Saints have released Rudi Skacel and Ryan Smith following the end of the season which has left the club looking at life in League One with a points deduction.

Skacel, who signed in a protracted £1.6m deal from Hearts three years ago, has ultimately failed to live up to the hype surrounding his transfer in 2006, and his release has come about after it was revealed that his contract was renegotiated upon his return from a loan spell with Hertha Berlin which shortened his contract by a year - he had originally signed a 4-year deal.

As one of the club’s highest earners, and following a reported show of dissent when he was substituted at Sheffield Wednesday three weeks ago, this end is hardly a surprise, and I suspect there won’t be many Saints fans who will be particularly sad to see him go. That said, there will be a lot of disappointment that he never really lived up to the top billing he was given when he signed for the club.

Ryan Smith was given a short-term contract after signing on a free transfer from Millwall - while showing occasional flashes of ability, he was never able to replicate it on a regular basis, and probably shows why he had failed to make the grade at other clubs earlier in his career.

Three senior players are also out of contract at the end of June, but it is hoped that they will remain with the club in League One, albeit on much reduced wages. Jason Euell, Bradley Wright-Phillips and player of the year Kelvin Davis will all become free agents soon, but all have made encouraging noises in recent times about their desire to stay, even if it involves taking a big pay cut.

Saints made a late addition to their squad just before yesterday’s 5pm transfer deadline with the loan signing of Hungarian defender Zoltan Liptak from Ujpest FC.

The 24-year-old 6′4″ centre-back joins until the end of the season, and it’s believed that the club has an option to buy the player in the summer if he does well. Liptak impressed in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Staplewood a couple of weeks ago, although a mixed Saints team beat Ujpest 5-2, so it’s quite intriguing how a defender who conceded 5 goals managed to impress during that game.

He does have experience of the English game, having been on the books of Southend United last season, although he didn’t make a first-team appearance for the Shrimpers. He was sent on loan to Stevenage Borough in the Blue Square Premier for a month, where he made two appearances, including one in front of the Setanta Sports cameras in a 2-1 win. He joined Ujpest in the summer, and has since made 26 first-team appearances, scoring three goals.

Perhaps the most notable thing from the transfer window as far as the club is concerned is that not a single first-team player has left the club. Rudi Skacel rejected the chance of joining an unnamed Bundesliga club on loan until the end of the season, so he will remain a Saints player at least for the time being. With Lee Molyneux suspended for tonight’s game against Sheffield United, it’s likely he’ll slot straight back into the team at left-back, although personally I’d prefer to see him playing in the “hole” behind the strikers as he did to such great effect at Hearts in Scotland, where his reputation was created.

Bids were received for a number of players during the last month, but all were rejected out of hand, with Mark Wotte telling BBC Radio Solent “We had a couple of bids but for ridiculously low money. We’re not that desperate, to sell for peanuts. Maybe for ridiculous money you have to sell someone but not because other clubs think you have financial problems.”, so that appears to paint a picture of a financial situation that isn’t quite as severe as many had predicted.

Answers to that particular dilemma may arrive fairly soon in the shape of the interim financial report, which will give details on the financial situation over the six months from July to December.

News reports linking Saints players with moves away from the club have been few and far between in recent weeks, but are we witnessing the calm before the inevitable storm?

Many seemingly “in the know” people on the SaintsWeb forum had been stating that deals had already been done prior to the opening of the January transfer window that would see our key players sold off in order to stave off the threat of administration. Those deals have - so far, at least - failed to materialise, as the likes of Andrew Surman and Adam Lallana are still Saints players.

However, when the footballing vultures are looking for carcasses to pick at for their next signings, deals are often left right until the last possible moment as an air of desperation sets in on the part of the selling club just to get some money through the door before the embargo on transfers kicks in until the summer.

The stories linking Surman with a move to Reading have dried up, as have those pointing Lallana towards Fulham, but it’s expected that rumours will once again begin to be circulated in the next few days as the transfer window reaches its conclusion.

Rudi Skacel is, according to the BBC, in talks with an “unnamed” foreign club over a transfer after reportedly asking to leave. His arrival in 2006 was the most protracted and drawn-out signing that I can remember Saints being involved in, with the forum’s predecessor being the location of a daily “has Skacel signed yet?” wind-up thread for what felt like an eternity, but was probably about four months.

