The "Return of Theo Walcott" thread

[simo]

You're right we should have a he'll of a lot more unless our TV and sponsorship money has disappeared to China! ?

[Millbrook Saint]

I just don't see how this (if he ends up at Everton) is a **** up by Reed or the club. If he goes to Everton because they've matched his wages then fair play to him but there's no way in hell we should be breaking our wage structure for anyone. Yes he'd improve us more than likely but its not guarenteed. He's 29 so we get what...2 good years out of him max based on the fact that he's all about his speed. Its romantic, exicting and nice now but when he's past it and he's on a 3 or 4 year contract of over 100k a week it looks stupid and its bloody expensive.

 

If we can get him on tbw right terms then lovely jubbly but its quite clear Allardyce doesn't give a **** about the long term strategy of Everton and probably has his newly into football and excitable and rich chairman wrapped around his finger and is making this deal happen for him now rather than caring about Everton being lumbered with an over paid, inconsistent winger in a year and a bits time. I for one am quite glad we remain sensible in this situation.

 

Whether he's a good signing for us or not, we won't find out unless we get him. For all we know our manager might be playing the way he does because of the options, or lack of, from our attacking players (I know wishful thinking). That said as fans whilst we don't want to end up saddled with debt, we need to get over this 'dont want to break our wage structure', 'player a is not value for money' etc. Surely we should be more focussed on if he'll bring us anything, not if we'll get value for money, that's the boards job.

 

What is starting to pee me off are all these rumours about players, quickly followed by articles talking about not affording so and so's wages. If you want good players you pay for them, doing things on the cheap is what got us to where we are right now. How can we possibly tempt players from other clubs if we wonn't even match their wages? The club should have known this, and my cyncical head says they did and it's all pr so they can say to the fans that they tried sign this player and that player but we couldn't compete with the wages. Like sheep we all seem to accept this guff from the club, allowing them to bring some matey in from someones bench who hasn't scored for 2 years and can't get a game.

[Useful Idiot]

It's all part of our standard recruitment strategy.

 

1) Leak exciting targets to the fans to keep them happy

2) Have them go elsewhere

3) Try to sign a loan player in at the last minute

4) Fail with that, too

5) Sign a free transfer who is nowhere near match fit to fill the gap after the window closes. (I'm going for Chamakh, or Jo Inge Berget as our main options for striker, and Diego Capel or Osvaldo (not Dani, the Brazilian one) as our realistic wide options.

[SuperSAINT]

As long as we don't link anything like "Saints are confident that Everton aren't a threat" like we did with their interest in Ronald.

[red&white56]

Perhaps Leslie has been leaking the Everton interest as he will then seem like a persuasive wizard and hero once he unveils Walcott to his adoring fans?

 

Or this could be just more of the bull**** Southampton way

 

Either way #WeMarchOn

 

Nah. He is the wrong signing if we have to match his wages and the club will do well to avoid him. Let Everton throw more money around, they spent heavily in the summer and seem to have a never ending supply on it.

[saint-crinny]

Not really. He could have been a serious target but not at the expense off breaking the club wage structure or paying over the odds for him.

 

Keep it quiet then, as they've always done in the past.

 

Just suggests that either they thought it was in the bag, in which case its a bit of egg on everyone's face, or as others have said, just a bit of PR fluff to suggest to the fans we're trying to sign decent players West Ham style.

 

Neither option is great is it let's be honest

[Morse]

we don't have £75 million in the bank its being paid in instalments, 5 million is add ons and we have to give Celtic a cut.

All player transfers are paid in instalments, any player we buy would be paid for thus.

[doddisalegend]

All player transfers are paid in instalments, any player we buy would be paid for thus.

 

yes doesn't change the fact we don't have 75 million sitting in the bank just waiting to be splashed on players.

[VectisSaint]

Look at it from Theo's point of view. What he wants is enough game time to get him back into contention for the World Cup. We offer that, so do Everton. He has to take a pay cut to come here, Everton will match his current wage. Not really a hard decision, is it?

 

Not convinced he will go to Everton. Note that reports say Everton are negotiating with Arsenal. Arsenal are clearly dealing with the potential buyer who appears to be making the best offer. The still has to agree, and being a Liverpool fan I have some doubts that he will do so if there are alternatives available. Maybe straw clutching, also not convinced that Theo is an answer anyway, a player who has always had pace but not much of a footballing brain, and who wasn't greatly improved in that sense by Arse Wenger.

