THE RISE AND FALL OF THE UNDERDOG

No sooner had the 2013/14 season reached a thrilling climax, had the inevitable transfer and management merry-go-round begun to enter full swing. Clubs are scrapping to get negotiations done and deals reached before the World Cup begins or be left with considerably less time to bed in new additions when the tournament finishes in mid-July.

Much like last summer there will plenty of activity this summer and with the likes of Manchester United and Barcelona already appointing new managers in Louis van Gaal and Luis Enrique, these men will be looking to put their stamp on their sides, with United seemingly needing significant investment in order to become a real force in English football once again.

As well as United and Barca, other usual suspects will splash huge sums with the usual disregard for Financial Fair Play implications (see Manchester City and PSG) and in turn further inflate an extremely overpriced market.

But while Europe's elite continue to throw extortionate sums around, they do so at the detriment of the smaller clubs around Europe, going about things in an honest way and threatening to compete through hard work.

While Southampton haven't quite had enough in their squad to compete for major honours, they have exceeded all expectations under Mauricio Pochettino and after an impressive 14th place finish in their first season back in the top flight, have seen their stock rise once again by climbing to eighth this time around.

More impressively, the Saints have done so with a core of young English talent. Lets not ignore the fact the Southampton have spent almost £70million in the past two years, and with the signings of Dani Osvaldo and Gaston Ramirez aside (over a third of the overall sum being spent on these two players) money has been invested wisely. Players like Dejan Lovren and Vincent Wanyama were smart additions this summer along with the likes of Jay Rodriguez and Nathaniel Clyne last summer who have added much stability to an already talented young squad at St Mary's.

But while the Saints have become one of the neutral's favourites over the past few years with their exciting brand of football, and exciting talents like Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw and Morgan Schneiderlin things are about to take a sharp turn for the worst.

It came as no shock to anybody that Tim Sherwood lost his job as Tottenham manager this summer and although many expected Frank de Boer to take the job, Daniel Levy eventually gave Pochettino the nod and in an even more surprising move did so with a five year contract.

With question marks hanging over the future of some of Southampton's young stars already, the departure of their manager fuelled speculation even more over their exits with Lallana and Shaw in particular heading inevitably to one of the country's top clubs.

Rickie Lambert was soon to follow Pochettino out of the club securing a dream move to Liverpool who had released him some 17 years previous for a fee of £4 million. The sale of Lambert will have less impact on the Saints, and while they will be said to see him go given his service and impact he has had on club since arriving from Bristol Rovers in 2009, nobody will begrudge Lambert the chance to join his boyhood club. While the deal is more of a favour to Lambert, it also raises a sum of money which would not often be expected of a English 32-year-old and could rise even further.

The inevitable sales of Lallana and Shaw will be what worries Saints fans more, despite the £55million plus they can expect to receive for their young talents. While the money will give the club a chance to reinvest significantly in their squad, they will be losing not only their captain in Lallana, but their spine and the driving force behind the squad in the trio.

Southampton have an exceptional youth setup and have been unable to hold onto their prized assets in the past with the likes of Theo Walcott, Gareth Bale and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all moving on to pastures new. With Lallana and Shaw heading for the exit door and the lure of the Premier League's elite, it could only be a matter of time before other promising up and comers such as Nathaniel Clyne, James Ward-Prowse, Callum Chambers and Sam Gallagher have done enough themselves to force the club to cash in.

Clubs such as Southampton have shown that a smaller club can impress and still make a name for themselves through a core of domestic talent but unfortunately will be ripped apart without the reputation of the top 5, or the financial clout of those backed by rich tycoons.

But this isn't only a problem with teams like Southampton, clubs who threaten to succeed and compete with the biggest names in their country suffer the consequences all over Europe and sometimes on a much grander scale. This season, Atletico Madrid secured their first La Liga title since 1996 and almost completed an audacious double only to be beaten by their city rivals in the final of Europe's elite competition. This was also achieved on a wage budget smaller than that of Championship side, QPR (for any football fan left who hadn't yet received this news).

But instead of looking like they will be viable option to defend their title next season and cement a firm place within the elite of Spanish football, it already seems like their squad will be ripped apart by Europe's alpha-male predators. Atleti's prized asset and top-scorer Diego Costa seems on the brink of a £32million switch to Chelsea, while the likes of Koke, Joao Miranda and Filipe Luis are all being touted for big money moves, with Barcelona, Manchester United and Chelsea just some of the likely destinations.

