January Transfer Window 2025

[Rebel]

We are going down again - there is no doubt about that.  

And that means we should use the January window to start preparing for next season in the Championship.

The first step is to get rid of some of the deadwood, reduce the wage bill and bring in some money by getting rid of players that don't give us anything -  Tall Paul, Sulemana, ABK, Aribo, BBD, Cornet.  Even if it is only loans with option  to buy in the summer.

Maybe even Charlie Taylor if Welington is fit enough to take his place.  Fraser is another one we could probably get rid of without noticing.

And if someone offers us decent money for KWP we have to take it.  Or if not get rid of Bree.

With relegation all but confirmed we are going to struggle to sign players on a permanent deal but we should be able to attract players on loan who want to put themselves in the Premier League shop window for half a season.

If we can send Cornet back we need to replace him with a hardworking midfielder to provide cover for Downes and Big Les.  Lewis O'Brien from Forest maybe  (when he returns from LA as they don't need him), or maybe even JWP (not sure he can play for a 3rd club in the same season).

But that stills give us room for for loans from abroad.  

Surely we can find a 6ft 2 centre forward with a bit of mobility to lead the line on loan from somewhere.  Maybe Bojan Miovski as he's not getting the game time at Girona - but there must be others in similar positions. 

 

 

 

 

[Chez]

Doesn't really need posting on here, as I am sure you are all aware, but for completion, here is the Brereton to Sheff United loan news:

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/24834309.southampton-sheffield-united-reportedly-agree-brereton-diaz-loan/

https://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/football/sheffield-united/sheffield-united-working-overtime-in-transfer-market-as-ben-brereton-diaz-southampton-reunion-edges-closer-4931330

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

Shit signings at our level and size of club hurt you for years. Same for every prem team I guess. Only way around it is not to sign shit on the first place. Sadly the good players we have identified, like Gakpo, have had better options.

yes but surely there cant be many other clubs who have consistently wasted so much money over the last few years. If you look at our top 10 biggest signings or for that matter any over £15m how many of them have been even relatively decent? Only really Ings i cant think of. THB has got potential but rest of them have been nothing short of a disaster. 

[Chez]

1 minute ago, Rebel said:

We are going down again - there is no doubt about that.  

And that means we should use the January window to start preparing for next season in the Championship.

The first step is to get rid of some of the deadwood, reduce the wage bill and bring in some money by getting rid of players that don't give us anything -  Tall Paul, Sulemana, ABK, Aribo, BBD, Cornet.  Even if it is only loans with option  to buy in the summer.

Maybe even Charlie Taylor if Welington is fit enough to take his place.  Fraser is another one we could probably get rid of without noticing.

And if someone offers us decent money for KWP we have to take it.  Or if not get rid of Bree.

With relegation all but confirmed we are going to struggle to sign players on a permanent deal but we should be able to attract players on loan who want to put themselves in the Premier League shop window for half a season.

If we can send Cornet back we need to replace him with a hardworking midfielder to provide cover for Downes and Big Les.  Lewis O'Brien from Forest maybe  (when he returns from LA as they don't need him), or maybe even JWP (not sure he can play for a 3rd club in the same season).

But that stills give us room for for loans from abroad.  

Surely we can find a 6ft 2 centre forward with a bit of mobility to lead the line on loan from somewhere.  Maybe Bojan Miovski as he's not getting the game time at Girona - but there must be others in similar positions. 

Other than Cornet's loan being ended and BBD going out on loan, I am not sure the rest is gonna happen. 

[Chez]

8 minutes ago, Turkish said:

yes but surely there cant be many other clubs who have consistently wasted so much money over the last few years. If you look at our top 10 biggest signings or for that matter any over £15m how many of them have been even relatively decent? Only really Ings i cant think of. THB has got potential but rest of them have been nothing short of a disaster. 

Man United, maybe?

I do wonder what the general `hit/miss' rate is for Prem signings. 

I guess the starting point matters too. I mean, if your side is already `OK' and you sign 2 good, 5 bad, then you can hide those failures better than if your side is poor to start off with and you have a similar success/failure rate. 

 

Edited Monday at 16:23 by Chez

[Doctoroncall]

9 minutes ago, Chez said:

Other than Cornet's loan being ended and BBD going out on loan, I am not sure the rest is gonna happen. 

Unfortunately you are right, I don’t think any of our players would be targets except for Fernandes and Dibling. 

