Surprise surprise the Premier League have decided that Liverpool should face no further punishment for their indiscretion.
Saints fans and indeed all those of clubs outside of the so called big six will not be surprised to learn that the Premier League has decided that Liverpool will face no further action over their attempts to tap up Virgil Van Dijk, something that they seemed to have known last week when suddenly their campaign sprung into life agan despite their assurances to Saints in their public apology that they had now ended their interest in the player.
That makes the apology sound even more hollow, what was the point of apologising if you are only going to go and do it again !
The Premier League had taken the line that the two clubs should have sorted it out between themselves and therefore hoped that the apology would be the end of the matter, with Liverpool already having been sanctioned back in May for an illegal approach to a 12 year old at Stoke City's academy which saw them fined £100 k and a two year ban from signing players from other English club's academies, they were on stony ground.
The Premier League are also scared to hit clubs too hard in that as an organisation they are effectivily run by the members which are the 20 clubs in any season, that makes it hard to make changes to the rules that the big six do not agree with.
Given that any notice of motion to change rules etc needs a two thirds majority than means that if the big six don't like it then it usually doesn't happen.
That means that the League themselves do not bite the hand that feeds them and run scared that if they hit the big clubs hard then the individuals at the Premier League could find themselves under pressure from the clubs themselves.
Given that the league is of a transient nature with three clubs leaving and three clubs joining every single year the only real consistency is those big six clubs and therefore their word goes.
The League's failure to sanction Liverpool seems to have given them the green light to continue their persuit of Van Dijk, indeed the in joke in football at the moment is that Liverpool's biggest crime was not tapping up the player but getting caught and there is some substance in that as tapping up goes on all the time, club's usually keep it quiet.
Indeed that is the strange thing about this case, Liverpool have been so brazen about it, if Van Dijk was as nailed on as their lackey's in the press would have ou believe then what advantage is there in publicly announcing that ?
Better to just keep quiet and let things run their course, they surely must have known that it would have only served to firstly alert the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City to the fact that Van Dijk was available (It did) secondly it would have infuriated Saints (It has) and it has got the Premier League involved.
Club's who leak things to the press usually do so when they are desperate rather than in control of the situation, so why did Liverpool do it ?
Now it will be interesting to see what happens next, the only person who has not said a word is Van Dijk himself, Saints have now dug their heels in and seem to be only willing to sell to Liverpool if it is a stupid transfer fee.
In truth the £70 million quoted as a minimum fee could probably serve Saints better than Van Dijk himself, spent wisely it could bring in two quality central defenders at around £20 million apiece and still have change to revamp the squad which is top heavy in certain areas and does need a little tweaking.
It seems that Saints will do what they have always done so well, take the money, spend it well and continue to build up the squad and keep it competitive, it also seems that Liverpool will do what they always do, splash out on whatever Saints player is flavour of the month, not always to their advantage