Saint86

The better example would simply be Manure - a club saddled with debt and heading for a decade in the background 🤣

Would our players be able to see each other in this? And if not, would we actually notice?! 🤔

They look like photoshops based on leaked snippets on here... so surprised if that is the actual kit images being leaked. But, that home shirt is pretty bad if that is it - would struggle to be less "saints" if it tried. The third shirt looks even worse, at least by itself... A top effort over this past year by someone 😅. The away concept is okay - sort of thing that might take a while to grow on me, but then could see myself ending up liking it over a season... Especially if it was paired with the other 2 efforts. Hopefully those aren't our kits - but if they are, I hope our summer transfer business is of a higher standard than Hummel's year of kit design... 😬

I heard they've been scouring this place for months in an effort to headhunt the perfect candidate.

Would quite like to see us go in for Openda of Brugge (been on loan at Vitesse and scored 18goals this year). Young striker, could be the future of Belgium's national team given his scoring record at lower levels. Supposedly available for 5-6million. Absolute coasted the Eredivisie for a 2nd tier team, and has a far better record their than Broja and bags of potential. I'd love to see us go for someone like him at any rate.

I don't think you are in the minority tbh. Generally i'm always wary of vocal minorities shouting loudly when they're unhappy, particular if that side of the argument is the one that features a fair amount of harsh language as a substitute for concise arguments... (obviously that isn't everyone). Also one poll posted on what was basically the "sack Ralph" thread the day after a bad defeat doesn't mean much does it? Its about as biased a poll as you can get on a football forum 🤣. Personally, i am also of the view that the club aren't not wrong to have kept him on. And i think most fans are still just about in the camp and won't argue with the club's decision when viewed on balance (tight though - could have gone either way And i reckon it was considered at board level!). And yeah, maybe we could have paid to sack him? and then gambled on a new manager? But would they have been as good as Ralph with the resources he's had, or as committed? Ralph is ultimately a known quantity and has been successful every season he has been here with limited resources. Ultimately, i think we have the lowest net spend of all surviving prem teams since he's been at the club? - and we haven't been in a relegation scrap under him in that time. So the abuse he gets from some is not really warranted for me. Looking at it from a squad quality perspective - I reckon most of us would have taken any of Pope, Mee, tarkowski, Cornet, Mcneil, and Weghorst from Burnley's team and put them straight in our starting 11... And yet they're the team who went down and in reality got nowhere near saints. His job fundamentally, has been to keep saints in the league with one of the weakest squads and minimal backing. He's done that every year plus delivered some memorable wins, runs, cup runs, and sadly some infamous defeats/ losing runs. But on balance, if he's being backed by the club then i think the fan's should get behind him as well, even if it is his last chance. But saying all that, I don't think there are any saints' fans that thinks he can survive being backed this summer and then not delivering improvements next season. It does look like he is going to be backed in this window - both with improvements to the coaching setup, and also with funds to finally assemble a good team of his own choosing. On the one hand, that makes for potentially an exciting summer and season, but on the flip side it means there can be no more excuses if we're doing poorly by Christmas. And there will be pressure on him as a result of that - both to deliver improved results, and also to potentially blend in quite a few new players. The added risk with all that, is that it looks like we're going to go all in on youth players (i.e. the city academy players), and that could be risky if we do have a rocky start - regardless of which manager finishes the season. Anyway, he's clearly staying for the time being, and in the meantime there is a new kit and lost of transfer dealings on the way.... i.e. silly season. Therefore Love and light to all 😎

He also shot me down for saying the relegation threshold would be circa 34 points this season (relegation prices thread), whilst suggesting 28 points himself. But i don't get wound up by it like some of the posters on here. On the contrary It just makes me smile - its simply an omission that he knows who's boss at the end of the day 🤣😎

Not wishing to condemn a player on youtube 😨 - but the overwhelming majority of these "highlight" saves are the kind that gets a keeper lynched on here if they don't make the save.... I.e straight at him, good vision, slow shots etc. You really need to see the goals he's conceding as well - sadly these don't often make it into highlights reals - but that video wants to present itself as a scouting video, so it fails. What it does show him doing though is parrying the shots away from the danger area, and getting good power behind the parries. Also seems to have reasonable (if slightly risky) distribution. Tend to agree with you, his dominance of the box didn't come across as a weakness on that video, and some of his sweeper play stood out. Nothing to suggest he isn't a good improvement on Macca or Forster in that video though

If a decent offer comes in for Salisu, we shouldn't even blink. Bite their arm off. His contract is going to run down and his value diminish - he's not so good that he isn't irreplaceable.

