Saint86

I sense an undercurrent of panic behind these comments, certainly a lot of concern. We haven't wasted 2-3 months. 3 months ago was March and we were relegated in mid May. Since then we have restructured pretty much the entire management of the club. We've also had our manager identified pretty much since then, nailed on for well over a month, and we've likely had both him and the DoF planning the summer in the background whilst the players have also been on holiday. The transfer window isn't even open! Coady would be a decent championship player sure, agree. But he is also 30years old, couldn't get in a possession focused wolves side, didn't really do that well under Dyche at everton, and is only going to decline as a player. There are plenty of other players to be found, and many that will suit the style of play better - just because we don't sign Coady doesn't mean we'll have bad CB's. Piroe has 1 year left and knows Martin, if we are in for him and he wants to come here, he will come here. Swansea can't afford to let their star striker leave for free... Maresca is a gamble regardless. He's had 14 games as a manager abroad and it was a car crash. To now step up and turn around the mess that is Leicester in the championship (a very competitive league) is not guaranteed. Maresca's experience of english football is the upper echelons of the premier league with a very weighted deck of cards - he's only really had 2 years learning from pep, and they were sandwiched between time at Parma.

Yes, but I don't want diallo playing in the championship (do you?) so is this really saying much?

I want to see the club slapping high valuations on players - its basically a "hands off" unless clubs come in with silly offers. Bodes well if we actually stick to it. What doesn't align is the alleged £40M valuation of Lavia - unless the club are basically facilitating his sale to keep others. We should clearly be asking for more than £40M for lavia!

Its effectivley just the saudi's transferring a load of money between their two clubs whilst we get a nice bit on the side. Not that big a deal surely? And if it is an issue, can't they just top up Newcastle's kitty by signing a Newcastle player for one of their 4 Saudi domestic sides for like £20M... FFP is dead for the Saudi clubs 🤣

The media seem desperate to flog our players as cheaply as possible, and then to print mock outrage at how much we are asking. Makes me want to speculate that we are actually driving a hard bargain on the basis that otherwise we'd be reading a lot more stories about deals being accepted etc. Also ties in with the tough line we took with Swansea. The fans won't accept players being sold for perceived cheap prices. Equally this is something of a litmus test for SR's business model of trying to maximise player trading profit.

You don't understand Hypo... regrettably we've signed an agreement with all potential suitors of Lavia that his price is £40M and we cannot possibly ask for a penny more 🙄

Thanks Mozz, thats interesting. I knew there was an improved TV deal for the champ etc. this year, but didn't know the specifics. Might see quite a lot of saints on tv depending on how well we do.

Went to Gillingham / Medway twice for work. Accurate. 😄

He isn't moving to Fulham 😂

Maybe he isn't available? 🧐

Agree with this.

Surely you realise where you've gone wrong if your on here looking for this? Also yes, i agree with you.

Not so much directly related to Martin, but playing devils advocate - are you saying Swansea have better players than Saints? I think our central midfield will likely be made from JWP, Smallbone, Alcaraz, and then either plus Diallo or some new purposefully chosen signing (grimes mentioned) - also some academy players. Good chance our wide AM will at least be 2 of Sulemana, S.Armstrong, Edozie, and Tella. So i think all in all, that is a decent midfield for a championship team. Defence, Tino will be class at this level if fit. Perraud is a very competent wing back for the championship. Who knows what CB's we'll keep, rumours are all of them are up for sale... But DCC could certainly play the required way in a possession side and we could do a lot worse than him and ABK. I think Martin would have to do poorly for us to not be at least amongst the playoff sides - and in fairness to the man, he took over MK Dons when they were shite and did well (modest resources/squad), and with swansea he had limited resources and injuries and still made a good stab at it - namely ending with a good run and showing progress across his time there. In fact his short managerial career does demonstrate progress throughout. If he is well backed by the club (uncertain given the amount of turmoil and transfers/restructuring that needs to be physically done) he'll do alright here, and potentially well. There is something to be said for us actually keeping hold of possession and maintaining our shape instead of going yolo and being cut apart by simple direct passing... We've got a potential selection of very talented AMs at this level, good championship strikers (previously), and the best Set peice specialist in world football... in all seriousness we should be able to take our time with teams at this level.

Another way of phrasing this, is that since he left MK Don's they've been relegated (actually starting with Wrexham) to league 2. FWIW, i think Martin will do well here. He's going to have one of the better sets of players/resources at his disposal, and he's joining a club as a breath of fresh air after a terrible season and with no hang ups associated with that. In a lot of ways he's going to benefit from the "he's not Nathan Jones" effect with the fans. But, if he sits there and does ineffective Claud Puel crab football along the back 4 he'll not last long.

