George Long - Official: Loaned from Norwich

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Football Special said:

No. Sell the other number one properly and recruit a new one that is good enough. 

The truth is nobody would buy Bazunu.

[Gloucester Saint]

2 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

The truth is nobody would buy Bazunu.

Only one club came in for a loan, whose DOF already knew him.

Rasmus thinks he’s world class though.

[Football Special]

1 minute ago, Wade Garrett said:

The truth is nobody would buy Bazunu.

They wouldn't I agree. I meant keep and play Ramsdale under contract unless offered £20M, get money back on him and recruit proper replacement 

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, VectisSaint said:

Because it's not true. We replace Ramsdale with Baz, we replaced Lumley with Long. Don't get me wrong Baz is a huge drop from Ramsdale, but this guy appears to be a bit of a step up from Lumley (not difficult).

So it is true then.  As I said, we replaced Ramsdale with Baz.  That is going to turn out to be a horrendous decision.

[pingpong]

If he's genuinely blind, then he has done very well to get to 3rd GK championship standard, and ID love to see him do well. He could become the best blind mens goalkeeper since Gordon banks and follows the England women's trend as well with Hampton having strabismus.

 

[scumbag]

We only conceded 2 less goals than a relegated side last time in the Championship.

Baz should be the 3rd choice keeper.

'FIRST INTERVIEW' posted on YouTube! Fking hell. Depressing times.

Edited Monday at 18:29 by scumbag

[Verbal]

1 hour ago, coalman said:

We asked for a number 10 and we get a reserve keeper. 

They could give him the vacant no10 shirt. Problem solved, I think you'll find. 

[Chez]

6 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Or admit the error, pay the 12 months up (couple of mill), use the loan on a first choice keeper as competition for Baz and a mid-30s L1 keeper as third choice (Cheltenham let Evans go because of wages, he’s no worse than Long). 

No problem trying to loan in a first choice, but what's the point of paying McCarthy up if you then have to bring in a mid 30s league 1 keeper to replace him as our number 3?  You are paying twice for a third choice keeper.  

[Saint Fan CaM]

This is a tricky one. Do I think Bazunu is a great keeper - no, but clearly those at the club think he's good enough. Given that and we don’t want to clog up the squad with unproven players, a loan of a keeper that is as good as McCarthy seems a sensible choice.

Do I think there are more important positions to sort out? Damn right I do. Raising the overall quality profile of the squad needs to be done in attacking midfield and striker positions. If Spors can do that then the GK position means less. If he can’t then we’re still going to end up an inconsistent mid-table club.

[Gloucester Saint]

Just now, Chez said:

No problem trying to loan in a first choice, but what's the point of paying McCarthy up if you then have to bring in a mid 30s league 1 keeper to replace him as our number 3?  You are paying twice for a third choice keeper.  

Sometimes it’s just about easing some of the clutter around the dressing room and training ground and also a response to the ‘well, we can’t have three senior keepers’ so you resolve the issue.

Same as Hurlock and Magilton on the same trancing pitch would never work so Terry was paid off and it was BIG money as he had quite a bit left on his extension by Branfoot.

[S-Clarke]

38 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Coner Hazard, Nathan Trott, Murphy Cooper, Nathan Bishop

there you go

 

A couple more - Mat Ryan, Yvon Mvogo available on freebies. Maybe both ambitious choices, but worth a stab if we really want to build a good side.

But the scouts paid big bucks at the club are the ones who should be coming up with these solutions, we just know that our options today aren't good enough, but others seem happy to settle for mediocrity which is why we'll probably be in this league next year and for the foreseeable.

[Miltonaggro]

Might as well of kept Lumley on. If Bazunu is confirmed number 1 we are in for a bumpy season regardless if Spors manages to sign some attackers. 

[Miltonaggro]

3 hours ago, Saint NL said:

I asked a Norwich fan and they can't believe how bad this guy is. Really not sure what the thinking behind this signing is...

Just texted my Norwich supporting mate and his take was ‘are they fucking mental’ - so a ringing endorsement! 

[skintsaint]

Bloke has over 100 appearances in this league, played SPL, but isn't good enough as a third choice? Ok.

To me it seems he is well qualified to stick some cones out and help warm up/train our other two for the majority of this season.

Lumley had the same stick when joining and didn't play one minute in the championship.

[Miltonaggro]

50 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Bloke has over 100 appearances in this league, played SPL, but isn't good enough as a third choice? Ok.

To me it seems he is well qualified to stick some cones out and help warm up/train our other two for the majority of this season.

Lumley had the same stick when joining and didn't play one minute in the championship.

We needed to sign a first choice. 

