Championship season 2025/26

[Saint Garrett]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

I think it's more to do with compensation for rvn being stuck in this seasons accounts. 

Exactly this. Shows the mess theyre in tbh that they're having to wait to sack him.

[Midfield_General]

2 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

I think Rohl was our first choice but the chairman made it difficult and we wanted things sorted early to capitalise on our early relegation. If Leicester do get him it will be really interesting to see how they get on. I haven't heard anything about points deductions as yet. 

Exactly this. Rohl is under contract and Chansiri is demanding £5m to release him from it from any interested club. We didn’t want him enough to pay that so looked elsewhere. Leicester are financially screwed so there’s no way they’re paying £5m to pay to get a manager out of his contract - they’ll go for a free agent.

The exception being if the situation at Wednesday, where they haven’t paid their staff on time for a few months now, triggers a legal situation whereby the players and management team’s contracts become void if it happens too many times, which enables them all to walk for free, which is possible. 

Edited June 27 by Midfield_General

[BarberSaint]

4 hours ago, goodymatt said:

The media had Rohl as our first choice for some time and reaffirmed that post Juric sacking. He clearly ‘was’ our first choice. I agree that it is possible that when Still became available, we felt we had to go for it and it could have completely changed our direction. News reports suggested that we stepped away from Rohl due to high compensation fee, I doubt we envisaged he’d become available for nothing? So it does beg the question, who actually was our preferred target this summer. For what it’s worth I like the Still appointment, it’s just an observation really that Leicester seem to land on their feet and have beaten us to a few targets in the past, Maresca and Maddison being the big ones.

 

 

Or you just  believe stuff.

 

[hypochondriac]

42 minutes ago, BarberSaint said:

 

 

Or you just  believe stuff.

 

Seems like an odd thing to make up. We definitely talked to him extensively so were clearly interested in him. The reported amount from Chasiri appears to be correct and so we obviously made the right decision. Has that compensation not been there, does anyone doubt that we wouldn't have done our best to make him manager? 

[BarberSaint]

12 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Seems like an odd thing to make up. We definitely talked to him extensively so were clearly interested in him. The reported amount from Chasiri appears to be correct and so we obviously made the right decision. Has that compensation not been there, does anyone doubt that we wouldn't have done our best to make him manager? 

Well as you know there's a lot of hot air out there.  A lot of speculation which is pointless.  If there has been so much interest in him surely one team must be able to afford his 'release' clause and would be willing to pay it. Everton paid us for Koeman, so they must have wanted him. 

 

For the early part of last season it would be quite obvious to state that a manager whose team was doing well would be the matter of interest.  Then you just bandy names around until e.g. Rosenior signs a new contract then you go on.

 

Gossip makes its own news.

[hypochondriac]

14 minutes ago, BarberSaint said:

Well as you know there's a lot of hot air out there.  A lot of speculation which is pointless.  If there has been so much interest in him surely one team must be able to afford his 'release' clause and would be willing to pay it. Everton paid us for Koeman, so they must have wanted him. 

 

For the early part of last season it would be quite obvious to state that a manager whose team was doing well would be the matter of interest.  Then you just bandy names around until e.g. Rosenior signs a new contract then you go on.

 

Gossip makes its own news.

There isn't prem interest it's championship and European teams and very few if any of them would consider that a sensible use of limited funds. 

[Doctoroncall]

14 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

Exactly this. Rohl is under contract and Chansiri is demanding £5m to release him from it from any interested club. We didn’t want him enough to pay that so looked elsewhere. Leicester are financially screwed so there’s no way they’re paying £5m to pay to get a manager out of his contract - they’ll go for a free agent.

The exception being if the situation at Wednesday, where they haven’t paid their staff on time for a few months now, triggers a legal situation whereby the players and management team’s contracts become void if it happens too many times, which enables them all to walk for free, which is possible. 

It’s happened twice which is enough for players and staff to start legal proceedings, however, I can see the players and staff don’t want to force the issue as it’s not the best way to leave a club to go elsewhere. 
 

Also Rohl was certainly of interest, whether it was the compensation and/or Still’s availability to become first choice is difficult to say. 

