Gloucester Saint

100% agree. Reasonable second striker but sub-par as a primary striker which is what we need him to be, and it’s not what he is. Good squad option for Forest or Wolves, Torino are in for disappointment if they sign him on a free with hefty signing on fee and wages for three-four years. Thanks for some good goals and getting us back up last season first attempt, and seems a decent lad, but I’m not sure he fits our needs for this season. I’d enquire about Morgan Whittaker - 19 goals in a side that just stayed up last season is impressive and he’s one of those players who has the raw attributes to play higher. I know he’s more of a winger/AMC than a striker per se but that areas needs urgent bolstering with pace and creativity. We won’t have as much of the ball and must play through the lines when required. Plymouth apparently want £15m but that might come down if they were offered a couple of our better younger fringe players on loan whom Rooney liked the look of with us subsidising as part of the deal. Miovsky is an option Mowbray would know, looked decent in Europe but outside the Old Firm’s very best you wouldn’t expect a PL side to shop direct (Andy Robertson was at Hull first for example) in the SPL. Maybe Iheanacho on a free who is a year younger than Che and marginally better scoring record? Mixed for Leicester but if the club are shopping in the bargain basement zone then we could do a lot worse. Talk of Dallinger and other overseas options etc but don’t know enough about them. Hard to know with Stewart being a total question mark. He could be a surprise package and work in rotation with another more reliable (fitness wise) main striker or he could get injured again and vanish like Stig Johansen. If we could get 10-15 starts out of Stewart and he could hold it up, it would help with AA/Whittaker/Alcaraz buzzing around him. If he’s a non-option, then it’s two frontline strikers we need which impacts the budget as forwards are pricey. Agree with Hopper that a few faces likely need to move on as well. I’d keep Charly but hoping Sulemana’s agent finally backs up all his bullshit and gets him off the books and recoups some of the money. Mara needs to move on for everyone’s sake.

I think they would get some credit belatedly if they finally act with total ruthlessness, pull their finger out and announce their preferred candidates ahead of the convention with Biden not on them. It’s rare to not select a one-term sitting President but they aren’t obliged to either. They’ve tried to be respectful and polite and it hasn’t worked so the party leaders and major donors just need to tell him he won’t be selected at the convention. If he doesn’t like it, tough shit. When you confuse your own black, female VP with Donald Trump and then Ukraine President with Putin, I don’t give a fuck if the rest of the speech was coherent, there’s no way back from that. Biden is being a selfish prick and the Democrats need to switch into hard-headed mode and make a rational political decision. Give him 48 hours to step back from the race or ensure if when wont do so that Harris takes over as President next week due to Biden’s ‘illness’ (unspecified) until the election and ahead of selecting the candidate at the convention. Tough but fair. He won’t want to not finish his term so that is the right threat to use.

She’s clearly a moron but Simon Case shouldn’t have given way on that. Telegraph’s editor needs to sack Allisder Heath as he’s continually enabling her to spout crazy conspiracy theories especially since the people of SW Norfolk gave her the boot a few days ago from a record majority. She’s becoming the Katie Hopkins of the party and massive reason for the record loss was Sunak not sacking her. Couple of years of time you could see her on a platform somewhere in the middle of nowhere with Hopkins, MLT, Icke, Piers Corbyn and co. Even the whack jobs in the Republican convention just about tolerate her but don’t really want someone with her track-record of huge defeats around their camp. Nor do Trump and Vance, repugnant as they are in many respects, particularly worship at the loony Laffer Curve strand of free market economics she, Sinclair and Littlewood, her IEA brownosers, do. I think she’ll move to America full time and clog up the Cato and Heritage with more rehashed shit. Clearly budget deficits are a blind spot for her.

Sponsor logo looks far better on the yellow away kit than the home. Intrigued by the third kit, will wait for that I think

If the Democrats have any balls, it’ll appear on every advert. Trump’s base (such a great word for those who support him) won’t be troubled by it as they wear their violent bigotry with pride, but plus the convictions, it might make waverers have a think, especially those with an IQ in double digits. There’s more to come as well https://globalnews.ca/news/10626278/jd-vance-donald-trump-comments/ Vance has form for antisemitism https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/liberal-jewish-groups-blast-trumps-vp-pick-vance-voted-against-israel-aid-promoted-antisemitic-conspiracies/, and his wife and multi-racial kids are even in the firing line from the KKK core of Trump’s MAGA fanbase https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-wife-attacks-maga-trump-running-mate-1926194 Astonishingly, he’s also indulged in white replacement theories as well in 2022 to boost his fake hillbilly credentials, a staple of the alt/far right in the 2020s https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/republican-senate-candidates-promote-replacement-theory and https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/when-democrats-accused-jd-vance-of-endorsing-racist-great-replacement-theory/ar-BB1q2h5z Get Harris to stand and throw the gauntlet down to these fuckers. They’ll be like wasps in August to an open jar of high sugar jam with their white supremacist theories. Sleepy Joe ain’t going to take the fight to these cunts. Emphasise the sacrifice of the US WW2 veterans, then contrast with Jan 6 2021, and not letting fascism in via the back door, letting that generation down.

