Dragon_man

So our near first team squad needs penalties to be beat a league 2 team at home.

Looks like Luton's owners are the sharpest tools in the toolbox.

Like our finishing you mean. haha.

Even with a big name manager it was always going to be hard to keep this team up. Its decayed too much, one transfer window and a little over half a season is probably too short a timeframe to save it. I'm guessing SR have an eye on costs and accept the likelihood of the championship next year. Hard to see a quality striker joining with the reasonable expectation of being in the championship next season. Questions now are really about the championship next year. Who will we lose and who will we keep? I'm guessing KWP, JWP, ABK and Salisu are sure fire departures. Tino, Lavia, Perraud may also be targets. SR will want to recover some of the recent outlays. Jones will be back to where he is now, leading a team looking for promotion, though arguably in a better position than Luton are now and with a much higher salary I'm sure. Be somewhat ironic if Luton get promoted and we go down ...

Resigned from minister without portfolio. What do you do if you weren't doing anything and resign from doing that to do ... something less? Think this 3rd departure is his first resignation, the other two departures were firings. Hope he isn't collecting payoffs like Mourinho. You just can't bury some bartstewards. Perhaps a stake through the heart next time

We could well be like Stoke soon

Wonder what the players feel? Hard to see JWP thinking 'here's someone who can really develop my game through his top flight experience of working with real talent'

Good news is we can unbudget season tickets for next year, unless we want an away day in Luton of course. Beginning to wonder if the Saints is some form of money laundering cover, i.e write down $150m through relegation to 'clean' some dirty money somewhere else in the group. Sale of the ground next ala Derby, Coventry and Wrexham ...

Just got back. Call me a bed wetter if you like, but I really do think this is the year we go down. SR aren't going to chop Ralph. We aren't going to get a striker in January that saves our bacon. It'll either be a youngster or a has been. Neither will settle in quick enough to rescue the season. The ship sailed this past summer and the script was written then. I'm not sure there's much that can be done. Its no longer bad luck as Ralph would have you believe. It's a systematic pattern. Luck comes when we get the odd win. For me it's caution to the wind time. Really does need a shake up, but SR will not do that. I don't see any points from Newcastle and Liverpool. Bottom three in 2 week's time. Chickens, roost etc.

Semmens isn't here for the fans. That's blindingly obvious. His goal is to avoid relegation and sell players to preferably make money and/or at least reinvest to stay in the premiership. End of. In some ways that's realistic. Until a Middle East sheik or US billionaire comes along, that's as good as it gets. However, he could have a strategy to try and get that so that we could truly develop. Alternatively we could be more aggressive and hope to do a Leicester. Some ambition can pay off ... Brighton, Fulham, Brentford are looking promising. Not just results, but more exciting and consistent play. I believe SR, Semmens and RH will be happy to avoid relegation, hence no action on changes. They probably believe that's very doable too, even from this position. No burning platform for them, especially as our fans are unlikely to make any noise about it. So for us fans, that's about it. As they have more or less said - Suck it up or Foxtrot Oscar.

Liz Truss is in need of a spin doctor, get your application in!

Some serious rivals in there. Both Shefields, all the brummies, Newcastle and Sunderland. Knows how to make friends! If he came to Marys he'd be off the other lot straight after.

It's the perfect storm. - Poor squad - Deflated talisman - No striker - Manger out of ideas - Inept CEO - New owners inexperienced with these issues - a tolerant fanbase reluctant to protest Where's the leadership going to come from?

He's cruising and taking it easy. If he really wanted silverware during his career he would have made it clear he wants to leave this summer. He won't really develop any more here. Saints should also have cashed in, that's the model isn't it?

True, that would be a much bigger challenge than he's used to.

I believe his 4 are: - MBE - WC winners medal - Golden jubilee medal (by virtue of being a royal) - Platinum jubilee medal (ditto) Surprised he didn't add his waitrose card.

Its probably a good job the Brentford game was postponed. I always thought these three games would tell us what we need to know. We lost two of them to teams who themselves aren't at the races. if we'd lost all 3, I suspect Ralph may have got his P45. I fear were starting one our dismal runs early. Loosing is one thing, but the manner is another. Need a new manager with new ideas to get the nest out of the new players alongside our established better ones. I don't get the AMN comment from Ralph, what does that do for the lad's confidence? Can't get in a team that's woeful ...

1-0. All part of the plan

Bednarek in goal hopefully, we'd give permission for that in the circumstances!

It says a lot that Chelsea didn't knock on our door asking about Ralph. Wasn't Potter the Ralph successor that Semmens alluded to earlier this year?

That keep kick free kick was bizarre. And not playing g advantage when KWP was on his way was unforgiveable.

No killer instinct today. If we had progressed as a team it's these sorts if games we should be winning. Wolves weren't great from what I could tell (was in row A which doesn't give a great overview of the game, we're in row FF at St Marys) Standard saints overall though TBH. Bottom half performance, Bottom 6 on points run rate so far, but I still think we'll be safe overall. Cameos from the new guys and they looked lively. Agree with others - AA, Diallo and Mo need to be retired to the bench (or B team. Too ineffective and inconsistent). After seeing MOTD, I fear for The Brentford game next Saturday.

No new striker is a real dissapointment. Only had 3 months FFS. If AA, Che or Marra get injured were screwed. Event if they say fit, we have limited options for rotation. It's a lot on those three shoulders, especially as AA doesn't really know where the net is, Che will only get 6-8 goals realistically and Marra is somewhat of an unknown at this level. Have to hope these two city boys who've never played at the top level will turn out to be OK. Caleta-car looks good swap for Bednarek.

Indeed it would, success would breed success. I don't think Semmens sees it that way. You'd have to spend a lot and it would be high risk to get into Europe. Though there is prize money benefit in higher finishing positions, I think our club isn't really bothered whether its 8th or 17th. For the avoidance of doubt though, I think we need a striker and would be more comfortable with additional cover in other areas. But without that, I still think we'll stay up.

The peaks and troughs won't change no matter who we may buy today 😂 Need a new manager for that 'feature' to change. from the performances we've seen, I think there's been enough business to keep us up (barring any 'name' departures of course). Club strategy is to stay up, grow talent, sell on and reinvest to stay up. It's not about silverware or long term movement towards top 10 or top 6 status. On that basis, further spend may not be economically beneficial (unless it fits the young talent proforma)