MerceSaint28

Sorry couldn't resist posting this, seeming as our fishy friends from down the road are fretting over not being able to beat us to players like Howard. Oh how the tables have turned and it is them looking down the barrel of free's and bargain basement....who remembers this famous article...iw ill never forget it http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-past/great-matches/why_would_anyone_join_saints_over_us_1_1297080

Centre Back i beleive will be one of the positions we upgrade. i beleive Jaidi was given a new deal as cover as he and Fonte have an excellent relationship. Seabourne should be allowed to leave, he is a third tier player and probably Pardew's only average signing as everyone else seemed to be a success. I think Pierce would be a good signing. Meite on a free is also worth thinking about. Cork would be a very astute signing also, i would be very happy with that. I would love Danns as well as he can play wide right if needed....i do think Hammond may have to be a high profile casualty, he is decent but we can get better and we can't afford to be sentimental. I would love Ebanks Blake up top too. We need a pacy striker and he is physical too. Rumours are that he is available for about a million, Millwall interested too

Well chaps...it looks pretty obvious to me that we are going to lose AOC....fine we are in a strong bargaining position...however why dont we insist on players plus cash. Looking at the Arsenal reserve team, it is scary how much talent they have Benik Ofobe Jay Emmanuel Thomas Sanchez Watt Kyle Bartley Emmanuel Frimpong Henri Lansbury Craig Eastmond Mark Randall To name just a few...now surely we can assume some would be interested in permanent Championship football?? Also with them wanting one of our players, we are in a much stronger bargaining position Thoughts???

2 year deal??? i don't think so...if we signed a youngster like Cork it would be at the very least 4 years. Funny all the rubbish players we have signed over the last few years, Pulis, Forecast, Wotton all signed really long contracts. I still think that was Rupert getting back at the fans

Now having been one championing CMS for a long while, i am now fully prepared to admit it looks like he is premier league bound. Shame but there are plenty of good players available still. Personally now i think Ebanks Blake would be a perfect fit for Saints, big, strong and importantly quick, he has excellent pedigree at Championship level having previously been top scorer. Wolves are prepared to get rid and i think he would be excellent. Of the positions of need, i have put some suggestions which i think are achievable (the next person to mention should get a good kicking...) Centre Half - Meite (free), Pearce (B'mouth), Nelson to be signed as an up and coming youth player (Plymouth) Centre Mid - Danns (free), Cork (Chelsea), Appiah (free) Right Wing - Jennings (Tranmere), Giles Barnes (free), Darren Ambrose (Palace) Left Wing - Boyd (P'boro), Adu (Benfica), Tyson (free), Anthony Pilkington (Huddersfield) Striker - Ebanks Blake (Wolves), now the follwoing are not positions of need but would be upgrades Left back - Bhasera (Plymouth) Right Back - Lee Peltier (Huddersfield), Gianni Zuiverloon (Free)

Interesting....Looks like CMS is up for grabs then. I always thought if Norwich went up, they would look for a striker with Prem experience and shelve CMS. Excellent hopefully we can now steel in. Just for the record, CMS told his club he is leaving whether they are promoted or not Lambert and CMS up front with Barnard and Connolly on the bench...lovely

Meite would be an excellent signing....powerful, big and strong and in the mould of Jaidi but younger. Would be excellent alongside Fonte. To be honest Zuiverloon is an excellent right back as well and better than what we have got but im not sure we will be looking at RB. As mentioned Giles Barnes would also be a good addition...bags of ability and if harnassed in the right way, he would do very well. Danns - free Meite - free Barnes - free James Vaughan - £1million I think i would be pretty happy with this. I imagine we will get at least a million for Puncheon and £400k for Mills, so we could improve our squad without spending too much.

