UpweySaint

Goal?!?

Well this is hyperbole of the highest order. On what basis was he the worst by some distance? He had his flaws for sure but come on. We wanted a ball playing goal keeper which clearly he can do. His decision making and shot stopping need work but he is very young in goalkeeper terms. There is no question we are a better side with Ramsdale but if we end with Bazunu as our No1 in the championship we’re not exactly in the shit.

He’s here for the season and I agree Martin’s position was basically untenable but I think it highlights that recruitment has been a bigger issue than coaches for too many years. it’s easy to be revisionist but Ralph wasn’t crap and would have kept us up with a half decent striker. Jones is Jones but Selles is showing he’s a decent coach. Juric deserves more than three games before being judged though a 5-0 pasting at home hurts. We’re down and I think the players know it - doesn’t help with their heads dropping - but it would be good to finish the season with a little credibility and a semblance of a plan for next year.

Based on what exactly?

It’s not a stick I would beat Martin with. ABK thought he was bigger than the club when we went down despite being part of the team that got relegated. He still thinks it now. Hardly screams of team mate you would want alongside you in adversity.

I don’t disagree, we do need to mix it up. It’s all ifs and maybes - I do rate Archer - but I fancy we would have looked infinitely better with Delap up top had we got that deal done.

Because you could put Archer and Armstrong on each other’s shoulders and we still would have sod all chance of winning a 50/50 in the air?

Righto. A selective, condescending reply that misses the point though I think you know that. I think you could also likely do a better job than me explaining the DOF model so I won’t waste time going over that and how the role differs from a head of recruitment. My view is a good DOF offers strategic leadership and cohesion to a clubs decision making including the profile of player/coach recruited based on an overarching vision. It’s guesswork on my part but I would suggest were Jason Wilcox still in post our summer transfer business may have been better and, if we did decide to depart from Martin, we would have been more decisive both in terms of making the call earlier and having a suitable replacement lined up. I would welcome your view. Though if you can’t share it without the condescending tone please feel more than free to keep it to yourself.

I don’t like the pile on you often receive but I think you know you’re being pedantic here for the sake of being ‘right’. The sentiment is we had a director of football model similar to many clubs both nationally and internationally. We lost the person in post and did not fill the post. We have somebody in a post with a similar name but I don’t believe you genuinely believe the two are comparable in terms of relevant experience and responsibilities. The remit of a DOF would have included overseeing recruitment of playing staff and a head coach. I would have expected that were a DOF such as Wilcox (or a viable replacement) in post we would have had robust contingency planning in the event Martin lost his job. They may have also acted as a critical friend while Martin was here and offered professional challenge that arguably Martin would have benefited from.

He’s doing a good job at Blackburn and did well at Birmingham. I wouldn’t be excited by his appointment but could see some sense in it.

Thanks. I know there needs to be balance to manage a busy schedule and there is likely a counter argument for headspace and reflection but I’m surprised the players had two days after the shower of sh1te performance against Spurs. Have to think that if we had somebody permanent they would have cancelled the second day.

Cheers, do you know is clips or a write up is available anywhere?

Tall Paul playing like a player with a point to prove! If he finds the net his confidence will be sky high. I’ve been in the camp not thinking he was up to it but I would be delighted to be wrong!

Online commentary anywhere if I can face it?

I don’t think he must. We expected a tough start and planned for the long term.

Let’s go? *shit no, that’s AO …

Apart from the majority of last season where we got promoted and went 26 games unbeaten playing a 4-3-3? I don’t see the formation as the issue. We need to improve for sure but I actually think 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 suits us well.

Fair point, Edwards looks marginally better for me than Woods so far and I think he looks to have more about him longer term so I can see an argument for Edwards over Woods. ABK is a different story for different reasons. Clearly a talent but unlikely to reach it here, it’s a shame for all involved summer moves broke down. I genuinely thought him and Salisu had the potential for a really top class CB pairing but our relegation season and/or general scepticism has pushed me into the ‘no dickheads’ all blacks style thinking. Our team in the relegation season were really hard to like. I know Russ splits the crowd but for the most part I think most of us actually liked the team and the evidence of a team spirit last season. I think that will still be very important this season as it will be a slog for sure even if we do enough to stay up!

It seems clear Martin has an issue with ABK - plenty of rumours about attitude and application. If you feel the pressure is on I can understand wanting to keep a risk averse approach. Rightly or wrongly ABK feels like a risk. He has a high ceiling and more pedigree than most, if not all, of our other options but there is a value in team unity and spirit particularly when we know we are likely to have a very though season ahead of us.

Possibly a good deal for us too, if he does well you could see him moving to saints at a future point.

It’s conjecture but without a good offer on the table it’s hard to know. It’s deadline day and the choice seems to be see out his Brentford contract (they may limit his game time if they need to build a future without him) or move to Saudi. If he had multiple offers and still opted for Saudi I think it would be fair to judge the choice. Do agree that it seems a shame this is the move he is making at 29. I think in a pre PSR world somebody like Newcastle or Arsenal could have made a bid.

He has spent a lot of his career in the EFL so while he isn’t exactly skint he won’t have and the opportunity to earn the sort of money many premier league/international players have - hard to blame him taking a big wage if there aren’t comparable offers from big European teams. This move probably sets him and his family up for life - I expect many in his shoes would do the same.

I could be wrong but one factor could be about fair market value. At the moment these players are low value but if they play well and the market values goes up the other SR club would need to sell to us at a ‘fair’ value. While it is essentially moving money between accounts it would count against our PSR at a future point. This is pure speculation and conjecture based on a rudimentary assumption of how PSR etc is applied to multi club models.

This is such a weird attitude. Why do we deserve the best? What makes us more worthy than fans of Sheffield Wednesday or Tiverton Town? Ticket money doesn’t sustain the club. We run at a loss covered by our owners. Yes we want our club custodians to be ambitious and it’s right we should question when they make poor decisions but some fans seem to forget the days in the not too distant past where we almost didn’t have a club to support. We have spent good money in this window and we are clearly trying to be ambitious with our recruitment even if we haven’t got all the business done we would like. If the price was right we may have got O’Riley and Ramsdale. If we shift Alcarez, Sulemana and ABK we may also have a bit more to play with at the end of the window. What else do you expect from the club/ownership? What is it you feel is ‘deserved’?

He has almost run them out of business in doing so. He’s thrown money at it (his or Usamov’s hard to say …) but made a series of reckless decisions without the first inkling of a coherent plan until Thelwell came in as DOF.