David Villa has already left to sign a lucrative contract with soon to be MLS outfit New York City and Tiago edges closer towards a free transfer back to Stamford Bridge. Again while many of these deals would give Atleti a significant sum to outlay on new faces, they lose the togetherness of a spirited squad most of whom languished in mediocrity before the belief injected by Diego Simeone following his appointment in December 2011.

In that same year of 2011, Borussia Dortmund overcame the defending champions and German powerhouse Bayern Munich to seal the first of two consecutive Bundesliga titles. That season, Jurgen Klopp had brought in astute signings in Robert Lewandowski and Shinji Kagawa costing the 1997 Champions League winners a combined sum of around £4 million. Ilkay Gundogan followed the next summer for a similar fee and with that, so did another title, with Dortmund quickly becoming one of Europe's most promising sides.

But despite establishing themselves as a real European force, highlighted even more so by them reaching the 2013 Champions League Final - losing a close game to fierce rivals Bayern - their team would start to move in a similar direction. Shinji Kagawa, arguably Dortmund's best player over those two title winning season's left for England and Manchester United, and despite replacing him with their former academy player, Marco Reus (re-signed after a successful stint at Monchengladbach) Dortmund have been unable to regain their domestic crown.

To make matters worse for the "Football hipster's" favourite side, the lure of Bayern Munich became too much for some of the Dortmund players with their academy star and golden boy Mario Gotze's £35million transfer announced just the day before the sides were due to meet in that European Cup final.

Just like that, Dortmund would begin to lose some of the stars who had made the club, for a period, the best club in Germany. This is not such an unfamiliar concept however, with the Bavarian club having made it something of a routine to take the Bundesliga's finest talent, particularly when it threatens their stranglehold over the nation. Bayer Leverkusen had reached the Champions League final in 2002, but still lost Michael Ballack and Ze Roberto to Bayern that summer. Leverkusen's threat ceased with the departure of such key figures and they slumped to 15th in the table the next season, with defender Lucio following in the footsteps of Ballack and Ze Roberto in 2004.

Sure as anything, Dortmund's woes haven't ended with the loss of Gotze. Robert Lewandowski has moved to the Allianz this summer on a free transfer, whilst Europe's predators continue to be linked with not only Jurgen Klopp, now one of the most sought after managers in Europe, but also key figures such as Bender, Gundogan, Reus and Hummels.

Dortmund have already invested wisely this summer, bringing in Adrian Ramos from Hertha Berlin and last season's Serie A top goalscorer Ciro Immobile to fill the void left by Lewandowski, but they may be powerless to stop their other key figures from following the Pole out of Signal Iduna Park's exit door.

While this summer will yet again prove exciting and eventful in the transfer window for Europe's elite and richest clubs, it will do so at the expense of some of those who we love to watch the most. The humble sides who don't splash around money handed to them by a rich Sugar Daddy who use a football club as their latest play thing. Which begs the question that without huge financial backing, where will Europe's next elite side come from? Gone are the days of a talented manager like Brian Clough being able to drag a team like Nottingham Forest up from the Second Division to European Cup winners within a number of years.

Loyalty seems to be an extremely rare commodity in football nowadays, and with money and sponsorships and huge contracts becoming such a huge part of the game, we may not see another underdog like an Atletico or a Dortmund turn themselves into top, consistent European force now as they will be ripped apart of the seams and stripped of anything and anyone the big boys can take for themselves. All because they have the audacity to compete.

Fergie time's long up, but Moyes' time never really came around

I love my club and will always support them no matter what. All the success that Manchester United have had over past 25 years or so was never going to last forever we all know that and that is something we all knew we would have to get used to. Six Alex Ferguson's retirement was a day we all knew was coming, but not something anybody really expected to come about when it did.

With a weakening squad, Fergie bowed out at the end of the 12/13 season possibly due to the fact that he realised that his current squad would not have another title in them and another rebuilding process would be one more long term project that he was not willing to take on.

Lots of names were banded around for the job which eventually fell to David Moyes, who was handed a 6-year contract showing the long-term ambition of the club. Moyes was after all the longest serving manager in the Premier League after Ferguson and Wenger who had enjoyed 11 moderately successful years at Everton.

Let's be realistic, you'll struggle to find many United fans who would have expected us to win the league in Moyes' first season, but a title challenge should for a club of our stature be a minimum.

