S-Clarke

It doesn't paint us in amazing light if he thinks 1) we have a chance of Phillips and 2) We think he's a playmaker. Dear me. I do wonder about the expectation of some of our fans! They'll probably be expecting us to go for Pogba next to bolster midfield.

Swings and roundabouts though isn't it, on the other hand our wage bill shouldn't even give us a chance of getting two points against City or two points against Utd.

The only slight 'niggle' in the back of my mind is that we've agreed a daft release clause if a 'CL' team come in for him.

I think the PL has drastically evolved in the last 6/7 years, we've certainly been left behind in the financial stakes and we are finding it hard to compete. This summer will bare the truth of our takeover and if it actually does bring us closer to the action, but it's certainly not got any easier as compared to last summer Newcastle have also moved away from us. I know our moto has been ''We never stand still, we march on'', but it's quite odd to use that because we have been stood firmly still for at least 6 years. We've not been marching anywhere. I'm not expecting us to go and compete with Villa or Newcastle on huge statement signings, but what I now expect is for us to be competitive with other teams in 'our' league and make a try for players like Cucurella, Guehi, Anderson, Raphinia (I'm not suggesting them now, more so getting them before those clubs did). They're arriving at clubs 'in our region' for the £20m mark and we have bought in that region before, but our scouting was way, way off. Under Les Reed and co we got a bit up ourselves and started to congratulate ourselves at every opportunity, that lead to us taking our eye off of the main reason for our previous success - sharp scouting. As was pointed out above, we did invest money but clubs like us need those big signings to come off. Those signings were made to improve us and then provide a profit so we can go again. They did neither and we had to give them away in the end. We've lost the majority of those now, the big earners off the wage bill and I'd assume any 'instalments' for those guys long paid up. So in essence this summer is our first chance of a clean slate, not just with new players but with new ownership as well. We have to show some intent to compete in this league again with better scouting, otherwise yes - the league is too rich for us.

A lot = most of the season 😟 I'd only want to do a loan for him, with an option though.

I did wonder if we'd look at that possibility, he doesn't get a sniff at Liverpool now. But if he's available I can imagine much bigger clubs being interested, I guess the 'home club' is our main card to play here.

Seems pretty clear-cut to me. The goodbyes from Broja, no more soundbites about us wanting to keep him, not included in the final squad for the season. None of that points towards someone we are looking to keep!

We'll miss him, excellent talent who had raw attributes that really helped our game when he was at the top of his form. Enjoyed watching him when in full flight, one of the more exciting attackers we've had in recent years. I wonder what's changed in recent weeks? We were massively keen on him in January, the links were in the papers about us preparing £30m bids and the such. Ralph was saying that Martin and co are having the right conversations with Chelsea. I guess the situation at Chelsea hasn't helped matters, but we don't even seem prepared to go for him at all next season which is a surprise.

No he didn't 'get out', he was sacked.

I've seen enough of him to see that he's a bit of a brainfart defender, that is always going to be with him I think. He's certainly got talent and I love his commitment, but he is prone to trying stupid things in the wrong places or making a hash of simple clearances because he's over emotional.

Hopefully it's a Tino situation...! But it is risky! High Risk, high reward though you'd say.

I saw some pics of him on the pitch at Leicester y/day, waving to fans rather than clapping. Yeah, he's gone. Be interesting to see what happens with him next. Chelsea can't really do much yet, so they need to count on him for next year. He'll probably be part of their squad, then leave next summer to West Ham or similar.

It's a huge risk. I'd have much preferred a more experienced/seasoned goalkeeper to come in. If we get Bazunu it likely means that we will start with McCarthy as number 1, which is wrong at all levels. Ideally you get rid of McCarthy and Forster, bring in Bazunu AND a more experienced goalie. But that ain't going to happen.

I don't mind Cornet, has a bit of pace and power and can play all across the front. £17m we could get him for. He hasn't had a great second half though. There are 1 or 2 players in those relegated sides who could improve us (Apart from Norwich), which probably says a lot about our bunch.

If we were to get anyone from Watford I'd go for Ismala Sarr. He's had injury troubles which may make him cheaper, but if you can keep him fit he's a game changer. And all importantly still young enough to have significant re-sale value.

It was certainly closer than we'd have hoped in the end, but it's a fair assessment to say that we've not really been involved in the battle at any stage. We've always been 6-10 points away from it at all times and never in the discussion. That's been the case most of his tenure here, it's like we're close to making that next step but we just trip over ourselves all the time.

I can 'somewhat' understand the McCarthy deal. I don't think it was safe for us to lose every single goal keeper. Lewis, Willy, Forster, McCarthy. It leaves a lot to do. As long as McCarthy is going to be backup, there is sense to keeping at least one of them around. Forster I think was offered a deal but didn't take it, certainly not on the reduced wage.

We will almost certainly need to find a fullback, even if it's just a temp cover. Tino won't be seen again until the start of 2023 at the absolute earliest. The Walcott deal last summer is the one thing which makes me doubt the likes of Crocker and co, I like to think they're more switched on than who came before...but that one deal makes me question them big time.

We improved full back, that's pretty much it. We went with Stephens, Bednarek and hoped that Salisu would step up. He did, but he's young and will have moments where he needs some quality to see him through. He had Bednarek. Goalkeeper continues to be an issue as well. Need to rip the heart of the defense and GK out if we are really to improve defensively.

Long, Theo, Willy and Romeu are our 'over 30's'. Bar Romeu, the others aren't starters and would struggle to make the bench in any other PL team, maybe even some champ teams. I'm not calling for us to go and buy lots of 30 somethings, but we need to look in the market of 24/25 year olds who have already 'achieved' things and are ready to take the next step. Similar to what we did when we signed Mane, Tadic, VVD, Wanyama, Lovren etc. We've got to get back to that, and for that we need to spend more money than we have been sadly.

You've got a good record of these sort of posts turning our form around. The last time you posted to tell him to F*k off was in December 2021. The rest was history for the next 3 months. Shame about the end though.

Don't jest. I'd expect our new owners to have a bit more sense!

I agree, Romeu's legs are going now and we need some freshening up in there. Keep Romeu around for rotation, but we need better in there (that's how you improve a squad, saints - you evolve positions) I think we'll see a lot of changes in attack too, we have to. Long will go, Broja has gone, Redmond, Moussa, Theo up for sale. That potentially leaves us with Adams, Armstrong, Armstrong S, Tella and Ely in the attack. Down before a ball is kicked. I guess N'Lundulu will be back though...🙃

I think most clubs sign players with the hope of getting a decent sell-on, but I agree that we do it to the extreme and openly admit that's what we're doing. I found Semmens comments very depressing a few months ago. ''for us, it's not important about where we finish in the league, that's not what it's about for us, it's how we develop and how the players we've signed have improved''. Doesn't that kind of admit it's not about the fans and building a good side, it's all about developing players so we can get profit? Sad situation really. I hope things have changed now.

Another pitch invasion and yet another player attacked.....Villa's keeper attacked a few times as he was helped off the pitch.