Dan Johnson

Lets hope they get completed this week

That they do The above was in response to early posts regarding prolonged transfer negotiations. Posters had commented that other clubs don’t seem to have a problem with signing players. Free transfers where taken out of the assessment to give a comparison between transfers that require negotiations with selling clubs as this is the factor that’s most at play regarding the length a transfer takes from start to finish, when comparing transfers that have required negotiations we’re bang on average for incomings. True, but the amount of players sold doesn’t have any impact on the actual length of the process when buying players, it doesn’t make agents any quicker, or solicitors any quicker. It does of course make it more important to sign players, but that’s a completely different subject. IMHO if anything it probably means transfers take longer to tie up. All selling club knows we have more money to spend and negotiations regarding price have probably become somewhat prolonged as we don’t want to pay over the odds. Again, arguing whether we put ourselves in that position or not really does nothing to impact the actual length transfers take to complete

My point being though if you take out clubs who have made free transfer signings it'll probably be a better comparison only 1 of those players, Campbell, would have involved negotiations with the selling club. 7 of those are Free Transfers so the process would have been allot quicker, no selling club to negotiate with, no player chain, not as much paper work when you take out free transfers and concentrate on negotiations whether loan or free Arsenal - 4 signings Aston Villa - 0 (2 development fees) Burnley - 3 signings Chelsea - 4 Signings Palace - 1 Signing Everton - 3 Hull - 4 Leicester - 1 Liverpool - 6 Man City - 2 Utd - 2 Newcastle - 6 QPR - 1 Southampton - 3 Stoke - 2 Sunderland - 2 Swansea - 4 Spurs - 3 WBA - 3 West Ham 6 So 60 signings in totally excluding free transfers which means the average transfers that have been negotiated per club is 3...

I think we're light at CB & up front. I think with Jose & Yoshida we have players who will be adequate against the likes of Leicester\Burnley\West Brom but when it comes to the bigger teams are at risk of falling to pieces. Yoshida struggles with intelligent strikers but can handle physical players much better, if we play a high line and the opposition doesn’t have any genuine pace then we’ll be alright. When teams look to play in behind Yoshida looks terrible, that’s when we’ll get caught out. He backs off and hates players running at him, he back tracks and defends on the back foot. Jose plays on the front foot a little better, which is why he suited a partnership with Lovern who also plays on the front foot. He does suffer a bit from the old “lazy leg” defending where he just sticks out a leg and hopes. He’s a much better ball player than Yoshida and offers something going forward. However his composure is always in question when under pressure which is why Loverns leadership was so instrumental in our clean sheets last year. Neither Jose nor Yoshida are particularly convincing in the air & neither are what you’d call a “commanding” centre back. A leader is essential. I think out of all the center backs listed Vlarr is the best option, he has the physical presence & the experience. He is also commanding and leads the line very well, he lacks pace but (having been a centre back for 14 years) I don’t think it’s a top requirement if you’re able to adjust how deep you play. Defending against pace is only an issue when players have space to run into. If we want to take points off the top 6 this season then we need a better quality CB.

Palace have also only signed 2 players. Also you take out clubs who have made free transfer signings it'll probably be a better comparison. Aston Villa 4 senior signings - all free transfers West Brom 6 signings, - 3 free transfers, - 1 Loan, - 2 transfers. We were also hindered by not having a manager for part of the summer, the manager always wants to judge the quality in the squad & highlight positions he'd like to strengthen in, where as other clubs are already prepared for that (West Brom apart in this case) Don't get me wrong, we need new signings, not taking sides either just highlighting that there's allot of facts to consider. It's like the housing market, if its moving slowly then your choice of new home is limited by who's willing to sell. You're also buying into a chain, where you have to wait for the occupants of that house to find a better home and so on and so on. The difference being of course that your current house isn't going to demand a move to a better part of the country :-)

There's no real way of knowing whether that actually is the case, that would suggest we'd know the ins and outs of every transfer, which we simply dont. Of course we have signed 3 players this summer already, but each negotiation is different, each with its own set of hurdles to overcome. For the top 5-7 clubs it’s allot easier as agents know those clubs are the top payers and that generally speaking, the player isn’t likely to get a better move. When Saints look to buy a player, it’s always possible that a bigger club could come in. When you compare our transfer activity to clubs outside of the top 7 this summer, signing 3 players, we’re probably about average I’d suggest? The need to purchase players doesn’t really make the actual process of purchasing them any easier, in fact it probably makes it harder in our case as clubs know we have allot of money to spend

