Fitzhugh Fella

The club don’t reveal everything as we saw in Stephens new contract signing so it wouldn’t surprise me to see a buy back clause in KWP’s contract. Unfortunately, as a previous poster has intimated, Ralph’s tinkering positions may well have unsettled him. I haven’t changed my opinion on Ralph just because the owners have stuck by him. I just don’t think he has what it takes in the PL and too many players have regressed under him. I hope I am wrong. Too many have already forgotten our abysmal last 3 months of 21-22.

La Ling Dutch guy who L Mac reckoned would have won us the Div 1 title, Keith Newton full back from Blackburn, Rod Thomas from Swindon, Colin Todd from Derby.

I like the Saints “are all at sea” line

No not at the Dell. Sumerbee got sent off after a clash with Walker. If you look at ITN we usually mention sending offs in the match summaries

Except it didn’t happen

Dirty ill-gotten money distorts and corrupts the Premier League.

Yes don’t disagree but we should still be signing better experienced players. Everything at the moment seems geared to potential and making money. While that’s not completely wrong there needs to be a balance unless we are concentrating on the FA Youth Cup next season.

Interesting debate. The new owners have yet to impress that they are much of an improvement on Gao. It’s still early days of course but I would rather they got their feet securely under the boardroom table at St Mary’s before they started looking at other clubs. But I am speaking as a fan of course while they are business men first and foremost.

For once I am am in 100% agreement with you.

Wrong. it was 55000 and 2 years running, the second joint with Best

Regarding the Jack Stephens contract non announcement the club told him the announcement would be made when the club were on an upward trajectory. At the time he signed the club was not doing too well. When the club then went on their downward spiral that opportunity never arose. Quite understandably Jack Stephens thought the delay not very respectful which I am inclined to agree with. So much for transparency.

I am a Long fan but if we are thinking of offering him another contract it shows a lack of nous and ambition by the club. It was a mistake to give Theo a two year deal (most fans said that at the time), and if they sign Minamino that would be another. I just don’t trust the manager’s judgement anymore. The goalkeeper situation has been mishandled and why weren’t we told about Stephens’ new contract when it was signed? From afar it looks like the club is still being run haphazardly with a manager who makes a lot of poor decisions.

Well I am a pretty “dated” sort of guy unfortunately. Nothing whatsoever against foreigners most of whom have far better technique than home grown players. I just think to lead and inspire a team in front of English fans then you have a certain kind of commitment and awareness. That sort of leadership quality is more likely to have been nurtured in this country than abroad. And no CB I didn’t vote for Brexit as I think Europe to be a civilised place to live and bring up your families but I still reckon when it comes to grit and determination on a football pitch you are more likely to find it homegrown. Just my opinion of course apologies in advance if that view offends.

Our overwhelming need is for a leader. Someone who is mentally tough who can instill a bit of backbone and fight into the rest. That person won’t be found in Serie A or the like. Anyone know what Jimmy Case is doing these days?

Deckchairs being rearranged while the captain on the bridge steams ahead as per normal. Blaming the lackeys while the boss survives.

Not sure why you think he was a tosser. Most of the players at the time thought he was a decent bloke and I found him pretty decent too. I'll concede he was a "terrible manager" though.

Don’t think I have ever gone into a close season so despondent and pessimistic about the future if we keep RH (which I think we will).

Beats me how Redmond (1 deflected goal in 13 months plus loads of poor performances) sneaks into the team. Goes to show how low our standards have become. He wouldn’t be near anyone else’s PL first team.

Calm down. Lot of pissed off people in Liverpool because of the stitch up over Hillsborough. Booing the establishment is one way to show their frustration.

Because they weren’t garbage mid season, they actually looked half decent which begs the question how come they look so awful right now? Answer - they are being led by a tactically one dimensional manager who is out thought most weeks now he has been found out. You want more of the same next season then you continue to stick the telescope to your blind eye.

So we had “a very weak squad” did we? Not according to Ralph who a few months ago expressed himself satisfied with it. And the fans haven’t been chanting for his head at all apart from the last 5 minutes at Brentford. They have been loyal and supportive all season but don’t let that fact get in the way of your narrative. Oh and hardly any pundit tipped us to go down by the way. And finally, I think you meant “summarise”not “surmise” and “cue” instead of “queue”but apart from all the above your post was spot on. I look forward to more brilliant analysis and comment in due course.

Great post

So Brentford are now regarded as a more attractive club to manage? My Ralph has truly elevated us to a high level. I can’t see the Board getting rid. We are going to have to put up with this tactically naive man and just hope next season there are 3 worse teams.

Not quite true. Brentford fans threw a flare into the Saints fans at 3-0 and then it turned nasty

According to those “in the know” on Twitter, it seems FF has not been offered a new contract. For me his woeful kicking let’s him down and that is a commodity every PL ‘keeper needs these days.