SNSUN

Wayne Bridge played 113 games in a row. Still got a knock. He's human. It's just the timing of it that makes the conspiracy theorists take note. Pre-season is an intense work out and he barely got one last season, so it's not surprise he's picked up a knock this season. Moot anyway, he's not joining Villa.

Cheeky fuckers. That’s like City going in for Grealish at say £40 million. Double it, add loads of clauses and then tell them to fuck off. JWP is a Saint and our most important player and only a whopping offer of £50 million+ or a hissy-fit-style transfer request forcing our hand will be good enough.

But the same could be said of the 2022-23 season - we won't have Ings' goals then and will be relying on an unproven striker to fill in so if we are going to get relegated without his goals, you're just delaying that relegation by one season. Except for a club that has to sell to buy, that unproven striker that we replace Ings with is likely to be less good than what we could buy this summer because we won't have the funds from Ings's transfer fee to use on a replacement. I suppose the argument against selling him this summer is that there is a chance we have found investment/a new owner by next summer, and suddenly we are flush with cash to sign an expensive replacement. I don't know what the odds are for that to happen, but it's probably similar to me growing long sexy legs and performing in the Moulin Rouge. I agree it is a difficult decision to make, and in all honesty I'd love him to stay and sign the new contract (even if it has, say, a minimum release clause of £20 million), but logically IMO, the best decision (even if it isn't necessarily the right one) would be to take the money and invest in the replacement now.

I don't think he's a player that will spit his dummy out if he doesn't get the move he wants, unlike so many of our better players in the last ten or so years. If the move he wants doesn't materialise, I genuinely think he'll continue playing happily for us until the end of his contract, and will probably be out to impress bigger teams that he's good enough for them. Then he gets his big move next summer on a Bosman with probably a nice signing on fee, ahead of half a season at his new club to push for the WC. The rub is that for a club with our tight financial restrictions, I feel that if we can sell him this summer for around the £20 million mark, we absolutely should be doing that. £20 million is a huge amount of money to lose on a player for one season, even someone as key to us as Ings, especially as he could spend large chunks of next season on the treatment table. A replacement won't be cheap, but I do think it is doable. You look at the likes of Edouard, a proven goalscorer albeit in Scotland, for that sort of money and we could plan ahead the next few seasons now, rather than bumping the problem down the road until next summer, when we lose Ings AND have no money from his transfer fees to sign a replacement. All IMO of course.

We're a club that relies on young players to back up the first team. The whole reason Simeu joined us from Chelsea is because there is a pathway to the first team here. As long as we have two or three 'senior' players for each two positions (Str, Am, Cm, CB, RB, LB) then we should absolutely be using the better of the young talent to pad the squad. (Tella, Obafemi, Smallbone, Watts, Chauke, Simeu, Valery and maybe even Ferry could all see game time this season.) Yes it's risky but it is what a club with our finances and ethos do. And perhaps it is the reason we can pilfer young players from top 6 academies going forward. Don't forget Obafemi's decent goal against Chelsea a couple of seasons back. I still think he has something to offer as a back up striker.

As it stands without any more sales and trying to be as realistic as possible... GK: Forster, McCarthy, Lewis. I think we are stuck with these three unless someone comes in for Fraser. Between the first two they have errors in them but they are both experienced keepers and should be enough to avoid the dreaded drop. RB: KWP is first choice, but after that we have Valery. It depends on how Ralph sees Valery really. If he stays as our back up right back, then we can concentrate on bringing in a left sided back up full back. LB: Perraud is on board now, but we have nobody as back up except someone out of position. LB needed, especially (IMO) someone good enough to push Perraud for the first team spot. CB: Vestergaard, Salisu, Bednarek, Stephens. Ignoring Simeu, who I assume is a longer term prospect, we have 4 CBs on the books. Personally I'd cash in on Vestergaard and bring someone better in but if that person doesn't exist, then keep Jannick. I worry the money we lose on Ings and Vestergaard next summer as opposed to selling them this summer will be crucial in our current financial state but we wait and see. Getting our signings bang on from here on out will be crucial to our continued stay in the Premier League. Do we need a 5th CB? We can definitely improve upon what we have but I don't think we will bring another in (bar Simeu) unless we sell Vestergaard. CM: Ward-Prowse, Diallo, Romeu, Smallbone. I personally feel we are one light here, so I'd be looking to bring in another CM. I also think someone may eventually come in for JWP but perhaps not this summer, and I certainly don't think we'd sell him anyway unless he pulled a transfer request out of the bag. AM(R) Armstrong, Elyounoussi (presently), Walcott - Armstrong is first choice, so I'm fairly happy here. (See below *) AM(L) Redmond, Djenepo, Tella - With Tella a decent prospect, I'm also fairly happy here. *Weirdly though, I say I'm happy with both AM positions but I'd still like another, more creative AM if the budget could stretch that much. Maybe a decent loan? Elyounoussi may not be here by the end of the transfer window either... STR: Ings, Adams, Obafemi, Long - even if you consider Tella and Walcott as potential strikers, I still think we need to ship out Long and bring in another striker. AND that's before you even consider selling Ings and bringing in a replacement for him. Financially though we probably can't afford two strikers but even one would help. So for me: 1 x LB, 1 x CM, 1 x AM, 1 x Str. So 2 loans (FB and AM), 2 transfers (Str and CM). Lots more work for Ralph and co to do, though we aren't in terrible shape as it stands, we do need strengthening in the next month.

