Ross Stewart

[Winnersaint]

Congrats to Lionel Nessie

[Baird of the land]

1 hour ago, Saint Pete said:

Great news fro Ross and well deserved. Interesting that McBurnie hasn't made the squad despite 17 goals in the Championship this season. Clarke obviously doesn't fancy he has the quality for international football, but you could certainly argue that for a couple of the other strikers making the trip as well! 

Dropping Dykes would have been the brave choice but when someone has been a regular through qualifying they are unlikely to be ditched.

[Swaythling Saint]

Great news and well deserved, especially after his injuries.  Been a big player for us in the second half of this season 

[M271]

Stewart not starting or on the subs bench today. ‘Felt something with his knee’ in training this week! according to the Scotland manager.

Edited May 30 by M271

[AlexLaw76]

3 minutes ago, M271 said:

Stewart not starting or on the subs bench today. ‘Felt something with his knee’ in training this week! according to the Scotland manager.

you watch, swapped out with McBurnie in the next day or so

[CSA96]

Dragan Šolak on Ross Stewart's future: 

“We had to initiate the [one year] option up to five days after the last game of the season, and we were out of the five days when our final got cancelled.

"When we knew there was no last game, we immediately sent the notice of the extension, but his lawyers say that they're disagreeing with us.

"Ultimately, it's on Ross and his team to basically decide whether they want to stay or not. In my opinion, nobody would be better for Ross than us.

"We worked hard to allow him physically to show how good he is. He went from a guy who didn't play for two years to be invited to the World Cup team.

"I'm really proud of that. If he wants to try his luck somewhere else, I can't stop him, but I would love to have him back. We have made an effort to keep him."

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

3 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

Dragan Šolak on Ross Stewart's future: 

“We had to initiate the [one year] option up to five days after the last game of the season, and we were out of the five days when our final got cancelled.

"When we knew there was no last game, we immediately sent the notice of the extension, but his lawyers say that they're disagreeing with us.

"Ultimately, it's on Ross and his team to basically decide whether they want to stay or not. In my opinion, nobody would be better for Ross than us.

"We worked hard to allow him physically to show how good he is. He went from a guy who didn't play for two years to be invited to the World Cup team.

"I'm really proud of that. If he wants to try his luck somewhere else, I can't stop him, but I would love to have him back. We have made an effort to keep him."

Hmm, thats disappointing if he decides to leave considering how much patience Saints have shown.

[pingpong]

Sounds like his team wants to squirm his way out to get a better deal. 

Disappointing if so, you hope that sticking by an injury prone player gets you some extra loyalty.

[Willo of Whiteley]

Probably angling for better terms.

If he chooses to go that is entirely on him, and honestly I won’t bat an eyelid.

There are still much better strikers out there, but if he and his agent are having a moment where they think he is now prime Ronaldo because he got called up to the World Cup then that’s very delusional.

Part of me is thinking “Ok, off you go then”. We’ll rebuild without you.

Karma can be a bitch.

Edited 3 hours ago by Willo of Whiteley

[CSA96]

I think for some months now it's been reported that Ross wanted a 2yr deal, but Saints wanted a 1yr renewal. Sounds like they hit an impasse and Saints were planning to just use the 1yr option to keep hold of him. And now it's tied up in legal stuff

We might have to go back to the negotiating table and flex our stance a bit if we really want to keep him (or maybe he will do some flexing too)

[Willo of Whiteley]

We could just buy a better striker?

[HarvSFC]

Yeah, sounds like he wants better terms than the contract he was on. Has he earned better terms? No. Is he a good finisher? Yes, but he isn't reliable. Guess he's gambling on having a blinder at the World Cup and aiming for one final top end contract, like Hal Robson-Kanu after the Euros.

[trousers]

12 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

Dragan Šolak on Ross Stewart's future: 

“We had to initiate the [one year] option up to five days after the last game of the season, and we were out of the five days when our final got cancelled.

"When we knew there was no last game, we immediately sent the notice of the extension, but his lawyers say that they're disagreeing with us.

"Ultimately, it's on Ross and his team to basically decide whether they want to stay or not. In my opinion, nobody would be better for Ross than us.

"We worked hard to allow him physically to show how good he is. He went from a guy who didn't play for two years to be invited to the World Cup team.

"I'm really proud of that. If he wants to try his luck somewhere else, I can't stop him, but I would love to have him back. We have made an effort to keep him."

Another consequence of the EFL letting the semi-finals go ahead, knowing full well what the outcome was likely to be.... Thanks a bunch EFL...

