CSA96

He did mention movement before the end of the week, but not sure if that was Roerslev or more specific to some outgoings. I felt at the start of the week that we'd sign five more before the window shuts - those five being: first choice RB, two wingers (one buy, one loan), a No. 10 and a backup GK - and I still feel like that's a realistic return

Signed before the cut-off of midday today, so presuming no paperwork issues then yes, he should be

Another interesting answer from WS on styles of play in the written section of his press conference... on Stoke being a direct, vertical team, different styles of play and which teams he enjoyed watching growing up... I just love football. The thing that's always stuck in my head goes back to the first coach that I worked with. He said that we can try to play the most beautiful football in the world, but the ultimate goal is winning - because that's what you're judged on. People say 'oh you need to play this way, or that way...' like the Southampton way or like with Sam Allardyce, the West Ham way. But what is the West Ham way? What is the Southampton way? You got relegated, so obviously there's something that doesn't work in it. Our way now is win, because that's all we have to do. You also depend on the profile of the players that you've got. You're not going to ask big physical players to play the tiki-taka that some teams want to play. Which is why when people ask 'what's your coaching philosophy?' or 'what approach do you like?' then it's just: you've got to get the best out of the players that you've got, deal with their strengths and their weaknesses with whatever squad is in front of you. Our job is just to win football games because if we don't win them then you don't get time and you get sacked. I've never been a fan of keeping possession for the sake of keeping possession. We want to be positive. As long as the players enjoy it, get a kick out of it and the fans can identify with what we're trying to do then I'll be happy. Ultimately, I'll only be happy if we win games.

Just watched the embargoed section of WS press conference - thought this bit was interesting: on Stoke being a direct, vertical team, different styles of play and which teams he enjoyed watching growing up... I just love football. The thing that's always stuck in my head goes back to the first coach that I worked with. He said that we can try to play the most beautiful football in the world, but the ultimate goal is winning - because that's what you're judged on. People say 'oh you need to play this way, or that way...' like the Southampton way or like with Sam Allardyce, the West Ham way. But what is the West Ham way? What is the Southampton way? You got relegated, so obviously there's something that doesn't work in it. Our way now is win, because that's all we have to do. You also depend on the profile of the players that you've got. You're not going to ask big physical players to play the tiki-taka that some teams want to play. Which is why when people ask 'what's your coaching philosophy?' or 'what approach do you like?' then it's just: you've got to get the best out of the players that you've got, deal with their strengths and their weaknesses with whatever squad is in front of you. Our job is just to win football games because if we don't win them then you don't get time and you get sacked. I've never been a fan of keeping possession for the sake of keeping possession. We want to be positive. As long as the players enjoy it, get a kick out of it and the fans can identify with what we're trying to do then I'll be happy. Ultimately, I'll only be happy if we win games. Stoke have been winning games, so they're obviously doing something that's working for them and is efficient. Like you said, they've scored six goals, they didn't concede in the last game and they look really good.

Not ITK but clubs don't tend to make first bids without having the willingness to make a second bid, if the player wants the move and the selling club isn't refusing to engage with the first offer

Bree and Smallbone set to return to light training next week Downs, Stewart and Fraser all available to play on Saturday

From Jacob Steinberg, the West Ham correspondent at The Guardian: Potter views Fernandes as his ideal No 8, but West Ham are not willing to meet Southampton’s asking price of £50m and will consider other options. The club are tracking Werder Bremen’s Romano Schmid and are interested in the Lens midfielder Andy Diouf. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/aug/21/transfer-latest-edson-alvarez-west-ham-bournemouth

