Not too worried; if Richardson and Harding or Fox get injured, we still have Butterfield. If Butterfield gets injured, we still have Stephens or Shaw waiting in the wings. We should be okay there...as we wouldn't be able to offer the loanee much by way of playing time in all likelihood, can't imagine we'd be getting anyone much better than those options.
Richardson has been excellent this season and wouldn't want to change him. However, eventually we will need back-up or a replacement. I would like to see us get Nathanial Clyne I'm still convinced the Hooper deal is alive tbh!
£8million for Hooper? We can get a player WAY better then Hooper for that! If they ask for that, then we MUST look elsewhere.
It all depends on Nigel and how he feels Gary will do in the Premiership. If he says buy then we buy, simple. Or at least make every possible effort to do so.
A selling team who don't have to sell will always have the advantage. Hence, the good price we got for Oxo. Celtic's manager has said that we haven't been in with another offer, so this could all be paper talk and we've moved on (or he's out of loop which will make him one very angry man). We have always had a nest egg for this promotion push, so I think all this talk of extra funds is just rumour. Great time to be a Saint though.
How can you put a value on a player? If we sign him and we get promoted with him scoring 10-15 goals, then one could argue his value is £20m+ We MUST trust Nigel..... the force is with him.
Totally agree. Having managed him before Nigel knows exactly waht Hooper is worth. Just trust his judgement.
And what if we spend £8M and don't go up, how much has the player cost us then? The consequences would be far more severe than just the fee.
agreed, but would put us in good position to challenge again next year, if he then became a success. I have said on numerous occassions here, that any recruitment, be it an office worker, a policman or a footballer, is always a 50:50 gamble. It may or may not work. You just have to trust that the interview and research carried about by the HR department and managers is good enough to sway the odds in your favour.
I personally say spend now. We were underestimated by other teams at the beginning of the season and now we are in an incredibly gold position and we really must not lose it now! We won't the this good a chance again!
I do think we have to spend now and make that final push, but there's still no point in spending unwisely. If we can't get who we want then buy no one. We have a new striker coming in (though admittedly unproven in Europe) and a promising loanee, so we have cover.
Oh I'm not saying we should throw money around just for the sake of it, Man City style... Spend wisely but now is the time
We could spend a lot less on a striker and still get promoted, so to spend that much we'd need to have confidence in him making it in the PL.
I bring news of a new signing! After a long time lurking and reading what you all have to say I've decided to take the plunge and sign up (I know, right, just the kind of signing you were all hoping for). So I might as well start by adding my opinions to this long-running thread. Don't know if we will get Hooper but we seem to be going for it in a big way so I hope we do, even if we have to spend £8m. He's a quality player and guaranteed to score goals, Adkins knows him well and I don't mind paying a bit over the odds for the goals that may well clinch automatic promotion this season. Not to mention a signing like this, taking the top scorer of a major European power, will really put Southampton on the map. On the other hand, missing out on a target like this brings to mind Blackburn announcing they wanted Ronaldinho and ending up looking rather silly... If we don't get him I'd still like to sign another striker, who knows when Barnard will be back and how long Connolly will stay fit. Rhodes might be worth a gamble but he doesn't have the proven pedigree of Hooper so it would be a bit of a gamble. His recent form has probably attracted the attention of certain premiership clubs who would probably be more likely to interest him at the current time as well, so no guarantee we would get him either. I rate Martin but I think we need more cover at centre-back, if Hooiveld gets an injury we suddenly look pretty flimsy at the back. Don't think we need to really improve any other areas right now, there's good competition all over the pitch and I think the team has got enough about it to be up there in the automatic spots at the end of the season. But with Hooper I'd be confident of the title.