Soggy will be furious that the club invited Nick Griffin to the kit launch

££££. Hopefully it’s many times the nearest offer and funds the new first team GK/or Flynn’s CM partner/or striker sorely needed.

It appears Hampshire county lines on behalf of a bigger syndicate has either gotten a mistaken identity over a drugs debt or the address is wrong. Seems unlikely that disgruntled Sussex or Surrey supporters are doing it. Stupid of their foot soldiers to have worn branded clothing, but still stinks of organised crime. In a way, the old sponsored players cars of the 90s/00s might have given them a big clue that they had the wrong place/people. Still, very sorry that James and his family have had to contend with all that aggro, it should stop now that the crims can see they’ve crossed wires.

Very clear what would happen when a hyped up white supremacist mob (plenty of photos with Nazi insignia from that crowd) were directed to march on the Capitol. Wasn’t going to be a few chants and pass around the hummus was it?

At least there are a few GK links, McCarthy is OK but the club clearly only see Lumley as an emergency and he must be bad to be behind Bazanu. Gavin gets into the Saints worst ever XI with ease, and that was before a season-long injury. Even a middle aged Chris Woods was better under Souness briefly. Maik Taylor that season was 100 times the keeper Bazanu will ever be.

Musk is indeed closely aligned with the far right, surprised that you admitted that’s true https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-08/musk-is-engaging-with-europe-s-far-right-but-voters-aren-t-so-sure?embedded-checkout=true

This would be tragic if so. I’m more geographically detached than you are, but still think that Harris is the clear option to replace him on the ticket if the Democrats finally grow a backbone in the week ahead. Trump is still in a different spot with the convictions and Jan 6 attempted armed coup still fresh, the roll back on Roe Vs Wade was astonishingly regressive and backward, which has alienated a lot of female voters bar the Republican hardcore and evangelical nuts, and Harris would be like a open jar of high sugar jam to the significant white supremacist loon element in Trump’s cult base.

Remember to give the Foden cat’s paws a lucky rub before Sunday https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/rub-paws-angry-phil-foden-33224298#

Recent research with their members suggests she has an advantage of 2:1 over Braverman and Tugendhat but that may not play out in practice of course https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2024/hss/survey-reveals-kemi-badenoch-as-the-top-choice-among-conservative-party-members-but-the-party-is-evenly-split-on-merging-with-nigel-farages-reform-uk.html and https://news.sky.com/story/kemi-badenoch-has-double-the-support-of-suella-braverman-among-members-to-be-next-tory-leader-poll-suggests-13175817 Half the members surveyed also seem keen on merging with Reform. Which is a problem for Badenoch as although she’s more likely to hoover up Tugendhat’s share if he stood back, she’s ruled it out where Braverman is openly advocating for it. No chance of putting any kind of elector and geographical coalition for an overall majority in the future if they did, as Reform are well to the right on economic policy.

Tugendhat would be decent, can see him winning the MPs but not the loonies in the membership. His best chance is if Kemi and Braverman split the populist/American culture war/let’s be Trump’s 51st state ticket, which is why they are taking pops at each other in public. I think Badenoch will prevail though as Suella is too toxic even for the bulk of Tory members post Brexit. Homeless as a lifestyle choice - Bad Enough’s camp will throw that back at her and understandably so. That was Suella’s Eggwina moment.

Tricky one to assess. The reports seem to indicate a player with potentially a high ceiling but it goes against his record in practice which is poor at a lower level. You could get Sinclair Armstrong from QPR for a fraction of the cost, who is also quick and direct. He could also turn out like Shearer was for us, explosive debut then fairly steady/quiet until his final season which took him from one to watch to a British record. I understand the scepticism as Gunn, Bazanu were terrible for £12m+, at least Gunn looks decent at Champ level, Bazanu would struggle at League 1 and below and Saints really got their pants pulled down there. I’d pay him off on a compromise deal once he’s fit, a loan spell in the lower leagues won’t convince me there’s a professional goalkeeper there above League 1. That’s his ceiling. ROI are so dreadful he’ll still get in their squad. Shea Charles hasn’t really done anything yet for what is a big fee in the Champ, where he ought to have been up there with Winks and Downes for a best-performing CM performance, and Edozie has looked decent in fits and starts but not very robust yet.