Presumably there will be more surity in the championship games as there is less need to move fixtures around for the European "big teams", and less TV coverage in general.

Soft landing for some: And these are Leeds' opening fixtures for context:

Wish him good luck and could be a good move for him, although aren't they in all sorts of financial problems?

Well, we'll know where we are come start/end of September. Looks a tough start on paper - But if we want promotion we should be winning those. Thoughts Wednesday have just sacked their manager/coaching setup, which for a newly promoted team that needs momentum and to strengthen efficiently seems a poor decision. Norwich at home will be a good test - one we shouldn't lose and you would hope we win (but manager needs time yada yada) I think Plymouth (A) will be tough. Good manager, great atmosphere around the club, carrying a lot of momentum and confidence in how they play. QPR are not very good - this is a great chance for a win 😄 Sundarland (A) will be very tough, and a promotion contender 6 pointer to boot. Leicester (H) - Promotion favourite at home, if they live up to their billing that's a must win. Ipswich (H) - Promotion favourite at home, if they live up to their billing that's a must win. Boro (A) - another that will be very tough, and a promotion contender 6 pointer to boot. Leeds (H) - What a run? just going to predict a win here for the hell of it. Then finally, Stoke (A) and Rotherham (H), and relax. Reality is we have to start hot in August (very un saintsy) and then carry that into a very tough run of games in September. Martin does know the league in all fairness, and if we can be in touching distance after Leeds we should be setup nicely for the rest of the season.

I'd quite like The Gas away myself.

Rumour doing the rounds that wilcox didn't want him as mananger. I do think the statements are a bit weird... Wilcox was surely serving his notice period from city so would he have been here and blatantly working for us doing interviews etc. when this approach was allegedly made last season? And has Wilcox even been announced as joining yet as it is? I also think its interesting/telling that it's the SR quotes that list Martin as the "ideal candidate" and not Wilcox's (aka - the man we're being constantly assured is responsible for his appointment) - and that's despite SR formally stepping back as well! Meanwhile wilcox's statement contains a lot of guff. I flat out refuse to accept that anyone thinks there is a "great environment" at saints right now... We've had redundancies, a season long losing mentality, a squad thats been relegated with pay cuts, and with half the team scrapping for the exit whilst the other half will potentially be looking on enviously... Also I don't have anything against Martin, but we are targeting promotion - and I agree with you - there is no way he has a strong track record of that 😂. Probably reading too much into it, but has made me wonder how involved Wilcox really was. But ah well, in Russell Martin we trust 😂. All that really matters is what we do on the pitch, not the politics of internal recruitment.

Yup, he knows when to move on.

He was the top scoring english central midfielder post world cup, and 9th in the league for key passes (despite playing for us)... He's got 3 years left and is the captain. We'll be after £40M minimum for him. Anything less would be a borderline insult. Also if it is west ham one could imagine we will charge a Rice premium - it must actually be a huge issue for west ham this summer because everyone knows they're coming into £75M-£100M and will be after CM. Also, imo the only reason he goes to a fulham or a Bournemouth is for money which has never struck me as a motivation for him. They're going to be relegation / lower half teams over the next few seasons. Whereas, if he stays with saints, he has the chance to be the hero who stays with the club through relegation, leads us back to promotion, maintains his highest wage earner clause, and still gets beckham's record. Could see him giving us one more year or till january tbh. Agree with Fareham in that its more likely he is staying than leaving, especially if we end up banking £40M for lavia. As a final point, having a player like Prowsey who will happily play every minute twice a week in the championship, and who is certain to bag us points with free kicks is a significant value - lower standard defenders/keepers, and a more dominating saints will equal plenty of chances and golf swing celebrations. Would be foolish of the club not to factor that in for a promotion push.

If they're worried about losing out, then they won't bid at all... your logic is flawed here fabrice IMO. We are the selling club and his value is what we'll do a deal for. He has a long contract and will be a great player for us/someone. With city we have an agreement in place that was part of our purchase. But with everyone else, if they want to buy him they have to pay what we're happy with or not get him. And as i said before, the facts remain that if he stays we likely have a far stronger chance of promotion, we would be silly to sell now for the sake of a few million compared to the financial security that comes with promotion. Honestly, the only reason we should be selling him at such a cheap price is if we desperately need the money specifically from his sale.

It is basically irrelevant what clause we have with city. Just because city have a clause doesn't mean we have to accept £40m from someone else... City might not even be in for him and you're arguing we have to price match to an offer that they may not table 🙄. Fundamentally, unless we absolutely need the money, we would be mad to sell for £45M this summer. We can sell 4-5 squad players, keep lavia, and have a far better chance of promotion (and restoration of the prem millions), and we'd still be able to sell him for £40M next year... Ditto he may not want to go back to city (i mean he's left once already when he could have gone on loan).