Saint86

Is it though? His contract has one year left I thought? Newcastle are prepared to let him leave for free and sing a new contract with us, but like any other player leaving a club they shouldn't have to pay his contract beyond him actually leaving. Fraser has the choice - stay and get paid by Newcastle (maybe another loan) or leave Newcastle with a new contract at saints. Newcastle are actually being quite fair/generous in allowing him to leave for a free in my oppinion. Clubs only do that when they're desperate to get a player to leave. Now, Saints could pay Newcastle a fee if we really wanted fraser, and equally Newcastle could use that fee to offset his wage demands (if they really wanted). But the whole thing smacks of fraser digging his heels in with Newcastle, possibly related to whatever happened in the background between him/club/howe and having one last axe to grind. Alternatively, it could just be that he's 30 as it is, he wants to maximise his last big pay day (which would be joining us this summer). Fwiw, i think if he does stay at Newcastle he's in a risky spot. Another loan might be sanctioned somewhere, but then he'll be 31 next summer and is he really likely to get a prem money move at that point? Reckon we're his last chance on that front, I.e. He signs for us on a 2-3year deal this summer or he won't get a another prem contract. At the end of the day though, if they're prepared to release him early from his contract for free, it's more than likely he'll be leaving this summer. Possibly one we get late in the window.

Such a weird narrative to blame Ralph over SR for that season. He'd been operating on a shoe string for ages and yet we'd made some astute signings in recent years - such as KWP and Tino, and laid the groundwork for Lavia deal. But then that summer/season, SR came in and gutted the first team coaching setup, the academy setup, the scouting setup, they gave the manager a bunch of young inexperienced players with no real thought to squad balance / dressing room cohesion, we played the entire season with the very young/inexperienced Bazunu as first choice, and crucially they spent £160mwith and didn't give the manager the striker we so badly needed. Then, despite having a lot of our best players out injured (most notably KWP, Lavia, Armstrong, and Tino), and despite having to blood those youngsters in to both senior football and his tactics, we were actually in touching distance of survival when SR sacked the manager - with more money to be spent in January, and players coming back from injuries. Can only imagine what he'd have achieved if SR had signed players the manager actually wanted as opposed to "investments" they could sell on for a profit (doing well on that front with a lot of them aren't we). But ah well... SR's two golden appointments (Selles and Jones) were on hand to correct the failings of the manager and drastically improve our form to carry us to safety... Oh wait...! That entire season is entirely on SR imo. Everything that followed relegation - the loss of income, the selling of our best players, the damage to our academy and loss of our academy stars (the team that came runners up to City's u18 Galacticos) - Its all on SR. The buck should stops with the owners as standard, let alone when their fingerprints are on every single negative decision taken at the club. And until they re-establish us a solid premier league team, they should be firmly in the red with the fans 🤷‍♂️. But like i said, i think they've learned from that and i think they might well come good in the long run... But we might look back and see that we wasted a few years just to get back to the level we were previously at when they took over (i.e. whilst they learnt on the job basically). One thing i will say though is that they seem to be doing well for focusing on improving fan experience at the ground 🤷‍♂️, and they do seem to at least be committed and fairly open owners.

Thing is, loads of people will keep buying this crap. Needs a hard boycott on shirt sales until the club understand that they need to be maintained for more than one season, and they need to actually turn out quality designs. To be changing the shirt every year, churning out shit repeated year on year, and then to be charging £60 for it is just a piss take.

Quite 😅. It's impressive really. How much did they spend to completely imbalance the squad (and not buy a striker for ralph), lose so many of the backroom coaching/scouting/academy staff, lose many of our best academy talents etc. That isn't to say they won't come good in the long run, but so far they've not been great owners and it's hard to argue they've had a net positive impact on any of the 3 clubs so far.

How much money have they spent for each of their clubs to effectively go backwards from where they were before the purchased them? Last year at saints was the absolute bare minimum... Which we squeaked. Outside of that, they have set the club back years in relation to scouting, coaching, and particularly the academy. First team quality is also significantly below that of the prem relegation season. Tino, lavia, and JWP absolutely waltz into our starting 11.

Normally get these pretty accurate. Sadly this year I'm not at all confident if survival 😕. Think we'll have a shaky start, get found out defensively, have to make some adaptions, and ultimatley be playing catch up - but there is some dross in the league. Everton and forest in particular look poor, and Brentford have lost their big name striker to injury. Maybe it will all click, but I can't see us coming far outside 19th-17th at the moment. Maybe a couple more signings and some good performances in the last few pre season games may raise my optimism levels.

Given he's in the final year of his contract, the second he starts performing well in the prem he'll be gone, or as a minimum have the club over a barrel contract wise. Ludicrous situation to have out ourselves in, let alone the fact he wasn't given game time last year (but now looks set to play at a higher level). What's even more shameful is the number of academy stars SR have lost in recent years. He's a quality talent that clubs can sign up for free and keep and develop for years. That's PSR gold.

What happens, is roles are advertised all over south asia (for example) with promises of a good job and a good salary (that can be sent home to support families in poorer parts of the world). Often with free travel out to the middle east as part of the offer. Then they land, their passports are confiscated, often phones are confiscated, and then they're shipped off to work long hours and/or hard jobs for minimal pay (if any) - that can be anything from maids living in windowless box rooms and working long hours, or labour on construction projects with minimal safety / welfare provision, long hours, and terrible conditions. They don't get their passports back either. Happens all over the middle east, and the Saudis are certainly guilty of it - they go out and target the vulnerable and desperate. Grim.

