodus have been unfounded. In a special report, Jeremy Wilson reveals how the tide turned Flying high: Southampton are surpassing all expectations this season Photo: ACTION IMAGES By Jeremy Wilson When Mauricio Pochettino left Southampton in May, few could have imagined that the supposed sinking ship he was deserting would be more buoyant than Tottenham Hotspur by the time of Sunday's reunion at White Hart Lane. Can a club lose their chairman, their manager and five key players but emerge stronger? This is the extraordinary nine-month story of how Southampton's vision defied the pundits and overcame boardroom turmoil, broken promises and a dressing-room exodus. The morning of Monday, May 26, 2014, will not be easily forgotten inside St Mary's. Fifteen days earlier and Southampton had just recorded their highest Premier League finish of eighth but any joy at what had just gone was tempered by the uncertainty of what might lie ahead. The offer of an improved contract had sat unsigned on Mauricio Pochettino's desk for two months and Southampton were left waiting to discover whether he would stay. Headlines reporting Tottenham Hotspur's desire to approach him were across the national newspapers but Pochettino had been categorical. He did not want to join Tottenham. He just needed time to decide whether to stay at Southampton after the departure of chairman Nicola Cortese in January. By the meeting of May 26, he was finally ready. He wanted to leave. Pochettino was asked again about Tottenham. He reiterated that he was not intending to join Tottenham. Southampton's reaction was that they would move on but the issue of compensation needed addressing. If he was not quitting for another job, Pochettino's contract made him personally liable for £2 million, rather than his future employers. Pochettino left to digest that information and, shortly after, as if by magic, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy telephoned to make his first approach to Southampton. By the end of some heated negotiations over the compensation that was also due for Pochettino's backroom team, Tottenham had their man and Southampton had a cheque for about £2.5 million. Southampton did feel let down and misled but any sense of crisis was an emotion being felt outside rather than inside St Mary's. Les Reed, the club's football director, had already drawn up an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses and compatibility to Southampton's philosophy of six candidates. Ronald Koeman topped the list from the beginning to end of the subsequent process. As well as his track record for developing young players and the style of football that he would promote, Southampton also knew that the influence of restless senior players would mean that they needed a figurehead with instant dressing-room authority. When you are trying to persuade footballers to buy into a project being portrayed as in meltdown, it is handy to have someone with Koeman's CV arriving in the dugout. The preparation that had gone into the succession planning was just one consequence of a structure at Southampton that had underpinned a rise of 66 places up the Football League pyramid over the past five years. It was a structure that has also proved sufficiently robust to not just withstand the departure of the chairman, the manager and five leading players in the space of seven months but continue even to move forward. Southampton were ninth in the Premier League table when Cortese left. As they prepare to face Pochettino's Tottenham for the first time, they are second. The supposed sinking ship has been gathering buoyancy by the week. It has become easy to simply say that they are the story of the season and that their development of young players is an example to the world. What is rather less well understood is the specific strategies and infrastructure that have made this happen. The core reason is that the club's methods and intellectual property are not concentrated in any individual. In speaking at the Leaders in Football conference last October, Cortese raised eyebrows when he described Pochettino as "a department head like any other". The irony that was perhaps lost on Cortese is that this statement applied to himself as much as anyone else. Aside from Koeman and his first-team staff, there is essentially now a three-tiered structure. There is chairman Ralph Krueger, an expert in motivation and leadership who is the proxy to owner Katharina Liebherr. There is the chief executive Gareth Rogers and his team. Then there is the football development centre headed by Reed. If there have been heroes at Southampton in 2014, it has been Reed and a technical department that, from under-eights up to the first-team, have continued to implement a playing style and standards in coaching, medicine and analytics that are founded on best practice across the globe. Reed's travels in the past decade have taken him everywhere from the Royal Ballet and Barcelona's fabled La Masia academy to Bayern Munich and Nick Bollettieri's tennis school in Florida. Supported by the head of recruitment Paul Mitchell, Reed has stuck to his vision regardless of all the many dramas that were unfolding around him. You need spend only a few minutes at the club's £30 million training centre on the edge of the New Forest to sense the attention to detail. The 12 practice pitches vary in composition because Premier League clubs all use different turf. Each morning, the players take tests relating to how they feel, how well hydrated they are and how they have slept before even contemplating training. The emphasis is not on medical remedies but prevention. The club have various research collaborations outside of professional sport, including with Oxford University into hip and hamstring injuries. The end result has been a base that is not only continuing to produce players