[CylonKing]

Baffled to be honest, keeper wasn't high up on my ticklist. Think Bazunu has been pretty good so far this season. Still waiting for the new regime to click. Could be worse, could be Rangers 😉😂

[Dr Who?]

Makes up the numbers. 

[Matthew Le God]

36 minutes ago, CylonKing said:

Baffled to be honest, keeper wasn't high up on my ticklist. Think Bazunu has been pretty good so far this season. Still waiting for the new regime to click. Could be worse, could be Rangers 😉😂

We only had two senior keepers; you need three. Dylan Moody is 17 years old, it does not really benefit him to spend an entire season on 1st team duty and missing out on some under-21 games where he can develop as a player. The occasional time with the first team would be good so he sees the environment, but he needs to play u21 games. 

Edited Monday at 22:29 by Matthew Le God

[Saint_clark]

4 hours ago, egg said:

Pointless waste imo, and nobody has yet named a credible option to loan in as competition to Baz. 

 

Brighton - Jason Steele

Leeds - Islan Meslier or Karl Darlow

Liverpool - Freddie Woodman

Man City - Marcus Bettinelli or, ambitiously now they've signed Donnarumma, Stefan Ortega.

 

Those are just the ones I can see that are obviously surplus, where they have 4 or more keepers 21 or over. All of whom I would prefer to Bazunu. 

Edited Monday at 22:46 by Saint_clark

[Saint Fan CaM]

20 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

We only had two senior keepers; you need three. Dylan Moody is 17 years old, it does not really benefit him to spend an entire season on 1st team duty and missing out on some under-21 games where he can develop as a player. The occasional time with the first team would be good so he sees the environment, but he needs to play u21 games. 

That’s not exactly how I would see it - why couldn’t Moody play U21 games AND be a backup to the 2 senior keepers? That would appear to be a win-win for all concerned and kept the squad tight.

[Matthew Le God]

6 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

That’s not exactly how I would see it - why couldn’t Moody play U21 games AND be a backup to the 2 senior keepers? That would appear to be a win-win for all concerned and kept the squad tight.

3rd choice keepers go home and away to 1st team games, he'd also be training with the first team rather than the u21s. It would mean he misses training and u21 games. That isn't beneficial to a 17 year old keeper's development. Will Still has said as much himself.

[egg]

30 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Brighton - Jason Steele

Leeds - Islan Meslier or Karl Darlow

Liverpool - Freddie Woodman

Man City - Marcus Bettinelli or, ambitiously now they've signed Donnarumma, Stefan Ortega.

 

Those are just the ones I can see that are obviously surplus, where they have 4 or more keepers 21 or over. All of whom I would prefer to Bazunu. 

Meslier is a good shout. Steele is BHA number 2 so unlikely, Woodman has just joined Liverpool, and Bettinelli hasn't played in 4 years. Ortega ambitious as you say, but he'll want a move you'd imagine. 

[leeham_69]

2 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

3rd choice keepers go home and away to 1st team games, he'd also be training with the first team rather than the u21s. It would mean he misses training and u21 games. That isn't beneficial to a 17 year old keeper's development. Will Still has said as much himself.

Agree, and he can be 3rd keeper for cup matches if we want to give Baz a rest, so he still gets first team experience.

[coalman]

10 hours ago, Verbal said:

They could give him the vacant no10 shirt. Problem solved, I think you'll find. 

Be careful. This is the kind of blue sky ideation that Rasmus might want to turn into a Ted talk.

[chiknsmack]

5 hours ago, egg said:

Meslier is a good shout. Steele is BHA number 2 so unlikely, Woodman has just joined Liverpool, and Bettinelli hasn't played in 4 years. Ortega ambitious as you say, but he'll want a move you'd imagine.

Meslier is no better than Bazunu. With Ramsdale still on the books we were never going to be spending up on another proper #1, and with McCarthy on the wages he's on we were unlikely to push him down to #3 and make him the highest paid cone-picker-upperer in Championship history. Ryan on a free made perfect sense to me, but otherwise it was always going to be a random warm body to be #3.

If you're looking for a positive, some people want Sargent from Norwich and the fact that we've picked up a player from them means our recruitment team is talking with theirs. He's their captain and has scored four in four this season so I don't know what our chances are, and on the negative side I'm wary that no PL clubs have come for him so they must not think he's good enough (though maybe 15 goals in the equivalent minutes of 28 games last season wasn't enough; this season at 25/26 could be the one where he scores 25/26 in 35 and gets his PL move whether his club gets promoted or not).

He required surgery last season and missed a couple of months, so he has the perfect injury profile for a SR signing. And he speaks American so he and Downes can help each other settle in.