He arrived under a massive fanfare, including a rather cringeworthy contract-signing PR stunt on the pitch before a pre-season friendly, and for a reasonably large fee of £1.6m from Hearts, and it’s a decent debate as to whether he’s provided value for money over the two and a half years he’s been at the club. While his general demeanour has sometimes appeared to be somewhat lazy and half-arsed (I don’t think for a moment that that actually is his attitude, for what it’s worth), and he hasn’t scored anywhere near the amount of goals he would probably have liked, the figures in terms of assists have been very good, so to suggest he hasn’t contributed to the team is wrong, particularly considering he’s played most of his games for the club in the last 18 months out of position at left-back.

If he does eventually sign for whoever the foreign club is, it’ll relieve the club of a fairly hefty salary, which may ultimately mean we’re able to keep hold of one of our better young players. I’m certainly not holding my breath on that one - nobody apart from those with direct access to the club’s bank account knows the true scale of the situation right now in terms of how close we are to administration, but taking the prudent approach (i.e. expecting the worst), it’s likely one or more of our better players will be snapped up by a club offering a higher league position and a higher salary than we are able to. Any deal that is done will probably wait until late on Monday, as that will be the time when we get desperate and take whatever offers are on the table.

Not the best of scenarios going into a run-in that could shape the future of Southampton Football Club for years to come, but that’s the “joy” of the transfer window. Hats off to FIFA and UEFA once again for that one.

Halfway through the transfer window, the rumour mill has finally started to kick in.

While Manchester City are ridiculously chasing a player with a bid of £107m, enough to clear SFC’s debts three times over, Jan Poortvliet is looking for much more realistic options, and Fiorentina striker Arturo Lupoli - formerly of Arsenal and Derby and currently on loan at relegation rivals Norwich - appears to fit the bill, particularly if reports on an independent Fiorentina website (translated here) are to be believed. Lupoli has not hidden his unhappiness at being left out of the team for most of the season by Glenn Roeder, but as he was sacked on Wednesday morning, it’s possible that he may still have a future at Carrow Road, at least for the remainder of his loan deal which expires at the end of the season.

Realistically, Saints are going to have to sell someone before they’re able to buy any more players, so needless to say the attention will then turn to which one (or more) of our first-team regulars is going to be prised away from St Mary’s.

With the acquisition of left-back Lee Molyneaux on a free transfer from Everton, Rudi Skacel would appear to be the most likely departure. However, at this stage there still appears to be no interest in the Czech international, presumably due to the high wage demands which scuppered his summer move to Ipswich.

Andrew Surman and Adam Lallana have been linked with moves to Stoke City and Fulham respectively, with many on the SaintsWeb forum claiming to be “in the know” and having heard that deals to sell one or both of them to Premier League clubs had already been done as long ago as October last year. So far, those claims are looking pretty flimsy, although it would be very foolish to rule out the sale of either of them (or any of the other promising young players in the first team) before the transfer window slams shut on February 2nd.

Saints have made two early moves in the January transfer window with the signing of Ryan Smith and Lee Molyneaux on permanent deals.

Smith has been on loan at St Mary’s from Millwall since September and it will probably come as a bit of a surprise to see his move become permanent after only a couple of notable performances in the first-team.

Molyneaux is a left-back and is a product of Everton’s Academy, which has produced the likes of Wayne Rooney, James Vaughan and Leon Osman in recent years. He joins on a free transfer and has signed a two and a half year contract.

His arrival will fuel the rumour mill surrounding the future of Rudi Skacel. As one of the remaining high earners, it’s likely the club would prefer to cash in on him rather than be forced into selling one or more of the younger players, although it is of course reliant on Skacel agreeing terms with another club, something he failed to do in the summer when he was on the verge of a move to Ipswich.

Molyneaux has been training with the club for a couple of weeks prior to formalising his free transfer, so Jan Poortvliet surely won’t be too worried about throwing him straight into the squad for Sunday’s game against Manchester United.

A disastrous first eleven minutes were the deciding factor in today’s game at Turf Moor that saw a brave but ultimately fruitless fightback in the second half. Goals from Rudi Skacel and Andrew Surman weren’t enough to rectify the three goals conceded early on as Chris Perry scored an own goal and Joey Gudjohnsson added a brace for high-flying Burnley.