[aintforever]

yes doesn't change the fact we don't have 75 million sitting in the bank just waiting to be splashed on players.

 

But you don't need £75mill sat in the bank to make £75mill worth of transfers - you pay in instalments.

[trousers]

I'll be gutted if he knocks in 6 or 7 goals this season. On other hand, if he breaks down injured in first game, I might be non-gutted.

 

I'm gonna be Hindsight Man.

 

Bearsy sums up the Sainstweb forum in 3 sentences

[S-Clarke]

As long as we don't link anything like "Saints are confident that Everton aren't a threat" like we did with their interest in Ronald.

 

Wasn't that some absolutely crappy article about us not fearing losing players to everton, let alone our manager.

 

Shows how up ourselves we acted/act to be honest. Always think we're a step above everyone else and stick to our guns.

[DT]

Almost a done deal

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42660224

 

Obvious he was going there. More money, and we are ****

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[The Fat Controller]

We probably don’t have £75 million in the bank

We owe Celtic 10% = £7.5m

We possibly had to pay VVD his remaining wages on remaining deal

If true he was on £70k a week = 3.5m a year x 6 (£21m)

Then we are liable to tax on income, so probably at worse made £20m clear

[Sevvy]

We probably don’t have £75 million in the bank

We owe Celtic 10% = £7.5m

We possibly had to pay VVD his remaining wages on remaining deal

If true he was on £70k a week = 3.5m a year x 6 (£21m)

Then we are liable to tax on income, so probably at worse made £20m clear

 

I can't see this happening myself

[alpine_saint]

However, if it's true that we're being quoted £20-30M plus £100k per week in wages, perhaps we are dodging a bullet rather than "buggering it up".

 

Whatever.

 

2 weeks into a transfer window having received 70m-odd and having known about that for far longer, with known goal-scoring problems and NOTHING is happening.

 

Going down, simple as that. F**k knows who is running SFC nowadays.

[alpine_saint]

Seriously Alpine, would you join Saints if you were Theo for a permanent contract?

Have some perspective, we're likely to go down and we're likely to not afford the wages he is on - thus meaning he does not view the club as a long-term prospect in its current state.

The only way he would join us is on loan - so we were ALWAYS likely to be pipped to the post by a better positioned and richer club like Everton!

So no Les didn't mess that up - but it was ALWAYS the likely scenario due to where we are at. Players don't want to be joining a club fighting relegation!

 

Where we are is due to Les. His inability to deal with the crisis he has largely created is just further evidence that he should go.

 

And quite frankly, its about time some of you woke up to the situation and stopped making excuses.

[Saint86]

But you don't need £75mill sat in the bank to make £75mill worth of transfers - you pay in instalments.

 

You will lose people on here with this language.

 

Instalments = "up front".... apparently.

 

Its interesting, because on one hand our fans assume we have £60m sat in the bank, and then on the other hand people are arguing we have something like £20m.

 

The quotes given in the papers were that liverpool paid us £70M up front... not subject to additional clauses, and not in instalments. Given that information is out there in the press, it is no wonder we are being screwed to the wall on other club's asking prices.

[simo]

People talking like we don't live in the times where even the relegated teams earn about 100m a year , Season tickets are the highest they have ever been and we have made profit on transfers for what the last 4 years ! If we have to worry about what may or may not be left from our last transfer out befote we get anyone in someone seriously needs a slap!

[southamptonfc]

With the VVD money we could afford his salary.

 

If we give him a 4year contract on 100k per week + 20M transfer fee.

 

That's £41 Million on a 28year old who has never played regular first team football and a bad injury record.

 

That's not my definition of 'afford'

[Donatello]

Nothing has been buggered up, this in fact is a blessing in disguise. I can pretty much make a judgement on who on here has got a clue and who hasn't on the basis of thinking that Walcott would be a decent signing for us.

 

[maysie]

Where we are is due to Les. His inability to deal with the crisis he has largely created is just further evidence that he should go.

 

And quite frankly, its about time some of you woke up to the situation and stopped making excuses.

 

...and then we'll be able to have the massive impact on the situation that you do. Which is... oh yeah that's it...diddly squat.

[beavis17]

We got the grand total of £17m initially from the deal, so no we don't have loads of money in the bank.

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/football-notebook-virgil-van-dijk-fee-will-not-lead-southampton-to-spend-big-ph85g7bln

[Lallana's Left Peg]

We got the grand total of £17m initially from the deal, so no we don't have loads of money in the bank.