Edit: actually, ignore me, we'd have still been buggered if they'd chucked us out at the semi final stage...

Edited 3 hours ago by trousers

[ChrisPY]

7 minutes ago, pingpong said:

Sounds like his team wants to squirm his way out to get a better deal. 

Disappointing if so, you hope that sticking by an injury prone player gets you some extra loyalty.

From Ross’ point of view, how much faith were we showing in him if we hadn’t already activated the extension? 

Assume looking for him to sign on reduced terms or release if we were promoted so can understand to an extent why he’d assess his options. Still think it would be best for both parties if he stays but wouldn’t be surprised if West Ham or Wolves came in with a better offer.

[bpsaint]

50 appearances in 3 seasons and he wants to play hardball with us? I’d like him to stay but if he’s going to be a dick after how much we’ve paid him for little return then show him the door IMO.

[beatlesaint]

9 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

We could just buy a better striker?

Could we? If he’s fit Ross is a top striker.

We haven’t done great signing good strikers but I admire your optimism which is based on very little evidence 😂

[Saintinnot]

I think it's poor from the club - they should have foreseen this possibility and triggered the extension , I guess with everything else going on they forgot - but whoever is in charge of contracts should have spotted the risk 

 

 

[Soton7]

He absolutely owes us one. He’s been a liability for the majority of his contract. We’ve been paying him top dollar (including a huge transfer fee) whilst he’s hardly played. He’s been on his back getting seen to more times than bonnie blue. 

Hopefully he and his agent can return some of that loyalty back to us. 

 

 

[Lord Duckhunter]

Disappointing if he leaves, especially as we had a clause, I guess we were waiting until we knew which league we’d be in. Can’t blame him or his agents, it’s business and we’d have binned him at the end of the season if we wanted to. I liked Ross, think he’s a quality player….. when fit. And that’s the issue, we didn’t have a lot of choice, we had to manage him and his minutes through our great run. We have a choice now, we have time to get a replacement in. Somebody who can play 3 games a week if needed (say Larin got sent off & 3 game ban/ injury). We got lucky really, in that we could manage his minutes, we may not be so lucky next season. Whilst I’d rather we kept him, it’s not the end of the world if he moves on. 

[Football Special]

27 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

I think for some months now it's been reported that Ross wanted a 2yr deal, but Saints wanted a 1yr renewal. Sounds like they hit an impasse and Saints were planning to just use the 1yr option to keep hold of him. And now it's tied up in legal stuff

We might have to go back to the negotiating table and flex our stance a bit if we really want to keep him (or maybe he will do some flexing too)

Correct. 

I believe we also want something built in based on games played as he'd missed so many 

[Football Special]

8 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Disappointing if he leaves, especially as we had a clause, I guess we were waiting until we knew which league we’d be in. Can’t blame him or his agents, it’s business and we’d have binned him at the end of the season if we wanted to. I liked Ross, think he’s a quality player….. when fit. And that’s the issue, we didn’t have a lot of choice, we had to manage him and his minutes through our great run. We have a choice now, we have time to get a replacement in. Somebody who can play 3 games a week if needed (say Larin got sent off & 3 game ban/ injury). We got lucky really, in that we could manage his minutes, we may not be so lucky next season. Whilst I’d rather we kept him, it’s not the end of the world if he moves on. 

Big risk for Russ, he could score a couple at the World Cup and get a better deal elsewhere, or might fancy going back to Scotland, could also get injured at the world cup and end up on the sidelines with no club contract 

[Sheaf Saint]

7 minutes ago, Saintinnot said:

I think it's poor from the club - they should have foreseen this possibility and triggered the extension , I guess with everything else going on they forgot - but whoever is in charge of contracts should have spotted the risk 

 

 

Don't think you can really bash the club over this. Seems that we fully intended to trigger the extension if we lost in the playoffs and didn't get promoted, which is perfectly reasonable IMO. But nobody at the club actually expected the EFL to hit the nuclear button and expel us, so by the time it was confirmed we wouldn't be in the final that 5 day window had already expired. 

Can't blame his agent for trying to get better terms really. 

[coalman]

If he stays he has a chance to build on this season. The risk of injury is still going to be there. If he goes then whoever picks him up will need to manage his time the same way we did or run the same risks.

If he goes then it's a chance to get someone in. This time last year I'd have been terrified of that prospect.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, coalman said:

If he stays he has a chance to build on this season. The risk of injury is still going to be there. If he goes then whoever picks him up will need to manage his time the same way we did or run the same risks.

