Ross Stewart

[Suhari]

Frustrating if he moves on, after the support we've given him... he's a very capable striker (when fit).

What would we need to spend to bring in someone equivalent?

[St Chalet]

6 minutes ago, Suhari said:

Frustrating if he moves on, after the support we've given him... he's a very capable striker (when fit).

What would we need to spend to bring in someone equivalent?

The irony is. We’d pay a greater transfer fee rather than a sign-on fee for Ross. 

[Themotherfunky]

After the kind of talent the club has brought in this season, I don't doubt we'll find a replacement for him.

 It's baited breath every time he goes down. He's one serious knock away from another season out, and with the upcoming season being essentially a last throw of the dice for promotion (before the parachute payments dry up at least) can we afford to nurse him through another season, or have him on the physios bench for months at a time? 

Don't get me wrong, I've been rooting for him to stay fit, and was delighted he got picked to go to the WC. But as a club we need to be ruthless now, if we're to go up. 

[Suhari]

26 minutes ago, St Chalet said:

The irony is. We’d pay a greater transfer fee rather than a sign-on fee for Ross. 

Exactly.

[LegalEagle]

He owes us. We stood by him for a long time when he couldn’t play. It would be poor on his part to simply fuck off at the first opportunity. He doesn’t strike me as being like that. 

[St Chalet]

3 minutes ago, LegalEagle said:

He owes us. We stood by him for a long time when he couldn’t play. It would be poor on his part to simply fuck off at the first opportunity. He doesn’t strike me as being like that. 

He doesn’t owe us. It’s business. If he pops a knee in the next couple of weeks we won’t be signing a deal. He will lose everything and his agents will lose 10%!of what they could have earnt. 
 

With Larin signing the risk for us is much less than his as of June 6th 2026. 
 

[CSA96]

1 hour ago, St Chalet said:

He doesn’t owe us. It’s business. If he pops a knee in the next couple of weeks we won’t be signing a deal. He will lose everything and his agents will lose 10%!of what they could have earnt. 
 

With Larin signing the risk for us is much less than his as of June 6th 2026. 
 

He also got injured while working for us, then had a bunch of connected injuries, which players often lay at their rehab. We've rushed/pushed him too much a couple of times too

It's just business. He is nearly 30 and this is gonna be his last 'big' contract, he needs to get it right and he needs to get some security for himself too

[CB Fry]

I don’t really see where he would go that would be better than what we'd offer. Unless he wants to move back to Scotland and always dreamed of playing for Celtic/Rangers (who won't pay more than us).

Would be amazed if he ended up at a Prem team. I'm not sure who that leaves. He's not going to leave us to join, say, Burnley surely?

 

Honestly he is a huge injury risk so he's not down as a must-sign priority for me. I know they cocked up with Downs but I trust SR to get a replacement if needed.

[Scoobysaint]

6 hours ago, LegalEagle said:

He owes us. We stood by him for a long time when he couldn’t play. It would be poor on his part to simply fuck off at the first opportunity. He doesn’t strike me as being like that. 

He’s our employee. We bought him while injured. You can’t sack a footballer because they are injured. He owes us nothing and is perfectly entitled to look for a final bumper deal as he enters his thirties. I hope he stays but understand if he chooses not to. If we wanted him that badly we should have activated the clause earlier. 

[BARCELONASAINT]

I wonder how much this is all his agent talk and just trying to get an improved deal from Saints. Ross has always spoken about how much he has to thank Saints for the way they have stuck by him and helped him back to where he is now. He has always come across as a player that felt a debt of gratitude to the club and therefore part of me would be surprised if he did not resign.

However football is cut-throat and his agent will be in his ear telling him he has one more pay day and he needs to maximise that for his family etc etc.

I will be disappointed if he decides to go elsewhere but that is football and i have to believe we have already identified his replacement should he choose not to renew.

[Farmer Saint]

I like Stewart, but he's not PL quality, and i don't think he's getting a PL contract. The only way he's getting one is staying with us and being promoted and getting an uplift that way.

[M271]

It’s a difficult one with Stewart a bit of a throw of the dice.
 

On the positive side he was an integral part of our effective squad in 2026, chipped in with some good goals and seemed to have got over his injuries. Keeping him for the 26/27 season in the championship would be a known quantity that could keep our momentum and team spirit going.

On the negative side I can understand why Saints held off extending his contract with not knowing which league we would be in next season, we would have been looking at getting another striker in for the premier league. His minutes and game time has to be carefully managed and his injury prone history makes it a risky decision going forward. Imagine if we had extended his contract a month ago and he gets a bad recurrence injury at the World Cup.

On balance,now that we have secured the permanent signing of Larin, I’m not too bothered if we lose Stewart, if (a big if) we can sign an effective striker less injury prone and whose game time doesn’t have to be so carefully managed.

Edited 15 hours ago by M271

[Convict Colony]

Id feel more relaxed if Downs or Archer could score goals alongside Larin

[St Chalet]

Risky thing for Ross to do. His muscles and internet are both measured by their ping time. 

[Midfield_General]

The more I think about it, the more I think we should hold the line on this one.

Make him an offer of a short-term deal but one that prices in the many risks that he brings (which is what it sounds like we've done), but if he doesn't want it, move on quickly and let someone else take on the risk. He's decent, but he's not irreplaceable and not worth being messed around for. 

Now we've had a season to reflect on Spors' ability to pick a player, and its become apparent that Downs was more of an anomaly and he does actually know what he's doing, I'd feel fairly confident now that we could find someone decent enough to contribute what Stewart would, or more, while carrying far less injury risk. I'd be tempted to call his bluff. 

Edited 13 hours ago by Midfield_General

[saintant]

1 hour ago, St Chalet said:

Risky thing for Ross to do. His muscles and internet are both measured by their ping time. 

