As I’ve said before football is a business. Tella for £20 million is great business. Wilcox has done a great job in getting very good money for players who most, were part of a team that finished Rock Bottom last year. The club is now in a strong financial position which is more important moving forward. We knew this year was going to be a reset, and we don’t have a given right to get promoted straight away and there is around a £80 million shortfall in revenue this season. Leeds and Leicester have had to do the same as us. I’m pretty sure as well that we will still strengthen in the next week, as I still think we could still lose 2 or 3 players, but our squad will still be one of the strongest in the league.
A thought exercise regarding loans. If we assume that Che is going a will cover with a loan who could that potentially be? Anyone got any ideas And despite the potential meltdown if that were too happen it would seem sensible for a few reasons : - it seems like one of our top targets was Stewart who is injured into the season - a potential top target (albeit one we didn’t bid for) has gone elsewhere - moving far down our list of signings could land us with another Onuachu and strikers are expensive to invest in if they are low down your list - a striker we could sign now might not be good enough for the premier league (seems less of a risk as they could be moved on unless signed for big money - although I expect our fans will want us to try for an eight figure replacement) But who is out there who might be available for loan? Some options have already gone out and prem clubs are generally light in this area. I wondered why Broja wasn’t featuring given Chelsea’s striker situation but his injury seemed worse than it first seemed and he is still not back rather than not being rated. He probably wouldn’t drop a division either despite his nasty injury and how hard it would be to be thrown back into the premier league Anyone got any suggestions for this thought exercise? Or is the idea too rage inducing?
I guess the challenge is Leeds have not brought in anywhere near as much and have spent more at the moment. But if we sign Wood then we’d be similar again. But I wouldn’t be surprising for them to spend more with only a fraction of the transfer fee incomings. Are they just kicking the can down the road ?
Yeah can’t vouch for who had decent info just that I thought Sheldon was a nob and Tanswell a decent sort
I just don’t get where the faith in Sulemana is coming from to be honest. Could he come good? Sure. But he hasn’t been prolific in terms of goals/assists at any point in his career. We had one of the most prolific & productive wingers in the league. Like I said yesterday, our finances must be tighter than the club have let on in their PR because from a footballing perspective it makes absolutely no sense to sell Tella now. We could have easily forced him to stay another year. We have one week left of the transfer window and we are losing 40+ goals from the starting 11 without Che and Tella.
I get what you're saying but 20 million is great business for Sports Republic. Now if that money is just sat on a balance sheet (as being reported and as I stated all along) it's not great for Southampton FC. I don't pay for season tickets to watch SR make money. I pay to hopefully be entertained and every now and again flirt with the idea of being successful. I don't see Lauding Wilcox as some sort of genius for eeking every last penny out of another club if it makes us weaker. If that was the case I'd just follow a hedge fund manager from home and cheer his successes in short selling Thames water or something.
Was Tanswell seemingly a low key pompey fan? Or at least from that direction? Or was that also Sheldon?
I'm sure he'd have loved that. On one hand, you have European football for a club that is willing to pay one of their highest-ever fees for you. On the other, you have a second-tier team that had concluded that you weren't good enough for a relegation fight a year prior and farmed you out. Really difficult choice, that.
No way it is being reported as just being “sat on the balance sheet”. That is not what businesses do with large amounts of money. But you clearly mean “if it not being spent on new players”. Which it definitely all won’t be. I know we’d have preferred a larger percentage of it to be spend than it has. I’m hoping no one thinks it was all going to be. No doubt some on Twitter do
Oh when the saints Expand their balance sheet Oh when the saints expand their balance sheet I want to be in that number Oh when the saints expand their balance sheet
40+ ? Steady on. That’s a bold claim. One that can never be proven or disproven. Funny that. Although both player’s highest scoring championship seasons combined don’t total over 40. So it kind of can be. And we can’t be forcing people to stay. Sure we “could”. But it really isn’t a good way to run a football team. How many successful examples have there been of a club forcing a player to stay when a much better offer came in and it working out? I can’t imagine there are many. Cristiano Ronaldo might be one. And that was Ferguson and Manchester United doing the forcing not championship Saints and Russell Martin
The same people who are moaning about not spending the money would also moan about “how **** we are at recruitment” if we spent all the money and bought players who aren’t good enough for the PL if we got there. The obvious plan is to get promoted and buying players who are able to make the step up is very hard, as we have seen with the likes of Adams and Armstrong. I can’t think of too many Championship players actually off the top of my head that have been bought by PL teams and been a success in recent years? As DTLW outlined our strategy looks pretty simple. We will spend on Young with potential, hopefully potential enough to make the step up. Outside of that we will be looking at loans rather than waste money on players we hopefully won’t want in a years time
I remember this discussion when we bought Armstrong and Palace bought Edouard and debates over who got the better deal and who we should have got. Unless I am missing a surge of some kind from Edouard late last season they were both close to useless in the premier league. Neither could make the step up
So would you rather we sell no one have a £60 - £70 deficit from relegation, plus the £100 plus million spent last year, then not achieve the given right to promotion as some think we’re entitled to, which would lead to possible FFP sanctions, and club in administration?? Yes there has to be a balance but that is the harsh reality of running a business, which Southampton FC and every other football club is.
In their last championship seasons: Tella had 17 goals 5 assists Che has 22 goals 4 assists In arguably worse teams.
My Newcastle mate will be delighted. He thought Fraser was going to pick up his state pension, still a Toon player.
So not 40+ then? Before we get onto the fact they played in different teams and different systems and those tallies would potentially include ones that the other might have scored or the assists be for the other And that each have done that once. Let’s not pretend it was a sure thing. It’s academic anyway. This isn’t FIFA career mode. You can’t block a championship player from a move to a top german club playing in Europe. I was going to say Football Manager - but you can’t even do this on that game anymore. They’d get upset and so will any teammates who like them. Which in the case of Tella seems to be a bunch of them You also hurt future recruitment chances if you make it clear you will block big moves (yes I know not being promoted hurts them).
