Where are all these signings then ?

[Charlie Wayman]

I agree with Alpine, surely the principle is "Get in first" not "wait and see who's left" or "keep our powder dry". I'll wager nearer the truth is the infamous "there is no money" as Liam Byrne kindly pointed out to David Laws.

 

We've already missed David Villa and if we're not careful, Fernando Torres will have re-signed for the Scousers as well, then where will we be?

 

Strangely, now that Roy Hodgson is at the helm I will be wishing and hoping Liverpool have a great season. You can't fail to love the man and admire what he has achieved. If only he fancied us! I hated that arrogant idiot from Madrid who gladly was hoist on his own petard at the end.

[alpine_saint]

Wait, so you want us to sign replacements for every player in our squad who can play at the same level to said players JUST IN CASE they get sold?

 

Dont be silly, you know exactly what I mean.

 

We cant sit and think "ah, we have 11 or 12 decent players, most positions covered, that will do"

[Block 5]

Yay!!!!

 

A decent Alpine thread full of contention.

Love it!

 

 

[Saint_clark]

Dont be silly, you know exactly what I mean.

 

We cant sit and think "ah, we have 11 or 12 decent players, most positions covered, that will do"

 

I still don't get what you mean.

An able replacement for Lallana or Schneiderlin isn't going to sign for us unless guaranteed first team football. Even then it will be a hard sell, as they could probably perform for a low end Prem team right about now.

[The Kraken]

We only need a couple of CCC clubs or PL clubs to come in for our couple of our currrent players for the situation to become "wholesale" again, imo. And by then, the available options will have become limited.

 

We all agree about hitting the ground running in August. I find it shocking that a contingent of our fans think leaving team strengthening until the end of July / early August is a sensible idea.

 

They clearly don't think that though, that's just you trying to polarise opinion to make an argument. Most people on here can accept that transfers don't happen overnight but understand that the club have probably been in negotiations with any number of players up to now, and will continue to do so until they get the right players in. Just because it doesn't get leaked in the press, it doesn't mean the club isn't being active in recruitment.

 

You seem have to made a very reactionary thread on a complete "what if" worse-than-worst case scenario. We all know we need new players. We would all like them signed asap. However, most can see that, if by waiting an extra week or two we find the "right" player, then its the right thing to do. Like I said, if by August we haven't made more signings then I will start to get worried, especially if one or two do leave. But until then I'm happy to have faith that AP and the club are sourcing everything they need for the season ahead.

[Block 5]

PS. I have had an email to say we are about to sign a RB, striker and midfield 'general'.

[itchen_dan]

On another note they must be pretty ready to announce some new signings due to the new player images on the site and the new header.

 

Surely some have to come in reasonably soon...

[Alanh]

We only need a couple of CCC clubs or PL clubs to come in for our couple of our currrent players for the situation to become "wholesale" again, imo. And by then, the available options will have become limited.

 

We all agree about hitting the ground running in August. I find it shocking that a contingent of our fans think leaving team strengthening until the end of July / early August is a sensible idea.

First sentence - fair point, but there isn;t an awful lot we can do about that as we don't have a crystal ball and no club signs a player simply in case one of their other player is sold.

 

Second sentence - I don't think anyone on this board or in the fan base in general is advocating waiting until early August before we sign anyone. This is just anopther example of you exaggerating for effect and making yourself look like the Hysterical tart that someone described you as earlier.

[INFLUENCED.COM]

Its all so confusing, on some threads we are told that NC wants to reduce the 5 year to a 3 year plan and slated for trying to overachieve yet because of only 1 signing to date our season is already doomed, NC didnt get involved with us to stand still nor I will assume did AP, therefore, I will expect a 'few' signings to strengthen a squad that is arguably one of the best in the division in line with our anticipated automatic promotion, promotion which I, again, will assume is a minimum requirement of the management.

[alpine_saint]

I still don't get what you mean.

An able replacement for Lallana or Schneiderlin isn't going to sign for us unless guaranteed first team football. Even then it will be a hard sell, as they could probably perform for a low end Prem team right about now.

 

So if they aint going to sign for us, why are we assuming that no-one will come in and they will stay ? Who is talking about one-for-one replacements anyway ? If it were to happen we need to find decent replacements at this level, meaning looking at our fellow L1 teams or free players. Only the freebies will all be gone once we wake up from our yearly summer hibernation...

[alpine_saint]

First sentence - fair point, but there isn;t an awful lot we can do about that as we don't have a crystal ball and no club signs a player simply in case one of their other player is sold.

