Saints’ Trinidad & Tobago striker Stern John has joined Championship rivals Bristol City on loan until New Years Day.

Looking brutally at the decision to loan out last season’s top scorer, it seems clear that the club’s finances have taken another lurch downwards in recent months - not aided by the poor attendances at St Mary’s this season - and that the board are hoping that the removal of John’s wages from the weekly expenditure will keep Barclays satisfied for the time being.

Reports have been circulating via various sources in recent weeks suggesting that the club’s overdraft has increased from £6m in the summer to a whopping £8m, despite numerous cost-cutting exercises including the disposal of a number of high earners in the close season which saved the club somewhere in the region of £100,000 per week. Quite how long the bank will allow this situation to go on for is unclear and while performances on the pitch have been no worse than last season, they haven’t been good enough to attract a significant number of fans back to home games.

It’s expected that John’s departure could be the first of another wave of high-profile exits with the sole intention of staving off administration for the time being. Young prospects Andrew Surman and Adam Lallana were linked with moves away from St Mary’s in the summer and it’s likely that they’ll be the first names in the rumour columns in the papers as the January transfer window gets closer.

Saints go into tonight’s match against Norwich at St Mary’s in good spirits following Saturday’s 2-0 win at Doncaster. However, Norwich will be intent on spoiling the party in the knowledge that victory for them will almost certainly move them into the top half of the table, whereas a Saints win would see us leapfrog the Canaries and drag them into the mix at the wrong end.

So far this season, they’ve collected 10 points from 8 games, including two wins (against 10-man Plymouth and a last-minute winner against Sheffield United). They have kept just two clean sheets in those 8 games, both in their last two matches, compared to Saints’ three shutouts.

Former Arsenal striker Arturo Lupoli, currently on loan from Serie A side Fiorentina, is their top scorer with three league goals, so he’ll be the one to watch alongside a player who seems to always score against us, Jamie Cureton. Other players of interest are ex-Portsmouth captain Dejan Stefanovic and Gambian striker Oman Alieu Koroma, who is on loan from our “friends” down the road.

The head-to-head record between the two sides is fairly even, with Saints holding a 32-29 win advantage in league games (23 draws). 23 of those 32 league wins have come at home, with a 3 out of 4 win record since we moved to St Mary’s. Norwich’s only win at St Mary’s came last season when a Ched Evans goal on the stroke of half-time proved the difference, although on another day Saints would have scored 10. Stern John blazed a penalty over the bar after Gary Doherty handled and numerous other excellent chances were spurned to leave everyone wondering how we’d lost the game. We’ll need to be a lot more clinical tonight if we’re to get the three points.

As far as Saints are concerned, Stern John will miss out after picking up a hamstring injury early on in the win at Doncaster. Morgan Schneiderlin is a doubt after he hobbled off in the second half of that game. Tomas Pekhart is expected to start up front with Paul Wotton moving into the midfield holding role and Chris Perry filling the gap in the centre of defence that is strangely starting to look a bit more solid, at least as far as the goals against column is concerned, with two consecutive clean sheets.

Some things never change at Saints. The players and coaching staff may be different, but the irritating ability for hitting the self-destruct button when we come up against lower league opposition in cup competitions remains firmly ingrained into the club. League Two side Rotherham United did the damage this time, just as they did in the 2002 FA Cup, to end our hopes of a money-spinning fourth round tie.

Nick Fenton gave the Millers the lead midway through the first half from a corner, and that lead was doubled by Danny Harrison 10 minutes into the second half. Stern John pulled a goal back on the hour mark, but hopes of a Saints comeback were dashed less than ten minutes later when Drew Broughton tapped in from close range.

It was a poor performance from Saints, and one which they’ll have to recover from quickly. Jan Poortvliet was far from happy with the display:

“I felt we missed the drive needed to win the game which is a shame because a lot of fans travelled for over four hours to be there. I didn’t sleep very well because it breaks your heart a little bit when you think about it. Saturday is a big test and I expect a big win.”

He’s certainly not wrong there. The match at Doncaster is a typical six-pointer even at this early stage of the season. Rovers have lost their last three league games so there’s no reason why we can’t pile the pressure onto former Bournemouth manager Sean O’Driscoll, but it’ll need a much better performance than the one witnessed tonight.