Patches O Houlihan

It must be tough enough growing up in Ireland without ginger hair, without us reminding him five times a game that we think he grew up somewhere tropical This guy is going to be the bollocks and I'd rather he had a song that matched the talent (although I agree that those two lines together would be fun to sing if he was a ginger)

maybe not...

Ben's career at Saints has been like a BBD: Hard, dark and a pain in the arse...

DAD's Army is surely a front three that also includes Azaz 😉

Yes Please!

I guess the good news is that if we lose Jander, THB and Charles that will provide £70m+ with which to rebuild the team. I agree though we had such a good energy in the team a the end of the season it would be a shame to break it up (assuming getting kicked out of the playoffs hasn't already killed it)

I watched enough of that Ipswich podcasting bloke during the playoffs to last me all year - I can't see him being a great motivator for Downs

So to confirm you want to sell Larin who we only signed permanently a matter of weeks ago?!

Massive for this team if we win this

😁

Gordon seems to have the lungs to play at pace

C'mon lads 🤞

The way Tonda plays I'm not sure 2026 JWP would be a great fit for the Downes/Jander/Bragg role. BUT - renown professionalism, leadership ability, superb availability, for years he covered more ground than virtually the entire PL, great passer and free kick taker and he has good awareness and vision, if not always the pace to execute. I could see him playing the Azaz role potentially - dropping deep to collect the ball and then pinging Beckhamesque passes to the front three. He probably still has the engine to be matching the ground that Azaz covers, and when on the few occasions he was played in a more attacking role he did pretty well as far as I remember. JWP as Azaz understudy principally; plus CDAJFU at RB and Midfield if we get an injury situation. Thoughts?

The thing is before the tournament you would have called Cape Verde a joke team, but they came back twice against the world champions in a knock out game, (the CV 2nd was amazing) and the winning goal for Argentina was an OG that bounced off several heads. I've sailed into Cape Verde; they haven't got a pot to piss in. Fair play to them I say.

Out of contract and at a World Cup. Managed 6 minutes as an 89th minute sub in the 0-1 loss to Morocco, playing as a striker for a team whos only goal was a deflection against Haiti, and didn't make it out of the group in a WC where 3 of the 4 teams will. Not really the promotional experience he might have been hoping for... shame it ended like this.

I remember seeing pics of Romeu sat with Cam Bragg at a dinner not long after he re-signed.

When I think of Stewart playing through the World Cup without a contract, is it just me that has this image of "his people"?

Peretz signing feels like it will give us a massive lift. To get it done so early in the window, and particularly after all the recent shite. Super pleased. He has been a rock at the back for us since Jan. Will THB be encouraged to stay if he knows his hard work will be supported by having Boruc mk2 behind him? 🤞

Op-ed addendum: Demonising Saints and the appearance of bias 28th May 2026 Another interesting post from Saints fan Sir Nicholas Mostyn https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2026/05/28/op-ed-addendum-demonising-saints-and-the-appearance-of-bias/

Did the dates correspond with our away matches against them?! The plot thickens

Bree has been an absolute rock for months.

Never in doubt! 😁 Boro can cry their way home. Only one team really in it for most of the match

I thought I'd take a look back at our playoffs team from 2 years ago and see who we still have around: 1st Leg - Away at WBA 0-0 Played 3-5-2 McCarthy THB, Stephens Downes in centre, Manning (LWB) Subs: Stewart '72, Unused Subs: Bree, Charles, Edozie ----- 2nd leg - Home 3-1. Played 4-3-3 McCarthy THB, Stephens (RB) Downes Subs: Charles '90, Manning '66, Edozie '74 Unused Subs: Bree, Stewart ---- Final - 0-1 v Leeds Played 3-5-2 McCarthy THB, Stephens Downes Subs: Edozie 35' - 83', Manning '83 Unused: Bree, Charles, Stewart Surely it is bound to be helpful that some of the big leaders in the team have already done it once.