 

Second sentence - I don't think anyone on this board or in the fan base in general is advocating waiting until early August before we sign anyone. This is just anopther example of you exaggerating for effect and making yourself look like the Hysterical tart that someone described you as earlier.

 

Why is it exaggering and me being a tart ? Its what we do EVERY YEAR.

[saint_stevo]

PS. I have had an email to say we are about to sign a RB, striker and midfield 'general'.

 

i'll bite........

 

If its Lee hendrie, Jonjo Shelvey and Lee Trundle then bugger orf! 606 at it's best........interested to hear about a RB though, seeing as though we don't have one

[Scudamore]

Now where are those new smilies? Ah yes...here it is.

 

[Brussels Saint]

I don't think we should expect lots of signings and the club have given no indication that they are planning this anyway. I think AP only mentioned they will strengthen.

 

Obviously everyone agrees we need a right back, but apart from that we pretty much have last years starting 11 still at the club and have added a potentially better LB to an already strong area.

 

Losing Papa & Antonio has weakened us from the bench and I expect that will be addressed, so I think we will add another 2 max 3 and that’s it. If we do that before season starts in Aug, I wont be unhappy, and with a weaker L1 lineup & a proper preseason we should win the league. Bookies and the majority I guess tend to agree with that.

 

Alps, you got a bit of grief for this thread, but at least its a proper football one, instead of all the Instalment/parking/is Cortese the devil rubbish recently being discussed.

[ribbo]

 

Alps, you got a bit of grief for this thread, but at least its a proper football one, instead of all the Instalment/parking/is Cortese the devil rubbish recently being discussed.

 

if this thread was posted 10days into july or later then I should think it would be just, but 10hours into 1st July... cripes.

[Alanh]

Why is it exaggering and me being a tart ? Its what we do EVERY YEAR.

 

Because you said that you are SHOCKED that there are fans who think it is sensible that we wait until August before signing anyone. I suggest you couldn't find one fan who would advocate waiting until the start of the season. I would suggest that every fan wants signings to happen as early as possible, it's just that most realise that they take time and don't react with a hyperbolic post 10 hours into July.

[Danbert]

disagree with both points.

 

1. We have no recognised RB, we need another playmaker in CM, and we have limited options up front since Papa and Antonio are gone

2. The season is only about 5 weeks away, and we need to get through the proverbial "gelling" b*ll*cks. And all the excuses for no activity in June appear to have ellapsed, to me..

 

Couldn't agree more

[View From The Top]

It's lunchtime on July the 1st and I'm outraged that we haven't signed anyone at all yet.

 

I really don't know why I bothered to renew my season ticket when the club show such a lack of ambition.

[View From The Top]

Because you said that you are SHOCKED that there are fans who think it is sensible that we wait until August before signing anyone. I suggest you couldn't find one fan who would advocate waiting until the start of the season. I would suggest that every fan wants signings to happen as early as possible, it's just that most realise that they take time and don't react with a hyperbolic post 10 hours into July.

 

 

How dare you make a responable argument!

[Block 5]

i'll bite........

 

If its Lee hendrie, Jonjo Shelvey and Lee Trundle then bugger orf! 606 at it's best........interested to hear about a RB though, seeing as though we don't have one

 

Not much more to add I'm afraid Stevo.

Other than to say none of the above please!!!

The email was from a good friend though and not the usual wife of a guy in a pub's who is David Armstrong's hairdresser.

[VectisSaint]

I don't normally agree with many things Alpine posts but on this i think he raises a good point.

 

Last season we used the excuse that we didn't have time to bed the team together in the pre-season for our poor start.

 

Well our first pre-season friendly is on July 27th at Barnet. It would be reassuring to see some signings, let the team train together for a week before the first pre-season friendly. So not a lot of time left to get this sorted!

No, Alpine does not have a point. We already have the best 1st XI in this division, and have made 1 signing already. What we are looking at now is boosting the squad. We have a team in place to start the season. I would be interested to know if DC has signed though. Of course we will need to strengthen the squad, but we have the players to start with, and i doubt that much will happen to replace replace what we already have (possible exception LB, but Harding is more than capable of starting there).

 

The transfer window closes end August, I doubt we will see more than a couple of signings before then, and probably only squad players (backup for 1st team). Only other prospect is to get Antonio or Papa back either on loan or permanent.

[miserableoldgit]

I agree with Alpine, surely the principle is "Get in first" not "wait and see who's left" or "keep our powder dry". I'll wager nearer the truth is the infamous "there is no money" as Liam Byrne kindly pointed out to David Laws.