Edited June 28 by Doctoroncall
Add

[skintsaint]

[Football Special]

On 28/06/2025 at 07:01, Doctoroncall said:

It’s happened twice which is enough for players and staff to start legal proceedings, however, I can see the players and staff don’t want to force the issue as it’s not the best way to leave a club to go elsewhere. 
 

Also Rohl was certainly of interest, whether it was the compensation and/or Still’s availability to become first choice is difficult to say. 

I think the non-payment of staff is perfect for Leicester who will now pick up Rohl without having to pay compensation 

[sockeye]

19 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Am I correct in saying that players will be able to walk away from the club now? Combined with their transfer embargo, dire times lie ahead for them.

[CSA96]

I wonder how Shea Charles/Saints have been implicated by that, and whether they've met their obligations to pay whatever % of his wages was agreed in the loan deal, or whether Saints have been making up the shortfalls for Charles if he has been left high and dry in part by SWFC

Edited Monday at 12:47 by CSA96

[Chez]

4 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

I wonder how Shea Charles/Saints have been implicated by that, and whether they've met their obligations to pay whatever % of his wages was agreed in the loan deal, or whether Saints have been making up the shortfalls for Charles if he has been left high and dry in part by SWFC

Saints pay Charles his wages directly - so he wont have been impacted at all. SWFC pay us a fee equivalent to his wages. Not sure how/when that is paid, but potentially there will be a debt. As we know from our own history, the other football clubs get paid first, the other non football debts get settled afterwards. 

[Chez]

28 minutes ago, sockeye said:

Am I correct in saying that players will be able to walk away from the club now? Combined with their transfer embargo, dire times lie ahead for them.

Not paying them is a breach of contract, but I suspect the players others would want, and with value, Djeidi Gassama, for example, will be paid first and so probably won't be available on a free. 

[Matthew Le God]

4 hours ago, CSA96 said:

I wonder how Shea Charles/Saints have been implicated by that, and whether they've met their obligations to pay whatever % of his wages was agreed in the loan deal, or whether Saints have been making up the shortfalls for Charles if he has been left high and dry in part by SWFC

It wouldn't impact Charles financially. His wages are paid by his employer (Saints) not the loan club. The loan club pays the parent club a % of the value of the wages, they don't pay the player himself.

[Football Special]

I know it's nonsense but looks like Birmingham fans are full of confidence 

[skintsaint]

2 hours ago, Football Special said:

I know it's nonsense but looks like Birmingham fans are full of confidence 

Their striker who played for England U21s that they spent big dosh on looked a bit out of place, I know he scored a lot in League one but will be interesting to see how he does this season.

Edited Monday at 23:31 by skintsaint

[CSA96]

1 hour ago, skintsaint said:

Their striker who played U21s that they spent big dosh on looked a bit out of place for the U21s, I know he scored a lot in League one but will be interesting to see how he does this season.

He only scored 15 in League One, to be fair. He stacked up a bunch of penalties on top, fair enough because Rickie Lambert benefitted from that too, but Rickie also scored far more often from open play. All the cash for 15 open play goals in League One doesn't feel like an amazing return... even though they got the job done last season

[Saint_clark]

I keep forgetting that Kuryu Matsuki is a part of the squad. Complete unknown quantity to me but clearly deemed good enough. 

[AlexLaw76]

2 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

I keep forgetting that Kuryu Matsuki is a part of the squad. Complete unknown quantity to me but clearly deemed good enough. 

Clearly ?

[Saint_clark]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Clearly ?

Introduced by Still to the rest of the squad as a new addition alongside Josh Quarshie and involved in first team training. Doesn't seem like someone they're planning on getting rid of. 

Edited Tuesday at 06:15 by Saint_clark

[Chez]

6 hours ago, CSA96 said:

He only scored 15 in League One, to be fair. He stacked up a bunch of penalties on top, fair enough because Rickie Lambert benefitted from that too, but Rickie also scored far more often from open play. All the cash for 15 open play goals in League One doesn't feel like an amazing return... even though they got the job done last season

19 league goals in 31 games isn't bad. Five more in the efl cups. Brum played very much like us under Martin. Complete domination in terms of possession first, creating chances second. He's a decent player. Caused us problems two seasons ago. Brum were incredibly strong last season. The centre halves they signed were top notch. All the talk is of them signing players good enough for the PL. Under the new owners they mean business. If they get one or two of those type of players, I fancy them to win the league. 

