We must spend now

[The Kraken]

It's been explained to him 500 times before over the summers. It doesn't work. That's why it winds people up.

 

If you bang on about making all signings early so you start the season well, you give yourself the chance to say 'look we started badly, I was right'. That's all he ever wants. It doesn't consider for the second whether it's possible to make the signings early, who they are, how much money we have, the difficulty of early fixtures etc.

 

There's no way of knowing if we'd start the season better without any signings. No gelling that's for sure. I wouldn't advise it, but who knows. Likewise, we could make great signings and start badly.

 

It's just such a non-point. Make good signings early so you have time to gel over the summer. Yes. Well it would be nice wouldn't it, but how often does it happen? He talks as if Saints are sat back waiting, not too bothered about starting well. In reality I don't any club in England has concluded their transfer business, with most having the majority of it ahead of them, and countless transfers going up to the last day. It's just common sense. This argument is akin to saying 'we should try to win more games'. It's absolutely nothing. So yes Alpine, for the 1000th time, it would be lovely to have signings all done in June. It would be better to not need any. But even from Austria surely you can see it's slightly tougher than just 'sorting it early'?

 

And of course, who would be the first to moan if Cortese said in June - 'that's it for signings'?

 

There's no pleasing some people. If you remember the "why haven't we signed anyone threads from last year" this one is going exactly the same way. I imagine as soon as July gets here there will be another attention-seeking bleating along the same lines.

 

Last year we signed 4 players in the summer; Richardson, Dickson, Butterfield and Guly. All bar Guly were signed by the club by mid July. And yet our start to the season was still poor. Our early new signings were of no real benefit.

 

I don't understand why people put so much stock in WHEN a signing is made, rather than WHO the signing is. Yes, it would be great to have players that will improve the team, and I do believe we need them to compete at the top end of the table. And it can be a bit disappointing to see other rivals make signings. But expecting 4 or 5 quality signings to have been made by now is nonsense; there's time left in the window and if it means we bring in the right player, the wait will be worth it.

[david in sweden]

..and just waiting for the almost inevitable..

" Oh No!... Billy Sharp doesn't want to come, were sunk now " type of thread.

 

Relax ....still 6 weeks to the seasons start and who knows who might come before then..precise dates mean NOTHING !

just as long as they are a good buy.

Edited 29 June, 2011 by david in sweden
spelling

[The9]

I don't understand why people put so much stock in WHEN a signing is made, rather than WHO the signing is. Yes, it would be great to have players that will improve the team, and I do believe we need them to compete at the top end of the table. And it can be a bit disappointing to see other rivals make signings. But expecting 4 or 5 quality signings to have been made by now is nonsense; there's time left in the window and if it means we bring in the right player, the wait will be worth it.

 

Is it the same argument as wanting ST payments to come out earlier ? I can see the value in having both sorted early in relation to the start of the season, but it's not actually affecting the season itself very much if we have to wait instead.

[Dalek2003]

Absoloutley spot on. There's no point panic buying in June, which is what alot of posters seem to advocate us doing.

 

Good logic, always better to panic in January when we are struggling to avoid the drop.

[Crazy Diamond]

Good logic, always better to panic in January when we are struggling to avoid the drop.

 

Emergency temporal shift somewhere else. Go on.

[Dalek2003]

Emergency temporal shift somewhere else. Go on.

 

The hand of Omega has been located !

[S-Clarke]

Good logic, always better to panic in January when we are struggling to avoid the drop.

 

Pointless!

[PaulGilchrist_76]

Pointless!

No points by January

[Professor]

The reason for signing new players early has already been stated in this thread: More choice of the available players before they go elsewhere and having them play in pre-season to adjust them to the team and vice versa. That doesn't mean there isn't still time, obviously there is, but points dropped in August are dropped for good as we discovered last season, so ideally, you want your strongest side available from day 1.

