S-Clarke

Not against keeping BBD, Bednarek, Taylor, Armstrong et all for this level, but we know there's no future beyond this level for them. The likes of Fraser and Smallbone aren't what I'd put in the quality bracket though. When we went down to L1, we bought the best players for the level we were at, players who were ready to come in and start on day one. They supplemented the likes of Morgan and Lallana, so we could aid the kids with experience around them. We got lucky as the team grew with each other and improved with each other, but like you say it's all about signing good players at the end of the day. I'm not against signing or bringing through young players at all, but it's all about balance. I just don't want the focus to be solely on signing talented young players, if we don't have the proven quality around them then they're never going to progress. I'm intrigued to see how we look in September.

I wasn't specifically referencing the City cohort as such, but we did sign a lot from them that summer! More along the lines of adding up the contributions of ABK, Mara, Larios, Bazunu, Edozie - who were bought as young talent in that window. 3 years on and not one of those has kicked on or produced anything of note for us, 2 of them aren't even with us (one on loan). Lavia was the success, absolutely, but the club got excited by unearthing Tino the year before and thought that every young kid was going to be a Tino. We picked a good one in Lavia, but if we're honest Lavia and Tino should be the marker of success - but none of the others can lay a glove on on what either produced for us over a 10 month period (and they've had 3 years). I just want us to go back to signing players because they're good players, not just because they're young and highly rated from another academy. There's a little bit of apprehension in me with the signings of Quarshie and potentially Downs, but as long as we supplement those with genuine experienced quality then we can sleep a bit easier. Letting the likes of Larios/Edoze/ABK leave will allow us to add that experienced quality, as we simply don't have enough of that at the mo.

I think we'll get our money back, maybe even make a small profit given that he now has a bit of pro football experience behind him. I guess they'd have seen something, but it would have been a really small sample as he only played 17 times in the league. half of those as a sub. Get 7-10m for him, move on, and bring in a better player would be my plan. I'm kind of bored waiting for the 2022 kid cohort of Edozie/Larios/ABK/Bazunu and co to come good, they won't.

I wanted to see him kick on last season, I was intrigued to see how he'd get on at Anderlecht in European comp - but he didn't really do anything. 3 or 4 goals a handful of assists, 17 league games (quite a few as sub) and loads of injuries to boot. If he's going to be of any use to us, he needs to be bossing leagues like that. It may well be the right time to cash in.

Edozie simply hasn't really kicked on, even his loan last season was underwhelming to say the least - in a piss poor league I'll add. I even expected much more from him in our last Champ season, but he just underwhelmed. I wouldn't lose sleep if he went, we'd probably get our money back on him. But it would highlight the need to invest some big money into a couple of top wide players. I imagine we'll lose Fraser at some point, I can see the club paying off his contract at this point. No one is going to pay a fee for him. So for our wide men, we'd just have two kids in Dibling and Robinson (and Armstrong if you class him as one). I would expect lots of investment in that area, and as Dibling and Robinson count towards the 'young options', we'd have to get some proven experience there.

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.