[OldNick]

36 minutes ago, Paul Chuckle said:

Better me tell you than MLG 🤣

I will forever be in your debt lol

[Chez]

4 minutes ago, Doctoroncall said:

Unfortunately you are right, I don’t think any of our players would be targets except for Fernandes and Dibling. 

There will be plenty of interest in Ramsdale. Whether anyone stumps up the amount we will want for him is a different matter.

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Chez said:

There will be plenty of interest in Ramsdale. Whether anyone stumps up the amount we will want for him is a different matter.

They'll be takers for Harwood-Bellis. Young English centre back, England cap and goal already plus he's got a good reputation despite us trying to ruin him this season.

[revolution saint]

23 minutes ago, Turkish said:

yes but surely there cant be many other clubs who have consistently wasted so much money over the last few years. If you look at our top 10 biggest signings or for that matter any over £15m how many of them have been even relatively decent? Only really Ings i cant think of. THB has got potential but rest of them have been nothing short of a disaster. 

I think Fernandes is decent, actually I think he’s really good. He was about 15m wasn’t he? Ramsdale is good too.

Not too much after that though…..

[OldNick]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

They'll be takers for Harwood-Bellis. Young English centre back, England cap and goal already plus he's got a good reputation despite us trying to ruin him this season.

He has got to stop getting the way of other defenders  aka Sugagawa Saturday and Wood at Villa

[Turkish]

7 minutes ago, revolution saint said:

I think Fernandes is decent, actually I think he’s really good. He was about 15m wasn’t he? Ramsdale is good too.

Not too much after that though…..

Actually Ramsdale is a significant upgrade on what we've had, Fernandes decent enough for the money. 3 out of 20? Ings and Ramsdale were already established premier league players too, so the only one we've found in trying to find the new Mane/Van Dijk etc has been Fernandes. Goes to show that signing established players is a better chance of success.

Edited Monday at 16:47 by Turkish

[Doctoroncall]

5 minutes ago, Chez said:

There will be plenty of interest in Ramsdale. Whether anyone stumps up the amount we will want for him is a different matter.

Was there another team in for him last summer?  I don’t see a PL team needing a first team keeper now Spurs have bought one. 

[egg]

8 minutes ago, OldNick said:

He has got to stop getting the way of other defenders  aka Sugagawa Saturday and Wood at Villa

Yep, THB has promise but no more than that for me. That said, he's British and young, so there'll be a market for him. 

[Chez]

6 minutes ago, Turkish said:

They'll be takers for Harwood-Bellis. Young English centre back, England cap and goal already plus he's got a good reputation despite us trying to ruin him this season.

Knowing money will be tight when we go down, would you sell him if offered £20m?

[SambaMaverick]

17 minutes ago, Turkish said:

They'll be takers for Harwood-Bellis. Young English centre back, England cap and goal already plus he's got a good reputation despite us trying to ruin him this season.

Can't see it. He's not particularly good at defending, and I think the level of scouting in the PL extends a bit further than whether someone's mate has given them an international cap. Unless it's at Southampton, of course.

[sadoldgit]

Apologies if this has been mentioned earlier but I have just read that the club are having a meeting tomorrow (7 days after the transfer window slammed open) to discuss transfers. Tomorrow? It begs the questions why not sooner and also why weren’t they a part of the managerial appointment discussions? It was pretty obvious on Juric’s appointment that we were going to be relegated so you would like to think that the options about how we approached the second half of the season with a view to competing in the Championship next season would already have taken place.

It seems to me though that what is considered “dead wood” currently (for example BBD) would be very useful next season so who do you actually get rid of now?

[Chez]

6 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Actually Ramsdale is a significant upgrade on what we've had, Fernandes decent enough for the money. 3 out of 20? Ings and Ramsdale were already established premier league players too, so the only one we've found in trying to find the new Mane/Van Dijk etc has been Fernandes. Goes to show that signing established players is a better chance of success.

Still don't know why Ramsdale came to us. 

We only had about £100m to spend in the summer and the THB transfer eat into that somewhat. Was there actually money to sign more Ramsdales?

Downes, Archer, Sugawara, BBD, Wood and Edwards weren't exactly big money signings in this day and age. 
Plus Taylor, Lallana and Fraser all on frees of course.

[Chez]

14 minutes ago, Doctoroncall said:

Was there another team in for him last summer?  I don’t see a PL team needing a first team keeper now Spurs have bought one. 

