Am I the only one that thinks we need a striker come Jan ?

[Saint 76er]

I still think we want Hooper.

 

But I can't see him leaving Celtic at the moment especially with them still being in the Champions League.

 

Yes, I think Hooper is the one that NA, at least, really wants. We have plenty of strikers but Hooper would likely be the one who would actually put the ball in the back of the net regularly and that may well be the difference in keeping us up.

 

Celtic have indicated he may be available for the right price, but what would that be? Would we spend that much cash again, or do we have trade options like Punch, or would they like Fox back now he plays for Scotland?

 

At the end of the day it seems unlikely, but doubt NA will give up on this one if he thinks we have a chance.

[Saint Charlie]

Why should we be 10th - 14th? Because I've seen us drop some points this season whereby had we had different personnel within the squad (had we bought differently) we may not have dropped those points. And therefore we would be on more points right now, enough to have us up in a position between 10th and 14th.

 

Every team has those stories. If we hadn't conceded that goal, had taken that easy chance. It's not just us. Not all signings come off, no teams signings are 100% successful. Two of Stokes biggest ever, Adam and Crouch will be on the bench tomorrow.

 

We may well end up 14th, or 20th - but I maintain that most of us knew at the start of the season we would be in the bottom quarter of the league. If not then its a reality check.

[Saint Charlie]

Yes, I think Hooper is the one that NA, at least, really wants. We have plenty of strikers but Hooper would likely be the one who would actually put the ball in the back of the net regularly and that may well be the difference in keeping us up.

 

Celtic have indicated he may be available for the right price, but what would that be? Would we spend that much cash again, or do we have trade options like Punch, or would they like Fox back now he plays for Scotland?

 

At the end of the day it seems unlikely, but doubt NA will give up on this one if he thinks we have a chance.

 

We wanted Hooper but not sure we do now? Jay Rod seemed like the preferred striker, not sure we even went for Hooper in the summer.

[The Kraken]

Every team has those stories. If we hadn't conceded that goal, had taken that easy chance. It's not just us. Not all signings come off, no teams signings are 100% successful. Two of Stokes biggest ever, Adam and Crouch will be on the bench tomorrow.

 

We may well end up 14th, or 20th - but I maintain that most of us knew at the start of the season we would be in the bottom quarter of the league. If not then its a reality check.

Of course every team can say that. They might be right too. It doesn't make it any less true. Given some of the goalkeeping howlers, defensive c*ck ups and what not, its a stance I stand by; with different personnel we could very easily have more points on the board right now.

 

And yes, at the start of the season I knew we would struggle. It doesn't mean that I don't think we should be doing better than we are; or that we could have bought better.

[Saint Charlie]

Of course every team can say that. They might be right too. It doesn't make it any less true. Given some of the goalkeeping howlers, defensive c*ck ups and what not, its a stance I stand by; with different personnel we could very easily have more points on the board right now.

 

And yes, at the start of the season I knew we would struggle. It doesn't mean that I don't think we should be doing better than we are; or that we could have bought better.

 

Again, agree - we could have more points. Could have bought better. But the talk of 30m spend meaning we shouldn't be in a relegation battle is the point I disagree with. 30m as we have seen can get swallowed up easily, plus other teams with better existing squads also improve continually.

 

30m also discounts the wage impact. Would expect Ramirez aside that our signings were on fairly low wages that fit into our existing structure. Certainly when compared to say some of QPR's 'free' signings. A wage structure hugely impacts the players available, probably a reason why we didn't go for experienced Prem players.

Edited 28 December, 2012 by Saint Charlie

[david in sweden]

I know we would do with a GK, LB, CM & prob a CB but IMO we need a quality finisher, someone that can score from outside the box seeing as we like to mess around with it there !

 

me too. Rickie is still a big threat, but he's getting marked out of some games and we have no other established goal-scorer.

[Dig Dig]

Why should we be 10th - 14th? Because I've seen us drop some points this season whereby had we had different personnel within the squad (had we bought differently) we may not have dropped those points. And therefore we would be on more points right now, enough to have us up in a position between 10th and 14th.

