Midfield_General

He would do just fine.

Long-term 2030 vision is for Stephens to step up as manager with Macca as his goalkeeping coach. Great lads to have to have around the dressing room and they really love the club. Supported by Smallbone as head of physical conditioning, and Stewart as physio.

Yep, that was Dalek. Stated season after season that Saints long-term vision was to be a yo-yo club and that a 17th place finish in the PL was our ultimate ambition. Got roundly slated for it, but now we hear from those purporting to be ITK that that’s exactly how the club sees itself and that our strategy as soon as we got promoted was to get relegated again so we could have another year in the Championship with all our brilliant Prem quality players and then ‘come back stronger’. So it seems he was right all along! Who knew. #JusticeForDalek

Wasn’t there a fairly convincing case put forward that Alpine was one of Glasgow’s many alter-egos?

Anyone mentioned a seaside B&B yet? Man alive. It’s July.

Russ should get Lucy to help sweet talk the player into agreeing to the loan. Purely so the headline can be 'PINDER HELPS MARTIN GET WOOD'.

Absolute fire sale and still no takers for Valery

No Downs in the squad according to that graphic - que?

Ian Andrew(s) Dean Richard(s) Jack Stephen(s)

Yep. Came on and was immediately the best player on the pitch. Looks an exciting player.

2-0. Excellent goal on the break.

Now they go 1-0 up and the opposition have a man sent off. Football eh!

HT. 0-0. On another day they would be at least 2-0 down - Butland made two fantastic saves to keep them in it. They've been second to everything and overrun in midfield every time Pana come forward. They are a mess defending corners and have only had one shot on target. This is against a side most of their fans were expecting them to comfortably roll over. Fans already asking why they play it sideways when there is a forward pass on, and seem puzzled that the high-energy, aggressive, attacking football and high press they've been expecting is nowhere to be seen. Already questioning why players are being played out of position, why the full backs are so narrow and inverted, and whether this style of play will work against packed defences in the SPL. To be fair to them, 22nd July is very early in the window to be having a tough competitive fixture, and I'm sure the team they start the season with will look quite different to the side they've got out tonight. It's also somehow still 0-0, so it's not beyond the realms that they could nick something. But it's not a very good start.

Branfoot-era favourite, David Lee

They've brought some players in since he's been there but no-one of any real note. A few weeks ago they genuinely seemed to think they might come in for Ramsdale and Downes. Since then the highest-profile player they've brought in is Joe Rothwell, and they seem properly excited about him, which really does say it all about the difference between expectation and reality up there. The team they look like they're putting out tonight looks very, very average on paper. A bunch of £500k - £3m journeymen and loans brought in from the fringes of Luton Town and Peterborough. It's going to be fun watching them try to Beckenbauer their way out from the back with Champion's League qualification on the line.

Massive first game for Martin tonight. CL qualifier, first leg, at home. Will be watching with interest to see if he's learned from his experiences and adapted anything. This comment from one of their boards made me smile: You won't. The days of bluffing and excuses are gone. Russell Martin is a straight shooter and it's clear he wants not only to be the man at Rangers but to embrace the pressure and expectation. Come what may he's not going to waste time with junk talk. 😬

£18m for an 18-year-old who's only ever played in the French second division, yikes Ah - OK, stand down

However many times he saved our arses in a poor side last year though, I can see a PL move for next season being hard for him now. There just aren't many PL clubs who are in the market for a first team keeper, or would see him as enough of an upgrade on what they've got to make it worth the £25m or whatever we'd ask for him. He's not elite level, so the CL clubs won't want him. Go down a level to the clubs outside the top six and I'd say he's comparable to people like Sels at Forest, Leno at Fulham, Henderson at Palace, Vicario at Spurs, Sa at Wolves. They're all good quality Prem keepers and don't need replacing. Pickford's not going anywhere at Everton, Brentford have bought Kelleher, Bournemouth have just bought Petrovic and West Ham are going after Hermandsen. So what does that leave - Brighton maybe, as an upgrade on Verbruggen? And it would be interesting to see if Villa were interested if Martinez went. Other than that, it's only the promoted teams left which would more than likely mean a fourth relegation on his CV and another season of getting smashed every week which I very much doubt he wants, especially if as reported he's already got a £100k per week offer on the table so wouldn't really need to move for the money. The one I'm surprised hasn't shown any interest at all is Man Utd, because he is head and shoulders better than Onana, very affordable for them, and you could guarantee he'd go there if they wanted him. They should snap him up, but I hope they don't, and they won't because that would be way too obvious and sensible for that shitshow of a club.

A lot of his former managers have said he'd make an excellent coach. The dream: Romeu does his badges, smashes the Segunda División in his first gig and then returns as manager to lead our 2031-32 promotion charge. The likelihood: In six years' time a 38 year-old Jack Stephens proudly leads us out as player-manager (with Bednarek as his assistant and McCarthy as goalkeeping coach)

He was the only thing between us and some more proper, humiliating 0-7 or more hidings on several occasions. Bearing in mind how many records that team still set for being shit, it’s mind-boggling to think how many more we would have conceded if we hadn’t had Ramsdale. Bearing in mind our other options can only dream of being competent shot stoppers, let alone excelling at any other part of their game, we were very, very lucky to have him.

Four lucky lads got the chance to meet an actual Premier League quality footballer.

Interesting that we're taking a 4th goalkeeper. Surely suggests that they are expecting to give Moody more of a role with the first team this season, which would suggest that one of the three seniors is off. Also see that West Ham are rumoured to be going for Hermandsen from Leicester, which if true would at least be one potentially attractive suitor for Ramsdale who could be ruled out. Obviously it's still overwhelmingly most likely to be Ramsdale who goes, but one can live in hope.

That's why I think Rangers fans are in for a bit of a shock. They are all under the impression that he's going to bring an intense pressing game, when in fact his teams do anything but.

Rules out Manning too unfortunately

What a leader though. What a ruddy bloody leader.