The rumours are flying thick & fast about which clubs want which Southampton players, but at the moment it is nothing more than rumour and counter rumour, however in a few days time that will all stop and some serious business will be done.
Of course we would all like to be in the Premier League for the coming season and if we where then we would be keeping some of those who will leave the club this summer, but the reality is that we are in the ~Championship, we can moan all we like, but we cannot change the past only the future.
Much has been made of where Saints went wrong last season and yes we did make some poor signings, but we also made some good ones and that will set us in good stead to rake in some big money and therefore be able to invest in the squad for the coming season.
Of course there will be those that will decry Sport Republic as an owner who want to make profit from transfer sales, but shock horror that is just about every other club owner in the top two divisions at least.
But the number of signings we have made in the last year who are in demand shows that the issue with the club is not solely the fact that we failed to sign a striker of central defender, but we failed to manage the squad properly.
Armel Bella Kotchap, Romeo Lavia, Charlie Alcatraz & Sulemana are all evidence of good players we have signed, where we have increased their value, but Lavia aside have failed to get them to fulfil their potential.
They alone will perhaps raise £100,000 for an outlay of less than half of that, this is not including those that were here before Sport Republic arrived and again why have players such as Salisu failed to blossom here, but are in demand elsewhere.
We will find out who is in big demand and who has a busy agent after Saturday when the laughable loyalty bonus’s are paid and the real business can begin.
I am sure there will be the usual comments about the club being in disarray etc, but neither the club or those doing the moaning can change the past, but the future can be changed and unlike 2005 when we left the Premier League raking in little money from the sales of players who could get another Premier League club, this time we will get in far more than we need to spend.
So Saturday will be a big day for the club, yes there will be a negative side, but it can be turned into a positive.
Sport Republic have to be given the chance to show that they are the people to learn from their mistakes and turn things round, likewise Russell Martin, many say it is Nathan Jones part two, yes their are many comparisons that can be made, but the big difference is Jones was coming in to do a job in the Premier League, something he had no experience of and was not up to, whereas Russell Martin is not being asked to so that, he is being asked to do a job in a division where with little resources he took Swansea to within 3 points of the play offs.
The next few weeks will see a lot of departures from the club, but it is not about that, it is about how well we use the money.