Guys stop kidding yourselves. I have read 2 pages of this drivel. The squad is nowhere near strong to compete with the top half teams in the championship. Look at reading, Cardiff, Leicester etc packed with ex perm players with power and pace. Some of you get far too sentimental about players in our squad, simple fact is there are some not good enough I'm afraid. The automatic contracts are clearly triggered by promotion so does not mean the players will not leave. Martin and gobern would need to go out on loan as they are not going to be realistic first team. Seabourne, mills, puncheon, forecast and possibly forte will be shown the door and I have my doubts we will hold on to Alex. Are people forgetting the words of our new European scout.....6 players needed Centre back - a decent partner for fonte Centre mid - a quality champ player next to Morgan Centre forward - a pacey striker alongside Ricky Left mid - back up for lallana as holmes will probably be let go Right mid - replacement for Alex That is where we build people

He is not good enough....hope this is not true. I really feel we should be looking at a pacy striker to play off Lambert

Ings might be worth buying and loaning back to B muff. I think Pearce is a pretty good centre back and worth considering also, he is certainly better than Seabourne who is not good enough IMO. Pearce/ Danns/ Cork/ CMS/ Jennings would be quality additions Seabourne, Mills, should be sold Gobern, Martin and Forte all loaned out

Funny you mention Stephen Appiah....i listed him the other week as a player who was available on a free and is an excellent player. Cortese may be the kind of guy to pull off a deal like that. My ideal window would be this Appiah Danns or Cork Matt Phillips if Chamberlain is sold Wayne Bridge Nathanial Clyne CMS Ashley Williams (if Swans don't go up) Bolasie Now that would be quite something

Oh god Murray...really...sorry we could better than that. Would be very underwhelmed if true

Some of you lot are clueless....thank god you are not in scouting or management. Sorry no giving silly wages to over the hill players ala west ham...I don't want anyone looking for a last pay packet. Players we want are cork, cms, danns, clyne, ebanks Blake....

Wow this sounds fantastic....certainly seems like we are going to be aiming for some real quality players. Off the back of this news, don't be surprised if none of the out of contract Saints players get a deal as it is clear that we are looking at a higher calibre player from here on in. Exciting times....people....genuinely i think this is the best time to be a Saints fan since i can remember...the club is going places Im on board...anyone else on board the bus??...

Yep anyone mentioning Owen and Scholes needs their head checked....silly Now on to realistic players ins Neil Danns and Nathanial Clyne. Both extremely high rated and ran away with their player of the year awards. Would love to see both here, Palarse fans pretty upset to be losing Danns http://www.holmesdale.net/page.php?id=105&fid=1&page=1 I just feel at 28, that is a great age for a centre mid, he is dynamic and can play anywhere in midfield. He has the snap in the tackle, is mobile and is a good passer. Would be fantastic alongside Morgan

Connolly - No, really good player when fit but you can't justify his lack of games in the last 4 years with another contract. We need players to contribute the whole season and with plenty of good options available no we are in the champ, it's time to move on Jaidi - No, im a big fan and wish we had him 6/7 years ago as we probably wouldn't of gone down from the prem. He was a cracking signing but again it's time to move on as old father time has caught up with him Martin - Yes, excellent potential and should be given 2/3 year deal and loaned out for 3 months to a League 1 team to get games. Can definitely be a first team player one day Harding -Im undecided...really this call could go either way, he is a solid player but depends on whether we could get better...50/50 Butterfield - No, been excellent for us but i feel we may need a first choice RB with pace and Richardson would be second choice. Again tough decision but may be worth getting a younger option Gobern - Might be worth a 1 year deal if on a low wage and then loaned out as we need to see what he can do. This could very well be a no, depends on wage demands.

Outs - Pulis - disgrace that he is even a professional... Forecast Holmes Puncheon - £1-1.5 mill Connolly - contreversial as when fit he is undoubtedly a quality player. However looking at how many games he has played in the last 4 seasons, im pretty sure he would not last a season and we could undoubtedly get some quality strikers Seabourne - Not convinced he is gonna be good enough Butterfield (if we could get Clyne) Stephens (returned loan) N'Guessan (returned loan) Joseph Mills - £400k - decent player but we could attract better

Also worth adding George Boyd and Anthony Pilkington to the winger list as they would be solid additions and worth a mention

