
UpweySaint
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Posts posted by UpweySaint
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20 minutes ago, gurru991 said:
I would be highly suspicious if you were wishing for anything else.
Not saying it will happen but can you imagine your embarrassment if Leicester get a points deduction & still finish above you
Have a nice day !!
Don’t worry, we’re used to embarrassment over the past few seasons!
Genuine question, how is the uncertainty over if/when you’ll get a points deduction sitting with the Leicester fan base? Is there also an acceptance of it as ‘fair enough’ based on financial rules?
As a potential rival I see it as giving us a potential competitive advantage and the way you dodged it last time round hasn’t sat right but Leicester hardly feel like the worst offender compared to the likes of City (what charges when?!?) and Chelsea (loophole fc).
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Just now, lumuah said:
Any stable rumours?
You won’t find anyone stable here. That horse has very much bolted.
*I’m not proud of that one 😂
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7 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:
I think we'll get our money back, maybe even make a small profit given that he now has a bit of pro football experience behind him.
I guess they'd have seen something, but it would have been a really small sample as he only played 17 times in the league. half of those as a sub.
Get 7-10m for him, move on, and bring in a better player would be my plan. I'm kind of bored waiting for the 2022 kid cohort of Edozie/Larios/ABK/Bazunu and co to come good, they won't.
I’ll give you Larios and ABK though I’m not sure that I would include ABK in that specific cohort as he wasn’t part of the City academy exodus. Baz I don’t think is as awful as some think and he is still young in goalkeeper terms. He has clearly lost confidence and may not come back from that.
You did miss Lavia off the list too. Injuries have been a big issue but he is clearly top quality. He was the 2022 cohort right?
I won’t be heartbroken if Edozie goes for the right fee but I do feel he is worth persevering with.
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7 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:
I wanted to see him kick on last season, I was intrigued to see how he'd get on at Anderlecht in European comp - but he didn't really do anything. 3 or 4 goals a handful of assists, 17 league games (quite a few as sub) and loads of injuries to boot. If he's going to be of any use to us, he needs to be bossing leagues like that.
It may well be the right time to cash in.
Yeah the Anderlecht loan spell was a disappointment, can’t argue that. I don’t know much of the context of the team, how he settled etc. Hard to know how definitive it is.
I suppose the caveat is Club Brugge would have seen him in the Belgium league and fancy him based on that. They’re a decent side.
If he does go hopefully it’s for a good fee and Still is given a quality replacement well suited to how he wants to set up.
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I thought Edozie looked decent albeit a bit raw in our promotion season. If I remember correctly he got an injury just when he was getting in to rhythm with us. Unless we have a replacement lined up I would rather keep him - I think he could do a job at this level and has the potential to develop into a premier league player.
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59 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:
Reckon we could get 7 million for ABK? Would represent decent business at this point.
If we did it would be good business. I had been working on the assumption we wouldn’t get a fee for him so anything is a bonus. I would take a lower fee with a good sell on clause - just in case he kicks on.
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21 minutes ago, Badger said:
Just hope we don't end up saying similar to Mara.
Yeah fair point - that’s the risk. I think we overpaid a bit for Mara but can see why we took a punt on him. A few goals in a good league at a young age, youth international pedigree etc. Mara being sold on to BlueCo was a bit odd - they seem to be throwing a lot of cash at potential so even though he didn’t do it for us perhaps people in the game still see something - personally I never saw much for him in a saints shirt that made me think he would crack on. If you believe TransferMarkt we actually made a profit on him though which is strange…
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5 minutes ago, goodymatt said:
If this is correct (2.7k followers posting FC Koln news), the initial fee is pretty low, £5m upfront and £1.8m add ons.
No guarantees but we’ve seen other teams get more value from European leagues for a while. That price for an international striker with goals in a comparable league with his physical ability profile has the potential to be a good deal at relative low risk. You could say similar about Quarshie.
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15 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:
Isn't Brooks still cup tied ?
