Daft Kerplunk

I’d take 17th if offered it today

Not a worry about them being fans, just making the point that Danny Ings didn’t need to be a Saints fan and that he might have moved on because he didn’t like who he worked for, not the organisation. But I am not one of those people who automatically dislikes anyone who moves on from Saints, or chooses not to come here. This Ings transfer is a great deal for SFC from a financial point of view and footballers are nothing more than pawns in this particular corporate game.

When it says ‘hates Saints’ I know some people who have worked for Saints and they very much totally dislike the people who run the club. They are Saints fans but they’ll tell you there are some absolute cnuts who are definitely NOT Saints fans running the place. Ralph clearly falls out with people as well so it’s hardly unlikely that he and Ings would have come to blows. Ings has been brilliant for us. He, like Bertrand, have opted to leave for better clubs. The money is no doubt brilliant but don’t we all want to enjoy where work, and respect who we work for?

Dual announcement when Vestergaard leaves? Or just that a load of people need to sign it off, or how do you cover that Martin Semmens had previously said Ings would stay, or how do you take a sly dig at a player that has pretty much kept us up the last two years?

Anyone thinking we are going to spend all £30m on players is surely deluded. There’s the money to Liverpool for their % and then we’re in bad shape financially. Once we sell Vestergaard we might see some money spent on players but my guess would be £60m in (including the low level sales) and £25m out, perhaps with some loans. Someone mentioned Long’s reaction amongst the players. What sort of reaction was that as although people seem to discount player reactions or emotions, they are important for team spirit and overall feeling of being in a club doing well, or one that is on the ropes.

No Ings over the last two years and we’d have been relegated so thank you Danny for your service. If we had been more ambitious and able to improve, I imagine he’d have stayed but we aren’t that club anymore. Villa are on the up. Great that he has performed for us too as this has helped towards the desperate finances of the club. Finances should be reasonably secure once Vestergaard has gone and there might be some spare change to buy a cheap player or two.

Not worrying about players taking a knee and acknowledging the reasons why is a start for many. If you’re not racist then there should be no problem with anyone taking a knee because it is not political, it’s about wanting respect and being treated as a human being. That isn’t much to ask really. I’m with my fellow human beings in wanting to be treated well and not judged on the colour of their skin.

Black lives do indeed matter. Happy for players to take the knee if there is still a societal problem with racist bias. Which, there clearly is. Nothing Marxist about it. Just purely and simply people wanting to be treated fairly, justly, and most importantly like fellow human beings. No racism (covert or overt) then no problem and nobody would need to take the knee and BLM would happily say that their goal has been achieved. Maybe everyone falling over themselves to say they aren’t racist and think that taking the knee is lefty political nonsense should do more to make sure there isn’t racism in the world, or at least on the UK. No racism, no need to take the knee. If I was a player and I’m white, I’d support my fellow team mates and their cause until meaningful change happens. Having a problem with people taking a knee suggests you have a problem with people trying to feel they are treated respectfully as human beings. That’s not my problem but one for people to ponder when responding to players who have suffered racism deciding enough is enough.

Young players got a chance at Chelsea because they had a transfer ban. That has now ended and they don’t need to wait for talent to develop any longer and can buy off the shelf. Good for clubs like us.

Pep was a Spanish international who was an absolute star for Barcelona and won the European Cup (champions league).

SAS 🤣

The future defensive equivalent of Shearer and Sutton. SOS. Hopefully our defence can get on track soon

Did it work? Nope. If it works, great. If not, not so much. Sometimes hard-nosed isn’t always so clever and doesn’t always work. If we had sold Lemina 2 years ago for 10 million, that have would surely have been better than a possible £8m after we’ve paid a proportion of his wages over the last few years and not been able to invest. Sometimes understanding the true and not imagined value of a player allows progress.

Jeez, if he’s not part of the plans, get rid. Did we not turn down a bid years ago because we thought he was worth more? Ended up costing us a shed load more if so. Are we going to do the same thing again? Hopefully Crocker and Steele can match football and finance needs.

Well they’ve got 5 ‘directors’ who combined are probably close to a million. Then there’s apparently a load of other ‘directors’ who probably earn similar when combined, then loads of ‘heads of’ departments earning decent money, then a load more ‘managers’ plus loads of minions producing documents for the people up top to review and pass back down again. It’s the corporate way. And on the football side, there’s a football premium so all the first team staff, full time coaches, sport science staff and physios etc. Plus over a million on women’s team. It all adds up.

Really really shit fee for Mane!

Clearly not about money, this will be about the state of the club and where it is going. At the moment, it’s treading water. If I was Danny, I’d be looking to join a team that at least looks it won’t be disappointing to play in every week. The second half of the season must have been dreadful for our few better than average players.

Not physical enough for the Premier League is it’s a no from me.

The money put in the club by KL was also loans that were paid back. The only ‘investor’ was ML. When Gao purchased the club, he bought 80% of KL’s shares and has not invested in the club as the club has not seen any of the money. It was a dud deal and Marin Semmens was the clubs strategy lead at the time and brains behind the deal with Gao. For KL, it was a great bit of business, for Saints as a football club, it has and will continue to be terrible.

Sky could move it

See also Derby and Middlesbrough. The move was needed but the stadium was never great quality and is probably in need of structural work, let alone new paint.

It is reasonably well known in football circles that the quality of coaching overall has declined from where it was. A great coach on a shit pitch will get more out of a player than a shit coach on a nice pitch. The facilities are very good, many of the newer coaches and recruitment not so much.

Exactly on that last bit. But also, we signed Lallana at 12 and therefore we definitely should have players ready to make a significant contribution. I think this is what Ralph was saying when he said that a player from each year should be making a difference to the first team. Getting players to make a substitute appearance in the league is simply not enough even if the club thinks it can sell the idea of it being success. Some fans and sponsors might be gullible but those who dig beneath the surface guff can see we aren’t as great as we say we are. It just needs some serious honesty (not to fans necessarily but internally) from those running the football club. When significant changes start happening like new technical directors with excellent track records, great coaches being employed, you’ll know they’ve taken the problem and are committed to turning it around. If the current academy (anything below first team) leadership stays as is, you know they aren’t yet.

The administration impact would have had an impact but it is 12 years since Marcus Liebherr took over and started investing in the academy. Many of the good coaches were still there so it was down to the new person running football to get things going. That person was Les and the academy hasn’t been on form since when it comes to developing actual premier league level players. If Les was amazing, we’d have at least a couple of players signed at a youngish age making great strides right now. That things have only become worse in the academy means it needs a proper overhaul from top to bottom.

Crazy that another player Saints rejected as a teenager makes it to the England squad. It’s a shame for JWP, he should be in the squad.