Following all the "inside information", rumour and speculation surrounding a potential takeover of the club has really taken its toll. All the talk was of Paul Allen sweeping in with his billions and lifting saints to the next level. But this all seemed to go cold, after a great deal of rumour about what went wrong (if anything). All seemed to have gone silent over the last week, until new rumours have surfaced suggesting something may happen next week. Not Allen, but someone who would may be at least as good for the club! But again this is "inside information" with no source named to back it up. Could all be more rubbish/optimism. Have to wait and see I guess.In actual news Saints managed to complete the signing (eventually) of Marek Saganowski. The fee reported to be about £700k is an absolute bargain in he is half as good as he hinted at with his performances at the end of last season. He should be a real asset!! On a sadder note, Cranie and Best have left (out of contract) to Pompey and Coventry. Saints will get some compensation for them as they are under 24, this might be nearly £1m between the two. I will be sad to see Cranie leave as I thought he had provided good cover at the back, although didn't get as many chances as he probably deserved. Not to bothered to lose Best, whilst he was improving, he also seemed lazy (almost as bad as Rasiak) and was offside quite frequently.
It was also reported today that Chris Baird will probably be off to Sunderland for £3m. This will be a great shame as Chris had a fantastic season past, and was clearly the undisputed player of the season. But with the finances at Saints the way they are currently, £3m is a good price and hopefully Burley will get most of it to invest in 2 new centre backs and a midfielder. If we can sure up our defence and get a tough midfielder in, we could have a great season coming. I actually feel quite positive at the moment, takeover or not.
Behind the scenes, Glynn Snodin left as first team coach to rejoin Curbishly at West Ham, he was replaced yesterday by the returning Jason Dodd. He's southampton through and through and should bring back some fight and leadership back. Never know, if we don't some defenders in, he might get to make his 400th league appearance for Saints (currently on 399)!!
Upstairs and there are some battles going on in the boardroom. Brian Hunt stepped down as a director, but he was not replaced by another non-executive, but by Andy Oldknow the commercial director. His appointment upset the remaining non-execs who stormed out of the board meeting and have left the board completely split. The makeup of the board is now totally unrecognisable to that promised by the 'Football First' manifesto the new regime unveiled this time last year. I just hope that this doesn't mess up any new potential investors and that hopefully someone will come in soon and sweep away all the rubbish. It would be nice for Saints to have a stable, liked board for once.
Fingers crossed for next week!!