Things never really got going and from the off set off on a frantic bid to win the fans around with a marquee signing. While the summer Wayne Rooney saga I'm sure won't have helped his cause, the circus surrounding the summer transfer chase was laughable. While I admired the fact we were chasing players of the calibre of Cesc Fabregas, the public admissions of transfer offerings (followed by inevitable snubs) was not the kind of confidence booster we needed.

Eventually we panicked at the idea of signing nobody and settled on Marouanne Fellaini.... I'll leave that one.

While fans got behind Moyes, many were quick to get on his back. It became clear fairly soon into the season that a title challenge was not going to be a realistic aim, but that's ok, its the post-Fergie rebuilding time. We will take 3rd and address things from there.

The #MoyesOut gang were out in their forces before too long, a clan which seemed to increase in members by the week. While I was always keen to give the new man a chance and give him the opportunity to turn things around patience seems to be at an end.

While I admire the fact that the United board took advice from Ferguson on who would replace him and saw his long stint at Everton as another opportunity for longevity at the club, the gamble hasn't paid off. While there were other options out there, (Yes Guardiola accepted the Bayern job well in advance, but surely Fergie knew he would be off at the end of the year) a manager was brought in who had done well at Everton, but was used to doing so with no budget.

With all due respect to David Moyes, he was always going to struggle to bring in the big names, while the prospect of playing for Manchester United or Sir Alex Ferguson may have been enough to lure players in the past, but players on the continent would hardly have been queuing up to play for Moyes.

Fair play to Moyes, he's come in and given it a go and who would blame him, but the differences this season to what we are used to is astounding and not one anybody could have really predicted. His interviews are baffling, and while our Champions League campaign was the only small ray of light this season this was constantly referred to by the Scot as something which "We're really enjoying playing in and want to carry on doing so."

"We're really enjoying playing in and want to carry on doing so."

Enjoying? Interviews like this made Moyes sound like he had won a competition to play in the Champions League (maybe he had), he was not referring to this as something which we have come to see as normality. And now we won't be next season.

I am by no means a fickle Manchester United fan. In fact I am very realistic and like I said, I will always support my team no matter what. While this season has been a disaster, far more so than anybody have expected, the blame can not completely be laid at Moyes door. When your player of the season by a mile is your goalkeeper, you know things aren't going well. The players have not performed, senior players like Vidic and Evra have looked out of sorts and our general play has been lacklustre. With the attacking talent in the team it's quite incredible how we can have so much possession and create so few clear cut chances.

But while the players have under-performed, the manager is there to address that. It's no use listing the unwanted records Moyes has tallied this season, but from 1st in the table to struggling for 7th place is an extra-ordinary fall from grace.

The players seem completely unmotivated, and while I've always been behind him and will be as long as he is at the club, it's painfully obvious that Moyes is not that man to inspire. While other clubs have strengthened their squads, so have we spending £70million this season on Mata and Fellaini. While our squad is not what it once was, it is better than last season, when we were Champions. While we weren't strong last year we had a winning mentality. We had a never say die attitude. We had belief. Players would have been scared to go back to the dressing room on the back of a shocking performance knowing the rollocking that would have come their way were they to do so.

Let's look at Liverpool for example. Brendan Rodgers may have led his side to 7th place in his first season, but due to those who had come before him, this wasn't a complete disaster. Liverpool were playing at around that level and had hired an intelligent manager who played an exciting brand of football. It pains me to see Liverpool doing so well and will hurt even more so when they inevitable clinch the title, a title which they realistically had no right to win. On paper perhaps at the start of the season you'd have said their squad wasn't up to it, but they have played by far the best and most exciting football this season and will deserve the title. The players believe in their manager and play well for him, without them having to spend the £100m + which you would have thought they would have needed to this season to compete.

And there lies the difference. While Moyes may be a nice guy and a promising manager in many ways, maybe this step up was just too much. But why give him the opportunity to build a new squad and one, two or even three new transfer windows to overhaul the squad if he's not the man to lead them forwards afterwards? Why give him the money to spend a fortune on players who again struggle to be motivated by their manager?

While a 6 year contract was optimistic and done with good intention ( I was fooled, I was happy with the choice and happy with the belief instilled in the new man) perhaps it has reached a time where you have to assess what is in front of you and address something before it gets worse. Of course Fergie's early days weren't always easy, but in there you saw a passionate manager with experience of winning trophies who could encourage the team and put the fear of god into them at the same time.

Patience is thin, belief is thin so reluctantly, #MoyesOut.