Maybe that’s why he is moving over the border?!? It all adds up now …
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17 minutes ago, revolution saint said:
Coventry fans seem to really rate him: https://www.skybluestalk.co.uk/threads/milan-van-ewijk.168172/
Interesting read, cheers. He sounds like the sort of full back Still likes - if he is on our radar it fits with the push for more athleticism.
a few comments on that thread about Rudoni too who some have mentioned. A double raid would piss off some Cov fans for sure and in some ways they feel to be a ‘similar’ size club but it’s not entirely impossible and would make a lot of sense in terms of recruiting top championship players with scope to kick on if/when we go back up.
I would feel a bit for Cov fans. Generally a nice bunch and have had a few almost moments after years of dross and uncertainty.
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3 minutes ago, skintsaint said:
Didn't we get told we have two new attacking players coming in before anyone leaves?
Before anyone has to leave. As in we would target them whether we made sales or not. Getting sales done early is a bonus all the same!
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I think there is a risk of oversimplification at times. Some top championship players make the step up, some don’t. Some young foreign punts end up representing great value, some are Bella-Kotchap.
Players aren’t signed into a vacuum. A player coming in to a good team with talented coaches and a defined culture in terms of tactics and the bigger picture stuff such as a strong dressing room with leaders are more likely to succeed than those coming in to a shitshow.
Wanging on aside I like Sainz and Rudoni from what I’ve seen. I don’t know how realistic either is at this stage - Sainz apparently has admirers higher up and Coventry would likely see us as a direct rival so would want a sizeable fee for Rudoni. If Spors and his team can pull a Marty Fernandes type deal from abroad then I’m all for it!!
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Hard to see past Ipswich as favourites. As others have said they are a settled side with quality and a good manager. Plenty of us questioned their squad depth last time around but it didn’t seem to be a factor. They probably need a centre mid (or two) and possibly a striker but otherwise they look strong.
I’m confident we’ll challenge but if Ipswich fly out the blocks while rivals are still getting together- us included - they could be hard to stop.
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8 minutes ago, VectisSaint said:
Really don't think he did it often enough to be thought of in the way some do. As I said I liked him but he was frustrating when he was with us, especially when you see what he did when he left. But that wasn't really the point of my post, he is 37, and would not suit in the Championship now.
Fair enough, game of opinions! There aren’t many players I’ve preferred watching for saints in the last decade or so but I get that he could infuriate.
Your main point - Dusan at 37 isn’t right for the championship - yeah no arguments. I don’t think he would fancy it and I couldn’t see him being up for a 46 game slog. It would be fun to see him doing his thing back in a saints shirt against lower quality opposition but it doesn’t feel like a se sensible or realistic bit of squad building.
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50 minutes ago, VectisSaint said:
Tadic will be 37 in November (older than Lallana when he rejoined), he wouldn't last the season in the Champ, probably wouldn't even make it to his 37th birthday. I like Tadic, and clearly he made a hellofa impact for Ajax, but there are definitely some rose tinted specs being used when remembering his time at Saints. Along with Gaston was notorious for giving the ball away while we were attacking, leading to goals conceded.
Nostalgia may play a part but I don’t think it’s revisionist to say that he was technically one of the best players we have had in the past decade. He gave the ball away but also tried to, often successfully, make things happen that others couldn’t.
I don’t necessarily think he’s the answer in the championship at his current age but it doesn’t diminish his ability.
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1 hour ago, Saint_clark said:
So £15million then. If we're going to get rid of him and Onuachu for a combined £21million then honestly i'd hope we'd take that money and throw it at whichever player was top scorer outside the promoted sides last season (Josh Sargent?) I don't want to see it used to bring in 3 or 4 players to "strengthen the squad".
This. I would guess (we’ve established its guesswork at this point) they are also both on decent wages having joined us in the Prem so we can put that towards signing a forward who suits Still’s game.
If we can shift ABK for any sort of fee too that would be great.
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Hard to quibble with much of the interview. I know Martin splits the crowd and I think most agree his position became untenable but it’s interesting Solak cites the VAR decisions that cost us points. It’s all if and buts though I do wonder what our season could have been like with a few more points and the confidence that comes with that early in the season.