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/football-notebook-virgil-van-dijk-fee-will-not-lead-southampton-to-spend-big-ph85g7bln

 

That doesn't matter at all, because the remainder of the money is guaranteed (well, aside from the £5m of add-ons) so we can happily structure deals in the same way and spend more than £17m this window ourselves.

[saintsmike25]

Where we are is due to Les. His inability to deal with the crisis he has largely created is just further evidence that he should go.

 

And quite frankly, its about time some of you woke up to the situation and stopped making excuses.

 

I'm simply suggesting that there's many sticks to beat Les Reed with - but when it comes to a decision that Theo Walcott will make regardless of how much £££ Les offers, is down to the player and there's not much we can do or Les can do to change that.

To suggest it's his fault that a player won't come here is simply wrong, players want to go to successful clubs and ideally not those who could be in the Championship. Especially players who are at top clubs and are looking at the next stages of their career, and still have ambitions to play for England.

 

As for Les Reed going, i agree and so do many fans but you have to be realistic as unless the owner gets involved Les Reed will be here regardless of unpopularity from fans on here, we have no say in what happens so you're p**ing into the wind!.

[Depressed of Shirley]

Whatever.

 

2 weeks into a transfer window having received 70m-odd and having known about that for far longer, with known goal-scoring problems and NOTHING is happening.

 

Going down, simple as that. F**k knows who is running SFC nowadays.

 

Heres a clue Alpine, it is some Chinese bloke with no money.

[Donatello]

We got the grand total of £17m initially from the deal, so no we don't have loads of money in the bank.

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/football-notebook-virgil-van-dijk-fee-will-not-lead-southampton-to-spend-big-ph85g7bln

 

I don't understand why people think this matters in either eventuality. The fact is, we'll be receiving ~£60m-£65m (because I'm not buying the claim made above that we're shelling out £21m to Van Dijk ). Be that in one installment (which it isn't), or protracted over a number of years, the end result is that we can budget for that amount (in fees and wages) over the appropriate timeframe. If you want to use £20m of that to fund additional salaries over the next four years, fine, then you have ~£45m to spend on transfers this window and protract it similarly (selling clubs permitting).

[shurlock]

Heres a clue Alpine, it is some Chinese bloke with no money.

 

No Goa is saving his money to redevelop the land around the ground.

[southamptonfc]

Heres a clue Alpine, it is some Chinese bloke with no money.

 

Miracles can happen, for once I find myself in at least partial agreement with Alpine.

 

The lack of signings at this point is a bit worrying, not bothered about Theo Walcott and I haven't given up hope yet, perhaps some offers have been rejected.

[OldNick]

the fact is that 2 seasons or more we have been short of decent forwards. Add to that we knew as a club the VVD was going 2 weeks before the window opens.

That is negligence or/and complacency.

I know our fans are the most understanding when the club is criticised, and they will make excuses for Reed and Kruegar, and Katrina as we for some reason have to thank them for all the glory years.

They can swan around picking up their large cheques, but at the end of the day fans like myself and the majority on here have devoted years of their time and angst supporting the club.

We are ALL being played for fools, due to our stupid connection to a BUSINESS that happens to be named after the city most of us proudly come from. Had the club been called Liebherr Fc or Gao Fc we would now be shopping elsewhere.

If the people of SFc ever bother reading posts on here, I would respectfully point out that in the last 6-9 months I have spoken to a lot of fellow fans and they are/have fallen out of love of our once great club.

[Winnersaint]

No Goa is saving his money to redevelop the land around the ground.

 

Any reason why you keep referring to the owner by a different name?

[simo]

Any reason why you keep referring to the owner by a different name?

 

If you know you know

[shurlock]

If you know you know

 

You know

[tajjuk]

I think he would be a good signing but not at £20 million plus and £100k a week.

 

A 28 year old not wanted by his club (effectively), with a crap injury record and only 18 months on his deal? Nah there are better players out there who will represent better value. Valencia just got Vietto on loan and he's already banged in a hat trick, is only 24 and I'd reckon we'd get him off Atletico for less than £20 million.

[doddisalegend]

But you don't need £75mill sat in the bank to make £75mill worth of transfers - you pay in instalments.

