According to some Saints were going to go into complete meltdown back in January and then again five minutes after the season finished, Saints fans need to keep calm and carry on.
There are those out there who want to see Saints fail, the news stories with the word meltdown in them have been numerous, articles linking our players to other club's plentiful and all this hasn't been helped by our ex Chairman's recent interview, but almost two weeks after the season has ended and the transfer window being open has seen nothing other than hot air in the papers and panic amongst some sections of our support.
The Cortese interview was sad to see, sad because you would have hoped that the man would keep quiet and wish his old club well, this doesn't look like being the case and his message that no players would have left under him does nothing other than incite, the fact is that we will never know if that would have been the case, under him we were only really tested once and that saw Alex Oxlade Chamberlain leave the club so anything else is merely speculation, would his presence in the Saints boardroom now have stopped Man Utd allegedly bidding for Shaw or Liverpool bidding for Lallana as he is insinuating would have been the case ? he would truly have been the first man in football to do that if it had of been.
There are those out there who are now interpreting every transfer story as proof that Ralph Krueger and his new board do not know what they are doing, well so far they haven't done too badly in that they have just been getting on with their business quietly, pretty much in the same way that Cortese did to his credit, however for some Saints fans that is not good enough and they see the club's silence as proof that clandestine deals are being done and the current board lacks ambition.
That theory has no foundation, the absolute truth is that we have exactly the same ambition as we have had at any time during the last 4 years and that is the ambition of Katharina Liebherr, yes our public face was that of Nicola Cortese, but the fact is that as an employee he could never set the ambitions of the Club only Katharina Liebherr could do that.
So those ambitions remain in tact, so far neither she or her representatives have given any indication as to their intentions other than building up the business, if she was not interested in the club then surely she would not have put so much time and effort into it as she has done, she has made her presence felt by being publicly seen at most games and showing that she is on the bridge of the ship so to speak.
With regard to players leaving, this is no indication of ambition at all, the words Champions League Qualification were bandied about last season, but the words had no substance, our ex Chairman liked to give the impression that if you said the right words and did certain things then there could only be one result, but we all know that in football that is not the case, im mathematics may be, if you put 5 + 5 into a calculator then as long as you have pressed the right keys it will always make 10, in football that is not the case, spending more money than your competitors never guarantees success.
Selling has always been the name of the game in football, that has always happened even at the biggest clubs, ambition is about getting that selling process right and using the money wisely, no team is built on one player it is built on having strength in all departments and that sometimes means getting a big transfer fee for a player that weakens one position in order to strengthen others, of course in an ideal world you keep all your best players and still buy more, but this is not an ideal world.
So I re iterate we have to give Katherina Liebherr, Ralph Krueger etc a chance, when and only when players leave and others come in can we start to assess how well they are doing, up till then everything is just supposition, exactly the same as whether Nicola Cortese would have lived up to his boasts that the sale of anyone would not have happened on his watch.
Before we start dreaming of the Champions League we should be thinking of stability, two seasons back in the Premier does not yet give us any stability as Norwich found out recently, 8th does not guarantee mid table next season as West Brom found out, we have to build the foundations before we build the house otherwise like Portsmouth found out, it all just collapses around you.
So Saints fans should now get behind the current board, realise that in modern football if a player wants to go then he will go, whoever the club is, that is the nature of the game im afraid, we should now look to what we can achieve, rather than what we were told that we could, as supporters we need to ask ourselves the question, do we want to see the club continue forwards or do we want to bicker so much that we help bring its downfall.
For me its always been about the Club, whoever is in charge, the supporters are the club, owners and players come and go, but the supporters remain, in fact the only thing certain in a football club is that the players will leave, the only question is when.
In football its a marathon not a sprint, ambition should always be long term rather than as in the case of our friends down the road who just over four years ago were still playing Premier Football
So the message to Saints fans is ignore the press its going to be an uncomfortable summer, that is for sure, but if you want to see success show the board that you want it, buy the season tickets fill the ground, show Katharina Liebherr what this club means to you, don't expect her to put her hand in her pocket if you won't put your hands in yours.
If you do that then you have every right to demand excellence from the owner and board, but if you don't then the person with lack of ambition is not Katharina Liebherr