 

Some people are suggesting that we don't need to strengthen and that the squad is already good enough. Whether that is true may not be apparent until after the first 3 or 4 games but it didn't seem to be Adkin's view as weeks ago he was talking about adding quality to the team. But what many fans are looking for is how activity in developing the team is an indicator of the management's intentions, by which I really mean Cortese and the Leibherr family. At the moment we don't know, and as the days pass the determination to take the club forward looks less certain. If Nick G is right and there are one or two top quality signings just waiting to happen but not until August, then fine but until we see the evidence many people will remain sceptical.

[Dalek2003]

Pointless!

 

Well we could be if our squad is not strong enough, and i would expect some urgency if not panic ! Mind you we might be happy to head down to L1 again where we can enjoy being the big fish in a small pond.

[westofshannonsaint]

Good logic, always better to panic in January when we are struggling to avoid the drop.

 

Well we could be if our squad is not strong enough, and i would expect some urgency if not panic ! Mind you we might be happy to head down to L1 again where we can enjoy being the big fish in a small pond.

 

do you honestly think that the team as it currently stands is a relegation candidate?

 

I think the major point that people are missing is that we are no longer a selling club. we have built a decent squad and have (so far) held on to our better players. In years past we would not have had a chance to hold on to players such as AOC, Lallana, & Lambert (if we bought him in the first place). We would have sold them for a lot less than the values being quoted & replaced them with lesser players to balance the books.

 

I am sure we will strengthen the team, but I would much rather an approach of quality over quantity & players that fit our structure. e.g. Danns would have been a great free signing but how would his wage demands compare to the wages of our current *star* players & how would that affect team moral?

 

If the right players are not available to us by the end of august I will not be overly concerned as I think the current squad can hold their own in the championship. Loanees can still strengthen the team after that and then there is the January window if relegation is a risk or the top 6 is in sight.

 

IMHO stability & a good preseason are more important than any marquee signing. I think we have the best chance of a good preseason since WGS. I have faith in our (ex physio) manager to have a fit squad ready to start the new season.

 

all that said, the only year that i was not positive before the season started was when l*we came back, sacked Pearson & started the Dutch experiment. & I am a fan who due to location does not get the chance to attend games.

[westofshannonsaint]

do you honestly think that the team as it currently stands is a relegation candidate?

 

for context here is a link to the historical tables (since 2003). In 2008 Leicester failed to stay up with 52 points but there are seasons where an average of 1 point per game would see a team safe.

[NickG]

Thing is, the title of the thread is "we must spend now".

 

We don't necessarily have to spend at all, depending on how the squad adapts (and wins over Ipswich and Blackpool and decent performances against Millwall, Skate Cheats FC, Leeds, Birmingham, Bolton and even Man U for a while in the past two seasons) have all indicated the squad are capable of playing successfully at a higher level.

 

Also, even if we do spend with the intention to strengthen, we don't have to do it "now", because there are 5 weeks before the season starts and 4 months before the loan window does.

 

We already have a very settled squad, with players that are very familier with eachother having been together for the last 2 years. Signing 2 or 3 quality players will not require gelling time, that's just a myth. If they're good enough they're make an impact straight away.

 

It's also still June.

 

I have to agree with that, I remember last year when Roy Keanne said that although in League 1, on paper we were a championship side, I believe the former Brentford manager said it as well this season when we won at Brentford, therefore Adkins has got it right when he said we are looking for a few additions that will strengthen what is a winning side, far better to wait and add quality instead of numbers, plenty of time to go yet as I am sure that Adkins and the chairman talk on a daily basis regarding potential signings.

 

It's been explained to him 500 times before over the summers. It doesn't work. That's why it winds people up.

 

If you bang on about making all signings early so you start the season well, you give yourself the chance to say 'look we started badly, I was right'. That's all he ever wants. It doesn't consider for the second whether it's possible to make the signings early, who they are, how much money we have, the difficulty of early fixtures etc.

 

There's no way of knowing if we'd start the season better without any signings. No gelling that's for sure. I wouldn't advise it, but who knows. Likewise, we could make great signings and start badly.

