Saint86

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).

😄 - i googled and couldn't find a start date. I also can't quite believe the number of people getting their nickers in a twist over Martin having not started yet, whilst there is basically no fuss whatsoever on Wilcox still having not started - especially as his position is arguably far more important right now (whilst everyone is on leave and so many transfers need to happen!

When does he actually start? Is it 1st July?

Can someone please tell me why we would sell one of the best prospects we've had for years, a clear talent at 19years old kid, on a long contract, and subject to huge interest from 3-4 top clubs, for only £45M.... And when we have to give 20% off that money away?!?! makes no sense at all.

Would fit tbf. Arsenal buy Havertz before end of the month to meet Chelsea's FFP / accounts deadline on 30th June. Chelsea then use a large portion of that money to buy lavia under next year's accounts. Meanwhile Arsenal overpay for havertz, and then overpay for / miss out on Rice 😄

Need to be asking for £50-60M for lavia.

Yup, the sleeves and the badge. Tempted to get a retro one as it is a lot better.

Nice link that. I think this is my favourite shirt of the modern prem era, and i think also potentially my favourite of the ones post takeover (but close run against the championship/league 1 kits): (as an aside - remarkably similar to my second favourite modern prem era kit - which was also a cracker). These next two will always be classic shirts for me, the sash was a super kit in itself (shirt a bit boring by taken alone), and i really liked the additional white of the championship striped kit: Call me a puritan, but its very tough to beat a good striped shirt for saints.... notably all of those striped kits had 5 red stripes.

So to be clear, Wilcox hasn't joined us yet... but the argument/logic is that wilcox is working for saints and indeed credited for this appointment, whilst at the same time there is absolutely no way Martin can be having any input into decision making whilst on effective gardening leave / holiday from Swansea, and whilst the entire team is on holiday? Why are people cherry picking complete opposite arguments to find some stick to try and beat the club with. Reality is they'll both be sat in the background doing whatever needs to be done within reason (Martin is due a holiday, same as the players). I'm personally chuckling that Swansea have been paying his wages and delaying their own pre season plans whilst, if anything, he'll have been working for us... and they'll be getting still be getting the championship club level compensation. And again, basically no one is even that excited by his appointment in the first damn place 😄

We are agreeing

Misses the point entirely though doesn't it. Clubs cheating and overspending year after year raises the costs for other sides to compete with them. So regardless, if it has happened and the league haven't enforced the rules to the detriment of other clubs, there is a case for compensation... and in Everton's case they've smashed the fpp limits over consecutive years - and we may have finished bottom this year, but what about last year? Now, if they did a chelsea or a Newcastle, what they could have done is got 4 other saudI/Moshiri owned clubs to buy their players at a healthy price / profit and completely circumvent FFP and we wouldn't have had a leg to stand on.... (FFP is basically dead in the water at this point). But they stick within the rules, so it sucks to be everton really, Moshiri only has himself to blame.

Surely we'd be suing the league, not Everton?

Depends who we get at the start of the season. If we start with tough fixtures and get a slow start then it will hamper us and gift points to potential rivals. I'm more interested to see who we'll actually have in defence. Tino, perraud... and....