CSA96

Not sure where else to put this but... Wolves sacking Rob Edwards:

He's said he's taking a break from football and isn't taking another job this season

More quotes from Solak today speaking to Alfie House in the Echo re: the club's financial situation and why he's feeling positive about the outlook Summarising the figures he disclosed in the interview below, as I know they pop up in discussions from time to time and it might be handy to reference them -- 2025/26 season, just gone: £45m repaid in bank loans, £57m paid in transfer fee instalments Current status going into next season... BANK LOANS (Covid loan taken under Gao) June 2025 - balance: £90m owed in bank loans June 2026 - balance: £45m owed in bank loans TRANSFERS June 2025 - balance: £99m owed in transfer fee instalments June 2026 - balance: £42m owed in transfer fee instalments -- He also called out that the club hasn't been budgeting operational costs with the parachute payment money, so the final payment of £40m for the 2026/27 season will be directed to the Covid loan The impact of that would bring the bank loan balance to £5m which he anticipates clearing in a year's time, making the club debt-free at that point Other talking points from the latest quotes: - Solak is not concerned on transfer payments, as instalments are commonplace and our receivables outweigh our payables - He called out that the wage bill is still far beyond a normal Championship wage bill, this is a legacy situation where our former PL players received a % pay cut upon relegation, but that pay cut is never going to reduce them all the way to 'normal' Championship salaries, otherwise why would a player sign the agreement - If the club is in the Championship still for 27/28 then Solak will still expect a top four finish and the budget given to the sporting director and manager will match that and still be better the vast majority of the league (minus the parachute clubs) - He has never seen a penny of the parachute payment funds as they've always gone to servicing the debt directly - Said that the Covid loan (interest rate approx 9.2% which was £7.2m per year against the value in year 1) and the almost £250m outlay on players in the two seasons where we got relegated have been the biggest obstacles since he took control of the club at the start of 2022 - 'We have some business developments that will come in next year, and we want to further develop the whole commercial side of the business' - Said he has personally been leading those bigger projects since he took the chairmanship a year ago

Got my refund over a week ago and had a phone call yesterday from the ticket office to process the return of the booking fee

It remains a work of art

Too young for the Stuart Taylor announcement?

It's been said before but since people are still going on about it for some reason... AC Milan want Rangnick to come in as a director, not as the coach. Pochettino, Glasner and whichever other coaches have nothing to do with the possibility of Rangnick going in as a director at Milan and hiring Spors to work with him and oversee the football dept

Part of me is surprised he’d drop to L1 when his last job in England had him getting promoted to the PL and the other part of me thinks it makes some sense It should be straightforward enough to get Leicester promoted and that will mean he gets a 12 month run up to playing in the Championship again, during which team he’ll have been able to teach his style of play etc against lower calibre opponents with much less in terms of resources. Leicester is one of the biggest/best non-PL clubs in terms of stature and infrastructure, even while they’re down in L1

He also got injured while working for us, then had a bunch of connected injuries, which players often lay at their rehab. We've rushed/pushed him too much a couple of times too It's just business. He is nearly 30 and this is gonna be his last 'big' contract, he needs to get it right and he needs to get some security for himself too

Šolak: I think the Daniel signing is a statement. I hope that in the next couple of days that we will have more that will show that very early in the window, actually even before the window opens I think, that we are showing that we mean serious business.

Could we sell him to United and get Wilcox to loan him back to us for a year?

Solak says he has authorised the signing of a top player who can be creative and help Finn Azaz, as right now all of our creative reliance in midfield is on Azaz and if he's having a quiet game we don't have anyone else. Having another player like that will help, we can play the two together and/or rotate them Otherwise, he says that business this summer will be based on signing direct replacements for any players who leave. Happy with squad size and team showed last season what they are capable of, so doesn't feel it needs a huge overhaul like in previous years

Dragan Solak speaking to Adam Blackmore today: We are not in the Premier League, where we hoped to be. But we still have done absolutely great work this season to show that we are ready to play top level football. I hope that we can pick up from there and continue this next season. When I think about everything, I'll use a very simple parallel: I think about my family. I love Southampton and as long as I am at the helm, I consider Southampton to be my family. If your family, your son or daughter, they do something wrong, I would never try to help them to get away with it. But if they are willing to accept that they did do something wrong, if they paid their price, then what else can you do? It's still your family and you're not going to disregard that you have a son or a daughter because they made a mistake and did something really wrong in their life. We accept that we did wrong. We will learn from this, we will make sure that we never, ever again repeat that. But after that, we accept it and we move on. Obviously now, I am going to do everything I possibly can to repair and make the damage less and to try to even build on this so that we emerge as a better, stronger and more respectful club.

Available now

I think for some months now it's been reported that Ross wanted a 2yr deal, but Saints wanted a 1yr renewal. Sounds like they hit an impasse and Saints were planning to just use the 1yr option to keep hold of him. And now it's tied up in legal stuff We might have to go back to the negotiating table and flex our stance a bit if we really want to keep him (or maybe he will do some flexing too)

Dragan Šolak on Ross Stewart's future: “We had to initiate the [one year] option up to five days after the last game of the season, and we were out of the five days when our final got cancelled. "When we knew there was no last game, we immediately sent the notice of the extension, but his lawyers say that they're disagreeing with us. "Ultimately, it's on Ross and his team to basically decide whether they want to stay or not. In my opinion, nobody would be better for Ross than us. "We worked hard to allow him physically to show how good he is. He went from a guy who didn't play for two years to be invited to the World Cup team. "I'm really proud of that. If he wants to try his luck somewhere else, I can't stop him, but I would love to have him back. We have made an effort to keep him."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0nqcflb https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/26170108.southampton-owner-solak-opens-spygate-transfers-finances/?ref=twtrec

BBC confirming the fee to get Larin from Mallorca was £2.5m

Cyle Larin on Tonda Eckert: "I came to Southampton and I trusted the coach, he brought me and gave me that trust to go play free and I think he gave the whole team a structure to play free and trust each other.” “Southampton is a big club and, for me, a Premier League club but before coming when watching the games and the style of play when Tonda came, and speaking to him before I came, was an important decision. “He gave me that trust to be able to go on the field and, first of all, know I'm going to play games and play minutes and do what I do, score goals and just help the team and build up, hold the ball, and all these things that I knew I could do. “That was important and I think he was a big part of the team doing so well. You could see he brought a group of guys together and was able to perform at a high level each and every game.”

£10m spent on securing Peretz and Larin, just a couple of days after Solak went on the club channels and publicly promised to keep backing the club and put a team together that can go for automatic promotion. Fair fucks

Saints sign Cyle Larin to two-year deal: https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/saints-confirm-permanent-cyle-larin-signing

Saints sign Larin on 2yr deal

He's coming back