Saint Pete

I agree Archer showed enough towards the end of last season that ideally it would be good to keep him if we can to be our third "provides something different" striker option. I don't see him as a lone striker but he is good option if we want to go 2 up front alongside one of the bigger strikers, which may be useful when chasing a goal late in games. He's also shown he can be an option in the wide areas.

I disagree. What we had in 2nd half of last season was 2 more or less equal level strikers in Larin and Stewart and that worked incredibly well. Both provided physicality and a focal point for the team and were strong players at this level, which meant we could interchange them, keeping them fresh and fit and helping us maintain our intensity up front through the entire 90+ minutes of matches. I don't think either could be considered our "no.1 regular starter" and that was fine and actually an advantage for the team. Larin is 31 years old and the lone striker role is tough physically over a long hard season so I think we still need someone on the same kind of level that can interchange and keep that intensity up for us like Stewart did, not just a backup for Larin. If we don't achieve that, the danger is we will move backwards from our form in 2nd half of last season. I don't know enough about this Man City lad to know if he can provide that for us, let's hope he can progress from his Stoke form last season.

Yeah, would say he is a decent player to have up your sleeve on the bench and to fill in for a few games if there is an injury. But wouldn't be happy at all if for example Scienza was sold and we said he was then going to be 1st choice! So, I guess it depends if he is OK with remaining in that backup role and also of course whether there is any interest from elsewhere from someone who can match his wages.

Would be an ideal replacement but will be hot competition for him as Wolves and West Ham both interested apparently.

It most definitely won't be enough if our aim is as we say it is to get promoted this season, preferably in the top 2, starting from -4 points. We can shrug our shoulders and say "maybe BBD can do a job as a backup to Larin" and perhaps Tonda can eventually get a tune out of him to perform at mid-table Championship standard. But that is not what we need, we don't need an understudy to Larin, we need someone at least on the same level as him that we can interchange with him in the same way as Stewart did. And it also needs to be someone who can provide that strength and focal point up front so that we can maintain that through 90 minutes, which worked so well in 2nd half of last season. Larin is 31 years old and playing as a lone striker is hard work, so he won't be able to start every game in a long hard Championship season, even if he stays fit. I think we have seen enough from BBD in his previous spell and so far in pre season to know he isn't the man to do the above job at the level we need to achieve promotion, so I hope we are not going to waste our time coming to that conclusion in the same way we have in previous seasons regarding decisions over strikers, as it will cost us if we do.

Interesting Charles still there on the bench. And good to see that Azaz must be close. Not sure about this giving BBD another spin, hopefully itt is just putting him in the shop window as I don't think he has what it takes to alternate with Larin in the same way as Stewart did. Well, not if our aim is to contend for autos from starting on -4.

I suspect you are right that there wasn't really an option for him to stay when we went down. He was our biggest signing when got to Premier League and would have been on big wages, so suspect we were keen to offload those wages once we were a Championship club again. I certainly don't remember any noises about him demanding a move or that Saints were reluctant to let him leave.

Not really worried about them while they keep the same manager.

I reckon he will go once the FA charges are resolved. Maybe Dragan doesn't want to be seen firing the CEO while that situation is still ongoing.

I guess there are 2 sides to every story and we have not heard both. I imagine Stewart might see it that Saints weren't 100% committed to him when they chose not to trigger the extension at any earlier point before we were expelled from the play offs? Whatever, time to move on now. It's not the end of the world that Stewart hasn't stayed - he wasn't our most important player and would always have been a risk with his injury record - just as long as he is replaced with a striker of equal or better abilities to help the team. Over to you Johannes!

Yeah, it's just that line that "I can say there are no more allegations" in response to a direct question about whether we broke the spying rules more than 3 times kind of implies to me he knows that we did but it just hasn't been alleged to this point! Would have been better to avoid the question altogether on the basis investigation is still in progress in my opinion.

Totally agree. If he's such an expert on the legal side of things, he wouldn't have 'fessed up to Gibbo in the way he did, would he? He comes across as out of his depth for a job at his level and I would be surprised if he' s still with us for long after the FA investigation is concluded.

Just catching up. Crikey, did he really say that?!! What he should have replied is something like: "I'm very sorry, but while the FA's investigation is still ongoing, it wouldn't be right and proper for me to comment further on the circumstances of the charges, but I can tell you about the process we are expecting ..., blah, blah, blah".

