Patches O Houlihan Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 At the tail end of last season there were a good number of posters who wanted to scrap the vast majority of the team as they weren’t good enough for the PL. Let’s assume we get promotion this year. So in July 2024 we will face the following issues: 1) The PL demands a dramatically higher standard for players to be competitive. Most mid table sides have several players worth 150%+ of our transfer record. Recruiting good PL players is massively harder than recruiting good Championship players because the pool of talent is so much smaller and our rivals are much wealthier and have more cache. 2) If we go back up with most of the team that was collectively humped 2021-23 then there’s a real danger that confidence issues will resurface. Last time we were promoted we were able to carry momentum into the league with confident players who fully expected they could perform on the PL stage. We had some young players on relatively long contracts and relatively low salaries. This gave us a competitive side and the bargaining power to hold out for good money. That gave us the war chest to secure Koeman, Pelle, Tadic, Mane etc and secure our place in the league for 10 years when we were inevitably raided. Signing Martin & Wilcox and completely changing our style is part of trying to repeat this feat. We’re not interested in kicking around in the 13-16th level in the PL. So we aren’t just aiming to get promoted, but want to do it with a ‘mostly young’ confident team of ballers who have great financial value that can at some point be realised. We know we’ll get raided like last time and we know we’ll need that war chest. This is why we keep buying young players with lots of potential - the club are thinking long term, not short term. They want to be promoted with the youngest, ‘highest potential’ team they can. As I think we have established Saints are one of the wealthiest teams to ever play in the Championship. We are currently a ‘big fish’ for Championship level young players around the world. We should have the funds to get them in and get promoted with a team that will thrive in the PL and not just survive. Yes we’ll need some experience on the pitch, but we’ll broadly want to minimise the contract length of players who are older or we suspect won’t be good enough for the PL. This is our year for a reset. We need to embrace that opportunity to avoid ultimately being a Norwich/Burnley/Everton. 23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lambtiss Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 3 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said: At the tail end of last season there were a good number of posters who wanted to scrap the vast majority of the team as they weren’t good enough for the PL. Let’s assume we get promotion this year. So in July 2024 we will face the following issues: 1) The PL demands a dramatically higher standard for players to be competitive. Most mid table sides have several players worth 150%+ of our transfer record. Recruiting good PL players is massively harder than recruiting good Championship players because the pool of talent is so much smaller and our rivals are much wealthier and have more cache. 2) If we go back up with most of the team that was collectively humped 2021-23 then there’s a real danger that confidence issues will resurface. Last time we were promoted we were able to carry momentum into the league with confident players who fully expected they could perform on the PL stage. We had some young players on relatively long contracts and relatively low salaries. This gave us a competitive side and the bargaining power to hold out for good money. That gave us the war chest to secure Koeman, Pelle, Tadic, Mane etc and secure our place in the league for 10 years when we were inevitably raided. Signing Martin & Wilcox and completely changing our style is part of trying to repeat this feat. We’re not interested in kicking around in the 13-16th level in the PL. So we aren’t just aiming to get promoted, but want to do it with a ‘mostly young’ confident team of ballers who have great financial value that can at some point be realised. We know we’ll get raided like last time and we know we’ll need that war chest. This is why we keep buying young players with lots of potential - the club are thinking long term, not short term. They want to be promoted with the youngest, ‘highest potential’ team they can. As I think we have established Saints are one of the wealthiest teams to ever play in the Championship. We are currently a ‘big fish’ for Championship level young players around the world. We should have the funds to get them in and get promoted with a team that will thrive in the PL and not just survive. Yes we’ll need some experience on the pitch, but we’ll broadly want to minimise the contract length of players who are older or we suspect won’t be good enough for the PL. This is our year for a reset. We need to embrace that opportunity to avoid ultimately being a Norwich/Burnley/Everton. A great summary of where I think we are. Project Restart is, hopefully, underway 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLaw76 Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 (edited) 54 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said: As I think we have established Saints are one of the wealthiest