@murraybrunning
Not that profilic? Who do you mean Sharp or all 4 of our strikers (mc, murph, nouble & taylor) =P ?!! Sharps career goal ratio is 45.5% being 141 goals in 310 matches granted some of that was in league one with Scunthorpe.

According to wiki our 4 strikers have scored a total of 193 career goals between them! Which isn't very many per striker! That includes taylor and murphy at Vauxhall motors and Waterford respectively! Perhaps at £20k per week this is a step too far but maybe pay 50% of the wages or take a one months loan, I will guarantee in that one month he would score more than mcgoldrick!

Billy Sharps goalscoring record is very good (check Wikipedia for facts). Paul Taylors's indeed not that good ,about 1 in 4 at posh but is he a striker ? I don't think so. I know from someone on the inside he is not in the plans at Southampton (despite scoring every other game when he has played but that was when Atkins was in charge). But he is more likely to go to Reading etc I guess as the finances at PR are apparently limited .
I feel we as supporters need to get behind the team, expect little but hope for a lot. It is difficult even in this division to be competitive without investment. A sad state of affairs for the game of football.

Keanish , Doyle may be decent, but I know for a fact that Doyle is on 40K a week . We can't afford it ,nor should we try to and he certainly won't drop his wages by a quarter.

40k!? Jesus...
I retract that statement then!!

if ebakns blake is on a free I would go for him if we are going to get somebody.
if not we need to play with more width with less resposibility for the wide players to track back. if we keep a forward line of 4 they will have to leave more than 4 back to cope with us and if they do break hyam and skuse can tidy up before they even get to the defence. Do like a 424 and in fact its very similar to a 4231 alot of top clubs play these days
we are too predictable at the mo but I have faith in the players and dont think we should panic or get on there backs

What do you mean by that Gilesy?

Kirbmeister not everyone was happy with the summer deals , check out Pessimistics last blog about concerns over forwards ,there was a number of us questioning the creativity pace and ability to score goals in the squad ?
We will win a few ,lose more and draw a lot in low scoring games and finish lower mid table with this squad so if that is MM done business than that is all we will achieve ,quote me if I am proved wrong

As much as the signing of Sharp would be great, I feel with patients, we will eventually get in players like him. Over the transfer windows Mick will get a bit of money, and we have the core of a good side. Centre-backs can go on for years, Hyam and Skuse will be in there for a few years and Mcgoldrick and Taylor are young. We have a young side for the first time since before the Keane/Jewell days, and as I've said, over these windows I feel class will be bring in, as we don't need anymore squad players. Next year I feel with continuous progress top 6 is no doubt

Well said Luke 38.
We are actually going about building a team for the future that won't need ripping apart every summer and I am happy about that. The 'premiership at all costs' approach got us nowhere and the foundations are being laid for something a bit more sustainable.

Mick has taken all three teams that he's managed in the championship to the play -offs and gained promotion with two of them. He didn't do it after ten months in charge and two transfer windows though, did he?

Exactly. He signed Kightly from Grays Athletic and Jarvis from Gillingham. Not the biggest clubs in the world it's fair to say, and neither were Adekunke and Doherty's clubs. In 2/3 years we could have them two on our wings, with probably a developed Luke Hyam and even an attacking midfielder. In Mick we have stability, and of course I want us in the Premier League now, but that's not going to happen. We want to stay there when we go up, so we must build the best squad for that. I feel that is what MM is doing, and I for one am prepared to wait a few years at mid-table, instead of bringing in another manager who does the same what Mick has done this summer. Sir Alex Ferguson didn't build a team of champions in a few weeks, it takes time! All of us need some patience.Mick is the man.

Mick's success has been achieved through stability and time at a club, not waving a magic wand and making things happen overnight.

Luke38: Spot on!! I think that we were all impatient for immediate success and it didn't happen. RK was the big mistake. He put us back years.
PJ did get some good players in . . . but also got some duffers (Bullard for example).
Now MM and TC have just got rid of all the dross and are having to start again.

ME: If you do look at this site (which I wouldn't be surprised) could I just say that MM & TC have not gone for any big money signings and have also got rid of quite a few of the big earners - Chopra, JET & Forest Gump-Martin. Could you not find it in your heart ( I keep my wallet close to my heart) to just let them blow 2 or 3 million on one really good striker. Please . . .

It could just make the difference. . .

