Kristian Loekkegaard

Ross Stewart and Sekou Mara...., Yes, Mara has disappointed a LOT and I can't see him help us at all at prem level. However, Stewart is not injured anymore I don't think. When I saw "Sunderland till' I die" on netflix (about their escaping League 1 in 21/22), I noticed a Sunderland staff member / leader describe Ross Stewart as "clearly the best striker in League 1 for many years". Ross started on fire in the Championship in 22/23 with 10 goals in 13 matches and two caps for Scotland before he did his achilles tendon. The Loch Ness Drogba. I try to think of Ross Stewart as a new signing for us 😎 with a not so bad (could be worse) pathway towards becoming a prem footballer with what he has achieved so far in his career, but because of his injury history we have to buy a striker, who is before him in the pecking order and use Ross from the bench.

I agree. I like Szmodics, he is in our price range, and he should be on pre-season tour with us in Spain right now. I'm getting tired of Ipswich, but I understand why they want to use a good chunk of that fortune of money, that has rained down on them from being promoted. They will probably want to buy 10-20 new players. Can't believe they managed to do what we did -> getting promoted 2 seasons in a row.

He contributed with his fair share of goals in our promotion season. Good luck in Italy , Che.

Ok 👍 Having perceived O'Riley as a good attacking player with great athleticism and a good eye for goals and assists on a high level for some time, I think he could be the right target for us as an upgrade on Armstrong (who is probably soon a Brentford player?) - but do we have enough financial ressources left for getting in other important new players , at least one good striker, one keeper, a winger and one more LB , if we spend 25+ million pounds on Matt O'Riley?

I got it wrong. Sorry. Basel of course. Elyounouissi actually did ok at Celtic when he went there from us on loan.

Historically we have done pretty ok businesss with Celtic. Elyounuissi being the exception. It is a gamble, probably, but we are gonna have to trust the clubs judgement on this one. Can't believe we paid 22 mill. pounds for Sulemana....

Sh*t. He was not involved in the Eastleigh game at all?

Good point and I like the Yoshida analogy. Yes we certainly could have done that with Jack, even without being assholes at all. I guess Nigel Adkins - probably the best human being in the football manager business - did more or less that to his captain Dean Hammond when we were promoted in 2012. I am sentimental 👍

Ok, I may be a little sentimental , and I get your point of view, but it could have created bad atmosphere if Stephens was not awarded with a one year extension that was already pre-arranged if we were promoted as I understand it. He seems a good leader, but I'm not saying that he's a starter. He is loyal, I like him and I think he deserves to stay with us till' he is 32. It's not destroying our budget to keep him, I imagine. Good squad player and leader.

Agre with Clarke. Would have created confusion to not give him that one year extension that he unquestionably deserves. Nothing to really see here 👍

Good contract business 👍 A loyal 'core' player in the squad. Loves his club and is well liked by RM and team mates. Experienced defender who is tactically adabtable -> played a vital part in the end of last season -> key player in beating Leeds at Wembley. Having been here since around 2011 he is a natural club captain. Keeping him for two more years , until' he's 32 , makes good sense and will not destroy our budget. Congrats' Jack and Saints 🥰

I agree. Funnily enough Schmeiderlin wasn't always picked in the 11/12 season in the championship, but in the PL he was one of the first players picked in the team.

Me too. I was sure KWP would bw part of it. I'm over the moon about this, And if KWP stays Iwill be even more over the moon. Next season is so important, so if we keep KWP and he moves on a free next summer after we have kept our PL status, I'm cool with that.

Legendary day the day Keegan signed. Can I remember where I was when I heard about it? Oh yes, I was on my way home from school. I bumped into a good friend at a corner, and he said something like "you're not gonna believe this, but I just read in a magazine that Kevin Keegan has signed for Southampton".

Yes, the sooner we sign Fraser the better 👍. Discussions about a contract probably related to length af contract. I can see us offer 2 years and him wanting a 3 year contract.

Naive speculation and desperation, sorry, but sitting worrying about our empty no. 6 position efter Flynn Downes, looking at our recent reinforcements in defence, I wonder if one or two of our CBs could work as a make shift no 6? Whether Flynn returnes to us (I strongly hope he does!!!) or not. Jack Stephens? I know he has been played a couple of times in that position - first time under Pellegrino against Brentford in the league cup I think - and it did'nt work at all, but Stephens seems more flexible now after originally having been transformed from a RB to a CB under Puel and after having been shoehorned into the team last season as a LB or left centerback with license to run into midfield, which he did well. (What might Russell Martin think about Jack as a no. 6, if he has thought about it at all?). Maybe TBH in a no. 6 role? 🤔 He is strong, very solid in defending and has an eye for a good forward pass. Comments/critic more than welcome of course.

Terrible news. Thank you for your well chosen words. Totally meaningless that this young man has passed away. My deepest condolences. He went by his name Elijah when he posted on the ugly inside forum,, right? If that's him, I liked his posts/comments. I didn't know he was so young - and I knew nothing about his refereeing - but many of his posts/comments gave a hint that he knew his stuff about football and that he was a young Saints fan. I have not been very active on the ugly inside forum for the last year os so (my username is KriSaint there), but I certainly remember a lovely, positive guy named Elijah posting/commenting there frequently and often using the words "I mean" in his sentences ♥️ I can only assume that's him. Rest in piece.