teams to ever play in the Championship. We are currently a ‘big fish’ for Just stop this nonsense, please Edited 21 August, 2023 by AlexLaw76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patches O Houlihan Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said: Just stop this nonsense, please Which Championship teams have received the transfer fees we have this summer? Please list them. If you’re feeling keen you can adjust for inflation and look back through the years. The gap between the PL and Championship has never been bigger. We went down with a young, relatively expensively assembled squad due to some managerial cock ups and no proper striker. Imagine if we had sacked Ralph last summer & signed Wilcox & Martin… 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLaw76 Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 1 minute ago, Patches O Houlihan said: Which Championship teams have received the transfer fees we have this summer? Please list them. If you’re feeling keen you can adjust for inflation and look back through the years. The gap between the PL and Championship has never been bigger. We went down with a young, relatively expensively assembled squad due to some managerial cock ups and no proper striker. Imagine if we had sacked Ralph last summer & signed Wilcox & Martin… The wealthiest club ever? Really? Yes we have received lots of money, but selling anything with a pulse is the 'Southampton Way'. So far, we have bought a Man City kid, a free from the Manager's previous club and a keeper no one has heard of (free, wasn't he).... We are about to lose 2x top championship players. That is a choice, and unbecoming of a such a Championship financial powerhouse 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malcolm waldron Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 1 hour ago, Patches O Houlihan said: At the tail end of last season there were a good number of posters who wanted to scrap the vast majority of the team as they weren’t good enough for the PL. Let’s assume we get promotion this year. So in July 2024 we will face the following issues: 1) The PL demands a dramatically higher standard for players to be competitive. Most mid table sides have several players worth 150%+ of our transfer record. Recruiting good PL players is massively harder than recruiting good Championship players because the pool of talent is so much smaller and our rivals are much wealthier and have more cache. 2) If we go back up with most of the team that was collectively humped 2021-23 then there’s a real danger that confidence issues will resurface. Last time we were promoted we were able to carry momentum into the league with confident players who fully expected they could perform on the PL stage. We had some young players on relatively long contracts and relatively low salaries. This gave us a competitive side and the bargaining power to hold out for good money. That gave us the war chest to secure Koeman, Pelle, Tadic, Mane etc and secure our place in the league for 10 years when we were inevitably raided. Signing Martin & Wilcox and completely changing our style is part of trying to repeat this feat. We’re not interested in kicking around in the 13-16th level in the PL. So we aren’t just aiming to get promoted, but want to do it with a ‘mostly young’ confident team of ballers who have great financial value that can at some point be realised. We know we’ll get raided like last time and we know we’ll need that war chest. This is why we keep buying young players with lots of potential - the club are thinking long term, not short term. They want to be promoted with the youngest, ‘highest potential’ team they can. As I think we have established Saints are one of the wealthiest teams to ever play in the Championship. We are currently a ‘big fish’ for Championship level young players around the world. We should have the funds to get them in and get promoted with a team that will thrive in the PL and not just survive. Yes we’ll need some experience on the pitch, but we’ll broadly want to minimise the contract length of players who are older or we suspect won’t be good enough for the PL. This is our year for a reset. We need to embrace that opportunity to avoid ultimately being a Norwich/Burnley/Everton. A well thought out and reasoned post, until the sentence highlighted. I was under the impression that we had a large amount of debt (through an MSD loan?) a massive reduction in income following relegation, and are facing up to the challenge of recovering transfer fee outgoings wasted during last years crazy dealings. The sales during this window will cover some of the latter - but I'm not sure we're wealthy at all....... