Summer Transfer Window 2025/26

[tdmickey3]

3 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Strongly disagree with this comment. Without dibling and Fernandes replacements (let alone aribo and edozie), we would be criminally short of wide / attacking mid type players for champ automatic contenders.

Agree

[Farmer Saint]

Just now, tdmickey3 said:

Mid table, as I have already said

OK, let's do this then. I bet you £500, to charity, that we will finish above 8th place? 

[hypochondriac]

14 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Oh dear, going to be a big dose of midtable reality

Shame after all the statements/ promises we have heard

There were never any statements or promises about keeping our best players. 

[egg]

2 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Hahahahaha 

I am more interested in where we will be at end of season.

And I will be here if you want to revisit either way….. 

Stick to your happy clapping, I will wait for reality 

But you're not expecting it re players going. 

[tdmickey3]

1 minute ago, egg said:

Depends on your level of expectation. Some people are not appreciating where we are, and nothing has been promised. 

Regardless, you shouldn't be surprised that the best players will go, and that any replacement will be of a lower standard. 

I appreciate where we are, that’s why I don’t think anything decent will arrive.

we we told we were signing an NO 10 before sales…… any sign

[tdmickey3]

3 minutes ago, egg said:

But you're not expecting it re players going. 

I was expecting departures but I also expect disappointment with incomings

[egg]

4 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

I appreciate where we are, that’s why I don’t think anything decent will arrive.

we we told we were signing an NO 10 before sales…… any sign

That wasn't a promise, and you should know by now that there's a player merry-go-round. We won't go beyond the window with Fraser as our 10. If we do, then I'll join you being concerned. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

Ladies, calm down, back on point 😂

Saints have a good Championship squad, it should dwarf many other Championship teams.

But that only works assuming the players are committed and aligned; not “hurting” because they’re all playing with the same shit teammates from last season.

They'll be half the division eyeing promotion or being there or there abouts. We should be eyeing autos, if not the title in theory.

But who seriously on this forum, currently thinks we are the kind of team to gun for the title? Like Leicester and Burnley have done in recent seasons? Or Fulham in previous?

You need those sparks to make a difference, they aren’t easy to replace. But their needs to be some positivity injected into the club through new signings.

[hypochondriac]

Just now, Willo of Whiteley said:

Surely it depends what players we sign.

It would be Sport Republic-esque to sign U21 players. 😂

Like THB and Downes? 

[Convict Colony]

Jesus christ, every summer we get the same bed wetting panicking posts.

Our business will not be done until the window closes, then lets judge.

Better players (of which we have few) will be sold if a good offer comes in.

Until the end of the window, expect change and Still trying to do the best possible job with what he can choose from.

Based on the small sample size ive seen from Quarshie and Downs i think Spors knows what he is doing and we will get good players to fill up free spots.

[Willo of Whiteley]

All hypothetical, but say Saints signed Rak-Sakyi, Brownhill and say an established Chanpionship/PL goalkeeper - that lifts everyone at the club straight away.

I just fee well try to be “clever” and recruit cheaply from abroad and risk non-established players.

[tdmickey3]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

Like THB and Downes? 

We already have them 😉

[sockeye]

1 minute ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Surely it depends what players we sign.

It would be Sport Republic-esque to sign U21 players. 😂

To be honest, I am hoping we get one or two last minute talented youth fringe players that we might be able to progress into a purchase if promoted, like THB.

[egg]

2 minutes ago, sockeye said:

To be honest, I am hoping we get one or two last minute talented youth fringe players that we might be able to progress into a purchase if promoted, like THB.

I think we'll get a couple of experienced ISH starters, and a couple of promising kids. 

[egg]

10 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Surely it depends what players we sign.

It would be Sport Republic-esque to sign U21 players. 😂

The irony is that people seem to be upset because we're selling under 21 players. 

[hypochondriac]

10 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

All hypothetical, but say Saints signed Rak-Sakyi, Brownhill and say an established Chanpionship/PL goalkeeper - that lifts everyone at the club straight away.

I just fee well try to be “clever” and recruit cheaply from abroad and risk non-established players.

Agreed. Those two signings and then a top AM and everyone will feel better 

[Convict Colony]

Anyway i think 1 thing we can agree on we need some creative players to feed the strikers, we need ballers to play the passes, beat the men and cross etc etc

[Turkish]

13 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

All hypothetical, but say Saints signed Rak-Sakyi, Brownhill and say an established Chanpionship/PL goalkeeper - that lifts everyone at the club straight away.

I just fee well try to be “clever” and recruit cheaply from abroad and risk non-established players.

