Saint86

I hope the rumours are true re west ham funny business. Will mean we have leverage over west ham and he/they may face a sanction or need to pay us more etc. If he was going anyway who actually cares? Looks like his exit is going to fund 4 very much needed additions that will contribute more than him combined quote comfortably. We come out of this winning... Cheers MF 😅🤣

Exactly - this is exactly the kind of signing we need to be looking to make. We can't just go out and buy proven players - we need to find them before they become so well known and that is what Spors and his team need to deliver. The proof will be in the playing ultimately. For now - in Spors we trust. Having had a dig around a few sites, Janer's name does pop up as one of the rising/ potential stars of German football for CM - so there is something there....hopefully he achieves it with us.

That's the most glowing set of comments I've ever seen for a player we've signed 😍

If still can match PSG, he can put out a team to cause a problem for Liverpool's reserves 🤞

They could just change which week they play in in Europe. And continental football shouldn't trump domestic football. Greedy corrupt shiesters at uefa 😡

Relax guys. Will Still's about to Belgium the fuck out of Liverpool 😏😏 Also - its an absolute disgrace that these European sides get special ceded privileges in the cup draw. They get significantly more prize/TV money (which is locked away from the other EFL clubs) as a reward for playing in Europe and which allows them to build bigger squads to compete - they also have to play the same number of matches regardless of whether they play each other or another team. This is an absolute fix and should stopped as it's frankly the anthesis of English cup football.

Thought last night showed some real promise myself. The first half was shaky/ frustrating - in so much as we just kept giving the ball away needlessly, or moves (that would have resulted in dangerous breakthroughs or quick transitions) were going astray due to sloppy passing or a lack of tactical familiarity. Also felt there was some promise in having downs / Stewart up top alongside archer - I can see that causing a lot of problems this year. However, we really grew as the game went on, our play clicked more and more, and by the end of it we were levels above norwich imo. Also, quality wise you could see we are better than Norwich - who I don't think really threatened us that much - even if we did give them some freebies in the first half. Good as well that the players who came in showed they wanted to fight for their spots in the team. Anyway, certainly better and showing signs of progress - but spors badly needs to back Still with the players he wants this week. And fair play to all the fans that went up - great support as always! Thought Taylor and roerslev impressed. Macca was steady on goal, good shot stopping but awful when the ball is at his feet and required to control or pass it under pressure (can't we just merge him with baz and get the best of both?). Charles a beast in CM, Fraser did well, archer impressed, and pleased for madski (matsuki) - what a goal that was!

Struggle to make it up on here. One moment we've got fans are pissing and moaning that sports republic try to be to clever and target potential / quality on a budget or with unknown reputation, and instead demanding we sign proven quality at champ level. The next moment there is an outcry over potentially signing a very good champ level player with a proven track record of 20+ goals/assists per season 😅. Keep it up guys, if nothing else the group despair is both therapeutic and entertaining.

Don't be a dullard. The squad in 22/23 was stronger than 24/25. The squad in 23/24 was stronger than 25/26 is (as it stands) - unless I missed a bunch of creative attacking players hiding under a rock somewhere. One of the only consistent results from sports republic running our club is systematic decline. They've basically got a week left to show they can change that under spors... And the reality is that it is basically promotion or bust this season, because we cannot afford to get worse again and stay in the champ. Would be better to spend what ever we can on good (but limited to the) champ players to get promoted and then get 12 points again next season, than it would to stay down. Because if we go through this window, and fail to build a promotion winning squad when we are financially at our strongest for the league, then I have absolutely zero optimism they will be able to deliver it on less money in the future. And since solak is seemingly going nowhere - getting less and less competitive in the champ and eventually relegation to league 1 will be our future for the foreseeable.

Huge part of the issue here is that one of the first things sports republic / rasmus did when they took over, was to deconstruct the existing scouting and recruitment setup at the club. Fundamental changes in the way it worked, large staff turnover, and a lot of the knowledge and practices lost permanently. Only started trying to rebuild this back to a comparable level this year post spors joining - but it will take time. Sadly we're also trying to do that from a lower place on the pyramid, with reduced attractiveness and money for staff and players. SR have hugely damaged saints since they got in, and we're all still waiting to see some kind of promise that they can re-establish us in the prem.

Just atrocious.

That's rumoured to be on the cards to be fair. Could happen at the same time 🤣😂

Just imagined what this place will be like if we sell dibling, lose to Norwich, and then accept a bid for Fernandes... All before any serious incomings are announced. Could be a pretty epic meltdown 😅🤣

Checking in sporadically whilst on holiday to consistently read there is no news. We're either having an absolute mare this window, or leaving it to the last minute, or a combination of the 2. Still needs to use what he's got player wise as well - edozie is an available winger for starters. With him, Fraser, and Robinson, he's at least got enough players to start with a 4231 formation in matches - we don't have to stick to this unbalanced 5 at the back.

Having looked into this enough earlier in the summer. That article isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

To me, he has aspects of both Ralph and koeman - but with far superior man management. I.e., be's both tough / ruthless, and sensitive / considered to squad morale and how to manage the various players. As I said in the pre season predictions thread - he's going to Belgium the fuck out of the championship. Still think we will go up top two - provided the squad looks good end of the month.

This was his interview answer when they asked him about his coaching style and how it related to Russel Martin, wasn't it? Solak then hired him on the spot...

Will be interesting to see how he gets on with grealish for a year. Similar aspects to his game and certainly a players he's partly modelled himself on. Hope he does alright at Everton - at the end of the day it's both good for saints financially, and for the attractiveness and reputation of the academy, if he does well. But equally we've done pretty good out of that sale - especially if we keep MF and can buy a couple of key players to strengthen.

Isn't ABK in the final year of his contract?

Because dibling showed as an 18year old that he can boss or beat some of the best defenders in the league for fun, and they had no clue whether to stand off him or close him down. The potential with him is immense - the gamble will be whether he achieves it.

Was just catching up from a field in Cornwall... reading his (12) posts, joined august 6, is absolutely an Everton fan 🤣😂

Is it 20% of sale fee, or 20% of profit? Makes a huge difference in reality, and these details are important.

He's 24 and easily one of boro's best attacking players by all accounts. Their fans seem incredulous that they'd sell a 20 goal contribution player to a division rival for £12M. 23 goal contributions in 24/25 from 45 appearances. 21 goal contributions in 23/24 from 45 appearances (between two clubs). 17 goal contributions in 22/23 from 34 matches (league 1, but equally when he was fairly young). That's a very consistent output. If we were selling him we'd want a lot more than £12M... lets see how this plays out. Will need to get him in before a big sale is agreed for Dibling/Fernandez, otherwise the price will go up.

Well, everyone knows how much Spurs have got to spend on a winger now 😆

Nope. But Starmer's gonna get him now... Very silly boy - facing 3 years in jail for that kind of tweet these days 🤦