CSA96

Banner on the app saying there’s a special Puma event at SMS on July 16, presumably that’ll be the home kit launch Would make sense, as it’s exactly a month before the PL season begins and three days before the first game of preseason Also from a Puma marketing perspective, will be two days after the Euros has finished

https://twitter.com/official_ncfc/status/1807719586965369019?s=46&t=f0hgNyKSvvOD5qjGLJhsXQ

So, now it's July 1 that means Stuart Armstrong and Ché Adams are now officially no longer Saints players and are on the free agent market. Meanwhile. Taylor Harwood-Bellis is now officially contract to Saints, as is Adam Lallana

Very reliable Tottenham correspondent

Daily Record - exclusive: Celtic braced for Matt O'Riley transfer bid that could smash record fee, as Southampton prepare £20m offer with incentives https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/celtic-braced-matt-oriley-transfer-33139316 Southampton are ready to make a £20million summer bid for Celtic midfield star Matt O’Riley. The English Premier League new boys are set to make the huge bid, with future add-ons included that would potentially take the deal past Celtic’s record sales in the region of £25m for Kieran Tierney and Jota. The Parkhead outfit would stand to get the further payments if Southampton were to remain in the top flight, and depending on future successes for the club and O’Riley. Saints boss Russell Martin is a big fan of the midfielder, having worked with him at MK Dons. Since then, O’Riley has moved north and blossomed into one of Celtic’s key players. Southampton won’t pay over the odds because of financial fair play constraints as Martin looks to build a squad that will make them competitive in the English Premiership. The Danish international was a stand-out for the Hoops as they lifted the double last season. He signed a new deal in October and has already attracted some major interest. Spanish giants Atletico Madrid made a move in January but the loan-to-buy deal was turned down. Italian side Inter have also been long-term admirers and there are a number of other clubs who are watching his situation closely. O’Riley was disappointed to miss out on the Denmark squad for Euro 2024, which they exited at the weekend after losing 2-0 to hosts Germany.

Alan Nixon (I know...) has put a piece out, tagged as an exclusive, saying Saints are keen on Liam Delap if Ché Adams goes. Been interested quite a while now and says RM is keen to have a strong runner and someone who can hold the ball up, if CA does leave. Man City willing to sell for £10m but top Champ sides struggling to meet asking price.

Happy last weekend before preseason starts, everyone

I was wondering that too. Maybe it's so that it can be an open flow round the stadium pre-game but then they can put in temporary partitions shortly before KO and after games where they anticipate some aggro, so they get the away fans in/out without a flow of Saints fans or marching away fans through the home support. Edit: just re-read your message and realise you mean they don't touch the pavement! Fair question too

Saw these pics of some of the work getting under way at St Mary's earlier this week (from @sfcwxl on Twitter)

To be fair, if Saints have managed to get THB, Downes, Taylor, Lallana and a new contract for the manager all sorted in the first week of preseason, that's unusually quick movement from the club. Especially given there's been talk about DeCordova-Reid coming in once his contract expires too. Hopefully once we've picked up the frees we want, we'll know what else we still need and move on to the other permanent signings which we will need to pay out for.

Yeah, I am kind of hoping someone is coming on loan and McCarthy is getting an extra, second year in return for not being the #1

Yes but you can sack the manager, Saints couldn't/weren't going to sack Forster. And they are extending his deal by one year. Not four or five.

Hmm, maybe I am conflating the disabled spaces with the bike spaces? Tbf that might make more sense, those bike racks on the Kingsland side of the ground have never looked overly full to me (Kingsland STH)

So in an ordinary job with a bonus structure etc, if you were told 'these are your targets' and you hit all of your targets for the year, including the main one, which netted your employer a huge financial windfall - you would then expect not to get the bonus/pay rise? Ok. They've basically just refreshed his deal. Replaced the one year that's expired and then given him a pay rise, while boosting any potential compensation if another club decided to take him. That is totally prudent from Parsons etc and suggests we actually have some sensible decision makers nowadays.

More from The Guardian on West Ham/KWP/Downes: Julen Lopetegui, who is interested in the Southampton full-back Kyle Walker-Peters has made signing a centre-back a priority and Kilman is top of his list. ... Ipswich have agreed a deal to sign Ben Johnson, the versatile full-back, on a free from West Ham. Lopetegui needs cover for Emerson Palmieri and Vladimir Coufal in both full-back positions and is looking at Walker-Peters, who has a year left on his deal, and the Manchester United right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka. David Moyes, Lopetegui’s predecessor, was not convinced about moving for Walker-Peters, who can play at left-back and right-back. But West Ham, who are also searching for a striker, remain interested in Walker-Peters and there have been talks with Southampton, who want to sign Flynn Downes on a permanent deal. Downes spent last season on loan at Southampton, playing a key role in their promotion to the Premier League, and West Ham want to sell the midfielder.

from the West Ham correspondent from The Guardian

Why would it bite you on the arse? If you have to sack a manager, you have to sack a manager. What would bite you on the arse is if you didn't renegotiate his terms, he does well and then you lose him for bugger all to someone else or you have to go through a season of 'your contract is up at the end of this season' chat in every press conf.

Spotted this from THB in 2022, which is nice. Had passed me by that they would know each other quite well

Think it's quite possible given KWP has just 1yr on deal and I find it hard to believe anyone is paying over £20m for a guy with one year left, who spent last season in the Championship and the year before that getting relegated and turns 28 during the season. Downes is three years younger and Saints clearly desperate for him + West Ham have him locked into a longer contract, so it gives them more negotiating room.

Reported from Poland that Jakub Moder will go from Brighton to Leicester, with Kieran Dewsbury-Hall going the other way

One thing that seems to get overlooked with Romano is that it's obviously completely unrealistic that any journalist has enough contacts all over the world to know about all of this stuff and all of these transfers, managerial appointments and executive moves - all happening at the same time. If you look at who he follows on social media, he follows tonnes of other journalists (who aren't mainstream/visible to most football fans) and then rewords and amplifies their info. Like with this Brazilian journalist who has been in the lead on the Lyanco stuff. Most people won't ever spot/care about that, but given the amount of time and effort that goes into building relationships with people in football, there's no way one journalist can ever have this many contacts. It's why when you see Romano and the likes of David Ornstein or John Percy contradicting each other, you can assume that Romano is wrong. As with the Steve Cooper stuff and a couple of other things this summer so far. You're right though that now his audience has grown so large, agents and clubs will leak info to him when it suits them. Definitely lots of feeding going on. He also has a very busy agent of his own, who is making sure to maximise his earnings while he has online fame. So on one hand, fair play to him but on the other hand, you're totally right that it's a false economy and there's lots of nonsense going on now.

Friday, July 19: Eastleigh v Saints Wednesday, July 24: Bordeaux v Saints Saturday, July 27: Montpellier v Saints Bordeaux and Montpellier games to be played behind closed doors during a week-long training camp in Spain. https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/saints-start-pre-season-against-spitfires-before-trip-to-spain