S-Clarke

It also looks like their new manager is going to be Wilder. Watch this space I guess.

Lots of uncertainty at that place, no idea what their squad will look like come Sept. They will have to sell, and I doubt they'll be able to add anyone. Be interesting to see who the manager will be, but he'll have his own idea of squad setup, style.

Think of the money all the sponsors and big corps are making though, it's a winner for them. But I agree with you, it's just a pointless waste of time tournament. Nothing about it is to do with football which is why I've had no interest in it.

For the first game after relegation last time out, we started with KWP, Bednarek, JWP, Charly, Tella. With Adams, Stu Armstrong, Lavia on the bench. We will not be able to field a similar level team when we kick off against Wrexham, even if we haven't sold anyone at that point. We are definitely a weaker outfit this time round, as we came down last time with a lot more proven PL players and stacks of experience. This time not so much. I don't think you'd find many Saints fans who'd prefer Archer and BBD over Adams or Stu Armstrong.

I'd expect Aribo, Bednarek, ABK to go (just give ABK away at this point) for certain. That would leave us with Quarshie, THB, Wood, Stephens, Edwards as first team CB's - probably one too many there, so either we get a bid for THB, or we shift Wood out on a loan nearer the end of the window. The two areas that raise some alarm bells as of now are Wide Attack and AMC. We cannot go into a season with those as our options, there needs to be more to work with. The strikers in BBD, Armstrong, you'd be daft to actively move on at this point. They're proven at the level we're currently in, so we don't want to cut our noses off.

He can't really say anything else really, you have to keep your cards close to your chest. There are still so many unknowns. I think the ideal is that we trim the squad down, get rid of the bloat (which we're doing), raise some funds, and integrate some missing attributes in areas we don't have them (i.e pace and power up front and at the back and through the middle). If we start losing players like Fernandes, THB, Dibling, Suguwara, Ramsdale, Armstrong etc as the window goes on, then yes, we'll be adding players to replace those. But ideally we won't lose those, we'll add little bits of of pace and power around them, and get rid of the bloat. That is the absolute ideal though, and I think we all know it won't pan out like that. We'll probably be looking for replacements for at least 2 of our 'sought' after players at some point.

On paper yeah, given his experience, but I personally think his legs have gone. I don't think he has top level in his locker anymore if I'm honest. 3-4 years ago he was top, quick, powerful, but he's not the same anymore. Feels a bit Micah Richards to Villa. We'll see how it pans out.

Skates hopefully.

Yeah the owner is a bit mental, he did come in with a big fanfare and promise them PL football etc - I don't think Rosenior was perfect though, I think he should have done a bit more with the squad he had (especially the 2nd half of that season). They should have at least got Top 6 IMO, certainly when the likes of WBA and Norwich got in there, and they didn't have Tyler Morton, Carvahlo or Delap. Not sure he deserved sacking, but he should have done better that year with the squad he had imo.

Yep, I thought it was really well written.

I think their 'almost' season when we got promoted killed them. I thought they were a good watch, they had stacks of good players of which they did spend a fair whack on with loan fees, and wages - they built a strong squad for that level. Feels a bit like our Burley playoff season, gambled a bit too much, failed and that was that. They'll probably be L1 soon.

I think Abu will be a good player at that level, it'll give him the chance to develop. He was seriously highly rated at Chelsea, similar to that Simeu lad we had - neither made it with us, but I think both will have good lower level careers. We fought off some PL interest to get Abu on a free if I remember rightly. He's a good pickup for the French National league, no doubts.

Yeah, this is my feel. It's the story of the points deduction which never comes. Lots of chatter, but ultimately never happens. It won't happen this time round either. I don't think they'll be able to spend a great deal or have much flexibility on that front though, I think they'll be quite skint...but they do have a decent level squad if they keep it together. As proven last time, way too good for this league. Still a long time to go in the window though, we've got some PL players who will leave and I'm certain they will have departures too. It'll be interesting to see how both squads stack up in September.

I quite like it. I had a fear that the sponsor would be contained within a 'box', but they've done quite a good job to incorporate that into the shirt without spoiling it. £65 is too much though, wouldn't be going near it at that price. £30 was about the max I'd ever pay.

I think East Kent Saint got it in the end though