Saint86

Can't be, he has an America accent... 😛 😀

So you are saying that having an accent is Immediatley reliable evidence that someone supports a club from that region? I'm afraid that logic is rather flawed if applied to a vast tranche of football fans... Prince William in particular isn't well known for his strong brummie accent 😛

Surprised you've got so many confused reactions to this!? I mean I like the guy, but he's a fan who commentates and the club use him like a PR mouthpiece/mascot who gives them free press releases and publicity. Nothing at all against the guy, but pretty much all his information is because he is the BBC Radio Solent pundit for the club 😅 - we'll never know what he'd be like as a journalist outside of that role because he doesn't do it and be doesn't need to either.

I don't have them 🤗

Everton can't afford what we'd ask, its a non story imo.

From GrandOldTeam: "Basically, we have misspent our money on ageing players - too many managers - the introduction of a DOF position - BK stated we needed a billionaire we got one or two behind the scenes, the main unofficial money man is asset frozen due to the relations with Putin = We are skint plus walking a tightrope on the fair play rules - the deadwood is not moving much - we have sold one-star player to try to balance the books - you are correct Lampard has a tough season ahead - sad, but true ..... I am afraid its bargain basement signings - plus the odd free signing ..... & a fight to keep our star players ....." In some ways similar to the struggles saints have had in recent years - difference being we're now coming out of it whilst their troubles are just beginning.

https://twitter.com/TheSecretScout_/status/1545357056353370112?s=20&t=oz6-1XfllNFBR9dxLn_Emw Decent praise... The SecretScout has been pretty clued up on our activites this window?... 🧐 🤣

Well he signed for Ralph after being loaned here for a year... so its unlikely he doesn't like him or rates him badly.

Can Everton even afford him though? They've just survived the last FFP deadline, and Moshri wants to sell so is he really going to support pumping more money into Everton that he can't recoup?

Well... we all knew there was going to be sales to pay for the spend. And we're still nowhere near the rumoured double figures in and out.... Still, you've got to think that we won't sell easily our second best player given Tino's injury and his remaining contract length? Also, its seems somewhat against our revised transfer strategy to sell a player for big bucks and then get held to ransom for a replacemnet.

A really good appointment and yet another statement of intent by the club following takeover. Feel like we're at the start of an upwards momentum curve again 😋

I think this is it for me. Broja might turn out to be the nuts in a few years but feels like the ship has ultimately sailed for saints - this is the downside with taking on loan deals with no option to buy. His loan generated enough interest to drive up his transfer fee and wages, and that has pushed him into quite a risky bracket for saints. The clubs looking at him have a history of overpaying on players / lower financial constraints - But if we spend all that money and he doesn't deliver accordingly it will be like Boufal, Lemina, Hoedt all over again (in terms of impacts on our financial power going forward).

To each their own, but personally if saints are going to spend £30m on a player, i'd rather it was someone who didn't go missing for more than half the season and had a better record than 6 goals in 2000minutes of premier league football. That is an awful lot of money for saints, and i'm far from convinced it would be best spent on Broja - it feels like a lazy link just because we want a striker and he was on loan here last season. Why do people think that because we buy him (rather than loan him), that his attitude and contribution will significantly improve to justify that kind of outlay? If he had bagged 10-15 goals then maybe...

A few other names of note on that list, and a nice message from nigel in the replies as well.

Agreed. I think it is a recency bias as others have said. Some despise him for the two 9-0s, others for the bad runs. I have seen some posters slate his inconsistency (between the runs) because we won / lost most of our games over extended runs. (A more consistent season is to win one week and lose the next with no real sign of the team gelling or settling apparently 🙄😂). But all that really matters is the points total at GW38. The reality is that there is something not right with our ability to maintain good form / or over achieving / players going on holiday once safe. But hopefully with increased depth and squad quality that changes - particulary if we have something to play for at the end of the season. I still think that we have a solid manager - one who has kept us clear every season despite a weak squad and (I think) the lowest net spend of any surviving top flight club over his time here? For me, he's a big part of why we are still in the top flight, and he's kept us here whilst getting the first team rebalanced and the dead weight off the books, and he is ultimatley a significant part in us surviving and attracting sports Republic. Plus ofc we've had decent cup runs. I think the ones who are really anti him have maybe lost the perspective of the good he's achieved due to the negatives? Not to say that they're wrong in that view - it's all opinions ultimatley. But fundamentally for me, he deserves this window of being properly backed and a chance to show what he can really achieve / build 🤷‍♂️. Fingers crossed we can have a great season at any rate.

He is the quickest at the club, tella (and i think salisu) were joking about it in an interview at the back end of last season. Impressive really given his age and injuries. But he needs to give us a bit more on the final 3rd to justify his place.

We blew the Tino trumpet so we could implement our strategy this window onwards. If we had signed Tino and then not played him we would not be getting lavia and bazunu etc. It's as simple as that. Ditto broja. The reality is that perraud and KWP are our best wing backs, although their isn't much between Tino and perraud in all seriousness.

Yup. Sheldon was never a fan of the club though? and it always felt like he just saw us as a step on the career ladder tbh. He also rarely offered much in the way of tactical insight (unlike Anka before) and I didn't like how he publicised our 2nd half "rest break" strategy for his own gains. It also felt like a lot of his articles read like a rewrites of whatever new thread was going on saintsweb - Most notably the "how good is our squad" one that he published shortly after the matching thread appeared on here. He did do some good interviews with past players though, as well as being relatively on board with transfer dealings - so credit for that.

The buy back is rumoured to be £40m - and is that allowing for a 20% discount (i.e. £50M) - The fact that its 20% of his next sale (not 20% of the profit), makes me wonder if it is. Similar to how the Livramento deal was explained last week.

Aribo would work well centrally in a 4-2-3-1 by all accounts. Although we don't really have the pace to play proper wingers in that setup as it stands. We'd be relying on redmond, tella, and theo.

Its only "exposing" if you're expecting him to fail? I'd argue illuminating, or perhaps say that its now an opportunity for him to prove his worth. I guess it depends on each persons outlook and how they feel he's done so far - i.e. glass half full/empty. And in all fairness, i don't think we can definitely say he'll have "no excuse" yet either. Judgements on his performance will always depend on the circumstances at the time. I.e. if we end up selling our better experienced players (like say JWP, KWP, Salisu, Romeu) to pay for the young kiddies we're signing, then all of a sudden the squad won't look as good and people won't be as positive as they are currently 🤷‍♂️. Similarly, if we go into the season and get ravished by injuries to senior players its hard to blame the manager... In some ways, maybe the tough start will benefit the team - gives them a chance to blend (with so many new faces) without the pressure of "must win games" against league rivals. But yes, if we struggle, then he should face a similar level of scrutiny to other managers in that sort of situation.

They just need les Reed to join him... Actually, I'm not sure I'd even wish that on the skates 🤣

There was another club brugge attacker we could have gone for - for less money aswell 💔😭

That is actually the makings of a solid side. Especially when you consider you have romeu/lavia on the bench, and bednarek/BK. Plus 2 from redmond, Ely, tella. I actually think that Armstrong and Adams is a well balanced partnership provided the defence is sound and the midfield can feed them. They aren't so good if we have to chase games and until now our defence has been too shite to hold on to leads.