Saint Fan CaM

It’s been in my mind that next season could be triple time joyous - promotion and relegating Pompey and Charlton at the same time. Now that would trump this seasons shitshow and relegation in one swift ‘f you!’.

Oh my word, I’d love it if they took Manning and Stephens. How to weaken one of your main rivals without lifting a finger and getting paid for the privilege! If Carling did transfer window sales…

If that’s true it means we have the sloppy seconds in Baz and ???.

Hardly revolutionary then? Hopefully the lad will be great and God knows we need better. Trouble is it’s difficult to see this signing as better than what we have on the books already, but it’s certainly too early to write him off.

Very interesting, especially the fact that they didn’t do refresh on the 1st team when going down. Something many of us have been hoping Saints will do to purge the losing mentality. The other similarity is their clinging onto a primarily possession based system, but not doing that well and also losing the hard press that saw their rise to the Premier League. Dilution of squad fitness seemingly the main issue. Quite a few similarities, however you’d think Saints having shaken up the management and recruitment teams and having much better infrastructure etc, will not allow a similar fall from grace in the Championship. 🙏🏼🤞

Absolutely spot on…

I think in THB, Sanda and Edward’s we’ve got potentially three perfectly sound CB’s for the Championship. Add possibly Stephens and/or Wood (I’d personally prefer someone else - a decent left-sided CB) and there’s your full complement. Must not forget that Still has been noted as improving defences - it would be great if he can get more out of our rabble.

I can’t see SR selling now. The club was valued at what - £200m ish which sounds slightly conservative even after relegation given the infrastructure and potential. Add to that the investment of roughly £250m made by Dragan over the last few windows (largely wasted of course) and I would imagine the price SR put on the purchase of the club outright would not be an attractive proposition at the moment. The only possible thought might be Kat selling her share and SR offering up a minority of shares so that any new investor has no more than 49%. A sound reason to do that is obviously to inject substantial funding into the club but I don’t think that’s needed right now, so it’s about timing and whether Dragan has been advised to de-invest asap for what might a variety of possible reasons.

Incoming… 😉

Echo on it now too... https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/25193779.saudi-arabian-billionaire-reportedly-interested-buying-southampton/?fbclid=IwY2xjawKimEhleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBaRHROb0htemlvMzZrT255AR7d6Lx70BBc31_HU0vTxME1b45vXW5lw0jIWGIngfBKFXWCt2ALzG4z7eO5hA_aem_RCA0jbXmlJQgCuPPpUq2Hw

Do you think Stephens will be content to sit on the bench, lose his Captains armband and take a salary reduction? Not sure he will be content with that, although I’m not certain he’d get a better offer!

Tell you what, any offer North of £60m for Dibling and I’d be snapping your hand off! For a Championship club that’s a decent war chest to assist in getting more quality into the squad - i.e. 3 x circa £20m carefully chosen players in the core of the 1st team could transform our fortunes and see us lift the Championship trophy.

Nothing similar about them, other than the fact they’re both attacking forwards that didn’t live up to expectations initially. You forgot to mention that Mane was part of a MUCH better team which must have helped and sped up his development. Look, I’m not saying for one moment that Sulemana is the panacea to our goal drought etc. and I’m the one that’s been advocating a complete clear out, however it is true he has been mismanaged over a period of time and there may be some value in giving him another season under Still’s guidance/system in what some claim is an ‘easier’ league. He’s been no worse than the £100m valued Dibling, so what’s the better sell - £15m for Sulemana or £50m for Dibling in terms of re-shaping the squad?

I suspect some remember Mane and how it took time and a new Manager to get the best from him (he was widely condemned on here early on). Sulemana might fall into the same bracket and just need the right manager and better teammates to shine. Not saying that’s something I completely agree with, but there is some sense in the argument.

It’s an interesting scenario. I would imagine that Lallana’s coaching experience while around Liverpool was not immersed in Pep style possession football…that’s not Klopp, so perhaps the intent is to groom Lallana in the ways of Still and then place him into the U-21’s or even as an assistant to Still? My concern of course is that Still is ‘weakened’ by the absence of his Brothers who I’m sure he was able to trust completely.

Positive about Will Still’s appointment and he comes across very well, however not employing his Brothers as his coaching team might be seen as a hairline crack in the plan…were they an essential part of the equation in his previous successes? Time will tell of course and if he was not confident of success without them he wouldn’t have taken the job…would he? I do hope it’s not SR skimping.

Seriously?!? Taylor is twice the player and more suited to Stills needs - Manning is…well, a rubbish defender with no pace or skill, but does love a back pass.

There are some who are suggesting or even hoping we sell our best players to raise funds presumably to buy more mediocrity (e.g. Rambo, Fernandes, Dibling etc.)!!! My argument is those represent pretty much the MINIMUM standard we need given the depths to which our squad has sunk. I’m under no illusion it will be difficult to shift the number of woefully inadequate players we have on the books, but try we must or risk being dragged into mid-table obscurity or worse.

Sweet Jesus - I just don’t understand how anyone cannot fathom that we need better than the dross on show this season AND NOT lose our better players. If you take Leicester and Ipswich as indicators of how good this lot would fair in the Championship, remind yourself how many times we beat those teams despite how poor THEY were too. Utilise the likes of Manning, Smallbone, Stephens, Bazunu, Onuachu, Wood, Bree etc. and prepare for a disappointing outcome. The squad needs major overhaul - no question in my mind.

I just don’t think he’s that type of player - he’s more suited to an ACM role but hasn’t got the ball distribution skills to operate at the level we require. JWP for all his limitations is more gifted player without the bulk.

I’m hoping that Still will be the sort of manager who will say to Dibling “right lad, go out there, have fun and score me some goals”. And that promise of freedom might keep him with us.

He’s what I like to call a passive player - a midfielder who doesn’t stamp his authority on the game. Pretty useless therefore.

Disregarding the plausibility (this is my wish list) and acknowledging the title of the thread is ‘let’s keep’… Ramsdale 🙏🏼 Sugawara; THB; Edward’s; Taylor; Welington Charles; Big Les (on loan?); Fernandes AA; Stewart; Edozie; Sulemana; Dibling The rest of ‘em can go on frees as far as I’m concerned (with the exception of KWP who we know will go anyway). In reality I suspect at least three of the above will be sold and a good few not listed will be retained, so it will be interesting to come back to this thread at the end of the window to see how far adrift we are.

He’s certainly an ok player, but I don’t think he’d got the pace of a forward attacker. There were times today when he looked well behind the pace of Sulemana which is hopeless in terms of providing support. Not a starter for me.