If he goes then it's a chance to get someone in. This time last year I'd have been terrified of that prospect.

Hold my beer....got just the man

[trousers]

I appreciate football is a dog-eat-dog world, but surely it must be in Ross's mind (if not his agent's or legal rep's) that he 'owes us' to a certain degree, given how we've stood by him these last few years?

[Scoobysaint]

I can understand the logic of Ross Stewart. He is thirty over the summer and will have one last chance of a decent deal. If we had taken up the one year option he could have been out on his ear, possibly injured, at thirty one. Yes, we have helped him through his recovery but he did get injured playing for us so that’s our job.
We expect loyalty yet it seems that it has to be on our terms. I hope he stays but wouldn’t blame him if he chose to get a good final pay day elsewhere. 

[trousers]

Just now, Scoobysaint said:

I can understand the logic of Ross Stewart. He is thirty over the summer and will have one last chance of a decent deal. If we had taken up the one year option he could have been out on his ear, possibly injured, at thirty one. Yes, we have helped him through his recovery but he did get injured playing for us so that’s our job.
We expect loyalty yet it seems that it has to be on our terms. I hope he stays but wouldn’t blame him if he chose to get a good final pay day elsewhere. 

Wasn't he already crocked when we bought him?

[Badger]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

Wasn't he already crocked when we bought him?

Yes

[stknowle]

6 minutes ago, Scoobysaint said:

I can understand the logic of Ross Stewart. He is thirty over the summer and will have one last chance of a decent deal. If we had taken up the one year option he could have been out on his ear, possibly injured, at thirty one. Yes, we have helped him through his recovery but he did get injured playing for us so that’s our job.
We expect loyalty yet it seems that it has to be on our terms. I hope he stays but wouldn’t blame him if he chose to get a good final pay day elsewhere. 

He was injured before he signed for us. Also got injured a fair few times whilst our player aka he never got over the original injury. Really want him to stay, he’s absolute quality (WHEN FIT) but can understand him going if he can’t get the right deal out of us and can get better elsewhere, and can equally understand us not wanting to take the risk of offering what he wants if we think its too much. A right fucker of a situation tbh. Hope he stays and stays fit.

[millsy]

Quite a risky approach by his team. Get injured at the WC and he’s earning nothing next season. 
 

Hopefully he signs up, has a good WC and comes back firing on all cylinders for next season.

[Sheaf Saint]

29 minutes ago, trousers said:

I appreciate football is a dog-eat-dog world, but surely it must be in Ross's mind (if not his agent's or legal rep's) that he 'owes us' to a certain degree, given how we've stood by him these last few years?

You could look at it as us 'standing by him'. Or you could frame it as us just fulfilling our end of the contract that was signed in good faith by both parties.

It was never an option for us to just bin him off because he was injured. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Sheaf Saint

[S-Clarke]

This sounds like an approach to get better terms, we obviously went for the trigger option which retained his current deal, but his agents say we missed that boat so he needs an entirely new deal.

I wouldn't say he deserves to be paid more, we need to be more careful if anything - pay as you play and not too long a deal. It's a strange one to be pushing for better terms because he basically didn't play for us for 3 years. I think from a pure moral stand point he owes the club.

[Baird of the land]

1 hour ago, millsy said:

Quite a risky approach by his team. Get injured at the WC and he’s earning nothing next season. 
 

Hopefully he signs up, has a good WC and comes back firing on all cylinders for next season.

Quite sensible approach by Ross. Will probably get a premier league opportunity, especially if he does anything in the World Cup.

utterly stupid by saints to take a situation where we had control to extend at least a year, instead were either going to in a bad negotiating position to get him back or more likely having to stump up yet more money to buy a replacement.

[Luke SkyWalker-Peters]

2 hours ago, CSA96 said:

Dragan Šolak on Ross Stewart's future: 

“We had to initiate the [one year] option up to five days after the last game of the season, and we were out of the five days when our final got cancelled.

"When we knew there was no last game, we immediately sent the notice of the extension, but his lawyers say that they're disagreeing with us.

"Ultimately, it's on Ross and his team to basically decide whether they want to stay or not. In my opinion, nobody would be better for Ross than us.

"We worked hard to allow him physically to show how good he is. He went from a guy who didn't play for two years to be invited to the World Cup team.

"I'm really proud of that. If he wants to try his luck somewhere else, I can't stop him, but I would love to have him back. We have made an effort to keep him."

