Rebel

looks like the problem is we need to shift players - because of wages - before we can bring players in. I have a feeling despite relegation clauses and pay cuts Saints wage bill is still much bigger than we can really afford in the Championship - even with the parachute payments. That and the fact Sports Republic want the £150M or whatever it was they put in to the club before relegation back and that is where most of the money made from selling players will be going. Saints are going to have to pay the money back to Sports Republic out of transfer revenues and then be self financing out of the parachute payments, normal revenue and any additional transfer funds. With Sports Republic wanting a slice of that as well. Remember its a business - they aren't here to win things - or lose money. We probably needed to sell one of Adams, Onuachu or Mara before we could make a bid for Piroe. Ideally I think they probably wanted to keep Adams, sell the other 2 and bring in Piroe. Even if we keep Adams and Adarma we still need another striker as we can't rely on Onuachu or Mara to provide cover by the looks of it. It looks like it a similar situation at centreback where we will need to shift one or both of Lyanco and ABK before we bring anyone else in. Which - as we know you can't rely on those two - leaves us very short at the back. The biggest disappointment of the window so far has not been that we haven't kept our better players - at this level - such as Alcaraz, Smallbone, Bazunu, Stephens, Bednarek, Adams, Adarma, Stu. Its that we haven't been able to shift the players like Onuachu, Lyanco, McArthy, ABK, Djneppo, Mara, Sulemana and Airbo and replace them with better players. I always expected the stars - JWP, Lavia, Tino, KWP - to leave. It really leaves us with a first 11 that more or less picks itself but not really any depth or quality beyond that.

I am guessing Che got a pay cut as part of the relegation fallout but even then I expect he’s still earning more money than we really want to pay a player in the Championship. I expect we have been planning to sell him and replace him with a younger and cheaper player for most of the summer. My money would be on Duk from Aberdeen - but I don’t think they will sell him with Europa football this season Saints are first and foremost a business run by investors who want to make money on buying and selling players.

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/weekly-wages-southampton-fcs-top-10-highest-earners-ranked/ This makes depressing reading - so much paid for so little endeavour. If these are accurate we really need to shift a few more players. I’m hoping they don’t take any relegation clauses or salary cuts in to account. But even then we need to shift Djneppo and Aribo. I can see us following a similar rumoured approach to McCarthy with some of these - giving them away on frees to get rid of their wages - step forward Lyanco, Aribo and Djneppo.

Sports Republic are always going to say promotion back to the premier league is the aim. But we all know their priority is to make money. And the model seems to be to make money from signing players from top 6 academies, improve them and flip them for a profit - and to develop players from the Saints academy and sell them on - and move young players from abroad through the Sports Republic network of clubs and sell them. They are not going to say it but none of that really needs Saints to be in the premier league - and maybe it’s easier if we are in the Championship as although the revenue goes down so does the cost basis. And players are easier to sell to a bigger market of premier league clubs and not just the top 6.

With Lavia on 'gardening leave' and JWP on his way to West Ham we look more than a bit threadbare in midfield. Jo Tessem commented on Shea Charles performance at Gillingham in the new 'Journey home' pod cast with Blackmore. Basically said he looked miles off a first team role and he was less than impressed - and that was against Gillingham. Now there is mitigating factor in the that he was playing in a team full of the C squad players but it doesn't bode well. You'd have think we'd have learnt as a club not to throw are youngsters in to the firing line with only the 'fringe' players to protect them and learn from. Basically it leaves us with a midfield of Stu Armstrong, Smallbone and Alcaraz - so it picks itself as we don't really have any alternatives. But none of them are defensive midfielders by trade - although Smallbone did a good job there against Sheff Weds - they are 8s or 10s. And there is still a question mark over whether Stu can last the full 90 mins nowadays. I kind of discount Aribo as he was so bad last season - the invisible man on and off the pitch. At best he replaces Stu when he runs out of steam. If we sell KWP before Saturday we will really will have problems. For me the team more or less picks itself - as apart from left wing (Edozie) we don't really have any alternatives right now. And I don't think its a game to play the kids (apart from Baz as the alternatives are worse) - we really need a win to build on the Sheff Weds result, plaster over the Gillingham cracks and create some sort of feel good factor at St Marys. Bazunu KWP Bednarek Stephens Manning Smallbone Stu Armstrong Alcaraz Tella Adarma Adams

