polegategavin

I'm sure this is a new phenomenon. A player like Lallana who has played half a dozen games for the team is suddenly wanted by a Premiership club. I'm sure in the past players were watched for a season or two before being approached by the larger clubs. I would suggest that Wayne Bridge was the last example at Saints. Look at Aaron Ramsey, how can these top clubs be so sure that the player is ready on a handful of games. I would suggest that most agents now see the transfer window as an opportunity to tout their players, as soon as they are a first team player. Very worrying IMHO, I think Lallana is going to be a great player, but to suggest that he is ready for the Premiership now is laughable. He could easily become another Matt Mills, and move to a Premiership club, never make the first team, other than odd sub appearance or cup match, and move to a smaller club than they started at. IMHO the agents have a lot to answer for with the modern game, closely followed by Sky....

My point was that he is our only signing with a transfer fee, and is why NickG was claiming we were 2nd in the transfer spending list. If this is so then it is either a gamble or we can afford it. What is also interesting is that QPR (claimed to be the richest club in the country, from owner wealth on Sunday night!) spent £250,000 on transfer fees. So we have spent in excess of the richest club in Britain allegedly. As I stated in my earlier reply the figures take no account of the wages paid etc, I'm sure this would be a far more interesting statistic if it would ever become public.

I would say he has been the best keeper I have seen in the flesh playing for Saints. I always felt comfortable with him in goal that the opposition always had an extra line of defence to get past. A top top bloke too, always had time for the fans whenever you met him. Enjoy your retirment Antti and I'm sure I speak for all Saints fans when I say you will always be welcome back at Saint Mary's.

Nick, according to a web site I have found this morning we are actually 6th in the spenders list, behind Nottm Forest, Burnley, Bristol City, Sheff Utd and Coventry, with Wolves just behind us. However, it is amazing how many of the clubs have 'undisclosed fees' which could be any sum, and all but one of Wolves transfers in are like this and I suspect that they have spent more than anyone with the actually fees paid. However, there are 8 clubs who it appears have spent nothing on new signings and a further 5 who spent less the £300,000. So we either have taken a big risk on Schneirdelin (as he is the fee we paid) or we aren't as badly placed as has been portrayed. Obviously, what this doesn't include is the wages paid by each club and the quality of players that have left (not used in squad in our case) that were available to each club last season. Interesting none the less.

I realise what you are saying with reference to Sky money, that was what enabled us to try and survive each season, but my point was that we were sold a white elephant, in the form of a new stadium, which the board must have known would not be sustainable if we were relegated. So why invest? We would have been far better off carrying on at the Dell and using the costs of investment in the stadium, to pay for better quality players. And only build a new stadium if we had major investment from a new owner, or director. Although it has been great to go and watch Saints at SMS I'm sure most fans would have been happy to carry on watching us at the Dell if guaranteed a better opportunity of running a stable club that if it should be relegated could afford to compete in the lower division. Now we are left with a dilemma where we can't afford to compete to get back to the Premiership, and can't afford to not get promoted, a lose lose situation. I just can't see where it will end. It's great to see the youngsters given a chance but for how long will they have a club to play for without investment?

What I find so difficult to understand, is that we were obviously profitable in the Premiership when we played at the Dell, with gates of @ 16,000. How is it that we could pay 'Premiership wages' then and make profits, yet now we are paying well below that this season, have reduced the playing staff dramatically, yet seem to still be making big losses. I understand why we made big losses during the passed 2 seasons but what worries me is that it would be almost impossible for us to break even unless we have a full stadium for every home game, and played youth players, with one or two experienced players. I realise we are paying the mortgage on the stadium which has been widely reported as between £2-4m per year but this should be covered by the lower wages (and obviously the hope that the ground would be full for all home games). This highlights to me more than I appreciated previously that we have actually been mis-managed since the decision was taken to build the new ground, as this was based on the theory that we would stay in the Premiership for always (with it's TV rights income) and no account was taken of whether we could afford the costs if we would be relegated. Having seen Charlie's figures, which show well thought through analysis, it worries me that we can't afford to go on without investment, as it is clear that we can't make a profit in the stadium we use. If we were to fill the stadium for the remainder of the games it would generate approximately £4.5-5m extra income which still wouldn't enable us to break even this season. Very worrying............

How about Skacel on the right wing cutting inside and shooting, or coming in late onto Holmes crosses?

Deliberate ploy by the management, so that the youngsters don't feel the pressure of keeping up a winning streak.....:wink:

Our thoughts are with you and your family Mick. Praying for a speedy recovery. All the best.

Soccerbase seem to have missed any statistics for him for the 2005/06 and 2006/07 seasons, probably because he was playing in Spain's second division.

I think the reality is that Davies was forced to leave once Stoke made a cash offer, and he felt it would be the best offer he was going to get, when he knew he couldn't stay with Saints

I wasn't there so I wil not criticise the team, however my concern is that such a young team will require confidence to help them improve and not crumble as the season goes on. If we continue to struggle to win matches then that will evaporate and we won't have the mental strength to battle on. This is my concern. However, I have heard enough positives about the first 3 games to suggest that it could easily all change around next week and we could start to climb the table. Here's hoping anyway.