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March Media Madness
Thursday, 9th Mar 2017 11:11

March is one of those months in football when there is not a lot happening that the media can make headlines on, so they have to make up a few of their own.

The January transfer window has only been shut a matter of weeks and the summer one doesn't open for another three months, yet already this month the media has claimed that around half a dozen Saints players are heading for pastures anew in the summer.

What have they got to base this prediction on ? anything tangible ? No of course not just a few rumours spread by agents and then regurgitating other media outlets stories.

That is all well and good, but when you read 15 stories all saying the same thing it starts to get very believable ! But the real truth is there is absolutely no substance in any of these rumours.

Take the one about Cedric to Barcelona or Romeu to the same club, the only people who know the real truth about that one are the club themselves, is there any chance of them actually revealing who their transfer targets are to the media ? think about it, the answer is absolutely no chance.

So that leaves only two choices, agents or the media itself just making it up to generate headlines.

It would not necessarily be the players own agent, there are plenty of agents out there who will try to sell a player to a club who they don't represent, that is a similar situation to the way that Koeman left for Everton.

The media just making up stories and then others taking it up is usually the way that most rumours start and then blossom so it seems like they have to be the truth because every media outlet is saying so.

Take Oriol Romeu's transfer to Barcelona, as media outlet Sports Witness pointed out, this started as an article in a Catalan sports paper which suggested potential replacements for Sergio Busquets, Romeu was far from the only name mentioned and in truth there were several reasons why it was mere fantasy, firstly Busquets is only 28 and not leaving Barca just yet, secondly with Romeu being only 3 years younger he would not be seen as a replacement.

But what started as just a sports paper in Spain considering a few options for Barcelona and highlighting the form of a Spanish player in the Premier League soon turned into a media frenzy in the UK with virtually every big media outlet reporting that Barcelona were targeting Romeu for the summer window.

So this one had absolutely no substance whatsoever, it was not even an agents rumour.

But the rumour was soon turned back round with Spanish media reporting that Romeu is off to Barcelona, it is headline laundering, putting a headline up enough times so the original source is untraceable and it all suddenly seems plausible because everyone is claiming it to be true.

This is how rumours spread and soon they are across social media wit indignant fans frothing at the mouth in Saints case about how we are a selling club etc etc.

So far in the last week or so we have seen rumours about.

Fraser Forster - Off to join Koeman at Everton
Cedric Soares - Barcelona bound
Oriol Romeu - Also heading to Barca
Ryan Bertrand - Manchester City amongst others
Manolo Gabbiadini - Straight back to Italy or even Spain after only a handful of goals
Virgil Van Dijk - Everyone

Thats over half of our first choice outfield team and there is little actual substance in any of it, indeed the only thing we have heard from the horses mouth so to speak is that Ralph Krueger has stated that there will be no fire sale.

Of course we have heard that before, but the difference between now and the past is that with the departure of Fonte we have seen the last of the Cortese signings gone, our current squad bought into this regime not the last one and are all signed up to long term contracts.

The reality is that at some point we will get offers we cant refuse and it will be in our best interests to take them, but we are in control of that and we don't have a plethora of players coming into the final years of our contracts.

But all these headlines prompt ranting on social media and that again makes it worse than it actually is, if the last few years have taught us all something it should be to be patient, sometimes you have to step back to step forward.

So far we have always managed to replace outgoing players with better, "but we cant keep doing that " say the bedwetters !

Well the answer is we can and that is because we have a tried and trusted strategy rather than just stabbing in the dark, of course there will always be failures, but because we are doing our due diligence they will hopefully be few and far between

We also have to do it because we have no choice, we cannot compete on wages, the finacial gap between us and the big six clubs is wide and its getting wider, we have to take them on on our terms not theirs.

Those who think its as simple as enlarging the stadium to compete with them should look at Newcastle, Sunderland, Villa, Everton or West Ham to name just a few,.

So the message is there is no point frothing at the mouth and Les Reed, Ralph Krueger or Katharina Liebherr everytime you see a player linked with a move, they know as much about it as you do.

The proof of the pudding will be in the eating and tat cant happen till June.

Photo: Action Images



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saintinwatford added 13:34 - Mar 9
Nice article, and something that had began to wind me up a bit to the extent I checked half a dozen other premier league clubs to see whether it was widespread. Apart from Arsenal no other team had any players leaving! The 'selling club' label has definitely stuck so a quiet summer this year would be greatly appreciated!
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trampslykeus added 14:00 - Mar 9
To be fair, Man City are buying half the Spurs team as well as Virgil, whilst there is an expected exodus at Arsenal so it is not only us. It would be nice to have a quiet summer though.
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highfield49 added 14:25 - Mar 9
Looking on the brighter side of the situation we now seem to be in, which is entirely generated by careful player selection on agreement of realistic contracts, the big clubs dig themselves a huge hole by agreeing huge player contracts. As saintinwatford says there are not too many rumours about other clubs losing quality players. The exceptions seem to be Arsenal and Spurs with other rumours of summer clear outs at Manure and City. The difference between us and them is that the bulk of the players deemed surplus to requirements are already on massive earnings and unlikely to attract the same when shown the door. The better quality players rumoured to move from Arsenal and Spurs are linked to bigger clubs in Spain and Italy. The reason of course that Saints are seen as sitting ducks is that none of our players are earning stupid money (arguable!) and can be tempted away. The whole system demonstrates that financial fair play is a complete and utter sham, hugely biased against teams who develop players in the hope of building a team to challenge the system. Simply put, SFC is far ahead of any of the other clubs in developing talent and if any of those many, many players get lured away by huge contracts and potential trophies there is absolutely nothing us supporters can do to prevent it. Sadly we need to keep the players to get into Europe and compete for trophies but are thwarted every time by those who buy success rather than develop talent. And the bottom line is we really, really don't want to see the vastly overpaid big club cast offs, we all know who I mean, going through their limited motions in a Saints shirt. Let's enjoy VVD, Gabbiadini, Romeu, Bertrand, Cedric, Tadic, Redmond et al with pride, they are living proof that we're not a small club but a club disadvantaged by a corrupt and unfair financial playing field.
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Sanguin added 16:58 - Mar 9
I feel positive that we won’t make any big sales this summer, Virgil seems happy to stay for at least another season and I’m really excited to see what the squad will do next season. With all of the transfers in the past, I think it has been the players wanting the move and the club being offered very good money for them meaning that the move makes sense for everyone. If players don’t want to leave then whatever money we’re offered there’s no need to sell.

Saying all of that, if anyone offered us over £20m for Cedric I’d rip their arm off, I probably scapegoat him a bit too much but I think he’s easily replaceable.
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SaintBrock added 19:07 - Mar 9
Oh dear! Nobody in for (Back) Wards-Prowse...

Roll up, roll up... tell you what, Ward-Prowse and I'll chuck you in a Jack Stephens and a Jay Rodriguez for an extra fiver! Can't say fairer than that can I?
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aceofthebase added 20:38 - Mar 9
£5 million for Cedric is a good deal. Oh dear more minus points
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larry12 added 13:39 - Mar 11
Sanguin is really excited about Saints squad for next season inc JWP, Davis, Clasie, Hojberg, Long, JRod, Stephens, Targett, McQueen, Forster the Lump. ALL prolific goalscorers and stoppers. Dog elp us.
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Lazz added 06:47 - Mar 13
Good post highfield49
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