Rebel

All Sports Republic has to do this summer really was appoint Rohl as manager, sign Viktor Johanssen for a sensible fee to fill the hole in goal and bring Romulo over from Goztepe (on loan or for a reasonable fee) to give us the centre forward we have been missing for a couple of years and fill the massive hole up front. Simple really right!? It was all easily in reach given Spors relationship with Rohl and Sports Republic's ownership of Goztepe. Instead I can't help feeling they tried to be too clever in signing players like Downs and Quarshie for resale value - and too cheap when it came to paying Shef Weds compensation for Rohl or brining Romulo over. Until we have an owner that puts signing players for success on the pitch above making money out of 'clever signings' and player transfers Saints downward spiral will just continue.

My guess is he's referring to Kraft and Ankersen -and maybe one or two others.

If Carlos Corberan is just about to get sacked by Valencia he should definitely be on the list. But it doesn't matter who they pick if they don't back him in January by fixing the hole's up front and in goal and bring in players to match the managers way of playing. The other 'big issue' they need to deal with is getting rid of the 'senior players' that seem to be causing issues for every manager we have.

Russell Martin - just no. I don't want to try and be City Lite again. We finished 4th in a 2 horse race with him as manager and were lucky to get promoted to the play-offs. And then he got truly 'found out' in the premier league. And his failure at Rangers didn't suggest he'd learnt anything from any of it. Wilcox has to take a lot of the blame for the failed 'City Lite' project as well though. I liked Hassenhutl but he lacked a Plan B - and when Rohl left as a coach to go to Bayern/Germany plan A seemed to fall apart as well as we seemed to have no idea what to do with the ball when we had it. Saying that it he'd get my support if he's the one. Sports Republic need to stop 'thinking outside of the box' or breaking things that don't need to be broken - or trying to be clever as they are clearly not as clever as they think they are. The obvious answer in the summer was Rohl - and he might have cost more money in the short term - but he would have saved them a lot in the long term. Not the 'out of the box' or clever answer that was Will Still. And I can't help feeling they went for the cheap answer in Will Still as well. Michael Carrick looks like the obvious answer now - experience of the championship and with turning around a team at the wrong end of the table and an ex-player with gravitas that our 'senior players' might have some respect for. But whoever they appoint as manager they need to support them with a proper coaching team - not Lallana and Trollope - and their own people. But more than that they need to give them a good goalkeeper and at least one if not two good centre forwards in January. They also need to get rid of the 'senior players' in the team that seem to be part of the problem and replace them with some real leaders on the pitch. Promotion this season looks very unlikely at best - if not impossible - without a good goalkeeper and a proper striker/centre forward until January. In fact relegation looks more likely than promotion. So they need to focus on avoiding relegation this season and putting together a team that can make a real go at getting promotion next season.

My god that was disappointing yesterday. Roerslav was done by Murphy the first time he ran at him and never really recovered his confidence after that. And the aimless long balls forward to Archer was just a complete waste of time. We really did waste the first 45 mins. I think we are going to regret not buying a centre forward this summer. We may have the wingers and a Number 10 for 4-2-3-1 now but I am not sure we have the forwards to play it. Downs looks far from ready to play at this level. Stewart looks off the pace and a shadow of the player he was supposed to be. Archer and Armstrong are too small to lead the line and are second strikers at best or maybe inside forwards. It looks like we need to play an old fashioned 4-4-2 with a big man and little man up front if we are going to score goals. Or a 4-3-3 with inside forwards. But then where do Azaz and Matsuki play as then we don't need a 10 - just a 6 and one or two 8's in the middle. On the plus side Fellows looked good, as did Jander when he came one. And I thought Charles had a good game as well.

I don’t think it’s going to end up being a great window for us. It looks like we will sell Edozie and BBD for relatively small fees and replace them with loans from the premier league - my money would be on Rak-Sakyi and Iling-Junior. It also looks like we’ll get rid of Aribo and Smallbone to raise some cash and cut the wage bill in the hope we can bring in a 10 - but I think that means we are also going to sell Fernandes. But I don’t think we are signing anyone like Finn Azaz. Why would Boro sell one of their best players to a promotion rival. Spertsyan doesn’t look like he is going to happen either - he’ll end up somewhere like West Ham or Leeds. I think we’ll end up with Besfort Zeneli or Scienza - or someone like that as the AM But I don’t think we are going to sign the 6ft plus first choice centre forward we all knew we needed - or the extra midfielder we need to cover defensive midfield. Hopefully Spors proves me wrong and plays a blinder in the next few days.

ow we have some money we should give Boro £12M for Finn Azaz and then sell them Armstrong for £12M. That would be a good deal!

Here's an idea for you. We let West Brom have Ben Brereton Diaz for a reasonable fee if they let us have Tom Fellows. He's from Stoke so a return to the midlands could be good for BBD and Fellows would solve our problem on the right if we sell Dibling. And similarly we let Boro have Adam Armstrong if they let us have Finn Azaz. Boro supposedly need a striker and there have been rumours Armstrong would like to move back up North. And it doesn't really look like we are going to play a system that suits Armstrong and we have another very similar player in Archer -but we need a 10 /AM like Azaz. I have no expectation this will happen - but would it make sense?

I read that as Leicester are in financial trouble and really need to sell players to raise some cash but are trying to keep hold of their best players. Lets hope they are forced to sell El Khannoussi and Fatawu as well. I am not sure they will be promotion challengers this season. At the moment Ipswich, Coventry and maybe Norwich looks like the main title contenders and possibly West Brom, Boro, Brum City and Wrexham look like they could be promotion chasers based on squads at the moment. And hopefully we will be title challenger and not chasers - but its hard to call it really until the window shuts.

would a Russian in Spertsyan - born and bred in Russia but chose Armenia for football - be any better considering the war in Ukraine someone of Irish/Jewish background born in England would be a lot less problematic surely

I am pretty certain Romeu is going to re-join Girona on a free now that he's officially left Barcelona.

Would it be that bad a window if we kept Fernandes, Dibling and THB but didn't bring anyone else in this summer, but also managed to get rid of ABK and Aribo on loan for the final year of their contracts to reduce the wage bill and sold Taylor and Edozie for small fees to reduce squad numbers? We'd still be short cover at defensive midfield but the squad would be good enough to put us in the promotion race.

Could Palace make a move for THB to replace Guehi?

I don't think clubs like West Brom and Coventry who see themselves as promotion contenders are going to sell players like Fellows or Rudoni to Saints who they see as a competitor for promotion I looks like we'll end up sending Aribo and ABK out loan for a season and letting them go for free next summer. I get the feeling we need to get rid of the deadwood in the squad and reduce our wage bill before we bring any more players in - and even then I think it will be relatively cheap loan deals unless we make a big sale (THB, Dibling or Fernandes). Whatever happens in what's left of the transfer window I just hope we move away form playing 3-4-2-1 or 3-5-2. I'm not convinced we can't play 4-2-3-1 with one of Fernandes/Smallbone/Aribo as a 10 and one of Robinson/Dibling/Edozie/Fraser as a winger and one of Armstrong/BBD/Archer as an inside forward behind Stewart/Downs. I actually think it will suit the players that we have better than the current set-up.

My question is can we afford not to sell one or both of Fernandes and/or Dibling from a financial perspective - to breach the £100M gap/drop in revenue caused by relegation. I was expecting us to sell both of them this summer for financial reasons as much as anything else - and also THB - as well as the players on the fringes if the squad like ABK, Aribo, Taylor, BBD. If we keep both does it mean we don't really have the money to bring anyone else in permanently - or maybe just the 1 or instead of 4 or 5?