With rumours appearing in the media again attempting to unsettle Victor Wanyama ahead of the January transfer window, Saints now have the chance to set down the parameters.
The transfer market these days is a cut throat dog eat dog world, were odious men like Brendan Rodgers and odious clubs like Spurs attempt to wield power whilst they still have it and trample down those they see as small time clubs in the process.
We at Southampton FC have seen more than our fair share of how the transfer windows degenerate into a melee with journalists being briefed by clubs, managers, agents and even players in an attempt to force a club into selling a now prized asset. We only have to look at the summer of 2014 & 15 for evidence of this.
Contracts seem to be worth little more than the paper they are written on and given that no club wants to lose a player for nothing after a contract has run down, are at best valid for one year less than their actual length.
The arrogant who see themselves as major players are at their most vile during the transfer windows.
But now though Saints have got their act together and have the opportunity to lead the way for those clubs who are not considered the big guns of the game these days.
Now Saints have got their act together after what it has to be admitted was a panic period in the early part of the summer of 2014, they have to lay down the parameters in the ay that we as a club are going to do business and in doing that lead the way for those club's outside of last seasons top six.
This means letting our players know just what they can expect from Southampton Football Club and what they as players can expect in return.
The reality of life at the moment is that we are going to have to implement a policy of selling players on a regular basis, it does have it's upsides in that if a player is coveted by another club it means that he is doing well for Saints, but the downside is that we are going to be pestered by rumours almost as soon as one transfer window closes.
Our reputation for finding and developing players is now up there with the best in Europe and it helps our ability to sign players in the up and coming bracket, such as Wanyama, Sadio Mane etc, but when you sign this calibre of player you are signing ones with ambition, they are not going to be satisfied with what Saints can offer, they want more, they want Champions League football and of course the attendant salary and bonus's that go with it.
When they join us they are not quite at that level, so their choice is join a club where they might not be first choice or join Saints where they will get game time and improve and get noticed.
But if they opt for us they will want to know that we are not going to stand in their way when the big guns come a calling, it pains me to say it, but Morgan Schneiderlin is right to want to move to Manchester United rather than stay at Saints, it was the right time for him and we could not offer what they can either on or off the field, but we should use Schneiderlin of the blue print of how we move forward and manage our squad.
New arrivals should be clear that we as a club will not sell our players until the time is right for us, we will sell, bringing in big fee's is crucial to us building a bigger, better squad and off the pitch developments as well, but we have to control when.
Saints should make it clear just when we are prepared to sell to a player, in my mind that means setting parameters and indeed time limits to our dealings, players should be told that we will only sell a player from the end of the previous season to a set point, that set point is not the end of the transfer window, it should be somewhere around the end of July start of August.
If we made it quite clear to other clubs that any attempt to prise away a player will be met with a curt refusal after this date it will help in two areas.
Firstly it will deter the likes of Spurs trying to come in at the last moment with a derisory offer after unsettling a player, they will know that if they have not done the business by our own set cut off date before the start of the season then it will be futile.
This will encourage clubs who are buying to get serious from the start rather than string out a transfer because they spend too long haggling from a starting position that is way too low.
Secondly a players expectations will be managed, they will not be able to try and force through a move in the final week of the transfer window as was the case allegedly with Victor Wanyama six weeks ago.
I would also go a step further and say that we will not entertain any bids in the January window unless it was in our interests.
Initially this would be difficult to enforce in that clubs would still try to test our resolve, but once we had shown that these were our boundaries and that we would not move from them, then clubs would soon stop wasting their own time.
When a player joins he would know our boundaries and accept them, he would know we would not stand in his way, just that we are not going to be bullied by the arrogant and deluded.
Of course we might perhaps consider offers outside of these time limits, but once we have said no then that is the end of it.
This would lead the way for other clubs in our position to follow our lead and take the power back from the buying club and put it firmly with the selling club to be able to call the shots.
One thing is for sure something has to change in the transfer windows, we now have the infrastructure to lead the way and be groundbreaking, of course it won't be ideal, but someone has to make a stand and stop the bullying that has become the norm from certain clubs of late where they try to prise a player from a club at a cheap price because they hav unsettled him.