Gloucester Saint

Piroe may disappoint Leeds, he was by all accounts struggling at Swansea with the new pressing style Michael Duff has introduced. We all assumed, me included, that RM would know how to get the best out of him. But maybe RM believes he needs something different. What is a fact though is Piroe’s stand out scoring record at this level and Che’s replacement needs to out-perform Piroe for Saints to be top two. Quite a significant ask, risk, and probably a fee at this level breaking Neves’s record. £12-16m for Piroe would be cheaper and less risky. As we’ve seen with Archer, that player probably signs for Fulham or Sheffield Utd instead. So probably a higher potential player than Piroe and maybe a player that was widely assumed would go to the PL, La Liga top side or Serie A but we’re the final stage before that for a big club to put down bigger money if they score 30 goals and get us up. Fuck knows who that is, but hope Mowbray and Wilcox do. Huge pressure on JW to deliver now and by 1 September the squad and first XI needs to be clearly the strongest in the division and bookies favourites. SR cannot fail a second manager in two summers on a striker signing. No ‘forgetting’ to buy a main striker. No ‘we tried’ or ‘we’re happy with the squad’. It’s either take the risk on running Che’s deal down + another option, or Che goes and balls out on a replacement which makes us odds on favourites. The fans, the club, it needs a talisman as we had in 2010-12 with Lambert. Duk is probably Mara’s replacement, he’ll be loaned out and eventually sold. There’s talent there somewhere but let some other suckers take 5 years to find it. Let Duk have some cameos off the bench and settle in without the pressure of being the talisman.

So are Leeds and there’s a thing called parachute payments. If SR want a Stoke or Swansea stuck in the Champ or a Wednesday bobbing between Champ and League One, then they’ve lost far more than one bad season and they will be stuck with a club post-parachute payments in three years leaking money and debt all over the show and no way of getting it going forward stuffed with FFP (also see QPR, our visitors on Saturday). Leeds and Leicester didn’t just sell the players for the fees we did and there’s probably still Adams/Sully/KWP to go. Get the main striker right if they will join and top two is a serious option this season.

Which is fair enough if Piroe wasn’t their top target and they purchase a better striker for a bigger fee that blows that league out of the water which requires waiting for Che to leave. If the replacement performs worse than Piroe this season - and this season is what counts - that’s fair and square a fuck up and there’s been too many big fuck ups at the club in recent years. To let two managers down in successive Augusts around getting a headline striker would be the end of the road for SR with the entire fanbase. Duk is fine if they loan Mara out but not acceptable to our fanbase as a main striker. Trouble is, is any striker better than Piroe going to want to play in the Champ, even as one of the league’s biggest earners? And there’d be no slack for bedding in or learning RM’s style, it’s an expectation of 1 goal every 2 games at this level with the chances they’ll get. Big ask. They simply have to get this right. Tick tock.

If I was Che’s agent and my client really wanted to leave, I’d be hotting things up with Forest and Bournemouth to get nearer to Wilcox’s valuation as Everton sound like an absolute busted flush. As poor as Luton and Sheffield Utd are, Everton seem just as bad and the Blades are just dropping £18m on Archer despite allegedly being up for sale themselves. Palace lacked someone to hold it up the other night, Ayew isn’t the answer, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Roy popped up.

Right now, the move is a moot point unless Everton (allegedly) get serious about the amount up front. The rumoured £7m up front is a joke for a current PL club, even Luton or Burnley could do better than that. If I was Wilcox, I’d want most of it upfront as they are clearly in some serious financial/FFP trouble and could go pop with trying to fund that new stadium. I wouldn’t be surprised if more substantial bidders such as Bournemouth come back to the table or Forest if Everton can’t go on the potty, especially if they pick up an injury at the weekend.

Hove looks a very decent signing on the face of it, see he was widely scouted and linked 2-3 years ago by Saints, Man U, Brighton, Palace and others. Question would be whether his progress stalled or whether PL clubs will want to pick him up after a stint in the Championship rather buy now and loan him out? Looks like he can deal with the physicality, albeit not the tallest, and decent technique. Don’t know how much the release clause was for but looking forward to seeing him compete for a first team place. Nathan Wood could be a decent buy - I like his recovery pace, good composure and some decent headers on the clips. Young and English, could soar in value with a good season or two. Tactically will need some work and more experience around where to play/not to play.

