Danny Fox is set to join Championship club Bolton Wanderers on loan till January

The Scottish International looks to have sealed a loan move to the Lancashire club, initially till January but with an option for Bolton to make the move permanent when the transfer window opens again in the New Year.

Fox has unfortunately become one of those players who whatever they do, the crowd will make them the scapegoat, in the promotion season of 2011/12 Fox was a vital component of the Saints side and was a major source of assists, with Rickie Lambert especially benefitting from Fox's ability to hit a decent ball from a dead ball situation, not least in the Derby game at Fratton Park in December 2011 when he put in a ball that meant that Lambert couldn't miss and indeed he didn't.

However towards the end of the season Fox found himself exposed at the back as Saints promotion campaign started to falter, it was clear that Fox was far better going forward than he was defending, but in fairness he wasn't helped by a lack of cover both in front of him and from his centre halves.

At the start of 2012/13 many Saints fans called for the introduction of Luke Shaw, despite the fact than no one had seen him play in a competitive match, Nigel Adkins resisted the calls initially perhaps knowing that his defence was ill equipped for what would become a nightmare start in the Premier, introducing the youngster as the games got easier and the team had found its feet more, this may have benefitted Shaw who was allowed to find his feet in the team without too much pressure, but definitely didn't benefit Fox who found himself alongside several other players bearing the brunt of the fans wrath.

But he continued to do his job for the team whenever called upon although quite clearly the writing was on the wall.

Now is perhaps the right time for Fox to be on his way, last season Saints didn't have the cover at full back that they needed and with Luke Shaw being a little injury prone at times it was essential to have cover in this position, with the emergence of Callum Chambers, Saints have the option of moving Nathan Clyne to left back if Shaw has to miss games, so it makes sense for both player and indeed the Club to let him go out on loan.

Some will cheer this news, but they are have very short memories, Fox was a part of a side that won promotion to the Premier league, his only real crimes where that he took the place of a popular player in Dan Harding and then in the eyes of some was blocking the progress of Luke Shaw, the fact is Fox played his part in the promotion campaign, he was only behind Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert in terms of assists, would w ehave got promoted without him, possibly so, but you would have to ask the question would Lambert in particular have scored so many goals and the answer is probably no.

Fox is probably amongst a growing breed of players who are more than good enough for the Premier League but not quite Premier League standard on a week in week out basis, although when he was called into the side he let no one down and was good cover for Shaw.

Danny Fox deserves to leave with the praise of the fans, lesser players have received far more gratitude for doing a lot less than Fox has done for this club, so he at least deserves that, good luck to him at Bolton and indeed the rest of his career.

Photo: Action Images

brady100 added 15:37 - Oct 1 Good luck to Danny Fox, a great contributor to our promotion season and a consistent performer. I'm afraid I would disagree with the opinion that he is good enough for the PL though in any capacity, his positioning is dire, always getting pulled inside and I don’t believe he has the pace required for the PL where standing and delivering from wide areas is rarely as effective as in the Championship.

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Butty101 added 15:40 - Oct 1 More than a bit of artistic licence there.... Shaw actually came into the team when it was at its lowest ebb! Fox had just had yet another shocker at Westbrom. The cavalry came in the form of Shaw and Cork for the Swansea game and the rest is history. Anyone that had seen Shaw in the pre-season games could see this boy had talent.
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slynch added 16:37 - Oct 1 Moving Clyne over is a bit of a shift although he has done it. And who is gonna play there in Cup games. Has he got a new player in mind or someone through the Academy? A squad number has been released. Good luck Foxy, you should bolt-on to their squad nicely!
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thingummy added 16:51 - Oct 1 Thanks to DF for his great contribution - he really isn't a PL defender but I wouldn't question his attitude and his dead ball accuracy is impressive. If Bolton have a solid left sided midfielder to share the defensive burden he will do fine. If they don't then in the games they are not on top ......... wish him well
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tiptop added 17:27 - Oct 1 Target has looked solid when i have watched him in the acadamy. A stand out performer for me. All the best to danny fox but truth be told he was not up to PL standard and sent shudders down me every time!
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hmmm added 17:42 - Oct 1 Agree with the other respondents here. DF just isn't good enough at defending - his core job. Real concern is who will fill in if Shaw gets injured (which is quite often), Good things have been said about Matt Targett, who just turned 18 (the most popular age for being in our team it seems) we may find out quite soon if it will be him.
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slynch added 18:41 - Oct 1 So far this appears to be just a "Sky understands" story, again.
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darkangelv2 added 06:28 - Oct 2 Wow. Bolton clearly didn't learn enough about rejected Saints players when they took DeRidder on. Yes Foxy was often a scape goat. Unfortunately that was often due to studying replays and seeing that conceded goals were his fault. We have loads of cover for full backs - Yoshida, Cork, Lovren, Chambers, Targett etc.
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ExiledSupporter added 11:06 - Oct 2 Agreed Nick, DF had strengths and weaknesses, but in general I thought he contributed more than he let us down. I last saw him play at Norwich where he defended more than attacked and turned in a solid performance in the context of a not very impressive team performance, there were certainly more expensive and poorer on the day players than him in the starting line up. I also think he was unreasonably targeted for criticism from sections of the crowd, none of which would have helped him play any better or with more confidence...and he bore that with fortitude...so good for him... definitely deserves kindly mention in the history of the club and thanks for contributing to our recent successes in the lower divisions.

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GeordieSaint added 11:25 - Oct 2 A top crosser of the ball. He is certainly not of the standard we are at now but played a big part in getting us there. Good luck to him.
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bstokesaint added 12:40 - Oct 2 I think Luke Shaw has set the benchmark for what is expected from a good PL defender and unfortunately Fox is not in the same league. His balls into the box did indeed often result in goals though and for that he will be missed. I agree he was often made a scapegoat for an all round leaky defence, although more often than not he was pulled out of position. I wish him all the best at Bolton.

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SaintDownUnder added 05:18 - Oct 3 Agree with the general sentiment here. The other thing is fair play to him for wanting to play, shows the sort of fella he is, Im sure it would have been easier just to sit on the sidelines and pick up his weekly wage.
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