Duo leave Saints with best wishes

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Ask any Southampton fan what they feel the key traits are of being a supporter of our club and I guarantee one will keep cropping up – the ability to continually expect the unexpected.

We all know that football in the 21st century is governed by regular change nowadays. You can’t get too comfortable with anything for too long – especially when things are going well.

But no-one over the last few years seems to have had change inflicted on them more than Southampton FC has. Some has been self-inflicted by the club whilst some has been very much due to the decision-making of individuals themselves.

Off the pitch Nicola Cortese decided to leave his role as Chairman in January 2014. Mauricio Pochettino then decided in May 2014 that he’d leave his role at Saints and head to the managers’ graveyard that is Tottenham Hotspur.

On the pitch, 3 players that have played a significant role in our recent success – Rickie Lambert and Luke Shaw amongst them, decided that their futures lie further afield. Lambert joined Liverpool while Luke Shaw signed a multi-million deal with Manchester United.

Lambert’s move to Liverpool, whilst disappointing, came with the blessing of most Southampton fans who appreciated all he had done for Saints and that this was his chance to finish his career at a Club that he supported as a boy and meant so much to him. No hard feelings towards a Club legend!

Luke Shaw had been linked with Manchester United for almost the same amount of time that he’d been playing in our first team. In the end, fresh off the back of a successful appearance in the World Cup for England, the deal finally happened. Although nothing was officially released by either Saints or Manchester United, transfer figures have been quoted between £27m and £31m with add-on’s.

Ultimately, for an 18 year-old who had played one full season in the Premier League, it was a good deal for both Clubs and, from what I’ve gathered on a variety of social media channels, there again are no real hard feelings from the Saints end towards Shaw.

Oh, and of course Adam Lallana left as well.

Alongside the above there are strong rumours that others want to leave Saints – Morgan Schneiderlin and Dejan Lovren being the main two.

Lovren has apparently decided after just one season with Saints – who plucked him from relative obscurity at Lyon and gave him a chance in the Premier League – that he is now far too good to remain with us as well and will do all he can to force a move to happen. I expect him to leave imminently.

I think the Saints hierarchy feels that they can convince Schneiderlin to at least give it one more season and, as he is still away with France in the World Cup, probably don’t need to panic too much about that situation. There have also been some people, myself included, saying that he’d be an excellent replacement as captain of the team. Watch this space on Morgan I guess.

But enough of the ‘negatives’, what about the more important positives. There is a lot more of those than people outside of Southampton FC like to think.

First things first, we’ve accrued nearly £60m this week in transfer sales. Les Reed has promised that this money will be fully re-invested back in the team to try to replace the players that have left and also add some further quality acquisitions as well.

There was already an expected £30m for Koeman to spend on new purchases so, if Reed is correct in what he says, then there should be a fantastic transfer kitty available of near on £100m.

Players that have already been linked with Saints include Feyenoord striker Graziano Pelle, talented FC Twente winger Dusan Tadic, Cardiff goalkeeper David Marshall and, maybe more of an outside option, Belgium midfielder Alex Witsel. All or any of those would be good signings for the Club in my opinion.

Secondly, Koeman and his coaching team itself.

This week Ronald, his brother Erwin and the fitness coach Jan Kluitenberg, have been joined by two excellent additions to the backroom staff – former Liverpool coach Sammy Lee and current England goalkeeping coach Dave Watson.

Both these two have substantial experience of working within the English game and should be able to offer a lot of support to Koeman and his team both in working with the current group of players, highlighting new players that might compliment the team and also, maybe most importantly, on the set-up needed against certain oppositions and players in the Premier League.

I was delighted to see both Lee and Watson join Saints and I think they will work as part of a very smart and dedicated team which will ultimately improve Saints standing even more than Pochettino et al did.

Thirdly, the remaining playing staff itself.

Whatever has happened with players leaving the facts are that we still have a very talented group of players left.

As is the Southampton way we have a number of superb young players coming through the ranks into the first team – look out for the likes of Harrison Reed, Matty Targett and Sam Gallagher more regularly this season.

We also still have numerous more established young players in the group – players including Jack Cork, Victor Wanyama, Nathaniel Clyne, Jay Rodriguez, Gaston Ramirez and Calum Chambers – and we also have experienced heads like Jose Fonte, Steven Davis and Artur Boruc.

The point is that we have the core of a very very good side who can compete to a high level in the Premier League every week and that’s without any new additions yet added.

Finally, the new training complex at Staplewood.

The new £30m training facility at Staplewood (near the New Forest) is almost 100% complete and will be top of the range in all areas from day-to-day player training to rehabilitation.

Not only will it mean that the current playing staff have a world-class facility to train in, but it should also help in a big way to attract world-class players to the club as well.

In conclusion there is still plenty to be positive about as a Saints fan. Lots of teams up and down England, probably all around Europe, would swap places with us if given the chance.

Yes we need to rebuild a little bit on the pitch but I really do think it’s going to be a case of taking a small step backwards to take two large steps forward. I believe that Koeman and his team will deliver success to the Club and that we will continue to do it in the stylish way we have to date.

Saints fans are very loyal and we follow our team through thick and thin. We’ll all be supporting Saints on the opening day of the season and we’ll all be there supporting them on the final day too – wherever we are in the league!

More importantly we’ll very much continue to expect the unexpected because that’s the way Southampton FC works these days. That said, it doesn’t always have to be a negative issue does it!

By Ben Stanfield, Fanzone’s Southampton Blogger. Follow him on Twitter: @benstanners, and don’t forget to follow <a href="http://www.twitter.com/fanzone" target="_blank"