CSA96

This comment covers his entire contribution since Russell Martin was sacked in December

It was Targett and Adams, pretty sure Both deals went through on the same day, Targett to Villa for £11m and Adams to Saints for £14m. We then didn't have a back up left back to Bertrand that season, so it started the flipping of KWP to left back, with Valery playing RB. Also had some games with Danso or Djenepo over there... yikes

I don't think Martin is the main reason, same way I don't think Juric is the main reason. Poor squad building and the financial rules of the PL which have created the biggest gulf ever between the two top tiers is why we are, where we are. It's not a competitive enough group of players. Russell bears more responsibility than most because he was very clearly heavily involved in putting it together, however as the manager and not the board, he is only able to build within the parameters or what is made available to him. He clearly wanted different players to the ones he ended up with The recurring pattern with SR that I see is that they follow up bad luck with bad decisions. Bad luck: Shields bailing out on you for Chelsea so quickly Bad decision: Ankersen stepping in and having the terrible January splurge Bad luck: Jim Ratcliffe buys Manchester United and headhunts Jason Wilcox Bad decision: Not replacing Jason Wilcox with a new DoF (presumably because they didn't want to tread on RM's toes) That said, Juric has been abysmal since taking over. I don't see any point in sacking him now, I think the most likely timeline is that he stays in the job for another five games or so until relegation is officially confirmed, then he's given the elbow and Rusk steers the ship until the season ends

Why would you want to do that to Nigel? He was great for us, he has a great legacy and will always be welcomed back warmly. His career has also fallen off since. However, I wouldn't want to taint him with being associated with this season's shitshow

Rusk -> Senior coaching staff McFarlane -> Under-21s head coach And then in the summer... Lallana -> Under-18s head coach

Calum McFarlane stepping up to take on the U-21s job, will finish the FA Youth Cup run though. U-18s will hire a new manager in the summer Adam Lallana's out of contract in the summer...

Been promoted to the senior coaching staff on a full-time basis. U18s boss Calum McFarlane to take the U21 gig and a new U18s coach to be hired. McFarlane will take the team through the FA Youth Cup in the meantime

We already have one?

In theory, there’s now no reason for IJ to not pick his best XI. I’m still thinking there’s a chance he plays Aribo as the left sided defender after Wood had a bad outing last time Maybe we see this? Ramsdale; Bree, Bednarek, Wood; Walker-Peters, Ugochukwu, Aribo, Welington; Dibling, Fernandes; Sulemana

Juric confirms Downes situation is now over and he is available to play in this one

Ivan Juric says that the Flynn Downes situation has now resolved itself and he is available for selection this weekend "We had a really good chat, I think he understood the mistakes. Even after everything that has happened, I think what I thought when he came here. He is a good guy, good player and is fit and training well."

He also said something like 'I wanted to give Downes a chance but today he played a bad game. The gap to the Premier League is big' Which I did wonder at the time whether it would rankle with FD

Get promoted and flip him to a Boro/Sunderland/West Brom/Norwich/Watford type side with no more chances in the PL

Good move for all parties, I think. I'd much rather give the bench minutes to Archer over these last 14 games. Arma has had about 100 games at this level and he struggles for more than 2/3 goals each season at PL level. Gives it a good go, but not good enough and isn't about to suddenly click or take a leap I'm sure he'll have a good run of goals between now and the summer, so either he comes back here and is reintegrated (quite possibly with a new coach) or he's spent a few months in the shop window stimulating some interest and bringing in some more bidders. Club gave him a pay rise not so long ago, so he'll still be one of the best paid Championship players if he goes again at St. Mary's for us and will probably be content with that

Really struggle to be bothered by no deadline business today. My one concern was that the club would panic and spend more money rashly to try and appease people. This season is done. Sit on the money, make some hires, spend in the summer. We are down, have been for many weeks Also let's be honest: anyone we signed would've been quite a way down our list of preferences for the position, and would only be coming here after holding out for as long as they possibly could to see if they can get anything better than playing for a team that's already relegated at the midway point I'd rather see what we have with Welington and Grønbæk (perhaps it's nothing), bank the money and spend from a position of strength in the summer window when we are one of the most attractive offers in the league, plus have clarity on the manager and sporting director roles I don't get the point in spending from a position of weakness right now, getting people that we are punting on for the sake of it - but don't really want - and then in six months time we're in the Championship anyway with even more **** to unload and more people sitting there on long-term contracts. We made that mistake in the 2022/23 season (more understandable as we were in touching distance and it was first full season of ownership). But that said, I am very happy to not see it repeating I also don't think Juric will be here next season. Let's face it, if you are hiring a Sporting Director to come in and overhaul things, rebuild the squad and off-field operations then they aren't going to be tied to a rebuild and not be allowed to hire their own coach. So I'm pretty sure he sails off into the distance in the summer, with an extra year's money in his account, and is never seen in these parts ever again. Which was probably always the arrangement, with the insurance of 'if you do somehow get this thing clicking, then we'll keep you on and up your salary' Roll on next season. Solak has moved Ankersen and Kraft to more peripheral roles now where they are not actively in the day-to-day, so let's just hope that Dragan picks a couple of good operators now and they can take things forward from the end of May

Any streams?

Christ, if those are the set of AMs then I would hope you'd have two, or at bare minimum one wide player coming in

You answered your own question

Nice one, sorted

I have a spare, on the train to Nottingham currently. Due in at 12

1x spare ticket for today’s game. Can meet in Nottingham / at ground (yes, I know, I’m being optimistic)