 

We've already missed David Villa and if we're not careful, Fernando Torres will have re-signed for the Scousers as well, then where will we be?

 

Strangely, now that Roy Hodgson is at the helm I will be wishing and hoping Liverpool have a great season. You can't fail to love the man and admire what he has achieved. If only he fancied us! I hated that arrogant idiot from Madrid who gladly was hoist on his own petard at the end.

Like last year? From an earlier post by Dav :-

 

"Dan Harding, 21 July 2009

Rickie Lambert, 11 August 2009

Dean Hammond, 20 August 2009

Radhi Jaidi, 3 September 2009

 

Add in the loanees...

 

Jacob Melliss, 14 August 2009

Neal trotman, 19 August 2009

Pap Waigo, 1 September 2009

Michail Antonio, 5 October 2009

 

So last season we signed just 1 player before the start of the season."

[MerceSaint28]

Sorry guys, but there is some valid points in the thread. Cortese and Liebherr have not bought the club to be an also ran, i think the years of mediocrity has filtered into the fans thinking and a lot of you are just happy with what we have got.

To those who say we don't need signings are crazy. Firstly we are weaker than last season, no right back at the club, therefore at least 2 needed or one and another covering right back.

We have lsot Papa and Antonio, so both need to be covered and we are weak in the middle of the park.

The current team would not run away with the league and needs at least 6 new players, so hence the urgency from the fans.

Top clubs always refresh their squads with better players each year, its called progression! we are in a unique postion where there are a lot of teams in financial trouble and we are financially strong, even stronger than teams in the championship. This is a buyers market and we would be foolish not to cherry pick the best players.

I trust Pards and i am sure the work is being done, however i also hope we get our work done early so we can have a pre-season for once.

There are a lot of holes to fill so lets not kid ourselves, we are still lacking in the middle of the park and are crying out for an enfrocer.

Lots of work to be done, lets hope it starts soon....

[The Kraken]

To those who say we don't need signings are crazy.

 

Please point me in the direction of those saying that we don't need any new players.

[100%Red&White]

We've already missed David Villa and if we're not careful, Fernando Torres will have re-signed for the Scousers as well, then where will we be?

 

Strangely, now that Roy Hodgson is at the helm I will be wishing and hoping Liverpool have a great season. You can't fail to love the man and admire what he has achieved. If only he fancied us! I hated that arrogant idiot from Madrid who gladly was hoist on his own petard at the end.

 

Careful what you wish for Gooner, don't the Scallies kick off against Arsenal?

[bungle]

Almost all signings for all sides are made during July, and after clubs start pre-season training.

 

The only thing to worry about is alpine's sanity.

[Arizona]

Here's a genuine answer. I am not sure that something is going on about transfers, tbh. There are signs that the club is somehow consolidating revenue streams, it could be we are not going to make signings. Maybe ML was so p*ssed off at least seasons result, he has told the club to stand on its own two feet now. In which case, maybe Cortese now has to work under the same constraints as Lowe did, but without the smug supercillious attitude.

 

That is the most ridiculous statement I've heard all summer. I can't be bothered spending about an hour of my life explaining all the reasons that is wrong.

[JibMcdo]

Why would we have signed players yet? The players we are going to be looking at aren't going to be released by clubs, we are going to have to negotiate fees with clubs - we're in a position to buy the best we can get. That's rarely concluded by 1st July. We've only signed Dickson so early because he didn't renew his contract and we were able to skip past the negotiations with Brentford. I'd say we only need to sign a right back, a central midfielder and a replacement for Papa and Antonio, or sign one of them of course, anyway.

[Thedelldays]

I wonder how we are getting on with trying to secure Antonio

[oxfordshire_saint]

Right, it's 12:40 now and there's still no signings, this is unacceptable, WE WILL GET RELEGATED!

 

EVERYBODY PANIC! CORTESE OUT! PAYMENT PLANS IN! LONG LIVE THE DAILY ECHO!

 

Oh.....wait....it's the 1st July, not the 1st August, in which case, I take it all back.

[John D]

Ok, I'll bite as well

 

Firstly, the argument that we are doing nothing is unwinnable unless you are AP, NC or a scout etc as you don't know. We could have had bids turned down; Silva may have chosen City over us etc. So snide comments about us being in summer hibernation are pathetic as you have no idea what is happening - True, neither do I but then I am not trying to make such claims.

 

Secondly, the argument that all the best players will be gone also does not stack up. Proven by the fact we signed both Lambert and Hammond after the season started.

