With transfer rumours flying around, the big question for Saints supporters is whether they will or for that matter can do business with Tottenham Hotspur in the January transfer window.
Relationships between Southampton Football Club and Tottenham Hotspur have been strained for the best part of 15 years, ever since the White Hart lane club poached Glenn Hoddle from the Dell in such an underhand way and then returned to take away Dean Richards with derisory offers that made Rupert lowe describe them as North London Yobboes.
Since then relationships have rarely thawed and reached an all time Lowe (all pun intended) after they tried to get Mauriccio Pochettino to join them in another underhand manner, it truly was a match made in heaven.
Since then they have made various bids for our players both directly and not so directly in the case of Toby Alderweireld, but it seems that Saints have been determined not to do business with Spurs if they can help it.
Certainly they have rebuffed all attempts to buy players under contract to us, however perhaps that has hindered us in our attempts to get the one man at Whire Hart Lane that Ronald Koeman seems to covet, that man is Andros Townsend.
Saints are bing linked with a plethora of wingers, but Townsend is the only one with true Premier League credentials and perhaps the stumbling block is that Spurs won't sell him to us unless we sell them who they want and that at the moment is Victor Wanyma.
But in January Townsend looks likely to force move from Spurs and they are keen to sell given that with their new ground development they can no longer afford to wast money as they have done in the past.
With the European Championships looming Townsend knows he needs first team football on a regular basis and he is not getting that at Spurs, so far in the premier League he has only managed 3 appearances as a substitute totaling only 64 minutes of football, the last of which was two months ago.
Now he is struggling to even get on the bench under Mauricio Pochettino with his last onfield action being in the Europa League on 22nd October, both club and player are keen to part ways.
Newcastle are keen to sign him and the fee being quoted in the media is £8 million, at that prie Saints would be keen, however would Spurs be willing to let him join us so easily ?
the likelihood is that they will use him as a bargaining tool to try and wrest Victor wanyama from our grasp and that will be bad new for all parties concerened, especially the player who is keen to get on the pitch and show Roy Hodgson he is the man to take to the Euros.
That could also mean that whoever gets him will get a player determined to prove a point .
A few weeks ago Saints would have been dead certs to beat Newcastle to his signature, but with the geordie revival avoiding relegation looks more likely and that could be a big factor in where he goes.
Townsend is something of an enigma, he seems to have been around for ages but at 24 he doesn't have as much experience as you might imagine, he has only started 22 league games for Spurs plus another 28 as sub and has been at nother 9 clubs on loan, in fact his only other Premier League experience is 12 starts for QPR in the second half of their relegation season of 2012/13.
That suggests that his value is way above his actual experience and his 10 caps for England and 3 goals indicate he has done better for his country than the clubs he has played for.
Indeed last season he only started 10 games for Spurs in the Premier plus another 7 as sub, meaning that out of the last 54 Premier league matches for Spurs he has started less than a fifth and by the time the transfer window has opened will have got on the pitch in barely a third of them.
So will Saints do business in January with Tottenham Hotspur ? we wait with baited breath.