Sheaf Saint

I'd be very surprised if he went anywhere today. He has genuinely been injured and missed a lot of pre-season so there's no cover-up going on there. And given his age, potential and length of contract, it would have to take a massive bid for us to even consider letting him go now. I just don't see how a major deal like that could happen without so much as a sniff of it appearing in the media. Usually the kind of clubs that could afford that sort of fee would put stories out in the press to unsettle the player, but there's been nothing of the sort. Seems highly unlikely to me, but not impossible of course.

I'm fairly certain that THB himself had fewer senior appearances to his name than this lad when he went to Burnley on loan and helped them win the league. I don't see it as a huge issue. Edit: OK it seems I was wrong about that.

Add to that we have also loaned out BBD and Oyekunle. Losing 5 striker options off the books and relying on Larin staying fit and an inexperienced Mubama is suicidal IMO. Surely there must be another one incoming?

Oyekunle has gone on loan to Leyton Orient.

I realise I'm a bit hungover after going to a wedding yesterday, but for the life of me I can't think which one you're on about.

Yeah true, but it still limits options when you have a player on your books who you can't select to play or afford to replace until he's gone. I firmly believe the transfer window should close before the season starts to stop this happening.

I think you mean 'thank non-denominational fictional deity'

And yet if that had been in the middle of the pitch and didn't lead to a shooting chance, the ref would have given a FK for an accidental handball and nobody would have any complaints. But because it created a shooting chance, it gets waved away and the goal is given. In what alternative reality does that make any sense?

Bearing in mind that "the difference in valuation is too large" is almost word for word what was being reported about Villa and THB, I would think/hope this is all just part of the negotiation and we are still confident of getting it done. There's surely no way we would have loaned out JQ if we weren't 99% certain of securing a deal for our top target to replace THB. But if we really have given up on this guy then I hope we do have a realistic alternative lined up. Going into the season with Stephens and Wood as two of our only three options at CB would be negligence in the extreme.

His version of Murder on the Orient Express is even worse.

That only applies to potential penalty decisions. In all other situations, handball is handball regardless of how unintentional it is. The decision to award that goal was ridiculous. Edit - OK so they just highlighted this on MOTD and confirmed that the law was followed to the letter, but as Shay Given pointed out, it didn't seem that unintentional from HM. Hands in an unnatural position and moved towards the ball. That the laws allow that goal to stand is utter nonsense.

Expected him to go this summer. Naively started to think maybe we might be able to keep hold of him after all when Villa's offers were so far below our asking price, but I guess it was inevitable they would finally match it. Just wish it could have been sorted quicker so we could have signed a replacement earlier, rather than have to go into the season with him still our player but unavailable to play. But that's a more general gripe I have with the overlap of the transfer window and the start of the season. I wish the FA would address that so clubs don't have to be put in this position in future. Good luck Taylor. Thanks for your efforts at Saints.

In a similar vein... Already a hauntingly emotional song and video, but when you know the story behind it (was written by her mum but she never got round to recording it before she died, and Martha couldn't be there because she gave birth prematurely while touring in the UK), it hits even harder.