07 Jun 2016 13:00:53
Everton fan coming in peace here.

I was just curious to get the view of you saints fans - how much of your recent success do you think RK is responsible for?

From the outside, it strikes me as though the good work done is largely down to the fantastic structure you have in place behind the manager. It's why you've been able to change managers and staff in the past few years and keep progressing as if nothing has changed. My worry from an Everton point of view is that RK has been given a lot of credit for the work done by others behind the scenes. What do you guys think?

The DoF model that you have (and we're trying to put in place) is based on taking importance away from the manager/ head coach. It is implemented knowing that a manager won't usually stick around for >3years and so when a change is made then it doesn't impact the club like Ferguson leaving Utd. It's a model that you guys implement so well.

I happen to think that your success is down to the club, not the manager. And it's this reason why you'll be fine again next season and be challenging top 6/ 8 again.

1.) 07 Jun 2016
07 Jun 2016 13:20:21
Good post southern toffee and agree with many of your points but one thing is paramount in a football club . Stability, we have good players and a great structure as a club but you can't keep dismantling it every year without sooner or later cracks appearing . The PL has been a strange league this past season and let's not forget with about 12 games left we were pretty mediocre . I just worry that with RK going that some of the better players will use it as a strong reason to follow him out of the door.

2.) 07 Jun 2016
07 Jun 2016 13:32:27
Considering pelle and tadic and clasie and van dijk
Came hear is because of koeman and Toby
So in truth when our board got greedy and sold a half of a team
koeman was the saviour
And before that we had a good squad that had played together for along time and Adkins one strong point was the team spirit a belief he did good buy use so when poch came in he agreed with players that they should go for it and brought the pressing game too so momentum and good team did well for Adkins and pochintino
But where Koeman stood out was
He came hear with a dismantled team got a few players in that only came becuase of him and got the to perform so well not one fan could say they where in belief
If you have now got keoman
I actually see Everton being in the top 5 if not 4
Good luck keoman and Everton
The rest of the saints fans will target there anger at the right people in about 2-3 years after they wake up.

3.) 07 Jun 2016
07 Jun 2016 13:48:42
Many thought Koeman was 'lucky' that all the new signings made gelled quickly in his first season when we finished 8th with a record points tally. Bearing in mind he brought in a whole new coaching team too - Erwin, Sammy Lee and Dorset's Uncle - we can't have been that lucky. It must have been good coaching.

He's very calm and measured with a 'seen it / done it' vibe about him. I'm sorry to see him go as I really thought he was old skool in so much as honouring contracts etc, but that's football and we must move on. The only negative, and this is only coming out now that he's off, is that he alienated a few players and some felt that whatever they did, he wouldn't pick them - but that could probably be said for all managers.

Plus he only integrated one player from the academy (Targett) and others, notably Reed, didn't get a look in and he publicly said the only academy player close to the first team was Targett, which surprised a few of us as we're supposed to have a good academy.

4.) 07 Jun 2016
07 Jun 2016 22:39:31
Disagree with some of the stuff on this post - yes we got some good players in but have we really been that good under Koeman? I think most off it comes from how the club is run and the fact that we don't break wage structures and spend massive transfer fees. Southampton are the fastest growing football brand in the world FACT! and that is not down to Koeman. despite what people say certain members of our board and back Room staff one think you can be assured of is that Southampton have it right off the field - need a Manager in that can promote the youth - the only criticism I do have of our club is that we haven't expanded our ground - if we want to be taken as a big club then surely we need to think big and get more people into the ground _ I am not saying we have to go to 50k plus but getting close to 40k would be a start.

5.) 08 Jun 2016
08 Jun 2016 02:34:54
That's the problem mate the only real good reason to build stadium bigger would be ambition
Our board (kath £) don't won't that just like she didn't want a striker when we were in top four at jan February
And just like she didn't want cortese to spend.