Fitzhugh Fella

How exactly does the buy back clause work? Chelsea fans are saying they have an automatic right to buy him back for 20m.

So why if he thinks we are ok upfront why bid for Armstrong? He has either changed his mind, is telling fibs or doesn’t know his arse from his elbow.

Forgive me for using a bit of sarcasm in my first post. I apologise if it has annoyed you.

Not scoffing just pointing out we have entered into pre season slightly weak in certain areas. Don’t know why pointing that out ruffles feathers but it’s a fact and not ideal. Not even being critical of the present regime as their hands have been tied by the inadequacy of the previous bunch (Les Reed), but as fans we should recognise we are facing a bit of a mountain over the next 9 months. Meanwhile Ralph’s comments at the end of last season when he said he needed a deeper squad raised expectations which so far have yet to be realised. There is time of course but in an ideal world it would have been preferable to have had more than one signing so far.

Sticking with our square pegs in round holes philosophy I see

We’ve signed one player who has replaced one outgoing. Hardly critical business. Theo was done months ago too. We are still much weaker than we were on the last day of the season when we were in a total mess. Bit premature if you to start congratulating our close or pre season.

A great player, versatile and a leader on the pitch as well as a character off it. He was involved in football all his life and this is sad news to those of us who watched him play for us in the late 60s. https://www.saintsplayers.co.uk/player/jimmy-gabriel/

Telling people what they can say now are we? I think Saints will go down if Ralph stays so forgive me for being a concerned fan right now. I also think he is the most relevant factor in our progress (or not) so his name is bound to regularly appear.

He was a better player when he arrived than he is now which says a lot for Ralph

That is unfair, nowhere near that level of incompetence but I agree he has regressed under the coaching at St Mary’s.

Give me Stephens any day over Redmond

Really? Tell me more

Not saying this is a fact but I was under the impression Ralph and he had fallen out when he left SMS

Intrigued by the optimism. I guess the last three months of our season is fading from memory now the sun is out. As things stand, we are weaker than we were at the season's end, having lost Bertrand and probably Vestergaard .It's going to take a lot of canny dealing before I can work up enthusiasm or even hope.

Searching the bargain bin only works if you find that elusive bargain. Not sure we have the manager or the scouting set up to do that anymore. Armstrong was a lucky dip.

Walcott hardly counts as a "new" signing though - don't forget we signed him to help the youngsters

I think Ralph’s plan A worked well for a time but now clubs have worked out how to counter it and (this has been said before) he hasn’t really got much else in his locker. Watching the likes of Bielsa this past season had opened my eyes just how flexible and adaptable you have to be to be successful in the PL and I just don’t have the confidence in Ralph I had 12 months ago.

And then he got found out by by the more tactically astute. Once it is known how a magician does his tricks he becomes a lot less impressive.

I for one wouldn’t lose any sleep if this happened. Ralph only has one string to his bow and once he has been found out then he struggles to find another gear. Just don’t see us progressing any further with him in charge. A real shame because he has personality, is popular with the fans and cares about the club from top to bottom.

Hate to say this but here goes. Current transfer talk is akin to rearranging the Titanic deckchairs while the bloke in charge steams straight ahead at the iceberg. After lack of investment our next biggest problem is we have a manager who tactically is not Premier League status.

A sign of how we lack confidence as a club is that many want to keep Ralph simply out of a fear of the unknown or who would replace him. Talk about a negative reason for sticking with a man I believe to be tactically flawed . I still can't believe yesterday (Rusty Romeu for Walker-Peters). A great shame because at one stage I thought he was a great fit for us. I am not sure I want to trust him with the close season's budget. If he gets it wrong we really are up the creek.

I just don't think there is a "decent" owner out there. Gao at least does not take money out

If Ralph and Redmond are still at SMS come August then we are going down

I think we should all prepare for an influx of “Jack of all trades, master of none” type of player. Flexibility to play wherever seems to be the answer to dealing with the cash flow situation.

At the end of the day Bielsa is a better manager than Hasenhuttl. Much better in fact.