Saint86

I've set my expectations at David Brent cross Puel. Which is a pretty low bar. The saving grace is that we should have a very competitive side for the level, so we can afford imitate his Swansea side (who had the most shots, missed most of them, and had the 5th worse defence in the league) and still challenge for promotion... In Rasmus we trust right? 😂

I know there are arguments about the merits of promotion vs player sake value, but I think we should be giving him an extension, and we probably should keep him any longer without signing one.

Now you're arguing a different point though. His finishing reel for recent seasons is a horror show. I like Che, but he can't shoot for shit - well not if he has time to think about it anyway 😂🤣😅.

Both this site and twitter are anonymous for starters and no one has the right to an unopposed opinion. This is great. Also very much on Andrew's side 😄

wowsa, i had no idea Torquay had slipped to the 6th tier!

You don't think his "miss reel" is a horror show?

Imagine if somehow our midfield winds up as JWP, Lavia, Alcaraz. Plus Tella and Sulemana on the wings 🤩. (I know this is very unlikely).

Bizarre. Swansea are well known to be a nightmare club, and them behaving stupidly won't influence anyone's opinion of saints other than we will not be bullied 🤷‍♂️. Also, as predicted, all that is happening is Swansea have made tits out of themselves paying his wages for an extra couple of weeks whilst he's on leave and whilst both parties wait for a formal confirmation of our relegation that they would actually accept 🙄🤣. I am actually very pleased we haven't needlessly wasted a more money when the entire squad is on holiday regardless. And if anything, RM has probably been working for us for free whilst on his own holiday. Also this. And are there even any saint fans that are desperate to sign him? Not sure why some of our fans were be getting upset over it when its the off season and basically everyone is on holiday for a couple of weeks. Especially when 1 week before it all got delayed the fan consensus was broadly one of disappointment that he was the linked manager 😅

We really should be able to have a "good" summer (its still an overall shitshow mind).... There is a lot of guff to sell that will now want out due to wage cuts and drop in standing. That in itself will allow a rebalance. Then we have a group of high value (or potential) players that are all on decent contracts - we can either keep them together (in which case we should tear up the champ in all seriousness), or sell 1 or 2 and have a lot of money to spare. Main task is shifting the fillers and rebuilding the squad effectively so that we don't need to flog the jewels.

Yes 😆

And they'll be trotting out the same old line - "guns don't kill people, people do". Mental country.

Wondering if the perpetrator will be one of Merkle's millions (he's reportedly a Syrian who has refugee status) - feels like it could easily be some deranged lone wolf extremist that's snuck into Europe and waited to strike, ditto radicalised by one. The reports of pushing adults out the way to specifically get to the kids its horrific.

No way!

Unless he is going to be really unhappy and kick off then we absolutely should keep last year's player of the year and a title winner. His value to us is quite high - we had an absolutely awful attack last year, and we're struggling for a winning mentality - what we absolutely need is players that know how to win, and more than that, players that know how to win the league / get promoted - as that is our fundamental objective. So unless its for silly money we should be keeping Tella - we have more than enough other players to shift / replace / improve on without busying ourselves shifting a player that is nigh on perfect for what we would be going out and looking for anyway ffs - not to mention the absolute utter turmoil that is our upper management and recruitment teams at present.

A 60k stadium with London price tickets where SMS is, and with the associated terrible transport links? Nah probably not. But built somewhere a bit more accessible with proper transport links? I reckon we could get up to 50k if the increased revenue led to improvements on the pitch (i.e. not being utter shite). Ultimately the London stadium is extremely well served by public transport and has a dense population around it. Saints have fans travelling from across Hampshire, Wilshire, Dorset and probably some from Somerset - to a stadium with no direct public transport links and in a city with limited parking (near the ground) or rail access 🤷‍♂️. Our fanbase isn't as small as people make it out to be, but getting to the ground is a challenge. People said we'd never sell out SMS when it was first proposed, and yet we maintain a decent attendance even when its been dirge for a year and despite it being a pretty uninspiring stadium and a cost of living crisis.

Yeah can't seeing it have much impact. Fees are largely set by the player's value to his club, remaining contract length, club's resolve. Feel a bit for Brighton, losing him for £35M is far worse than us losing Mane for £35-40M. They look to be following a similar path to what we set under Koeman (and also Leicester), albeit not quite reaching as high. How many players can they sell before their recruitment falters? Will they be the side that bucks the trend, or in 5years will they be battling relegation like every other team that dares to knock on the glass ceiling.

Sounds similar to our home support in recent years.... maybe revitalised screens will lift the atmosphere - that and some more light shows 😆 (ducks for cover) 😄

Fair point, although the broken clock adage springs to mind. Also I'd manage to block that whole escapade out - thanks for that 😭.

Given this is stoke fans, those quotes really don't carry much weight. A genuinely clueless set of supporters if ever there was one! 😂

Not only that, but I thought it badly need to be re-laid after last summer and issues with the playing surface this year?

No, they'd have needed 34 points and better goal difference to survive. In only one of the last five seasons was 35points required for survival, and 36 in none of them 😋😄

Would make a horrendous Saints kit in this form.

That isn't true though is it! If we'd have got 34 more points, other teams would have dropped points - so it becomes highly theoretical. For example, a better saints side should easily have had 6 points off of forest this year (the worst team i've seen at SMS in years - bar us this year), and would have beaten Everton at home. That is us on 34points, Everton on 33 and forest on 32... And you can keep your Leicester and Leeds where they are. Reality is that 18th place got 34 points, so beating 34 points and a -17GD was the safety boundary - as it would have been for any other team, and as many predicted. 18th place's points tally in recent seasons - i.e. the threshold to survive. 2022/23 = 34 2021/22 = 35 2020/21 = 28 2019/20 = 34 2018/21 = 34

Weird point to keep hammering on the transfer thread - do you have some personal grudge against anka or something 😅. Personal oppinion ofc, but for me he was streets ahead of Sheldon (pretty shit) and tanswell (anka light)!

He's a Premier league relegation level player. He's off the wage bill and I don't want to see him back 😰.