Lawyers will have been looking at it for weeks

Adam Blackmore's section of the press conference below (newspaper section gets published at 10.30pm) on the pace of progress in the transfer window... I feel as if we've had the same conversation since the start of pre-season. It is what it is, the market is what it is. There's stuff being worked on and there is stuff moving but it's just taking longer than most of us hoped and longer than Johannes hoped as well. The situation is what it is, we're waiting and hoping to unlock things and make things happen but it is a bit of a fight at times, yes. on the frustration of waiting for new arrivals and players to leave... I'm ignoring it, to be totally honest. As difficult as that is, I'm only focusing on the players that are here, the players that want to play and want to win games for us and parking that side of things to one side of my head and letting the people upstairs crack on with that. I can't control it anyway. on trying to get players out of the club almost being more frustrating than incomings... Yes, that is moving. There will be stuff that happens before the end of the week but there's just a load of things that you have to face and a load of situations that come up and you think 'okay...' like national team coaches telling people that they need to be in first division clubs or top five leagues to be in contention and thought about for World Cups and stuff. The transfer window is what it is, it creates a load of situations. But we're working on it. There is activity within the club, it's just a complicated market at the moment, I think. on the Championship being equal to some of the top five European leagues... Yeah, that's what I don't get. But that's for other people to debate about. on Issa Kabore... Yeah, we have spoken to him. I've had quite a few players from City over the past couple of years, I've always worked well with them. He is an option, but again, we're just negotiating and trying to find a way for it to work for all parties. Issa is a good player. He's got a few qualities. It's ongoing. on Finn Azaz... We've got a new name every week, don't we? The list is long and we want good players and we're looking at good players. But we want good players in the right conditions and that are going to fit what we're trying to do, not just on a footballing level but also on those human skills. Finn's scored goals, he's a good player and he knows he is. Yeah... on whether that has been any progress on Eduard Spertsyan... Slow. It's just that people have got agendas and negotiating skills that can be difficult. We're being open and very honest with things but people tend to struggle with all of that. on whether Eberechi Eze's move opens up the market for Tyler Dibling... I don't know, I've no idea. You'd have to ask Crystal Palace, Arsenal or Tottenham. I read all of this stuff at the same moment you guys do and I saw on Sky Sports News at 8am this morning with breaking news, but yes, it is what it is. Tyler's fine by the way. He's trained really well, he's totally fine and he's relaxed. Same thing goes for Mateus. If something does happen, you'll probably know before I do! on whether MF and TD continue to be available for selection... Yes, 100 per cent. We've got a squad of 24 players that are fit and are ready to play. We know that we can only take 18 on our team sheet, so we're going to make choices about the football side of it and ignore the rest of it. Players need to be ready, they need to be fit and they need to be wanting to win football games. We'll base our decisions on training and football and not all the speculation. on Mark Robins... He's good. I'd love to have his experience and have his results after the last few years because what he did at Coventry was very good and what he's doing with Stoke is pretty impressive as well. He's turned that team into a really good football team. They've got two wins, they've qualified in the cup and they're doing things in the right way. I might say this every week but it'll be another big test for us on Saturday. We've watched them, we know what to expect and we know we'll have to be on very high levels of focus, commitment and quality to be able to get anything out of the game. on the conditions at Stoke and Mark Robins showing that at Coventry if you stick with a manager to see something through it helps in the end... I'm not going to get started on that but yes, it does take time. It's weird doing something for the moment that wasn't the initial plan or what we wanted to do, but you need to win games of football and just get on with it. If we do have a bit of time and manage to get our squad where we want it and lay the foundations that we've already started to lay and then build on that, we will be very good. It's that famous expression of 'Rome wasn't built in a day' and you need a bit of time to get things right. Stoke have done that over the last few months and he's doing well. But that's football. on the first few weeks and whether he could've asked for much more... Maybe take out the mistakes that have led to goals. But that's me being hypercritical. There was a lot more emotional stuff and psychological stuff going on that we needed to deal with first. We're still progressing, we're still working but there are glimpses of interesting things. At least we are showing that there's a backbone to what we're trying to do, we're going to stand up and we're going to be accountable. We want to be a solid team that is going to have a right go and we've shown that over the last three games. That's definitely a good starting point. We want to keep winning, we want to keep picking up points where we can but we're going to be demanding of ourselves as well, which is why we have to eradicate those mistakes and take them out. But we're getting there. on coming from behind twice to take four points... 100 per cent. The lads said it better than I did. We always chat about the game after full-time and we always debrief and go through it quickly. They said that we're getting there because three months ago we would have folded and lost three or four nil. You feel it and you see it in their body language and all the rest. Now we want to stop conceding goals because our defensive record needs to be one of the best. But at least there's a reaction there of 'we can do this' and we can be a very good football side. We're working towards it and like we just said, it takes a bit of time. on not having a midweek game and how it helps with training the team... It's vital. I think yesterday was a big session in terms of volume and intensity. We've hit really high numbers which again, the players aren't really used to in their training loads. We're getting them up to speed and we're getting them as fit as we can get them. But obviously, to work on the game and what we are trying to do is also vital. It's nice having a few days and not having to worry about too many games all at once. It's been a good week.

