Saints Boss Sturrock Comments On Beattie Rumours

By Matthew Jones
June 1 2004

It doesn't look like James Beattie will be joining Newcastle this summer, with St Mary's boss Paul Sturrock playing down speculation that ANY of his players will be moving on.

A new striker will be needed at Newcastle, with Tyneside legend Alan Shearer preparing to hang up his boots, and James Beattie has impressed manager Sir Bobby Robson who sees the England international as an ideal replacement for his current captain.

Saints boss Paul Sturrock however, said:

"The transfer window has killed off a lot of the mid-season speculation so it all flares up suddenly at the end of the campaign.

"It is in the interest of agents to get their players linked with clubs.

"This is the time of year when you get all the naughty stories about Southampton players leaving but I can assure the supporters that will not happen.

"Of course, every footballer has his price. But we are not a selling club. We are a top-half Premiership club and it is important that we build on that.

"There's a lot of building that has been done at this football club already and we don't want to dismantle it. I have heard a lot of things which I would take with a pinch of salt."

With skipper Alan Shearer set to retire at the end of this season, Alan Smith had aslo been linked with a move to St James' Park before he joined Manchester United instead.  Mark Viduka, has also been linked in recent weeks, along with Barcelona's Patrick Kluivert (but he has said: "Why would I want to join Newcastle???")

Will we sign anybody this pre-season?  Zenden has been linked, West Ham midfielder Michael Carrick has been linked, and so has Mido and Luis Miguel (Benfica).  Will Sir Bobby spend some money or are just going to sit back while our Premiership rivals strenghted their squads.

Who knows!