Chez

almost anywhere. A season in the championship is going to be seen as a wasted season. It's never going to happen...unless our valuation is simply off the charts...but even then there are going to be clubs signing him to stop another getting him.

Spurs: "How about £100k a week?" die Mannyschaft: "nah, you'll aright thanks."

Not sure that is conclusive, but the fact is, its a loan until the end of the season, after that nothing is set in stone.

Yep, a real shame. He's one of the few players that gets you out of your seat. You just wonder if we had stayed up, if both he and the team might have grown together and who knows where that might have ended. There are lots of noises about leaving etc. (and relegation makes that seem pretty certain), but that's just the agent doing his job. In the end, if we stayed up and then paid him the kings ransom his agent would nto doubt ask for, he may well have stayed.

If this goal is anything to go by, he might make a reasonable Dibling replacement.

the Grundian suggests Chelsea, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Liverpool or Leipzig https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jan/23/football-transfer-rumours-race-tyler-dibling-southampton-five-way-race-january

I think we have seen both the best and worst of Aribo while he has been with us. At the levels we have played, I don't think there is more to get from him, but perhaps some of the good things are underapreciated.

I see. Makes sense...except the going rate (half way through a loan) seem to be changing. That's the bit that seems unusual.

He doesnt fancy another season in the championship? If this is true, then the rumours that he was still on £70k a week in the championship were utter bollocks. No way he leaves early for Besiktas - who aint paying him that. Is this a sales advert placed by SFC or his agent? Once we moved him back into a regular midfield role, he was very effective for us in the championship run in. He is extremely good at holding the ball up when opponents are tight to him, allowing others a little more time to move into space. He provided that `bravery' that WGS and the like want - a willingness to receive the ball in tight spaces and not just pass it straight back or flick in on. The only problem is that he's not really a centre midfielder. He doesn't cover the ground quick enough defensively. He does make interceptoons and put a foot in, but I am not sure he gets tight to pponents like they do to him.

I know he's our player and we can do what we please, but if this is true, I'd be a bit annoyed if I was Wednesday and Saints changed the goalposts/requested more money half way through the loan. Either we want him back (to play or provide cover) or not. Has this happened before (requiring a larger lopan fee)? I know players have been recalled and sent elsewhere (or sold) but thats usually because the first loan wasn't working out.

I think you may have missed the irony in my post OldNick.

Sure seems high, but City dont like getting their young talent away, so who knows. That said, any sell on percentage would be on profit not total.

The reports were that Chelsea had a sliding scale percentage of profits. The higher price we sold him for the greater percentage they got. He was sold for £32m plus £5m of add ons (apparently) and Chelsea got about £15m of that. They obviously also got £5m from the original sale to us too.

How are you defining top championship players? If Ramsdale goes, none of the three keepers could be described as the best keeper in the league or indeed one of the best keepers in the league. Right back without KWP. Is Bree or Sugawara going to get in the championship team of the year or more importantly deserve to be in it? I'm not convinced they are top championship players. Bree is solid, but top? Sugawara has a lot to prove. Is Taylor departing? If so, does Manning, Wellington and Larios float many boats? By and large, Manning was slated on here last season. I think he has his positives and negatives. Not sure he's a top championship player. Is he top three? Is he top three at Saints? If Dibling departs, I am not sure we have any right wingers, so another position we are not strong. I think in reality its THB, Bednarek, Downes, Fernandes (he could well depart) and if his confidence returns a second time, Armstrong, but that's a major question mark. It;s not a given he will be one of the best strikers in the league next year.

That's what i dont understand. Promotion utilising a more defensive formation convinced RM that was the way to go and reverting to four at the back didnt seem to ever cross his mind. How Taylor was to fit in to that formation I will never know. It's like the recruitment department and the manager never spoke. Obviously that can't be the case, so what was the plan for Taylor?

As if anyone at the club has said anything of the sort. That said, the valuation seems reasonable. We basically have Grealish II and he went for £100m. Give this lad another one or two years (playing the Prem side - which may or may not happen) and he might be a £100m player too.

He's not a centre forward, so doesn't solve that problem. He did score 19 goals in 55 games for Bodo/Glimt is a good return for a winger. 2 in 16 for Rennes (not many starts for them), so he does seem to know where the net is. As always, can he do it against better oponenrts with less time etc..

I'm not a CoT member, but this one seems obvious after the event. The Austin Allegro is obviously blue. Blue Car was a film from the early 2000s. A character in the film was Mr Auster. Paul Auster is a famous writer who wrote the New York Trilogy and in the second book the character Peter Stillman Jr says: “I am Peter Stillman. That is not my real name. My real name is Peter Rabbit. In the winter I am Mr. White, in the summer I am Mr. Green”. He also wrote The Brooklyn Follies...I expected you have already got there before me, but just in case, Gronbaek roughly translats to green brook. 3-2-1 dustybin.

Sounds promising. He was so highly regarded as a League 1 player, it doesn't surpise me he looks good in the Championship. I thought he might make the two division jump to be honest as he was so experienced, but maybe next season he will shine for us. We have so many CBs though. Juric is going to have to get the right blend.

No idea. The fact he was available on a free and we were the only Prem side that wanted him tells you he's probably a championship level player. Who the hell wamts a fullback without pace. I think Dan Burn is about the only player I have seen in years to do a job and even he got exposed sometimes.

As someone else pointed out, its'not surprising nearly all of those brought did not work out as they were not suited to a possession-based game, however the fact that Juric doesnt seem to fancy them either points to them simply not being up to it.

I seem to have attended many of the the games no one else fancied. This is another that sticks in my mind as I took my Dad, who lived up Norf, didnt really like watching football but came anyway to make me happy. I travelled up from the South Coast to all the Northern games back then and took advantage of his hospitality. He spent the whole game telling me to (and pulling my jacket to make me) sit down and stop swearing at Uriah Rennie. I think even he smiled when Bridger scored. I loved Bridger (I think his brother was a friend of a friend, so he was seen as one of us) and to see him score a late winner (I actually thought we won that game) and do a Micky Channon type celebration (I might be wrong there too) was bloody fantastic - I'm smiling now just thinking about it. Might have been his first goal? Felt like it. I reckon there might have been about 300 there in that upper tier. I enjoyed it, but the Reebock and games in the 2000s weren't a patch on the Burnden Park FA Cup experience.

I went to that game. I think we have discussed this before that Saints fans really used to travel on mass for the FA Cup games. They were seen as somethng a little special. I can't really remember how may we took. It was a pretty big away end in the corner of the ground with a bloody big floodlight pylon right in the middle. I have a feeling it was on a Sunday, but not sure why - was it live on TV? We were in total control and then, we weren't. I hadn't been to too many away games prior to it and hadn't really experienced a noise like it when they got their tails up in the second half. I miss going to games like that. Genuine excitement of the cup. A big following, and of course the terraces...

I guess sometimes moves just don't work out, so moving quickly makes sense for all parties. Considering our current plight, I think this is a pretty decent signing for us. Doesn't mean it will work out, but better than no one, which is what I expected this window.

Equally, they could pass up the option, but come back to us with an offer of £4m...and we then make a loss of £3m. The £10m option counts for shit really unless there is a number of other suitors willing to spend more. Obviously we could turn down the £4m offer, but we would then get a player back we don't want.