[Chez]

9 hours ago, Football Special said:

I know it's nonsense but looks like Birmingham fans are full of confidence 

They have a squad good enough for this league, momentum and owners looking to get to the PL quickly. Back to back promotions is very feasible as we well know.

[Danbert]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jun/30/sheffield-wednesday-facing-efl-action-and-possible-walkout-after-failing-to-pay-players

 

Wednesday failing to pay wages again, Rohl hasn't turned up for pre-seaon and his coaching staff have all left. Our owners may have made mistakes but at least they aren't the sort of clueless fantasists that some clubs get lumbered with.

[AlexLaw76]

54 minutes ago, Danbert said:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jun/30/sheffield-wednesday-facing-efl-action-and-possible-walkout-after-failing-to-pay-players

 

Wednesday failing to pay wages again, Rohl hasn't turned up for pre-seaon and his coaching staff have all left. Our owners may have made mistakes but at least they aren't the sort of clueless fantasists that some clubs get lumbered with.

Mistakes?

Our owners are f-ing appalling 

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Mistakes?

Our owners are f-ing appalling 

I dunno. Our owners could be miles worse. Solak actually seems like a good bloke. 

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

I dunno. Our owners could be miles worse. Solak actually seems like a good bloke. 

Any owner could be worse. Ours are shyte 

[Saint_clark]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

They have a squad good enough for this league, momentum and owners looking to get to the PL quickly. Back to back promotions is very feasible as we well know.

Back to back league one and championship doesn't happen as often as people think. Think we underestimate just how much we achieved with what we did.

 

Edit - it's only happened 5 times since the premier League was introduced. 

Edited Tuesday at 08:33 by Saint_clark

[saintant]

11 hours ago, skintsaint said:

Their striker who played for England U21s that they spent big dosh on looked a bit out of place, I know he scored a lot in League one but will be interesting to see how he does this season.

Looked a bit limited from what I saw of him in the U21 tournament but maybe he's better than what he showed. 

[egg]

2 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Any owner could be worse. Ours are shyte 

The owner isn't shite, but the people he has hired have been. He's clearly committed to to the club, and has put the cash in. He hasn't run down the academy, made mass redundancies, pissed off the football world, said outrageous things, failed to pay wages, etc. He's done nothing that shit owners so. 

[S-Clarke]

2 hours ago, egg said:

The owner isn't shite, but the people he has hired have been. He's clearly committed to to the club, and has put the cash in. He hasn't run down the academy, made mass redundancies, pissed off the football world, said outrageous things, failed to pay wages, etc. He's done nothing that shit owners so. 

I think that's a very fair assessment. I don't have a problem with Solak personally, more so the morons he put to run the show and then the subsequent show they spun up.

I guess the proof will be in the pudding now though, we need to see an uplift now he's fully involved. He could have been a worse owner, that's for sure. At least our players are paid.

[disconnect]

6 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

Introduced by Still to the rest of the squad as a new addition alongside Josh Quarshie and involved in first team training. Doesn't seem like someone they're planning on getting rid of. 

Sounded to me like "Here's a random Japanese player - he's left footed". Not really a glowing endorsement of who he is or that he was excited to have him there!

[leesaint88]

22 hours ago, disconnect said:

Sounded to me like "Here's a random Japanese player - he's left footed". Not really a glowing endorsement of who he is or that he was excited to have him there!

Followed by 'Josh from Germany'. Pretty sure that's just Will's demeanor rather than anything else.  

[gio1saints]

52 minutes ago, leesaint88 said:

Followed by 'Josh from Germany'. Pretty sure that's just Will's demeanor rather than anything else.  

Yes I think so too. It’s was like he’d memorised a bullet point about each player so he could appear informed. Like when he calls out “ Shea” during the rondos. FWIW here’s my version of post it notes to help Will : 

AM: an experienced starting goalie - until I find a better one.

