£126m Spent

[once_bitterne]

Since the Summer transfer window trying to strengthen a very weak squad. Have any of the players actually made a positive impact?

Bazunu £12.3m - Statistically the worst keeper in the PL
DCC £7m - barely played
Alcaraz - £12m - actually scored a goal and looks one of the better ones but what will he contribute to keeping us up?
Mara £13.5m - not scored a single PL goal
Lavia £11m - Looks good but inconsistent and injury prone (go figure, he's a teenager ffs!)
ABK £10m - See above (apart from the teenager bit)
Edozie £7m - done dick all of shit
Aribo £6m - Who?
Larios £6m - more likely to appear in panto than the PL
Orsic £5m - We needed a panic buy in Jan to help us now, instead we got a player two managers have deemed he's not even fit enough to be on the bench
Bree 750k - Golfing buddy of a manager no longer at the club. Ironically of all our transfers will get the most appearances for the club as we will be lowering ourselves to his level
Elongated Paul £16m - yet to score a goal doesn't look like he's going to be banging them in at the rate Ings is for West Ham...
Sulemana £22m - 22m?! Might be ok but will he contrbute to keeping us up this season and even be here next?

What an absolute shower. If I were the Croatian moneyman I'd be sending out the hit men.

Is this what happens when a motivational speaker who likes spreadsheets is given a PL club to play with?

[beatlesaint]

1 minute ago, once_bitterne said:

Lavia £11m - Looks good but inconsistent and injury prone (go figure, he's a teenager ffs!)

Are you sure ?

[Saint Garrett]

Good Signing:

DCC £7m - Good player, clearly got a bit of an attitude on him, done ok when he's played for a pretty low fee
Lavia £11m - Absolute class act, looks like he's been playing at this level for years and should bring in a decent fee in the summer.
ABK £10m - Good player, despite being a bit injury prone
Bree 750k - very cheap, teachers pet, advance replacement of KWP, and shouild be decent in the Championship. Not Prem standard

Bad Signing:

Bazunu £12.3m - Rubbish - might be good in the future but not what we needed
Aribo £6m - Absolute rubbish
Orsic £5m - Came with good pedigree, experienced international, somehow we've bought someone who doesnt fit the system / club
Paul Onuachu £16m - panic buy, looks a bit lost in the premier league, and carries very little goal threat, no better than Adams

Jurys Out / too early to tell:

Alcaraz - Looks decent but not played much and wasn't the answer at the time
Larios £6m -Cheap, could be good in the future, signed as backup and clearly talented
Edozie £7m - Cheap, might be good at some point, but probably was never really bought for this season.
Sulemana £22m - panic buy, goodplayer in there but not what we needed in January.
Mara £13.5m - Brought in as 4th choice striker and one for the future. Not what we needed

 

In isolation they're not horrendous IMO, but it's the whole thing thats a shambles, We already had a poor squad, and probably only Lavia has come in and cemented his place in the first team. I can't believe we spent the best part of £50m on Onuachu and Sulemena, and we still don't loook like creating or scoring any goals.

When we lost all the experienced players in the squad in the summer, (Forster, Redmond, Stephens, Romeu, Long, and toa certain extent Bednarek), we know we had to bring in a few players with some proven prem quality, not gambling on 13 players who may or may not have been useful.

We needed a keeper who is solid and can save shots, a striker who was going to go and score 10-15 goals this season, and a CM to replace Romeu, young players are always inconsistent. Some of the players above will be assets next season in the Championship, because unfortunately, they are currently nowhere near good enough to be playing regularly in the premier league. However we will still need some experienced players next season regardless.

[woodsaint1]

4 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Good Signing:

DCC £7m - Good player, clearly got a bit of an attitude on him, done ok when he's played for a pretty low fee
Lavia £11m - Absolute class act, looks like he's been playing at this level for years and should bring in a decent fee in the summer.
ABK £10m - Good player, despite being a bit injury prone
Bree 750k - very cheap, teachers pet, advance replacement of KWP, and shouild be decent in the Championship. Not Prem standard

Bad Signing:

Bazunu £12.3m - Rubbish - might be good in the future but not what we needed
Aribo £6m - Absolute rubbish
Orsic £5m - Came with good pedigree, experienced international, somehow we've bought someone who doesnt fit the system / club
Paul Onuachu £16m - panic buy, looks a bit lost in the premier league, and carries very little goal threat, no better than Adams

