Some Saints supporters may have been slightly disappointed with the lack of incoming transfers in the January transfer window, but on reflection the club were right to look for the right deal, rather than any deal to make it look like they mean business.

When the window slammed shut last night there would have been some disappointment in the St Mary's faithful, the only incoming deal was a young central defender Will Armitage for the academy and six outgoings all on loan.

But that doesn't mean it has been a poor window for Saints, six weeks ago I would have been disappointed with it myself, in that I felt that we needed a goalkeeper and perhaps a central defender to bolster the squad, but the return of Fraser Forster to the team and his good form has meant that we can get through the season with what we have in that department and in the defence the ever improving Mohammed Salisu plus the emergence of Lyanco as a genuine first team contender has steadied that ship.

Of course we could have improved the squad, you always can, but the January transfer window has never been about sensible dealings, it is about panic buying and that is shown by the fact that the two clubs doing the most business were Newcastle & Everton, both desperate to claw themselves out of a relegation battle.

Ralph Hasenhuttl has said he is happy with the squad as it is and i can buy into that, this window was all about making sure that no one left, not bringing in more numbers.

I am sure if the right player had come at the right price then we would have looked to have done the deal, but with the strategy we employ and are now going to fine tune under Sport Republic, it is not about getting in an underperforming outcast from another Premier League club at an overinflated price, ask any Villa fan if they are disappointed Matt Targett has joined Newcastle on loan or any Brighton fan if they think they have been robbed of Dan Burn at £13 million.

It is about improving the squad at a reasonable price and anyone in football will tell you that January is not a time to do that.

So for us it is about gradual improvement, evolution not revolution, for us it is about the fact that Armando Broja will be at St Mary's for the rest of the season and that James Ward Prowse, Oriol Romeu, Mohammed Salisu & Jan Bednarek, all players who have been linked with big moves this window are still there with him.

We didn't need to panic buy, we needed to stay calm and evaluate things clearly and that we have done.

I expect things to change in the summer, then we will have taken off £140k a week off the wage bill with Fraser Forster & Alex McCarthy out of contract, that's something like a £7.5 million saving off the wage bill and we can start to now afford to bring in players, it has not been the transfer fees that have crippled us, it has been the wages and with these two off the bill following on from a long list of failed transfers who were on the books whilst not contributing, we are now lean & mean and able to start to compete on a level playing field again.

As mentioned there won't be revolution, we will continue to do the things we have done over the past 8 years, but we can now do them a little quicker as has been alluded to.

So overall this transfer window I am happy, of course i would have been happier if we had made a signing or two, but only if they had been the right people at the right price.

As it is we can hopefully have a better second half of the season than we did in the first, if we do that then we could challenge for a top 10 spot and that will be a good sign of the progress we are making.

Photo: Action Images

ElijahK added 10:19 - Feb 1 Little annoyed we didn’t sign anyone whatsoever for the first team, but at the same time, it was only really Broja (as in on a permanent deal) and a new keeper, that I thought we really needed to get. But even then, we’re not going down this season and we’re not getting into Europe or such, so other than maybe doing well in the FA cup, we don’t necessarily need the players for the team anyway. But I’ll certainly be interested to see who’s contracts gets renewed and how the summer transfer market goes, especially with Sports Republic now in charge.

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SaintNick added 10:24 - Feb 1 I think the summer could see a few go who are not getting in the team much these days, Walcott and Djenepo for instance
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A1079 added 10:52 - Feb 1 I have said all along that I could not see us entertaining much, if anything in the January transfer window this season and to be fair Ralph was saying that quite early in December. I agree that it is about making the right acquisitions at the right time and not panic buying. In many respects it is about getting across the line this season but working early to start building for the next. Where I am slightly nervous is that, contrary to what seems to be a common perception, we are not safe yet and all we need is another dreadful run like last season and we will be back in the mire. Unlike Elijah and a few others, it is complacent to say the least to suggest we still cannot go down. I think we have played some good football this year and post Arsenal away we have shown good spirit and fortitude but you always feel that it could change. With Ralph we can be brilliant or awful all in the same season. All games are potentially difficult but many of those that did purchase yesterday we are due to play in the coming weeks and could influence not just them but our rest of the season. Buying new players is not a guarantee of success but I would be surprised if the new ones that Everton, Newcastle and Burnley have purchased do not make some positive impact - and lets be honest, Saints are quite generous at letting players get their first goals against us. Broadly I think the strategy was right for this window but we are far from safe and to assume otherwise is a dangerous mindset. You know with Saints we can pleasantly surprise but we also have a record for having a slump. We will need to build on the team for next season if we want to progress to be a team that more than just aims to avoid relegation each season - but then that is stating the obvious.

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SanMarco added 11:04 - Feb 1 A1079 - you are a Saints supporter so of course you are nervous!! This time last year league points virtually disappeared and if that happened again, starting from a lower base... As long as we stay up we will all look back and heartily agree with Nick's opinion on this window. I fear we will be priced out of Broja by the new dirty money in the summer (along as they stay up of course - which is no certainty, but sadly I expect, probable). That was a deal that wasn't going to happen this January for that reason. Most January deals in recent years have not been successful. More important is that no one left. The summer will see bids for several of our better players - what happens then will be the first test for the new owners. Will we say no to the dirty money for, say, Salisu, JWP, Stewie?????

