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.