Over the past Summer, Southampton Football Club has experienced so many different feelings and emotions. Shock, Sadness, Bitterness and even Anger, too much negativity and not enough virtues. Not enough Integrity or honour, but one word that springs to mind immediately, that so few have shown, is loyalty. One player loyalty came natural  to Guilherme do Prado Raymundo, or just simply Guly.

Guly invested his faith in this club many moons ago, 4 years and one day ago to be precise, At the time the club found themselves sat in League One, the third rung of the English football ladder. He departed from far more radiant climates. Cesena, The Cavallucci Marini, simply the seahorses in English, had just gained Serie A status for the first time in 14 years. Guly walked away from the opportunity to play at some of the worlds most iconic stadiums, against some of the worlds best players, to play in the same team as Dan Seaborne and visit Hartlepool’s Victoria Park on bone chilling Tuesday nights.

He bought into Markus Liebherr and Nicola Cortese’s “5 Year Plan”, to reach the Premier League. The “Plan” was rapidly accelerated and Guly was a Premier League striker in just 2 years. 103 appearances later Guly has left the club after a 4 year spell with The Saints, earning him cult hero status with the fans. I sat down with him to discuss his time at the club.

OWTS: So Guly, after 4 fantastic seasons at the club, you’ve moved on, do miss it.

GDP: Yes, deeply.

OWTS: Who made the decision not to renew your contract? Was it Mauricio, Krueger, Les Reed?

GDP:  I’m not really sure; I think it was the club as a whole. I had an incredible 4 years there but   everything has to come to an end.

OWTS: What will you miss the most about playing for The Saints?

GDP: The fans, they were absolutely amazing to me! They stuck by me through thick and thin but also the players, Jose, Morgan, Corky, Jay, Ward (Prowse), Maya, Boruc, Gaston all the players who played with me in my time there, we had a fantastic group.

OWTS: Which coach did you enjoy playing under most at Southampton?

GDP: I think Adkins and Mauricio were both fantastic coaches, they both were very similar in their styles, but had very different minds. Can I have 2? Sorry.

OWTS: Adkins because you played more under him or because of his ability as a coach?

GDP: No his ability as a manager, he was fantastic.

OWTS: This Summer, was a summer of change, were you disappointed to see so many players depart?

GDP: Yes I was, we had a great foundation for something very special but thats football.

OWTS: Would you say we were in a better position now or before the transfer window?

GDP: Everything changed, players changed, managers changed and ideas changed, so its difficult to compare the two seasons. right now I can’t really say.

OWTS: Whats your thoughts on Morgan’s situation?

GDP: I speak to Morgan a lot about life, not really about football, but I think he’s happy to stay and see what happens at the club, for now.

OWTS: Whats next for your career as a footballer?

GDP: I want to still play football for as long is possible because I love it.

OWTS: In England, Italy, or back home in Brazil?

GDP: England, its the best football in the world.

There we have it. What a hero.

A Summer Of Change: Part 2
What a summer it has been for Southampton FC. We’ve appointed an internationally known gaffe, who believes Saints are on course for another Top 10 finish, and maybe even a pop at Europe. We’ve brought in over 100 Million pounds for an ageing striker an overhyped one season-wonderkid, a injury prone diva and our second choice RB, We’ve replaced them with England GK’s, Champion League Winners and some of statistics most talked about, oh and did I mention we’ve got our stripes back. Players have come, players have gone but one thing remains the same. We are constantly improving,

We’ve replaced our ageing war horse striker with Graziano Pellè. The Italian has a higher goal per game ratio than Falcao, Ibrahimovic and Suarez over the last two seasons and with just Messi and Ronaldo ahead of him, this must be seen as a huge coup for Southampton.

While Liverpool are snapping up Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Winners, Saints are bringing in the big guns. Unfortunately we lost Lallana, Lovren and Lambert to Liverpool, but never fear Ryan Bertrand is here, and with him he brings both a Europa and Champions League medal, believe me they don’t just give those things away.

Lallana was impressive for us last season (If he could get past the 60 minute mark) but being the club we are sometimes only impressive isn’t quite good enough, so we’ve replaced “Adz”, with Dusan Tadic, last season Tadic was the top chance creator on the planet and, fortunatley this one can actually shoot.

Our academy reputation continues to grow despite the odds. We have been told that all the pre-season debutants are looking strong enough to fill some squad positions to give us depth we were missing. Harry Reed is believed to be the best yet with The Paul Scholes comparison being brought up in just about every conversation most Saints will have ever had about him. Hopefully its more than the Hair colour that the two have in common. Could their be a single football fan who would not name The Saints as the best Academy in England if not Planet Earth today?

Every media outlet in the country has been talking about us, every club wants our players, and is envious of our training and development ability with both players young and more experienced. Soon we may have a point when we sing… and it’s all Southampton…