Come the summer, all three promoted sides for starters might see him as an upgrade. The likes of West Ham need a new keeper and all the big sides, even Man City could do worse than adding him to their squad. Is Onana a better keeper? I'm not sure. Last summer there perhaps weren't openings and our patience paid off. Next summer things change again. Hope no one wants him. He's what we have missed for years. 

[trousers]

5 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

have just read that the club are having a meeting tomorrow (7 days after the transfer window slammed open) to discuss transfers

If there was ever one sentence that summed up the clowns 'running' this club, that is it. There's amateur then there's these buffoons. What club thinks it's normal to sit around a table to discuss transfer options for the first time 7 days into a window? (Yes, I appreciate that it would have probably happened sooner if Martin had stayed in post, but regardless, surely it could've happened sooner?). Bunch of sleepwalking cretins. 

[saintant]

6 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

Apologies if this has been mentioned earlier but I have just read that the club are having a meeting tomorrow (7 days after the transfer window slammed open) to discuss transfers. Tomorrow? It begs the questions why not sooner and also why weren’t they a part of the managerial appointment discussions? It was pretty obvious on Juric’s appointment that we were going to be relegated so you would like to think that the options about how we approached the second half of the season with a view to competing in the Championship next season would already have taken place.

It seems to me though that what is considered “dead wood” currently (for example BBD) would be very useful next season so who do you actually get rid of now?

I believe the idea is to sit down with Ivan Juric to discuss potential transfers/loans in and out. To be fair, for the amount of intelligent football discussion there'll be (IJ aside) they might as well hold it when the window closes for all the good it will do. What is the point of SR owners, who clearly know nothing about football, sitting down and talking about it as though they do.

[Chez]

6 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

Apologies if this has been mentioned earlier but I have just read that the club are having a meeting tomorrow (7 days after the transfer window slammed open) to discuss transfers. Tomorrow? It begs the questions why not sooner and also why weren’t they a part of the managerial appointment discussions? It was pretty obvious on Juric’s appointment that we were going to be relegated so you would like to think that the options about how we approached the second half of the season with a view to competing in the Championship next season would already have taken place.

It seems to me though that what is considered “dead wood” currently (for example BBD) would be very useful next season so who do you actually get rid of now?

I would suggest Juric was told when he was interviewed that we would not be spending any money in this window. So obviously there has been no urgency at all to discuss signings. I would imagine he was informed that he would have a say on who was sold/loaned out once he'd had three or four games to work out who he fancied. So, having a meeting tomorrow makes perfect sense. 

 

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, trousers said:

If there was ever one sentence that summed up the clowns 'running' this club, that is it. There's amateur then there's these buffoons. What club thinks it's normal to sit around a table to discuss transfer options for the first time 7 days into a window? (Yes, I appreciate that it would have probably happened sooner if Martin had stayed in post, but regardless, surely it could've happened sooner?). Bunch of sleepwalking cretins. 

If you have no intention of signing anyone, what's the meeting going to be about? The only reason to have a meeting now is to decide who to let go out on loan. Maybe they could have done that a week ago, but it gave Juric more time to evaluate what he has...and for enquiries to come in to make a decision on. Just a thought. Defending SR isn't something I make a habit of doing.

[Doctoroncall]

5 minutes ago, Chez said:

Come the summer, all three promoted sides for starters might see him as an upgrade. The likes of West Ham need a new keeper and all the big sides, even Man City could do worse than adding him to their squad. Is Onana a better keeper? I'm not sure. Last summer there perhaps weren't openings and our patience paid off. Next summer things change again. Hope no one wants him. He's what we have missed for years. 

If we are talking summer, then he will be off. As this is the January window, I can’t see it happening.

I can image there will be a number of players leaving in the summer with cut prices and a larger sell on percentage fee if the books need to be balanced for the Championship or to remove the scarring from this season. 

[trousers]

3 minutes ago, Chez said:

If you have no intention of signing anyone, what's the meeting going to be about? The only reason to have a meeting now is to decide who to let go out on loan. Maybe they could have done that a week ago, but it gave Juric more time to evaluate what he has...and for enquiries to come in to make a decision on. Just a thought. Defending SR isn't something I make a habit of doing.

