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Alexandre Mendy (transfer rumour)

As opposed to buying expensive, having a squad full of misses and no room to manoeuvre?

It's worked well on the whole, that's why we have players we can sell, worked far better than we have operated previously, financially at least.

Why you would want to change that after having it work, seems a bit odd to me.
I'm not saying we completely change it - i'm saying there are times we need to move away from it to minimise the risk. I agree we've brought in some great players for low fees (hume, cirkin, ballard, jobe, clarke etc), but there are just as many who haven't been up to it (albeit may still come good).

I personally think there are times when we can't afford to take more punts and the centre forward position this summer is perfect example. We sold stewart and the following summer we went down our preferred route of cheap promising players (Hemir, Mayenda, Burstow). Rusyn cost a little more, but was still bought more on promise than proven record. None of those strikers worked out for us yet.

So this summer we can't afford to be in a similar position again - and that's why i believe on this occasion we should be willing to spend a bit more to reduce that risk. Of course it's never a foregone conclusion that spending more on a player will result in success, but it usually means you get a better quality player ready to make an impact now.

Mendy on one hand has never done it in England, but for 3 years now has consistently scored a good number of goals at a respectable level and has played hundreds of games. You'd expect a player of that calibre to add more than our young strikers which to me justifies paying more than we usually like to get this over line. Needs must
 

Yeah I agree. But toney wasn't unproven when they signed him. Neither was Watkins.
They were unproven at that level.
Not sure Speakman can take credit for the 3 from the acacemy mind. You also have to take into consideration the others supposedly have massive sell on fee's from their previous clubs.
Speakman gets credit because under him we got the 3 from the academy signed up to long term deals. Same way we criticise when the likes of Hugill and Greenwood were allowed to leave.
 
As opposed to buying expensive, having a squad full of misses and no room to manoeuvre?

It's worked well on the whole, that's why we have players we can sell, worked far better than we have operated previously, financially at least.

Why you would want to change that after having it work, seems a bit odd to me.
It only works though if we get promoted to the Premier league.
 
I'm not saying we completely change it - i'm saying there are times we need to move away from it to minimise the risk. I agree we've brought in some great players for low fees (hume, cirkin, ballard, jobe, clarke etc), but there are just as many who haven't been up to it (albeit may still come good).

I personally think there are times when we can't afford to take more punts and the centre forward position this summer is perfect example. We sold stewart and the following summer we went down our preferred route of cheap promising players (Hemir, Mayenda, Burstow). Rusyn cost a little more, but was still bought more on promise than proven record. None of those strikers worked out for us yet.

So this summer we can't afford to be in a similar position again - and that's why i believe on this occasion we should be willing to spend a bit more to reduce that risk. Of course it's never a foregone conclusion that spending more on a player will result in success, but it usually means you get a better quality player ready to make an impact now.

Mendy on one hand has never done it in England, but for 3 years now has consistently scored a good number of goals at a respectable level and has played hundreds of games. You'd expect a player of that calibre to add more than our young strikers which to me justifies paying more than we usually like to get this over line. Needs must

I understand, Im just suggesting that what has been done is what is responsible for being in this position, it's not something to be sniffed at.

I'm all for scaling, I just think it's a little closer to either having an informed punt or having someone who is known to be average at the level we are spending.

I'm sure there is a balance to be had but I personally would always go potential/long term if the options were similar.
 
Why would he sack Speakman???
Despite what some people seem to think KS is not running things how he wants to but on a budget provided by KLD.
Speakman’s job would be a lot easier if he could go out and spend £5m - £10m.

KLD can sack Speakman as his fall guy and let the new DoF/Manager/ Coach have a decent cash pile to spend.
 
As opposed to buying expensive, having a squad full of misses and no room to manoeuvre?

It's worked well on the whole, that's why we have players we can sell, worked far better than we have operated previously, financially at least.

Why you would want to change that after having it work, seems a bit odd to me.

They don't need to be expensive signings though. Clarke was rumored to be around 3m with a sell on clause. Ballard 2m with a sell on clause. Those figures for players are pretty decent amounts and were paid when we'd just come up out of league one, which turned out to be good investments.

Would we really be breaking the bank if that was upped to say 5m for a proven striker? It's not like we need another 3 or 4 players at that price. It's should be about just adding that bit of quality now, that could really see the side flourish.

