Cutting your cloth, and wage structure.

[knowsnowt]

When you have to settle for your 3rd/4th/5th choice signing.
But where do we go from here if we want to stay up and compete?

 

[Barry Butlin]

Prince needs to sell

 

[ancientblade]

without big finances you cant compete in the premier league these days and end up being a yo-yo team like norwich

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Our wage structure is fine should we go down as it’s been sensibly managed against our revenues even though it’s been to the detriment of the quality of the squad.
If we went down and came back we’d be competing on wages similar to the likes of 3-4 teams and this is the sensible way to do it.
Another reason for me why CWAK should stay at the helm for at least another 2 seasons.
We’ve been working against a clear plan to improve our club long term and we’ve been doing well against it. No point throwing then baby out with the bath water.

 

[BobblesBlade]

I get it but if you shop mainly for British players you over pay and that’s why the Premiership is full of foreign players.
If we’d shopped abroad for a couple of players we might be in a different place.

 

[gordoncharles]

I get it but if you shop mainly for British players you over pay and that’s why the Premiership is full of foreign players.
If we’d shopped abroad for a couple of players we might be in a different place.

You overpay on transfer fees, not on wages. With foreign players it's about better quality but I very much doubt we have sufficient scouting knowledge.

Burnley have a similar squad profile, I don't think any of their squad was brought in from a foreign side.

 

[Trevor Hockey - Canary]

I get it but if you shop mainly for British players you over pay and that’s why the Premiership is full of foreign players.
If we’d shopped abroad for a couple of players we might be in a different place.

With Brexit clubs will no longer be able to take a punt on unproven and so cheaper EU players as they will not qualify for work permits. Players will need to be established full individuals which invariably will push prices up.

 

[FMBlade1]

You overpay on transfer fees, not on wages. With foreign players it's about better quality but I very much doubt we have sufficient scouting knowledge.

Burnley have a similar squad profile, I don't think any of their squad was brought in from a foreign side.

I've been saying this since 2018. It even came up in a fan's forum and was dismissed.

 

[Yogi]

With Brexit clubs will no longer be able to take a punt on unproven and so cheaper EU players as they will not qualify for work permits. Players will need to be established full individuals which invariably will push prices up.

It will certainly be interesting. It’s not going to affect most of the big 6 who in general bring in established foreign players anyway.

The one it will impact is Man City who have a very continental academy and recruit for the continent a lot Spain especially. In terms of the rest of the domestic game a large portion of the prem has also shifted to brining in established continental players for big money in recent years see joelinton, haller, soucek, Vestergaard and others.

There’s two things I can really see it stopping first is the newly promoted side with a foreign coach who use the prem money to build a very continental side but with players of lesser value who they’ve scouted and hope are hidden gems like Huddersfield and to a lesser extent yourselves last year. The second thing it will impact is the championship side with extensive continental scouting who lean heavily on that to pick up very good unknown bargain players again like yourselves and Brentford. So realistically like all changes in football it’s not going to hurt the powerful financial juggernauts just those who’re trying to gain a competitive edge through clever recruitment and we can’t have anyone upsetting the Apple cart now can we.

 

[Wincobank S9 Blade]

I think you have to have good knowledge in the foreign market the PL has a lot of foreign players because their cheaper usually, we need better knowledge of that I appreciate Berge’s come from their but that’s about it and Verrips but I honestly think any team like Sheff Utd should look at Southampton as a blueprint if they can

 

[Withington Blade]

You overpay on transfer fees, not on wages. With foreign players it's about better quality but I very much doubt we have sufficient scouting knowledge.

Burnley have a similar squad profile, I don't think any of their squad was brought in from a foreign side.

One of the consequences of 6 years in L1 our subsequent rapid ascent the leagues. Our scouting network overseas does not seem very wide reaching.

 

[Revolution]

When you have to settle for your 3rd/4th/5th choice signing.
But where do we go from here if we want to stay up and compete?


View attachment 100777

It didn’t seem to be a problem last year.

It’s not the money, it’s the poor choices of players.

 

[alcoblade]

It didn’t seem to be a problem last year.

It’s not the money, it’s the poor choices of players.

It's both. Last year was clearly an outlier.

It's extremely rare that a team costing so little will go so far. But we've spent badly this year (and arguably last).

Transfer policy needs reviewing. Either better foreign understanding / paying more for the here and now.

Wilder identified Maupay and Watkins - we had to settle for McBurnie and Brewster. Wages ruled the first choice out, and with hindsight have probably cost us more.

 

[gordoncharles]

With Brexit clubs will no longer be able to take a punt on unproven and so cheaper EU players as they will not qualify for work permits. Players will need to be established full individuals which invariably will push prices up.

Anyone playing in the top flight in France, Spain, Italy or Germany is practically certain to have enough points to qualify.

This means it doesn't affect most of the PL but is going to prevent Championship sides taking a punt on 2nd tier players in those leagues.

 

[gordoncharles]

It didn’t seem to be a problem last year.

It’s not the money, it’s the poor choices of players.

Is that really the case though? Mousset, Berge and McBurnie were qualified successes last season, but other signings included Rodwell and Morrison as well as others who were given no opportunity like Freeman, Osborn, Zivkovic, Retsos, even Besic.

There's a very obvious theme there.

 

[robbiez666]

Buying British is only going to cost more from next year. Whilst Premier League sides do buy big foreign players, they also like marquee English signings (McGuire, Stones, Ake, Chillwell etc). Some clubs, like Arsenal and Liverpool, buy in young talented U-21s from Europe in order to develop them. That might stop or become a lot harder to do. Therefore, they're likely to buy more British players. Some clubs like Chelsea and Man City sign a lot of talented kids from Europe. That will no longer happen so they're going to be stealing British based players from other academies.

Whatever happens, we're going to find it harder to bring players in, especially younger players. We really need to invest massively in youth scouting and the Academy. This is the base Southampton was built on, even when they were struggling.