At last the window is closed.....No more rumours and counter rumours. Just straight forward good old fashioned football debates abnd counter debates. We have been linked with nearly every one available it would seem. I have to admit that I would like to have been a fly on the wall in Cortese's office. I wonder what he made of all the rumours etc. I really would like to know who we genuinly went for but didn't get? Some we know but others is just guess work. What do you think of our signings? Could we/should we have done better with the ones we know turned us down? So how did we fare?
I would say (as always) - trust in NA and NC to know what they're doing. I would say that the reason we didn't sign any of the players we were linked with was simple - Cortese won't be held to ransom by clubs who know we're loaded and couldn't agree terms. In the long run Southampton Football Club will be the winner here, as we will, I'm sure, pick up some bargains in the January sales. And finally, just look who we have signed over the summer! I'll reserve judgment on Jos Hooiveld until we've seen what he can do, but Jack Cork, Steve De Ridder, and Danny Fox are all going to help us on our way.
I think Corky is a future full international so over the moon with him, jury still out on de ridder for me looks good in spells but not fully convinced, and fox is gonna be plenty good enough for us but imo not much of an improvement over what we already have, so all in all i would give our dealings 7 out of 10 but thats mainly due to corky being 10 out of 10
After two season of winning football and a great start to the season I have to say I am little disappointed with the way the transfer window has gone. We have made a cracking signing in Jack Cork and bought a couple of good solid players but I still feel we should have done more. The new dutch centre half concerns me as well. We all know scottish football is rubbish and that in all honesty Rangers and Celtic would struggle in top half of the championship let alone the premiership yet we have got a centre half that cant get into Celtic's first team. We all know that we need another good quality centre half alongside Jose and in my opinion we still dont have that. We are also light up front still , Lambert looks okay in this league and Connolly has started well but how long before he is injured and what about the Barnard situation injured at the moment and possibly off to jail in the near future. I also think most Saints fans would agree we lack real pace at the top of the pitch and could this be a problem later in season. The problem is after all the years of hurt we have had two great seasons and that has brought with it a certain amount of expectation for this coming season. Us football fans are never pleased are we !!!
Cork was a cracking buy and unbelievable value. De Ridder and Fox are still playing their way into the team, but look like they will fit in well and will be involved a lot this season. Jos is a nice looking lad..have to wait and see but he's part of the Southampton family for now. Nigel now has a period where he can look at him during training. Unless he looks the bee's knees, I suspect he will be on the bench at first. Overall, pleased though would have liked another Lambert-like striker..I wake in a cold sweat thinking of Rickie getting injured.
I feel we've done pretty well. Jack Cork is without doubt the stand-out signing from the 4 we've brought in. Fox and De Ridder seem like decent signings aswell. Fingers crossed Hooiveld turns out to be a good addition to. I'm glad we haven't paid silly money for big name players like Maynard and Rodriguez. It would have probably been very easy to go out and spend large sums of money but NC has been cautious and wise with the club's money as always. We've yet to spend silly money on any player since NC has been chairman, even the one's that have cost us over a £1million have turned out to be great bits of business.
Overall I would say that we have done very well especially with Cork. The jury is out as far as our new centre half is concerned. I am concerned that we do not have back up for Lambert. He has a good fitness record but we would be in some difficulty if we lost him for a few games. Let us hope that there is the possibility of a loan signing to come to add some height up front. Overall I have to say that we have a better squad than we have had on both previous occassions I remember when we played at this level.
Personally we have done fine for me, yes another striker would have been nice in an ideal world but have to agree with saintgreg, didnt want us to pay over the odds to secure: Rodriguez, Maynard or Beckford. Adkins knows what he is doing: Cork as already stated it class, have to agree on him looking like a potential full international, such a good player and a real bargain. De Ridder needs time to adjust but think as the season goes on he will shine through, he is very fast, very skillful, can whip in a good cross and has a good shot on him. Fox is one of the best lb's in the championship and wasnt really expecting a new lb but if we are buying for the future he will be perfect, think dickson will go out on loan? Hooiveld has a good amount of experience, just because he has fallen out of favor at celtic does not mean he wont be a good player, look at chaplow at preston, Adkins wouldnt have gone for him if he didnt think he will fit in well and at the end of the day its what we have been calling for, a big cb. Now we have Fonte, Hooiveld, Jaidi, Seabourne and Martin, think we have enough cover there. Our transfer window has been good and we have only let go of one player, which for the now we are doing alright without, should think the books are doing alright with a transfer fee like that as well. If we are still top around christmas i wouldnt be suprised if we snap up a quick striker in the January sales.
You only have to look at the start we have had this season to confirm we are moving in the right direction and anyone who thinks otherwise must be a total pessimist and will never be satisfied with whoever we sign.