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SaintNick added 11:30 - Feb 1 What we should all realise is that the new regime subscribe to the "Moneyball" theory that says that every player has an optimum price, that means when the player can be sold for that price you sell him and then buy a replacement and start the process again, not a lot different from what we have been doing for 60 years, it is just more fine tuned The whole theory is explained in this book https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=soccernomics+book&adgrpid=3811403073&hvadid

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IWOZTHERE added 12:12 - Feb 1 I think your 'holding steady' should apply more to players being poached off us than potential signings? With the latter surely we should be pro-active and try to make things happen. OK we don't see what goes on behind the scenes, but I get the impression we don't do enough or act early enough in many cases. Fair enough if we've tried and failed... but have we tried hard enough?

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dowater added 13:40 - Feb 1 i would dispute the fact that Saints were right to hold steady. for one i would have liked to see Saints actually table a bid for Fabio Carvalho, he fits into our structure of young and talented, and getting him in the January transfer window would have allowed him time to settle in and get used to our style of play, so that he was ready for the start of the next campaign. also by not going for him now the likes of Liverpool and co are set to pounce for free. also regarding Dele Alli, would that not have replicated itself the same as when we brought in Danny Ings? he was 25 ish and had struggled at a bigger club. we still made a profit on him. and i believe that the same could have been true with Alli, we could have turned his career around and had a good season and a half out of him and then sold for a profit, also he would have brought in prem experience and also European experience. he could have also guided some of the youngsters. also by signing someone like Alli, its a statement of intent. he may have also helped the likes of Carvalho to sign, seeing that we have ambition and also giving people a chance to play. yes its a gamble but one i would have rolled the dice on. it seems all to often we are linked with players (not sure of how much is paper talk and then they are off to a bigger club) and stall on placing bids and offering contacts, one player that i was hoping to sign a few years back was Weston McKenny, according to papers we were about to sign and off they go to the likes of Juventus. i think that someone like Carvalho would have been perfect, now he is going to follow his fellow academy graduate to Liverpool and struggle for game time and progress his career. we need to be showing the young lads that we will sell them to bigger clubs and we are just a stage to get them there.

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WestSussexSaint added 13:51 - Feb 1 I didn’t expect much business and the most important part was there were no departures from the first team. The scatter gun approach of Newcastle was ridiculous and after shelling out £90m they only really signed one player of any quality in Kieran Trippier. The rest will probably be gone in 12 months. As for Everton their best signing was Frank Lampard. Personally I hope both go down but I suspect they have done just enough to stay up which they will say justifies the outlay.

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JoeEgg added 16:12 - Feb 1 "So overall this transfer window I am happy, of course i would have been happier if we had made a signing or two, but only if they had been the right people at the right price." Thank you Nick - Brilliant I wish I coould write stuff like that!!! The January transfer farce was just a window for our social media circus to exploit - headed as always by the ridiculolus 'Hampshire Live' trying desperately to turn every slight rumour into a sensationalized headline with comments like - Ralph will be gutted! Thank God its over for another year! We have a very promising squad and lets hope we can see it achieving a comfortable top ten slot by the end of the summer.

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SaintPaulVW added 16:21 - Feb 1 Unless someone became available who we had done our research on, not too sure why we would want to buy for the sake of buying in this window. We have squad members and under 23 players desperate for some playing time to stake their claim for a place in the first eleven. Hopefully things can now start to be put in place in order to get our business done early in the summer. So glad we are past the days of January panic buys. I'll never forget the arrival of Carillo. Including wages north of £25 million for about 2 hours on the pitch.

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Colburn added 17:17 - Feb 1 I don't think Alli would have been the right fit for us and I'd Liverpool are or were interested in Carvalho, then it's not likely he would be looking to come to St Mary's, at least in the January window, perhaps we tried and were rejected. I actually agree completely with Nick, we have a good squad and are just in the process of integrating some of the more recent signings along with some youth. There needs to be a channel of progression for the likes of Tella and Smallbone. Sure... If a good opportunity had arisen to really strengthen the team, I'm sure we would have looked at it but our lack of incomings actually shows how solid and complete the business was last summer, it seems we prepared appropriately for the entire season and saved the need for panic buys. The goalkeeper situation will not become worse in the summer, financially speaking, as our targets will have less time remaining on their contracts, if any, and we are ok with the two fit keepers we have for now. It would have to be a monumental collapse to be relegated and we have been improving month by month and have fixtures remaining which could even see us finish in the top half, so apart from being unable to sign Broja permanently, which was probably out of our control, we have done everything right as far as I can see.

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lemmsy added 19:16 - Feb 1 Pretty much agree with nick & particularly colburn that if we had to buy in January it’s because we got it wrong last summer. One thing I’m slightly confused over is Mccarthy, press reports were that he’d agreed to a new contact!Im not saying its a good thing but that’s what has been suggested
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wrathoftazz added 20:31 - Feb 1 There were plenty of 'right' choices and they went to other teams. Other teams we struggle to beat, teams around and below us. Sure we can put a couple of decent games together but we are FAR from consistent. My worry is if those teams below and around us find their consistency due to new signings, and we go on a run like the beginning of the season/end of last, then we will be back in a dog fight of our own making.

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halftimeorange added 18:06 - Feb 2 I think that the difference between now and last season is that we are showing signs of being difficult to beat.
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