OFFICIAL: Southampton sign Shane Long

Yep... That was by me. See post above.

 

So I'm meant to pretend he doesn't exist, even if it's relevant? I wasn't even the first to mention his name, but yeah, fine.

 

Cortese

 

But surely our much-vaunted scouting team (vaunted by Krueger, granted), would say "err Ron. New striker, good plan, but Shane Long? You've been sniffing too many tulips".

 

Yeah, that's rather much the concern. With the right board, that wouldn't be fatal, as they'd have a fair bit of control over transfer policy. With our board...

 

To think, we took the piss out of who Spurs bought with their windfall last Summer!

 

Also, on financial responsibility (and I'm not going to bring former executives into it, and am not trying to reignite that), this is sort of the template for how teams get into real financial difficulties. You spend a fair bit on players that you're later unable to sell for anywhere near the purchase price; you're then threatened by relegation, and the negative financial consequences thereof, and are forced to spend even more indiscriminately to stave it off; you end up with a bloated wage budget and few resources remaining to improve.

 

yeah, this is quite reminiscent of something portsmouth would have done a few years ago

 

Would be underwhelmed with long even on a free. Not impressed.

 

This forum ****s itself every time something goes wrong or look bad. Yes I agree £12m for Long is mad.

Forster
Bertrand
Taider
Tadic
Pelle
Long

So question marks on Bertrand( who has looked okay in pre season), Pelle and now Long because of his fee.

 

FWIW Sky and Jim White reported that we sold Rickie Lambert for 9m when the news originally broke

 

Or some of the other clubs who haven't gone to that extreme, but have turned into bottom-half haunts and narrowly escaped relegation, while piling up debt and seriously inflated wages. Once you get on that treadmill, it's hard to get off.

 

So we signed Long for £7m then.

 

I've never liked how Long came across, but always though he was a fairly respectable player.

That fee though?! Yikes.

 

This is such a Serie A signing.

 

I like Shane Long always plays well for Ireland but he is a woeful finisher. If Pelle gets a hatful of goals then thats fine but if he struggles Long won't chip in with many and I'd fear for us. I'd take him at 6/7 mill but no more. Will be nice to see an Irishman playing for Saints again!

 

To be honest, transfer fee aside I think we should be positive about this. It seems like everyone is being negative regardless of whether we do or don't sign players this summer. Let's let Ron build his team and judge it at the end of the season.

 

What with our board that raked in premium fees for every single player (lambo the exception). ?

 

That's not true, most people were positive about Tadic and Forster, and excited over the Ings and Rojo rumours. Hardly negative by default, there's just a lot to be pissy about this window.

 

This is turning into a nightmare!
Shane Long....WTF are we doing?
What a waste of £10m. Unbelievable decision