 

Surely a bit of a contradiction there Krackers? Should be 10th-14th because MAYBE different players would have made a difference in certain games.

 

I don't think we got all of our targets in the summer. A wide player like Phillips and Lens and a much touted CB didn't come off as an example.

 

Rather than focusing on what we did do, it's what we didn't do which has hurt us the most IMO

 

I agree with SC, 30M whilst a lot is not enough to expect to position ourselves above established prem teams and to not be in a relegation battle

Edited 28 December, 2012 by Dig Dig

[The9]

We need a mobile striker who can offer a threat alone in away matches as well as give us what Lambert currently does.

 

Wonder if Llorente would come...?

[Saint Garrett]

Can't say we need a striker, when we have spent £11m on 2 strikers and they've barely had a chance.

[The Kraken]

Surely a bit of a contradiction there Krackers? Should be 10th-14th because MAYBE different players would have made a difference in certain games.

 

I don't think we got all of our targets in the summer. A wide player like Phillips and Lens and a much touted CB didn't come off as an example.

 

Rather than focusing on what we did do, it's what we didn't do which has hurt us the most IMO

 

I agree with

 

I did say we "may" not have dropped points, Diggers. Its no exact science, that's for sure, and I'm not peddling it as such, its just an opinion of mine as usual. The "should" was a response to Charlie, perhaps "could" is a better word. In any case its all speculation.

[Window Cleaner]

Can't say we need a striker, when we have spent £11m on 2 strikers and they've barely had a chance.

 

And if we were to sign a top striker how long do you think he'd get before the fans start with the 'nah he's rubbish we want Lambert" stuff. Still with the give JRod a chance school myself.

[Window Cleaner]

 

Wonder if Llorente would come...?

 

Juve have just upped their offer from 4 m€ to 7m€ if you believe the transfer blogs. Not over expensive but then you have to

sell SFC to the player and there's the difficult part. They want to win titles, be in national sides and they ain't going to get that at SFC at any time in the foreseeable future. Plenty of good players about but we're not good enough for them apparently..

Why if you've got a respected coach/manager you can even get City's/Utd's/Chelsea's castoffs on loan for free.

[Dig Dig]

I did say we "may" not have dropped points, Diggers. Its no exact science, that's for sure, and I'm not peddling it as such, its just an opinion of mine as usual. The "should" was a response to Charlie, perhaps "could" is a better word. In any case its all speculation.

 

I missed some of my last points of that post off so have edited now.

 

As you say, all opinions etc but I do think that we are of course much better off for the money spent and have a fighting chance in the league. We were never going to overhaul a league 1/NPC squad in one window but 1 or 2 more additions in the right areas should push us to another level.

[Mr X]

We need more strength and pace down the flanks. We've got options up front already, it's more important that we've got the players to create the openings.

 

Jay Rodriguez and Lambert are good enough to put them away.

 

have you seen any evidence that j rod can put chances away? because I haven't he seems to either make the wrong decision in front of goal or just fluff it

[Sour Mash]

I missed some of my last points of that post off so have edited now.

 

As you say, all opinions etc but I do think that we are of course much better off for the money spent and have a fighting chance in the league. We were never going to overhaul a league 1/NPC squad in one window but 1 or 2 more additions in the right areas should push us to another level.

Why would you have to overhaul a League One squad in one window? We've had three transfer windows since we were in League one.

[Saint Charlie]

Why would you have to overhaul a League One squad in one window? We've had three transfer windows since we were in League one.

 

A Championship squad then...

[Thedelldays]

A Championship squad then...

wigan, hull and stoke (off the top of my head) were in now way as good as us in squad terms when they came up...and stayed up

 

none spent the entire season in the top 2 either

 

 

stoke stayed up with fuller and rory delap as their main men LOL

Edited 28 December, 2012 by Thedelldays

[Dig Dig]

Why would you have to overhaul a League One squad in one window? We've had three transfer windows since we were in League one.