I'm not saying Mendy is 5m btw, but judging by how long it's taken and if we're still interested. It looks like his fee is going to be much more than the initial 700k that had been mooted.
 
I understand, Im just suggesting that what has been done is what is responsible for being in this position, it's not something to be sniffed at.

I'm all for scaling, I just think it's a little closer to either having an informed punt or having someone who is known to be average at the level we are spending.

I'm sure there is a balance to be had but I personally would always go potential/long term if the options were similar.
All valid points mate and i agree our approach has been great for us so far.

Problem now though is you are throwing panic into the mix with the season underway! Hopefully they come up with something as i'm not confident at all with our current striker options
 
It only works though if we get promoted to the Premier league.

I get why you would say that but not in my opinion.

The club doesn't have to get promoted, it has to be able to financially stable in order to get better.

Although at our level of finance, I see it as the best manner to run in which to give us the best probability of going up and staying there.
They don't need to be expensive signings though. Clarke was rumored to be around 3m with a sell on clause. Ballard 2m with a sell on clause. Those figures for players are pretty decent amounts and were paid when we'd just come up out of league one, which turned out to be good investments.

Would we really be breaking the bank if that was upped to say 5m for a proven striker? It's not like we need another 3 or 4 players at that price. It's should be about just adding that bit of quality now, that could really see the side flourish.

I'm not saying Mendy is 5m btw, but judging by how long it's taken and if we're still interested. It looks like his fee is going to be much more than the initial 700k that had been mooted.

I think both Clarke and Ballard were around 2 and excellent value.

When you say 5m quid, that's 5m fee, 500k expenses, 1m wage per season, so effectively adding 6.5m loss onto the 9/10m were already losing per season.

I'm sure we could do it, but it would require the owner funding it and the club have almost no wiggle room for existing contracts and future transfers etc..

If there is a 5m striker out there that they're almost certain would be worth 10m straight away, great.
 
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That wasn’t the question, it was where is the squad worth £100 million, I’ve not put in cirkin and Alese either who would fetch a few quid, so the squad is easily worth £100 million, however we can’t admit that and have to use it to slag Speakman off
To counter that as you’re mentioning recruitment…

3 of those are home grown (Neil, Rigg and Patterson) which KS didn’t sign

Our club captain O’Nien wasn’t signed by KS.

Ballard, Clarke, Roberts, Cirkin, Hume, Alese all signed from those 21-22 windows which pretty much everyone agrees were a success

It’s been the last 3-4 windows that people comment on. In that we have Jobe & Browne who are first team.

Ekwah now on the fringes but was a good signing and we’ll make a decent profit on him if he does go.

There’s been over 20 signings since Jan 23. You could maybe mention Mundle and Mayenda who might make it here longer term. Jury out on Ba, Aouiche, Hjelde, Rusyn but they certainly haven’t been success stories. Yet. The rest instantly forgettable

Let’s hope we get this window right. Browne and Poveda should be good, but we need those strikers… no more excuses
 
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To counter that as you’re mentioning recruitment…

3 of those are home grown (Neil, Rigg and Patterson) which KS didn’t sign

Our club captain O’Nien wasn’t signed by KS.

Ballard, Clarke, Roberts, Cirkin, Hume, Alese all signed from those 21-22 windows which pretty much everyone agrees were a success

It’s been the last 3-4 windows that people comment on. In that we have Jobe & Browne who are first team.

Ekwah now on the fringes but was a good signing and we’ll make a decent profit on him if he does go.

There’s been over 20 signings since Jan 23. You could maybe mention Mundle and Mayenda who might make it here longer term. Jury out on Ba, Aouiche, Hjelde, Rusyn but they certainly haven’t been success stories. Yet. The rest instantly forgettable

Let’s hope we get this window right. Browne and Poveda should be good, but we need those strikers… no more excuses
I’m saying squad is worth £100 million 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
Loads of DoFs on here just saying pay them what they want
No doubt the same ones who wanted us to pay whatever Stewart wanted, when he was badly injured the second time. That would have caused a riot on here by now, as he has put in 4 cameo appearances for Southampton since. Speakman out, you gave him what he wanted!
 
we won't sign anyone proven at this level unless the proof is they were on loan somewhere previously
I agree tbh, I think we almost avoid "proven at this level" because it comes at a massive premium. Think we need a forward like Mendy though he has scored a lot of goals for 3 straight seasons at a reasonable level.
 
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