rshephard3

Classic view of someone overlooking a guy who has scored more top class match goals than our whole squad put together. Congratulations.

Exactly this. Good signing IMO.

Not an injured footballer?! Shock horror. They've just come back from summer break and have lost their first 2 games of the season, I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest Rodriguez could have started up top tonight.

Got a Wigan-Saints double on tonight. Man up and get it going Saints.

Looking from the outset in this transfer window, players like Stuart Downing, Adam Johnson and Hugo Rodallega are exactly the sort of players I was expecting us to try to presuade to come to Saints. Think he would be an excellent signing for sure.

That would only really work for net spending, ie Wigan have pretty much evened out their figure by selling Moses.

The worry is that you could feasibly find 0 pts from 4 games now, with a poor goal difference potentially. I had to sell my season ticket yesterday to go to a wedding but it seems to me to have been a poor performance/atmosphere/attendance. I honestly didn't see that coming, we were buzzing coming out of the Etihad last weekend!

Well, I don't think it would be right to suggest that it doesn't use up time, resources and money to try to push deals through. This isn't an IBM or Microsoft size company that can have multiple members of staff popping multi million pound deals around every day is it? Ultimately it is dependent on Nicola Cortese isn't it? We are consistently reminded from people in football/on SSN etc how much hard work each transfer is and that, contrary to popular belief (and football manager), a lot of work from a Chief Exec or Chairman goes into these large transfers. I take your point but the multiple fingers in multiple pies scenario can only extend do far, that's all I meant by my post.

Would happily see us pull the plug on this Ramirez deal and concentrate on getting in an excellent centre half. Michael Dawson, for example, is available and it strikes me that Bologna are messing us around somewhat in these dealings. I'm often critical of Saints in such dealings but in this case it seems we're not to blame, from what I can make out. All the while, Swansea are signing Celtics best player, Sunderland are bringing in Johnson/Fletcher, yes paying big cash but undoubtedly strengthening. I hope we don't leave it too late, COYR, get some quality in and splash some cash!

Agree with this largely, however I'm thinking he is a pretty 'safe' option, and I genuinely think he'd have improved our squad for the better. But I know where you're coming from, he's never going to move to a top 7 club and cement a place is he? I think we'll pull a winger out before close of window, I'm excited to see who it is.

Beat me to it!

How does everyone feel about this Jarvis to WHU situation? At an initial 7.5mill he isn't breaking their bank. Who would have been happy for SFC to take to him at this sort of money?

I can't be bothered to read the whole thread but the stand out for me is Fox I'm afraid. Barely good enough for championship and still not sure why we've signed him-set pieces alone aren't enough.

Tune. IMHO.

It's bound to be Yeovil. Just got one of those feelings.

When are these games due to be played?

I just described the Fletcher price as mad. That said he's a better player than Rodriguez at this point. What would Fletcher guarantee if up top all season? 12 league goals maybe? He's been, and will be a good premiership player. Yes, the price is high(see my previous post)but how many goals do you see Rodriguez contributing this season? And as a more general point, it is subjective as to whether we have invested enough in fee's and wages. You may think yes, I think no, at this point.

Well Cisse was £8 million. Ba, granted, free transfer. Went to West Ham for an undisclosed fee. Both command wages that would count as the investment I talk of. If not laziness, maybe an inability to attract larger profile names for whatever reason. Maybe we aren't prepared to break a wage structure.

Fair point, Torres being a classic example I guess. But as a general rule, money will buy goals, that is the general trend isn't it? Yes, there are exceptions, but across the board, the most expensive players are the most talented. The Manchester clubs teams cost a fortune, they finished 1st and 2nd last season. Wolves team cost a fraction, they got relegated. Sunderland proved a few years ago that if you persist for a period with high spending you can consolidate a team in the top flight. Keane did a poor job there but they still had enough to consolidate because of expenditure. It's not everyones view, I accept that, but there is a trend of squad investment and success in English football. If we are one of the richest around I'm surprised we haven't invested quite a lot more heavily than we have.

Someone like one of the lads who ended up at Newcastle last year thanks to their excellent scouting. If you're lazy and look just in England you end up paying mad prices for the likes of Fletcher, I agree. But if SFC have ambitions beyond a relegation scrap, they ought to have spent more than 6.5 million on a centre forward, IMHO.

Exactly this. Double the JRod fee, offer someone £40,000 a week and accept the fact that these are the prices that guarantee goals in the premiership. We'd all be banging on about our great new centre forward.

I think that's a fair point for everyone to take on board actually. It is a forum afterall. WARNING-REASONED DEBATE GOING ON ON THIS THREAD-SOMEONE FIND A WUM QUICK!

Sure, why not? Davis moved to Scotland to get games and wasn't great for Fulham. Shone at Villa and never kicked on. Rodriguez has never kicked a ball in the prem and is no guarantee of any more than 6 or 7 league goals. The only one who stands out remotely for me is Clyne who I see as having superb potential. Time will tell and I'll happily eat my words but the premiership is not worried one bit about the signings at SFC so far. If this squad played a season they'd go down wouldn't they? So I think it's fair to say I'm underwhelmed 5 days before getting in my car to Manchester.

This would not be in keeping with our transfer policy of signing underwhelming British players would it?

Is that a fact? Are you ITK?