 

And we have improved with each one, but two promotions in two years left us with a squad with too many players not capable of helping us this season. When we have our best 11 out, I don't think we are a bad side at all. The second that we have injuries, it becomes problematic and in this sense, we still don't have the squad depth which is right for the prem.

[Window Cleaner]

wigan, hull and stoke (off the top of my head) where in now way as good as us in squad terms when they came up...and stayed up

 

none spent the entire season in the top 2 either

 

 

But the argument is academic, we could buy Messi and C Ronaldo, they wouldn't stop the f*cks up that go on in our goal. At this point in time we should be on at least 22 points probably more and would be easily at the level that Swansea,Norwich, Wigan etc

were upon their accession to the PL. We got our spending wrong because we did not identify and address our biggest problem. It's not how much we spent it's how we spent it. If we had got a decent keeper we'd be sitting pretty now.

Maybe Gazza is a fine young keeper for the future but he came from League 2 and that's just not good enough.

[Sour Mash]

And we have improved with each one, but two promotions in two years left us with a squad with too many players not capable of helping us this season. When we have our best 11 out, I don't think we are a bad side at all. The second that we have injuries, it becomes problematic and in this sense, we still don't have the squad depth which is right for the prem.

Don't think anyone is saying we're a bad side. Just comes back to poorly invested funding in the summer, not getting a Prem class 'keeper etc.

[Thedelldays]

Don't think anyone is saying we're a bad side. Just comes back to poorly invested funding in the summer, not getting a Prem class 'keeper etc.

I was open minded about our purchases...but it is crystal clear now that the keeper situation has cost us dearly...and will probably send us down...

the whole gazza thing was just ridiculous.....

[Saint Charlie]

I was open minded about our purchases...but it is crystal clear now that the keeper situation has cost us dearly...and will probably send us down...

the whole gazza thing was just ridiculous.....

 

Agree Keeper situation has been poorly handled. More Davis than Gazza IMO. The staff believed he was an adequate No 1 but he has been out of his depth.

 

Gazza was a good buy, looks like he has lots of potential, but we should have got 2 keepers, Gazza to work on and a proper no1.

[Dig Dig]

Don't think anyone is saying we're a bad side. Just comes back to poorly invested funding in the summer, not getting a Prem class 'keeper etc.

 

Some of the money was poorly invested on the evidence to date, the fact that we still don' have a number 1 keeper is criminal.

 

However, most of what was spent has improved us and has given us enough of basis to continue to build at this level. This club hasn't had a premier league quality squad since about 2004, lots of rebuilding and mistakes to be made along the way.

[Window Cleaner]

Agree Keeper situation has been poorly handled. More Davis than Gazza IMO. The staff believed he was an adequate No 1 but he has been out of his depth.

 

Gazza was a good buy, looks like he has lots of potential, but we should have got 2 keepers, Gazza to work on and a proper no1.

Davis was already out of his depth on occasions in the NPC, now I'd say we won promotion despite Davis. It's just that we took the result of a silly pros poll (they probably don't give voting much thought) to mean he was a good keeper. He isn't, never has been, he was a calamity at Sunderland when the game went fast and he was against strikers and wingers who can hit a postage stamp from 50 yards.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

Good grief!

 

If memory serves we needed to take a significant loan out on the international money market just in order to fund last summers transfer activity, which let's fact it was substantial. Those on here who seem to be expecting 3/4/5/ more signings next month may well be in for a something of a disappointment to put it mildly.

 

I'd be happy enough to see one (or two) players added to the squad who would noticeably improve the first team - frankly even that may be asking a lot.

[Window Cleaner]

Good grief!

 

If memory serves we needed to take a significant loan out on the international money market just in order to fund last summers transfer activity, which let's fact it was substantial. Those on here who seem to be expecting 3/4/5/ more signings next month may well be in for a something of a disappointment to put it mildly.

 

I'd be happy enough to see one (or two) players added to the squad who would noticeably improve the first team - frankly even that may be asking a lot.

 

 

wouldn't know anything about that Saints don't do debt (well only for tax reasons) or so they tell me;

[S-Clarke]

Good grief!