Brownhill is available on a free and will surely be snapped up. For us I assume that position will depend on what happens with Downes. He was looking for a move and hasn’t played but if he now wants to stay then we don’t really need him

[Turkish]

18 minutes ago, egg said:

I think we'll get a couple of experienced ISH starters, and a couple of promising kids. 

I’m expecting a couple of permanent signings and some loans late in the window once we’ve got rid of those that want out. The squad is still too big despite the whinging about incomings. We need to sell first

Edited 15 hours ago by Turkish

[Doctoroncall]

5 minutes ago, westmidlandsaint said:

FFS lads, logged on and saw the thread had moved on 3 pages and thought there might have been some transfer news!!

Thanks for posting, saved me scrolling back 😀

[egg]

Just now, Turkish said:

I’m expecting a couple of permanent signings and some loans late in the window once we’ve got read of those that want out. The squad is still to big despite the whinging about incomings. We need to sell first

Yep. We'll get players, and I suspect there'll be more options later in the window than now. Downs, Downes, Quarshie, Fernandes, THB, Edwards, show that we can actually spot a player and get them onboard. 

I'm confident we'll have a decent starting 11, and squad, after the window slams shut. I reckon we'll still be stuck with ABK though, and may actually use the lad. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

16 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Anyway i think 1 thing we can agree on we need some creative players to feed the strikers, we need ballers to play the passes, beat the men and cross etc etc

I'm sure I saw you comment on the mods not taking action, just in time for most of this page to vanish for some reason. 🙂

It would be odd for a whole new set of people to repeat the same recruitment errors as their predecessors. But they are working under similar SR principles. Player trading ticks a season on season goal for them, and selling Fernandes and certainly Dibling achieves that.

It's then down to the quality of the new crop of players to come in for future sales. 

Baz - Saga - Edwards - Quarshie (THB) - Welington

Charles - Downes

AA - Aribo - Edozie (Robinson)

Stewart (Downs)

With Aribo and Edozie very possibly gone too, it really does have gaps.

 

[Football Special]

3 hours ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

It will be interesting to note if the same thing happens to Ipswich and Leicester. Think so far Ipswich have only lost Delap of any consequence. Morsy maybe too? Leicester despite the perceived financial issues have only lost Vardy who was out of contract anyway. I know the window is only open for another month, but if they escape with their squads pretty much intact from last season it's mot a great look for SR.

Agree, Leicester seem to be alright for a 'crisis' club in financial difficulty? Good convincing win for them vs Fiorentina 

I saw an interview with Birminghams manager when questioned on promotion chances he says will be hard to compete with the likes of Ipswich and Leicester,  didn't mention us! 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

59 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Saints have a good Championship squad, it should dwarf many other Championship teams

It should dwarf many, but there are quite a few clubs who could stake a claim to promotion this year. For instance, the value of Birmingham's incomings this summer already surpasses £50m. They'll be difficult.

[SuperSAINT]

1 hour ago, Convict Colony said:

Jesus christ, every summer we get the same bed wetting panicking posts.

Our business will not be done until the window closes, then lets judge.

Better players (of which we have few) will be sold if a good offer comes in.

Until the end of the window, expect change and Still trying to do the best possible job with what he can choose from.

Based on the small sample size ive seen from Quarshie and Downs i think Spors knows what he is doing and we will get good players to fill up free spots.

Indeed.  I think Will Still already mentioned that he needs to navigate the transition between now and the window closing - basically 2 different teams.

[Football Special]

8 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

It should dwarf many, but there are quite a few clubs who could stake a claim to promotion this year. For instance, the value of Birmingham's incomings this summer already surpasses £50m. They'll be difficult.

I hate these arrogant statements that imply we're so much better than others , were you all watching last season where the club embarrassed themselves in front of the nation being so utterly devoid of top flight quality and lack of cohesive team unit? 

And yes we have players who got us promotion previously, but some of those arguably have got worse like Armstrong and Fraser so not equivalent to 23/24 season 

[Matthew Le God]

5 minutes ago, Football Special said:

I hate these arrogant statements that imply we're so much better than others , were you all watching last season where the club embarrassed themselves in front of the nation being so utterly devoid of top flight quality and lack of cohesive team unit? 

Being devoid of PL quality is irrelevant to them being very good at Championship level.

[2Morrow]

17 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

It should dwarf many, but there are quite a few clubs who could stake a claim to promotion this year. For instance, the value of Birmingham's incomings this summer already surpasses £50m. They'll be difficult.

Bazunu £10m

Sugawara 12m - THB 20m - quashie 3m - Welington 1m

Downes 18m - Charles 10m

Armstrong 15m - fernandes 13m  - BBD 7m

Archer 15m

That's roughly 125m worth of player in the first team, plus 8m Stewart, 7m edozie etc.

