Saint86

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 😅 🤷‍♂️.

Was a standout player for me. Even against the best couple of city players. Hopefully we start to see him making a breakthrough over the next couple of seasons.

I could see us needing to replace salisu, and upgrading/replacing Bednarek. I think we all know what we want/need though - In no particular order.... A quality keeper, at least 1 quality CB, at least 1 quality CAM, and a quality Striker. What we will get though....

Vestergard played 30 games in the league last season, Lyanco has managed 14, six of them as a sub 🤗

All I meant with the vestergard comment was that we sold a first team cb and a first team striker, and those monies were used to get in squad depth by an large (as opposed to any particular quality). We didn't buy a first team cb, and we didn't buy a first team striker etc. I rate perraud and liv as signings don't get me wrong, but they were the minimum required last summer given we only had kwp.... As was Armstrong and broja - and in reality they are probably below not the minimum we needed in terms of our attacking output. What we didn't get that we all wanted... A gk and a #10. So in essence, we were too hard up even with good sales for ings and vest, to get what we needed. And yes, I agree, ings and vest were effectively enforced sales, but it matters not in the context of us only having limited funds to spend I think? I hope that this year, with better Club finances and new owners, we will be able to both replace the outgoing players, but also finish the required squad improvements from previous windows.

Who said silly money? In all seriousness, "Backed" (for our recent history) would be not having to release players like Hoedt and Carillo on a free to mobilise their wages.... Or not having to sell your best player (in Ings), not adequately replacing him (with Armstrong) - all to get a backup full back (Liv/Perraud) whilst replacing Bertrand (let go on a Free) and sign a CB (Lyanco) - note we also needed Vest to fund all that and balance the books. Plus ofc cheaping out on a young loan striker in Broja.... I don't think we had a bad window all things considered, but no one can sit here and say the manager has been backed so far, and we've all got to be expecting we're operating with less restrictions from now on surely!?!?

Yeah i agree, I shared a breakdown of Brentford's net spend when we were taking over. They invested money year after year and turned a very tidy profit. Ultimately staying in the promotion chase every season, funding a new stadium, and getting promoted. I hope we will do the equivalent of that for the premier league - buying "cheaper" players that add value. I cannot see saints spending £23-£35m on players.

Oh behave 😅. We haven't been in a relegation scrap since he's been here, despite having a terrible squad throughout and being tipped for relegation basically every year. Separate your overall disappointment with saints from your need to blame the manager. We all want things to improve significantly sure, but that needs financial backing more than any other thing. If Ralph goes then he has done a good job for us over the years and it should be with thanks. If he stays and is backed then he deserves a chance at that as well. But then equally that should equally be his last chance - there should be no more excuses after a summer of being backed - as it would definitely be a team majorly made of players he wants without compromising.

Whilst i fully agree that the financial backing hasn't been there, and I am also sure that there is a lot of players eying the exit, it simply isn't fair to blame the new owners... They haven't had a chance to demonstrate funds yet, lets be serious! Saints fan's better get ready for underwhelming summer transfers though - at least on face value. We've been purchased by a company whose ethos is going to be buying cheap players and getting them to perform better than expected. So brace yourselves for cheap underwhelming signings - and hope we get it right!