GB: is it true you are an overrated gk. Show me otherwise. Or bye bye.
James Bree : nobody liked him at first. Right footed FB. 
Ryan. Nobody liked him either much apart from his exboss but he’s competent and willing. But is he good enough to start? We will see. 
Shea : He’s been playing well. Potentially a good un. Be nice to him. 
BBD: Spanish speaker used to score, bit of a rep but that’s not going to fool me if he’s past it. So he’d better work hard. Be good. Or it’s adios Ben. 
AA - same as BBD except speaks Northern. 
SE: ex Man City. What you got son apart from weird hair and an expensive price tag for this league? 
RF: old dog Scottish c@nt of a shorter winger bit of a joker. Popular. But overpaid. Deliver or go. 
WS: easy to recognise but what does he do? Keep an eye on him & see when / if he disappears. Is he a lightweight? 
FD. Cheeky chappy cocky cockney and popular in squad - be good to get him onside but also make sure I’m not having any of that pass back negative shit this year. 
JS: Captain but I don’t have to play him if I can find better. Which I think I can. But he’s Influential and could be an enforcer for me in dressing room.  
AL: he is a God of football compared to the rest but I’ve got to treat him like the cone man and bib collector that he’s gonna have to be. But I will always talk with him cos he’s, well, Adam Lallana! 
Paul Trollope. He can be my Mr. Nasty until I find my shouty voice. About 4 weeks or so. 
Tyler : would you like a sweetie Tyler? 
Mateus : How about you? 
Cameron: small young and runs a lot but rarely impacts a game so it’s a mystery. Of unused talent. Might have to bin him if he does not get on the bus quick and sort out his shit. 
Joe : nice song and scored in a euro final but been told you are out so sorry fella. 
THB: posh sounding name are you posh? heard you a baller. Had you in one of my online teams.  As the Clash once remarked time for you to decide if I should stay or should I go. If you stay you’re my likely first choice CB maybe Captain. If you go please eff off quickly. 
Jan : respect to a good Polish pro. But I understand you are offski so good luck! 
CT: were you pushed around last year? Well - what you got? Old dog new tricks or not? 
RS: always a crocked one in the squad. I will help you up to a point but your contract is ticking down. Play and play good don’t be injured- or eff off. 
Jay: I’ve not got anymore sweeties left cos Tyler and Mat took them but here you can have my top trumps Wayne Rooney gold card edition if you like. 
Wellington: Brazilian. Must be technically good, right? 
Yuki : the smiley Japanese player who is going to translate for the other left footed Japanese player can’t remember his name. Must remember to learn Japanese word for “ attack!”. 
 

There’s a few more notes on the rest of the players but they fell out his kit bag so gonna have to retrieve them..


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 12:22 by gio1saints

[trousers]

On 01/07/2025 at 12:02, egg said:

The owner isn't shite, but the people he has hired have been

Playing my Devil's Advocate card... if it's someone's job to hire good people and they hire shite people, doesn't that make the person who did the hiring shite at their job too....?

Edited Wednesday at 12:39 by trousers

[egg]

46 minutes ago, trousers said:

Playing my Devil's Advocate card... if it's someone's job to hire good people and they hire shite people, doesn't that make the person who did the hiring shite at their job too....?

No. Business owners are exactly that. They hire people with a track record to run their businesses. They put faith in those people to in turn buy/hire the right people. On the face of it his hires should have performed. That they didn't, and bought shit players with his money, isn't on him. 

[Dark Munster]

4 hours ago, egg said:

No. Business owners are exactly that. They hire people with a track record to run their businesses. They put faith in those people to in turn buy/hire the right people. On the face of it his hires should have performed. That they didn't, and bought shit players with his money, isn't on him. 

True. But he should’ve shown Ankersen and the rest of the clowns the door the day after the first relegation. 

[egg]

Just now, Dark Munster said:

True. But he should’ve shown Ankersen and the rest of the clowns the door the day after the first relegation. 

Ankersen was/is an owner, albeit a minority one. Not so easy to bin him off, and probably why he's been sent to Turkey. 

[Dark Munster]

2 minutes ago, egg said:

Ankersen was/is an owner, albeit a minority one. Not so easy to bin him off, and probably why he's been sent to Turkey. 

Yeah that’s what I meant. He can’t be fired but could’ve been given a one way ticket to Turkey 2 years ago. 