The Saudis were aligning themselves with Israel against Iran before the October attacks. I for one would enjoy watching an Israel vs Iran group game hosted in the tolerant police state that is saudi arabia. Guaranteed entertainment both on and off the pitch.

Broja?! get real man. He is a shadow of his former self after that injury. His physical attributes have declined and his confidence is through the floor. He needs to go to the championship (or similar) to try and resurrect his career. He's nowhere near good enough to carry a poor team over the line to survival. The love in for him is mad, the only thing he's done at this level was a short purple patch at saints in a very specific tactical setup.

very good acquisition for them in fairness.

Second call for feedback on this!

First 60min pretty much the backup team and newer players. Conceded 2 goals through sloppy errors passing around at the back - rather here than in the important games, and as per the start of last season, i guess the style needs to bed in. After most of the starting 11 came on (last 30min or so) we looked comfortably the better side, don't think they had a shot, carved them open a few times - but no finish applied / no one on the end of a cross. BBD and a new striker will make a big difference. Macca did not impress between the sticks, albeit with a fairly makeshift / new defence in front of him.

To me, that says we're playing the squad players to start - it's their chance to try and impress / or let themselves down.

Yeah, i just googled it. I think its fully prohibited in France so they couldn't even invest in Bordeaux as a minority shareholder.

Are there any rules that stop SR also taking over Bordeaux? Massive club at rock bottom right now, great heritage, and great academy! Surely would be a fine addition to any portfolio of clubs.

If we do end up doing that he's got to deliver straight away and make it last across the whole season. Its a big ask for someone who's never played at this level 🤷‍♂️. Thats not to write him off, but its risky. Maybe i've just been burned by too many Sulemana, Carillo, Boufal, Lemina style signings over the years. We've certainly spent fortunes on lots of players that never really paid back the investment.

If we can get Carvalho then it would be a good bit of business. The kid is quality and certainly has potential. Too good for the champ and needs to start playing serious squad time in the prem. The fact he's seemingly turned us down already is concerning however (particularly given last year it would have been as part of a promotion team). He's also a signing that would fit our current strategy of having the best of the championship should we go back down 😆. Personally i am not that convinced by the Celtic lad. Its a lot of money, and given the opposition he plays against in Scotland i'd expect to see more from him in his highlight reels. £25-30M is a lot of money for us this window given we also need a keeper, another CM, and a striker. I'm just not convinced its the best use of our funds. Plus equally, how often does a record signing really work out well for saints?

Just leaving this here...

All comes down to whether we have an effective style of play as well. Right now i don't think anyone knows exactly which saints we'll see next season - will it be the 4-3-3 possession and attacking side, or will it be the more defensive 5 at the back we saw at the end of last season, or perhaps a mix of the two. I agree with Harv's post above though, i think we've done the right thing by keeping the key men from last season, and then acquiring strong characters across the team. Bodes well for a good, positive, and determined dressing room next season.

I think they might get away with it this year because of Leicester's massive points deductions. Which basically means its only 2 other spots open. But unless they make some signings they'll be flirting with it. Sean Dyche or no Sean Dyche. No one really knows how Ipswich and Saints are going to do at the end of the day (although I'm being optimistic and think we'll stay up without too much trouble). Similarly, Ipswich do have a good manager and might surprise a few team (saints did when we did the bounce). Or put another way - if you write Leicester off and assume one of saints / Ipswich stay up, I think its hard to make a case that Everton are certain to stay up as it stands. Both them and forest are certainly teams we should be targeting to finish above.

His move to Genoa has just fallen through over wage demands

I notice De Gea is without a club...

I know its a running joke, but the catchment area for Southampton FC fan's is is pretty large - and mean for matchgoing fans. There was a thread on it recently this season where (some) people on here were actually looking down on saints fan's from outside the city... And i still think its mad that that outlook exists tbh. Do people actually walk around thinking the traffic through Millbrook and down the avenue on matchdays is for Ikea? All that should matter is we've got dedicated fans that attend matches. I grew up 15min from salisbury but have supported Saints my entire life, lived in the city for a bit, but then moved to Bristol and kept a season ticket going until Puel.... he (and kids) was the final straw for the season ticket. My eldest is 6 now, took him to 4 games last year including the play off final, and he's been in to Staplewood... (i'm doing my best to get him hooked before he picks a glory club), whereas pretty much all his mates at school support arsenal/city/liverpool etc. (🤮), and they'll likely never go and see a game... Also, when travelling up to Wembley we were sat near saints fans from Taunton and Devon that had been going to see saints all season (which following the dreadful relegation season is some effort). And yet we have fans that look down on them for being outside the city, weird. As for meeting saints fans out and about, we're generally great. There used to be a bloke on the bristol bath cycle ride that would yell "up the saints" etc when we'd go past each other on our commutes, and i'll always remember chatting to a fan in old Rhodes town many years ago. That atmosphere doesn't exist with the bigger plastic clubs, whereas saints are just big enough to have fans all over the place, but don't have glory fans (because we don't win anything 😅🤣🤘). Plus we benefited from the boon in 90's football and having someone like Le Tissier being broadcast all around the world showing of spectacular goals.

Personally think this is a class signing for the money. Fancy him to become a bit of a fan favourite at saints. He's got something about him for me - good movement, bursts of pace when he needs them, strength in holding off defenders once he's beyond them, a hell of a shot on him, but also a directness and calmness/composure to vary his finishing. Takes a mean penalty as well. This is a good signing for us. Reckon he'll bag 10-15goals (provided we aren't god awful next season 😅).