malcolm waldron

But surely Ryan has played for Bournemouth against us hasn't he......?? 😉

I've no issue with it too - it's exactly what Brighton and Brentford are doing, in fact their models are built on buying in cheap(er) young players, developing them and then selling on to the 'big 6' for a huge profit - and don't get me started on little Bournemouth. The problems occur, as we know all too well, when certain people (looking at you Les Reed) start to believe their own hype. 😠

Shannon (his parents are massive fans of the former windmilling, horse race loving Saints legend).

Let's face it we're not going to be buying a striker are we. We've already bought one and regardless of how he's looked (very average so far) I don't see the board sanctioning another one. What a difference a quality Championship goalkeeper and focal point striker (Ross Stewart??) would make.

I enjoy your posts H&W - and your era-defining user name! Genuine question - you post a lot, and with a fair bit of detail, about the Gers. Any reason? Second team?

Might have missed it earlier but is it on Sky Sports + tonight?

Far too sensible a post. I think it would land better in future if you used 'fella' or 'pal' at the end of a couple of the sentences.

But don't forget - we only got 12 points last season which means we're in no position to negotiate apparently.....

Does anyone care what Dawson thinks - nice bloke that he apparently is though. It's like asking Tim Sherwood for an opinion. Actually, I take that back - it's not as bad as that.

Have you not been following Luke Shaw's career - including that fairly brief spell where it all started?

Can we show Rangers fans the 90 minutes of Rotherham at home last time round for them to really appreciate the intricacies of what they can expect when the pride, bravery and process really kicks in in October.

Losing a home grown player to Everton. How depressing......

Would love that to happen and, if it did, say before the end of the week, anyone no whether Brooksy would be cup-tied for the Wrexham game as he's probably played a few mins in one of Bournemouths pre-season games.....

Was that the away game or the home one? Only asking as it felt like there were two Diblings last season - pre and post Christmas. I do remember he spent a lot of time defending in the home game and showed good positional awareness.

I think we're on the same wavelength. This season is looking a write-off already I think we'd all agree. While loads of other clubs are signing loads of really good players in all the important positions (don't ask me to name them - I haven't bothered checking), what are we doing - nothing apart from probably casting our eyes over Man City U-14s I'm fairly sure. How long has this Spors character been in position - three months now? In that case why didn't we sign loads of fantastic players three months ago? Exactly - because we can't get past those running the club like a cheap seaside B&B......

Fairly sure that Brooksy's yet to make an appearance at the Club World Championship and so by my reckoning he'll be free to come straight into the first XI for the first game of the season when he signs. I'm told a deal is very close - with Bazunu, Manning and Smallbone making the short trip along the M27. The only sticking point is how much we pay B'mouth to accept them.

I can remember vividly the key moments throughout England's route to the semi-final in 1990 - McMahon's error against RoI, Gazza's trickery against Holland (as I'm sure they were still known as then), Mark Wright with a plaster on his eyebrow nodding the winner against Egypt in a dreadful match - followed by the excitement and agony of the knock-out stages. Yet ask me who we played in 2018 and 2022 and I'll need to google it.

I forget about this phase of the summer every year. I come on here to get some good news (I hope) about transfer deals and possible deals, only to find it's been taken over by people trying to prove points about being right 12 months ago.....

Surely there's zero chance of Bazunu playing in that half of Glasgow - or have things changed now?

I suspect it will be mid-September for the away and 3rd kits, with the home shirt set to finally be available in December due to 'problems with our supply chain partners....'

Agree with most of this - and there were enough signals very early on (Norwich/QPR at home and Plymouth away for some reason are lodged in my mind) to see that we avoided losing/drawing games when good chances were given away by passing out from the back / having a suicidally high line, which were missed due to poor Championship level finishing. That, and a whole load of drawn games in that autumn period of the 25 game run where we seemed so ponderous going forward.

I'm just thinking that with all the news building up to the announcement yesterday - and random French journalists saying he's the best young coach in Europe - have we got the wrong Still? Lets face it, if he's that good he'll be off to Leeds, Burnley or Sunderland by mid November, and if he isnt very good he'll be sacked by the end of October. So should we have cut out the middle man and gone straight for one of his brothers? I'm not fussed which one - either the one with aspirations, or the video analyst one? I hadn't heard of either of them before last Wednesday but I'm willing (no pun meant there) to trust Dragan, the Spors geezer and of course Mr if it aint broke break it man.

I've seen this reference before somewhere I think - and couldn't believe it at the time and I'm struggling to believe it now. Who did we lose that summer? Adams, Stuart Armstrong, Charlie A, Sekou Mara? Probably some more (I'm too lazy to check) - but if you can't set out to replace that lot with something stronger then why bother. Which is, in effect, what we did.....

Would the fanbase accept Rooney as a left of centre option? I know I would. He'll have learned so much from relegating three clubs so far in his short managerial career, and so I'm confident he would meet the SR ambition of getting us out of the Championship at the first attempt.

I blame him for much of our current woes - but then realise it's not his fault someone gave him a job he was unqualified for thus setting him (and us) up for failure. So a part of me feels pleased he's got his redemption. Someone much wiser than me on here said back in those dark days of early 2023 that he'd be the sort of manager we'd need when/if we're stuck in Championship midtable mediocrity - not fighting a PL relegation battle at that time. We'll always have the post-Brentford meltdown interview and for that I'll always be grateful.....