Jurys Out / too early to tell:

Alcaraz - Looks decent but not played much and wasn't the answer at the time
Larios £6m -Cheap, could be good in the future, signed as backup and clearly talented
Edozie £7m - Cheap, might be good at some point, but probably was never really bought for this season.
Sulemana £22m - panic buy, goodplayer in there but not what we needed in January.
Mara £13.5m - Brought in as 4th choice striker and one for the future. Not what we needed

 

In isolation they're not horrendous IMO, but it's the whole thing thats a shambles, We already had a poor squad, and probably only Lavia has come in and cemented his place in the first team. I can't believe we spent the best part of £50m on Onuachu and Sulemena, and we still don't loook like creating or scoring any goals.

When we lost all the experienced players in the squad in the summer, (Forster, Redmond, Stephens, Romeu, Long, and toa certain extent Bednarek), we know we had to bring in a few players with some proven prem quality, not gambling on 13 players who may or may not have been useful.

We needed a keeper who is solid and can save shots, a striker who was going to go and score 10-15 goals this season, and a CM to replace Romeu, young players are always inconsistent. Some of the players above will be assets next season in the Championship, because unfortunately, they are currently nowhere near good enough to be playing regularly in the premier league. However we will still need some experienced players next season regardless.

Neither have played anywhere near enough games to make a fair assessment on. They should be in the too early to tell group, but apart from that I agree with the rest.

[Saint Garrett]

4 minutes ago, woodsaint1 said:

Neither have played anywhere near enough games to make a fair assessment on. They should be in the too early to tell group, but apart from that I agree with the rest.

Probably fair, but I put them there because:

Orsic - we bought him and haven't played, he's been at the club for nearly 2 months cos contributed nothing, we needed him to come in and help keep us up. That's not necessarily on his quality, and he's clearly a decent player, but how have we got ourselves into the position of him having zero effect on the run of games he's been here for. 

Paul - we need goals, he doesn't look like scoring any and doesn't really fit the system we play (high press intensity etc) But could put them in too early to tell section, as they've not done anything wrong.

[Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan]

What gets me about our spending is that we seem to buy at the same level we have before. We struggle so much to buy players who are an obvious upgrade on what we already have. We've had so much turnover at centre back the last few years and yet we're still playing Bednarek. We've bought countless wingers but Elyounoussi and Armstrong are still starting. 

We bought Sulemana, an obvious upgrade on the wing, but we don't play him there, meaning so far is output is the same as we could expect from Adam Armstrong. 

Looking at that initial list, how many of those players have actually improved the starting 11 compared to last season. I'd say Lavia, and ABK at times. Some it is too early to tell, but we still can't seem to find any gems. 

[beatlesaint]

8 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Paul - we need goals, he doesn't look like scoring any and doesn't really fit the system we play (high press intensity etc) But could put them in too early to tell section, as they've not done anything wrong.

I don't think you can blame Tall Paul when he's had what ? One decent cross to feed off in the past three games, against Chelsea, and he nearly scored. 

If we start getting crosses into the box and he's nowhere to be seen then fair enough, he'll be a poor buy, but until we play to his obvious strength we have no way of knowing. 

[MAY-Z]

16 minutes ago, Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan said:

What gets me about our spending is that we seem to buy at the same level we have before. We struggle so much to buy players who are an obvious upgrade on what we already have. We've had so much turnover at centre back the last few years and yet we're still playing Bednarek. We've bought countless wingers but Elyounoussi and Armstrong are still starting. 

We bought Sulemana, an obvious upgrade on the wing, but we don't play him there, meaning so far is output is the same as we could expect from Adam Armstrong. 

Looking at that initial list, how many of those players have actually improved the starting 11 compared to last season. I'd say Lavia, and ABK at times. Some it is too early to tell, but we still can't seem to find any gems. 

Is this the players or is this managers?

 

I thought the bit they said on TSP this week about the club being scared is so true, everything is set up with the worst possible outcome in mind, which means no matter who we buy in attack, we go back to the crappy old ways instead of picking the attackers to attack 

 

Alcarez scores a goal and we haven’t seen him since, Sulemana bought as a winger, but plays as a striker so we can fit the hard working Ely in, Orsic had great pedigree and doesn’t get a look in, Edozie lots of runs at defenders but now frozen out, how much better might he be if the opposition knew he wasn’t our only running outlet, if we had Sulemana on the other wing suddenly we can run and carry either way.

