Saint86

We won't.

Absolutely fucking pathetic from the team since the injury. Absolutely embarrassing. Ref hasn't helped the pressure with some terrible calls, but regardless, the players should hang their heads for this one.

You've convinced me its Ratcliffe. Sold. 😇

Jim Radcliffe, SPAC, and RedBull (mentioned by a claimed ITK on here / minor media snippets) are all likely to have at least been in the fiver interested parties and have had their names loosely attached. Wouldn't be surprised if at least one of them one of the two names being eluded to. Would take any of those as well.

Who knows. Both Leicester and saints are all over the shop recently. Could be a tight 1-1 / 2-1 game. Or we go full YoloRalph and lose 1-3 / 1-4. I certainly wouldn't predict saints to win comfortably. What do you think? 😅

Eh? We've been in reasonable form before losing to Liverpool. Arsenal lost 4-0 to Liverpool and they are 5th. Get a grip. The Norwich loss was just one of those games, we dominated, should have put it top bed but didn't. If we start winning those games consistently we'll be on the verge of challenging for europe. As it is we aren't and its keeping us in lower mid table. I acknowledge there is a fair gap between those two outcomes, but to say we have no confidence to win a game is just silly. Unfortunately Leicester is never a good game for us under Brenda. They're solid defensively and very dangerous on the break. If Ralph plays it sensibly we'll do alright, if he goes YoloRalph (ala liverpool) we'll be out of the game after a few counters.

Yeah same. Its the same area of the pitch as the Norwich foul last night, a few passes later they score. What exactly is the point of VAR? They've won the ball and started that move with a handball ffs. Only saving grace is i have salah and jota in my FF team. Get ready for saints to have a goal ruled out for a similar foul in a few weeks.

Been thinking about it. We have actually been very well run by semmens and ralph lately, and its clear they've got a good relationship and have put a solid foundation in place. I think its likely that any takeover of saints could actually upset that and not in a good way - Its unlikely we'll get a mega money takeover which means we would still need to be well run, and equally its unlikely whoever comes in would invest their own money and then leave semmens and ralph with the amount of control they currently have... as we've all seen, getting people in control of a club that know what they're doing and who will be successful is not a common occurrence - who would be confident that we could ditch ralph and semmens for an upgrade?

Flip it around, we tend to have players that are well grounded and hard working, some exceptionally so over the years 🤷‍♂️ And a lot less negative stories in the media about our players misbehaving.

They're interested in buying saints...

Ah, the old Les Reed special transfer sales.... That man almost ruined our club.

Agreed. We haven't been in a relegation scrap since Ralph came in and saved us in his first season. The way he (and our recruitment team) are growing the club now, i have very little doubts we are on a solid footing and will be challenging the top half and potentially for europe again shortly.

In all probability, we would not have lost that game had he not been sent off. We were the better side and looking to get the winner ourselves. Whereas, we did lose because of his sending off.

It was a debateable only because he didn't make enough contact to cause serious injury. If it had been given as a straight red it wouldn't have been overturned becuase ultimately he was about an inch away from causing a serious injury - he was out of control, studs up, and travelling at speed - very nearly snapped his ankle But it wasn't done from a perspective of anything other than trying to win the ball. Regardless, it was a dumb tackle to have made and lost us the game. Equally, with all that said and done - he does a great job for us in harrying and winding up opposition midfielders (the Armstrong tackle and pass from the weekend being a great example) - getting a sending off for the first time in i don't know how many seasons (assume its at least 3) isn't the end of the world. And further still, at least it happened in a game we should on paper expect to lose, than in one against a direct rival in the table etc.

My point is we took a reduced fee / sell on fee for bale in return for a player of zero value. That directly weakened us (financially / squad depth) going into the financial troubles that followed. Hence my view that forepast's signing contributed to a weakened financial situation and squad. Do you disagree? When you then add on the eventual sale of bale to Madrid it highlights what a terrible deal we made in selling Bale, and what a failure we made over the sell on clause. Only Carillo rivals it in recent years for money/potential wasted 🤷‍♂️ - (or shooting ourselves in the foot).

For me, Fourpast was the worst signing we ever made. My argument being that you need to consider it impacted on the monies and sell on from Bale, and weakened the squad at a time when we were about to implode financially. Dia cost us nothing and had no long term impact.

If we are genuinely interested in him then we have a chance. Broja isn't staying so can pitch it to him as he'll be the number 3 striker behind a front 2 of Armstrong and Che. Evidence will be on the table with Tino (and i think Small with a bit of luck / subject to fee agreement) that we will play him - and it means he doesn't need to move abroad.

Duplicate post.

I think the kid has the potential to be quality, and he seems to have a great attitude which was evident in his first interview. Has the tribunal fee been fixed yet? Wondering if we're keeping him in the B-team partly for fitness, but partly to keep the price down?

Agreed pretty much verbatum 👌🏼

At no point have I said that Gerrard's success at Rangers means he is a top manager.... 😅 how did you read what i put and come out with that? 🙈 I've just said that I think Gerrard has done all that he can in Rangers, and that moving to villa is a logical step up and shows he is ambitious and willing to stretch himself. I've not said that he's been good at Rangers so will automatically be good at Villa - just that the only way develop and test someone's ability is is to challenge them. And Villa (and the prem) are the step up for Gerrard in challenging his managerial ability. He wants the Liverpool job ultimately. Proving himself at Rangers was a start, and he's now chosen to go to Villa as the next rung on the ladder in developing and demonstrating his managerial ability. He's doing it the right way unlike Lampard who just went straight to Chelsea with little experience. Ditto Viera is proving himself the right way after cutting his teeth at a lower level and now palace - when Arteta goes at Arsenal he will be very well set if he continues as he is atm. Also, there is absolutely no requirement to be remotely competent to be the England manager. Southgate sets that bar incredibly low. If the job was available right now and Gerrard applied i'd wager he'd have a good chance to get it after his success at Rangers.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-10108067/How-Premier-League-club-spend-transfers-FFP-rules.html We have the worst spend capability in the league outside of Villa and Everton. #TheLesLegacy

I don't think the impact of loosing vestergard and bertrand, and replacing them with Salisu and a fit and fast left back, can be understated... plus also having a full squad of players.

I don't think you can call it a one horse race in Scotland? Celtic had won the last 9 consecutive seasons. He ended that and went unbeaten. Villa have had a bad injuries and suspensions etc. That squad is pretty good and they'll be near to us by the end of the season. Board sacked smith on a 5 game loss run knowing the new manager would have the international break and is bound to pick up form given players will be returning. Personally think Gerrard will do pretty well there. He's been successful so far albeit over a short managerial career within which he is relatively untested - but he can only prove himself against what is in front of him. He'll likely manage Liverpool and/or England one day depending on how he plays his cards. Taking the villa job at this time is the right thing to do career wise. He's done all he can in Scotland and that move shows ambition and a willingness to step up.

Is there actually a credible slither of a link that rakuten are actually linked with saints? 😬