Ok 👍

Agreed. I love Kyle. All the very best to Kyle if he leaves and ditto to Sugawara if he is ours.

Thank you very much Tommy 👍. I have actually visited Edinburgh, Scotland for a whole month back in 2009 and I have spent a few days in Devon. I enjoyed the landscape so much that I have longed back to Devon almost every day since I went there. It was just before covid. What an amazing region. I promised myself that I will revisit Devon at every opportunity in the future. I used to be a member, for several years, of the Saintsforever forum - until' the forum was sadly shut down.., basically because of "too much moaning" as I recall it... That must be at least 15 years ago now? Before Liebherr and our journey back from League 1. I learned about Saintsweb through the Total Saints Podcast, which I have followed for some time, and I'm glad I joined. I feel very wellcome here and look very much forward to next season 👍 😎

ooh, strikers/attackers are difficult... I actually think all 3 mentioned could do a decent job for us, tbf 👍 Ideally we need two new strikers. Adebayo from Luton? Nketiah on loan from Arsenal could be very interesting, but his wage demands? Broja I'd gladly give a nother chance on loan - with better supplies from our wingers than the first time he was here. I'm ambivalent on Danny Ings.... Somehow, though, I feel that we will successfully sign at least one successful PL level goal scoring attacker, but it might wait until around the last day of the transfer window as was the case with Sadio M. who was almost unknown to me back then in 2014. Real british quality players like "player of the season", Kevin Keegan (1981/82) and "young player of the season", Steve Moran (1981/82) would be fantastic.

Hello Tommy. Thanks True, we Saints fans who have supported Saints for several decades have certainly had our fair share of bruises. However, and please forgive me for being sentimental, we will always carry with us the pride that Saints - even as a second tier side - managed to win the FA cup in the 70s (be4 I myself became a devoted supporter of the club) and in 1978 began our journey into 27 years in a row in the top flight. A great achievement, I think. During the 80s Saints had so many really exciting players, many of them home grown, including 2 of the 3 Wallace brothers - and later on Shearer and MLT - and we played some really good football that would have, as far as I remember, qualified us for Europe more than once (83/84) if not for the Heysel Stadium disaster. The 90s were fine too for me, because we managed to avoid relegation season after season playing at home in a forced diminished maximum crowd capacity stadium (14.254?) - on a pretty tight budget - with serious home grown technical talent and steel talent personified in legend MLT and Francis Benali and Jason Dodd + a certain keeper, Tim Flowers - and one or two outstanding signings personified in for example Pahars and, imo, keeper Paul Jones. Thinking back at all this I'm glad that our manager RM seems to have a good eye for home grown talent and young players and - with the transfer period still in its infancy, yes - seems to be in charge of our signings - as used to be the case back in the day. I really hope we will sign Flynn Downes, Matt O'Riley, Callum O'hare and a good no. 9 and RB + LB and , why not? . keeper Jason Steele, who looks a good keeper and who must be hungry for more PL games as he is 33 and has not reached 50 PL games yet, I think. One year left on his contract with Brighton, I can see Steele peak with us as he is well suited to Martins system - being a "late blossomer" or not remember what Nigel Martyn did for Everton and Leeds way up in his thirties? (probably a bigger talent than Steele , though)

Hi Gio. I'm quite sure Celtics Matt O'Riley made the "priliminary" Euro 2024 Denmark squad - but ultimately he lost out to a CM with more routine and more caps for Denmark (Thomas Delaney, who funnily enough also has an Irish sounding last name). We were many Danish fans who disagreed that O'riley was not picked. He is a "running machine", box to box, with an eye for assists and goals. I'm hoping we can convince Celtic to bring the signing fee down. 30 million pounds sounds too much for a player they paid 1.5 million pounds for two and a half seasons ago in League One. He would be a great signing for Saints, I'm sure. O'Riley apparently turned down the chance to go from Celtic to Atletico Madrid some time ago, allegedly because he wants to play in the English Premier League. Fingers crossed he will ultimately become our player because he knows and likes Russell Martins playing style from their time together at MK Dons.

Thank you SaintTex. Good to have a fellow Saints fan from Texas, because - being the son of a history professor - I visited Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 2013, on the 50 years anniversary day of the Kennedy assasination. It was a day with an incredible amount of activity I must say. Just as I had hoped. Anyway, thanks for your nice comment and up The Saints

Thank you very much 🙂. Yes, I chose the Saints. 11 years old. No regrets. Everybody here in Denmark and everywhere else abroad was supporting the socalled big clubs (as is the case today). I wanted my own club. And Saints did well in the 80s and developed an astonishing amount of talent and signed some big players under McMenemy, so I felt happy and totally fell in love with them AND The Dell. Barely 17 years old I went to the Dell for the first time. That was in 1985, Easter. Shilton had a save (vs Everton) on that particular day, that I will never forget, watching from 3 meters away. The Dell was such a special stadium. And when Keegan joined Saints (later on in 1980) I remember that I suddenly got a lot of respect from the other lads in the school yard who were all Liverpool, United, Forest, Spurs and Arsenal fans. Saints could easily - with just a little bit of luck - have won another FA cup, maybe even two, in the 80s. Remember Adrian f*cking Heath in overtime in the semi final 😒..... and Everton went on to the final and won it. A final Saints would have won, I still feel to this day. 😒 Anyway, thanks for your nice reply my fellow Saints fan and up the Saints 🥰