gio1saints

Johannesburg makes the ultimate call who we buy. That’s been made clear. It’s a committee but he is prints inter pares it seems

No Will Still. Personal issues. Paul Trollope instead.

Here in good time. Just got time to brush up my question on the beer temperatures at half time. #critical

Rudoni is valued as at least £10M. Fits our profile for sure. Coventry will probably want north of £15m for him. Especially from us. Think they paid £5m only last summer. Given the above I imagine Saints offer was something like £8m-£9m plus promotion bonuses. And with this story and the Fellowes one doesn’t it look for all the world like we are trying to get the Tyler replacement in and cheaply BEFORE the world knows we just trousered £40m+ for him and we start getting quoted Tyler Dibling inflated prices? If he remains fit, plays (well) and we go in with c £12m plus up to £3m from sone promotion clauses we might get a deal..

Is that really question you’d like asked yourself because you don’t know the answer? I’m going tonight but wonder if that’s a useful question. I’m sure they would say they are working on it and that’s that. For a question asked to be worthwhile has to be one in which they cannot trot out a standard approved answer without even having to think. They are not going to reveal “state secrets “ - they are not going to reveal who is leaving they are not going to say what the most they will spend is on a player they will not commit to a final points tally or position or even formation or playing style unless it’s the generic “ attacking and pressing” answer. Shouting at them for last years failures will only make you look stupid. Criticising SR for last year - fine- but it’s not a question it’s just a rant. Im considering the following though re SR : Preamble: “Last year the club was unprepared and uncompetitive in every footballing way possible” Actual question : What specific management and player performance evaluation measures have you installed to ensure that will not recur - or if it does it’s identified quicker and appropriate action taken. Follow up : My view is that as much as it was Russell Martins team it was obvious that the support and advice he received was inadequate or incompetent or both. There’s been changes but what truthfully have the Board learned?

Go to main sfc app log in and look in your purchases. Yeah I know it should be on the ticketing app but it’s not. Use that screen to get in.

I think Sesay and hope possibly Sanda will play this season - certainly cup games - but depending on injuries and suspensions league games also. Sesay has done very well in preseason and he may be a surprise starter v Wrexham if Flynn is not quite ready. I’m delighted we have two 18 year olds that able to play. If Will and Joe and Mateus leave ( all possibles) certainly in short term Sesay is going to get minutes and I hope he does- and thrives. It’s not inconceivable that Sanda is tried as a DCM also.

Everton apparently enquiring to Nan City about a season long loan for Grealish. That’s got to be an alternative to Tyler not as well as. Letting the news out might / more than likely is, a negotiation ploy to encourage Saints to agree a deal. That’s my take on it anyway. IF so - it shows what kind of high level performers Tyler is being compared to. And why his fee set so high.

He is still under contract to Barca until 2026 but is into final year and they are happy for him to go- one way or another. Been linked with another spell at Girona but also Real Oviedo. Via Grok. And he caught up with the squad when we were in Spain recently. He’s fit and capable and would be an excellent squad player - especially if we are playing a double six - ( Shea and Flynn or Shea and Sesay or add Will Smallbone if you must) which is his best position as a more defensively minded midfield enforcer. Given the number of games and injuries and suspensions likely to that #6 position he’d certainly be getting some games in and with his experience ( and steel) be really developmental to most of the squad id say. I vote yes please.

In theory the transfer window also encourages football clubs to think more strategically. Planning ahead is important in any business - and football IS a business. That approach was not very well understood or considered relevant to many professional football teams way back then - when chairmen and owners were usually locals who supported the club & the community in general. A socio-economic phenomenon of its time. It has grandfathered since then and today it’s big business run by often international organisations. These want reliability, consistency and plan-ability more than anything else. Planning for profit. Window is good for that. Sone people, myself included, argue that this artificially imposed buying and selling deadline now harms poorer clubs and by consequence harms grass roots football ~ more than it supports it. And needs upgrading/improvement. Footballers are human beings- not something you can optimally assemble on a production line in time for the next deadline for delivery. This system breeds inefficiency accordingly. Inevitably the prime ambition of a lower league club - let’s say Scunthorpe is not to win matches but to unearth a 17year star. That’s not what we want lower league football to be ALL about surely? Will a Scunthorpe ever rise to the EPL under the current rules? No. Or very very unlikely. Anything that improves competitiveness and the ability of lower league clubs to ascend is a good thing. I don’t think the current transfer window does that any more- if it ever did. And no I do not offer an alternative just pointing out current system needs improvement.

The Will Still comments on Gavin are NOT a glowing endorsement. They’re the kind of comment you would make if you did not want to say anything bad but do not have much on the upside. Because they are NOT a glowing endorsement either Will Still does not do glowing endorsements ( he does- see Sesay) or he is of the school if you not got anything good to say say nothing(much). Referencing recent matches as “ proof” does not fool anyone either. Gav made maybe 3 saves let 3 in was it? It’s not proof it’s a figleaf to enable us to suspend disbelief until he finally sorts out this goalie position. Seems to me Still plays his cards close to his chest , is potentially effing ruthless and his heart is most definitely not on his sleeve. It’s in his head. Good. Gav will start Wrexham but will Gav still start by windows end if he lets in a bad one or two ? Because most pundits would agree Johannesson is certainly >or better than GB.

Interesting if Will starts any of those. I really liked the shape we finished the Brighton match with. IF that’s going to be our default shape (3cb’s plus 2wing backs plus 2 sixes,) then the only improvement I can see is in changing the front three around - because all the others seem effective in those roles. A front two with a new recruit #10 is something they may have in mind ..

