Are Stills hands tied regarding Stephens and Bazunu ?

[SW11_Saint]

1 hour ago, Convict Colony said:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

🎯👏

[SW11_Saint]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

None of these comments expresses hate for Stephens. They are all opinions showing that the fans who expressed them do not rate the guy. You can't confuse that with hate which is quite a strong word.

Perhaps we see things differently, but some of the comments👇spill into personal abuse for me (and this was a 10 min scan of Saints Web - the abuse on Twitter & UI was way worse). 
 

Let’s remind ourselves - they are not slagging off an opposition player, but a Saints player and our captain no less. No one is above criticism - for the record I have said many times I don’t think Jack is our best CB - but can we not keep criticism civil when talking about players who pull on the Saints shirt and try their best? 
 

A plank of wood.

Shouldn't be anywhere near the first team. He's a liability. 

Doesn't have one single redeemable attribute

He's gash - genuinely wracking my brain for one thing he is good at...

Has no inherent footballing brain 

He’s as thick as…

Fucking shit

Equally shite in all of them [playing roles]

Zero knowledge outside his position … no idea what that is or any tactical awareness. 

As for ‘the haters’ it’s a well known term among ‘the kids’ (I’m not one but I have two teenagers who use it all the time about all sorts…). Adidas even used it in their advertising. Funny that that term produced outrage though, while the comments about Jack are passed off as ‘reasonable criticism’. Hey ho… 

 

[Winnersaint]

On 10/08/2025 at 15:26, Convict Colony said:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Nice one Mr Roosevelt

[Dusic]

After the success of this one, I for one hope Andrew Watson pens more insights for us to digest here on SWF.

A wistful look back at the Prutts & Beatts show from Saints Radio perhaps?

 

Edited Monday at 22:35 by Dusic