MarkSFC

Hope not but 100m the pair plus Christensen will do.

I wonder whether a limit on weekly wage - say £25k - with "any additional weekly salary" placed in trust for when the player retires from football. This would have the effect of evening out to some extent the relative comparative lifestyles of footballers. Someone a bit smarter could work out the formula but for example: Premier base salary......£5k Championship base salary....£3k League 1 base salary....£1.5k League 2 base salary....£750 Then add on for categories like: International.....levels based on number of caps Career appearances...... levels again Loyalty to club....levels for each year.. plus bonuses... goals play clean sheets etc etc After that its up to the club, player, agent to decide on any payments that go into the trust fund. The other side of this is that the money will less impact during their playing career and will possibly help to protect their future, particularly lower level players. Just some thoughts....

For once you speak sense and make the point well. JWP is a decent player and for his age one of the best. Whether he still is in 2-3 years is the question no one can answer just time itself. I like him and his technique is great and hopefully with a bit of freedom given to him agead of Oriel and Lemina he can shine. Thats his best role to mould into.

Interesting update from Tom28 who has been spot on all the way this summer. Its fairly obvious I think that Taylor is in the club only really to be part of the GK training group. He will likely only play in extreme circumstances. McCarthy injury must be a reasonably long one so a loan is sensible so that Gazza can get another season playing, better than warming the bench for a lot of it. Assuming the **** is sold then the CB replacement has to be of decent quality, clearly wont be as good as the **** but that's ok. Stephens will continue to improve and Yoshida is a decent number 3 (first choice replacement) and we will see how Bednarek settles in. Lemina if he does sign looks just like we need alongside Romeu (who I think should be captain) so that's an area in better shape. The loan AM is interesting - Lewis Baker seems to be the most likely, young and English (plus he knows a few of the existing team already). A damp squid of a summer transfer window may yet turn out to be ok. I'm still not convinced by LR for the longer term as I wonder whether complacency is lurking (and the speed at which we seem to work compared to other clubs, drives me up the wall, but that's my problem!!), but if he turns this round, fair enough.

Why at people putting Hoedt in the side.. ...im feeling I have missed something??!!

its his home town team...

YTF have we not signed him...or maybe we actually tried??? doubt it very much though, very disillusioned with the club right now.

Having been convinced for months that he would be here for one more season - he could still be of course - as each day passes and he continues his pathetic childish strop I cant help but think the points has passed by which there is no real return. The only way I could see the majority of Saints fans "forgive him" and for him to become a favourite again is now if he stays longer than even just one more season. That of course is less likely than me winning the lottery jackpot on Saturday! I think we now have to get rid but on our terms, get one or even two decent CBs in - get rid of Gardos, and Bednarek wont count for a season at least unless really desperate. This summer the club have allowed others to catch up and those ahead of us to extend their strength in terms of qulity and quantiy of signings. If we do not see at least one first team CB, a DCM partner for Oriel and a decent Attacker of some sort then I would class this as another failure in the transfer market, 3 on the trot. Lets hope the next 4 weeks prove me wrong...

Are you describing our summer so far.....????

Indeed. Think McQueen would probably benefit mostly from a loan IF Targett is seen as better; I'm not sure there is much between them. Gallagher I would suggest should only go if he gets an opportunity at a team that is challenging for promotion in the Championship to see how he handles more pressure.

I would expect to totally discount those in bold from the named squad and would expect Gazzaniga to gone on loan again assuming McCarthy is fit. This would allow for 3 players, one CB, one DCM and an attacker of some sorts. Unless anyone else leaves that would be a decent looking squad if those brought in are quality rather than potential!

Excellent post.

Grazianno....Would you want....do we need....would he come back....???!!!

Ok, I'll bite....what have you heard today?!

That's not actually tweaking it though, its merely spending more than previously which is going to happen anyway over the next few years because of the market demands. The tweak is spending that amount NOW on an established player with little resale but immense contribution value to the present. It is not a trashing, its a business (and sporting) decision in the here and now. Big difference.

Business models get tweaked as the market(s) change. Flexible and fluid businesses allow for that and succeed because they recognise the need, time and type of adaptation they have to implement. So for that reason I would not discount us buying a player for 30-40m. In my humble opinion GS is about as good a player as we can get who already knows and has performed exceptionally and consistently in the PL. If CP are happy to spend 30m on Benteke we should be happy to spend 40m on GS!! Because of the strength of our collective squad in terms of quality and contract length we have the financial capability to make a one-off signing of this type. Last summer was more about quantity of incoming because of the Europa League, but this summer is very much about getting quality in the form of 2 or maybe 3 players. AM and DM being the main two for me, although I think a CB who is clearly the partner for VVD would be the cherry on the icing if we were able to bring in GS and a decent DM. I would rather see and it would make better sense for just this window that we spend 60-70 (gross) on 2 excellent players than the same on 5-6. It would certainly be a change in tact but the market is determining it.

Interesting. Like.

Bullies don't like it when people stand up to them and the world then sees them for what they really are.

45m plus the Ox perhaps.

it would appear likely that the manager will play with 2 dm/holding midfielders so unless Clasie or Hoijberg improve significantly I think this area is the glaring gap to be filled, especially if Romeu gets injured we will look light there. The fact they were happy to let Reed go does perhaps suggest they are after someone. Other than that, if no one else goes and no one else comes in, it would be ok but not great. We would be relying upon 4-5 players stepping up from their performances last season which is possible - Stephens, JWP, Redmond, and Boufal. If Gabbi and Austin play to their potential then we should be in for a decent season. I'd still prefer a CB who is going to come straight in alongside VVD (I've thought he would stay this season for months) but we will see.

lazy mad up links.....all 3 have just sold a striker...

If the only player we signed this summer (an no one leaves) was Gylfi and it cost 40-50m I could live with that!! It would send a very positive message out...

You're correct that is our model but missing one very important aspect.....timing. It is NOT develop as quickly as possible and sell as quickly as possible, otherwise they would not of gone down the route of 4,5, & 6 year contracts. Yes, the length of contract helps to increase the selling price but also it extends the time the core of the team is together and slows down the rate of change. But you keep thinking in headlines my friend like the rest of the world.

football, Saints, and this forum is no place for humour.......you should hang your head in shame at even suggesting it.

That's an interesting statement / assumption. You're correct it is easy to give someone a chance to play but there is a difference between developing by playing and being coached/developed outside of competitive play. Puel was dubbed as a coach and as much as I am quite pleased with the change, you cannot always see the effects of training ground coaching immediately. How measure the effect is tricky and in this case only those who saw his training ground coaching will know for sure.