Having friends in the professional game, I have a slight insight to how it works. Players will wait till the last minute to ensure something better doesn't come along, hence the mad rush before the window closes and why there's always at least 1 big story on transfer deadline day. Also the pure logistics of signings is rarely thought of, players coming from abroad are at the mercy of chartered flights the need for interpreters during their negotiations, somewhere to stay etc etc, there's also mountains and mountains of paper work & if a player is using a popular football agent then that paperwork & the legal paperwork can get held up for considerable time. I was told this by a Chelsea scout who had links to grass roots football in Southampton, echoed by others I know in the game both currently working at St Marys & others who have played. Imagine you’re selling\buying an average footballer & you’re using a popular football agent. That agent is also going to be dealing with 10, 20, 30 other moves at the same time. All of those players are of varying ability. The agent, naturally, will concentrate on pushing the larger transfers through first as that’s where he makes his biggest commission so smaller deals can take allot longer to complete. Of course that’s in relative terms. If the agent has a £30million transfer going through then a £15milion transfer is still "smaller" It’s a bit like buying a house in some respects, once whoever is doing the Initial negotiations to buy a player (in our case Les Reed) has agreed a fee with the same person at the selling club then they don’t have much more to do with the transfer until the player is at the buying club for talks. It's just as frustrating for them as they sit around and wait for updates from solicitors\legal teams etc. Some selling clubs won’t release a player for talks with a buying club until a proposed payment structure is in place, in which case the buying clubs financial director will work with the buying clubs legal team, make a proposal to the selling club, which is usual sent back with amendments & then a legal back & forth could potentially last up to 2 weeks. (much the same as when you're buying a house) During that time if the media get wind of the move then it alerts other clubs, players are then linked in the media to other buying clubs (even if the rumour is unsubstantiated) and the player could then choose to delay talks to see if something better materialises. Of course clever agents at this stage may decided to leak stories to flush out other clubs, especially if the player isn't that keen on the move to the original club. There is also allot of back and forth with the players legal representative & the buying clubs legal representative with concerns to player contracts, once the player is eventually at the club for talks. The player is rarely involved in these Negotiations , often it is the agent that will tell the player "I can get you 30k a week" so the agent will speak with the players legal representative who in turn talks with the buying clubs legal team & a player contract is then thrashed out, Image rights etc being the main hang up these days. The agents fee will normally be determined by whether the player does get the 30k a week he was promised plus cuts of image rights etc, so in most cases that negotiation is held up agents refusing to budge on the players demands (The player often having no knowledge of the reduced offer) Medicals could then show up concerns which would require both amendments to how much the player is costing the club and subsequently the proposed payment plan & players contract as the club may want to mitigate a risk that has been thrown up. This will start the whole legal back & forth again. That's in a nutshell too Loans are (somewhat) simpler which is why they're becoming more popular

To be honest, I still expect the majority of transfers to come after the season starts\closer to deadline day. I know we're crying out to sign players before the Liverpool game but I don't think Liverpools signings will have much of an impact on the opening day. Lallana - Injuryed out for the game Lovern - Not trained with the first team squad yet, wont until end of this week not much time to prepare for saints game Lambert - We know his game. Strengthens & Weaknesses, maybe fatigued after the World Cup. Divock Origi - Loaned back to Lille It's only Emre Can & Lazar Markovic who've been added to the squad and had time to adapted to the way Liverpool want to play. Manquillo is likely to come too late to make an impact in time for the Saints game. After losing Suarez & with the likes of Gerrard\Sterling\Sturridge\Johnson only having had 3 weeks off I don't see us being walked over. We then have West Brom at home & West Ham away before the window shuts, I'm not concerned with either of those fixtures. I'd rather we wait and get the right players in, then sign just to appease the fans

I think if you also have a look at players like Sharp, who is available on a free and is a very good championship player yet no one seems willing to take him because of his wages, adds more weight to the argument. As you say, success to quickly. Players likely (in the lower leagues) had big achievement related bonuses, big pay rises for promotions.

We potentially sign a player from Inter Milan (!!) & everyone's complaining he's **** before seeing him player. This is a massive step down in his career, we shouldn't be so elitist towards players!! What pedigree do we have to demand better than fringe players from Inter Milan!?!

