At one point in the summer it felt that every player we had was coveted by one Premier League Club or another and that we caved in to their demands, but when the transfer window re opens it will be a different scenario to last summer.
Saints supporters were wondering what was going on back in the summer as the so called big clubs came calling and it seemed every time that they did they left with a player tucked under their arm, the article in the Telegraph on Saturday intimated that Saints were in control of the situation to a degree, but the reality was probably that as a Club we were targeted at a very vunerable time.
Not only did we not have a manager or coaching staff for that matter, the people who would usually have smoothed the situation over and persuaded players to stay, but we had a fledgling board who had not quite got their feet under the table in all aspects, we were ripe for the picking and the vultures moved in quickly.
Despite the fact that the transfer window is still over 2 1/2 months away from opening, the media members who are in the pockets of various clubs are already stirring it up with regards to one or two of our players, apparently Jay Rodriguez is being coveted by not only Spurs but Liverpool and Manchester City and Morgan Schneiderlin's name has never been away from that of Spurs.
But when these club's come a calling in January they will find a very different boardroom attitude from that in June/July, now we have the set up to repel any attacks, we have a manager and coaching staff who are hugely influential and the start they have made at the club will help in keeping players who are maybe wondering whether their future lies away from St Mary's
But in the boardroom itsel its a different matter, back at the start of the summer they seemed to be struggling to know who was making the decisions and lacking leadership, now that appears to have changed and as was shown with Morgan Schneiderlin they are now prepared to put their foot down and sell only when they feel it in the best interest of the club.
The near £100 million received back in the summer not only put the club on a firm footing, enabling heavy re investment back into the squad but means we have no financial reason to sell, with money in the bank still from that summer sale, plus of course the £80 million or so from the Premier League, financially we are in better shape than most.
Of course the nature of the premier league is that all but a very privileged few can hang on to players if richer clubs come calling and that will probably never change at Saints, but now we are in a far better position to see off suitors and put in place a regime that will see Saints firstly cement their position in the top half of the Premier League, secondly compete in the cups and thirdly move forward in general to perhaps like Everton pushing the top five to its limits.
So the question in January will be all about whether we want to sell or not, Jay Rodriguez for instance will have been out for nearly a year by the time the window opens, by then will the wide attack of Mane and Tadic be so established that Saints will actually want to sell Rodriguez, they may feel that he might not be the same player and that the £25 million supposedly on the table is a good deal and will enable us to repeat the actions of the summer by replacing a player with ones just as good at a cheaper price, this is going to be the nature of the way forward for most clubs who want to succeed in the Premier league outside of the big five.
Likewise Morgan Schneiderlin if the offer exceeds the value of the player to the squad then its the right time to sell, their are no issues with this as long as the money is invested wisely and it seems now we have plans in place to identify possible targets well in advance, rather than just scramble for a replacement as we have done in the past.
So when Spurs and those big clubs knock on our door they will find a club that is older and wiser, one that now knows what the future looks like and has plans in place, they will find it much more difficult to unsettle players and wreak havoc.
This football club now has a path forward, a well planned structure that has not been in place for some years, of course in football nothing is certain, but if you have the right people in place in the right structure then your chances of succeeding are made a whole lot easier.
I look forward to January because i now feel that if we do sell a player it is because we feel its the right thing and that we already know just who we want to replace the player leaving.