Okay having had a good long think about who is on the market an more to the point, who is realistic and would add quality to our squad, here are some suggestions Additions - Centre Back - one from Mancienne/ Kelvin Wilson/ Wes Morgan/ Matthew Mills/ Bikey/ Ashley Williams/ Emerson Boyce (assuming Wigan go down) Right Back - one from Nathanial Clyne/ Tyrone Mears Left Back - Ryan Bertrand (loan) Centre Mid - one from Marvin Elliott/ Neil Danns/ Darren Pratley (assuming Swansea don't go up)/ Jack Cork/ Hendry Thomas (assuming Wigan go down)/ Stephen Appiah (unattached ) Wingers - Dale Jennings/ Jimmy Kebe/ Chris Eagles/ Wade Elliott/ Victor Moses( assuming Wigan go down)/ Matt Phillips(assuming Blackpool go down)/ Max Gradel Strikers - one from James Vaughan/ CMS/ Steve Morrison/ Danny Graham I think realistically, we are going to need 5 or 6 players. Norwich only had 3/4 of their original starting team in league 1 in the champ and we need to keep improving the quality as well. My Choices First choice Ashley Williams Nathanial Clyne Darren Pratley Neil Danns Dale Jennings (good back up) Matt Phillips CMS

I take it you can't read where it says one from "one from".... We need about 5-6 players IMO...the group we had did very well but we need to improve in a few areas and add quality. Forgot to say Puncheon out BTW

IMO Release - Jaidi - free Connolly - free Holmes - free Seabourne - £200k Stephens - from loan N'Guessan - from loan Additions - Centre Back - one from Mancienne/ Kelvin Wilson/ Wes Morgan/ Matthew Mills/ Bikey/ Ashley Williams/ Emerson Boyce Right Back - one from Nathanial Clyne/ Tyrone Mears Left Back - Ryan Bertrand (loan) Centre Mid - one from Marvin Elliott/ Neil Danns/ Darren Pratley/ Jack Cork/ Andy King/ Hendry Thomas Wingers - Dale Jennings/ Jimmy Kebe/ Chris Eagles/ Wade Elliott/ Victor Moses/ Matt Phillips/ Max Gradel Strikers - one from James Vaughan/ CMS/ Steve Morrison/ Danny Graham

Definitely not of the desired quality to push us on. We need one real quality centre mid acquisition and it's not Stephens. With players like Danns and Pratley available on free's, who are far better players, there is no way we will be signing him. Great to see Schneiderlin back and i think he will have a good season. Hammond and Chaplow will be fighting for a place and i think Gobern probably deserves another contract and then sent on loan to get games

Have heard through a mate of Wade Elliot (Bart n pevrill college), who is a friend of mine. Saints have been in touch with both Wade and Brian Howard. The enquiry was to garner their level of interest in a move to Saints. Both were very interested but Saints apparantly have a long list of targets and work on a tier system, whereby they have levels of desirability and players to turn to if they can't get certain targets. Very interesting.....i just hope we are not compassionate about who stays. Seabourne, Gobern, Stephens will not be good enough to be where we want to be in the Championship. The same goes if we get an opportunity to get someone in who is better than what we have got, we have to do whats best for the club

Completely agree witt the thread and i think it is the reason we start the season so poorly historically. I really don't think we need to spend much money as there are so many good playersa avaialble on a free. With the free agent market, we have to move fast as the Danns/ Pratleys/ Kamara's of this world who are avaialble for nothing move fast. The short odds for Saints indicate the bookies think we will invest and they are rarely wrong. The one criticism i have with people on this forum is that people get too attached to players. If there are better ones available than what we have already, we should always be looking to improve...it's called progress. Therefore players like Forte, Gobern, Seabourne etc should not just be re-tained because they helped get us up. There is no room for sentiment, the club needs to move forward and unfortunately some of the squad will not be good enough to take us there.

Maths obviously not your strong point Window cleaner....dear oh dear....it's not rocket science. Basically the data shows how many points each team would have based on their first half performance in comparison to 2nd half. Clearly shows us and Brighton got the majority of our points in the second half, whereas udders faded badly. Absolutely not gobbledy gook...you just need half a brain...go figure