[goodymatt]

I would have liked us to loan a number 1, we were linked with Patterson from Sunderland as an example. Birmingham (Beadle) and Coventry (Rushworth) have both loaned number 1s that are better than Bazunu IMO. We were linked with other keepers in Germany too.

As Ramsdale was loaned and not sold, it appears we’ve decided not to invest in this area. Given Bazunu’s record in a saints shirt, I think this is a mistake and we will regret this decision to double down on a keeper that concedes over 50% of his shots faced. Hope I’m proven wrong and this is his breakout season.

[East Kent Saint]

I find this hard to believe let alone understand , hopefully he won't ever be called on to play in the championship !

[Midfield_General]

13 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

George Long doesn't need to be good enough to challenge Gavin Bazunu. 3rd choice keepers aren't at clubs to challenge the 1st or even 2nd choice. Ederson wasn't under threat from Scott Carson last season at Man City. They are largely there for training exercises & are unlikely to be used in games.

No, making this signing is taking an enormous risk in a key position that can be the difference between getting promoted or not. It creates three issues: 

1. The jury is very much out on whether Baz is a good enough no. 1 to start with

2. Now he has no credible competition for his spot, there is no-one to keep him on his toes, and we have no real options to swap him out if his form drops off 

3. Let’s say he breaks his leg tomorrow. What then?

Edited Tuesday at 07:20 by Midfield_General

[Baird of the land]

Curious do all Championship clubs carry three senior goalies?

[tdmickey3]

7 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

Let’s say Bazunu breaks his leg tomorrow. 

What then?

And McCarthy get sent off......

[trousers]

8 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

Let’s say Bazunu breaks his leg tomorrow. 

What then?

Loan in a new first choice I guess?

[tdmickey3]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

Loan in a new first choice I guess?

Not another one to put the cones out then ?

[AlexLaw76]

5 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

Curious do all Championship clubs carry three senior goalies?

What is your definition of a senior goalie?

[trousers]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

What is your definition of a senior goalie?

Ones that don't also play in the u21s (I guess?)

[austsaint]

George Long sounds a bit meh after monikers like Bialkowski, Boruc, Bazunu and Forecast!

[Midfield_General]

To use an analogy, in a critical position we have now put literally all our eggs in one extremely unreliable basket. 

Why would you voluntarily take such a risk? 

I’m actually stunned at how pointlessly risky and inept this is. It is a huge, huge gamble that we didn’t have to make. We’ve just been given £40m. Spend £3m of it on a solid, proven Championship keeper like any of those who have been mentioned who is better than McCarthy and capable of pushing Baz, alleviate the risk and move on. 

But no. Instead take a massive unnecessary risk and fill the squad with more dross. 

Also what the fuck has Bazunu done that’s so special that he gets to be the only player in the squad with no competition for his place? Has he got photos of Spors or something? No club does that, especially not in such a key position. To all those saying it doesn’t matter because it’s only a third keeper, this decision now basically makes Baz undroppable for any game that matters, regardless of form. I hope you’re comfortable with that, but I’m fucking not. 

It’s an absolutely ridiculous ‘strategy’. Even if Spors pulls something major out of his arse in the next week, I am asking serious questions about his competence now, that he thinks this is a good approach. 

[Matthew Le God]

28 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

No, making this signing is taking an enormous risk in a key position that can be the difference between getting promoted or not. It creates three issues: 

1. The jury is very much out on whether Baz is a good enough no. 1 to start with

2. Now he has no credible competition for his spot, there is no-one to keep him on his toes, and we have no real options to swap him out if his form drops off 

3. Let’s say he breaks his leg tomorrow. What then?

If he broke his leg tomorrow... we'd sign a new keeper. 

If he broke his leg after the window shut... and then McCarthy or Long were injured, we'd be allowed to sign another keeper under emergency keeper rules. McCarthy was the keeper who saw in promotion in 2024.

 

Edited Tuesday at 07:39 by Matthew Le God

[SW11_Saint]

13 hours ago, scumbag said:

We only conceded 2 less goals than a relegated side last time in the Championship.

Baz should be the 3rd choice keeper.

'FIRST INTERVIEW' posted on YouTube! Fking hell. Depressing times.

But we went up. So who cares? 

It’s a very binary perspective to think all goals conceded are solely the fault of the keeper. 

[Midfield_General]

8 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

If he broke his leg after the window shut... and then McCarthy or Long were injured, we'd be allowed to sign another keeper under emergency keeper rules. McCarthy was the keeper who saw in promotion in 2024.

 

No, you are completely wrong. 

