Nigel Adkins or Roberto De Matteo if newspaper reports are to be believed this weekend, have a difficult decision to make over the summer in regard to the goalkeeping position at St Mary's.
Despite my criticism of Kelvin Davis last season, those who look carefully will notice that he attracted very little adverse comments from me in the second half of the season, by the turn of the year he had got in a vein of rich form and although yes there were some areas he could have been stronger in, his second half of the season was as good as he had played at any time during his spell with Saints, this being the case, the question of who should be our number one keeper in the Premier division is not as clear cut as it would have been if asked a year ago, back then I for one would probably have said that we should go for another keeper, now there are several difficult questions to be asked and only the manager can decide what the answer will be.
Nigel Adkins dilemma is whether he should stay loyal to Kelvin or look to improve the goalkeeping area of the team, with Bart gone he has to sign another keeper, but the question is in which cost bracket ? his choices are as follows.
1. Stay loyal to Kelvin as number one and give him his chance at the start of the season, if we do that though, we will be looking to sign a good back up keeper, either an older experienced keeper of a similar age to Kelvin as short term back up or a younger glovesman with a view to the longer term and taking over from Kelvin.
2. Sign a ready made Premier keeper now who can walk straight into the side and given the transfer fee and wages we would be paying would need to, thus relegating Kelvin to the bench, this would be harsh on Davis who has given good service over the past four seasons (I know he has been here six).
Its a big question for the manager and perhaps the most crucial one he will have to ponder over and get right, whatever decision he makes, if he gets it wrong, more than any area in the team this could be the one that is the difference between mid table and a relegation fight.
If we veer towards sentiment then the nod would go to Kelvin, many would say that he deserves his chance after his displays of the last few years and that we should take this route, others would perhaps suggest that we are only postponing the inevitable, Kelvin will be 36 in September and is not a long term option, we cant afford to be sentimental, the goalkeeping position is no place to take a chance, if it goes wrong it could set the tone for the rest of the season.
Those that take the latter view would say now is the time to make a key signing, goalkeepers are the backbone of the team and we have to get it right first time, the chance in the summer is there to get a good keeper in at a good price and build from the back, harsh on Kelvin but football is not a game when sentiment gets you success, yes if we went with Kelvin and it went wrong we could look for a loan signing, but there might not be anyone around that suits and the die is already cast.
A very very difficult decision to take for our manager, not just on a playing front, but on another level and that is having to tell a player that after their heroics of last season that they are not first choice for this.
But this is why managers are paid big money in the premier, they have to make decisions that are the difference between success and failure, whether that succcess be winning trophies or avoiding relegation, its all relative.