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patches O Houlihan Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 Which Championship teams have had deeper pockets? I’m not saying we are ‘the’ wealthiest, but historically I bet we are in the top 7, and one of the others is Leicester this year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 5 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said: Which Championship teams have had deeper pockets? I’m not saying we are ‘the’ wealthiest, but historically I bet we are in the top 7, and one of the others is Leicester this year. You do know We’ve only spent money on one player, who if he does well will probably sell in the next two years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patches O Houlihan Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 Villa a few years back, Leicester now. Who else? Back up your opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLaw76 Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 9 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said: Which Championship teams have had deeper pockets? I’m not saying we are ‘the’ wealthiest, but historically I bet we are in the top 7, and one of the others is Leicester this year. How the heck have you come to the view we have deep pockets? What have we done this summer to give a whiff of that idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patches O Houlihan Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 We were in the PL for eleven years. Those were the highest income earning years of any league in history. We were a small fish so only got a small piece of the pie. But we’ve owned our stadium a while, and we went down with a huge, young squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eurosaint Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 19 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said: The wealthiest club ever? Really? Yes we have received lots of money, but selling anything with a pulse is the 'Southampton Way'. So far, we have bought a Man City kid, a free from the Manager's previous club and a keeper no one has heard of (free, wasn't he).... We are about to lose 2x top championship players. That is a choice, and unbecoming of a such a Championship financial powerhouse Total misquote ! He said "one of the wealthiest" and qualified his statement thereafter ! He also did not say that we have 'deep pockets' so your attempt to twist his meaning is patently wrong.... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coalman Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 Let's start the week by getting Downes in and get some more deals over the line. Would love to see Harewood-Bellis, Drameh and McAtee in after plus a striker. Kinda resigned to losing KWP and Tella now plus probably Che. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLaw76 Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 (edited) 22 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said: Which Championship teams have had deeper pockets? I’m not saying we are ‘the’ wealthiest, but historically I bet we are in the top 7, and one of the others is Leicester this year. 3 minutes ago, eurosaint said: Total misquote ! He said "one of the wealthiest" and qualified his statement thereafter ! He also did not say that we have 'deep pockets' so your attempt to twist his meaning is patently wrong.... He asking which Championship team have deeper pockets. So far, we are acting like a man who may have deep pockets, but with very short arms. Edited 21 August, 2023 by AlexLaw76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 6 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said: We were in the PL for eleven years. Those were the highest income earning years of any league in history. We were a small fish so only got a small piece of the pie. But we’ve owned our stadium a while, and we went down with a huge, young squad. Yeah and got most of that time we had to sell players to be able to buy any 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patches O Houlihan Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 (edited) 1 minute ago, Turkish said: Yeah and got most of that time we had to sell players to be able to buy any Not since Dragan bought the club. A guy who has bought two more clubs since buying us… Have any other Championship clubs been part of a multiple club model? Edited 21 August, 2023 by Patches O Houlihan Extra detail 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 3 minutes ago, coalman said: Let's start the week by getting Downes in and get some more deals over the line. Would love to see Harewood-Bellis, Drameh and McAtee in after plus a striker. Kinda resigned to losing KWP and Tella now plus probably Che. I expect Sully an ABK will go as well, we could be looking at the thick end of £250m income from sales. Mental, mental money. Let’s see how much of it we spend, at the moment the only real links are loans and cheap midfielders form abroad 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 Just now, Patches O Houlihan said: Not since Dragan bought the club. A guy who has bought two more clubs since buying us… Two more second tier clubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLaw76 Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 Just now, Patches O Houlihan said: Not since Dragan bought the club. A guy who has bought two more clubs since buying us… How is that working out this summer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dman Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 2 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said: Not since Dragan bought the club. A guy who has bought two more clubs since buying us… Have any other Championship clubs been part of a multiple club model? Who are equally as shite as we are. Everything SR seem to touch falls apart. Rassums is a complete blagger and Dragan is the poor soul to fall for it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Dman said: Who are equally as shite as we are. Everything SR seem to touch falls apart. Rassums is