Let's focus on after the window shuts which is obviously the point. 

The rule is EFL regulation 58. The EFL emergency goalkeeper rule only allows you to sign a new keeper, and only on a 7-day emergency rolling loan deal, if all of your senior goalkeepers are injured or ineligible to play. So if you have any fit senior goalkeepers, you are not eligible for an emergency loan and you have to play the one you have and cover the bench with a youth keeper. There is no rule that says you have to have three senior goalkeepers in your squad. 

So if Bazunu breaks his leg or gets a serious injury on 2nd September, or at any other point during the season, McCarthy is our keeper for the rest of the season and Long is the second choice. 

And I couldn't give a fuck if McCarthy had a few competent games 18 months ago. He has been average his entire career and is now 18 months older than he was then. He is obviously not good enough to be picked as a starting keeper for a team expecting to go for automatic promotion. 

So this decision means that if Bazunu gets injured, we are absolutely fucked. 

 

[Dman]

13 hours ago, egg said:

Pointless waste imo, and nobody has yet named a credible option to loan in as competition to Baz. 

Regardless, this lad will do as 3rd pick, and given the mess that our team is, GK isn't the area to focus on. We have far bigger issues to address, and I'll judge the owners on how they address those. 

We needed to replace Ramsdale. He was our number 1. 

History has shown us Baz isn’t good enough over the course of a season to be our number 1. 

For me, Johansson is a PL keeper, get him in. He’d have done for this season and next, in the event we went up. 

[austsaint]

8 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

To use an analogy, in a critical position we have now put literally all our eggs in one extremely unreliable basket. 

Why would you voluntarily take such a risk? 

I’m actually stunned at how pointlessly risky and inept this is. It is a huge, huge gamble that we didn’t have to make. We’ve just been given £40m. Spend £3m of it on a solid, proven Championship keeper like any of those who have been mentioned who is better than McCarthy and capable of pushing Baz, alleviate the risk and move on. 

But no. Instead take a massive unnecessary risk and fill the squad with more dross. 

Also what the fuck has Bazunu done that’s so special that he gets to be the only player in the squad with no competition for his place? Has he got photos of Spors or something? No club does that, especially not in such a key position. To all those saying it doesn’t matter because it’s only a third keeper, this decision now basically makes Baz undroppable for any game that matters, regardless of form. I hope you’re comfortable with that, but I’m fucking not. 

It’s an absolutely ridiculous ‘strategy’. Even if Spors pulls something major out of his arse in the next week, I am asking serious questions about his competence now, that he thinks this is a good approach. 

It is a risky, overly cautious approach by SR which has now given Bazunu an unchallenged spot as first choice keeper, even though there’s not much evidence that he has improved markedly on what was a mediocre Championship season in 23/24.   The Club went to the trouble of pushing the boat out for Ramsdale to improve things; they presumably would like to return to the Prem immediately, but have turned their back on providing competition for Bazunu, and a strengthening of the GK position.   It’s fairly clear that Alex McCarthy is happy enough to sit on the bench and play the odd Cup game as his contract winds down and his hair turns greyer.

Bringing in someone like Matt Ryan which would not have broken the bank would have immediately strengthened the squad and provided  competition for Bazunu.      It’s a gaff by Spors…..could have been so easily fixed.

 

[gio1saints]

George Seems a divisive signing but I’m not sure why. And it’s turned into a bit of pile in on Gavin Bazunu - who I felt had a good preseason ~ and proved why he should not be sold - and saved us points in the last home game to Wrexham. That decisions been made. 

The fact we still own Aaron Ramsdale is  barely mentioned - yet it’s surely a big - maybe single most important - factor in the decision to borrow this guy for a year. 
 

And that Alex McCarthy is in his final year is also connected. If we didn’t still own Ramsdale it would almost certainly mean a different - and higher - profile goalie recruited.

As it is we have essentially conducted a holding exercise loaning a 3rd choicer for the next 12 months. The contract situation with Aaron at end of season, and with Alex ditto may well prove interesting - and Gavin will be in his final year also …..

As it is I see no reason to get irate over the decision. I’d love us to have Ramsdale but we can’t- and SR are not going to blow big bucks to relegate Alex and Gavin to essentially cone collector and warm up buddy status - on £40k and£20k per week respectively. 

Edited Tuesday at 08:23 by gio1saints

[benjii]

New song for the lad.

 

And I think it's gonna be a Long, Long time
'Til Rasmus brings me 'round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh, no, no, no
I'm a Sports Republic man
Rasmus man
Talking out his arse up here alone

[Matthew Le God]

32 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

No, you are completely wrong. 

Let's focus on after the window shuts which is obviously the point. 

