Cracking the top 4

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Starting XI - Lewis, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Barta, Chambers, Cataldi, Strootman, Insigne, Ward-Prowse, Lucas, Benteke.

Oh yes! a fantastic performance at St Mary's on the final day of the season saw us beat Manchester City for the first time in the 7 meetings that have occurred since I have been manager. Lorenzo Insigne scored his 5th goal in the last 4 games to get us going before Christian Benteke got our 2nd right on the brink of half time. City gave us a bit of a scare when Aguero got a goal back but we defended beautifully and saw the game out to end the season with 5 consecutive wins!
 
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Season Review​

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Chelsea are once again the Premier League champions as they take the crown on the final day of the season, beating United to it by just a single point. Unfortunately we didn't do quite enough to beat Arsenal to 5th place but 6th is something that everybody at the club can be really proud of. 6th Place is our highest finish in Premier League history, with 66 points being a record total for the club in the Premiership and the same going for or total of 20 wins which is the highest in the clubs history. We fell 3 agonizing points short of the Champions League so we will have to come back stronger next year. Heartbreak for Watford, Derby and Bournemouth as they make the drop down to the Championship.

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Some very strange decisions going on here that make me question if the fans actually watch the football we play. Ward-Prowse over Slattery or Wanyama? Benteke over Pelle? ludicrous! a well deserved player of the year award for Virgil Van Dijk and a young player of the year for Kenny Tete are sound decisions.

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The new board have obviously decided to back me this summer to see just how far we can actually go. with £45 mil to spend, plus 90% of whatever money we get in, plus almost £400k of spare wages per week, we can do some serious strengthening.
 
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SOMEHOW Tottenham have managed to win the Europa League under new boss Alex Neil. This means that Spurs diabolical season has actually been salvaged as they have won a place in next seasons Champions League along with the fancy silverware for the cabinet.
 
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Poor Mourinho really isn't having a very good time of it as he is sacked by Man City, despite winning the Capital One Cup, finishing runners up in the FA Cup, making it to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and finishing 3rd in the Premiership. Harsh?

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We also now know that it will be Brighton, Huddersfield and Wolves to join us in the Premier League.

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And Barcelona have won the Champions League, establishing their position as the best side in the world.
 
First up congratulations on your 6th place finish, very unlucky to miss out on Champions League football especially given the narrow margin. You've done a great job and you have steadily assembled quite a good team that is definately a force to be reckoned with, the City result being a good example of this. With the budget that you have been given and with a bit more luck you could actually get a top four spot next season... Really looking forward to seeing who you will bring into the club.
 
thejoshster said:
Looking forward to see who you buy with all that dosh m8 #top4
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Already got plenty of targets in mind :)

TheOtherSpecialOne said:
First up congratulations on your 6th place finish, very unlucky to miss out on Champions League football especially given the narrow margin. You've done a great job and you have steadily assembled quite a good team that is definately a force to be reckoned with, the City result being a good example of this. With the budget that you have been given and with a bit more luck you could actually get a top four spot next season... Really looking forward to seeing who you will bring into the club.
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Thanks man! I think the aim was to do it steadily but there comes a point when you need to make that final leap of faith and with the board giving me financial backing I am hoping thats going to be next season!
 
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Our first transfer dealings of the summer have been completed!


IN - ANTHONY MARTIAL - £25m​

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Anthony Martial has signed from Manchester United in a deal worth £25 million which includes £10 million to be paid in instalments. The Frenchman is still only 22 years old and has a huge future ahead of him according to my scouts who informed me I could get him on a cut price deal. He is our first player to break the £100k a week wage barrier as he will be earning £115k a week but hopefully he can repay a lot of that with some goals.

OUT - CHRISTIAN BENTEKE - £20m​

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To make Martials move make any sort of sense we needed to lose a striker, and as Pelle has been in better form and is worth less, I decided to cash in on Benteke. The big Belgian has been in patchy form since joining for us and managed 14 goals in his 37 appearances last year. We managed to fleece Tottenham for £20 million for the hitman which almost instantly makes our money back that we spent on Martial, and his £72k in wages off the books is good news for our finances.
 
