Summer Transfer Window 2025/26

[Saint86]

1 hour ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Rasmus shouldn’t be anywhere near a business, let alone a football club.

Absolute chancer.

According to Blackmore, Ankerson has been moved well away from the club's football operations and is being kept out of the way to allow Spors to do his work. Make of that what you will given Blackmore often parrots information as he's told to by the club.

Edited Tuesday at 12:49 by Saint86

[Saint86]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

My feeling is that next season will be similar to our first season in the Championship when we were relegated in 05/06. Never in the promotion conversation, a bit of a recovery in the 2nd half of the season to finish top of the bottom half.

Football doesn't care for reputation or finances, if you have a losing habit then it can take some time to shift no matter what level you're at. We have a habit of not even competing, so god knows how long this will take us to reset.

Think we'll see a massive shake up this summer and keep only a smattering of the first team - thats what i'd like to see anyway.

Reckon the likes of manning, Arma, Charles will feature next year. Good chance that one of Downes of THB is still around. Edwards will step up and i'm excited to see him do that.

We've got a lot of players that seemingly don't want to be here (Sulemana, Onuachu, Fernandes, Dibling seemingly, Bednarek, ABK, Aribo, Taylor), and if that is the case then we should welcome the chance to clear them out / move them on, and build a largely new team and dressing room. Won't be too dissimilar to the job Koeman did in his first season.

And imo, something like that needs to happen to stop this cylical rut that we're in, and it shouldn't be something we're scared of doing - relegation will be the perfect opportunity to do it, the finances are in a solid enough state, wage clauses likewise, and the squad needs a radical restructuring under a new manager and Spors...

Edited Tuesday at 12:56 by Saint86

[S-Clarke]

9 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Think we'll see a massive shake up this summer and keep only a smattering of the first team - thats what i'd like to see anyway.

Reckon the likes of manning, Arma, Charles will feature next year. Good chance that one of Downes of THB is still around. Edwards will step up and i'm excited to see him do that.

We've got a lot of players that seemingly don't want to be here (Sulemana, Onuachu, Fernandes, Dibling seemingly, Bednarek, ABK, Aribo, Taylor), and if that is the case then we should welcome the chance to clear them out / move them on, and build a largely new team and dressing room. Won't be too dissimilar to the job Koeman did in his first season.

And imo, something like that needs to happen to stop this cylical rut that we're in, and it shouldn't be something we're scared of doing - relegation will be the perfect opportunity to do it, the finances are in a solid enough state, wage clauses likewise, and the squad needs a radical restructuring under a new manager and Spors...

There's a hell of a lot riding on Spors!

I do agree that we need a clean slate in the main, but it will be hard to ditch everyone we want to in a single window. There will be some financial juggling I'm sure, and maybe it'll be over a few windows until we have a proper competitive side again.

My fear is wholesale change this summer will require big financial outlay in one big hit, mainly re-investing the fees we get. If we waste that money in one window then that's us done for. Could be a case of tread carefully, stabilise in the Championship for a year and build from there.

I'd hope the season after next to be one where we can really push again after stabilising, similar to as we did under Burley - but without being as skint as we were then.

Edited Tuesday at 13:04 by S-Clarke

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

According to Blackmore, Ankerson has been moved well away from the club's football operations and is being kept out of the way to allow Spors to do his work. Make of that what you will given Blackmore often parrots information as he's told to by the club.

The best and most positive news about the club I've heard in ages. Hope it's true.

[Saint86]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

There's a hell of a lot riding on Spors!

I do agree that we need a clean slate in the main, but it will be hard to ditch everyone we want to in a single window. There will be some financial juggling I'm sure, and maybe it'll be over a few windows until we have a proper competitive side again.

My fear is wholesale change this summer will require big financial outlay in one big hit, mainly re-investing the fees we get. If we waste that money in one window then that's us done for. Could be a case of tread carefully, stabilise in the Championship for a year and build from there.

I'd hope the season after next to be one where we can really push again after stabilising, similar to as we did under Burley - but without being as skint as we were then.