Bit of a reality check when thinking about 50m spent on a league 1 team put together for probably less than 40m total (20 of that on 10 goals in open play stansfield). 

You obviously have to spend money well, as we haven't on some, but that goes the same for everyone else.

If we sell dibling and fernandes for 60m+ total we will see players come in for about 20-25m which will see us in and around 2nd-4th. 

[ally_uk]

Fenandes and Dibs leaving is inevitable, let's just move forwards get some new blood in and see how we do..... 

If we don't get promoted so be it, I don't know why people piss the mattess so much over football.... more to life lads come on now 🙌 

[Chez]

35 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

It should dwarf many, but there are quite a few clubs who could stake a claim to promotion this year. For instance, the value of Birmingham's incomings this summer already surpasses £50m. They'll be difficult.

They'd have been difficult without those signings. The back four and keeper are a well drilled unit. For all our spending, does anyone think we will be able to say the same in the a few months time?

Edited 14 hours ago by Chez

[Chez]

20 minutes ago, Football Special said:

I hate these arrogant statements that imply we're so much better than others , were you all watching last season where the club embarrassed themselves in front of the nation being so utterly devoid of top flight quality and lack of cohesive team unit? 

And yes we have players who got us promotion previously, but some of those arguably have got worse like Armstrong and Fraser so not equivalent to 23/24 season 

I agree. Nothing is equivalent to the 24/24 season. I know most wont want to hear it, but maybe Martin's keep ball tactics might have brought the best out of many of the players, rather than hampered them. Players like Baz, Manning, Downes, Smallbone, Armstrong may all be worse with far less ball and more defending to do under Still. Others might be better, but the only player that got better under Juric was Sulemana...so who knows.

I'm a pessimist, so aren't taking it for granted that we will steamroller teams. Will Still has a massive job on his hands if you ask me.

[Smirking_Saint]

27 minutes ago, Football Special said:

I hate these arrogant statements that imply we're so much better than others , were you all watching last season where the club embarrassed themselves in front of the nation being so utterly devoid of top flight quality and lack of cohesive team unit? 

And yes we have players who got us promotion previously, but some of those arguably have got worse like Armstrong and Fraser so not equivalent to 23/24 season 

You’re more than welcome to peruse other clubs forums, youtube pundits and bookies, who all put us rather comfortably top 2 or 3, and its because…. Checks notes… we have better squads than 90% of the league

What we do moving forward with the talent we have is up in the air, we need Still to not be a flash in the pan.. we probably need Archer, AA or Downs to have a good season, but overall its more likely than not that we’ll be punching above the rest.. so no.. its not ‘arrogant’ its how things stand on paper

Yes… we were horrendously shit last year, but we’re not in the prem, we’re not managed by a shouty authoritarian or a overly friendly possession freak, and clearly you don’t appreciate the fall off in quality between the parachute clubs and the rest

This post sums it up more succinctly than I could 👇

 

[AlexLaw76]

The 2nd Tier podcast believe we have a ridiculous squad for this league....Edwards and Charles would be starting for at least 20 other sides...they will do well to both start for us in the same game consistently this term

 

[Suhari]

3 hours ago, Matty's Caddy said:

Purple…..

Fuck. Did I order the wrong one?

[Turkish]

20 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

The 2nd Tier podcast believe we have a ridiculous squad for this league....Edwards and Charles would be starting for at least 20 other sides...they will do well to both start for us in the same game consistently this term

 

Edwards seems to be one of those players who is very high rated generally in football but seems to be struggling to find a spot for himself with us. It appears he’s going to be at best 4th choice centre back and 3rd choice as a 
CDM where I believe he played a bit for QPR

[Football Special]

38 minutes ago, Smirking_Saint said:

You’re more than welcome to peruse other clubs forums, youtube pundits and bookies, who all put us rather comfortably top 2 or 3, and its because…. Checks notes… we have better squads than 90% of the league

What we do moving forward with the talent we have is up in the air, we need Still to not be a flash in the pan.. we probably need Archer, AA or Downs to have a good season, but overall its more likely than not that we’ll be punching above the rest.. so no.. its not ‘arrogant’ its how things stand on paper

Yes… we were horrendously shit last year, but we’re not in the prem, we’re not managed by a shouty authoritarian or a overly friendly possession freak, and clearly you don’t appreciate the fall off in quality between the parachute clubs and the rest

This post sums it up more succinctly than I could 👇

 

Ok let's look at it this way

Our 'talented' squad was so far out of its depth last season we broke all sorts of records and celebrated getting to twelve points. We were a laughing stock. 