The phrases "20 goal a season man" and "lack of creativity" are being thrown about so much that they have lost all meaning. Remember how excited everyone was after we saw Taylor play against Blackburn at PR at the start of last season? He's still here by the way, and I'm sure that once he's back to full fitness he'll be hungry and ready to run at defences and score goals. He and McGoldrick would be a great pairing up front - I don't see a particular need for a massive target man, Murphy has been pretty average and would be a good sub to come on towards the end to throw his weight around. Cresswell is the most creative LB in the league and his deliveries have been superb so far... We'll see plenty of goals from Berra (who should start) and Smith I'm sure. Granted, Hyam needs to learn to shoot, but I'm not unhappy with the team going forward, we just need some luck to get us going again. Yes Sharp would be a bonus but we don't NEED him in order to make the top 6. One loan might be nice, some extra quick feet in the AM postion or something like that, and I trust MM's sense after last season's loans. At least we're not shipping goals anymore, we just need to score a few more to see the points come rolling in #optimist

Not shipping goals any more we have let in 8 in 6 games and kept 1 clean sheet playing with 2 defensive midfielders ? the leaders have let in 2-3 goals .
And i am starting to think maybe MM doesn't like the look of Taylor as the only way to get him match fit is to play him ,which he isn't

Sharp's goal-scoring record is excellent and we need a striker. However, his wage demands are clearly an issue. Still hoping MM brings in a striker, because Murphy's goal scoring record is very poor. Nouble's isn't much better, whilst Taylor lacks form. McGoldrick is our best option - but again hardly prolific for us to date!

Taylor should've been used more from the start. There's no point in complaining that he's not match fit whilst you're not playing him enough. At this rate we'll be ten games into the season and he still won't be fit. I guess he is getting some fitness from playing reserve team games though.

cant believe there are people who still think weve only spent £20, 000 in this window. yes that may be the only money weve spent on transfer fees to other clubs but remember guys that ne1 we signed on a free contract would have demanded a sizeable signing on fee which would be close to what wed have paid on transfer fees neway. so weve spent far more than that. may not be what some of spent but still a decent amount. as for the last day, hardly ne deals were done in the championship, and most if not all that were done were loans. even qpr with all their cash only loaned players on deadline day. I do believe that mm may well look for some1 on loan at some point. in fact hes said as much. so while our business may be done transfer wise who knows what the loan window may bring.

Ebanks blake, Bradley wright philips, Billy sharp, Dj campball, Leroy lita, Simeon jackson, 2 or 3 at peterborough, Theirs so many players out their that Marcus evans could afford to bring to the club if he wanted to but he doesnt, 20 poxy grand all summer says it all. Their aint any big talk coming from the club anymore like their was when he brought the club. Say what you like about Roy keane but atleast their was abit of interest in the club when he was manager and atleast sky wanted to show our games, now their is no interest. We had a total legend of the game in charge who put us back on the map but now thats all gone and we have gone back to being little old ipswich. Im bored with it all, Roll on next season or the one after or the one after that when we will still have only one goal scorer in the squad!!! Rant over.

What is this a Billy Sharp love-in, Jesus Christ. He never ever wanted to come to us before and he made it perfectly clear by signing for someone else. Can people just leave it alone...he has failed to get a regular place at Southampton and Forrest and some of you keep going on about him as if he's Messi.

As I said last season...MOVE ON...it ain't happening!!!

COYB

How ironic that whilst we now finally have a manager who can get us into the PL he has his hands tied behind his back when he is tasked with putting together a squad to get us there. As it stands we do not have the strike force to get us into the PL. We need a player like Sharp to help get us there. An initial 93 day loan (or 14 weeks in wages terms at a cost of £280,000) whilst expensive will be worth every penny if he gets us the goals and we get the points to put us into a strong position at or near the head of the table. Not going for a player of Sharp's prolific ability will show a lack of ambition whilst other clubs put together stronger squads leaving us lagging behind in mid to lower table mediocrity.

Bennyitfc i would just point out that last season when we played blackburn on the opening day taylor wasnt a town player!!! He joined latwr in the window as our "marquee" signing to make out evans was backing jewell, when last year we hadnt spent a lot up until we signed taylor. Shame we didnt get his mate boyd too but thats history now of course

People go on about a striker but is it not possible a lack of creativity might be the problem,

Surco - for me (excluding the Stevenage game), the two biggest factors in conceding more goals per game so far have been Hewitt's inexperience compared to Stearman's and Loach's ability compared to Henderson's, both of which have been remedied.

According to a Southampton supporting workmate Sharp is on nearer £40,000 per week than the £20,000 quoted in this article.

It will never happen!

Kirbmeister-Yep 5 games in and nothing has changed. For me it will not be lovely even if we win the next five games because MM will still be manager and ME the owner. I expect to be slagged off for my comments and don't really give a shxt. Of course I want ITFC to do well but I have never rated MM as a manager, tactician or coach in any of his previous jobs. He kept us up last year OK, but MM should have got his wallet out but who would MM have gone for. Looking back was Jim Magilton really doing such a bad job, it's been worse than bad since he was unceremoniously given the boot. I have been a supporter for 50 years+ through thick & thin but it is now really wearing so thin it's threadbare.