 

Thirdly, it is preferable to get players in earlier but more important to get the right players in. The time to gel argument is less relevant as Pardew and, I would guess, at least 7 of the starting 11 are already in place and have gelled already. This is an extension to a strong base rather than a complete rebuild like last season

 

Fourthly, Pardew knows he must deliver this season and if we don't get a good start, I will guess he will be sacked. Therefore he must be keen to get the players he wants in sooner rather than later. However the dynamics of the transfer market may mean he has to wait for the cards to fall into place before this can happen.

 

Finally I do believe we need between 4-6 players and will be ****ed off if they are not in place by start of the season but at the moment I am happily enjoying the world cup, watching England win at Cricket and getting frustrated by Hampshire's poor form. I'll get worried later

[The Kraken]

I wonder how we are getting on with trying to secure Antonio

 

Antonio is definitely a signing I'd like to see back. With Lallana and Puncheon he'd be on the bench for the most part, but he's a very good impact player to have and offers something the others don't in his raw, blistering pace (plus a good long throw). I think Reading will be looking to a promotion push of their own and I'm not sure he's good enough for high-end Championship just yet, but for us he could be a very good asset (and fairly cheap too). Hopefully we're close to sorting out a deal one way or the other, though I imagine Reading will want to play hard-ball which could very well explain a delay in signing him.

[Gorgiesaint]

Right, it's 12:40 now and there's still no signings, this is unacceptable, WE WILL GET RELEGATED!

 

EVERYBODY PANIC! CORTESE OUT! PAYMENT PLANS IN! LONG LIVE THE DAILY ECHO!

 

Oh.....wait....it's the 1st July, not the 1st August, in which case, I take it all back.

 

I'm just glad that there isn't a transfer window that opens on 1st April....

 

.... imagine the carnage then !!

[Thedelldays]

Antonio is definitely a signing I'd like to see back. With Lallana and Puncheon he'd be on the bench for the most part, but he's a very good impact player to have and offers something the others don't in his raw, blistering pace (plus a good long throw). I think Reading will be looking to a promotion push of their own and I'm not sure he's good enough for high-end Championship just yet, but for us he could be a very good asset (and fairly cheap too). Hopefully we're close to sorting out a deal one way or the other, though I imagine Reading will want to play hard-ball which could very well explain a delay in signing him.

agree completely...can play wide right or as a partner for rickie....will be inconsistant but such a threat with his pace and power even when he is having a mare...

 

IMO...I hope we get...

 

a Right Back (that dude at Tranmere..?)

A Centre Midfielder....god knows who

connolly to sign up

Antonio for a season or for good..

 

that is all we need IMO

[Window Cleaner]

All what signings would that be then, we don't need so many, 2 really.

[Torres]

exaggering and me being a tart ? Its what I do EVERY YEAR.

 

Quite.

[Fan The Flames]

Alpine do you always come early?

[saint1977]

Ok, I'll bite as well

 

Firstly, the argument that we are doing nothing is unwinnable unless you are AP, NC or a scout etc as you don't know. We could have had bids turned down; Silva may have chosen City over us etc. So snide comments about us being in summer hibernation are pathetic as you have no idea what is happening - True, neither do I but then I am not trying to make such claims.

 

Secondly, the argument that all the best players will be gone also does not stack up. Proven by the fact we signed both Lambert and Hammond after the season started.

 

Thirdly, it is preferable to get players in earlier but more important to get the right players in. The time to gel argument is less relevant as Pardew and, I would guess, at least 7 of the starting 11 are already in place and have gelled already. This is an extension to a strong base rather than a complete rebuild like last season

 

Fourthly, Pardew knows he must deliver this season and if we don't get a good start, I will guess he will be sacked. Therefore he must be keen to get the players he wants in sooner rather than later. However the dynamics of the transfer market may mean he has to wait for the cards to fall into place before this can happen.

 

Finally I do believe we need between 4-6 players and will be ****ed off if they are not in place by start of the season but at the moment I am happily enjoying the world cup, watching England win at Cricket and getting frustrated by Hampshire's poor form. I'll get worried later

 

Sensible. JibMcDo posts common sense above as well, AP and NC are probably going after a better quality of player from a smaller shortlist that are already under contract elsewhere (probably because they are half-decent and the selling club want to retain them). Semi was a free but didn't cut it, but the signings that we've bought from clubs that wanted to retain them if they could - Lambert, Fonte, Barnard, Punch - have been first class. I agree with John that we do need 4-5 players in as 2 would only get us in the play offs with Hudds and Swindon looking strong but I back this regime to get them in. 2 RBs (one that can also play DC as well), a good CM to liven Hammond up, one more quick wide player and a back up to Rickie would do it.