Agreed that it's an all in strategy and assumes Spors will do a good job, but then equally we are easily one of the big boys in the champ (squad wise and financially). If he can't manage to do it with reasonable competence this summer, then fundamentally it's a not a good sign and unlikely he'll fair better over multiple windows (this summer we will be our strongest relative to our competition).

Whilst I would like to think that we can afford to rebuild in the championship over multiple seasons, the odds of gaining promotion decrease significantly every year we fail, and with the latest prem teams getting relegated / whatever financially doped league 1 club is coming through.

I think we should be bold this summer.

Edited Tuesday at 14:47 by Saint86

[Owen The Saints]

On 03/05/2025 at 17:38, S-Clarke said:

This is going to be a busy summer. This is who can go as far as I'm concerned. I've accepted Ramsdale, THB, KWP, Aribo, Suguwara, Dibling and Fernandes will leave

Bednarek - His inability to defend has ruined my Saturdays for almost a decade. Needs to go

Stephens - One of the worst CB's we've ever had. Needs to go

Manning - Not good enough what so ever. Needs to go

Downes - Injury prone and pretty lost. Get what we can for him, he's probably still got some value there. He's lost without his mate, maybe he can buy him for Leicester when he becomes their manager.

Sulemana - Just fuck the fuck off. Awful player.

Stewart - Pay him off and let the poor bloke retire.

Archer - Terrible footballer, need shot.

Smallbone - Awful player, weak as piss. No good keeping players of his standard around, drags the rest down.

Onouachu - A big lump of shit in all honestly. Get what we can for him.

ABK - Waste of a wage, just pay him off at this point.

Fraser - We probably got his last somewhat usable year out of him, he's now done and we need shot.

Larios - The wind would injure him. He needs to leave and play at a lower to amateur level in Spain, as his body cannot deal with the rigours of professional football.

With the expected departures and the above also hopefully going, it'll leave us with McCarthy, Wood, Edwards, Wellington, Charles, Armstrong, BBD, Taylor, Bree. Obviously no where near enough, so we need to be signing lots and lots - and because of the upheaval that will likely take place over a couple of transfer windows, we will not be competitive for quite some time.

Step 1 - Sort out the recruitment setup, looks like we've made a start at that.

Step 2 - Use the new recruitment setup to appoint the correct manager and coaching staff to take us forward

Step 3 - Use the new recruitment setup, the new management and coaches to build a team.

Those steps happen over a few years for me, this isn't being fixed in one summer.

Taylor, McCarthy, BBD and Armstrong are all a waste of time. If we're going to keep shit players put them on shit pay. 4 left backs in the 1st team squad yet KWP has more starts in that position than all of them put together. Why isnt Wellington playing? Hope it's not another instance of buying a decent player who can't speak english.

As far as I'm concerned everyone mentioned above should be dropped for the rest of the season, leave them in no doubt they are out the door in the summer. 

Manning and Stephens are not even good enough to be classed as absolutely fucking useless.

[Convict Colony]

Sell whoever doesnt fit the new managers formation, regardless of standing and get players who play and can excel in the new system.

[Football Special]

5 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Rasmus shouldn’t be anywhere near a business, let alone a football club.

Absolute chancer.

He's king chancer and I think there's more within the business absolutely blagging a living, total wages spent in the last 12 months must be eye watering for such an embarrassing return,  at every level of the club, directors, managers, coaches, scouts, just bluffing their way along, comes from the top though

 

[Midfield_General]

51 minutes ago, Owen The Saints said:

If we're going to keep shit players put them on shit pay. 

I’m not sure that’s how contracts work (unfortunately). 

[ApprenticeBillionaire]

10 hours ago, skintsaint said:

Utd and the Hammers linked with Ramsdale in todays Mirror according to the BBC.

I can see him ending up at United they desperately need a Keeper.

[bugenhagen]

3 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Think we'll see a massive shake up this summer and keep only a smattering of the first team - thats what i'd like to see anyway.