My best team so far plays 3CB with two aggressively attacking wingbacks a double six, our new striker, our best old striker and our boy wonder: Bazunu Ronnie. Stephens. Quarshie. Sugawara. Welington Sesay. Charles Armstrong Downs Robinson Subs : Alex, Wood, Manning, Bree, Fraser, Archer, Stewart, & any two not tactically or genuinely injured/ being protected. If starts I’m putting ££ on Sugawara / Downs to score!

Thank you @Holmes_and_Watson- I think my ( some consider pompous and self indulgent - others more kindly simply foolish) impulse to help others has its origin, like so many, in early formative years. Partly that - and partly an ever-on acute awareness of my neurodiversity and its manifestation by being very willing to spend time considering the alternates to the “status quo” position. Quite often that’s seen me espousing unpopular minority views and positions here. Some might say being a saints fan is the perfect example of supporting an unpopular minority view - but the irony of other saints fans roasting a fellow supporter for same is quite probably lost on most!

I think it’s the context - not many teams have a shiny new EPL stadium to fill and justify by winning matches this year. Everton do. They will fill the stadium but will they win matches? They couldn’t beat us at SMS last year so a big stadium filled with disgruntled supporters “ starved” of winning and of star quality players may not be pleasant. Having a couple new box office players - like Tyler- is at least some way to moderating the downsides. Albeit v expensive way.

Everton would love a new Rooney/box office star. I guess they see Tyler may be that. He may just as easily be Tottenham’s new Paul Gascoigne…

I don’t think this thread is much about him anymore. It’s about the pain and shame many supporters felt last season. Currently personified in him. The anger can reside long after initial cause has passed. Today, this, (and the match day thread ) are an easily accessible meeting place for people to release / manage that anger ( or disgust/sense of betrayal/ hatred ) It is probably doing a good job. It’s not a technical critique thread as much as an emotional outlet thread for Martin-sufferers. Martin= is still anger & shame for some, and those are very real and hurtful emotions even if he is long gone. And people like me, instead of attempting to deny the validity of those emotions by “ arguing” that he was not as bad as people make out, should really take a slice of humble pie and understand that is not the way to deal with iT. Denying the validity of people’s anger does nothing but further grievance and dig upset deeper. If posting on this thread makes people better able to cope then, wether it’s the invective aimed at Russell, the emoji derision or the ❤️backslapping of anger filled posts - or whatever it is - if it helps Saints fans reconcile to the present then as long as it’s legal - go ahead! 😇

I do hope we’ve used Everton to flush out Spurs or even Newcastle as you say @Gloucester Saint. Spurs minus creative talents of Maddison -and Son - leaves a Tyler Dibling sized gap. They might be in need of a new, creative, Paul Gascoigneseque star I’d say. Thinking box office type player. They did a fine job with Bale anyways so might be an easy sell by the owner - to Tyler and his family - it’s just could we screw enough money out of him…🤞

I think he’s currently on £5k pw. That was from when his transfer value was £1.7m. Im unsure what a player valued at £45m package gets paid in salaries these days- does £100k pw on a 4 year deal sound right? Too little? Too high? Anywhere he goes the Kid essentially wins £20m+ just by signing his name. Does not even need to be any good anymore either once the signature is there. Just what is the fucking point eh? What’s the motivation once you’ve got all that and you are still essentially a child? He’s won nothing achieved nothing yet he’s an instant multimillionaire. I’m sure that’s the biggest thing his family are worried about and I hope he’s encouraged to mature further at SFC rather than go that other route. He WILL be an International he WILL play at a very high level. He’s literally only 18 years old ( 19 soon). Mature and get grounded at Saints is what I hope he does.

That’s An unsubstantiated rumour I’m afraid.

Will Saints have a team where all the starters are at the apex of their form ever again? Time after time we sell anything that’s got a whiff of a chance of playing CL or top EPL quicker than you can say “ player trading organisation”. I don’t want us to sell Tyler or Mateus. Keep them ffs. Make a special team not a special P&L account this year please. It pisses me right off. If We just somehow managed to keep all the talents together for a while we might just breakthrough. As it is we are just a feeder club, like the ancient Maya - sacrificing our best children every year to the Gods ( the big teams) in the belief we’ll have a good harvest. It’s a fucking death cult, a racket. oh - and SR I buy my ticket to see the talents and the hopes - not the accounts. Fill the team with mediocrities soon enough your spreadsheets will look same.

Saints 2025-2026 17 home wins 12 away wins 10 draws 7 defeats Gls scored : 76 Gls against : 46 Plus 30 GD 97 points: Automatic/play-offs. Joshua Quarshie : POTS Jay Robinson : YPOTS Championship team of the season : 4 players : Quarshie, Edwards, Charles, Downs. Pompey matches : home draw, away win : 4 points.

Wrexham play a fairly regular 4-4-2. Brighton played 4 at the back but was something like 4-2-2-2 with double sixes (holding/defensive MF’s) ahead of the back four. First half they stumped us but second half Saturday a reversion to 3CB’s plus two wingbacks worked. Perhaps we will start with that v Wrexham as our starting Brighton set up seemed too passive. We looked much more aggressive with the flying wingbacks both sides. And Ronnie, Stephens and Quarshie should be able to hold that back line even with balls played into the wide spaces - neither Ronnie nor Joshua are slow!

We shouldn’t. BUT if Flynn wants a chance of a medal and European football and does not find the thought of another slog in the Championship all that appealing AND Rangers pay him well ( which they probably cannot) and can afford him ( which they probably cannot) then it’s a possible. Plus this niggle he’s got at a funny time. Probably nothing but I do have a flag raised in my mind on him.

Ok have it your way. He’s been linked with Rangers can’t see it happening. Happy now?