I am not sure we had/have 10 good players to sell. I see it more as selling the 3 or 4 really good players we had/have (Lavia, JWP, KWP, ??) to raise much needed cash - and allow Sports Republic to get most of the money they put in to the club back. And then trying to get rid of the players we don't want or need - some because they are just bad, others because they have a bad attitude or simply don't want to be here - as we need to drastically reduce our wage bill (Orsic, DCC, Oanahcu, Salisu, ABK, Sulemana, Perraud, Lyanco, Aribo, McCarthy, Djneppo, Mara + ??). If we get decent fees for some of these all the better as it will give us the extra money we need to rebuild the team. I was hoping we keep a core of 'good' players (at this level) together to build around (Smallbone, Bednarek, Stephens, Tino, Tella, Edozie, Bazunu + ??) and add some more good players like Manning, Grimes and Piroe - plus give the youngsters like Ballard, Amo-Ameyaw, Dibling, Doyle and Meghoma a chance to come through. I was feeling fairly positive about it all - in a realistic way - until the car crash that was the Gillingham game and the unexpected sale of Tino. Now I am more than a little bit apprehensive about what's going to happen over the next few weeks. Right back is worrying me as despite selling Tino, I still expect KWP to go and Bree looks far from being good enough. Aarons would have fixed that problem - I just hope they have another solution for that position lined up. I also wouldn't be surprised if we lose both Che Adams and Adam Armstrong before 1st September. If we let Tella or Smallbone leave then I will start to worry. I'd feel better about things if we made some actual signings other than a free transfer and another kid from an academy. Or if at least they were some solid transfer rumours.

We really need to get a move on and shift some players out and bring some in People keep saying we are not in financial problems but I am not sure that is the case. I don't think we are going to go bust tomorrow but we have a bloated squad and a heavy wage bill. I would think we need to reduce our wage bill fairly heavily before the transfer window closes if we are going to avoid financial problems in the mid or long term. Plus we have the pay-offs / wages for Ralph and Nathan Jones to cover. I am also sure Sports Republic will also want to clawback some of the money they have put in to the club to sign players. It also looks like we need to sell players to generate transfer funds - but even if we do that it looks like we still need to shift more players to reduce the wage bill before we can bring any more players in. I am pretty convinced Lavia and JWP will follow Tino out of the door - but I am not convinced that until we get players like Lyanco, Tall Paul, Sulemana, Djneppo, Mara, Bree and Perraud off the wage bill we will be able to bring other players in. Unfortunately I think we are more likely to sell ABK, KWP, Che Adams and Adam Armstrong as they are the players other clubs will actually want. We have a good first 11 at the moment - but that about it. I think last night proved that.

Everton want to pay us £25M for Sulemana - we should take the money and run. He's just another Djneppo - the odd wonder goal, but no football brain, lots of dead ends and roads to nowhere. People are getting blinded by the 'wonder' goal he scored in the last of game of last season. His actual goal scoring and assists stats aren't exactly good - XG for players like him and Djneppo can be very misleading. I think he is a case of Ankersen thinking he's cleverer than everyone else again.