Me too. I know people were not that excited by the Azon link but from the descriptions of how he plays and contributes to the team, he does at least sound like the kind of striker we need with physical strength and hold up play. I think our strategy is to get a decent spread of goals around the team and the signing of Dobbin helps that, alongside the likes of Azaz and Scienza (if we keep them). So, it's just as important the new man links up well with those other scorers in the team as it is that he scores regularly himself in my opinion (although someone who can do both well is the ideal of course, although that will come at a cost!)

Fair enough really. I don't think you can blame him for seeking to get the security that a 3 year deal gives him with his injury record, if someone was prepared to offer him that. Good luck to him.

It always seems a bit disappointing when promising young homegrown players move away from the club so I'm a bit conflicted about this one. At 19 years old, he has potential to improve quickly so a shame he won't get the opportunity to do that for us at Championship level this season. But I guess if Tonda's view is that he won't use him much at this point, this could be a really good experience for him if he gets enough game time in Italy. I wonder if this means Edozie is staying as it was really his reintroduction into the squad by Tonda that limited Robinson's chances to get on the pitch so much?

If that's true, it begs the question what on earth will the FA be doing between now and September in order to come to their judgement that they couldn't have done already in the last 2 and a half months?! It's nuts that they took 2 months just to charge him when most/all of the facts were already known in May!

Remember we have also already signed Larin, Peretz and Dobbin this summer though. And if we are selling Charles and one or more of THB, Scienza and Jander, those players will need to be replaced using the money that comes in. I'm sure we will sign a replacement for Stewart, but Vipotnik is surely out of our range as he is Championship top scorer and contracted to Swansea until 2030 I believe. Also, if Swansea do sign Stewart they are getting him for £0, so they can hold out for big money for Vipotnik.

Doubt it, would be very expensive you would think as he was championship top scorer last season and I believe signed a contract extension at Swansea earlier this year.

Yes, seriously bad miscalculation on this one by Infantino! After what went on in the World Cup with the Balogun/Trump debacle, UEFA were already well on the way to gunning for him so this has given them an open goal to get more support from outside Europe for getting shot of him! You never know with Fifa but surely his days are numbered. Whether his replacement is any better is another matter of course.

Well, as you say, how happy he is if we make him stay without any offer to improve terms is another question. Of course, we can put our foot down and say "you are under contract and you are staying" but experience tells us that doesn't always work out well for the club/team. I suppose the way I'm looking at it, he was our best player last season (majority on here voted him as player of season as I recall) so whilst we don't have to give him a pay rise, I don't see it as ridiculous for us to reward him for his efforts last season, especially if it helps persuade him to give it another season in the Championship to try to get up with us. Of course, it will be difficult to replace the impact he has for us in this league (although I accept noone is irreplaceable) so surely better to keep him as a happy, committed player if at all possible?

I didn't read his comments as arrogance or that he is "moaning". He's just saying it was frustrating that the chance of reaching the Prem last season was taken away through something beyond his and the players control. Factually correct. He wants to play in the Prem so he's saying he wants to talk to the club about the best way of him achieving that. I don't see it as a problem that he is open about that, it's quite refreshing rather than the usual interviews where players just blandly say they are happy with everything when you know they are probably instructing their agents to get them a move elsewhere. He's saying he is "open to anything" so I still have hope he may commit to one more season in the Championship if he feels there's still a strong chance of getting to the Prem with us next season.

Because he may agree to commit to another season with us if we offer him those improved terms. Realistically, he will not stay beyond the end of this season if we don't get promoted again. Obviously, we should stipulate that we will only let him leave next summer if we get a high enough offer. At the end of the day, only Scienza and his agent know how desperate he is to move to Prem now.

Yes, I would say it is worth Saints trying to head off the potential of losing Scienza late in the window by offering improved terms plus agreement to let him leave to a PL team after this season if we don't go up as you say. Whether he will go for that, we don't know... I think the Tonda situation is a poblem as not sure he will make that commitment while there's still a chance we have to change manager.

The transfer fee we payed for him originally is kind of irrelevant now though isn't it? More relevant is that he would be free in terms of transfer fee if he stays now, whereas we would have to pay a significant fee for someone with equivalent ability to him and even more if you are right that we should aiming for someone a lot better. I guess we should be in a good place to assess how much of a risk he is now in terms of injury. But I would probably be in favour of him staying if he wants to, that way we can use that money in other positions where we might lose players before the end of the window.