Do the club have any idea what they are doing

[Ginger Ninja]

It was either take £4mill for him now or nothing in the summer...

That matched with Charlie really expressing a desire to go to Southampton - The 1st club he has actually shown a desire to go to i believe?

Should of sold him in the summer and taken the £12m from Leicester but hey ho

I think we would have if Austin wanted to go there, but didn't he turn them down? (I may be wrong)
Plus, I reckon if that had happened, the majority on here still would've moaned that £12m was a joke lol

[PizzaBoy]

Its all hindsight, I for one was pleased with the stance that the club took over Charlie in the summer. Also, how do we know if we'd have sold him the summer we wouldn't now be in a relegation battle this year rather than mid table?

[Kurt Bakholt]

All the neg heads on here are revelling in our league position and having a good old moan, claiming we've got#no#chance of reaching the playoffs, which if that is the case it's a masterstroke getting 4-8.5m for a player who was going to walk away for nothing in 5 months, to which the same neg heads would be moaning about not selling Charlie in January It's no good blaming les for not selling in the summer, he hasn't got a crystal ball.

[stanistheman]

Promotion is worth around 70 mil so we kept Austin as a calculated gamble....it didn't work out.

Would have been a great plan, but so would appointing a manager capable of managing a team. Ramsey was a youth team coach who can work with developing young players not team management and match planning. They appointed him with consolidation as the target, so keeping Austin and Phillips (turning down around £20m for them) was STUPID and INEPT.

[stanistheman]

Its all hindsight, I for one was pleased with the stance that the club took over Charlie in the summer. Also, how do we know if we'd have sold him the summer we wouldn't now be in a relegation battle this year rather than mid table?

Accepting 20M for Austin and Phillips could have bought in Gray and Jarvis for less than half of that money.

[qpr4life]

They are like bunch of spotty teenagers in their first job in McDonald's , they seriously haven't got a clue. I mean they might as well have sold Austin for £12m in the summer and used that money to rebuild. Why wasn't a new contract given to Austin upon promotion to the premiership , just a huge lack of knowledge, common sense and organisation at the club, decision after decision I can see they are making is wrong.
For people claiming to be top businessmen I have my reservations as it looks like they would struggle to run a corner shop let alone a football club

Actually, it was well documented that they had tried to do this. A lot of West London sport journalists will 100% back this up as well.

As for why not selling, I think its hilarious that we are all now pissed off. Damned if you damned if you dont comes to mind....

[Lunar Jetman]

I think we would have if Austin wanted to go there, but didn't he turn them down? (I may be wrong)
Plus, I reckon if that had happened, the majority on here still would've moaned that £12m was a joke lol

Exactly. There's no way he would have gone to Leicester last summer anyway....

[upperloft]

Its easy to look like you know it all and sl@g the club in hindsight. When i think back, the moves they have made with Austin are probably the same moves i would have made.

No guarantee he was going to do the Biz in the premier league, so would have been stupid to give him a contract on big money over the next 3-4 years as he could have flopped. The club wanted to see if he could make the grade before contract talks.

In the summer, i was delighted the club set their stall out early with "15 mil, take it or leave it" and didn't budge. We have been mugs in the market for as long as i can remember, so was good to see us taking a stance for once. I never expected us to walk the league like others did, but thought we would be up their challenging for play offs. Chaz's goals make all the difference and by keeping him we were showing a bit of ambition for this year. Was worth taking the risk at the time i think.

As it looks like the play-offs is a massive long shot now, we may aswell take what we can for Austin. I dont think with him being here or not is going to change anything, think we are destined for a 10 - 16th finish.

Although it is frowned upon by everyone, the only bit i would have done slightly different is publicize this deal with Southampton a bit earlier. It seemed to come out of nowhere. I would have thought that if we made it known we have had a bid in from a prem club for Austin, a few other clubs may have tried to hijack the deal and up the price. Not the end of the world as cant imagine it would be much more given his contract and injuries this season.

Fair play to the club, i would have done much the same as they have with this Austin saga.

Could have got more for him, I think that is what most people are angry at.

[dave58]

Actually, it was well documented that they had tried to do this. A lot of West London sport journalists will 100% back this up as well.

As for why not selling, I think its hilarious that we are all now pissed off. Damned if you damned if you dont comes to mind....

your correct they did try to get him to sign a new deal for a reported £55-60k but he wouldn't sign it at the time but he's gone on the cheap, because we f*****d it up and then caved in

[jmelanie]

Could have got more for him, I think that is what most people are angry at.

How could the club have got more from him. Charlie had the upper hand. He only really wanted to go to Southampton. If another club (Leicester or Newcastle for instance) had offered more money, he would have said no and there would be nothing we could do about it.

If the club had said no to the offer from Southampton, we would have had one unhappy striker and that wouldn't have done anybody any good.

[upperloft]

How could the club have got more from him. Charlie had the upper hand. He only really wanted to go to Southampton. If another club (Leicester or Newcastle for instance) had offered more money, he would have said no and there would be nothing we could do about it.

If the club had said no to the offer from Southampton, we would have had one unhappy striker and that wouldn't have done anybody any good.

Like RIG said, if the bid was publicised I think a few more clubs would have been interested. When someone is available for that price I'm sure a few more clubs would be interested.

When Austin first turned his nose up on a deal they should have flogged him.

[72bus]

really really bad business by the club . no one will take any responsibility . they took a gamble letting his contract run down and it's now backfired . with all the new tv money to the PL 4 million is nothing . saints have got a bargain and we've been shafted

[Martinmalta]

Like everyone else I am disappointed by the fee paid for Austin. However, it was a gamble from our point of view that backfired. What I don't like from our board is inconsistency. First we say that this is a season of consolidation; then we say that with our current squad we should fight for promotion; then we say that CA will not be sold on the cheap; eventually, we accept the first bid for him because promotion is out of sight! Listen, I am not blaming anyone on the matter, because its a strange situation we are in. But please, let's be a bit more consistent of what we want to achieve. Hope we will not hear statements of promotion this year because we won a game!

[Timmy the Doc]

Like RIG said, if the bid was publicised I think a few more clubs would have been interested. When someone is available for that price I'm sure a few more clubs would be interested.

That wouldn't have made any difference if Southampton was the club he wanted to join.

[Lunar Jetman]

Like RIG said, if the bid was publicised I think a few more clubs would have been interested. When someone is available for that price I'm sure a few more clubs would be interested.

I think you're forgetting the fact that Austin wanted to stay down south so was effectively limiting the clubs he could go to. He also wanted to go to an established Premier League club so he wasn't in a relegation scrap.

What other southern clubs fit into this category that you think would realistically have been interested?