Alex Law would be much more comfortable on the right than than the left. Good potential ‘sub’ option though…

Agreed, there is sufficient cash brought in now unless the club is in immediate serious financial trouble and on the brink of going pop, and there’s still seemingly further departures to go if PL sides can get themselves organised (ha ha). I get what the CEO said at the forum about cash flow but even so, the club should be at the stage of fees agreed and talking personal terms with players. Martin did say that they had a number of players wanting/waiting to join, surely the club must be able to proceed on those by now? As per the striker fiasco last summer, running out of time, claiming the value isn’t there (which is why you don’t wait for all of the sales to coming in otherwise your targets have a ‘Southampton tax’) or that they are happy with the squad minus Che, Tella, KWP won’t wash with 95% of a sceptical fanbase who have had a rough few years. Talk is cheap, actions are the measurement of performance until 5 September.

If I’m looking at it with my work head on, not my Saints supporter one on, then even if Piroe doesn’t score quite as many as Adams, they still have an asset with 3 years of a deal next season if they get him for roughly what they get for Che. Che could get Saints up, but motivation may wane past September out of the shop window and if Saints cock it up and fail to get promotion, there’s no asset.

DCL just taken off with what looked like a broken cheekbone colliding with Villa’s keeper. So Everton may need two forwards but probably relies on them selling Maupay overseas for a few buttons and trying to sell Pickford, their last asset. They have been dreadful today, Che will be in the same position he was last season as the main striker in a very poor team with rock bottom morale/cohesion. If he really wants to go/Wilcox really wants the £12m, I’d wait for Palace or Forest.

I’d far rather keep Aribo than Mara. Tella and other have referred to Joe’s influence in the dressing room. ABK can go for the right fee, Lyanco and McCarthy for 0 to free up further wages. Perraud will probably leave but Manning yet to convince. Onachu will be the club taking a bath on the fee. A Champ club might want Bree on loan. Beyond that, without replacements of a similar cost fee-wise (wages are a different story), it’s starting to look suspicious.

Apologies if already posted but at the Skates v Cheltenham game there’s been injuries to one of the linos and presumably fourth official so there’s a spectator running the line! I suspect Cheltenham may get a contentious offside call/penalty given against them…

Good win at a promoted side with momentum and a full stadium. Not the greatest of performances and pretty clear the first team is a couple light in central midfield, at centre back and Che will need replacing if and when he goes, Piroe or someone else. He has helped us hugely with three crucial goals. Good full debut from Charles to build on. Manning struggling a bit. SAA provided directness and cutting edge, Edozie not playing too badly but need more composure and awareness still. Adam Armstrong an asset at this level and some of the defensive interventions important. Stu did well but balance of midfield is a long way off and needs new faces next week to close some of the gaps with the back four. With regard to conceding, for the last 3 years, there has been poor application in stopping crosses. The more things change, the more they stay the same in that instance.

Doesn’t sound like Russell is ready to call it Squits on this transfer yet

Probably is genuine but the club need to learn from the Gapko fiasco last year where the move didn’t happen and they left it too late to line anything else up in a key position which was a huge factor in relegation. Downes would be excellent for a season at this level but don’t put all of the eggs in that basket.

Trump fanatic in Texas arrested for making threats and holding typical views of his idiots https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66529579 A couple of weeks back, a far more dangerous Trump loony was eliminated in Utah https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/09/politics/fbi-utah-man-joe-biden/index.html I suspect the FBI are going to be very busy over the next 18 months and even more so after Trump loses and he and his cult won’t accept it. This is where highly partisan TV networks, the dark web and unlimited guns leads you to.

There were also Exeter fans at the back of the Lyndhurst Stand, they jumped up and sprayed beer around when Rickie scored. Plymouth assumed by the red and white stripes under jumpers/coats it was Saints fans until they got close up. A couple got a shoeing and in a mess. Was a very risky thing to do given the strength of their rivalry and how dark a day that was for Argyle. This came from Plymouth fans at work and their forum at the time. A couple of Saints fans also got loud after the third as someone has mentioned already and were chased/kicked out. Majority of us were fine as kept ourselves to ourselves. I also was in the main stand at the Exeter away game and managed not to give myself away despite Rickie’s last minute winner. I think people knew but as others have said as long you behave it’s usually ok in most places. Cardiff/Swansea away is where I’d not do it and Leeds only with friends from that area.