My view of the action.

Burnley made their intentions known as early as the second minute, with Joey Gudjonsson playing in Martin Paterson, who shrugged off Chris Perry and saw his fierce effort come off the underside of the bar. A let off for now.

Wright-Phillips saw his cross for the visitors cleared by Caldwell as Jason Euell, returning to the team, lurked in the box. But not content with conceding two early goals – as they did on Monday away at Crystal palace, Saints decided to go one better, in a mad spell that saw us three goals down after just 11 minutes.

Wade Elliot’s cross from the right flank appeared to lack much danger, but CHRIS PERRY stuck out a foot, which was enough to divert the ball for an own goal into the far corner, past the despairing dive of Kelvin Davis.

And after making a superb low save from Robbie Blake’s sweeping free kick, Davis would turn to villain as he dropped Steven Caldwell’s header from the resulting corner perfectly onto the head of JOEY GUDJONSSON who steered the ball home from close range and past David McGoldrick on the line.

Further desolation ensued, when more slack defending allowed Paterson to waltz down the left and as he knocked the ball past Perry, Elliot covered his team-mate and crossed low for JOEY GUDJONSSON who ran into the box unchallenged and fired home for his second and Burnley’s third.

The game did start to settle down, but Saints didn’t look as though they’d cut the deficit, as chances continued to come the home side’s way. First Chris McCann’s low effort was parried straight to Paterson who somehow hit the post with Davis very much beaten, before Chris Eagles forced the Southampton number one into a smart low save.

The half drew to a close with Burnley playing at walking pace and Southampton looking very much dejected, although they could have got an important goal when David McGoldrick headed at goal from Surman’s free kick, but his effort sailed just wide.

Half Time: Burnley 3-0 Southampton

After getting berated by some fans as they left the pitch for half time, the Southampton players came out into the second half with a point to prove and almost reduced the three goal margin, when Wright-Phillips cut in from the right and laid off for McGoldrick to shoot, but he saw his shot tipped over the bar.

But they did get a goal and suggested a fight back was on the cards, when a corner was scrambled around the box, but Euell freed the ball to RUDI SKACEL on the edge of the box who lashed home a fine goal.

And Saints could have had another goal in quick succession, when Jason Euell’s looping header was clawed off the line by Jensen. Burnley had an equally decent headed opportunity when McCann headed over when unmarked from a corner, but Saints were starting to dream of a remarkable comeback, when they pulled it back to 3-2…

Wright-Phillips took a quick throw in and Euell skipped past his man, before threading a perfect ball through to ANDREW SURMAN, who took the ball in his stride and fired across Jensen with a crisp low shot.

But Burnley could have killed off the game, when Davis punched a corner clear into the path of Robbie Blake, who had the goal at his mercy, but saw his shot deflected o ver. And as the Saints were losing their momentum, Burnley should have killed off the game when substitute Steven Thompson shot straight at Davis from just a couple of yards out and the saints were to run out of time.

Full time: Burnley 3-2 Southampton

Poor, poor defending set us up for another uphill battle and it was a bit of a joke that we conceded three goals in the first 11 minutes, after we had conceded two early goals on Monday. Poortvliet said we would attempt to start games better, but we went and started even worse, which was some feat.

Sure, we did threaten a comeback and the second half was a little better, but it looked better on paper, than it actually was. In truth, we played well for about 10 minutes over the 90, which isn’t good enough.

And further still, we could have conceded a couple more in the second half, after we should have been about 6-0 down at half time. I’m sure that we can get the defensive formula right though, as we showed a few weeks back that we could be solid defensively and the personnel haven’t changed in this area.

Upfront we still look mightily weak though and had to rely on goals from midfielders. We do however look more threatening with Jason Euell in the team and he should be considered as a definite starter.

Burnley did play well, but their goals were a little gifted. Upfront Martin Paterson gave us the run around, showing good energy to run the flanks, he also showed creativity and should have scored at least two. In midfield, they passed it around well and always had runners and their hard work probably deserved the luck that they got.

We need to forget about the past week and look forward to our home tie against Nottingham Forest next week, as it is vitally important that not only do we win our home games, but we win against the teams that are around us at the bottom of the table.