Yeah, him and his agent are playing a risky game. He could have agreed terms and signed for us giving him a solid contract. Now he's at the World Cup and any sort of injury leaves him in a very vulnerable position. As others have said he is unlikely to attract interest from a Prem League club other than possibly Hull who already have McBurnie.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

Think he may end up at Hearts. They need a replacement for Shankland. Could be a decent move for him, Champions League football, well for a couple of games at least. 

[Kenilworthy1959]

43 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Think he may end up at Hearts. They need a replacement for Shankland. Could be a decent move for him, Champions League football, well for a couple of games at least. 

I was also thinking that he might go back to Scotland. However, he has got himself to the verge of playing at the very top level and has actually scored in the PL. Going to Hearts at his age would end that dream.

[Lord Duckhunter]

The more I think about it, the more questions arise. I can’t for the life of me believe his agent will advise playing in the World Cup as a free agent, not with his injury record. Of course he could could score 2 or 3 goals and boost his options off the back of it, but seriously, that maybe worth the risk if he’s Larin or Ivan Toney, but FFS, surely he won’t take that risk. 
 

Based on that, he’s either playing hardball to squeeze some more from us, or he’s got a watertight contract signed elsewhere, but not announced yet. What is the score with a medical, will he need one to get a new deal from us, I presume not. I can’t see Steve Clarke wanting him to go off for a medical, or the fall out if he fails it. Therefore based on this logic, and the fact there’s been no hint of interest elsewhere or no rumours of a medical, my confident prediction is a new Saints deal will be announced/ signed prior to Scotlands first game. 

Edited 11 hours ago by Lord Duckhunter

[EssEffCee]

5 hours ago, CB Fry said:

I don’t really see where he would go that would be better than what we'd offer. Unless he wants to move back to Scotland and always dreamed of playing for Celtic/Rangers (who won't pay more than us).

Would be amazed if he ended up at a Prem team. I'm not sure who that leaves. He's not going to leave us to join, say, Burnley surely?

 

Honestly he is a huge injury risk so he's not down as a must-sign priority for me. I know they cocked up with Downs but I trust SR to get a replacement if needed.

I suspect it's more about contract length than the salary we're offering. He may not find anyone willing to pay him more than what he's on here but if they're willing to offer him 2-3 years it could still work out more in total.

At his age and with his injury record I wouldn't blame him if he is thinking about security more than anything else.

For similar reasons I'd be surprised if it wasn't sorted one way or the other before the World Cup.

[sfc4prem]

19 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

The more I think about it, the more questions arise. I can’t for the life of me believe his agent will advise playing in the World Cup as a free agent, not with his injury record. Of course he could could score 2 or 3 goals and boost his options off the back of it, but seriously, that maybe worth the risk if he’s Larin or Ivan Toney, but FFS, surely he won’t take that risk. 
 

Based on that, he’s either playing hardball to squeeze some more from us, or he’s got a watertight contract signed elsewhere, but not announced yet. What is the score with a medical, will he need one to get a new deal from us, I presume not. I can’t see Steve Clarke wanting him to go off for a medical, or the fall out if he fails it. Therefore based on this logic, and the fact there’s been no hint of interest elsewhere or no rumours of a medical, my confident prediction is a new Saints deal will be announced/ signed prior to Scotlands first game. 

Convincing post.

[Saint Fen]

Maybe he wants more than 1 year on his contract especially with his injury record.

Offer him a new 2 year contract with an option of a 3rd year that kicks in his last year after x amount of appearances.

[LiberalCommunist]

I like Ross, and I would have been really happy for the one year extension. But. In six months time, when we look back at this thread, I reckon we'll be discussing how injuries have hampered the new move and he can't get a run of games. Staying with us wouldn't eradicate the injury issues, but our back room team know him and understand him far better than his next choice.

So good luck and enjoy the green grass Ross. Giving in to the two year demand is a risk I'd rather not waste on him. I've seen enough, or not enough over the last couple of years to come to that opinion. 

[AlexLaw76]

2 hours ago, Saint Fen said:

Maybe he wants more than 1 year on his contract especially with his injury record.

Offer him a new 2 year contract with an option of a 3rd year that kicks in his last year after x amount of appearances.

He probably, rightly, feels he is good for a 3-4 year deal now that he has been selected for the World Cup and look every good since xmas. Given his age (and injury history) I would be doing exactly the same at this point.

However, as been discussed, noting his injury record and seemingly inability (ore reluctance) to play 3 games in a week, it is a bit of a risk on his part to go out of contract. But, I suspect Scotland will be out there for 3-4 games and he will probably only get about 30 mins on the pitch in that time.

[saintstowin]

I hope he stays and I presume it could have been easier if we'd got in there before that moveable deadline. I expect he would still have wanted to discuss his options, such as trying to get a longer contract with us, or options elsewhere. So the not signing isn't that odd.

I accept players live in a different financial world. But I have little time for the 'need to look after me and my family' angle. If you've played professional football for a decade there's been plenty of time and money to save more than enough to take your sweet time while you either do nothing, or more likely find the next well paid football related gig.

[redkeith]

If we had envoked the one year extension Ross would have got just what is in the original contract. 

Saints missed the date, the lawyers spotted it and now he will be a free agent, meaning a decent signing on fee wherever he goes. 

He may well decide stay with us, who knows? 

He will have offers I am sure, but Saints gambled that we would want to free up his wages if we got promoted. This has back fired. 

Personally,  I would have extended for a year.  He has a good brain on him, his movement is streets ahead of Archer and Armstrong. 

In the first half of the season all our strikers were waiting for crosses to reach them. Ross's goal at Leicester was the complete opposite. 

[Cuddles]

Looks like he came on for 30 mins or so in their friendly today.