Leccy Leagues 1 & 2 for 2010/11 Season

[Dan]

It's funny b/c when they brought in Barnard I was thinking that there was a logjam of strikers. Now there's just two? Good stuff. Of course, those were the best two, so at least they kept the right ones.

Truthfully I haven't been following much in the way of Saints news, so I don't know who is on the team. I was just messing around with their site when I posted that.

[rva]

They bought this guy Ryan Dickson from Brentford in to play either left midfield or left back.  He's kind of a homeless man's Beckham I guess.  Young kid.   Very good attacking back.  Defense needs a little work but is supposedly improving.  Sounds like he's a bit inconsistent as well.  Neither is surprising given his age.  Apparently he's also somewhat injury-prone, which is a bit of a bother.

Brentford fans all seem to like him but aren't exactly throwing themselves off bridges now that he is gone and would seem to be okay with the deal provided the price is right (the fee Saints pay will be decided by tribunal).  Southampton fans cautiously optimistic that at the very least he will provide good cover and challenge for a starting spot.  And if he taps his potential could hold his own at the next level should Saints get promoted.  But no one feels like they just won the lottery either.

So all in all, sounds like a solid signing but the big move is hopefully still to come. 

As Cockney Rebel says, they need a striker.  David Connolly is out of contract.  I think he's very good when he's healthy, but he's not always healthy.  And at 33 he's not getting any younger.  Still, if they can bring him back cheap as a backup I wouldn't mind that but not sure he will want to do that when he could be starting for some other clubs.  Papa Waigo's loan is over and he has returned to his club.  I don't he was all that great anyway but nonetheless it leaves the Saints short up front.

They could lose Lambert as well.  Saints are paying him a ton of money, so I don't think he's going to demand to leave.  Still, Premier League and some of the Championship teams can match his salary and if he gets an opportunity at the highest level I think he will want to take it.  At his age and I would not blame him.  Hopefully if that happens, Saints will get a big enough transfer fee to be able to turn around and sign someone of equal stature but you never know what might happen in the transfer market of how a new player will fit in.  Which is all the more reason to try and get a striker in.

Besides a striker, I think they could use some cover on defense both in the defensive midfield and the back four.  Doesn't have to be anyone spectacular.  Seems like a loan would come in handy there.

[Dan]

Any chance Antonio could come back? Does that kind of thing happen in the soccer football world?

[rva]

It seems unlikely.  Reading had some kind of clause in Antonio's contract that they activated so he is with them for another year.  He had no say in it, and I'm pretty sure he would have wanted to sign for Saints.  Also pretty sure they activated it just so they could sell him, because they are rather broke and they know Southampton wants him and Saints are filthy rich for a League One team.  I guess it's hard to blame them, really.

Unfortunately for Antonio, he's kind of screwed.  He's not good enough to play in the Prem (yet), so he needs a loan.  But Reading will not loan him because they're trying to sell him.  Given his situation, Antonio is unlikely to want to sign a long-term extension nor is Reading likely to give it to him.

So it's just a matter of who blinks first.  Saints want him, Reading need to sell him.  Both trying to exploit the others' need.  You'd think a deal could be worked out seeing how there is a common interest but thing is Saints have tons of cash and can find someone else without being held ransom.  And Reading needs the cash bad, and will probably overplay their hand.  I feel bad for them a bit, as it's not easy to stay in the Prem.  But really, they got Antonio almost for free and contributed very little to his development.  All they ever had to do was ask for a modest amount more money than they would have gotten at tribunal and it would have been a done deal back in April.

I'd love to have Antonio, but Saints can get by without him. 

[rva]

Rumor is the Saints have signed Nathan Tyson from Nottingham Forest.  He's a striker who can also play on the wing.  Apparently very fast, and was used as pace guy off the bench.  So basically, he has the characteristics and will play the same role as Papa Waigo, hopefully with a bit more skill.

So that means the Saints have signed a striker who can play on the wings, a left back who can play midfield, and two right backs who can play midfield.  All of whom were already playing well one level up or predicted to move to higher level clubs.  I can't really think of anything else they need.  They have good squad depth in case of injuries, and a bunch of guys who play similar positions but with different styles giving them plenty of options.

Would still love to see Michail Antonio in a Saints shirt this season, but I guess that's not going to happen.

[Rafe]

Tyson is decent, which is great for you lot. That said, he's a moody bugger that can sometimes be rather lazy. Spoilt bastard, basically. If your Manager rams a detonator up his arse, he'll do quite well, no question.

Gillingham. well, they've dropped down a league. Nearly bought my old man for a handful of corn and a goat, but instead they are looking to reassemble the team from about 8 years ago. Some old faves are back, even though they're useless. We like them anyway

at least we can be proud to harbour the ugliest manager in the football league - I love him to bits, but christ, does he look like a Dobermann's arsehole.

[Cockney Rebel]

Less than 10 hours until the start of Southampton's new season...

Excited? Just a bit!

[Dan]

Plymouth's got nothin on the Saints. I mean, they are a bunch of movers. We are bunch of heavenly people!

[Cockney Rebel]

slaps forehead

[Dan]

Do we care about the Carling Cup? Because that's a nice little victory, right?

[rva]

Yeah, I cared.  I like Bournemouth and am rooting for them, but a loss would have been rather depressing for numerous reasons.

[Cockney Rebel]

Well shit, SFC's owner Markus Liebherr has died suddenly

[Dan]

So what's the story with ownership? Does Liebherr's heir take over SFC? Or do they go up for sale? How does this work?

[Cockney Rebel]

He has no sons or daughters

There's talk of a sister, unconfirmed

There's talk of him leaving a bequeathment, maybe enough to keep the club going for several seasons (Similar in structure to the prior Blackburn owner's wishes who left a trust allowing it to run for 8 years, I believe). Again unconfirmed.

There's also talk that he had been ill for some time - giving creedence to the 'promotion MUST happen' comments from Cortese whilst also acknowledging ML's complete joy at the JPT Final - and that he had made arrangements. I assume this is the case, remember Markus was a very VERY wealthy man with several companies so I would imagine that much will have been pre-empted.

It's all up in the air and open to speculation right now. But I'll still take our position over Pompey's any day.

[rva]

I don't know all the technical financial and legal in-and-outs, but I think it will be okay.  Sort of.

Liebherr paid off all of the club's debts as well as investing some into the infrastructure.  I believe almost all of his transfer fees were paid upfront or, if in installments, money had already been set aside.  There weren't any of those "$500k now, $10,000,000 after the first 25 league game" type clauses.

His massive cash reserve was largely necessary only to maintain a large current operating budget (aka relatively gigantic League 1 wages).  And Pardew seems to have mostly spent (with a few exceptions) largely on in-their-prime or young players who can be sold without too much of a loss.

The team overall is in decent financial shape.  You'd have to dump some salary to properly run it on a League One budget, but I think you would be okay.

The problem is that Liebherr was actually trying to bring Saints back to the Premiership.  While he wasn't running up a club debt, he was still paying for the improvements out of his own pocket.  I don't know if they'll find someone else who is willing to invest personal funds to improve the club's stature.

They'll be viable now as a League One team, perhaps even CCC which is a lot better than before Liebherr took over.  But I think the club's EPL dreams just went up in smoke.