 

If memory serves we needed to take a significant loan out on the international money market just in order to fund last summers transfer activity, which let's fact it was substantial. Those on here who seem to be expecting 3/4/5/ more signings next month may well be in for a something of a disappointment to put it mildly.

 

I'd be happy enough to see one (or two) players added to the squad who would noticeably improve the first team - frankly even that may be asking a lot.

 

You're just guessing what the loan was used for, who knows? It was taken out long after our transfers had happened anyway, so (again, this is just a assumed guess from me) it's more than likely to be related to the ''further'' improvements which needed to be made at Staplewood. That seems the more reasonable explanation for it anyway.

[Chez]

Davis was already out of his depth on occasions in the NPC, now I'd say we won promotion despite Davis. It's just that we took the result of a silly pros poll (they probably don't give voting much thought) to mean he was a good keeper. He isn't, never has been, he was a calamity at Sunderland when the game went fast and he was against strikers and wingers who can hit a postage stamp from 50 yards.

 

Opinions opinions. Mine is that he has been outstanding for us for four or five years. He had a great season last year and was without question the best keeper in the division. He played a major part in our promotion.

[Window Cleaner]

Opinions opinions. Mine is that he has been outstanding for us for four or five years. He had a great season last year and was without question the best keeper in the division. He played a major part in our promotion.

 

 

No there were better keepers with lesser defences.

[S-Clarke]

Opinions opinions. Mine is that he has been outstanding for us for four or five years. He had a great season last year and was without question the best keeper in the division. He played a major part in our promotion.

 

I go with that. He was in the team of the year for 3 consecutive years, I think that's more than enough proof from the professionals and the stats that he did a damn fine job for us.

[Chez]

unless we sell I'd of thought we won't bring many or anyone in. The £30m might be an exaggerated figure, but we still spent a wedge and the BVI loan tells us there isn't a never ending supply of funds available. We need to get some of these big earners off the wage bill like Sharp, Lee and Chaplow.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

You're just guessing what the loan was used for, who knows? It was taken out long after our transfers had happened anyway, so (again, this is just a assumed guess from me) it's more than likely to be related to the ''further'' improvements which needed to be made at Staplewood. That seems the more reasonable explanation for it anyway.

 

You feel it at all likely that there is no connection between a club spending (in the region of) £30m on players last summer, and the very same club then requiring a cash transfusion?

 

In the absence of hard evidence re this question, I prefer my guess, to yours.

[Chez]

No there were better keepers with lesser defences.

 

enlighten me. Perhaps we can do some sort of swap deal.

[S-Clarke]

unless we sell I'd of thought we won't bring many or anyone in. The £30m might be an exaggerated figure, but we still spent a wedge and the BVI loan tells us there isn't a never ending supply of funds available. We need to get some of these big earners off the wage bill like Sharp, Lee and Chaplow.

 

I think there will be movement in and out. We've got some players on our books who need to go for the sake of their careers. (Seaborne, Dickson, SDR, Chaplow, Barnard). Ok, we won't get much for those - but they're off the wage bill at least.

 

We could get a couple of million for Sharp, but not much more than that, and probably 500 odd K for Hammond. Unfortunately I don't think our ''unwanted'' players are going to fetch much in the way of fee's, but It'll free up wages and I'm sure there is a little bit of money available to add. There are a few who may expect 6 or 7 new arrivals, but at max I reckon we'll see about 3 new players.

[S-Clarke]

You feel it at all likely that there is no connection between a club spending (in the region of) £30m on players last summer, and the very same club then requiring a cash transfusion?

 

In the absence of hard evidence re this question, I prefer my guess, to yours.

 

I dunno, I just know that the Staplewood development took a u-turn as there was ''uncounted'' for costs which needed to be put upfront in order for it to carry on (They found out that the Dome needed to be knocked down and rebuilt again, when originally it was just going to be attached to the main pavilion). Until this obstacle was accounted for, work couldn't happen. So we could have been left with a building site, and loads of temporary huts for months and months...or the club could quickly fire through some money to get work going again ASAP.

