Last season it was not only on the pitch where the club seemed directionless, but also off it where they lacked any sort of cohesion or leadership, but now things have changed and we now seem to have a strategy and a plan.

A year ago things looked like they were getting on track as the Sport Republic era got underway, but the truth was that in the boardroom there was not a clean sweep and Martin Semmens and Toby Steel who had held the fort well for several years under Chairman Gao when the then owner was unable to invest in the club, struggled when they suddenly had money to invest.

This was not helped when the newly appointed Head of Recruitment Joe Shields was poached by Chelsea almost as soon as he had arrived.

But now things have changed, Sport Republic have now got their feet under the table and their own men into the important jobs of running the club.

In Jason Wilcox they have an experienced ex professional player who learned his off field trade at Manchester City in charge of the football side of things and Phil Parsons as Chief Executive Officer.

Parsons is not a man with a background in football, but that is not the main attribute needed for the CEO of a football club, it is about business and not football.

But it seems that both he and Wilcox are singing from the same hymn sheet and now the club have a co-ordinated strategy.

The stance on transfers is quite clear, that the club will not be browbeaten into letting players leave cheaply, they will not be blackmailed by either the potential buying club or for that matter the player themselves.

They know the price that the player is worth and will stand firm.

That has been proven by the pursuit of Tino Livramento by Newcastle United and also Romeo Lavia & James Ward Prowse by Liverpool & West Ham respectively.

In the case of Livramento the initial offer was only £12 million and as we stood firm it rose slowly until it reached an acceptable level, with £40 million being the mooted fee that the transfer will be completed for in the next day or so.

Phil Parsons has been speaking to the media about the club's stance, The Daily Echo have quoted his interview on BBC Radio Solent in which had this to say.

“We are looking at all options.

"I’m actually quite fortunate that I’ve come into a club that has 30 plus players and we don’t need 30 plus players.

“We are actually in a really good position to make sure that the finances balance out quite well.

“You do get hit substantially by being relegated.

"We can trim the squad and we can sell assets if that is what we want to do, but we won’t be selling assets on the cheap and that’s why we have stood firm on a few.

“We will develop a lot of players over the coming years I’m sure. There will be players who go on to top four clubs.

“But we won't be doing that at a cheap rate, we will be doing it at the going rate. If clubs want to place offers with us we will look at them, but we won’t just be saying yes to any offer that comes through the door."

The club are well aware of how the big clubs are not adverse to making paltry offers and using the desire of the player himself to join their club, to drive the transfer through at a lower rate.

But it seems now that the club is making it quite clear to not only the potential buying clubs, but also the players themselves of the strategy going forward.

When asked how the players have reacted to Saints' decision to hold out for the full valuation of their best assets, Parsons added:

“The players have been great.

“It’s been a new experience for me dealing with players and there are some really good lads in the squad.

“They all want to perform well on the pitch.

"I don’t think there’s a problem with the boys because Southampton is a great club and if you do well for Southampton and you deserve a move, maybe we will look at it.

“But let’s focus on Southampton first and then we will talk about other clubs second.”

This is good news and it seems to have worked in the Livramento dealings with Newcastle, there is of course a price for every player that the club would accept, but that is rarely if ever the opening offer from the club wishing to buy him.

Parson's interview came shortly after Jason Wilcox made similar comments to the media and it seems that the two men who essentially run both sides of the club, football & business are now determined to make sure the club is run in the right manner, not only that but they seem to know how to use the media to communicate with the fans.

Certainly this wasn't something that Martin Semmens and his team new how to do and even when they did, they struggled to connect with the fans and put their foot in it.

They weren't bad men, they weren't even bad business men, they just struggled to know the power of communication with football fans and how to use it.

No one has any problem with the fact that football transfers have always been about haggling , what the problem has been is when the offer made is quite frankly insulting.

This is not a new thing, back in 1992, Tottenham Hotspur made an offer for Neil Ruddock that was virtually the price they had sold him to Millwall for a year earlier and the price we had paid for a player who had not established himself in their first team

Spurs offered £250, 000, only £50 k more than the price they had sold him, this for a player who had now played over 100 top flight games in his 3 1/2 years at the Dell, it went to a tribunal where Spurs got their man for £750k, perhaps half of what he was actually worth, perhaps this set the precedent for the modern day transfer offer blueprint, Ruddock left Spurs for Liverpool after only a year for £2.5 million, that tells you something.

Photo: Action Images

kenchilds70 added 10:36 - Aug 7 Nice to see a strong stand against a big club, who are ignominiuos in their style of attaining players. ther FA is happy with this style of unsettling players and the financial buulying of its board. They must have tapped a player up to know the player wants a move, if what they print is true. If I wre in charge I would tell Liverpool unless they pay the right money today, I would cup tie him,,...blackmail? or forceful tactics

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Bowlercow added 11:13 - Aug 7 A number of fans wanted a root and branch reform of the backroom staff It maybe a year late but it has now happened Our job is now to get behind the reforms, the team and the manager Nore more booing if we are behind at half time or when we lose a game I am more hopeful than optimistic but it will be great going to a game with positive expectation rather than wondering how many we will lose by

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underweststand added 16:48 - Aug 7 More than 60 years as a Saints fan, and with rare exception (Chivers and Shearer maybe?) I've seen our players sold to big money clubs for peanuts and many deals included those dreadful part-exchange deals that off-loaded dross to us and stole nearly half the fee in the process. The lack of an effective sell-on clause after Gareth Bale's move to Real Madrid was a typical example of a " big club" taking us to the cleaners -yet again. AT LAST - we have a Board with some savvy in the transfer market, who know the real value of talented players and stick it. If players do move from us we should see some real profit on investment, and ensure that the best of them should bring us a suitable reward.

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Block8 added 17:08 - Aug 7 The size and ethos of our club means that we will sell players, to further their careers, that is what attracts the youngsters to sign for us. However it is great to see that we now will hold out for a decent fee! It's slightly different when a player is coming to the end of their contract, if they show no sign of resigning, that's a case of trying to get the best we can without losing them for nothing.

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IanRC added 17:16 - Aug 7 Re Ruddock, yes that the FA was corrupt apparently. Don’t be surprised that, if JWP goes to Spurs, he suddenly becomes a nailed on England player.
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