Toby Steele who some won't realise is the managing director of Southampton FC has been speaking out on what supporters can expect in the January transfer window, but would he truly reveal the real intentions of the club ? I would say not.
Total Saints Podcast have interviewed the managing director of Saints Toby Steele and part of the conversation revolved around the January transfer window.
Here is what Steele had to say:
"That planning is ongoing now. Certainly, at the moment, we’re relatively injury-free, if there is going to be any activity, it’s going to be very minimal.
"Certainly, if we get injuries between now and the 1st of January, then that could change. But I think Ralph is happy with the squad that we’ve got, it is a bigger squad than we’ve had in previous seasons.
"I would say [to] the fans, I wouldn’t expect much movement. But yeah, fingers crossed we don’t get injuries in the next few weeks.”
This won't excite the fans, indeed it will infuriate some, but before anyone starts jumping up and down we should consider a few things about what Stelle can and cannot say, a s well as what it would be prudent to do.
Firstly no one at a football club will actually reveal their transfer thinking to anyone, least of all fan based websites etc, not to disparage Saints Total Podcast, but it just doesn't happen, likewise the club will not tell agents or the media just who their top targets are until in the case of agents they need to speak to them and with regard to the media if it will help the transfer move forward and in most cases that isn't the case as it alerts competitors for the signing and if that happens the price can be pushed up both in terms of transfer fee and wages.
So what Toby Steele has done here is set low expectations for the supporters and behind the scenes they will hope that they can under promise but over deliver, he is right we have a bigger squad than last year, they know it needs strengthening and they will be working to do that in January, but if they do will depend on several things and they all have to be right.
One for instance would be whether they could move on Fraser Forster and his wages in January, they will hope that they could and that would free up the wages to sign a new keeper. One option they may or may not explore would be Sam Johnstone arriving on a permanent deal with Fraser Forster moving to West Brom, probably on a loan deal.
This is of course pure speculation, but I can do that and Toby Steele cannot.
I have no problem at all with Steele setting these low expectations, I would be more concerned if he went the other way and made big boasts to placate the supporters.
The current board have been more communicative than past boards, but they have to keep most of what is happening close to their chests as any business has to do and that is right.
In the past some of our board members have set big expectations, but when they fail to materialise it causes more problems, so again Toby Steele has not really said anything, but he has set the bar, if something does happen then the fans will be happy, if it doesn't they will not feel so let down.