Here's a type up of all of Will Still's answers on transfer-related questions in the press conference just now on the pace of progress in the transfer window... I feel as if we've had the same conversation since the start of pre-season. It is what it is, the market is what it is. There's stuff being worked on and there is stuff moving but it's just taking longer than most of us hoped and longer than Johannes hoped as well. The situation is what it is, we're waiting and hoping to unlock things and make things happen but it is a bit of a fight at times, yes. on the frustration of waiting for new arrivals and players to leave... I'm ignoring it, to be totally honest. As difficult as that is, I'm only focusing on the players that are here, the players that want to play and want to win games for us and parking that side of things to one side of my head and letting the people upstairs crack on with that. I can't control it anyway. on trying to get players out of the club almost being more frustrating than incomings... Yes, that is moving. There will be stuff that happens before the end of the week but there's just a load of things that you have to face and a load of situations that come up and you think 'okay...' like national team coaches telling people that they need to be in first division clubs or top five leagues to be in contention and thought about for World Cups and stuff. The transfer window is what it is, it creates a load of situations. But we're working on it. There is activity within the club, it's just a complicated market at the moment, I think. on the Championship being equal to some of the top five European leagues... Yeah, that's what I don't get. But that's for other people to debate about. on Issa Kabore... Yeah, we have spoken to him. I've had quite a few players from City over the past couple of years, I've always worked well with them. He is an option, but again, we're just negotiating and trying to find a way for it to work for all parties. Issa is a good player. He's got a few qualities. It's ongoing. on Finn Azaz... We've got a new name every week, don't we? The list is long and we want good players and we're looking at good players. But we want good players in the right conditions and that are going to fit what we're trying to do, not just on a footballing level but also on those human skills. Finn's scored goals, he's a good player and he knows he is. Yeah... on whether that has been any progress on Eduard Spertsyan... Slow. It's just that people have got agendas and negotiating skills that can be difficult. We're being open and very honest with things but people tend to struggle with all of that. on whether Eberechi Eze's move opens up the market for Tyler Dibling... I don't know, I've no idea. You'd have to ask Crystal Palace, Arsenal or Tottenham. I read all of this stuff at the same moment you guys do and I saw on Sky Sports News at 8am this morning with breaking news, but yes, it is what it is. Tyler's fine by the way. He's trained really well, he's totally fine and he's relaxed. Same thing goes for Mateus. If something does happen, you'll probably know before I do! on whether MF and TD continue to be available for selection... Yes, 100 per cent. We've got a squad of 24 players that are fit and are ready to play. We know that we can only take 18 on our team sheet, so we're going to make choices about the football side of it and ignore the rest of it. Players need to be ready, they need to be fit and they need to be wanting to win football games. We'll base our decisions on training and football and not all the speculation.

Will Still on Issa Kabore... Yeah, we have spoken to him. I've had quite a few players from City over the past couple of years, I've always worked well with them. He is an option, but again, we're just negotiating and trying to find a way for it to work for all parties. Issa is a good player, he's got a few qualities. It's ongoing.

Fernandes...

And he f*cking hates Pompey 👏 👏 👏

Dom Shaw, Middlesbrough correspondent for the Northern Echo: "Southampton have bid - suggestions are that what they have bid won't get a deal done. Indications are if Southampton were to reach around the £12m mark, there's a chance that would do a deal. It could progress quite quickly."

Miguel Delaney saying that Tottenham have now approached us for Dibling

West Ham ITK exWHUEmployee's most recent update: “West Ham and Southampton are still miles apart in their valuations of the player. The club have denied reports that they have bid £40m and have said that this is far too much for him, but Southampton are said to be looking for around £50m for the player. “It is thought that West Ham’s offer currently sits at £32m with a few clauses on top. Unless one party seriously budges, it looks like a deal will be hard to conclude. We are looking at inserting various add-ons to try and get closer to the price but there is still a long way to go.”

Eze to Spurs is agreed, apparently. Palace are looking at Dibling to come in, according to talkSPORT

If it wasn't an issue with Archer a year ago, as you say, then why would it be one now?