Surely we should be taking him to court over this? It seems to be similar to all the football contract cases during Covid, which almost always ruled in favour of the contract as the date or number of games changing couldn't have been foreseen.

How could Saints have expected the game to be cancelled by the EFL and then consequently given no leeway to trigger the clause? Seems like any reasonable judge would side with Saints, it isn't as if we cancelled the match, and the intent of the clause was for the clause to be triggered after the season ended with no reasonable expectation that that date could be changed after we were well past it.

 

[bugenhagen]

53 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

This sounds like an approach to get better terms, we obviously went for the trigger option which retained his current deal, but his agents say we missed that boat so he needs an entirely new deal.

I wouldn't say he deserves to be paid more, we need to be more careful if anything - pay as you play and not too long a deal. It's a strange one to be pushing for better terms because he basically didn't play for us for 3 years. I think from a pure moral stand point he owes the club.

It might not be pushing for better terms, it could be for a longer deal.

[Harry_SFC]

7 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

Quite sensible approach by Ross. Will probably get a premier league opportunity, especially if he does anything in the World Cup.

utterly stupid by saints to take a situation where we had control to extend at least a year, instead were either going to in a bad negotiating position to get him back or more likely having to stump up yet more money to buy a replacement.

The only side I could see signing him would be Hull. But then they've got McBurnie, so it's doubtful. More likely another top championship side or possibly Scotland. 

[Badger]

2 hours ago, Saintinnot said:

I think it's poor from the club - they should have foreseen this possibility and triggered the extension , I guess with everything else going on they forgot - but whoever is in charge of contracts should have spotted the risk 

 

 

 Being booted out of the play off final after allegations of spying, probably wasn’t up there in the risks to guard against.

I don’t fault the club in this. They couldn’t have foreseen things developing as they did, and before the play off final the club wouldn’t have known which league they’d be playing in next season to pitch the contract offer.

Perhaps as someone said, the drafting of the contract term is at fault from three years ago. 

[Wade Garrett]

Got to be honest, I’m a bit fucked off with Stewart.  Squirming out of a renewal with a club that have paid him a fortune to basically lay on a table.

He can fuck right off for me.

[Wade Garrett]

31 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

Quite sensible approach by Ross. Will probably get a premier league opportunity, especially if he does anything in the World Cup.

utterly stupid by saints to take a situation where we had control to extend at least a year, instead were either going to in a bad negotiating position to get him back or more likely having to stump up yet more money to buy a replacement.

Not that sensible to go into the WC with no contract and his injury record.

 

[Badger]

2 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Not that sensible to go into the WC with no contract and his injury record.

 

Could spectacularly rebound on him 

[Stud mark of doom]

Nothing to see here as far as I can see. 

Saints didn’t screw up - that took sensible decisions and got hit with a black swan. 
 

Stewart is a free agent. Can agree something with us if he wants. 

[Baird of the land]

Just now, Wade Garrett said:

Not that sensible to go into the WC with no contract and his injury record.

 

Players are going to back themselves. Barring a serious injury he’s likely to get at worst a similar 1 year deal based on this season’s performances.

[Midfield_General]

1 hour ago, Baird of the land said:

Quite sensible approach by Ross. Will probably get a premier league opportunity, especially if he does anything in the World Cup.

Which Premier League side is going to be shopping in the bargain bin for someone who's only managed 40 appearances in 3 seasons, can't do 90 minutes, can't do 3 games in a week and has a less than 1 in 3 record at Championship level? 

As a comparison, Armstrong only just about got signed by the useless bottom side who were already planning for the Championship next season, and he's a proven, multiple 20+ a season Championship striker who's always fit. 

I like Stewart as a decent Championship option when he's fit, but if he wants to be a starter then he's not exactly going to have top teams queueing up. The Championship is his level. 

If he's after a two year deal from someone and we're only offering one, then you can understand why he might want that from a security point of view, but if that's what he's holding out for then he's taking a massive risk. 

Personally, I'd call his bluff, wait to see if he gets through the World Cup first and then re-assess. He could very easily get injured again, and if that happens we can just sign someone else, but he's screwed. 

Or, if he's not going to sign after we looked after him, just say OK then mate, well that's a shame but so be it, and fuck him off. Cyle Larin, 8 goals in 16 games and much more reliable in terms of fitness, has just been signed for £2.5m. Hull got McBurnie on a free and he got 19 in 42. So there's clearly plenty of other proper value to be found out there at centre forward if you know where to look. 

Edited just now by Midfield_General