Is this really a player we're signing? Or is he just the currency we're accepting in exchange for removing Osvaldo from our books? If there's not much interest in Osvaldo, I wonder if anyone would be willing to spend any kind of money on him. If it's a choice between letting Osvaldo go on loan/move for no fee or getting a player in exchange we may as well take a punt on a player. Diego Forlan was a laughing stock in the UK but had a cracking career in Spain.

Think if we go for him it'll be at the expense of Spider-Man

Victor Moses, Foster, Tadier (if that's how it's spelt?)

Where did you hear/read that? I know a fair few villa fans and watched them a de times last year and he was one of the better players!! They're all disappointed he didn't come back

Was on my wish list at the start of the window :-) Surprised people are ****ed at this? It's a solid signing, a player with Premier League and Champions League experience

To be fair, although I understand your criticism of the "damned if they do, damned if they don't" mentality of allot of members. I think what those members are alluding to with their frustration is more to do with the way it's been handled by the board. Yes they wanted them to put their foot down and say enough is enough but it's been handled terribly & the reaction from Morgan highlights that. Today's media offensive by SFC is very reactionary to the hysteria of the chambers transfer, 3 interviews with Kruger, a summarisation of those interviews on the official website & the leak to ssn that we're close to signing 3 players. It suggests they completely underestimated the reaction of the fanbase which is worrying. Subsequently we then have Morgans tweet, a player who wasn't expecting to leave doesn't make those comments so he's clearly been promised a move and it's been pulled from under him and he's voiced his frustration. It's been a PR disaster and while we're all glad the board have made a stand, this situation that's developed over the last week was preventable had we managed the situation better.

It has been, by the bored & them seemingly putting their foot down.

Yep, if you sign a contract you cant be disillusioned when you're held to that contract even against your will. Its massively important for Saints to hold their nerve for now, even if after we sign 3-4 players we eventually let him get his own way. We cant be seen to potential signings to be making false promises in public

Poor from both the club & the player to be honest Club/Player communication is obviously poor Player Professionalism is Obviously poor A **** situation for the whole of SFC. The bored need to take responsibility for setting a president that they've since gone back on. Fans need to understand, clearly, that the power is with the players. This shows how ****ing **** modern football is.

"judgement day is September 1st"

The Ronald revolution... lmfao

right questions from the interviewer

I Love football absolutely love it I’ve played Hampshire league\Southampton League football every season for the last 16 years, I managed a team for the last 3 seasons. I’ve won a few leagues, got to a few cup finals & my last game as a player/manager came in May at a Hampshire cup final. I’ve subsequently “retired” to spend time with my young family. I wouldn’t call myself an armchair fan as I’d like to think, although at an amateur level I’ve still been involved in association football for 16 years at a reasonable level & I understand what it’s like dealing with 16-20 individuals & their personalities. I’d like to think I have a better tactical understanding than those that haven’t played the game at a competitive level. I’d also hope I have an eye for a player, especially understanding how important partnerships are & how important an “unfashionable” player can be when it comes to the balance of a side. I was really looking forward to enjoying the new premier league season, I’ve not really had the opportunity to listen to games on the radio or attend Saturday afternoon games or watch soccer Saturday on a Saturday afternoon as I’ve always been out playing or managing. However I have never ever been as disillusioned with football as I am now. This is supposed to be the best league in the world, yet it’s a league where financial fair play does more to create a monopoly for the top clubs than it does to actually create a level playing field. A league where football clubs have become rich commodities for the super rich, it’s just business to them, nothing more than business. The purity of the game that I’ve been so in love with at grassroots level over the last 16 years is simply non-existent at the top level. Why hire a good coach when he’ll be poached by a wealthier club, why invest in youth when the best players move to the bigger clubs? That’s not sportsmanship, that’s not ethical in a sporting sense. Why invest any time in improving your club as a sporting entity when the commercially rich clubs will just swop and purchase all your hard work or worse still the owners will sell to satisfy business needs. I honestly think I’ll stick with grass roots, watch some amateur games & lower league football. Its more honest, its pure, its not corrupt, its not business… its just sport and that’s what I like… sport

Think I was about 14-15 when Egil was playing. Remember nearly crying one summer when I read Newcastle were interested in signing him.