Saint86

Always thought saints could lodge a challenge / claim on the grounds that the other clubs all broke the rules to raise the cost of survival / competing. I wonder if we will.

Imagine we could sue them as well. Lost to a financially "doped" (by the rules anyway) side twice and missed out on automatics as a result - Based on the burnley vs everton ruling, you'd imagine we'd actually have a very strong case for compensation. Football is all the worse for these rules and the amount of money involved, but that is where the game has got to now - the legal risk for cheating is so severe its worth more than any sporting sanction, its why it may actually have done us a favour to have been kicked out and avoided all the legal crap we'd have face from Boro and Hull had we got promoted.

Woops 😂

At the right price and CM squad size, the club would be mental not to take a motivated JWP... But there are a lot of moving parts for that to come to fruition. Regardless, it seems likely that he won't be at WHU in the champ next season given the clear issues between JWP and Nuno.

Never heard this before? Sounds like a rumor that's been created after the fact to suit/generate a narrative on AA more than anything else.

I would imagine Everton would be very receptive to a loan move for Dibling - at this point they're staring at a very expensive mistake and need some way to rehabilitate their asset, particularly given their £35M fine. Doesn't mean saints should take him back however. Didn't want to be here last season, wouldn't commit to the club, and seems to have a attitude / mentality issue.

Ballard being linked to West Ham now . Club need to fix this error. We should re-sign him with the discount sell on fee and give them downs for the season on loan as a sweetener (no one tell them he's shit) - might be good for his development/confidence in the English game.. Also in for Dael fry for a free from Middlesbrough - which is good business for them annoyingly, and certainly a big step up for him.

James Bree's moment?

All hail the German Drogba 😄 Sadly the rumour looks like potential rubbish, has just re-signed for Frankfurt, although its possible they intend to sell him on for a profit.

We'd have to play Middlesbrough away (us with a 3 goal deficit) before being allowed anywhere near the final.

Hah, maybe. My perception of him was that hey did well. He joined when confidence was destroyed with 2 points from 11 games. He ultimately got them up to 20points and almost overhauled burnley - despite selling strand larson and replacing him with AA. I personally took that as a reasonable achievement. Possibly the fans are just understandably very unhappy and are blaming anyone attached to last season's fiasco. But if you compare it to our 12point relegation season, where the team weren't as badly off as wolves were when he joined, and yet were so demoralized they gave up every time a goal went in... There was no danger of us ever reaching 20 points.

If we do end up sacking Tonda, i certainly wouldn't be against Edwards as a future saints manager. Can see Burnley trying to get him on board ASAP.

This one is mental. They had a proven manager at championship level who was preparing his team for next season and who had saved them from the seemingly near certainty of being the worst ever prem side... I know they love Portugal... but the Championship is one of the most competitive leagues in world football.. About as far from the Portuguese top flight as you can get. Absolutely huge gamble.

I've just said similar to an Everton supporting mate (whilst rubbing his face in it - as he did to us over Spygate 😄). He then started moaning about Burnley cheating against them on the pitch in 2 matches... We're getting to the point now where any result can be challenged due to "cheating", and where results will be determined by clubs' legal line ups and settled in the courts. Total mess!

Yes, financially doping your team across multiple seasons is blatantly more impact than scouting a team a inside an arbitrary window.

That's a bugger for us. Goes a long way to wiping out the first year reduction in parachute payments.

I think he did score a corner for West Ham, so technically he has surpassed Beckham's record for set piece goals 😄🙃

Dom Ballard should be an obvious target for us. Young, hungry, bound to improve. Loves saints, hates Pompey. Best striker in the tier below, 25% discount for saints, and gives us something different to Larin.

So, in summation, you agree with my general sentiments of alarm over the prospect of Long and Baz being our backups 😅

Do you think Bazunu and George Long would be of suitable quality to get us promoted after a long term Peretz injury? Really? 😅

Our form under Eckert with a back 4 equates to 113points over a 46game season. Its not all about West Ham. Need to keep THB, Scienza, and Jander though.

Desperate stuff. One injury to Peretz away from mid table / relegation.

I agree. He had a disjointed season last year. Started off at wing back being played out of position in a poor side. Did he then lose confidence or pick up a knock? He seemed to fall in an out of the team going into our incredible run and struggled to recover. Regardless, he's definitely got the right attributes to be effective - his wing play is very dangerous and he's got a cracking cross and good engine. Hopefully we see more of him this coming season.

Not sure about that, I think Sullivan is majority owner and the speculation is that his kids will now take up a greater role in management. Eitherway, it's a potential limbo at the top of the club during a critical period.