Not that bothered about no big signings on the deadline, and I think the squad is fine, but I can't help think that we missed out on a couple that we could have got in. I still reckon that Gorkss would have been a quality signing, and that NC's fannying around cost us. Although only speculation, I reckon Nigel was very keen to get him in once he had been put up for offer by QPR. I know we don't want to be held to ransom on price but I wonder whether having lost out on him (and others) will mean that next transfer window they try to wrap things up a bit quicker? I am a big fan of the "behind closed doors" approach but that doesn't mean you can't just get on with it and seal the deal.
Massively disagree with you there! Celtic and Rangers would probably be challenging for Europe in the Premier League, however the rest of the League is Mid/Low Championship. What exactly did you want? you can't have everything you want and we were generally priced out the market by clubs not wanting to sell. Come January, we'll see where Bristol, Burnley and ourselves are and probably re-evaluate the situation and re-enter the market. We arn't in a rush and the Loan window is about to open.
The main problem was that as soon as we sold Chamberlain for 12 million every club that we spoke to wanted to hold us to ransom. Hopefully come January Burnley will be doing badly and we can go back in for Jay Rod. I agree that we needed a centre back and a striker and still can't understand how Gorkks slipped away and across to Reading when he was so proven in this league. Cork is awesome and is certainly someone that can step up to the prem and I am sure it is only a matter of time until Fox and De Ridder start regularly. I think we are in the a great position where we have a good depth of squad that means a lot of competition for places. Just look at Spiderman, Hammond, Cork and Chaplow. Our great start to the season has certainly raised our expectations and the botttom line is that we are in the championship and holding our own. That is all I wished for at the start of the season and anything on top of that would be a real bonus! Also great to see the back of Puncheon. Who drove him up there in the end?
My views Jack Cork - One of the best signings of the window imo. Potential to grow into a first class CM and has slotted in effortlessly with our system. Strong on the ball with great vision, just look at the millwall goal, can also cover several positions, and will also make schneiderlin and hammond up their games. But most importantly, his missus is FIT! De Ridder - Sceptical in all honesty, havn't seen enough to judge him on. Looks assured on the ball, but tries to do too much. Has been caught out a couple of times and is defensively very weak which Adkins has acknowledged. Will give him time of course but can only see him being a bit part player until Christmas. He is also the kind of player that will cost us goals by trying something in the wrong area. Fox - Havn't seen much of him, but must have something about him if Burnley signed him when in the Prem. will have to wait and see. Hooiveld - Not the greatest signing at a glance. Could turn out to be a good player, we'll have to wait and see. At them moment as I have said on another tread, is there to plug a gap until January. I feel we have not seen enough of these signings other than Cork, so this thread should be reignited again in December.
Before the season started I felt we needed a new striker. However, we have averaged 2.7 goals a game so far this season, and that without Barny, so on reflection perhaps we don't need a striker after all. As for a CB, I know nothing about this Jos Hobnob geezer but I doubt we'd have taken him if he was useless.
I think the biggest positive from this window is keeping our squad together. In previous seasons I've seen our best players get cherry picked only to be replaced by inferior players. This year we've kept all our best players - bar OXO - and signed players who are good enough to contest for the 1st team straight away. We only really need back up players, if we are honest, and transfer deadline day is not the day to sign back ups. Overall I'm pleased with the 4 players in, though I don't know much about our new CB. Anything over £4m for Maynard or J-rod would have been too much. Plus as another poster has pointed out, bar West Ham and Leceister most other Championship sides haven't really gone overboard in their signings.
Apart from losing Chamberlain (although we did well getting £12 million for him), keeping the squad together is a big plus. Cork is a quality signing, De Ridder could well be a quality signing as could Fox. As for Jos Hooiveld, I'm a bit underwhelmed, but I hope he does well and wish him the best. Despite Celtic fans being happy to see the back of him, could it just be that he was out of favour there, like Puncheon at Saints?
Alot of people on here talk about paying over the top for a quality striker, i feel that 6 million for a player that can score 25 goals at this level is a more than fair price, i'm not sure if the majority of fans are still guiding values by what we have paid in the past but imo i think the fans are a little deluded and living in the past if you think 6 million isn't value for a player that can pretty much gaurentee you 25 goals a season. With our start to the season we should of splashed the cash come jan we could be 12th in the league and to late for a push, we will never have a start to a season like this again and it seems a missed oppertunity to me, lets hope we don't regret it. On another note i'm starting to see a little bit of Wenger in NC when it comes to valuing our players over the top and everyone elses under what they are worth, lets hope things don't turn bitter between fans and Chaiman as wenger has found at arsenal.