I could've sworn Juric was asked in one of his first interviews whether he's been told he could bring new players in during January and his answer was "yes"...? (I'm not saying we should be spaffing money on anyone, just recalling that Juric seemed to think it would/could happen)

Edited Monday at 17:20 by trousers

[Chez]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

I could've sworn Juric was asked in one of his first interviews whether he's been told he could bring new players in during January and his answer was "yes"...? (I'm not saying we should be spaffing money on anyone, just recalling that Juric seemed to think it would/could happen)

I was not aware of that.

Perhaps that relied on us winning two or three of the games to make the gap bridgeable. It ain't now.

[Chez]

5 minutes ago, Doctoroncall said:

If we are talking summer, then he will be off. As this is the January window, I can’t see it happening.

I can image there will be a number of players leaving in the summer with cut prices and a larger sell on percentage fee if the books need to be balanced for the Championship or to remove the scarring from this season. 

I never for the life of me thought we could hold out for £60m for Lavia, but we did.

Ramsdale and Dibling (and THB and Fernandes too probably) won't be sold cheaply - unless Ramsdale is on £100k+ a week with no relegation reduction - in which case we might be more flexible. 

The rest, well, I am not sure we will have too many clubs beating down the door to sign them.

[trousers]

2 minutes ago, Chez said:

I was not aware of that.

Perhaps that relied on us winning two or three of the games to make the gap bridgeable. It ain't now.

Yeah, quite possibly. My frustrations with the ownership clouding my usual rational thoughts! 😁

[sadoldgit]

28 minutes ago, Chez said:

I would suggest Juric was told when he was interviewed that we would not be spending any money in this window. So obviously there has been no urgency at all to discuss signings. I would imagine he was informed that he would have a say on who was sold/loaned out once he'd had three or four games to work out who he fancied. So, having a meeting tomorrow makes perfect sense. 

 

I guess so. Maybe they have said, depending on who goes, a loan or two might be possible further down the line?

[Doctoroncall]

13 minutes ago, Chez said:

I never for the life of me thought we could hold out for £60m for Lavia, but we did.

Ramsdale and Dibling (and THB and Fernandes too probably) won't be sold cheaply - unless Ramsdale is on £100k+ a week with no relegation reduction - in which case we might be more flexible. 

The rest, well, I am not sure we will have too many clubs beating down the door to sign them.

There are only three that would make good money, not sure THB will, even with an English price hike. If players need to be shifted as it’s a big squad already then I can see having a lower fee with higher sell on being used. 

[Fabrice29]

50 minutes ago, trousers said:

If there was ever one sentence that summed up the clowns 'running' this club, that is it. There's amateur then there's these buffoons. What club thinks it's normal to sit around a table to discuss transfer options for the first time 7 days into a window? (Yes, I appreciate that it would have probably happened sooner if Martin had stayed in post, but regardless, surely it could've happened sooner?). Bunch of sleepwalking cretins. 

I’m pretty sure Juric explained it’s because he wanted time to work with the players first in one of the press conferences and it’s been glossed over. Bearing in mind we’ll be low down the pecking order for players anyway I doubt decisions being made now will have that much affect on when we’re signing players.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, sadoldgit said:

I guess so. Maybe they have said, depending on who goes, a loan or two might be possible further down the line?

I struggle to understand the point of a loan if we are already down. If the player costs £50k a week, that's a million quid before any loan fee. Not a huge amount in Prem terms, but in the championship it's sizeable and would that money not be better spent next summer on another Brooks or suchlike?

[trousers]

1 hour ago, Fabrice29 said:

I’m pretty sure Juric explained it’s because he wanted time to work with the players first in one of the press conferences and it’s been glossed over. Bearing in mind we’ll be low down the pecking order for players anyway I doubt decisions being made now will have that much affect on when we’re signing players.

Fair point 👍

[trousers]

53 minutes ago, Chez said:

I struggle to understand the point of a loan if we are already down. If the player costs £50k a week, that's a million quid before any loan fee. Not a huge amount in Prem terms, but in the championship it's sizeable and would that money not be better spent next summer on another Brooks or suchlike?

Thinking out loud, I guess the only way loaning in a player now would make sense is if we can get a guarantee to roll the loan over into next season too. That way, we get to bed them in for longer. But, that's not how loans tend to work, unfortunately, so probably best if I stop this thinking out loud malarkey...! 😁

[Fabrice29]

56 minutes ago, Chez said:

I struggle to understand the point of a loan if we are already down. If the player costs £50k a week, that's a million quid before any loan fee. Not a huge amount in Prem terms, but in the championship it's sizeable and would that money not be better spent next summer on another Brooks or suchlike?