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1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:
The main thing is if we can afford Ings and Stewart given that both could break down. Archer, Stewart and Ings feels too light and Archer, Stewart, Ings and A.N.other feels like not a sensible use of our resources. If we didn't have Stewart then I'd agree that Ings would be worth a place but with him I'm not sure how we can justify it as much as I'd like to.
Fair point, difficult to justify carrying them both with the fitness risks. If Onuachu and Armstrong go and we bring in a younger striker on a lower wage who may need a bit of bedding in I could conceivably see us having Ings and Stewart in reserve with Archer the main man. If honest I don’t see Ings as likely but I wouldn’t be unhappy if we signed him.
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9 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:
I think Archer is worth persevering with. He can finish, but the system last year really didn’t suit him. Hopefully that won’t be the case next season.
Ings on a free is still a no-brainer for me though. His movement in the penalty area is brilliant, especially getting in front of the first man for those crosses.
Broadly agree - there is a finisher in Archer and he may yet come good.
Ings in for me depends on who goes and how any wages are structured. He could be a good option in the squad - he’s not the player he was when he was with us but we’ve not really got close to matching him since…
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3 hours ago, Doctoroncall said:
Bristol will appoint Gerhard Struber (ex Koln).
Was he at Barnsley or am I confusing him?
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47 minutes ago, skintsaint said:
Selles to Sheff Utd is another rumour.
Guardian have it as basically a done deal. I don’t really judge Selles on his time with us and he’s reasonably well since leaving but I feel less worried about Sheff Utd with Wilder gone. He did a really good job with them last season and the fans understandably hold him in high esteem. If Ruben doesn’t get off to a strong start things could get tense their way.
The other interesting tidbit seems to be Rohl linked with plenty of jobs but still being at Sheff Weds. There has been speculation about him holding out for better offers or Chansiri not wanting to budge from a big buy out clause. Either way if he is still there when the new season kicks off it could be an interesting watch…
Have to say I’m feeling more pleased we got Still and got him relatively early. Throw in Edwards at Boro, McKenna linked to Brentford and whatever Leicester are up to and it feels like a lot of the fancied sides will have had a lot of upheaval.
I almost forgot Manning to Norwich from Bristol leaving them needing to find a replacement.
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10 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:
Nope, our decision if he goes, simple as that.
Come on, you know it’s not that simple. If he doesn’t have an agreed release clause (which is unlikely) then yes technically we can hold him to his contract but there are many reasons that is rare in modern football - many of which are clearly exacerbated by using being relegated.
Sports Republic have got plenty wrong but they at least held out for decent fees for players last time around and I can’t see why it would be different this time. I hope nobody meets our valuation for him but if they do hopefully it helps us keep a competitive squad together.
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38 minutes ago, skintsaint said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c98p6yjz1l5o
Were we not linked with this chap not so long ago?
A little write-up on him as Scotland found their level against Liechtenstein.
We were linked in the Autumn, i don’t know if it’s genuine but you would think his price is likely within reach for us given the year left on his deal.
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19 minutes ago, Nolan said:
Can we get better than Onuachu In?
If £5 - 8million more than contributions he could make in the Championship.
If Still gets our players to play in a similar way to his team at Lens. High press lots of balls in the box, isn't Onuachu the best current striker we have for that role?
Add in potential long throws from Quarshie, and is it really worth Onuachu going?
I guess wages might be a factor too. If he’s on a wedge clearing that and bringing in a okay fee may either help us get in somebody Still wants or get us closer to being able to retain one of the handful of players we would actually be keen to keep.
Personally if the fee isn’t a complete piss take I’m not bothered. I don’t rate him particularly highly and think Stewart looks a better all round player - with a major caveat of ‘when fit’.
Championship season 2025/26
in The Saints
Posted
Fair. The principle of clubs not spending more than they can afford is a good one but the system ‘as is’ feels rigged and the top clubs are incentivised to keep it as such.