a complete blagger and Dragan is the poor soul to fall for it. Rasmus seems to be king Midas in reverse at the moment actually that could be a good song for this season he’s king Midas in reverse hes king Midas with a curse everything he touches turns to shit Edited 21 August, 2023 by Turkish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 5 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said: Not since Dragan bought the club. A guy who has bought two more clubs since buying us… Have any other Championship clubs been part of a multiple club model? Dragon has certainly sorted out the whole "being a Premier League club" thing, that's for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLaw76 Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 (edited) Who gives a toss about Saints being part of a 2nd-rate multi-club model? Who here gives a flying fuck about the Turkish or that French club (who are shite BTW)? Hey, we may have finished rock bottom of the premier league, sold anyone with a pulse...but have you seen our nondescript turkish and french partner-clubs? My word.... Edited 21 August, 2023 by AlexLaw76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said: Who gives a toss about Saints being part of a 2nd-rate multi-club model? Who here gives a flying fuck about the Turkish or that French club (who are shite BTW)? Hey, we may have finished rock bottom of the premier league, sold anyone with a pulse...but have you seen our nondescript turkish and french partner-clubs? My word.... The only benefit so far seem to be that we’ve managed to shift that shit keeper we signed on loan to one of them, oh and a cheap preseason friendly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadhall Saint Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 9 hours ago, Lee On Solent Saint said: Has the possibility of Che agreeing to stay come into the equation? Maybe he has told the club he wants to stay, hence first start of the season. Has the possibility that Che wants to go been factored in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dman Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Turkish said: I expect Sully an ABK will go as well, we could be looking at the thick end of £250m income from sales. Mental, mental money. Let’s see how much of it we spend, at the moment the only real links are loans and cheap midfielders form abroad It should be easily enough to guarantee promotion - we could spend less than half of it still recoup what we wasted in January and build a phenomenal championship side, whilst leaving a bit in the bank for next year. Its why I see no logical sense in selling Che for anything under stupid money £20-25m. He could easily get 25-30 goals this season which would effectively mean promotion - That's worth way more to us than anything we'll sell him for. Imo, we should be risking losing him for nothing next season. Edited 21 August, 2023 by Dman 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patches O Houlihan Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said: Who gives a toss about Saints being part of a 2nd-rate multi-club model? Who here gives a flying fuck about the Turkish or that French club (who are shite BTW)? I don’t - but they are indicative of an owner with plenty of resources. Leiceister now, Villa, Newcastle a few years back. Name the long list of historical Championship clubs with greater financial resources. You’re just trying to twist out into different arguments because you can’t justify your opinion 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLaw76 Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 1 minute ago, Patches O Houlihan said: I don’t - but they are indicative of an owner with plenty of resources. Leiceister now, Villa, Newcastle a few years back. Name the long list of historical Championship clubs with greater financial resources. You’re just trying to twist out into different arguments because you can’t justify your opinion I am not twisting anything. You are suggesting we are some sort of Championship financial legend, when we are doing absolutely NOTHING in real life to remotely support that claim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob60 Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 Fucking tiresome thread!!! 27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dman Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 2 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said: I don’t - but they are indicative of an owner with plenty of resources. Leiceister now, Villa, Newcastle a few years back. Name the long list of historical Championship clubs with greater financial resources. You’re just trying to twist out into different arguments because you can’t justify your opinion I think you're massively miss reading the room. Here's a list of the wealthiest owners in the championship, all be it from last season. I might be wrong, but isn't Dragan net worth c.1B - so we'd be in and around Preston North End in 8th place.... https://the72.co.uk/2023/03/06/ranked-every-championship-club-owners-net-worth/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dman Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 6 minutes ago, Turkish said: The only benefit so far seem to be that we’ve managed to shift that shit keeper we signed on loan to one of them, oh and a cheap preseason friendly It probably didn't even work out all that cheap in the end - Assuming someone would have had to pay to rent the stadium considering we couldn't play in the one owned by SR... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 17 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said: Who gives a toss about Saints being part of a 2nd-rate multi-club model? Who here gives a flying fuck about the Turkish or that French club (who are shite BTW)? Hey, we may have finished rock bottom of the premier league, sold anyone with a pulse...but have you seen our nondescript turkish and french partner-clubs? My word.... Passing interest but their big ‘money spinner’ is returning us to Prem… so I hope they’re fully focused on that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Saints Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 Anyway.... McAtee would be a fantastic signing if Wilcox can pull that one off. Another CB is critical as we're an injury away from Lyanco being in contention to start. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dman Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 1 minute ago, Crab Lungs said: Passing interest but their big ‘money spinner’ is returning us to Prem… so I hope they’re fully focused on that They're clearly not though. If they were we'd have kept JWP, Che, Tella and recouped some security money on selling the others we have. As @Pilchards has said a few times, they're not expecting promotion this season and if we get it, that's a bonus. For me, the evidence of outs vs ins backs that up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dman Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 4 minutes ago, Mr Saints said: Anyway.... McAtee would be a fantastic signing if Wilcox can pull that one off. Another CB is critical as we're an injury away from Lyanco being in contention to start. I don't understand this link tbh - we seem to be stacked in the 'attacking 8 / 10' role, I hope this doesn't mean that Alcaraz is off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coalman Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 32 minutes ago, Turkish said: I expect Sully an ABK will go as well, we could be looking at the thick end of £250m income from sales. Mental, mental money. Let’s see how much of it we spend, at the moment the only real links are loans and cheap midfielders form abroad True. Given they haven't been playing I think I've already mentally listed them as sold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolan Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 49 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said: The wealthiest club ever? Really? Yes we have received lots of money, but selling anything with a pulse is the 'Southampton Way'. So far, we have bought a Man City kid, a free from the Manager's previous club and a keeper no one has heard of (free, wasn't he).... We are about to lose 2x top championship players. That is a choice, and unbecoming of a such a Championship financial powerhouse You are ludicrously myopic in your hatred of the current regime, even though the people who are running the show are pretty much 100% different to just three months ago. It is a fact that no other club in the second tier has received anyway near the incomings we have. We have turned playing assets acquired in the last few seasons have been turned into monetary assets to a better extent than anyone else. So far we have bought a Man City Kid who put in a Player of the match performance on Saturday, and a player who has previously worked with Martin, and chose us over Premier League Options. Last time I looked both players were involved in the first three matches of the season and we havent lost yet. Everyone know the financial prowess, we have. Everyone will have seen the league intent we have with the first 3 league games. The negativity you still hold is absolutely unwarranted 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coalman Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 Just now, Dman said: I don't understand this link tbh - we seem to be stacked in the 'attacking 8 / 10' role, I hope this doesn't mean that Alcaraz is off. Not sure about stacked. We have Charly and Stu. Wouldn't class the rest of the players as that. Could also see McAtee out wide if/when we sell Tella. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dman Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 1 minute ago, Nolan said: You are ludicrously myopic in your hatred of the current regime, even though the people who are running the show are pretty much 100% different to just three months ago. It is a fact that no other club in the second tier has received anyway near the incomings we have. We have turned playing assets acquired in the last few seasons have been turned into monetary assets to a better extent than anyone else. So far we have bought a Man City Kid who put in a Player of the match performance on Saturday, and a player who has previously worked with Martin, and chose us over Premier League Options. Last time I looked both players were involved in the first three matches of the season and we havent lost yet. Everyone know the financial prowess, we have. Everyone will have seen the league intent we have with the first 3 league games. The negativity you still hold is absolutely unwarranted He's lucky he did - he crap at defending in this league let alone the one above. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW5 SAINT Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 1 hour ago, Patches O Houlihan said: At the tail end of last season there were a good number of posters who wanted to scrap the vast majority of the team as they weren’t good enough for the PL. Let’s assume we get promotion this year. So in July 2024 we will face the following issues: 1) The PL demands a dramatically higher standard for players to be competitive. Most mid table sides have several players worth 150%+ of our transfer record. Recruiting good PL players is massively harder than recruiting good Championship players because the pool of talent is so much smaller and our rivals are much wealthier and have more cache. 2) If we go back up with most of the team that was collectively humped 2021-23 then there’s a real danger that confidence issues will resurface. Last time we were promoted we were able to carry momentum into the league with confident players who fully expected they could perform on the PL stage. We had some young players on relatively long contracts and relatively low salaries. This gave us a competitive side and the bargaining power to hold out for good money. That gave us the war chest to secure Koeman, Pelle, Tadic, Mane etc and secure our place in the league for 10 years when we were inevitably raided. Signing Martin & Wilcox and completely changing our style is part of trying to repeat this feat. We’re not interested in kicking around in the 13-16th level in the PL. So we aren’t just aiming to get promoted, but want to do it with a ‘mostly young’ confident team of ballers who have great financial value that can at some point be realised. We know we’ll get raided like last time and we know we’ll need that war chest. This is why we keep buying young players with lots of potential - the club are thinking long term, not short term. They want to be promoted with the youngest, ‘highest potential’ team they can. As I think we have established Saints are one of the wealthiest teams to ever play in the Championship. We are currently a ‘big fish’ for Championship level young players around the world. We should have the funds to get them in and get promoted with a team that will thrive in the PL and not just survive. Yes we’ll need some experience on the pitch, but we’ll broadly want to minimise the contract length of players who are older or we suspect won’t be good enough for the PL. This is our year for a reset. We need to embrace that opportunity to avoid ultimately being a Norwich/Burnley/Everton. Granted their recent management has not been the best, however Everton have been in the top flight continuously for 70 years, a record bettered only by Arsenal! They have a fantastic new stadium under construction. So to lump them in the perennial yo yo clubs is a tad unfair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW5 SAINT Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 1 hour ago, Patches O Houlihan said: At the tail end of last season there were a good number of posters who wanted to scrap the vast majority of the team as they weren’t good enough for the PL. Let’s assume we get promotion this year. So in July 2024 we will face the following issues: 1) The PL demands a dramatically higher standard for players to be competitive. Most mid table sides have several players worth 150%+ of our transfer record. Recruiting good PL players is massively harder than recruiting good Championship players because the pool of talent is so much smaller and our rivals are much wealthier and have more cache. 2) If we go back up with most of the team that was collectively humped 2021-23 then there’s a real danger that confidence issues will resurface. Last time we were promoted we were able to carry momentum into the league with confident players who fully expected they could perform on the PL stage. We had some young players on relatively long contracts and relatively low salaries. This gave us a competitive side and the bargaining power to hold out for good money. That gave us the war chest to secure Koeman, Pelle, Tadic, Mane etc and secure our place in the league for 10 years when we were inevitably raided. Signing Martin & Wilcox and completely changing our style is part of trying to repeat this feat. We’re not interested in kicking around in the 13-16th level in the PL. So we aren’t just aiming to get promoted, but want to do it with a ‘mostly young’ confident team of ballers who have great financial value that can at some point be realised. We know we’ll get raided like last time and we know we’ll need that war chest. This is why we keep buying young players with lots of potential - the club are thinking long term, not short term. They want to be promoted with the youngest, ‘highest potential’ team they can. As I think we have established Saints are one of the wealthiest teams to ever play in the Championship. We are currently a ‘big fish’ for Championship level young players around the world. We should have the funds to get them in and get promoted with a team that will thrive in the PL and not just survive. Yes we’ll need some experience on the pitch, but we’ll broadly want to minimise the contract length of players who are older or we suspect won’t be good enough for the PL. This is our year for a reset. We need to embrace that opportunity to avoid ultimately being a Norwich/Burnley/Everton. Granted