Saint86

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....

I thought we were all Team Andrew these days 😄

That is Stu right? Can't be AA? 😄😅😄 I only ask as I'm regularly informed by this board that JWP is shit and not press resistant, so that chart must be nonsense. Obviously no surprise to see Ely and aribo where they are. Highlights what I think we can all see, on that Armstrong is one of our best 10s when fit. Hopefully he stays and gets fit as he'll do well for us in the champ. Edit. A real shame that alcaraz joined so late in the season and lavia was injured. That is a very solid midfield 3!

That was the one to actually go and buy, I wish I'd got 2 as it clear whoever signs off our kits now has horrific taste 😄

It's just so much worse than the original kit as well... it's not even funny. The new sleeves and the logo just trash it entirely. Absolutely horrific. Worst home kit I think I've seen us in tbh. And how did they copy the original kit and come up with something so much worse, beggers belief.

Actually is horrendous.

Would be interesting to see a poll on whether people will buy it or not, already feels like it's going to be a proper marmite kit...

If that is genuine, then i'm really not a fan... The sponsor just ruins it, actually looks horrendous stuck on like that and in red.... Be tempted to say it might be the worst saints home kit in recent years for me but will wait to see it fully. Minimum I think it's going to be tied with the "bra raised" one sadly.

What? Its a total non issue imo 😅. I can't see any real danger of a Saudi Arabian league threatening the established European competitions - its just like china and the MLS before them with the exception that they very likely corrupted a world cup to get help launch their initial PR. Fact of the matter is that they are paying huge sums to lure aged players into a league with no meaningful competition/pedigree/prestige, and into a country where players are unlikely to ever move their families or settle for any meaningful amount of time. And okay, money talks... but they aren't going to take out champions league and EPL tv monies by having a low standard leave with geriatric players and no established fanbases / brand names. The whole thing is frankly quite weird, football isn't golf, i cannot see what they're trying to achieve.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/06/17/chelsea-pay-30m-villarreal-striker-nicolas-jackson/ Chelsea are preparing to pay around £30 million to secure the signing of Villarreal forward Nicolas Jackson, with the deal advancing quickly. Villarreal do not want to sell Jackson, who scored 12 goals in La Liga in 2022-23, but Chelsea are ready to activate the 21-year-old’s release clause. Talks are ongoing between the two clubs over payment structures and the finer details of the transfer, but there is now an expectation that the striker will be moving to Stamford Bridge. The move could even be finalised in the next few days, after Jackson has played his final game of the season, for Senegal against Brazil, on Tuesday. It is expected that Jackson will sign a long-term contract similar to those handed to previous young signings since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover of the club. Jackson moved to Villarreal from Senegal in 2019 and can play as a central striker or on the wings. He finished the season in sensational form, scoring nine goals in his final eight games of the club campaign. The forward almost signed for Bournemouth in January, in a deal worth around £25 million, before a hamstring injury prevented him from making the move.

Would be an absolute shocker by the club to lose some or our best academy plauers. Hopefully nothing in this.

Hah! Yes I did! That will teach me to peruse twitter in the early hours 😂😅

Alfie house has tweeted to say he is off on holiday and doesn't expect to miss any announcements... I hope some people can take another week with no Martin announcement... 😅🤣

Looks like Maresca is heading to Leicester... And people were worried Leicester would poach Martin from us 🤣

Yeah it's funny. Let's be clear here, this is a manager that no statistically significant proportion of the fanbase are excited about. The bed wetting is all very predictable, but it does bode well for general spectator entertainment over the summer. On the logic behind some of the panicking - We can only assume that some fans consider that Managers are not allowed to have a holiday... also that new Southampton employees would never ever even dream of discussing their new job whilst essentially on gardening leave / seeing out holiday time for their old job 🙄🤣😂. Some of the same posters that said he couldn't possibly be doing this are the same ones that have been assuring us that wilcox has been working for saints for months as well 😂. And that's ignoring the fact that it happens all the damn time in all walks of life 🙄🤣. And aside from all that, is he even back from holiday to do all the PR / interviews / announcement guff that will be required to sate our bipolar apathetic/impatience as fanbase re his appointment?

Yes, because chelsea signing any player right now is a sign of good scouting 😄

How did you gleam all that from that article? Basically says he's settled in swansea, that we've been a basket case club lately, and that they'll be a lot of pressure and uncertainty at saints - particularly if things don't go well.