Reckon the likes of manning, Arma, Charles will feature next year. Good chance that one of Downes of THB is still around. Edwards will step up and i'm excited to see him do that.

We've got a lot of players that seemingly don't want to be here (Sulemana, Onuachu, Fernandes, Dibling seemingly, Bednarek, ABK, Aribo, Taylor), and if that is the case then we should welcome the chance to clear them out / move them on, and build a largely new team and dressing room. Won't be too dissimilar to the job Koeman did in his first season.

And imo, something like that needs to happen to stop this cylical rut that we're in, and it shouldn't be something we're scared of doing - relegation will be the perfect opportunity to do it, the finances are in a solid enough state, wage clauses likewise, and the squad needs a radical restructuring under a new manager and Spors...

When I’m at my best, I also think like this, and I’m actually looking forward to the summer and next season! I applaud your way of thinking!

Sadly, Saints make it very difficult for me to be at my best and be positive about the club. Therefore it is easy to think that everything that can go wrong will go wrong -the Southampton Way!

[Saint Fan CaM]

Proof of the pudding and all that. We can only hope that the managerial appointment will be swift to allow maximum time to sort out the squad.  The club will need to offload a lot of players this summer before really strengthening. My concern is that Spors will consider the likes of Bednarek, Stephens, Manning and Smallbone as ‘good enough’ for the Championship - the benchmark for the quality required, then sanction the sale of Fernandes, Rambo and Dibling. We know KWP will be off. 

If that scenario transpires I dread to think what we’ll be left with and what style of play we’ll be watching (as that’s linked to the quality of squad). As I say, at the end of the window we’ll know how capable Spors is and so have a sense of how competitive we’ll be next season.

[Saint86]

29 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Proof of the pudding and all that. We can only hope that the managerial appointment will be swift to allow maximum time to sort out the squad.  The club will need to offload a lot of players this summer before really strengthening. My concern is that Spors will consider the likes of Bednarek, Stephens, Manning and Smallbone as ‘good enough’ for the Championship - the benchmark for the quality required, then sanction the sale of Fernandes, Rambo and Dibling. We know KWP will be off. 

If that scenario transpires I dread to think what we’ll be left with and what style of play we’ll be watching (as that’s linked to the quality of squad). As I say, at the end of the window we’ll know how capable Spors is and so have a sense of how competitive we’ll be next season.

Hopefully Spors is looking for players that (with a years regular playing in the championship) can be considered as good enough for the prem. Anyone considered "good enough for the championship" should be firmly considered as squad depth this coming season.

[Turkish]

18 hours ago, Football Special said:

He's king chancer and I think there's more within the business absolutely blagging a living, total wages spent in the last 12 months must be eye watering for such an embarrassing return,  at every level of the club, directors, managers, coaches, scouts, just bluffing their way along, comes from the top though

 

We warned when he joined that he was a blagger. He was the ideas guy at Brentford whilst everyone around him had to reign him in getting carried away with his blue sky thinking and all that bollocks. Sounds like the Dragon has now got his number unfortunately cost him a few hundred million to find out the hard way. Rasmus is that typical guy seen a hundred times in business, looks good, speaks well has loads of ideas but fucking useless when it comes to actually delivering anything.

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

We warned when he joined that he was a blagger. He was the ideas guy at Brentford whilst everyone around him had to reign him in getting carried away with his blue sky thinking and all that bollocks. Sounds like the Dragon has now got his number unfortunately cost him a few hundred million to find out the hard way. Rasmus is that typical guy seen a hundred times in business, looks good, speaks well has loads of ideas but fucking useless when it comes to actually delivering anything.

Would be interested to know if his brother’s footballer cattle market profited from the club.

[tdmickey3]

21 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Would be interested to know if his brother’s footballer cattle market profited from the club.

Sure it did, we signed some of its lame ones

[Oldandtired]

5 hours ago, Turkish said:

 looks good, speaks well has loads of ideas but fucking useless when it comes to actually delivering anything.

Sounds familiar 😎