[HarvSFC]

On 01/07/2025 at 07:30, Chez said:

19 league goals in 31 games isn't bad. Five more in the efl cups. Brum played very much like us under Martin. Complete domination in terms of possession first, creating chances second. He's a decent player. Caused us problems two seasons ago. Brum were incredibly strong last season. The centre halves they signed were top notch. All the talk is of them signing players good enough for the PL. Under the new owners they mean business. If they get one or two of those type of players, I fancy them to win the league. 

One of their centre halves is an ex-Saint academy man in Christoph Klarer. I was interested to see how he'd do there, and he seems to have done very well.

Birmingham have already signed England U-21 goalkeeper James Beadle and are signing frequent Saints linkees Demarai Gray and Bright Osayi-Samuel, who both should be two good Championship signings.

Think they'll be up there next season. We could do with them sacking their manager in the play-offs and going for someone like Wayne Rooney again.

[Dr Who?]

I see they have Saints membership for £25 for the coming season. I was wondering what if any benefit there is from getting membership? Because I live in Carlisle I only go to 1 home game a season, would membership help me get a ticket for home games for me and the boy? Away games are not a problem.

I was wondering if anyone would be in a position to get 1 x adult and 1 x under 14 for the Stoke game when they go on sale? 

[CB Fry]

2 minutes ago, Dr Who? said:

I see they have Saints membership for £25 for the coming season. I was wondering what if any benefit there is from getting membership? Because I live in Carlisle I only go to 1 home game a season, would membership help me get a ticket for home games for me and the boy? Away games are not a problem.

I was wondering if anyone would be in a position to get 1 x adult and 1 x under 14 for the Stoke game when they go on sale? 

I only use it to get that precious one-day advantage vs general sale on away games. In the last Championship season it worked for me for the north/midland-y games I wanted to get to. Also useful insurance if we get to Wembley.

Can't comment on home games as too many family/friends with STs etc so I never buy them.

[Chez]

34 minutes ago, Dr Who? said:

I see they have Saints membership for £25 for the coming season. I was wondering what if any benefit there is from getting membership? Because I live in Carlisle I only go to 1 home game a season, would membership help me get a ticket for home games for me and the boy? Away games are not a problem.

I was wondering if anyone would be in a position to get 1 x adult and 1 x under 14 for the Stoke game when they go on sale? 

you should be good. It may sell out, but I'd of thought only after general sale. It's during the school summer holidays, so you will probably have plenty of fans that can't go.

[skintsaint]

Good signing for Brum.

 

[ErwinK1961]

8 hours ago, skintsaint said:

Good signing for Brum.

 

I think they’ll be challenging for autos next season.

[Football Special]

14 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

I think they’ll be challenging for autos next season.

I agree, building a good team and have momentum.  

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

If they're doing well St Andrews will be a bit of a bear pit for visiting teams, easily the most atmospheric in this division. The noise from all round the stadium when they played Newcastle on TV in the FA Cup last season was a bit special.

[goodymatt]

Birmingham broke the EFL points record last season, they have the most momentum and probably the most financial backing of any team ever promoted from League One. Rooney relegated a top half championship squad and they have since improved it. Very ambitious and will be top 6 minimum.

It’s a harder league than last season with 4 strong ex PL teams and two very ambitious newly promoted teams. We will do well to secure automatics.

[Matthew Le God]

27 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

It’s a harder league than last season with 4 strong ex PL teams and two very ambitious newly promoted teams. We will do well to secure automatics.

One of those four... doesn't have a manager even with pre season starting, has an owner with financial issues in their companies, has PSR issues and has a possible big points deduction heading its way

Edited yesterday at 07:41 by Matthew Le God

[goodymatt]

24 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

One of those four... doesn't have a manager even with pre season starting, has an owner with financial issues in their companies, has PSR issues and has a possible big points deduction heading its way

This is all true, but they still have a very strong squad for this level, Rohl looks likely to be their next manager and until they are deducted points, they will be challenging. Even if deduced 12 points as rumoured, I think they will still make the playoffs. Hopefully all this uncertainty around them affects their start as that helps us. Also think Sheffield United sacking Wilder for Selles and losing Souza, likely also Hamer, could be helpful. 

[Danbert]

https://the72.co.uk/2025/07/03/sheffield-wednesday-southampton-norwich-city-transfer-debt/

 

Wednesday missed a payment for Charles