The rule is EFL regulation 58. The EFL emergency goalkeeper rule only allows you to sign a new keeper, and only on a 7-day emergency rolling loan deal, if all of your senior goalkeepers are injured or ineligible to play. So if you have any fit senior goalkeepers, you are not eligible for an emergency loan and you have to play the one you have and cover the bench with a youth keeper. There is no rule that says you have to have three senior goalkeepers in your squad. 

So if Bazunu breaks his leg or gets a serious injury on 2nd September, or at any other point during the season, McCarthy is our keeper for the rest of the season and Long is the second choice. 

And I couldn't give a fuck if McCarthy had a few competent games 18 months ago. He has been average his entire career and is now 18 months older than he was then. He is obviously not good enough to be picked as a starting keeper for a team expecting to go for automatic promotion. 

So this decision means that if Bazunu gets injured, we are absolutely fucked. 

Not completely wrong, I said 'or' instead of 'and' by mistake. 

[leeham_69]

17 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

George Seems a divisive signing but I’m not sure why. And it’s turned into a bit of pile in on Gavin Bazunu - who I felt had a good preseason ~ and proved why he should not be sold - and saved us points in the last home game to Wrexham. That decisions been made. 

The fact we still own Aaron Ramsdale is  barely mentioned - yet it’s surely a big - maybe single most important - factor in the decision to borrow this guy for a year. 
 

And that Alex McCarthy is in his final year is also connected. If we didn’t still own Ramsdale it would almost certainly mean a different - and higher - profile goalie recruited.

As it is we have essentially conducted a holding exercise loaning a 3rd choicer for the next 12 months. The contract situation with Aaron at end of season, and with Alex ditto may well prove interesting - and Gavin will be in his final year also …..

As it is I see no reason to get irate over the decision. I’d love us to have Ramsdale but we can’t- and SR are not going to blow big bucks to relegate Alex and Gavin to essentially cone collector and warm up buddy status - on £40k and£20k per week respectively. 

Your balance and reason are not welcome here sir, take them and go

[Midfield_General]

27 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Not completely wrong, I said 'or' instead of 'and' by mistake. 

Bless you. Don't ever change, MLG 😛 

[Midfield_General]

46 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

George Seems a divisive signing but I’m not sure why. And it’s turned into a bit of pile in on Gavin Bazunu - who I felt had a good preseason ~ and proved why he should not be sold - and saved us points in the last home game to Wrexham. That decisions been made. 

The fact we still own Aaron Ramsdale is  barely mentioned - yet it’s surely a big - maybe single most important - factor in the decision to borrow this guy for a year. 
 

And that Alex McCarthy is in his final year is also connected. If we didn’t still own Ramsdale it would almost certainly mean a different - and higher - profile goalie recruited.

As it is we have essentially conducted a holding exercise loaning a 3rd choicer for the next 12 months. The contract situation with Aaron at end of season, and with Alex ditto may well prove interesting - and Gavin will be in his final year also …..

As it is I see no reason to get irate over the decision. I’d love us to have Ramsdale but we can’t- and SR are not going to blow big bucks to relegate Alex and Gavin to essentially cone collector and warm up buddy status - on £40k and£20k per week respectively. 

Opinions on Bazunu aside, the point is that this decision means that we are now one serious injury to Bazunu away from having McCarthy as our first choice goalkeeper for the season. 

Edited Tuesday at 09:07 by Midfield_General

[Lighthouse]

1 minute ago, Midfield_General said:

Opinions on Bazunu aside, the point is that this decision means that we are now one serious injury to Bazunu away from having McCarthy as our first choice goalkeeper for the season. 

It’s barely a year since everyone was declaring McCarthy as ‘the only reason we got promoted’. Now, apparently he’s not fit to be back up to back up to Bazunu.

He’s absolutely fine as cover for any hypothetical injury to Bazunu, up to January if nothing else.

[gio1saints]

16 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

Opinions on Bazunu aside, the point is that this decision means that we are now one serious injury to Bazunu away from having McCarthy as our first choice goalkeeper for the season. 

I understand where you’re coming from - but the last time we were in the championship and Bazunu got a bad injury McCarthy become first choice and…did brilliantly. Alex performance has not got really bad in the intervening period. He’s hardly played tbf. 

[Midfield_General]

21 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

It’s barely a year since everyone was declaring McCarthy as ‘the only reason we got promoted’. Now, apparently he’s not fit to be back up to back up to Bazunu.

He’s absolutely fine as cover for any hypothetical injury to Bazunu, up to January if nothing else.

.

Edited Tuesday at 09:31 by Midfield_General
Double post