Think most of us if honest are surprised at our position in the league and had we been mid table probably would be happy with another championship quality striker being bought in January but as we are in this position it would be criminal of Cortese not to step up in January and buy a premiership quality striker. We hear and boast about our financial position but have not really seen evidence of it in the transfer market so come on Cortese put your money where your ambitions supposedly are
So are you saying the team who has scored more goals than any other team in this league has a goal scoring problem?
Time for some Saints fans to shut up. Sorry, I don't normally respond to this kind of stuff, but telling Cortese how to do his job takes the proverbial, mate. We have never been so well led. He knows what's going on, and he'll do what's needed.
If Barnard is out having surgery, we only have one striker at the moment, Lambert. He can't be expected to play the whole season without some niggles or, heaven forbid, a serious injury. Yes, we get goals from other players, but will that happen if you play them out of position because we have no striker. Don't presume to know our bank balance and I trust Cortese to not get us into financial trouble, but if the money is available I urge Cortese to buy us a striker (or preferably two). Not the moment to be too careful. Having said that...premier-ready players that will fit into our team are hard to find and probably not available. I hope we have our eye on a few and even, hopefully, one in the bag.
The last twelve months has proven to me that Nigel and the chairman know EXACTLY what they are doing. They wonl letr this position slip. We a;; just need to trust in their judgement.
I agree with this thread! why don't everyone get off their high horse and stop taking it as a dig at the team? we are all happy where we are and we have done excellently to be there but there will never be a better opportunity to get to the promised land and the chairman has to show the ambition in the window otherwise i believe we will struggle to maintain our form.I'm not saying he should go and spend stupid money but he has to show some intent.We definitely need a striker and anyone who says we don't must be off their rocker! Barnard needing an operation! Connolly as fragile as glass! leaves us with one out and out striker in Lambert and that will not be enough to see us through.It's not being negative! it's just stating a fact! saying that,i do believe we will show intent and i think Nigel and Cortese are quite realistic in what we need so i do believe we will spend in January so i'm gonna start getting excited now and think about who we could bring in.
It clearly is a dig when the title of the thread is "Time for Cortese to step up". The fact that Saints have clearly been making offers in the summer for Rodriguez and been linked heavily with Maynard & Jutkiewicz, sort of makes it blantantly obvious that Nigel & Nicola have been targetting a striker and will probably follow it up in January. As for "Premiership Quality". West Ham have "premiership quality" strikers and how many have they scored in the Championship? Grant Holt seems to be doing ok for Norwich in the Prem, people were talking about him being a lower league lump not long ago (along with Rickie). It's all about buying the right striker, not one just one with a "name" or who has been sat on a Prem bench for ages and hasn't hit the back of the net in yonks.
I don't think ANYONE should be questioning Cortese's ambition. We all know Cortese came in with a five-year plan. Now he may well decide next month (or indeed, he may well have already decided) that actually he wants to alter that plan, and get to the Premiership quicker, due to the great position which we find ourselves in. But if he doesn't, and he decides to pretty much stick with the plan, then I don't think any of us can start having a go at him. He wants Premiership football just like we do, but he knows what is best.
Cortese is a great chairman when/if we cement our position in the top half of the prem he will have proven himeself to be amongst the best in the land. I dont doubt him for one moment but to an extent I agree with this thread the championship is a very difficult league to get out of and when you have a great chance like we do you need to take it. Its very well saying we didnt expect to be here, I certainely didnt, but now we are here we need to do everything we can to stay at the top. But if there is one thing cortese doesnt lack its ambition!
There is no way that he'd be of the opinion oh let's just wait until next year or the year after! he wants it this year as Nigel has stated.I'd be very surprised if he didn't go for it in January! and will be quite disappointed if he didn't.We need strengthening!
Seriously? I reckon we have one of the most expensively assembled squads in this division, we made a lot, if not all, of what we spent back through the sale of Chambo though. But to say we haven't splashed the cash in comparsion to the majority of the teams in the division is stupid.
I'm not saying that. My understanding of the five year plan is that Cortese wants to bring through the youngsters. He wants the likes of Shaw and Ward-Prowse to come through and eventually be integral players in our team (and three years in the Championship is enough time to result in them being just that, come the end of the five years). But spending money on quite a few new faces will block their paths, almost certainly. So it may well be that Cortese doesn't want this to happen. Stick to the plan to bring the youngsters through, stick to the plan to effectively make us self-sufficient. I have to say, my personal opinion is more in line with yours. I think he will spend next month. We're in a great, great position, and a couple more top players should be enough to take us up. But if he doesn't, and he sticks to the plan, then fair enough. I won't be angry, I wont be disappointed. I know Cortese wants great things for our club, and I trust him completely. What he wants to do, I will accept.
Fair play but the youngsters have to be good enough to come through,there is no point in saying we want to bring them through if they aren't good enough.I still think we can afford to have the best of both worlds.I may be wrong but i believe that Cortese would prefer promotion this season rather than spending 2 or 3 years in the championship just to see if a couple of youngsters make it through to the first team.Like i say though that's just my opinion and Cortese may have other plans,if he does there's no way i'd hate him! will be a little disappointed maybe but that's about it.
This is the kind of post i hate,jumping on someone because they want to see us succeed.I don't know where anyone has said that they are not happy about where we are at the moment? people are just trying to say that we need to do business in January to keep us strong and to give us a good chance of promotion.Do you think we need additions in January?
