Daft Kerplunk

Definitely seems to be one of the good, or at least interesting and more curious players. Does the sort of things I would choose if I had oodles of dough.

I think so. Mind you, that deal would be so they can extract a decent transfer fee should things not work out for him there. He might be a bit like Minamino in that he won’t be used that often when we’ve got our players on permanent contracts 🤷‍♂️

Only if we sign him permanently, which at the moment doesn’t seem to be part of the loan agreement with Chelsea.

One of the biggest budgets of all the teams (including the WSL) so they should be spanking everyone week in week out. Good to have at least one well funded first team 😎

I’d still take 17th now. We have a few players with potential for sure but as others have said, we have some glaring weaknesses that a couple of talented kids and a new striker might not cover. Based on adding talent but not established players, we might scrape to 13th if results go our way.

I doubt the fees for those players will be that high yet…might be with add ons. The accounts will definitely look healthier though with a positive net spend, some players with values that should increase, big wage savings and with investments in the hospitality experiences made as well as players, things will be better on the P&L/cash flow and balance sheets. A little debt paid off too maybe, which is good for the business overall. Then hope the players, manager and the back room staff can keep us up in the Premier League to make sure next season is equally self-sustaining and maybe pays down more debt.

If we stay up, that’ll be a perfect season 👍🏼

With safe standing likely to be permitted, could this be Saints’ chance to use the Chapel stand to create a meaningful end in the stadium for fans to be together and stand, and hopefully sing? Certainly if I was at the club, I’d put safe standing across the Chapel end regardless as watching football standing up is more fun, and helps generate better atmospheres than people sitting down.

Has to be a pen

So the player might want to leave, or there might be interest but Ralph doesn’t want the player sold. I know Ralph’s English can get tied up a little so hopefully this is one of those moments, and not a guarded and nuanced answer.

Looking forward to seeing him play and hoping the club have found a gem

Decent result

Ralph is the bestest ever so don’t worry 😉

No Armstrong or KWP. Persisting with Djneppo and Walcott. Questionable.

I think there is going to be disappointment at this very likely reality

Club stooge dampening expectations info 😎

Too easy!

Leadership and team spirit are as low as I’ve seen for some time with this team and it is an issue. Better coaching and leadership off the pitch would help; demands in training and match day performance need to be far higher. No player should feel satisfied with themselves if they’ve not played at their best. It seems to easy in the camp to get away with lacklustre matches.

All sensible. You mention coaching which is, from what I understand and observe, a huge weakness. Ralph may well be so stubborn and high on himself that he can’t work with excellent subordinates but bringing in a genuinely highly regarded coach would help him no end. Someone else who could influence his thinking during matches would be good too; there are far too many examples when his reading of the game has been way off and he clearly doesn’t have strength on the bench in that area to support him.

See Fraser Forster for when this can fall down. However, if we can better at coaching players and keeping a smaller more competitive squad, longer contracts can work. That said, long contracts screwed is with the likes of Hoedt. Ultimately comes to quality of recruitment, coaching and generating great teams.

Salisu is the ready-made replacement for Vestergaard (not in style but position) and I have my doubts we’d be looking for another centre back when we’ve also signed a young lad. We might get a few more in on loans or free transfers though. A mix of Ings and Vestergaard’s transfers will go towards balancing the books.

Anything like this will be very well managed by someone who ran a marketing agency used to controlling public messages (Semmens) and that’s all good when things are going well. With the well-timed signings accounted today, a fans meeting should have always been good with any fan feelings tempered by a little more positivity.

Good move for the player and club. With the likes of Chelsea taking too many players at a young age, this will become more common. It’s weird when it’s two clubs in the same division still but increasingly normal. If he bags goals for us and puts pressure on others to perform, it’s a win.

Decent and I reckon the youth might be into this as a fashion item as well as a great message of support for a section of the human race who still gets unnecessary abuse. Like racism, if you don’t have a problem with it, you have nothing to worry about or fear from it.

If he scores the goals, couldn’t care less whether it’s with add ons or exchanges. Ings could create goals from nothing which was why he was so important to a team that couldn’t create so let’s hope either this fella can do that, or that we still have more to come.