david in sweden

Sometimes I think people confuse a " transfer fee " with the actual cost of employing a player for say ..3 years. Someone wrote on another site.." if we sell AOC ..(to Arsenal), then we could sign 4 new players for that money." Well that may be about right, but what is the eventual cost of such deals?. Selling AOC may gain us (£10 million seems to be the most quoted amount) and the "saving" would be the few thou' a week that the 17 year old might get paid. But spending the £10 mill. doesn't take account of the fact that even a free transfer (from a Prem. side) might mean that the player was getting, say £20K, £30K..even £40K a week - now we're looking at a salary of £1m - 2m. a year (a big bite out of the original fee) +tax. Having to pay, say £2-3 mill. fee for a player from the start means almost half that £10 miil. has disappeared in one deal. I know that sometimes transfer fees (even at CCC level) sound " cheap" compared with Prem. levels but the biggest problem for clubs is not always the transfer fee, but finding the wages to meet the cost of his salary for the next 3 seasons...(as one or two of the newly-relegated ex-Prem. sides will have discovered by now,) and the parachute payments don't soften that blow very much - unless you go straight back up the first year. Let's not confuse a "free transfer" with being a " good deal ". Financially speaking it may be a nail in the coffin of those clubs who have half-a-dozen " top salaried players. Thank goodness we have a good Academy. Even if AOC does go, we may be better off for a short time, but the real profit is the next Walcott or Bale presently making their way through the U18's. Will be interesting to see what the Tribunal decides on for the Gobern fee (from Huddf'd).

never thought of it like that, but you're right. VW Oh hypocondriac, write something positive and prove us wrong, please!

Mmm, George Kirby, that brings back memories and I see from the above that most of the contributors are in my generation, too. I was getting to be a serious fan at this time, and school-time was filled with "our selections " for the next home game ..and the potential scorers..George Kirby was always on both lists, though in fact he wasn't a big goalscorer in the Davies / Channon class, his real value to the side was better reflected in the goal stats. of his fellow striker George O'Brien, and the two were a fine partnership, even for a shorter time. At a time when the average height of the players was around 5'8", signing Kirby (6 FEET tall ) ..was rather akin to signing Peter Crouch. He was, what was then called, " an old-fashioned centre-forward ". Always involved in the game, even when he wasn't on the ball. In those days, a shoulder-charge was a legitimate tactic, and George was not one to forget that (the famous incident with Forest keeper Pete Grummitt - mentioned above - in the legendary 3-3 FA Cup replay, was one of many such incidents). He terrified defenders and goalies alike - and smiled all the way. His 18 months stay seemed much longer in some ways and matches featuring George were never dull to watch, even to the Dell game v. Middboro. in November 1962. With a HT score at 0-0 looking like a stalemate game, George started the second half with a hatrick in FOUR minutes, (including two of his famous headers from Terry Paine centres), something no other Saints player has achieved in modern times. A real character was George, sadly there have been too few like him to remember.

....then just ask your Dad. Apparantly, that's quite easy for Darren F. at P'boro..(two early signings listed on July 1st). 'Boro have sold some of their better players, but seems that Daddy is on hand to Darren help fill the gap with a couple of up-and-coming talents from the Man.Utd youth side. Alright for some, eh? But personally I don't think the rest of the 'Boro squad is good enough to make a serious challenge next season. We'll have to wait and see.