 

It's just such a non-point. Make good signings early so you have time to gel over the summer. Yes. Well it would be nice wouldn't it, but how often does it happen? He talks as if Saints are sat back waiting, not too bothered about starting well. In reality I don't any club in England has concluded their transfer business, with most having the majority of it ahead of them, and countless transfers going up to the last day. It's just common sense. This argument is akin to saying 'we should try to win more games'. It's absolutely nothing. So yes Alpine, for the 1000th time, it would be lovely to have signings all done in June. It would be better to not need any. But even from Austria surely you can see it's slightly tougher than just 'sorting it early'?

 

And of course, who would be the first to moan if Cortese said in June - 'that's it for signings'?

 

The thing is, as others have said above, although we were in League 1, we have been busily assembling a side capable of competing in the championship. It would be great to add some more quality to the squad but its not necessarily imperative. Adkins delivered promotion in his first (part) season here, lets wait and see what he thinks we need to do. In Nigel we trust etc etc......

 

Well said. It's almost like people are so used to all the changes, sales and signings that they crave more. Bored of this team?

 

I think it's a very good Championship team right now. They key being, it's already a team. It's certainly better than Millwall were and they coped fine. Of course we'll improve it, but for the first time in years, we don't have to stress about it. So what are we doing.....??!!!!!

 

Whether we start well or badly, I'm confident this team will have a good season, be mid-table at worst, and I'm looking forward to it.

 

Consider this -

 

We just got promoted through the L1 playoffs. We scraped through as we hadn't invested as much while in L1.

 

We NOW sign Jose Fonte from Palace. Good signing?

We sign Lambert, one of L1s best strikers in recent history. Good signing?

We sign Guly, an unknown but from a high level abroad? Good signing?

 

Which is preferable? Already having a good basis for a team? Or having to start from scratch albeit getting the excitement of frequent signings?

 

There's no pleasing some people. If you remember the "why haven't we signed anyone threads from last year" this one is going exactly the same way. I imagine as soon as July gets here there will be another attention-seeking bleating along the same lines.

 

Last year we signed 4 players in the summer; Richardson, Dickson, Butterfield and Guly. All bar Guly were signed by the club by mid July. And yet our start to the season was still poor. Our early new signings were of no real benefit.

 

I don't understand why people put so much stock in WHEN a signing is made, rather than WHO the signing is. Yes, it would be great to have players that will improve the team, and I do believe we need them to compete at the top end of the table. And it can be a bit disappointing to see other rivals make signings. But expecting 4 or 5 quality signings to have been made by now is nonsense; there's time left in the window and if it means we bring in the right player, the wait will be worth it.

 

Some good, reasoned views.

 

No panic, enjoy the summer!

[Dalek2003]

do you honestly think that the team as it currently stands is a relegation candidate?

 

I think the major point that people are missing is that we are no longer a selling club. we have built a decent squad and have (so far) held on to our better players. In years past we would not have had a chance to hold on to players such as AOC, Lallana, & Lambert (if we bought him in the first place). We would have sold them for a lot less than the values being quoted & replaced them with lesser players to balance the books.

 

I am sure we will strengthen the team, but I would much rather an approach of quality over quantity & players that fit our structure. e.g. Danns would have been a great free signing but how would his wage demands compare to the wages of our current *star* players & how would that affect team moral?

 

If the right players are not available to us by the end of august I will not be overly concerned as I think the current squad can hold their own in the championship. Loanees can still strengthen the team after that and then there is the January window if relegation is a risk or the top 6 is in sight.

 

IMHO stability & a good preseason are more important than any marquee signing. I think we have the best chance of a good preseason since WGS. I have faith in our (ex physio) manager to have a fit squad ready to start the new season.

 

all that said, the only year that i was not positive before the season started was when l*we came back, sacked Pearson & started the Dutch experiment. & I am a fan who due to location does not get the chance to attend games.

 

I think we will be scrapping for our lives if we do not stregthen the squad.