Would be happy with either Vyner or Bellis, although I can just imagine a chant of ‘Bellis gonna get yer’ from the Northam to opposition strikers (for those who remember the Reebok advert from the early 2000s).

No, Guly scored before that, certainly two on Boxing Day v Exeter that I can remember and I think he scored away at Yeovil away in the autumn too?

Authorities need to investigate there, Hooper still should have seen it live but VAR no excuses, that’s just fixed. If that’s an attempt at an objective decision by VAR then the officials concerned have no role in the sport or any sport. Not fair to push them down the pyramid. PL needs to clean up its act. If I had my way after a morning’s investigation by independent panel, Wolves are awarded a point tomorrow and Man U stripped of two to keep it clean but never happening. Cricket refers all the time to video and Rugby to TMO - how many decisions remain wrong? Far less if any. Being on the mic helps with transparency eg why have they made the decision they’ve made. Technology not the issue, elite football’s sickness is.

The cross should never have come in with that much space and time. Quality delivery but with Norwich having better Champ players than Wednesday it would be. Manning also had a shocker for the fourth, a nudge out of harms way would have done instead of a hack across the line. Neither the CBs nor our full-backs was helped by the ridiculous decision by the manager to not pick a DMC from the start. It looked so much better with Charles on. Hopefully along with Downes joining he’s learned from yesterday.

They stunk under Dean Smith and like Saints still are post later Ralph era/Jones it takes time to clear the stench of neglect. Good squad for this level on paper, somewhere 5th to 10th. Sara is a serious player who as well as Alcaraz did today was better and Sargent miles better than anything we have in the forwards department bar Che. Which having spent nearly £20m on Onachu and £11m on Mara should result in layers of scouting sackings as neither of those two look good enough for professional football at any level frankly. They’ve still got some ex PL malcontents to shift eg Rashica and they done have the depth for top 2 but they should do well and decent test. Better than 13th and what they showed last year. One advantage is their manager. Martin got comparatively exposed tactically today. Not starting with Shea was a shocking error and it was glaringly obvious before 3pm that the CMs selected are offensive-minded and don’t consistently go with runners or assess what protection the back 4 needs. Downes will help but that quote which makes him out to be a panacea is concerning. If he messes it up at Plymouth again on the selection and tactics, Wilcox is going to have to intervene and mentor a bit as the club can’t afford to throw games away on random experiments. I like Russell Martin overall but today was naive and he got schooled by an experienced hand at this level, but got away with it. Appreciate it’s not easy with the JWP and Lavia messing about but part of the role for now. We need to be harder to create chances against and it doesn’t need a £40m transfer fund to cut the crosses out which we’re fizzed in with ten yards of space. Most players in the top divisions can deliver quality if you stand off regularly. KWP should know this from last year as we conceded loads of goals from crosses. Let’s hope he’s learned from it and the club get him the new faces to shore up in front of and within the back 4. They should replace Bazanu but wont ideologically so they have to transform what’s in front of him with 300 games of experience and communication.

Why the fuck is Shea Charles not starting? For £10m in the Champ, he’s a fucking DMC and Saints don’t have one on the pitch, and look at the result. Full backs need to work harder on stopping crosses coming in as well. Russell Martin isn’t going to last long if the side carries on leaking like this.

I can’t see Mara getting goals at any level at the moment. Looks very underdone and raw as a footballer. The coaches can see some raw talent but it’s going to require intensive coaching and he’s got to take it on board on the pitch. If he can start to do that for the B team he might come back into contention. Agree on AA if Ipswich offer £8m and match his wages, I don’t think a ‘play off the shoulder’ striker will fit RM’s methods.

Beans, Beans, good for your heart The more you eat the more you fart The more you fart the more you eat The longer you spend on the toilet seat Right, off to watch the Hundred before I drag this thread down any further than it already is…