It was mistake playing that team tonight for 2 reasons. Firstly we needed to create a winning culture, build upon the first game of the season, start a long run of winning games. Secondly how are we going to sell these players - Djneppo, Mara, etc - if we put them in the shop window and everyone sees how bad they are.

they get loyalty bonuses at the end of each season - simply for staying at the club for another season - or so it seems. Which is why players don't want to move before the end of the season - i.e. before the start of July. Players contracts are in effect fixed term contracts - so if you want to get rid of them you have to pay-up the contract - unless there is a redundancy clause which defeats the object of a fixed term contract. It's why players wanting to leave clubs are often reluctant to put in a transfer request as that normally means the contract won't get paid up. The contracts would normally be paid-off as a lump sum - or maybe instalments for tax reasons. Its also why players often get signing-on bonuses to compensate them for the money lost by 'walking away' from the contract at the previous club. Normally the transfer fee from the buying club would be used to pay-off the contract and hopefully leave the selling club with a profit as well. But when you've got players on large and long term contracts that they are not worth they are hard to get rid off. So you send them out on loan and pay a % of their salaries until what's left of their contracts is small enough that you can sell them. Hoedt, Carillo and Lemina are all bad examples of this for Saints. The devil is in the detail of each contract though - and although there are standard clauses like loyalty bonuses there are probably differences in each contract as well. With football players its a case of 'never has so few been so overpaid by so many'

Reading this it was really a permanent deal for Caleta-Car. It was a clever loan deal to get around their financial restrictions. https://sportwitness.co.uk/club-convinced-southampton-clever-deal-bypass-financial-scrutiny-saints-will-get-money-eventually/ Supposedly Lyon paid Southampton €1.54m up front for the loan, which will be used by Saints to pay Caleta-Car’s wages. And, no new salary appears on Lyon’s yearly bill. This is accompanied by a 'compulsory' option to buy of €3.59m, as well as a bonus of €2.1m. Which means Saints more or less get the €5m for him. Hopefully this means we didn't pay-off his contract either.

Its a good summary but you missed out the money paid to players to leave - or in other words pay-off their contracts. I'd expect any money made from selling Diallo was used to pay-off the final year of his contract - so I doubt we made much from his sale in anything. And I 'd say that was probably more true of the Orsic deal as well. Hopefully we made a bit of money on selling Salisu but the balance is probably closer to £10M than £20M once you figure in the contract pay-offs. I imagine salary was the reason DCC has gone out on loan rather than a permanent - but hopefully it means we don't have to pay a % of his salary.

I'll be disappointed in Saints and in Tella if he leaves - with his goals and experience of the Championship he should be a key player for us this year. We sent him out on loan so he could get game time and improve - which is what he has done. So to sell him now makes no sense unless Burnley have offered a Gyorekes sized fee for him that was just too good to turn down. I will still be disappointed though as Tella is a proven goal scorer at this level - and I don't see who we could replace him with that is also a proven goal scorer at this level. But the Burnley Chairman's 'share' of that video on social media suggests its a done deal. If not that is very unprofessional on his part. Perraud was rumoured to be off before he got his injury at the end of last season - I think that has just delayed things. I still think he will leave. Also think Sulemana will be off - but probably at a small loss for us. Got the impression he thinks a lot of himself and that he's too good for the Championship. But if you look at his stats he is all style and no real substance - he has virtually no end product - just a younger version of Djneppo. So I wouldn't be too upset by that. KWP is probably out of sorts as he wants to leave - but I suspect there have not been any offers for him as yet. He was pretty bad for us least season and that has probably come back to bite him now.

and lets not forget Maitland-Niles - although he was only on loan to us we've also lost Caleb Watts, Kegs Chauke and Dan N'Lundulu who were all out on loan last season

