Transfer Rumours The 2015 Summer Transfer Window Thread

Agreed Fran. Clubs obviously make money from attendance receipts and Arsenal moved to give themselves increased capacity and Liverpool are looking to extend Anfield, Spuds the same as Arsenal. To make this work you need to have that fan-base that regularly over subscribes for tickets and, frankly, we do not have that. Not even sure when we would reach the size of support to command a 45-50,000 seater stadium (which, I would think, is the next stadium size).

 

I'm basing 'premium' on the quality of clubs who were also reportedly after him, all the way up to Man U. Fact is, we've done well to get VVD, and would have been some decent competition. Yes, he's not yet an international (though he will be via us) but he is bought as a staring CB. I'm disappointed in the fact that we've essentially only bought two starters it seems, given that Soares doesn't always appear to start.

But for me, I don't care so much about transfer ins now as about how on earth we sort out the long-running problem we have of being absolutely toothless upfront when a goal down. That's worth at least 30-40 points a season, probably more given this defence - based on going a goal down in about one game in three.

 

I can't find last season's figures, but Saints are definitely one of the worst attended clubs in the Premier League in percentage terms. I'm afraid it has nothing to do with the size of the ground, as in recent years plenty of clubs with smaller stadia have had far higher percentage attendances: Swansea, Cardiff, Fulham, Norwich, West Brom, and Stoke being examples. The biggest problem may be the amount of segregation in the Northam stand, which is basically wasted space. We are only getting around 93% of the seats filled at the moment, which is way below the Premier League average of 95.6%. If we can get up to 97-98% for a couple of seasons then we would have a case for expansion, but at the moment the figures don't add up.

 

Good posts. I must have missed the meltdown stand-down. Here's a general response.

Firstly net spend isn't the important thing. Partly because that money goes to other clubs, so it stays "in football". We can make money one season, lose it the next. Salary goes directly out of the game forever, it tracks the inflation of TV money pretty much perfectly, and when clubs get into financial difficulty, that's where they've cocked up. Keeping on top of that is what keeps us secure, and the QPRs not.

We lost Morgan, Toby and Clyne and I don't think we had a hope of keeping any of them. Clasie and VVD were certainties to replace the first two. Cedric has played well against Vitesse but not at Newcastle. I think he will fit in there. Romeu I am very happy about and he adds something new, Caulker I rate highly and I think he will play a lot, Juanmi I hope he can perform and not have Tadic-like fitness problems. Stek seems like the best we could do in goal, he has performed well so far and I don't think a more experienced GK is a realistic signing and would cause us long term problems when FF comes back. Martina, haven't seen yet.

For first team player replacements I think we have done as well as we could hope. The only question is about Cedric at right back, but I think we will be ok there.

After VVD, I would sign a striker, if a good deal for a player that fits comes up. Disproportionate spending would be buying a mid-table PL player with a long contract left because we got worried. We bought Long last season for a lot of money, which I think was the wrong decision. It wasn't a transfer like any of the others we did, he never really fitted into our team, and it felt like we panicked and threw cash away. Long didn't have a massive impact on our final position, I wouldn't like us to do that again.

This is a big test for Ron but I think he will get it right. We went on terrible runs without winning last season but turned it around, and this one is no different.

 

And we mustn't forget that the training ground isn't even finished yet. Building projects need time and attention and would involve massive planning to avoid too much disruption during the season. I suspect the board feel quite faint at the mere idea.

 

Anyone think the board have a surprise deadline day signing/loan coming in like last season?

 

Sorry to be pedantic (no I'm not) but if we knew, it wouldn't be a surprise. ..

Vin

 

Okay, so I'm covering deadline day on the live feed for the BBC...

 

Just make sure we find out about done deals early enough to get a bet on before you pass them on...

Vin

 

It's not a surprise for them ITK .....is it?

 

I think we all hope there is a few more surprises....Sadly Imo There will not be.....am a little bit frustrated with Saints at the moment. They are playing crap football and none (for me any way) of the new boys seem to have hit the ground running as they did pretty well last season. Has any one got the same feeling as me, that all the departures we have had over the last couple of windows are having an effect on moral?

 

Good point. It must be miserable knowing exactly what's going to happen. I like surprises. That's why my wife tries to shoot me on a regular basis.

Vin

 

I'm probably going to miss the deadline shenanigans this year as I'm taking off from Heathrow at 3pm on 31st August for a nice 2 weeks away in Atlanta

No doubt I'll be on here as US TV won't have anything, so keep me informed

 

I'd love it if we put our backs to the wall like Everton. I would absolutely relish the opportunities for this club to regularly and publicly tell the likes of Spurs and Liverpool to **** off.

 

The surprise will be us not signing VVD.

 

Not really imo. Everyone in the world (of football) knew that Schneiderlin was off, and we pretty much knew Clyne was too when he dragged his heels about a signing a new deal. We have yet to be able to put out our best starting 11 in 7 competitive games this season, and Koeman's trying to find the right balance. It was very odd to see how quickly the players gelled last season, even Koeman said so himself. With VVD in, Clasie and Bertrand (more importantly) back after the International break, we should be able to see what our fully fit XI can do.

 

We're pretty unlikely to be able to put our full fit XI out for even half the games this season. Just hope that doesn't mean reverting to our new 'style' whenever we can't field out first choices.

 

No

 

Think you've firmly hit the nail on the head....pretty much sums it up.
Saints cannot keep selling their best players and buying cheaper replacements and in some cases not the same quality season after season and expect progression. It has to stop @ some point.but then again if they want to be a mediocre team just making up the numbers in the premier then that's fine,but one season it won't work and it will be straight back to the championship.