but is transforming the careers of established professionals who have arrived later in their careers. Nathaniel Clyne, Jay Rodriguez, Jack Cork, Steven Davis, Rickie Lambert and now Ryan Bertrand are prime examples. Inside Southampton's training centre is also what is known as the ‘black-box', a room where every game and player is analysed from leagues across the world. Comprehensive checks are then done into their personality, family, friends, lifestyle and training habits. Koeman and Reed already know the players they want to sign next summer. Huge credit for this structure also rests with Cortese. In using the investment of the late Markus Liebherr to rebuild the club following administration in 2009, his standards and demands stretched well beyond most normal comprehension. One staff member can recall how Cortese would keep changing the precise position of the walls inside the gym when it was being built. The turnover of employees was considerable. By the end, there was a feeling that this obsessive search for perfection had spiralled out of control and that he had got too involved on the football side of the club. The signings of Gaston Ramirez and Pablo Osvaldo had raised questions. Cortese's resistance to ceding control had made Liebherr nervous. She wanted to become more involved and, given that she was paying Cortese a salary that totalled £1,965,511 in his final full season, felt her requests were reasonable. Cortese thought that previous assurances were being reneged upon and the relationship collapsed. A rather more conventional structure has emerged. The directors set the budget and do not comment on football matters. Liebherr did not request that a single player be sold this summer but, after about £60 million in loans, she does want the club to become financially sustainable. They entered the transfer window with the attitude that nobody needed to leave but conscious that sales were inevitable as three of England's four Champions League clubs were prepared to pay big money for their players. The easiest deal was Lambert. Southampton respected his wish to join Liverpool, his boyhood club, and they were delighted to get £4 million for a player approaching the end of his career. They also felt Lambert behaved with complete respect. Adam Lallana was rather different. He had been with Southampton since the age of 12 and was the club captain. In winning four awards at the Player of the Year dinner, Lallana spoke publicly of how Southampton meant the world to him and suggested he wanted to stay. Liverpool's first offer arrived shortly after and, according to one source, Lallana "flipped like a burger" once he knew that they were in for him. Southampton then felt that Lallana behaved arrogantly in pushing to leave. For his part, it is understood that Lallana felt the club were not communicating with him about his future plans. The club waited until Koeman was in place and the World Cup was over before making final decisions and, after turning down several offers, agreed a £25 million fee with Liverpool. - Jeremy Wilson: Rating Saints' new players v sold players The Luke Shaw deal was similar but without the bad feeling. Manchester United's opening bid was £18 million. Southampton were happy to say ‘no' and confident that Shaw would not be a problem if he stayed. By the time the offer reached £28 million rising to £32 million, they felt almost obliged to say ‘yes' to Ed Woodward for player in whom they had their own concerns about diet, fitness and preparation. There was never any counter offer from Chelsea. The plan was that there would be no more sales but then Arsenal requested a meeting. Despite the expectation of a bid for Morgan Schneiderlin, Arsène Wenger was clear that he wanted Calum Chambers. Southampton's board remained reluctant to sell until both Koeman and Reed agreed that £16 million was a positive deal for a player regarded internally as the second choice right-back to Clyne. After Lallana, Dejan Lovren was the next biggest disappointment in how he pushed for his move and it was ultimately decided that £20 million for a player who had cost £8 million 12 months earlier was not such a disaster. Krueger would then come out publicly to say that no one else would be leaving. A £10 million bid had been made by Tottenham for Schneiderlin in the belief that he had a release clause. Schneiderlin thought this had been agreed with Cortese when he signed a contract extension the previous year. It left a difficult situation to manage but, after sounding off on Twitter, Schneiderlin met with Koeman and Krueger at the club's training ground. He was advised to think about how his career might be affected by any refusal to play. He was given two days off to clear his head, returned fully focused and has been Southampton's best player so far this season. Tottenham never returned with another bid once it become clear that there was no release clause. At no stage was Rodriguez the subject of an offer and nor did he ask to be kept informed of any interest. Although saying ‘no' to Schneiderlin was perceived as the turning point, the deals to sign Bertrand and Fraser Forster were regarded as the most pivotal inside the club. The outside perception of ‘meltdown' had caused reservations among some transfer targets. Yet once Bertrand and Forster arrived, other deals suddenly became easier to complete. The tide had turned. Graziano Pelle was recommended by Koeman. Bertrand, Forster, Toby Alderweireld, Shane Long, Florin Gardos and Sadio Mane had been long-term targets. Both Koeman and the club had already suggested Dusan Tadic. The feeling inside Southampton now is that the squad is stronger from top to bottom than at the start of the summer. The club's bank balance is also about £30 million healthier. Staff report that St Mary's is a happier place. There have been other subtle but important