Only a fairly small amount though. Over £20m in total - FD + KWP (below £15m and it’s more effective to keep him for his final year) the club ought to be fishing in the next level of DMCs. £15-17m tops for FD. Sugawara seems very decent for a mid-level Championship price, hopefully more of a KWP than a Mikkel Nilsson, who on paper in Sweden caps and appearances in a smaller league looked too good to be true for Champ prices and was. He was terrible, I’m sure this guy will be better. Clarke seems unlikely for anywhere near £18m, maybe half that. O’Hare seems more likely given the club’s FFP and financial cautiousness, as free and wages not too hefty for PL level but I’m not sure the agent isn’t driving that more than Saints. Leeds seem the most confident even though we and Villa are heavily linked (their squad needs a European boost but their FFP issues are even worse than Saints). If a PL club were genuinely interested, it would have happened by now. I would say the club are looking at other options, or give a Alcaraz/Sulemana a try there in pre-season? We won’t get any money back on the latter unless we get a few decent PL showings out of him. Alcaraz did to some extent show he could belong there.

Singapore is nearer to their Asian markets and also has a free trade agreement with the EU. James Dyson pledged during the referendum campaign that the R&D facilities would stay in the UK but there is a now a question mark over that. The company has also had a few mis-steps in the market with new products https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6p2660ldn2o I seem to recall they had some issues further back with washing machines?

The full back at Spurs and QPR, can’t recall his name, was another one, allegedly Danny Rose also saw it as a job. Can’t blame players who are like that, probably healthy. Doesn’t mean they won’t give their all on the pitch. Most famous is David Batty, has apparently stayed totally away from football since retirement. Edit - Assou-Ekotto, that’s his name

Delighted to have a new Lib Dem MP to go with the Lib Dem council, which has been a massive improvement on the previous fractured Tory one. Some of the Conservatives have been comforting themselves that not all of the Labour wins were huge in each seat but that misses out the big majorities the Lib Dems, Reform and Greens have stacked up against them in seats where they often had 10-25k majorities. New cabinet looks decent and you can sense a drive to get things motoring which had gone totally out of the Tories after Boris’s implosion and then Truss, they were pissed at the wheel. Some bumpy times ahead but NHS waiting lists has to be priority one, securing more inward investment and improving the deal with the EU, which the French result will probably help with. The border command centre will be difficult to set up but it’s essential to get illegal migration down combined with sensible adjustments to re-categorise aspects of legal migration eg health professionals and overseas students, and dependents for postgraduate study. They should never have been in the figures in the first place, that was Braverman trying to undercut Farage and jockey in the leadership race. Telegraph reporting that her acceptance speech was found to be as sickly self-serving amongst their MPs as I also found it which has left her trailing. Illegal migration, as opposed to the focus May started on net migration, needs to be the focus. With climate change, plus the conflicts that will create for resources, it’s a ticking time bomb. It’s an opportunity to switch the discourse onto that.

Kane playing like a middle aged man. Foden being exposed again without his Man City team-mates. Palmer and Eze have livened England up and ensured Saka is not the only bright spark. The excuse will come up about the players being tired but the reason they have played an extra hour all told us because of the panic tactics from the manager. Kane off for Toney, had to happen, now England will actually have a striker who gets in the penalty box to aim at. Saka put a peach of cross in earlier and Kane was nowhere near.

Saka deserved that, been England’s best player by a mile, out of position or not. England didn’t deserve it, against the run of play as Switzerland were dicking all over us and it was PL v League 1 standard frankly. The England players need to tell Southgate to FO if he starts screaming for 10 men ball behind the ball and drop off.

What else did you expect from an ERG member who hawks asbestos? Having had family members who worked on the Castle Union shipping line from the Cape to Soton killed by the stuff, he is beyond contempt. As long as it makes him yet more money, who cares if it kills millions? https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/brexit-ministers-asbestos-links-questioned

And Cameron’s. Loved Truss’s spectacular defeat, which is also extinction for Mark Littlewood, Matthew Sinclair and the IEA. Simon Clarke got walloped in Boro as well, so the vermin from 2022 extinguished. I hope they all fuck off to America. The exit poll worked out, Curtiss is superb at what he does. But some weird results and nearly results underneath. Greens and Reform both made their mark and if Tice wanted to hurt the Tories he has very much succeeded and won his own seat. Pity about the beetroot faced cunt winning Yarmouth but overall Reform will be happy. Greens should get equal credit but won’t. Best Liberal result for a century! My seat overturned a 22k Tory majority and our two votes helped. Great stuff.

Best appearance of the night. Respect to Robert Buckland. Pity he is losing his seat probably as one of few decent remaining ones post-2019. Peston’s dry remark afterwards that Buckland was shown to be losing his seat based on the exit poll was uncalled for and arrogant. Fair enough if he aimed it at most of the pricks in that party tonight. In a political world with Trump et al someone losing with grace and class should be recognised. Dorries - who seems well refreshed yet again - Kwarteng, Leadsom, JRM, by contrast wherever the Tory Brexiteers appear, they are deluded, lacking any self-reflection, remorse or reality about how badly they’ve fucked up this country. Cunts, that right wing, especially the ERG, one and all. Reform’s early showings mean 131 is on the optimistic side for the Tories. Rupert Lowe, MP, that will be strange as Saints fans to see! Will Yarmouth get an Ask Rupert email address? Finally, will be thrilled if the Lib Dem’s get 60 odd seats.