 

Only if both parties agree. Everton could agree to pay all up front or in less, bigger, instalments the structure of any agreement is probably in the hands of the selling club unless they are in a very weak position (like a player with only 6 months left on a contract). Also wages, signing on fees and agents still have to be taken into account clearly they have to paid right from the off not when Liverpool give us the next bit of cash.

[Whitey Grandad]

Only if both parties agree. Everton could agree to pay all up front or in less, bigger, instalments the structure of any agreement is probably in the hands of the selling club unless they are in a very weak position (like a player with only 6 months left on a contract). Also wages, signing on fees and agents still have to be taken into account clearly they have to paid right from the off not when Liverpool give us the next bit of cash.

 

Correct. Everything is by agreement.

 

When Abramovic took over Chelsea they were paying upfront for every player that they bought.

[bangkoksaint]

the fact is that 2 seasons or more we have been short of decent forwards. Add to that we knew as a club the VVD was going 2 weeks before the window opens.

That is negligence or/and complacency.

I know our fans are the most understanding when the club is criticised, and they will make excuses for Reed and Kruegar, and Katrina as we for some reason have to thank them for all the glory years.

They can swan around picking up their large cheques, but at the end of the day fans like myself and the majority on here have devoted years of their time and angst supporting the club.

We are ALL being played for fools, due to our stupid connection to a BUSINESS that happens to be named after the city most of us proudly come from. Had the club been called Liebherr Fc or Gao Fc we would now be shopping elsewhere.

If the people of SFc ever bother reading posts on here, I would respectfully point out that in the last 6-9 months I have spoken to a lot of fellow fans and they are/have fallen out of love of our once great club.

 

I think people are falling out of love with the game at this level in general. Its all about money, players don't really care and owners are out for a profit. It's taking me a while but I'm seeing the light. I'm an intelligent man who is basically fed up with blindly throwing money at a product where nothing is reciprocated. 43 years I've been loyal to this club and I find it very sad.

[Window Cleaner]

Only if both parties agree. Everton could agree to pay all up front or in less, bigger, instalments the structure of any agreement is probably in the hands of the selling club unless they are in a very weak position (like a player with only 6 months left on a contract). Also wages, signing on fees and agents still have to be taken into account clearly they have to paid right from the off not when Liverpool give us the next bit of cash.

 

And as Everton have just got 15 million for a player contributing absolutely zero plus losing a big salary, once again for zero contribution, the price won't make much difference to them. Effectively they'll have swapped a player sitting in the stands these last months for one with something to offer..well in principal anyway. It's like if we could sell Gardos and get a new set of curtains for the boardroom or something.

[OldNick]

I think people are falling out of love with the game at this level in general. Its all about money, players don't really care and owners are out for a profit. It's taking me a while but I'm seeing the light. I'm an intelligent man who is basically fed up with blindly throwing money at a product where nothing is reciprocated. 43 years I've been loyal to this club and I find it very sad.

Perhaps its done to us being battle weary. 50+ years fro me (I of course went when I was quite young At least in those day Ron Davies or Micky Channon and the likes were with the club for a load of seasons, so you really could have heroes , now? the kids have hardly got a name printed on their shirts and they are lining up for Liverpool

[Atlanta Saint]

Southampton going down with £75 million in the bank, 75 mill in the bank, 75 mill in the bank

 

repeat x 18

 

Keeping it safe to make up for the loss of TV revenue next season.

[Lord Duckhunter]

**** me, reading some on here you’d think that Theo only wanted to come to us but because of Les’ **** up/dithering/tightness/complacency was forced to take his second choice, Everton. As they showed with Koeman they can blow us out of the water when it comes to wages. There maybe a player somewhere out there that will be worth breaking our wage structure for, but it’s not Theo Walcott. I’m sure we’ve given him the best offer we can within our structure, if he can get more elsewhere , good luck to the bloke. But it’s not a stick you can beat Les Reed with.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[View From The Top]

This is how I understood it to have played out.

 

Theo's agent asks Arsenal if Theo is in long term plans and is told no. Agent asks as to whether he is free to actively look for another club for Theo and is told yes.

 

Theo himself tells agent that, OK, put the feelers out but my priority is to stay at Arsenal.

 

Arsenal inform agent of approx' asking price for Theo. Originally this was £20m.

 

Agent informs clubs and basically sends out a rider with salary, bonuses etc included alongside the anticipated fee.

 

Saints get in touch with agent and come up with a package which all parties are content with. The sticking point is timing as Saints want deal done for the very start of the window whilst agent wants to wait to see if better deals are on offer.

