If rumours in the national press are to be believed Alan Pardew is about to be returning to Saints, tabling bids for Rickie lambert & Jose Fonte.
The first thig to reflect on, is that if Pardew does put in bids for the dynamic duo and even succeeds in one or both it will perhaps put to bed the rumours that he had allegedly been involved with their wives, but that apart would it be a good move to lose either of them, for Saints as a club, the supporters or for that matter even Newcstle United.
Taking the latter first the Geordies could just get caught up in the cross fire between Pardew & his ex Chairman, given the bad blood that would exist after the events of a few months ago, it would probably suit Pardew to be able to come back and poach the two from under Cortese's nose and he would certainly have the money to do so, the however this might not be a good long term plan for the Toon's new manager, to be blunt Rickie isnt Premier class & Fonte as good as he is at this level and certainly Championship as well, although he could cope, is probably no better than what Newcastle alresdy have on their books, and certainly not the calibre of player that Pardew needs to bring in to St James Park if he is to win over the fans, so if he does succeed in taking them to Tyneside, it may give him a wry smile now but I think it may backfire on him.
From the view of Southampton Football Club, I would say that if Newcastle offer more than what we paid, ie around the £1 million mark, then we should sell, there are plenty of decent strikers available for far less than that, that can do a fine job in League 1, Lee Barnard is a case in point, I have always been a champion of Barnard and this season have been proved right.
In the case of Fonte its not so clear cut and i think that Saints will want to hang on to him a little more than Lambert, but if a player gets a chance to play in the Premier, then its hard to stop them, fee wise we would want at least another £1.5 million and again I dont think this would be the end of the world.
If Nigel Adkins has £3 million to spend in the transfer window, he can make a lot of improvements to the squad and especially in the case of Lambert in the first 19 games of the season he has been, whilst not exactly a liability, certainly far from effective, Adkins needs to shake the side up this is an opportunity.
From Saints supporters point of view it would be a disapointment to see one or both go, but going back to the last points, Lambert would not be a loss and with the money that came in both would not be irreplaceable.
It would also give Nigel Adkins a chance to make this his squad and get them playing in the manner he wants,un doubtably he has not shaken up the side as quickly as many would hope, as under pardew when you have a squad chock full of the best players in the division, you are going to win more than your fair share of games, espacially at home, but the key is cnsistency and we have not had that and have too many times given away points in games that we should have taken more out of.
Perhaps the loss of both would shake up the side, give someone like Arron martin a chance to step up to the plate perhaps alongside a new Man, whilst Fontewould be missed the centre of defence still isnt right and too many goals come from crosses into the box especially from set pieces.
The next month will be interesting at Saints, it will be interesting at to see who is still here in a months time and i dont mean just on the pitch.