We've had players that played for Man Utd previously (Hughes, Kanchelskis) and obviously some that went from us to them (Shaw, Schneiderlin) but none in recent times between them and us. Francis Burns in 1972 is one that a quick search brings up.

Bring back Jo 'Fish' Mills and we have a back up left back too!

I guess the one you have is naughty in some way, but I always thought he looked like Callum Davidson of Preston fame.

Nope, that is probably that unless we really, really want him and this makes us shit our pants and pay over the odds for him. I assume we were hoping he'd put in a transfer request and Blackburn's hand would be forced but that doesn't seem to be happening either. I hope we have other targets to pursue or we get closer to the season with Adams, Obafemi and Ings as our strikers, with Ings potentially on his way out. So Adams and Obafemi become our two options if he leaves, with Long and Walcott the other options if we are desperate.

I've never been a fan of Koch. 👀 Seriously though I usually take note of youngsters in the academy (Olumola sticks in my head for some reason) but I don't remember White's name. Fair play to Brighton though. They only had him for a full season of football and £50 million is crazy money. I wonder if he'd have cost less if he hadn't been picked by Southgate.

I think we may be seeing more of Smallbone and Caleb Watts this season, on top of Tella who is pretty much already established. That’s 3 youngsters in the midfield and attacking midfield positions. My worry is the lack of youngsters we have coming through up top and in defence. We even sent Ramsey out on loan so we definitely need to strengthen more, and now N’Lundulu in attack. I’d be wary of letting Obafemi go now. I wonder where Long will end up! ☺️

If Ings goes I definitely think we need two strikers and for that reason, that one may not settle/be crap. If our striking options next season are Adams, Walcott, Redmond, Tella and only one other striker like Armstrong I'd be seriously worried about our survival chances, especially as Theo and the Nathans are really AMs. That's of course if we ship out Long, N'Lundulu and Obafemi or we'll be in even worse shape! (Thought that's perhaps harsh on Obafemi who I think would be the one worth keeping as back up).

£30 million for them. Or £20 million plus Tanganga and Winks. 😜 Need to get Armstrong ASAP as these rumours won't go away.

I wonder if this means we have faith in Kegs Chaulke to come good. I bet we have a hefty sell on fee included.

My nerves are shot

I'm sure I read somewhere that Tottenham's new Director of Football's transfer strategy is to bid for lots of players and then decide which one they want. To me that sounds like they'll be pissing off a lot of other teams. It would explain the link to Vestergaard though. Unless I imagined that and it's completely inaccurate. 😝

Free transfers/out of contract players can be good if sourced properly. Van Aanholt for instance is linked with Inter but could do a good job strengthening our left side. Then of course we remember perhaps the best free transfer/bosman we ever made... Dean Richards. All IMO of course.

Partner him with Che McAdams and our attack would be HoppeScotch. Hmm, doesn't quite work. I'll go back to bed.

Sterling infuriates me like Redmond infuriates me but surely, SURELY, he must be in the running for player of the tournament. He’s certainly been England’s best player. I don’t think there has been an Italian standout (Insigne? Bonucci? Chiesa?) as they play more as a team. Kane only needs 2 goals, or a goal and 2 assists, to be top scorer this tournament too. Hopefully that’ll be in his mind going into Sunday. Well done England! BBQ and lots of booze on Sunday and off on Monday! Excited!

Great free kick tbf. We’ve been poor so far. Let’s hope that goal wakes us up.

Italy looking good on the counter attack but Spain have been better this game, they just lack cutting edge up front. Great finish by Chiesa though. Of these two teams I’d rather we came up against Italy in the final. a) Overall in the tournament they deserve it but b) Kane and Sterling coming up against the ageing Bonucci and Chiellini is mouth watering. Disclaimer: IF we make the final, with all respect to Denmark.

Versatility for full back positions but with nobody young coming through that still would only give us 3 full back options. Injuries could see us stuffed and playing Stephens, Salisu or someone else out of position. I’d still like us to bring in another full back, especially as Perraud may not settle or KWP continues to pick up niggles as he did last season. Hopefully a loan with an option if he is a success here.

Yep, most clubs can keep a player for a year and pass up £20 million odd but we’re not in a financial position to pass up what would be the same amount of money as our record transfer fee. He’s gone this window if someone wants him. Start building now and at the very least get AArmstrong (Stu A shall henceforth be SArmstrong) in ASAP, then find another striker in due course. We needed one, we now need two strikers. Shame but if he thinks he’s good enough for another shot at a big club (if we were offering him record money then it isn’t about money) then good luck to him. We arguably may have gone down without him in the past couple of seasons. Get the striker recruitment right or we may well be doing just that in the next year or two.

Ings and Vestergaard off the books for £40 million would give us decent money to re-invest. Hopefully Denmark's run to the semis with him involved bumps his price up a bit. Ings will be a bigger loss though so I'm not too sad about this one. Jannick is Replaceable and even if we're slow about it we still have Salisu, Bednarek and Stephens to start the season with.