We’ve got 18 games left of this season mate. How about a loan signing to help with some of those?

[Wade Garrett]

2 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

Apologies if this has been mentioned earlier but I have just read that the club are having a meeting tomorrow (7 days after the transfer window slammed open) to discuss transfers. Tomorrow? It begs the questions why not sooner and also why weren’t they a part of the managerial appointment discussions? It was pretty obvious on Juric’s appointment that we were going to be relegated so you would like to think that the options about how we approached the second half of the season with a view to competing in the Championship next season would already have taken place.

It seems to me though that what is considered “dead wood” currently (for example BBD) would be very useful next season so who do you actually get rid of now?

I wouldn’t be surprised if that bunch of fuckwits scheduled the meeting for Jan 31st.

[SambaMaverick]

15 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

We’ve got 18 games left of this season mate. How about a loan signing to help with some of those?

I'd have to seriously question the motives of anyone willing to join us at this point

I don't personally see the point of making any signings, maybe a DM if the right player comes up

[EBS1980]

3 hours ago, Doctoroncall said:

Was there another team in for him last summer?  I don’t see a PL team needing a first team keeper now Spurs have bought one. 

Bournemouth. Kepa only on loan for them. 

[Chez]

12 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

We’ve got 18 games left of this season mate. How about a loan signing to help with some of those?

18 more of these fuckers. What a nightmare.

Ronaldo in his prime wouldn't be enough to keep this side up...so better off saving the money for the summer.

[SNSUN]

1 minute ago, Chez said:

18 more of these fuckers. What a nightmare.

Ronaldo in his prime wouldn't be enough to keep this side up...so better off saving the money for the summer.

11 Saintsweb members would do a better job than that lot. 

Not me though I'm out of shape post Christmas. 

[Saint Fan CaM]

I’m convinced the SR strategy was designed to utilise a manager who would get the best out of lower cost players - unfortunately there was a series of managers that didn’t make the grade and the squad eventually ended bloated with mediocrity. With the original plan failed SR about turned and appointed Juric hoping there was enough in the bloated squad for him to work some magic, but leaving Juric enough time to figure out where the gaps in competency were.  

His reaction after the Brentford debacle suggests he’s probably thinking there’s not a lot to be optimistic about and I reckon there will be some scratching of heads and furrowed brows during tomorrow’s meeting. As I’ve suggested before, either the meeting will sanction a parting of the ways with dross and a significant spend on new better players suited to a high press, pacey attack minded team OR panic will take-over and we’ll see the first tranche of a fire-sale of our ‘better’ players. I’m not a gambling man, but if I was, I’d lay money on the latter such is the incompetence of this Board/SR. Juric will consequently not stay beyond the end of the season and we’ll be plunged into even greater levels of shitness during the summer with Lallana (the new Wigley?) taking over the reigns. God help us.

[CB Fry]

7 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

greater levels of shitness during the summer with Lallana (the new Wigley?) taking over the reigns. God help us.

Why would this need to happen?

In the summer it will either be Juric carrying on or a new guy. Like we did, for example, with Russell Martin. We will not go into the start of next season with some kind of interim/caretaker/trainee manager.

 

[Ex Lion Tamer]

11 hours ago, trousers said:

Thinking out loud, I guess the only way loaning in a player now would make sense is if we can get a guarantee to roll the loan over into next season too. That way, we get to bed them in for longer. But, that's not how loans tend to work, unfortunately, so probably best if I stop this thinking out loud malarkey...! 😁

Not wanting to use a buzzword but we do need to minimise the scar tissue from this season and try to get some positive momentum going otherwise our recruitment/retention challenge in the summer will be all the harder. A couple of good value loans and promising signings for next season will be well worth it if they can help get a few performances under our belts and show we're starting to turn the ship around

Edited yesterday at 07:29 by Ex Lion Tamer

[Ex Lion Tamer]

14 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

Apologies if this has been mentioned earlier but I have just read that the club are having a meeting tomorrow (7 days after the transfer window slammed open) to discuss transfers. Tomorrow? It begs the questions why not sooner and also why weren’t they a part of the managerial appointment discussions? It was pretty obvious on Juric’s appointment that we were going to be relegated so you would like to think that the options about how we approached the second half of the season with a view to competing in the Championship next season would already have taken place.

