The transfer day that never was

Last updated : 18 August 2005 By Chris C

First up, Saints confirmed that Millwall captain David Livermore had failed a medical due to a dodgy knee and that his £500k move to Saints was off unless Millwall were willing to re-negotiate a pay-as-you-play part of the deal.

Given that Millwall disagree about his fitness, citing that he had played an ‘average of 44 games a season’, and weren’t that keen on him moving in the first place, unsurprisingly the move has stalled. With Saints unwilling to have another dodgy knee on our books, it looks like that is that. It was interesting to see his obligatory ‘never wanted to leave’ press release contained no quotes from the man himself.

Next up, was Ireland international Clinton Morrison with Saints supposedly leading the chase after Sunderland failed to follow up their interest in the Birmingham striker. A hastily withdrawn article on the Saints website suggested that we were closing in on a £1.25m deal, but all this was blown out of the water when Norwich announced that they had agreed a £2m fee for a player who ironically could be facing us at Saturday.

Rupert Lowe reacted in bullish mood: “If Norwich are prepared to pay £2m then good luck to them. I have spoken to Karren Brady at Birmingham and told her we would be interested at the right price. We do not consider £2m to be the right price.”

While it is understandable that Saints can lose out on players to Premiership sides, it is particularly galling to lose out on another player to one of our Championship rivals. With Darren Purse joining Cardiff over Saints and even the news that Seth Johnson has rejoined Derby for nothing, Saints fans are growing frustrated with the lack of transfer activity and ambition shown.

And it seems Harry shares their sentiment: “We need a couple of players then we will be OK but I would not say we are making progress. If anything we have gone backwards rather than forwards.”

While it is clear that some money is available, the transfer window will soon be closing with the Saints squad lacking depth and the necessary quality for a quick return to the Premiership. Saints need to act and quickly.