their recent management has not been the best, however Everton have been in the top flight continuously for 70 years, a record bettered only by Arsenal! They have a fantastic new stadium under construction. So to lump them in the perennial yo yo clubs is a tad unfair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dman Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 2 minutes ago, coalman said: Not sure about stacked. We have Charly and Stu. Wouldn't class the rest of the players as that. Could also see McAtee out wide if/when we sell Tella. Charley, Stu and based on Saturday Adam Armstrong. Probably, actually comfortably, our position in the squad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLaw76 Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 2 minutes ago, Nolan said: You are ludicrously myopic in your hatred of the current regime, even though the people who are running the show are pretty much 100% different to just three months ago. It is a fact that no other club in the second tier has received anyway near the incomings we have. We have turned playing assets acquired in the last few seasons have been turned into monetary assets to a better extent than anyone else. So far we have bought a Man City Kid who put in a Player of the match performance on Saturday, and a player who has previously worked with Martin, and chose us over Premier League Options. Last time I looked both players were involved in the first three matches of the season and we havent lost yet. Everyone know the financial prowess, we have. Everyone will have seen the league intent we have with the first 3 league games. The negativity you still hold is absolutely unwarranted I think reality proves that the current owners (who are in dialogue with those running Saints on a daily basis) are terrible. Just look at the state of the club, look at Nathan Jones, the state of Ruben Selles (now in division 3). So far, we are selling anything or anyone with a pulse. Then we have people who are fed snippets trying to claim we have no financial reason to sell...just as we are about to ship out Tella and Adams. So forgive me if I do not buy into the Sports Republic PR guff, or if we are some sort of Championship financial behemoth, the likes of which this league rarely sees. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 6 minutes ago, Dman said: I don't understand this link tbh - we seem to be stacked in the 'attacking 8 / 10' role, I hope this doesn't mean that Alcaraz is off. if you have already had a successful season on loan in the championship, you'd think the next step is to play in the Prem, perhaps on loan at Sheff United again or someone else ...not go back out on loan to a championship side. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 2 minutes ago, Dman said: Charley, Stu and based on Saturday Adam Armstrong. Probably, actually comfortably, our position in the squad Wouldn't Aribo also be classified as an attacking midfielder and someone said Doyle played in a more attacking midfield role too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winchester Red Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 Shouldn't all this sh!t be on the SR thread? 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patches O Houlihan Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 1 minute ago, SW5 SAINT said: Granted their recent management has not been the best, however Everton have been in the top flight continuously for 70 years, a record bettered only by Arsenal! They have a fantastic new stadium under construction. So to lump them in the perennial yo yo clubs is a tad unfair. I was trying to describe different styles: Norwich (yo-yo but without resources) Everton (Expensive, older/experienced squad that is poorly managed and never achieves) Old Burnley (11 big ugly journeymen) New Burnley (exciting young passing team but who will get stripped by bigger clubs, and need to re-invest well to stay in the league + historically a smaller club than us with a shorter PL/1st Div history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolan Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 5 minutes ago, Dman said: He's lucky he did - he crap at defending in this league let alone the one above. to quote Plymouth fan @Green Army 75 from the Plymouth match thread. "I’m really surprised how critical some of your fans are of your players!" 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coalman Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 3 minutes ago, Dman said: Charley, Stu and based on Saturday Adam Armstrong. Probably, actually comfortably, our position in the squad I don't see Adam Armstrong as a 10 or an 8. Happy to be proven wrong but I think he doesn't have that ability to play in-between the lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLaw76 Posted 21 August, 2023 Share Posted 21 August, 2023 Just now, Nolan said: to quote Plymouth fan @Green Army 75 from the Plymouth match thread. "I’m really surprised how critical some of your fans are of your players!" Does not alter the fact that Manning gifted a goal to Norwich, slipped for the Plymouth goal and stood off the Plymouth player as he hit the post. 2023/2024 Danny Fox. Fine by me, but he will get slaughtered in the premier league 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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