I have to admit I was / am expecting both Tino and KWP to leave for the Premier League. Money talks. I would even be surprised if Bree ends up back at Luton before the transfer window closes. I was half expecting us to sign Joël Latibeaudiere on a free to replace Tino and KWP at right back as he played there for Martin at Swansea. The fact we signed Derrick Abu on a free from Chelski was a big hint Tino and KWP are both leaving. So it looks like Abu and Lewis Payne are going to provide the cover for Bree and Meghoma and Larios the cover for Manning - with Perraud, Small and Vokins all leaving or going out on loan again. A back 4 of Bree, Bednarek, Stephens, Manning is pretty good for the Championship. But I am not sure it’s good enough for promotion from the Championship. I am guessing Salisu, ABK and Caleta-Car will all be off to greener pastures and Simeu will be going out on loan again. With the signings of Charles and Abu it doesn’t look like we have learned our lessons when it comes to signing youth team prospects from the top 6. None of the Broja, Tino, Bazunu, Edozie and Larios signings have exactly worked out well for us. The buy back and sell on clauses for Lavia and Tino have come back to haunt us. And the failure to sign Broja permanently in the first place proved a mistake whilst none of Bazunu, Edozie or Larios have proved they are good enough yet. Larios is too small to play as a full back in English football and Edozie has no end product like far too many of the wingers we’ve seen play for Saints in recent years. Part of me hopes Shea Charles just ends up being the cover for Grimes and Downes - but I don’t think they paid that much money for him for that. At 24 Latibeaudiere at least had some of the experience we need. Manning was a step in the right direction though. I’ll give them that.

There didn't seem to be any mention of Djneppo or Aribo is The Athletic article - wonder if that means anything? Personally I would move both of them on. Djneppo always looks like he's got a positive attitude and works hard - but he doesn't have any end product (pass or shot) apart from the very rare spectacular effort - which just isn't enough. And Aribo just looks like he is too laid back to care - putting some effort in occasionally might of helped. As for strikers - we do need a goal scorer. I don't think we can rely on any of our current strikers to score the goals we need - even if some of them do stay. I think Adams with one year left on his contract will be off to Everton or a similar low end Premier League club. There was talk of Marseille being interested in Mara back in January - so it wouldn't surprise me if he heads back to France. Tall Paul was big mistake full of desperation just like Carillo and doesn't look suited to a possession based style of football. I wouldn't trust Adam Armstrong to start scoring again - he's looked so bad the last 2 years - so if we get a good offer for him from someone like Ipswich I'd let him go. And Ballard is one the for the future - should be given a chance this season but not relied on. Piroe looks like he will be too expensive for us - and I expect wants a Premier League move. What we need to do is find the next Gyorekes or Piroe before they reach the heights of being a 15+ Championship goal scorer and cost £20M Hopefully Mowbray will find us someone like he did with Duk or Miovksi at Aberdeen. Or maybe we will bring in one of them. Tella and Alcaraz are going to be key for us when it comes to scoring goals - but we still need a striker. The other big issue for me is the Romeu shaped hole in our midfield - I see Shea Charles as the replacement for Lavia which means we still need to fix the hole that was never filled by Diallo and/or Maitland-Niles.

I have to admit I was hoping that we'd have signed a few more players by now so that we could hit the ground running. Unfortunately its starting to look like we will have a slow stuttering start to the season as we try to move the players on we don't want and bring in players we do want. I just hope it doesn't cost us when it comes to the end of the season and the race for promotion. It does look like we need to sell some players before we can bring others in - issue with the size of the wage bill and limited transfer funds I would guess - and we seem to be struggling to get rid of players. The difference is in Maddison Leicester had a player that other clubs wanted as he is seen as a match winner and a player that can change games - which meant they could sell him early and start spending the money. Unfortunately I don't really think that Ward-Prowse or Lavia are seen that way - and they are probably our most saleable assets.

Shea Charles looks like a great signing..... to add some depth to central midfield and provide some cover and competition at defensive midfield.... but we still need some experience and leadership in the middle of the pitch. I am taking it as done that Lavia and Ward-Prowse will be leaving but even if they were both staying we still need more experience on the pitch- and dare I say it some leadership. If we add Grimes and Downes as well I would be very very happy. if we are raiding city's academy again can we come back with Calum Doyle as well please - left footed centreback who excelled in the Championship at Coventry last season. If we can keep Stephens and Bednarek for their experience and add some youth and potential like Doyle and Nathan Woods at the back we should be more than OK at the back next season. What I don't want to see is a back 4 with 3 or 4 players under 23 - or a team with 50% of more of the players under 23. To get the best out of young players you need a solid frame or spine of the team to hang them on.