 

Window opens and interest is obviously there and Arsenal up their price accordingly and Theo/agent stall on joining Saints for two reasons. Firstly, Saints are in a relegation battle and Theo isn't interested in that and secondly, more money is now going to be on offer elsewhere.

 

Enter Everton and I believe shortly, WHU.

 

Usual T&Cs apply so treat this info as you wish.

[aintforever]

Only if both parties agree. Everton could agree to pay all up front or in less, bigger, instalments the structure of any agreement is probably in the hands of the selling club unless they are in a very weak position (like a player with only 6 months left on a contract). Also wages, signing on fees and agents still have to be taken into account clearly they have to paid right from the off not when Liverpool give us the next bit of cash.

 

But with a guaranteed income of £70mill (Minus Celtics cut/agents fees of course) coming in it can't be that hard to finance a decent amount of cash up front for a signing. Either from the bank, cash in the club's account, or god forbid some actual investment from Mr "next level" Gao?

[doddisalegend]

This is how I understood it to have played out.

 

Theo's agent asks Arsenal if Theo is in long term plans and is told no. Agent asks as to whether he is free to actively look for another club for Theo and is told yes.

 

Theo himself tells agent that, OK, put the feelers out but my priority is to stay at Arsenal.

 

Arsenal inform agent of approx' asking price for Theo. Originally this was £20m.

 

Agent informs clubs and basically sends out a rider with salary, bonuses etc included alongside the anticipated fee.

 

Saints get in touch with agent and come up with a package which all parties are content with. The sticking point is timing as Saints want deal done for the very start of the window whilst agent wants to wait to see if better deals are on offer.

 

Window opens and interest is obviously there and Arsenal up their price accordingly and Theo/agent stall on joining Saints for two reasons. Firstly, Saints are in a relegation battle and Theo isn't interested in that and secondly, more money is now going to be on offer elsewhere.

 

Enter Everton and I believe shortly, WHU.

 

Usual T&Cs apply so treat this info as you wish.

 

 

All seems plausible I'm sure saints were happy to have him at the right price but he is not special enough to be throwing all our cash at. As someone else said earlier I'd rather we got a proper CF in the Pelle/ Lambert mould anyway.

[Saint Albert]

Who needs a PR department when you have the Daily Telegraph?

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/01/12/southampton-believe-model-works-now-mauricio-pellegrino-must/

 

This wide-ranging article claims that a competitive offer for Theo is on the table.

[shurlock]

All seems plausible I'm sure saints were happy to have him at the right price but he is not special enough to be throwing all our cash at. As someone else said earlier I'd rather we got a proper CF in the Pelle/ Lambert mould anyway.

 

Sounds like we're looking at both.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

**** me, reading some on here you’d think that Theo only wanted to come to us but because of Les’ **** up/dithering/tightness/complacency was forced to take his second choice, Everton. As they showed with Koeman they can blow us out of the water when it comes to wages. There maybe a player somewhere out there that will be worth breaking our wage structure for, but it’s not Theo Walcott. I’m sure we’ve given him the best offer we can within our structure, if he can get more elsewhere , good luck to the bloke. But it’s not a stick you can beat Les Reed with.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Sadly LD any thing will do on here for some of the obsessed

[simo]

Who needs a PR department when you have the Daily Telegraph?

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/01/12/southampton-believe-model-works-now-mauricio-pellegrino-must/

 

This wide-ranging article claims that a competitive offer for Theo is on the table.

 

More blame on vvd and points to how much money we have already spent I see !

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Who needs a PR department when you have the Daily Telegraph?

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/01/12/southampton-believe-model-works-now-mauricio-pellegrino-must/

 

This wide-ranging article claims that a competitive offer for Theo is on the table.

 

This bit from the article is interesting if true

 

The club knock back regular inquiries about Sofiane Boufal

[SuperSAINT]

As long as we don't link anything like "Saints are confident that Everton aren't a threat" like we did with their interest in Ronald.

 

Wasn't that some absolutely crappy article about us not fearing losing players to everton, let alone our manager.

 

Shows how up ourselves we acted/act to be honest. Always think we're a step above everyone else and stick to our guns.

 

That's the one! Here we go again!

 

The club are confident they have a good chance of bringing back Theo Walcott from Arsenal this month, despite Everton’s interest.

 

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/01/12/southampton-believe-model-works-now-mauricio-pellegrino-must/