[Chez]

I think there will be movement in and out. We've got some players on our books who need to go for the sake of their careers. (Seaborne, Dickson, SDR, Chaplow, Barnard). Ok, we won't get much for those - but they're off the wage bill at least.

 

We could get a couple of million for Sharp, but not much more than that, and probably 500 odd K for Hammond. Unfortunately I don't think our ''unwanted'' players are going to fetch much in the way of fee's, but It'll free up wages and I'm sure there is a little bit of money available to add. There are a few who may expect 6 or 7 new arrivals, but at max I reckon we'll see about 3 new players.

 

 

We'll get £3m for Sharp if McCleish fancies him. The rest, well I think we might have to pay some of their wages to get them out of here. Who on earth is going to pay Lee's £16k a week wage? Chaplow will be on a massive Championship wage too. Dickson is too expensive for League 1 suitors. I just looked at our squad list and I am still baffled as to why we offered Butterfield an extension to his deal. Absolutely mental.

[S-Clarke]

We'll get £3m for Sharp if McCleish fancies him. The rest, well I think we might have to pay some of their wages to get them out of here. Who on earth is going to pay Lee's £16k a week wage? Chaplow will be on a massive Championship wage too. Dickson is too expensive for League 1 suitors. I just looked at our squad list and I am still baffled as to why we offered Butterfield an extension to his deal. Absolutely mental.

 

The Butterfield one is very odd, not quite sure. Can only imagine he's a big part in the background in terms of squad morale, and training routeens. He's probably getting a fair wage for PL player, so he's probably not massively bothered!

 

I'm not really keen to ship Lee out, just yet. I think there is a player in there, but we just need to find him again.

[GAS]

Why should we be 10th - 14th? Because I've seen us drop some points this season whereby had we had different personnel within the squad (had we bought differently) we may not have dropped those points. And therefore we would be on more points right now, enough to have us up in a position between 10th and 14th.

Agree, and if we had won all our games we would have been top!

[Chez]

The Butterfield one is very odd, not quite sure. Can only imagine he's a big part in the background in terms of squad morale, and training routeens. He's probably getting a fair wage for PL player, so he's probably not massively bothered!

 

I'm not really keen to ship Lee out, just yet. I think there is a player in there, but we just need to find him again.

 

Now we know why we need to screw every last penny out of fans, it's to pay Butterfield to be a fluffer

 

Not a fan of Lee myself. He's a slightly better Barnard in my eyes.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

I see talk that the cost of the Stapelwood redevelopment project is now north of £15m - so that is serious money by any reckoning. But this item has been in the budget for some time, so I'd expect sufficient funds had been allocated to this project. Our automatic promotion on the other hand only became a certainty very late in the season. Therefore it seems to me the most likely explanation for the loan is to help fund transfer activity.

 

However, as the Don stubbornly insists on keeping me 'out of the loop' re club finances, this must remain merely my guess.

[Saint Fan CaM]

To the OP - no, you're not alone. We need pace in attack.

[egg]

To the OP - no, you're not alone. We need pace in attack.

 

I agree we need pace but we may have it. JR could be the answer but we ain't seen enough Mayuka yet to give a proper opinion on him - a half against. Sunderland is no barometer of ability.

[Saints boy in Leeds]

That's the point I'm trying to make, if we had forwards that can put the ball in the back of the net that will be the differance between us drawing for 1 point and winning for 3. SRL has done very well for us and should be thanked for it but still we could do with another player who will get us 15 - 20 goals in this league. The defence seems to have stabilised a touch so that's good but up front we need scorers, not shooters IMO.

[egg]

That's the point I'm trying to make, if we had forwards that can put the ball in the back of the net that will be the differance between us drawing for 1 point and winning for 3. SRL has done very well for us and should be thanked for it but still we could do with another player who will get us 15 - 20 goals in this league. The defence seems to have stabilised a touch so that's good but up front we need scorers, not shooters IMO.

 

Do you not think that Mayuka or Rodriguez could be the solution? Why an alternative?

[RobM]

Let's also not forget Lee, who has the movement and footballing brain to do well at this level. He could well be like a new signing for us when he comes back.