Charlie Wayman

Ings will be very well aware of his own frailty and therefore longevity in the game so is looking for a much bigger pay day than we can offer to secure his retirement should it come early. Money may matter to him far more than game time right now. On the flip side it will be an expensive gamble by any club that takes him on which inevitably will limit the number of suitors.

...but apart from that?

Fact is even the best vaccines are at most 95% effective with the delta variant. An awful lot of people who have been fully vaccinated will not be protected; the problem is that you never know if you are one of the 5 odd %. The over 65's are most at risk as we know, a group that makes up a goodly proportion of the Saints crowd. Many of that group - me included - will not be willing to take the risk especially when the doors first open. Two or three years down the line if we ever achieve something akin to herd immunity people maybe will have more confidence. Of course they will be three years older so even more vulnerable. I can forsee that quite a few very loyal fans may never want to return. If the doors are flung open for a full house in August the club might be lucky to get more than 20/25k through the doors. If re-opening leads to a surge of infections locally crowds will dwindle quite quickly.

You mean like Ward Prowse two or three years ago?

Can you handle the truth? How long have you been a Saint's fan?

The Penny will drop one day.

Look on the bright side. At least the media can slump back in their armchairs and nurse another 55 years of hurt.

Terry Paine used to run a lot, in fact he seemed to be on the ball most of the time. It could be pf course that the other players used to give him the ball so that they could stand around for five minutes doing nothing while Terry dribbled his way up and down the wing.

Yep, can't see our back four being able to cope with Italy's fast raiding wingers and strikers on the break if it is an open game. They have not been tested yet. We may of course decide to park the bus, stifle their play and try to sneak a winner from a set piece. Of course it is also easy to over rate Italy because of their open exciting and entertaining way of playing football. I am expecting a dour and rugged encounter and an Italy win.

The answer is to whatever the question was, stop playing national anthems at international football matches. They are not state occasions, they are bloody kick-abouts between 22 grown men being paid a fortune.

The past is a foreign country they did things differently there.

Roy Keane. decent? You must be kidding. He can't string a sentence together without the help of Mark Pougatch and as for Souness - don't get me started.

Booing a foreign national anthem at any time is boorish, disrespectful and shameful on the Country as a whole. People who condone it are moronic half-wits with not enough brain to understand how nauseatingly pathetic it makes us look.

Oh dear!

I thought he was very poor last night and very clumsy in tackles. He really isn't very good at all when you see him at this level. A very limited player, surely we can do much better than this. If Spurs really do offer £20m for him - which I doubt very much will happen - then grab the money before he changes his mind. Salisu can hardly be any worse can he?

If Ings doesn't want to be here then let him sod off and the quicker the better, otherwise, he will be a distraction all season. How can we build a side for the future that includes a player who will not be part of it. For my money players are either in or out but not both. I'll pay for the taxi.

Let's face an uncomfortable truth if Ings and Vestergaard badger off during this summer break we will be knee deep in effluent without a paddle (being polite). It will make us odds on favourites for the drop and we will drop no doubt about that. So, do we force them to stay against their will to see out their contracts and risk getting nothing for them but stay up or sell now and risk the bigger financial calamity of relegation. My guess is that Gao will take the short term view, will sell the players and hope to offload us before we drop. If he creams off £40/50m from their sale that will significantly reduce his exposure and allow him some flexibility on selling price. Don't bet on any of the selling fees being ploughed back in.

JWP is nowhere near as good as the lads who are playing for England or indeed Grealish who seems unable to stake a claim for a starting place in a Southgate team. One suspects he is seen as a bit limited if not quite a one trick pony. Talk of £50m is pie in the sky, £30m tops if we are lucky but more likely £20m + add ons like England appearances.

The delta variant of Covid-19 has dictated our pre-season plans and quite rightly so. It is bound to be restricted and disappoint but all that matters is that our players get as many match miles into their legs as possible ready for the new season in August.

Djenepo has had ample opportunity to show his abilities and has failed to deliver. Boufal is better so there's the rub.

We need a new era at SFC, a break away from the English old-boy cohorts typified by the Ings, Bertrand, Ward Prowse love-in that must unsettle foreign players. Let him go and we may have a better team and culture for it.

This is good news. We have learned from past mistakes thank goodness.

That's a very bold statement based on what exactly. Bertrand maybe is past his best now but at his peak he was one of the very best. Monsieur Perraud has some way to go to proves merit.

He's probably decided to stay as nobody seems to be interested in him.

Surely he will be one for the future eh Ralph?