the saint in winchester

Would be good to see what REALLY goes on behind the scenes, and in the dressing room....

Yeah, agree. I thought the announcement meant we had AGREED compensation, but we seem to have gone ahead and left the lawyers to wrangle. Statements from Swansea like "they owe us" do indeed mean we will be paying over the odds for any player still under contract with them, or indeed we may have to accept they are not available to us.

Ruben obviously likes a lost cause? Or he just hasn't moved yet, and likes idea of a direct train service Southampton to Reading? Actually, now Green Park station has opened, he can get off there and be at the ground in 5 minutes.

Wow, Swansea fans network really don't rate Southampton, the club, the location, how it's run. They think RM will be sacked after 3 losses. And Matt Grimes is only on £6k a season!!! https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/swanseacity/news/60350/grimes-undecided-on-southampton-as-family-must-come-first-…

Athletic said Macca is our 2nd highest wage (after JWP) and may be subject to a wage cut (only speculation, I have no intel) so it would be transfer we would be happy to make.

Sadly, it does, then. If we were not prepared to let him go, we wouldn't be having talks. That may explain the links to Josh Windass.

If Burnley are pitching for Che, can we take that as an indication they have accepted defeat over Tella?

Yeah, I expected that reaction from you all. OK, let's not bring anyone in until the day before the season starts. Hey, we don't want to spend even a quid more than we need to. It's called PLANNING. Failing to plan is planning to fail. We could have negotiated a deal for Martin plus any players we want and been friendly about it. It's not bed-wetting, it's good business practice.

Head of Data and Research? So a right nerd, sat in front of his laptop, producing meaningless statistics. Right up Rasmus' street. I had hoped the Echo interview indicated we were moving away from that approach. Onuachu came back as #1 in height but we don't play for crosses.

Good. It's been ridiculous and embarrassing with this stand-off. We don't want to be looked on as the 'Tottenham of the Championship' where other clubs find dealing with us to be painful. Refusing to negotiate a settlement for Martin has meant he hasn't been able to get in and review the squad (if only on paper, I know the players are on leave). Deals are being struck around us even though not going through officially. If we really want to take a few Swansea players, we will have rubbed them up the wrong way by not looking for a negotiated settlement on Martin. I look forward to this being resolved, and I hope he can identify transfer targets quickly, then we can get them in early.

I would do the opposite. Ask (or tell, depends on your perspective) Tella we want him to stay one more season. That he has proven to be worthy of a regular place in the side. This next season we either get promoted or not. If we get promoted, let Tella decide if he stays with us, or moves on. We thank him for helping us win promotion. If we fail to win promotion, we accept he is likely to go. It could even be that next season, Saints win promotion and Burnley get relegated. So, in summary, we say 'give us next season, Nathan, then you can make the decision yourself'.

Can't we just agree to pay them 600k (split the difference) and move on? 200k isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things. Let's get him settling in.

He's saying he will come if he can bring certain players with him? And this negotiation is between Martin and Saints? Or are Swansea saying "you can go, but you're not taking any players?" Interesting. I haven't seen Swansea play, but I would think it will help him settle in and win over Saints players if he has a few buddies in the squad.

I was hoping this thread was about him coming back on a transfer, but it seems to just be him reminiscing about us? Sounds like he would be an asset for us.

He isn't staying. We are simply looking to get our money back and have other teams interested. Zagreb's offer was likely a low one after their rhetoric about "the English team will have to accept he has fallen in value". If they have spent the £8M we gave them, that's their problem.

Rob Edwards is a good coach. He was sacked at Watford after 11 games, when he lost only 3 of them. He has Luton playing with energy, on the front foot too.

No to any assistant who has watched the manager perform and now thinks "hey I could do that". I have concerns about Russell Martin, but he has the experience. Let's not give the job to an assistant, kit man or tea lady just because they were at Man City and have golddust on their clothes.

We all focus on different things in Wyn's posts, but for me, this is what we need. The very opposite of Adams who gets a rush of blood to the head when he can see the goal. Yes to Piroe!

Ironically, with Liverpool having nothing to play for, and Prowsey saying we want to win this for Selles, maybe we can see Southampton win! Depends what team Selles sends out, though.

Thanks for all this, Wyn. I hope we move quickly to get the three players mentioned. Grimes sounds like captain material.

I hope we have secured deals for a few Swansea players as well. Need to leverage his local knowledge. Or are we going for Duk of Aberdeen or recently released Troy Deeney?

One of the guys on The Saints Podcast at the weekend said that Potter was asked earlier on and he had replied that if we were to stay up, he would be interested. That was never going to happen, was it? A shame. I was also in the Potter camp.

Good. We need someone strong that can put themselves about a bit.

Yeah, Leicester not thinking that he wouldn't consider a team in the Championship. I would certainly like Saints to speak to him. Ask him for an interview. At the moment, it seems like a coronation for Russell Martin.

Zac Steffen available, although Middlesboro may offer. Dean Henderson available, as Forest expected to go with Navas. May not be within our budget, but we ought to be pushing the boat out.