Of course we were serious about signing Billy Sharp (and Donny even accepted our offer) but it's no-ones fault if the guy doesn't want to come, and as we've " set the bar at £3 mill+ ", he might even see a Prem.club come in for him yet. His choice. I don't think that NA had a LONG " wish-list " of potential signings, andas many of us on this site are saying ..why buy someone who isn't as good as or better than we have already. I don't know who our other " first choices " were (you used the plural...?) but I'd bet that NA isn't too preturbed when he looks at his present squad sheet anyway. We move on and wait for the next "rumour " I suppose. ....if that's not enough ..you can contribute to the HCDAJFU thread which looks like " server-breaker " to me already.

well not quite, but after the sad end to his (Saints) career Michael returned to Sweden and got a job as coach for his old side Halmstad. That was the good news..then. But now ......... Sadly Halmstad had a nightmare start to the season and sit firmly at the bottom of Allsvenskan (Swedish Prem.) with only one win from 14 games.....and so 36 year old Michael has blown the dust off his boots and had a run out with their reserve side yesterday. (no reports available) but if he has half-a-season left in him, it might just be enough to help his old side stay up, (because there are no parachute payments in Sweden).

..and just waiting for the almost inevitable.. " Oh No!... Billy Sharp doesn't want to come, were sunk now " type of thread. Relax ....still 6 weeks to the seasons start and who knows who might come before then..precise dates mean NOTHING ! just as long as they are a good buy.

....and I suspect that maybe we have one or two "done deals " under covers (but not yet publicised by NC) before OK-ing an AOC / Arsenal deal... because then every other club would double their demands knowing that we have transfer money in the bank.

well that's a rather negative start. We haven't even seen the complete squad / new players listed yet and you've condemned us already. I'm pretty sure that we won't beat everyone, but no-one else is likely to either. Last season there were about 10 sides in with a shout even upto Easter, and QPR looked like the only " certs ". I'm sure we'll have a lot to complain about but let's wait until we have a few results to look at before that. Over the years I have told myself never to take a serious look at the league table until after the first SIX games. I'll stick with that.

whatever interest or value there may have been in this subject from the beginning seems to have disappeared in a wave of apathy. I'm happy if you close it now, MODS ! Thanks to all who participated - even Danbert.

Why is it there is always this sort of "panic" thread, every time we come to the transfer window. YES some clubs have already signed players, and one or two well-known names are among them, and one or two "targets" we might have liked to sign, but I trust both Adkins and Cortese to have sorted out who and when and expect some sort of activity to be announced AFTER July 1st. After all we can't say that there are gaping holes in the squad ..or that we don't have the finance to fill them if there were, so again I say..why the panic ? We have already seen that Nicola Cortese doesn't feel responsible to give statements on every rumour or nonsense article printed by the media, or placate fans who panic because they DON'T see us spending money. I decided a while ago that he was " his own man " and answerable only to the Liebherr family. Good for him I say. Patience is a virtue and I don't expect mine (or anyone else's) to be taxed too much longer, as we would expect most of the " newcomers " to be in place before the Swiss tour begins.

well of course we are all entitled to a point of view, Danbert-aren't we...? What would you prefer...a wildly exaggerated, sketchy biased, inaccurate report..or is it just the Swedish League you don't like? Admittedly, it is a minority interest, but around 10 years ago Saints (under Strachan) had a period of 3 consecutive pre-season with visits to Sweden. I was fortunate enough to see some of those games as did hundreds of travelling fans, and it created some interest from fans, some of whom like to comment and reply to the OVERSEAS threads.. Sorry you're not one of them. As for response..you can judge yourself. I've posted only about 6 Swedish items in the LAST YEAR . One had over 1400 views, most of the others between 300-600 views. Obviously of interest to some people - wouldn't you say ? MY original point in this thread was that I feel it's unfair for people to " judge" a striker PURELY on the number of goals they score, or the goals/apps. ratio. The best example is Adam Lallana who last season scored 11 but had 13 assists, and he was about almost a dozen games. We know AL is good, as NA put it " the best player in L1."...but some just look at the goals scored and it isn't entirely fair to him (them).

Haven't seen anything in print yet, but TV4 sport does show a mix of Championship and German league games regularly, but more often after November after the Swedish season is over.

in one of the other many houses he owns all over .

