Nigel Adkins has given an indication of his plans for the coming season to Sky Sports.
Speaking to Sky Nigel Adkins has indicated that he is looking to use the momentum from last season to push Saints forward this season rather than a mass overhaul to the squad.
Adkins inheirited a large and Championship quality squad from Alan Pardew and whilst his achievements in getting it promoted should not be overlooked, indeed they should be applauded for the manner in which he drove the team forward in the final months, the fact was he had a Championship quality squad that only needed to punch at its own weight to be far better than the other clubs in the division.
If Adkins was to go out and spend big on players he would be putting himself in an area that he is not familiar with, at Scunthorpe he rarely had the luxury of spending much on a player so had to build using continuity, team spirit and plucking the odd bargain or two out of the hat every now and then.
This being the case then perhaps the right approcach willbe this one of keeping a good squad together and re building gradually, its the type of job that Adkins has done before and done well, so why change a winning formula
Obviously though there are areas in the squad that need improving, realistically we are strong enough in every position to hold our own in the Championship, but if we aspire to more than that, then perhaps we need to be carefully looking at what players are able to make the transition and those that arent.
Whilst some last season criticised some of my comments regarding our defensive frailties and pointed to the very low goals against total, especially at home, this season will be a lot different, last term very few teams were actually capable of getting anything out of a visit to St Mary's, that meant that those who only saw the team at home often saw a different display than on the road, but even at home most of the goals we did concede were individual error rather than the result of the opposition being able to put us under pressure, this term that has to be improved upon, to keep St Mary's the fortress it became we cannot afford to rest on our laurels.
So Nigel Adkins is right to err on the side of caution, it would be folly to ruch into panic buying as such just because we can, what we need is gradual improvement, bringing in the 3 or 4 players that we do need to genuinely make us a promotion challenging side as it becomes clear exactly who is able to step up to the plate and who isnt.
Norwich proved last season that it isnt all about spending money, but about getting the right manager who can not only build on momentum but tweak the side at the right moments, hopefully in Nigel Adkins we have that man