Dusic

Very easy to forget its a tournament season and he has a wage cut at Saints. 99.37% he will leave.

Seems like both teams are doing what would be reasonably expected of them and Martin is in all liklihood preparing for the season as Saints manager, just like Wilcox and Crocker both leading manager recruitment whilst serving notice periods before their roles officially begin.

Would be amazed if he stayed. Has shown he can be a big PL asset immediately and has potential to further improve. At least one PL club will be keen on him and for him it would be a no brainer financially and career wise to move. Quite likely he will get in the Argentina squad if he is a PL player next season.

Alan Nixon says the reason for the delay is due to the compensation, specifically that he had a two tiered clause amount, one for a PL side and one for a Championship side - therefore the timing makes a difference to how much we pay. No issue, just timing. Imagine it will be announced fairly soon as Swansea will need to recruit and announce their replacement and its an open secret anyway.

I don't think you understand the concept of the list (which doesn't hugely suprise me). Its just to update on the status of out of contract players. Our most high profile being Walcott and Elyounoussi. We will be 'retaining' those under contract because we have to.

Adams would be an ideal player to keep. Proven in that level, generally robust to be able to play 90mins three times a week and a good character of which we seemingly have few. Unfortunately he will go because PL teams will take him and he only has a year left. As others have said though, there does appear to be some joined up thinking at last with Wilcox influential in Martin joining and obviously well versed in the possession based style, so would assume any signings would be with that style firmly in mind. Is it a risk? Yes But after 18 months being stuck in the middle of various styles I think committing to coaching and recruiting to one is a good move.

Interesting podcast covering many topics. Particularly that he has been a player (at Norwich) who has been relegated from the PL and has seen the fallout. Mentions that most players who have been relegated expect to get a move back to the PL and the dynamic is hard to get right. Another experience he has that will be useful in our situation.

I get the principle of this of course but another way of looking at it is that Martin has experience of playing and currently managing in the league we will be in, Vieira doesn't. Perhaps that experience was something that was valued highly? I suspect the ability to coach a team to play a specific style was the key reason but the experience of the Championship certainly helps, especially as so many of our players (current at least) will lack this.

Will be an interesting summer, keep the crackpot conspiracies coming and maybe one of them will stick. All IMHO of course, Morph

I think so yes. The club know there are 4 or 5 players who can be sold for good fees without question so there shouldnt be a doubt about what can be raised. It will be important to get a good start, especially to get the fans behind Martin, and in some positions (central midfield especially) we will be massively short. Will be important to have a few leaders in for pre season too as minus a couple of the experienced guys this is still such a tame group. Imagine some stuff will happen pretty quickly though, its so obvious the likes of Lavia, JWP, KWP, Salisu, Adams etc will be going and teams have had ages to know we are going down and to sort deals out with those players. Assuming we are realistic on prices then most of these can be done before pre season, which is better for everyone.

Essentially all four of our CM options will leave (Lavia, JWP, Diallo, AMN) so I would say its the key position for recruitment as even with Smallbone back will need to sign 3 before the start of the season. Don't think there are any genuine academy prospects in the #6 type position either so recruitment here will be massive.

Perhaps if we had played in a consistently well-coached style we might have won more games. No coincidence that our best spells under Ralph were when you could pretty much name 10 of the 11 starters and the formation. Under Jones and Selles there has been no obvious plan. Good coaching and a clear gameplan will get the most out of a set of players and we have lacked that since Ralph lost confidence in his style.

Always helps having a goalscorer but you also have to create chances which all the stats show Swansea did. The angle of attack about lots of possession with no intent seems pretty lazy considering they were a good attacking team last season and the stats back that up. We played the rubbush stuff this season at the back because our defenders are absolutely clueless in possession and probably not well coached on it and there was little movement further forward. Having a coach prioritise in possession patterns will surely help that rather than lead to more of the same.

They were the 4th top scorers in the league this season, so looks like there was some intent. Not that facts will change your view. Martin also has 2 years current experience in the actual league that we are going to be playing in. As well as significant recent experience of playing and being promoted from it. I would say thats enough knowledge of the league.

Duncan Holley Tadanari (Chung) Lee

Don't disagree with some of that but was making the point for the few here who have for some reason decided that the possession is all in the defensive third and is pointless. Swansea scored the joint 4th amount of goals so clearly it achieves something from an attacking perspective. I think there are some (not you btw) who don't really understand what some of the different styles of play actually are and just get fixated on the fact that sometimes defenders pass the ball to each other instead of launching it. In our game with Brighton, Dunk and Colwill played more passes than our entire back four and midfield combined but it didnt mean they were some kind of pathetic attacking force. And there are still some that will insist Saints have been trying to play a possession based style under Selles, which is just ridiculous.

Swansea's attacking numbers have been very good (joint 4th most goals scored) so clearly shows a purpose to the possession. Its been the defensive side that stopped them comfortably finshing in the playoffs.

Whilst he was only playing at National League level, Nico Lawrence did very well at Torquay and won their Young Player of the Year. Not saying he will come back and be a starter but will be interesting to see whether he gets a chance in pre season. He is very good on the ball which will presumably appeal for RM. Otherwise agree that I don't see any of the loanees making an impact aside from Tella (if somehow he stays) and Smallbone.

Some of this is interesting and an insight into what he was dealing with in January. Reminded me a bit of the Maddison situation that Les Reed recently described where we almost had Maddison but had to waste time getting an approval from China. Obviously he kind of toes the line of really slagging the owners off but it did much on either side to strengthen the relationships. IMO he comes across as a collaborative person who clearly cares about his staff and players - and also who is quite open and chatty which fans usually prefer.

We literally haven't. We have been a pressing team that is more concerned with what we do off the ball than on it. Of course every team will pass the ball between defenders during a game, thats just normal. But in no way have Saints been a possession based team since day one of Ralph to now. Frankly anyone who thinks we have been playing or even trying to play a possession based style is clueless.

Well I would say it depends almost entirely on whether the CEO they hire to replace Semmens is competent, so hard to judge. But at least they are making decisions and making them quickly.

Clearly a massive summer of change with almost all senior staff leaving. Certainly good to see this happen early on, and we juat have to hope the people they bring in are highly competent, e.g the ex CFG guy who will be an independent director. The fact they are replacing Semmens as CEO rather than one of HK or RA taking that role is also positive I think. My main concern is that there isn't really anyone of any seniority on the football side or academy who will remain, and surely some specific expertise/knowledge about Saints specifically will be lost. That said, Jason Wilcox is a very good appointment IMO and that makes me confident as no chance he would have left City after building a great reputation if he didn't believe in SR's plans. Darren Mowbray also seems a pragmatic, sensible choice rather than a trying to be too clever pick.

Strange situation assuming Martin gets appointed this week. No value in him taking the Liverpool game as half the players won't be there, irrelevant game and high chanxe of a tonking. But surely hard to expect Selles to do it either, especially if the club hasnt been overly communicative to him. Could see Dave Horseman taking it.

Jim Joyce - slowest physio the PL has ever seen.

I have seen a lot of comments on here that appointing Martin is "risky" and "making the same mistake again" post Jones. Out of interest: 1. Who are the realistic managers that people wouldn't see as "risky" and think would "unite the fans"? 2. Why is Martin seen as in any way similar to Jones? Style of play couldn't be more different (and is closely aligned to Wilcox which is surely a big positive, clearly he would have had a significant role in the appointment) whilst he also has recent experience of both playing and managing in the Championship so is a known quantity at that level whereas PL was obviously a step up for Jones. Seems a very lazy comparison.