If he gets his world cup place then I think he might be happy here regardless. He seems content to have such a central position at the club and maybe he really is committed to us in that way. But yes, for his overall career he needs to move - Trophies wise it should be a Chelsea, Liverpool, city move. To just sample a bigger club then someone like spurs pushing for top 4 and champions league football with Conte etc would be a fair move for him. I don't think he'll win much there however. If he moves to a west ham or a villa then it will be more annoying, but still its his career and life and he's give the club a lot.

I just think its amusing the amount of hate he's had on this forum over the years. He's going to go down as one of our best premier league players in recent memory, and if he stays for his full career he'll retire a club legend i think.

I think I recall Pochettino getting them to walk over hot coals at one point?

The Les Reed legacy (and i suppose Krueger). I've said before that for me he was worse for the club than Lowe (who did get us the stadium and academy setup). Its a bloody miracle we haven't been relegated - and if we had been we've have gone to admin far quicker than the last time. We've been struggling with dead weight of his transfer/wage legacy ever since he got all sweaty over the VVD and Mane monies. I'll repeat again, its a bloody miracle we've survived with the squad of players and finances his tenure left us. We really should have gone down, gone into admin, and possibly been right back where we started in 2010 (or worse - given players like Hoedt and Carillo would have been on the wage bill).

I mean, he's just been beaming about his time at saints... So yes... obviously he's deliberately and covertly snubbing the club hierarch that gave him that opportunity... Sorry to burst your conspiracy bubble 🤣

Fairly nice farewell message from Broja, one he surely wrote himself as well 🤣 For sure he isn't coming back though.

Reckon the women's team deserve a nice training camp abroad as well. They actually won something last season...

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news... but preseason is going to involve Ralph taking the team on a mini tour of his homeland. Adds a little bit more weight to him not going anytime soon.

What like Djenpo the full back, and Valery and the CB 😁

How's this for a shopping list: Pope, Tarkowski (free), McNeil, Cornet, Weghorst.... Burnley are going to get torn to shreds given their financial position and clueless owners. No reason we shouldn't get in on the action I say! I'd like to think Cork and Jayrod would have a few good things to say about Saints, and ultimately all of those players go into our starting 11. (I know we don't have the wonga for most of these players, that and tarkowski as a minimum is going to a more attractive proposition than saints). But if we don't seriously look at some of those players i'd be a little bit worried. Although even the FFP cheating Evertonians can outspend us and are supposedly offering tarkowski £120k a week already.

Pretty succinct post on the topic. Reckon that would cover the majority of fans tbh.

On the whole Forster / Macca situation. Why are we all so sure we didn't offer Forster a contract? Seems more likely he said no thanks (or told us to do one) given his history of being loaned out / bench warmer, and then went elsewhere? That or we offered far less wages than he can get elsewhere... By which point we kind of have to offer Macca a contract. Also, isn't he really good mates with JWP? 😨 We're going to struggle if we go into next season with Macca as No.1 though, that's no slight on him, but we have all said for years now that we need a better keeper... so its a season of defensive struggle ahead for me - unless we miraculously learn to defend / sign some actual class CB's.

That's fair enough, but you can't post that and not get this 😁 Also, we were safe months ago tbf. The issue is not finishing higher in the table, not not avoiding relegation.

I've thought this. JWP has always been happy at saints and is on the record several times saying its his dream to captain the club. If he moves i think it will be to actually win trophies, not so much for the money, which will mean those 3 teams realistically. Imagine he'll also have a mind on making sure he's playing regularly as well given the impending WC. Hate to say it, but if Liverpool have the money, I could see him ending up there to replace players like Milner, Henderson, and even the relatively disappointing Keita. It would be disappointing if he went to a bottle job side like spurs.

Urgh have we really? We should be asking £75m for him this summer. If we've included a release clause for £50m or less (given only top 4 clubs could afford more), that's pretty damn stupid.

Seriously... He's always been a manager that has a go and tries for the win - which is one of the main reasons why we drop so many points. The whole league would play an entirely different way if each match was a 2 legged affair... That's just an absolutely meaningless stick to beat him with 😅 🤷‍♂️.