The Nathan Dyer situation needs to be sorted and fast.

No Saints supporter condones what Nathan Dyer has alledgedly done, however the situation with the player seems to be dragging on and on.

To be blunt Dyer had been stalling on a new contract for months, even before that night in Portsmouth, and those that were watching the situation became convinced that what they were seeing was yet another case of a player getting a few headlines after a handful of good games and being encouraged by his agent to run his contract down to facilitate a move to a "bigger and better" club.

We have seen this situation a hundred times and in more than a fair share of the cases, the youngster ends up rotting in the reserves or out on loan and never seems to fulfill that early potential.

In the case of Nathan Dyer its strange, because here is a young man who has firstly never shown anything like good form in more than a handful of his 60 plus appearances in a Saints shirt and he has been injured since before the Xmas.

So even before the alledged incident in the nightclub, Dyer was on his way.

But young Nathan seems to have had some sort of a shock this summer, the big clubs promised by his agent havent come calling and those that have shown interest arent prepared to pay over the odds for a player who has a court case hanging over his head.

Of course Dyer and his agent have tried to move him on, but so far they cant seem to find him a "bigger & better" club, at least not one willing to pay their demands.

Thus we see Dyer initially back with Saints for pre season training albeit that he was excluded from the squad till he signs a contract.

Now it seems that negotiations between Saints and Dyer have been reopened and he is back with the squad even making an appearance at Eastleigh last weekend, but is this the start of Dyer's assimilation back with Saints or just another attempt to put himself in the shop window.

With this in mind its important for both Club and player to sort out the situation quickly, Dyer has to realise that if he is to get on with his career and get over the stigma that will come with a criminal conviction if that happens, he needs to show that he is a decent lad gone off the rails briefly, rather than just another overpaid prima dona.

With this in mind Saints need to conclude contract negotiations swiftly, put bluntly if Dyer doesnt sign this week then Saints should let him go and get on with planning in other areas, it will send out a firm message to the fans that the Club mean business and arent going to be messed around.

If Dyer does sign it will split the supporter base down the middle, there are those that will say that if found guilty he should take his punishment like a man and should be allowed to get on with his life and then there are those that will be virtually calling for him to be hung drawn and quartered.

There is no question that the offence that Dyer is accused of is a despicable crime and that if found guilty he deserves to be punished harshly, but the fact is it is not an horrendous offence, it isnt a sexual offence or a violent one or many of the other despicable far worse crimes, Dyer is a young impressionable boy whos has lived a cosettted life and is used to geting his own way, but he isnt inherrently evil.

Personally I dont care if he stays or goes, I dont think he has ever realised his potential and I have my doubts that he ever will, over the past three years he has contributed little to this team and then only in odd patches, my view of his alledged crime, would not alter whatever his club next season.

If Dyer is convicted then lets put this into perspective, he needs to be punished and then needs to be let get on with his life, I have heard a lot of condemnation over the past few months, ironically enough from people who the phrase "People in glass houses shouldnt throw stones" comes to mind, Dyer has done something wrong, something that most of us would never contemplate doing ourselves, but like any impressionable youngster, he has to be given the chance to learn from his experience and hopefully let it make him a better person, if he does then great, if he doesnt well that doesnt make him evil, just makes him stupid.

So if Dyer does re sign for the club, the supporters should give him the chance to show that he has learnt from the situation, not just from the non footballing side of things, but with regards to Saints too, that the Club has stuck by him and in that respect he should stick by us, so far he hasnt shown much that he has learnt that lesson, but maybe its starting to sink in now.     

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