Gloucester Saint

It needs to be phased out unless the spectator cannot be physically moved onto the concourse safely. There’s not any more or less of them than there used to be, I saw a few at SMS when I had a ST.

McCarthy finishes summer 2026 unless the club are stupid enough to give him another extension because he’s a ‘good lad’ as they’ve just done with Stephens. Bazunu would have one year left, subsidised loan to league 1 won’t hurt financially if we’ve got promoted again.

Did Bowen not like the band or your friend’s vocals?

The two replacement wingbacks should bring a bit more energy and both are better at crossing the ball. Bree and Taylor are better defensively, albeit you wouldn’t have known it in the first 10-15 minutes.

EDIT - you meant Still. Re Smallbone…. He saw that at Stoke, then two years ago as well. He still looks like the upright brush in our kitchen dustpan set. Wasted the last two summers when he should’ve been on protein shakes and weights before pre-season. Ralph kicked JWP up the arse about having a Tyro League physique and mindset, hence going on to shithouse Zaha so wonderfully. No such discipline around the club these days. Will has ability but locks you into 4-5-1 as he can’t tackle - as he just showed yet again as if Still wouldn’t have learned from the last minute of rage season v Arsenal - and doesn’t track back. Club of dunces.

Wellington should get a run second half, and whatever Sugawara’s defensive awfulness, he certainly knows how to put good crosses in. Wouldn’t be surprised if the manager wants new signings in wing-back and the wings.

Charles has looked tidy, other than that, really poor even given it’s the first friendly. Eastleigh should do alright this season.

It must be absolutely boiling in those stands - today is not a day for the sauce pre and post-match either.

I think it’s more a case of ‘anyone but Bazunu’ and probably McCarthy to an extent as well.

Smallbone booked for a foul 😂😂

Sat on a table opposite Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher at a Turkish cafe just off Marylebone High St not far from my office at the time circa 2010.

Er, minus Fernandes and the departed KWP that ‘w’ word could be a barrier with group of players. They’re none too keen on it you see.

If it’s a hot as it is here in Gloucestershire it will not encourage a pressing game. Mind you, these players will have taken Still’s comments that there doesn’t need to be much of an overhaul to take their foot off the gas. Actually, that’s not right, they never put their foot on it in the first place. The new manager is seeing what we saw last season.

And further back - Fraser Forster, McCarthy’s previous extension which was on whopping wages, Hurlock, Branfoot. Only times in living memory we’ve made better decisions is when there’s been proper football pedigree and experience in the building - Bates, Lawrie, Hoddle, WGS, Pardew, Ronald. SR are rank amateurs even worse than Askham and Lowe. The club always thinks it knows better but it never has - we forgot more about football and their own club in the time it took to type this post than anyone in SR will ever learn. Watch Smallbone and Bazunu new contracts next - they are that clueless.

Still is very wet behind the ears. Plenty of other ex-managers have been taken in by Jack though.

He’d purr-fur not to talk about it.

As a forward though, one can go in off your shin, the fans cheer, then another at a level you know you get another one next game when you’re picked again and the confidence could return in the rest of your game. Remember how Ricardo Fuller came back off loan, a brace v Cardiff, turned it around for part of a season before being sold to Stoke. Harder for keepers and defenders in many ways.

Stewart is a fitness risk though. Incredible comeback late last season, earned a ton of respect from me for that after almost 3 years out. I’d see him like we did David Connolly in 11/12 - runs of games and important goals/assists, runs of injury niggles and absences - but if he can have a similar level of output to that, maybe a few more games than David, than he’ll be well worth having around. You can’t assume or rely on it in transfer planning though, he’s a welcome bonus. Connolly had a lot more Champ experience than Stewart had though having said all that. So AA will need replacing if he goes. BBD you could argue has been superseded by Downs but BBD has the Champ experience right now, plus I’m not sure that unless Wrexham don’t think J Rod will last a season and Hardie needs a different type of partner, that he’s got much of a market (BBD) after three rank spells at clubs. I think he’s better than he’s shown but needs to be much fitter, the Martin regime really wasn’t for him.

Forest also promoted to Europa. Not the worst thing though, Palace might have a proper chance of winning that, not quite as taxing on the squad as the Europa, and their fans still get the away trips they’ve never had. Still some decent sized clubs in it as well.

AA, for his faults, scored 20+ goals last time and the winner at Wembley. All of his managers disagree with Adam that he is better through the middle but I’ll give Martin this, he found a set up Armstrong thrived in. Now if he doesn’t fit Still’s preferred systems, and yes, there have been some hints via Alfie House, then a move probably is best. But like Downes, do the club want to sell him to a direct promotion rival? Secondly, to suggest at Champ level with his record that he’s not near the first XI - nah, that’s daft talk.

Leicester winning the PL and us finish top six in 2015/16 was never going to be allowed to happen again.

Then again, I’ve seen youngsters (early 20s) drinking on the trains at 7.30am recently. I understood it when the Teat match was on at Edgbaston and they had tickets but mid-week on a working day?

Some fair comments but it’s the length of the contract that has ruled so many. An extra year wouldn’t have elicited this reaction. On Bazunu, at the risk of Agent Lighthouse appearing, Liege weren’t playing around their goal and he still leaked 2 a game and looked dreadful. Watch the highlights if you don’t believe me. Championship or the Belgian top flight is too high a standard at this stage in his career, needs to regain confidence in League 1 on a subsidised loan where he’s had a bit more joy. If he starts and makes more errors, that could be very toxic and the club really burned him by the sink or swim in the PL and Chanp last time. His stats were by far the worst and don’t lie on that sample size of games.

I’d let him go for a moderate fee (£2-3m) as he has ability at this level but locks you into a midfield-heavy system because he is poor off the ball in tracking, tackling unless his body matures. His value isn’t much if Still doesn’t want to deploy such a set-up. On Stewart, let’s see how pre-season goes as he hasn’t had one properly since Covid arguably.

Fair point MLG, I wasn’t necessarily thinking of the budget aspect, more try getting more of the spine together during pre-season. Mind you, the best loans like 2023 probably won’t be until near end of the window.