How right you are Duncan, Jim was only 37 and still going strong after 6 seasons but his dressing room presence and banter was apparantly a bit too much for Ian Branfoot to handle and he let him go on a free, I think. Yet another foolish Branfoot decision (like sitting MLT on the bench half a season whilst we slipped down the league every week). The only other similar situation I recall was MF Jimmy Gabriel (former Everton League and Cup winner). A good buy for £42K in 1968 we had 5 good seasons from Gabriel (223 apps. and a useful 27 goals). Think he played in 5 diff. positions in one season - even CF. Could play both sides of midfield and even as emergency keeper in one game. One of the casualties under the new McMenemy era when age 32 , he moved to the States and coached Seattle Sounders for many years. Saw a clip with an interview on U-TUBE and at 70 years old he was still very involved with Seattle where he has had " legend-status " for two decades. Two Merseysiders who were unforgettable in their time.

The Pereplotkin affair was bad on all sides. In 2003, the lad came as a 17 year old and had Academy type status and was MOM nearly every game. But after his time was up, The Home Office refused him a visa to stay on and he had to leave. I think he tried a few games with an Irish outfit who were well below standard and he was released and returned to him Homeland . Though he was born in the Ukraine. Now aged 26 he qualifies for Latvia for whom he has made 28 international apps. since 2007. ( I think Pahars name was mentioned somewhere because he used to play for Skonto in Riga) .

Excellent point . We got a sold a "dud" that time.

Terry Paine was only 5'7" and Marian Pahars 5'8" ... and Lionel Messi doesn't look like a giant to me either.

you're right, but then again they must have looked like midgets to Lawrie Mac, who was manager at that time .

I felt a bit peeved by Pekhart's comments, but he does have an inside knowledge of the Englsih game having spent a couple of seasons with Spurs youth sides. The Czechs play a lot of tight team football, whereas many of the young talent we have tend to " show off " a lot, rather than play as a unit. Perhaps the trouble with those Prem. clubs who pay teenagers £20K a week !

Can't agree with the Hirst comment. He joined in October 97 and scored 9 goals in 28 starts, good compared with MLT and Östenstad who both scored 11 and Kevin Davies who got 9. (with similar apps.) His freak training accident, (trod in a rabbit hole whilst running in the forest) and damaged his knee beyond repair and effectively finished his Prem career. Delgado was (in Strachan's words) --" a done deal " by Rupert Lowe before he arrived. WGS didn't like his style and obviously found it difficult to communicate with the Equadorian with his Scots dialect ( of course a lot of the English players couldn't understand Strachan either )Definitely a bad deal ! Kanchelskis looked good (in his prev. career) and was past his sell-by date when he arrived. His 1 year contact lasted 5 months and he was given a free. As for the 3 with low expectations..Marian Pahars....£800K must has seemed a lot of money to Skonto in Latvia , I think he was the Saints deal of a lifetime and worth every penny... many times over. Another tragic injury victim, and someone who might have been with us another 5 years. I'd also include Hassan Katchloul in this category. Came off the street and asked for a trail. He was great for a couple of years until his greedy agent persuaded him that the grass was greener elsewhere. (A sad loss).

Interesting to read comment from Tomas Pekhart (former Saints loan from Spurs) who scored the Czechs late winner he said that he thought that England had too many individual performers who wanted to show off their talents and didn't play well as a team. The defence wasn't criticised but obviously England had some strikers /midfielders with an ego problem, and that led to their downfall.

yes and I recalled Ron Davies, too 37 league goals the first season ...and 28 the second (defences had got used to him by then) third season 20 and then... only 12. he became " fair game for the cloggers", got little protection from refs. and only managed 29 games out of 42. I do hope that Ricky manages to stay injury free.

not everything you invest in one year, necessarily brings in a profit the next. It's called " long-term investment "... ...and there are certain benefits to showing a loss once in a while (as I'm sure that Mr. Cortese is well aware of.)

not that he doesn't have interesting opinions, but I often find that I don't agree with dell days viewpoints, .........and I was a regular at The Dell for many years.