 

Combined with this thread and the awful thread about Cortese, it makes you want to not bother posting here again. Thankfully the vast majority of our fans have more sense and looking forward to a enjoyable and successful season finishing in the top 2. If that happens, after the JPT last season we'll be enjoying ourselves don't you think?

[Glasgow_Saint]

Rumours from 606:

 

In the hunt for free transfers Lee Trundle & Lee Hendrie

 

& trying to loan Jonjo Shelvey from Liverpool

 

:badger:

[Thedelldays]

I think Alps is still scared from the "no centre back" pre season with you know who...when it became clear after the palace game we really needed one

 

like everything else with saints these days..we wont know anything till the day..but I will be amazed if they are not aggressively trying to secure deals...the fact we have loads of wonga will mean clubs will play hard-ball with us

[PokingFun]

The main problem with signing new players is that:

 

1) to sign them quickly they need to be available ... E.g. Dickson (Out of Contract), and there aren't many OOC players we would realistically want as they are OOC for a reason which is usually that their club don't want them;

 

2) Any player we are looking at is likely to be of the quality where other teams will also be looking at them and negotiating for them so agreeing deals can be complicated;

 

3) Even if we agree terms with a club, then we need to agree terms with the player / agent and get a contract signed. Anyone that works in business knows how difficult contract talks and getting them signed can be. It is rarely standard and straightforward.

 

All these things together = the reason why we rarely see ink on paper much before the beginning of the season. I would hazard a guess that activity elsewhere in L1 in respect of signings is due to players being signed elsewhere that would not get in our team given our ambitions. Once the PL teams have completed their work, this will filter down to the CCC and then onto lower leagues. The chances of us attracting CCC standard players from decent CCC clubs are quite limited I suspect as most won't want to drop down regardless of our ambition and there are only going to be a small amount of players in L1 of the desired quality we need to STRENGTHEN the squad. Losing 15 squad players only to replace them with new squad players is something to be avoided. Also, who knows but there may be a couple of young players in the academy ranks that AP feels can provide strong cover and learn from the 1st team players quickly.

 

I still say let's wait and see, but even if we start the season with what we have I do not think we are going to be weak by any stretch of the imagination. Even at RB Harding could do the job assuming we have not signed one by then.

 

By the way, I'm not saying we shouldn't sign new players at RB, CM and CF, but if we cannot get the right quality needed then we should keep our powder dry until the right players do become available.

[View From The Top]

IMO...I hope we get...

 

a Right Back (that dude at Tranmere..?)

 

He was on loan from Man City.

[The Kraken]

I think Alps is still scared from the "no centre back" pre season with you know who...when it became clear after the palace game we really needed one

 

like everything else with saints these days..we wont know anything till the day..but I will be amazed if they are not aggressively trying to secure deals...the fact we have loads of wonga will mean clubs will play hard-ball with us

 

That's all well and good, but as has been pointed out many times, the only position we are deficient in is at right back. And even Harding could fill in there temporarily.

 

There is a massive difference between this season and previous seasons, especially last. We already have the nucleus of a very good team in place; we are simply lacking depth in some areas. Rather than signing backup players, I believe we will be looking for players better than we have already, with some of the current first teamers becoming squad players. That doesn't happen overnight but I have every faith it will happen before the start of the season. Crying about it hysterically because it hasn't already happened is a bit ridiculous, IMO.

[warsash saint]

FFS .... by your own immission you state contracts run out by end of June & then rant on why we have not signed anyone in the first 10 hours of July..... unbelievable !

 

is there an ignore option on this new forum ?

[FMPR]

The smaller clubs like yourselves have to wait till the big clubs have signed who they want so you can have the dergs

[Ivan Katalinic's 'tache]

The smaller clubs like yourselves have to wait till the big clubs have signed who they want so you can have the dergs

 

Always best to get a put down right, when you make one.

[The Kraken]

The smaller clubs like yourselves have to wait till the big clubs have signed who they want so you can have the dergs

 

Maybe we should go the Pompey route and get Mark Fry and Rupert Lowe back to fly off to far flung locations to sort out our transfer dealings

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

He was on loan from Man City.

 

Do you mean Shaleum Logan (sp)?

[Gorgiesaint]

The smaller clubs like yourselves have to wait till the big clubs have signed who they want so you can have the dergs

 

haha says he who supports a team with a transfer embargo. How's AA getting on with your application to play in the Europa League next season?

[patred44]

A little light relief