What about Weymouth, Dorchester and dare I say it Bournemouth. There used to be a lot of Saints fans based in those places. What about Alresford - that's a Saints area as well? Newbury? There was a group of Saints fans who used to sit behind use from Gosport and there are quite a few based in Fareham. In reality I think Saints catchment area is really most of Hampshire (excepting the South East Corner) plus large areas of East Dorset and South Wiltshire, as well as a parts of South West Berkshire. The rise of traditionally smaller teams such as Bournemouth and Reading has had an impact though. Its really anywhere in the wider South Coast / South Central socio economic area which is centred on Southampton. You could argue the core areas are really Southampton itself, Eastleigh, Romsey, Winchester and Totton. Eastleigh Town didn't exist when I was a kid - they were callled Swaythling then if I remember correctly. I grew up in Eastleigh, but both my parents grew up in Southampton, and I now live in Winchester - a pattern which is similar to many Saints fans I know. I also know a few Saints fans who went to University in Southampton and stayed around and now support Saints (but grew up in Essex and Kent for example).

I don’t know what world you live in - probably a bit of a strange one. There was no nudge nudge wink wink. Just some guy being a bit cheeky and asking JWP the question where is he going - more as banter than anything else. And he answered he didn’t know yet - which could also be taken as the most nothing answer he could give without being rude or giving anything away. Very JWP. The guy wished him well and he said thank you.

I think people are severely underestimating how many players are going to leave this summer. I think its pretty much a forgone conclusion both Lavia and Ward-Prowse are leaving. A lot of players will want to leave and we will need the money sales bring in to sign new players, pay any debts off (transfers and loans) and fund the club for the next 3 years. We also need to cut our bloated squad and our wage bill (even with the salary cuts) (as an aside JWP was in Winchester Sainsbury's last week and someone asked him where was he was going - and he didn't say nowhere - he said he didn't know yet - which I read as he is going to leave Saints for a premier league club) If we took Downes on loan for a season with an option to buy as part of a deal for JWP I'd be OK with that. But I can see JWP ending up a Fulham for about £30M - means he can still live in Shawford/Compton and commute down the M3. I don't think he will be the first choice of any of the bigger clubs - not helped by his form last season and confusion over whether he's an 8 or a 6.. He needs to go somewhere where he will play as an 8 and not a 6 - back to his original and best position. We need at least 2 defensive midfielders or 6s - we only really have Lavia and he is off. JWP is really and 8 and he will be off as well. Alcaraz and Smallbone are 8s really as well (maybe 10s) as is Stuart Armstrong. I was hoping for Grimes at a minimum - Downes as well would be great. Ampadu as a 6 who can drop back in the CB position - or as a right CB that can move up in to midfield would be a good addition.

My brother in law was a skate bastard. But the good news is my sister divorced him and took him for almost everything. And my nephew is now a Saints fan. But the punch line is her new man is good friends with Mr Westwood (but supports Liverpool).

I remember watching Choudhury play for Leicester and thinking he can't play football - he couldn't really control the ball or pass it very well and had very little awareness of what as going on around him when he had the ball (bit like Diallo). All he had really was a heavy tackle.

Agree with all that but I'd argue a key missing ingredient was a starting defensive midfielder to play alongside Lavia, allowing JWP to play further forward. Not too mention a second left back to provide competition and cover for Perraud (and allowing KWP to stay on the right) as well as a good replacement for the injured Livramento. But these were all needed back in the summer - not January or never.

Ryan Manning and Joel Latibeaudiere Monday 3rd July.