SW11_Saint

1 hour ago, goodymatt said:

I’ve started watching this and did wonder the same. When they bought Birmingham though, we were technically a championship team already. Appreciate negotiations for that club will have started whilst we were a PL team. I’d also guess Sheffield United was the one. I did google but nothing online about that attempt.

Davies comes across very well, impressive bloke. Rooney appeared to be winging it! Eustace sacking was ridiculous before the implosion. They will be up there with us this season for sure. I wonder what happens if they don’t reach the PL in the next couple of seasons, PSR must come into the equation soon.

Watching Rooney vs Davies it’s so crystal clear why Rooney is never going to make it as a manager. 

Echoes of Still in Davies too I thought, which gave me a bit of hope (focused coach rather than ex-player with a ‘been there’ mentality, clear-headed and analytical, but also tough and passionate). Definite sense there’s a new breed of coach entering the game now…

23 minutes ago, SaintsLoyal said:

Out of his depth being involved in football, incompetent decision making, just behind the worst season in the clubs history.

He hasn’t a clue about brand image.

’Commercial’ that’s someone else’s job and Parsons got none of the new local sponsors.

 

He’s not involved in the football side is he? I’d say he’s done a pretty good job in increasing off-field revenue with the fanzones etc. 

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

what are ridiculous questions to you?

Specific questions like “why did you play ‘so and so’ in a particular game?”, “why are the shirts so expensive?”, “can we get better beer in the concourses?”. And yes, I’ve actually heard all of these questions before… 

6 minutes ago, sockeye said:

From what I have heard the other two candidates were nothing special.

Two candidates to buy or for the manager’s job? 

They are by and large a PR exercise of course, but I generally enjoy listening. I think the panel try to be as open as possible, but the thing that always irks me is the number of idiotic questions from the floor - either irrelevant or too specific “why are you playing xxx?”. Also, people love giving long winded intros to their questions which no one wants to hear, and wastes time. 

I hope Blackmore vets the questions, weeds out the ridiculous ones, and manages the floor better this time. 

Anyone watching the new Birmingham City / Tom Brady documentary on Amazon Prime? 

They totally screwed up by hiring Rooney, but definitely seem to have it right with Chris Davies, he’s very impressive.

Reason for posting here… in the first episode they referenced “Trying to buy a PL club but we got messed around” - before turning their attention to Birmingham. In the back of my head this was maybe Sheff Utd, but I did wonder ‘it wasn’t us was it’?!

They have very big plans for Birmingham, including a new 62k stadium. 

49 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

You’d be hard pressed to think of a worse place for him to go. 
 

Oddest of moves - footballer’s graveyard and not sure he’ll thrive under the pressure from their deluded fans. 

2 hours ago, OldNick said:

I dont think they are the difference, I still cant forget that miss by Brooks against cardiff !!

Plenty of our players are guilty of that! 

Without Matty we lack guile. Desperately need someone to fill that role and provide a creative spark. Too many of our midfielders are workers/pedestrian.

Brooks may not be the answer but he had a very good second half of the season at Bournemouth. 

41 minutes ago, UpweySaint said:

Sensible post. Ideal world we would see more change and I expect the club feel similar but we may need to be patient. Worth reflecting that were a lot of the players in our squad coming in with their records or being picked up by other clubs it might be seen as good business. An example would be I was impressed Birmingham got Doyle on loan but I think he’s probably comparable to Downes or Charles.

It could also be a big year for Matsuki, Robinson, Dibling and maybe even Sesay.

I still think we’re missing a 10 and would like to see more proven quality on the wing - I’m thinking more classic winger than wide forward type player. If Matty goes some more creativity in the middle would be valuable. I’m less worried about Bazunu as others but if we can find the right target it’s an area we could do with strengthening. Otherwise I think the squad is good enough to be competing for automatic promotion - I don’t see anybody getting past Ipswich though. They look well set to go straight back up.

 

Wonder if they’re considering David Brooks? If fit, he might fit the bill. 

Or bring back Stuey Armstrong! 

32 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

IF he’s the starting CF for Saints - a team likely to be scoring a high amount of goals this year by bookies opinion, then 25/1 is great value. Not if he’s on the bench though. 

I’d rather see DD starting - and the other forwards are there to support him not other way around. Between him and RS anyway. I don’t want to rely on Cameron or Adam this season as the main scorers. 

He’s still at 25/1 on Bet365. Some of their odds are very generous. 

Mate sent me this (as posted on another forum)🤣 #ArgosSaints

31 minutes ago, Smirking_Saint said:

Im at odds at this frankly..

Armstrong - 30+ G/A last EFL season

Archer - 18 goals last EFL season bookies top goal scorer favourite 

BBD - 22 and 14 for blackburn in the EFL

Stewart - 36/70 for Sunderland (albeit league 1)

Dibling/Fernandes/Robinson - The former two looked largely excellent in the prem, with a slight TD drop off and JR has been excellent so far in pre season

Downs is an unknown quantity, and of course we could lose people, but we aren’t in the premier league anymore, even if the above output is halved I think we have more than enough… do we have to build on the above ? Of course

But I really don’t think, comparative to other squads we are in bad shape at all… we can afford to ‘wait’ for the right targets, where as the likes of Brum and Wrexham, as good as their recruitment looks, cannot

Agree, assuming we keep most of those listed I think we’ll be fine up front. Where we are lacking is #10 / creative midfielders. If/when we lose Matty & Dibling we are going to be in dire straits in that department. 

30 minutes ago, Pat from Poole said:

Didn’t Juve piss us about with Alcaraz?

Balls to them.

Rather he went to Atleti anyway (clearly I’d rather keep him, but fear that’s not going to happen…). 

On 29/07/2025 at 13:37, Matthew Le God said:

If he ends up as good in goal as his dad was at Rugby, we'll have a star in our hands.

Hopefully, he avoids his dad's injury record...

Wow, didn’t know he was Lewis Moody’s son. Sure I heard somewhere that Rick Wakeman’s Grandson was in the Academy too? Lallana’s sprog aside, any other sleb progeny in our ranks? 

On 28/07/2025 at 18:21, AlexLaw76 said:

 

I got 25/1 on Damien Downs. Unlikely, but the odds were too tempting! 

My pal who is a Weds fan thinks they won’t start the season and may fold altogether. Desperate times for a great old club. 

Good luck to him. Decent money too. 

12 hours ago, SambaMaverick said:

That's a lot of words to say he doesn't have one single redeemable attribute

That’s a really ridiculous statement. 

22 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Who is that annoying child next to William?

Someone from the ‘Make A Wish Foundation’. 

Dame Chloe Kelly… the campaign starts here!🤣

YESSSSSS!!!!!!! 🏆

😬

2 hours ago, benjii said:

Why isn't there a token bloke commentator?

No one wants to listen to two shrill voices all match.

Joe Pasquale wasn’t available…

1 minute ago, John Boy Saint said:

That was slick

Bronze nowhere for that…

Lauren James putting in her usual half-hearted performance…