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In another very busy summer for the club there have been plenty of ins and outs. As I am sure most of you are aware, Southampton is and always has been a selling club. This has such a negative connotation put on it by the press but I feel that it is a necessary part of both football and business. Every player has a price and we always have a shortlist of potential replacements for any player in the squad. With this in mind, some of the sales that were made this summer might seem a little strange but are part of a larger plan.

PLAYERS OUT

James Ward-Prowse - Liverpool - £30 million​

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The lad had been complaining for a while about wanting to leave for Champions League football and with Slattery and Hesketh now established in the first team I decided now was the time to give him his wish. Liverpool came calling and I talked them up to a handsome £30 million. Thankyou for your service James!

Jay Rodriguez - Villareal - £6.25 million
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Ever since his wonderful first season, Jay has been plagued by injury and poor form and I finally decided enough was enough and pulled the trigger, authorising his sale to Villareal for a fairly meagre £6.25 mil, more money in the bank and wages off the books.

Matt Targett - Watford - £3.8 mil
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Matt has been Ryan Bertrands understudy for a long time now and has not made significant progress. He is a good and solid player but with better prospects coming through the academy, we came to the realisation that he just wasn't going to make it here. Best of luck for the future Matty.

Victor Wanyama - Atletico - £13 mil​

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Big Vic is a class act but was reckless last season, picking up 20 yellow cards in all competitions and getting 3 straight reds. Along with this his contract demands are getting too high for a player of his standard so we authorised his sale, blocking a move to Aston Villa in favour of sending him out of the country where he shouldnt be able to hurt us.

Ryan Bertrand - Spezia - £6 mil​

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This was perhaps the hardest call we had to make. Ryan is a very good left back. He is consistent, quick, good both offensively and defensively and has incredible stamina, the only problem is that he is not a world class player. Everybody at the club has huge affection for Ryan but we have to put our sentiment to one side and look at it with our business minds. Ryan had one year left on his contract and wanted a wage hike to stay which we are not overly interested in doing. We made the hard decision to sell. Good luck Ryan!
 
Dude are you Crazy!?!

You sold some of your best players! Who are you gonna get! :p
 
Well those are definately some massive losses but they did bring a lot of money. Given that you already had an impressive budget to work with I'm expecting to see some real fireworks coming up...
 
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So with the loss of so many first team names in the transfer market, this was going to be a really important period of spending for the club and we had to make sure we did it right and did our scouting thoroughly.

TRANSFERS IN


Jack Grealish - Aston Villa - £22 mil​

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With the departure of Jay Rodriguez and James Ward-Prowse, we needed a new presence in the side that could play on either wing. Jack is right footed so can play as a right winger or a left inside forward, he is young, English, hungry to improve and most important was available at a reasonable price. Other players I pursued included Nathan Redmond but Norwich priced me out of a move. Welcome Jack!

Lucas Digne - PSG - £22 mil​

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Lucas is coming in as a direct replacement for Ryan Bertrand and will take over the first team left back position. Lucas is still just 25 years old and has 16 French caps to his name. Hugely talented and influential, Lucas has the pace, stamina and defensive ability to run the left wing for the whole game.

Jonathan Tah - Bayern - £23 mil​

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Jonathan Tah joins us from German champions Bayern and will provide increased competition for the centre back position. 22 Years old, he already has some seriously impressive physical attributes and stands at 6'4 tall. That coupled with his strength of 19 will hopefully see him become a beast of a defender.

Thiago Maia - Santos - £9.25 mil​

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Wanyama's replacement comes in the form of Brazilian superstar Thiago Maia. At only 21 years of age, he already had some stunning attributes and will be the perfect foil for either Strootman or Slattery in midfield. Fast and strong, with great vision and a tireless work ethic, he is going to fit right in!

Ron Whiteman - Promoted from youth academy ​

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Ron Whiteman has been promoted from the academy to replace Matt Targett in the first team and act as an understudy to Lucas Digne. Ron had a really impressive season out on loan at Dundee FC last season in the Scottish Premiership and I feel he is ready for some more responsibility.

Josh Barry - Promoted from youth academy​

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This lad has so much potential its unreal. The next Jake Hesketh will take his place in the first team squad and challenge Tadic, Lallana and Hesketh himself for a place in the first team.
 
Looks like Ron Whiteman should be a CB instead of a LB with that tackling stat :)
 
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