That squad is now losing what little actual talent it had in departures,  some of the better players in Ramsdale, KWP have already left. 

I applaud your confidence , it's nice to see, but I can't share it at the moment. I especially think we'll struggle to match the intensity of some lesser championship sides with our current side. 

[egg]

20 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Edwards seems to be one of those players who is very high rated generally in football but seems to be struggling to find a spot for himself with us. It appears he’s going to be at best 4th choice centre back and 3rd choice as a 
CDM where I believe he played a bit for QPR

I think the issue could be his height. Easier to accommodate that in a back 3 than a 4.  QPR played him as a CB, RB and in midfield.

I'm a believer of getting your best players on the pitch and playing a system that suits them, as long as they're in a natural position. On the assumption that Stephens is a starter, I'd have Edwards in a 3. 

[saint michael]

I still can’t get used to the constant churn of players that seems to happen every year. Each season change feels much more revolution than evolution. I would like to really get hold of a great nucleus of players that we can build and develop. To do this means we don’t sell anyone that shows any sign of being decent and the younger set we buy we develop over a couple of seasons without writing them off early.
Itmust be almost as impossible for a manager of saints with constant churn as it is for us saints fans watching and hoping the shit cycle ends 

[westmidlandsaint]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

The 2nd Tier podcast believe we have a ridiculous squad for this league....Edwards and Charles would be starting for at least 20 other sides...they will do well to both start for us in the same game consistently this term

 

To be fair a few Birmingham fans up here I know think we're going to walk the league even if we lose a few players. They don't understand why we're so doom & gloom when we have "on-paper" goals galore in proven Championship players Armstrong, Archer, BBD, Stewart. 

Interesting to know other fans perspective. 

[Verbal]

1 hour ago, ally_uk said:

Fenandes and Dibs leaving is inevitable, let's just move forwards get some new blood in and see how we do..... 

If we don't get promoted so be it, I don't know why people piss the mattess so much over football.... more to life lads come on now 🙌 

You'll have to be more specific

[Weston Super Saint]

1 hour ago, 2Morrow said:

Bazunu £10m

 

Criminal.

[saintant]

2 hours ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

It should dwarf many, but there are quite a few clubs who could stake a claim to promotion this year. For instance, the value of Birmingham's incomings this summer already surpasses £50m. They'll be difficult.

How are Birmingham managing to sign players before the last few days of the transfer window? Asking for a friend.

[hypochondriac]

11 minutes ago, westmidlandsaint said:

To be fair a few Birmingham fans up here I know think we're going to walk the league even if we lose a few players. They don't understand why we're so doom & gloom when we have "on-paper" goals galore in proven Championship players Armstrong, Archer, BBD, Stewart. 

Interesting to know other fans perspective. 

If only football was played on paper. 

[AlexLaw76]

Plenty of chatter that Hutchinson (Ipswich) is off to Brentford - if only

[Doctoroncall]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Plenty of chatter that Hutchinson (Ipswich) is off to Brentford - if only

And have Hayden Hackney lined up… which would be nice to hijack 

[Smirking_Saint]

1 hour ago, Football Special said:

Ok let's look at it this way

Our 'talented' squad was so far out of its depth last season we broke all sorts of records and celebrated getting to twelve points. We were a laughing stock. 

That squad is now losing what little actual talent it had in departures,  some of the better players in Ramsdale, KWP have already left. 

I applaud your confidence , it's nice to see, but I can't share it at the moment. I especially think we'll struggle to match the intensity of some lesser championship sides with our current side. 

I think we’ll be a different beast this year, shift a few heads, get some wins and momentum, new manager, new league

We were horrendous last year but it was as much tactical as technical 

I think mainly people still underestimate the current gulf in class between the Prem bottom 5 and Champ top 6, and its getting worse. Birmingham have spent 50m, and we still have a better first 11 and MUCH stronger squad and we’ve not started spending yet

And it might be seen as arrogant, but most of the unbiased public agree, anything less than automatics for us and Ipswich is an awful season

[Smirking_Saint]

14 minutes ago, saintant said:

How are Birmingham managing to sign players before the last few days of the transfer window? Asking for a friend.

Because they desperately needed to

[Fabrice29]

5 minutes ago, Doctoroncall said:

And have Hayden Hackney lined up… which would be nice to hijack 

Didn't he turn them down?

[Gloucester Saint]

Just now, Fabrice29 said:

Didn't he turn them down?

It would seem so https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/25360763.middlesbrough-midfielder-hayden-hackney-turns-move-ipswich/

[HarvSFC]

Hutchinson's throwing his toys out of the pram at the moment and didn't travel with them to France at the weekend. Hackney's already turned down Ipswich.