changes. The experiment with an all red kit has ended. The stripes are back. Certain club legends, notably Matthew Le Tissier and Francis Benali, feel welcome again at the stadium. Power at the top of the club is more evenly spread. Yet the best bits of Cortese's extraordinary tenure are acknowledged, safeguarded and being built upon. The infrastructure and culture of the club was transformed under his leadership but there is a sense that he also did not tap into other vast strengths of the club. This present run of six straight wins was beyond anybody's expectations. Equally, at no stage during the summer did Koeman and the board of directors think that the season would unravel. There are no delusions of grandeur. Southampton know that their revenues do not allow them to compete financially with the very best and they also recognise that, should their success continue, players and coaching staff will continue to be in demand elsewhere. That reality has even been discussed and the consensus is that they should embrace it as proof that they are continuing to get things right. For there is a wider aim. To be the most professional and best run football club in the country. Southampton's marketing slogan this season is simple: We March On. They have, and then some. See? dead easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essembeeofsunderland 811 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 That goal scored by the makem Henderson for Liverpool.He shot,Lambert moved out of the way close to the keeper , and the goal stood.Goufran did the same and it was ruled out. Danny Murphy on talkSHITE earlier having been asked whether Cahill's and Welbeck's tackles deserved red cards ` err.....i suppose going by the letter of the law....err.... i suppose so'. WTF does `going by the letter of the law' mean ? Both players left the ground and jumped in two footed you clown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew 4183 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 That goal scored by the makem Henderson for Liverpool.He shot,Lambert moved out of the way close to the keeper , and the goal stood.Goufran did the same and it was ruled out. Danny Murphy on talkSHITE earlier having been asked whether Cahill's and Welbeck's tackles deserved red cards ` err.....i suppose going by the letter of the law....err.... i suppose so'. WTF does `going by the letter of the law' mean ? Both players left the ground and jumped in two footed you clown. So by the letter of the law (in the common understanding of that phrase) they should and he was right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 26154 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 8947 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 That goal scored by the makem Henderson for Liverpool.He shot,Lambert moved out of the way close to the keeper , and the goal stood.Goufran did the same and it was ruled out. Danny Murphy on talkSHITE earlier having been asked whether Cahill's and Welbeck's tackles deserved red cards ` err.....i suppose going by the letter of the law....err.... i suppose so'. WTF does `going by the letter of the law' mean ? Both players left the ground and jumped in two footed you clown. Was "mackem" your first word? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trophyshy 6432 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 That would involve scoring goals but not conceding them. Don't you think your expectations are a little high you deluded Geordie twat? Deluded mackem afaic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 8947 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Seen the Chronicle are doing a live tweet of the Council meeting where they're discussing the new Training ground plans? I'll bet there'll be people glued to that mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClubSpinDoctor 0 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Looking forward to the dog wanker's book, I like him me, proper entertaining. Probably won't buy it given the best bits will be in the papers anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 26154 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClubSpinDoctor 0 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Definitely won't buy it given the best bits will be in the papers anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trophyshy 6432 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Being arrogant and deluded is a special mix, quite a tricky one to maintain in our stark perpetuity. Interesting to also note that the Geordie dialect is considered the most trustworthy in England and the people deemed amongst the warmest in these islands. What a bunch of absolute heed the baals we must be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 13954 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Being arrogant and deluded is a special mix, quite a tricky one to maintain Unless you're Scouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 He spent a lot of time in Sunderland to be fair to him. The disrespect we have for mackems might come across as arrogance to someone who's won stuff elsewhere like him, but for Mackems and Geordie's it's just the natural order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Carr's Gloves 3181 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 He is a cunt. Fyp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddockLad 14524 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 If I may quote from his first biography: "Newcastle, who's wonderful fans deserve a title, but not this one", referring to the March 1996 game at SJP where they beat us 0-1. What an ocean going cunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonatine 9938 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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