Ralph Fastenbüttl

It's time for Ralph to come home, perhaps grabbing Pep as his assistant on the way?

Fuck me, you can count the number of human beings who have given more of themselves to the club than Prowsey on one hand, and you've still got folk on here moaning about the fact he comes from a Pompey-supporting family. Mental. Is JWP the answer to all of our midfield problems? Nope. Can he replace Shea Charles? Definitely not? Is he the best midfielder in the whole wide world? Nah. He won't even be the best midfielder in the team. Some things do give me pause, however. He may have been treated harshly at West Ham, but he also bombed spectacularly across two separate loans, so it's safe to say he hardly arrives in glittering form. I was never really convinced of him as captain, either, and I don't think he should get the armband now. He held that title through some of the worst performing spells our club has ever seen, and while I wouldn't blame him for any of that, he clearly wasn't the guy to drag a good performance out of team mates who were struggling for confidence. But... there are definitely positives. He's cheaper for us than he would be for anyone else, and that West Ham bought him for 30m only to sell him back to us three years later for 800k is GOLDEN. He's in amazingly physical condition, he's full of energy and he will once again be the best free kick taker at the club (ahead of Manning for sure). He's always fit and available and, ultimately, he's definitely good enough to excel in the Championship.

Right, can we all stop being such miserable fucks now please?

You'd think!

It does frustrate me a bit when fitness appears to be an issue. Results aren't always easy to obtain but any club should at least be able to guarantee the fitness of its players. We got so many results under Pochettino purely thanks to our amazing fitness - sustained across the season it's basically free points.

A game and a half into the new season and folk here already predicting when the manager will be sacked. Incredible stuff.

The good news is that at least we don't have a fanbase that will rush to write off players, the squad, the manager, the owners and the season after just 90 minutes of football.

How would you know? Clutching at straws I'm afraid.

Respect for the epic profile picture, @AlexLaw76 😂

Fuck me that's good work.

*Fewer

Basingstoke?! Born and raised, though not lived there now for coming on 30 years. Will always be home, though x

Think I'm going to check out of this thread (even though this whole saga is all I can think about). I understand that folks need to cope, but this whole conspiracy whirlwind that's somehow engulfed this thread is unhealthy and, frankly, beneath us. Why aren't the club getting out and vocally 'calling out' Boro's actions? Because make believe stories about back rooms coverups would amazingly make us look even worse than we currently do. Read the report. We cheated. Systemically. On Tonda's direction. We can argue about the severity of the punishment, sure, but the idea that any force other our own stupidity is the cause of this is farcical. All we can do now is concentrate of fixing our own mess and the long, painful road to recovering from it.

How any of y'all can read that document come away thinking, "dear me, corruption is rife!" and not "fuck me, Saints are a fucking disgrace" is beyond me. This mess is of our fucking making, not Boro's or anyone else's. The sad truth is that Tonda's regime was rotten at the core.

So, as per the EFL's statement, Tonda explicitly pressured young staff (Salt) against their will spy against his will. He was uncomfortable about the moral ambiguity, but he went along with it because he feared for his job. Brilliant news all round. I am a huge Tonda advocate but sorry, it's just completely untenable. SR better fucking pay through the nose to hire in an absolute superstar replacement, I tell you.