Dman

great news! I knew you'd be a great host @Turkish

Agree, i can't beleive we didn't sel out every game. Knowing how lucky we were and being fortunate to be able to afford the trip(s) & annual leave, I done the lot, both seasons. Isreal you can kind of excuse, but i'm pretty sure, if memory serves me right, we didn't even sell out 500 tickets in a fairly accessible place in Denmark.

Pretty sure we have a friendly poster on here from up yorkshire way. I'm sure his hospitality will extend to fellow like minded saints fans. @Turkish - What are you saying? Any room spare for a like minded, beer loving scummers?

Fuck them. the ones with 'PL quality' have let us down for a few seasons now. They might be good players individually but as a squad they were very poor. No fight, No bottle, No quality. I'd rather we got rid of the lot and rebuilt again in the eventuality of going up.

Same top 2 as I thought, originally had Leeds for 3rd but think they'll be a little lower now (unless they pull a few rabbits out the hat late on in the window). I think we'll finish about 6th. Difficult to be confident on anything though as Pre-Season has been a bit bitty for us, given we have so many players we've needed to give game time who'll unlikely feature at all next season. Millwall and Brum to be my surprise candidates this season.

🤦‍♂️ Have you been living under a rock for the past 5 years, many a crap player which we've over paid for has come in, failed and we've struggled to give them away (loan or transfer) without having to chip in to some of their contract. If we want that pile of shit gone from the club, we'll need to take a hit on them. Its as simple as that.

I'm a touch torn with Tella. Imo he's not a PL standard player and 15-20m for him would be incredible value. Being completely fair, if we'd had an offer of 9m for him last summer, we'd have snapped their hand off. However; he's proven that in the right system, he can be a big asset in the championship. If we had just signed him off the back of last season, we'd all be really excited. On balance, I think if we get a decent offer for him £15m+, we should probably look to move him on and replace him with someone who can / will be able to do it at the step above - which I don't think Tella will.

clearly something we'd likely need to subsidies, unfortunately. Better than having them stink the place out round here.

Might be a touch harsh on Perraud, granted. But he doesn't want to be here and isn't really good enough to attract any substantial interest. Take a small hit and move him on. Free it up for us to bring someone else in.

If we get £45m for Lavia and c.£30m for JWP with the likes of Che, KWP / Tino, Salisu and ABK likely to command decent fee's, surely we can afford to move on the absolute dross like Lyanco, DCC, Djenepo, Big Paul, Aribo, Perruad, Mara & McCarthy for next to nothing, just to free up space in the squad for us to sign players who want to be here and suit Martins system...? I'd genuinely be happy with £15m for the lot if it meant we got them out. Even if we move them on loan.

Big Paul feels like the sort of player we will need to loan out or agree to take a massive hit on, just to get him out of the club. We're never going to get anything near what we paid, he's a terrible footballer and has no future here.

if Lavia, JWP, Tino, <insert decent player here> do not leave this season and we fail to gain promotion, their value will plummet.

Agreed. Accept the fee, so to speak, but work on the finer details.. i.e sell on %. I can easily see him becoming a £100m player in 4-5 years time.

great news!

Nothing is guaranteed or promised by City.

Bazunu Tino/KWP Bednarek Stephens Manning Charles Smallbone S Armstong Tella Che A Armstrong Based on who I think will move on in the next week and what I've seen from pre-season so far, I'd go with this. I'd expect at Tino, KWP, Che and S Armstrong to move on after the Wednesday game.

He doesn't want to be here, he's not playing in the championship.. We don't hold as many cards as you think. An offer of £45m for a 20 year old with 1 season under his belt is not them calling the shots. As the great Martin Semmens once said (probably the only sensible thing he's said); if we refused to sell young talent to top teams, the next Tino, Lavia etc wont pick us when we're in for them. Buy, develop, sell is our model.

agreed, feels a big risk given his injury history. Not sure I want to be relying on AA or Mara for a prolonged period next season

To be fair, that's a great offer for him. Feels reasonable for all parties. If Chelsea are interested, stump up in the next day or 2, or you miss out. If it free's up a spot for us to bring someone in, then I think lets just get this one concluded. Lavia would be fantastic at Liverpool imo, a great fit.

Can't see him being too interested in Roma, with Jose as manager, based on how he treated his best buddy Ali.

We lost Willy, who we allegedly offered a contract, so there must be room in the squad for a new keeper? McCarthy down to 3rd choice (bloody expensive 3rd choice, but he simply cannot play), Baz / new keeper battling for no1. Arguably the most important signing we could make all summer.

Salisbury, that famous Hampshire city.

You've clearly not been to Pompey for a while, baring Southsea, the rest is an absolute hell hole.

In fairness, they are short of 4/5 of their best players, given they're in the first team.

I don't think Amo-Ameyaw will be with us long, he looks an absolute star in the making.