Transfer Rumours Transfer Rumours - Summer 2018

The board have been playing this game since Cortese left, our net spend has always been in the black, apart from one season when we spent around £7m net. A few people on here have pointed that over the years to be met with arguments that the board are just being sensible, but with the arrival of Gao there seems to be a more widespread agreement that we’re tight and have little (no) ambition.

 

I am really surprised with JWP being linked with a move away from the club, I find him to be a strange case. When he first arrived on the scene, he seemed to have bags of potential but I don't think he started to deliver that potential until managed by Puel. In fact, Puel's mentoring of McQueen, Sims and JWP is the one element where I would praise him. In the last two seasons, JWP has started to look the part over the last two seasons but I didn't feel that he featured enough last season when much of the team seemed to under-perform.

The problem for me with JWP is his goal scoring ability as he rarely looks like he will score. For a player whose deliver from set pieces is exceptional, the failure to convert chances from open play is a puzzle. His finishing is generally inaccurate.

I would be sorry to see him leave but I cannot envisage him being anything more than a fringe player if he is retained. That said, he is a great player to bring in off the bench. If given more playing time, I am sure that we would see more progress from JWP but it would be a risk because I feel he is now someway down in the pecking order.

 

That just wets the appetite for the season!

 

Yeah for sure. To be honest, as much as I want us to actively try and stay in the league, and be the best that we can be by spending some of the money to fill the gaps in our team...if they’re not going to do that, I’d much rather they came out and said what the deal is. None of this ‘money is tight’ BS. Who do they think they’re fooling with that? I’d rather they say, look the new owner just wants to get his money back, he has very limited funds to put into the club and we are pretty much a sell to buy club for the foreseeable. It’ll be frustrating, but we all pretty much know that’s what we are now as the proofs in the pudding. I just don’t know why we sold to Gao in the first place considering we were supposedly waiting for the ‘right buyer’ who could help push the club forward.

 

We only buy the right player we don’t spend for spendings sake... so what was Carrillo then (clearly bought off MPs recommendation)... Didn’t seem to me as though any of our extensive scouting went into that one other than ‘tall so = Pelle’.

 

JWP isn't going to play very much. He's probably number 5 in the pecking order at best. And every minute he plays is just taking time away from Reed who is in much the same position. When they do play, they'll also probably be shoehorned in pointless at right back.

We have too many central mids. Again. We did not fix our massive hole in attack. Again. We have a bloated squad of okay-not-great players who we refuse to sell. Again.

Yes, the budget thing is either a problem with the owner or a lame excuse and that's not good. But it still doesn't answer all the questions. Even if we do indeed have limited resources for whatever reason, we still did a bad job allocating what we had.

 

Did Carillo not come from the Virgil money then? Not to mention the tv money...

Fans forum should be interesting.

 

If we are skint then I question the signing of Gunn as well. 13m for a backup keeper or maybe first choice when we have McCarthy anyway seems a bit of a poor use of funds.

I was behind the signing before, but foolishly assumed we would sign another attacking player as well

 

Wolves and Fulham spending 100m is mad. We are skint though apparently

 

The same hole has been in the team for a few years. Attack. We traded Tadic for Mo and maybe a better attacking mid. Doesn’t seem like hole filling to me. We are using a garden shovel when we need the heavy equipment.

 

Me too, or alternatively having signed Gunn I wouldn't have extended McCarthy's contract.

 

Is the wage bill really holding the club back that much?

More than a tad concerning if so.

 

I don't need to be told 'the plan'. Being told has no effect. It doesn't matter how much money we have coming in we will never be big spenders....though we are far from being non-spenders. The club have the same ambition (personally I always want to reach for a shotgun when anyone mentions that word) as any club....we'd like to win the title, FA Cup, Europa Cup etc, but won't. Does anyone seriously think the club discusses ambition and decides they want to be 17th? Perhaps all of us are lacking in ambition because we live in ordinary houses and not in stately homes....haven't enough money you cry, but if you had ambition you would buy one and then go bankrupt. The argument is really about how big a buffer a club needs....the club wants millions because things happen, loans have to be paid....fans would settle for a buffer of a fiver and a dusty gobstopper. Perhaps the club is being too conservative, but I'm damn sure fans aren't conservative enough.

Businesses make money, the owners take their cut and they won't discuss money in any detail in public ...nothing mysterious about it. It's very sad, but we don't own the club....Gao does. Our security is that he is unlikely to want an asset to go to the wall.

 

They won’t be earning anywhere near as much money from the club when were in the Championship though.

You talk about houses, would you do repairs or renovations on the cheap and not think about the long term implications? That’s what we’re doing at the moment.

 

Paying off Goas purchase debt no doubt.

 

I hate sensible posts...

...and always Fran

EDIT: I don't always hate Fran. I hate the sensible posts and it is always Fran who makes them. Just before she thinks I hate her

 

Can't compare football to normal life at all. No one is saying go crazy and spend to win a title either.

 

A lot of truth in that Fran but the fans are the lifeblood of the club as it is throughout the country.

If our wage bill is holding us back that much then seeing as we were only saved from relegation by a Tadic resurgence and a Swansea collapse I think the fans deserve some honesty on our financial situation and where the money is going imo.

 

It's just that steam comes out off my ears when lack of ambition is mentioned. It's a bugbear of mine.

The other one is the need to be told the obvious.

Ralph will no doubt tell you in many more words, but basically it comes down to the fact that the board would have liked a striker as well, but better than we have....but we couldn't get one for a variety of reasons, but possibly because the players went to a club they preferred and for a higher price than we were willing to pay. He could tell you (but won't) that of course we have money, but are only willing to spend some of it because Saints is a business not a hobby. They obviously believe that this season will be better than last....all we can hope is that they are right. What else can we do, but believe and whinge.

 

The other thing is if 20m for Carillo is holding us back that much. Than 1) who ever sanctioned it should be fired and 2) we are increasingly looking like we can't compete in the Prem. The clubs coming up spending like crazy will very quickly catch us up.