Strikers and overall: transfer window verdict
Out – Ormerod, Walcott, Best (loan), (Delap)
In – Madsen, Rasiak
Saints have struggled up front all season and have paid the penalty for failing to do the blindingly obvious and invest genuine money in replacing the departing Phillips, Crouch and Camara. We look to have finally done so, certainly with Rasiak, the proven target man we have so lacked, plus the unknown quality of Danish international Madsen. A fit and firing Marian Pahars would help no end as well, but after so many false dawns, Saints cannot rely on that possibility.
However, as with wide midfield, Saints will probably never fill the Theo Walcott shaped void that so lifted fans and players alike in his all too brief stay with us.
Verdict: Stronger
Overall
With the incredible turnover of staff at St. Mary’s, Saints are very much in a period of transition. We have gone from an average Premiership squad to a Championship squad and there is a serious amount of rebuilding to be done in the summer to reach our former heights.
Fortunately, we have the manager in place who has done it before with both Ipswich and Derby. However, it is simply essential that the board back the manager with the kind of uncharacteristically bold spending to bully our way out of this league. Otherwise, with parachute payments ending next season, our stay in the Championship may end up matching our 27 years in the Premiership.
Verdict: Weaker in the short term, but it had to be done and the summer will be the ultimate judge of the rebuilding process.
Click below to recap the On the Cross verdicts on:
- Introduction to the transfer window
- Defence
- Midfield