It seems to me though that what is considered “dead wood” currently (for example BBD) would be very useful next season so who do you actually get rid of now?

Not sure where you read this but I bet it's not the first or last meeting about transfers this winter

[ally_uk]

Sell the under performers and get as much money as we can. 

Bed in some of our youth players like AMO and whoever else has a bit of potential and wants to actually play for us. 

Get ruthless and target the best players in the championship now! 

Mix of youth but don't forget to add a few experienced heads with some actual bollox and heart about them 

 

[Charlie Wayman]

15 hours ago, Chez said:

Doesn't really need posting on here, as I am sure you are all aware, but for completion, here is the Brereton to Sheff United loan news:

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/24834309.southampton-sheffield-united-reportedly-agree-brereton-diaz-loan/

https://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/football/sheffield-united/sheffield-united-working-overtime-in-transfer-market-as-ben-brereton-diaz-southampton-reunion-edges-closer-4931330

No doubt there will be a return clause whereby he returns to Saints next year when we get prompted and the Blades get relegated again.

[Charlie Wayman]

15 hours ago, Rebel said:

We are going down again - there is no doubt about that.  

And that means we should use the January window to start preparing for next season in the Championship.

The first step is to get rid of some of the deadwood, reduce the wage bill and bring in some money by getting rid of players that don't give us anything -  Tall Paul, Sulemana, ABK, Aribo, BBD, Cornet.  Even if it is only loans with option  to buy in the summer.

Maybe even Charlie Taylor if Welington is fit enough to take his place.  Fraser is another one we could probably get rid of without noticing.

And if someone offers us decent money for KWP we have to take it.  Or if not get rid of Bree.

With relegation all but confirmed we are going to struggle to sign players on a permanent deal but we should be able to attract players on loan who want to put themselves in the Premier League shop window for half a season.

If we can send Cornet back we need to replace him with a hardworking midfielder to provide cover for Downes and Big Les.  Lewis O'Brien from Forest maybe  (when he returns from LA as they don't need him), or maybe even JWP (not sure he can play for a 3rd club in the same season).

But that stills give us room for for loans from abroad.  

Surely we can find a 6ft 2 centre forward with a bit of mobility to lead the line on loan from somewhere.  Maybe Bojan Miovski as he's not getting the game time at Girona - but there must be others in similar positions. 

 

 

 

 

So we get rid of  Championship level players who can't keep us in the Premier League and buy more Championship level players who will not be a ble to keep us in the PL next time we are up……?

Yep! Sounds like a decent plan to me!!!!!!!! Doh!

[austsaint]

41 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Why would this need to happen?

In the summer it will either be Juric carrying on or a new guy. Like we did, for example, with Russell Martin. We will not go into the start of next season with some kind of interim/caretaker/trainee manager.

 

Yes, it has to be this.  Juric gets the rest of the season to sort out the squad, demonstrate he has the capability to be at a level approaching a Benitez, Bielsa, or a Silva, otherwise he packs his bag at the end of this season and a new Manager is recruited.

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Not sure where you read this but I bet it's not the first or last meeting about transfers this winter

it did amuse me that people were jumping up and down "why are they leaving it to now!!" Like it will be the first time any of them would have thought about January transfers. I fully expect Rasmus has his list of shite players he'll want to sign, the data and scouting people will have their list from Football Manager and Juric will have his own ideas from being a manager. Rasmus will get his whiteboard out and jobs a good 'un

[saintant]

We can buy and sell as many players as the situation allows but transfers in or out are not the problem - the elephant in the room is clearly quality as for a number of years transfer dealings have been handled by people who have no clue what they are doing. Both Brentford and Nottingham Forest have managed to unearth gems for very little money proving what can be done. So, unless we appoint a DoF and some scouts with a bit of nous and ability to spot untapped talent we will continue to throw good money after bad and pick up players who will cost far more than they are worth and not improve the squad. I'm not saying we've not had successes but if a blind man throws enough darts at a board he'll eventually hit the bullseye. There will be unknown talents available but it takes a lot of hard work and skill to identify them - we need to appoint people who have the necessary attributes or the mess will continue. It may take intervention from Dragan because I get the feeling Rasmus and his merry band of charlatans have no problem with maintaining the status quo and are probably afraid of appointing a good DoF as they will be quickly rumbled and their game may finally be up.