 

I just can’t believe we are onto our 3rd manager this season and none of them seem to play the right players the right way 

Edited 27 February, 2023 by MAY-Z

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Clear thread across almost all of those signings are that they are promising players but not yet good enough to keep us up

[once_bitterne]

4 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Clear thread across almost all of those signings are that they are promising players but not yet good enough to keep us up

Understandable signings for a top 10 PL club then not one with a squad that, as it stood at the start of the transfer window this Summer, looked odds on to be relegated.

[SambaMaverick]

Spending £13.5m on Mara, and patting ourselves on the back for saving Bordeaux - and then counting beans over signing a striker on deadline day was the nail in our coffin. Absolutely shocking decision making for which heads should be rolling this summer.

[trousers]

50 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

When we lost all the experienced players in the squad in the summer, (Forster, Redmond, Stephens, Romeu, Long, and toa certain extent Bednarek), we know we had to bring in a few players with some proven prem quality, not gambling on 13 players who may or may not have been useful.

Can't quite believe I'm saying this but when I saw Long's name on your list there it occured to me that I actually miss not having him on the bench to come on and be a nuisance in the last 20 minutes of a game...  Pretty much sums up where we've got to with this squad...

Edited 27 February, 2023 by trousers

[aintforever]

A bit harsh on Lavia but apart from that I agree with the OP.

Should have spent the same but on 4 or 5 quality players in the summer, would probably now be mid-table with Ralph still in charge.

[Suhari]

I like that SR have a model, and it's great that they have a few quid to spend. And the signings they've made are, for the most part, potentially very good.

But 'potentially very good' doesn't cut it in the prem and certainly doesn't cut in for a club on a downward trajectory. Feels like many of these signings should have been as part of a second phase, once we were no longer nosediving to the Championship. To much risk and uncertainty too soon.

Will be interesting to see how many are still here when we're in the Championship next season, and what approach SR will take to us then.

[S-Clarke]

Good Signing:

Lavia £11m - Top player, this is an example of where age doesn't always matter. If you're good enough you're good enough, no matter how old. This kid is good enough.
ABK £10m - Good player, great attributes. At the start of the season he was a beast, got a few niggles since.

Bad Signing:

Aribo £6m - Cannot deny that this guy has been a flop. Looks so out of place. He has a great touch, but his style means that he's so slow to do anything with it. Shows how utterly horrendous the SPL is, Elyounoussi adds weight to that as well.

Bree - 750k - Cost wise, no drama there. But he was brought in as the managers mate and I wouldn't expect to see him again. Pointless signing.

Jurys Out / too early to tell:

Bazunu £12.3m - Jury is out for me. I don't think we can really categorise him as total dump yet, he's a young kid put into a raging inferno. I'd have had no problems signing him for the future – but not for now.                                                                                                 

Orsic £5m - Can't class him as a bad signing because he hasn't played. Need to see more of him before coming to any conclusion.

Paul Onuachu £16m - Jury is out, need way more time. The guy is huge, that is clear, good strength and actually a decent touch. We just don't play to his strengths. If we did, we have a real weapon there.

DCC £7m - Decent player with good pedigree, but he just hasn't played enough to conclusively say if he's good or bad.

Larios £6m - No drama on this one - a punt on a young kid, could be good in the future.

Edozie £7m - Ditto as above, huge potential IMO. Just not quite ready for regular PL football.

Sulemana £22m - Can't come to any conclusions yet, not played enough.

Mara £13.5m - Another kid thrust into the fire a bit too early, not quite ready, but clearly potential for the future.

Conclusion:

So the main takeout from all of the above is that we gambled on too many - Mara, Bazunu, Edozie. I'd argue in the summer those 3 positions were prime for upgrading with first team ready players, not kids. We needed a new experienced ST, we needed a new experienced GK, we needed a new experienced wide man. We filled those 3 holes with inexperienced kids who aren't yet ready, and is it no surprise we are where we are. I don't think it's fair to consign any of them to the dump, they're just young and we've hung them out to dry really.

The club got all excited by the Tino experiment and thought they'd once again 'cracked football', but they haven't. You'll get the odd kid who is ready from day 1 (Tino, Lavia, Bale etc), but it's safe to assume the majority of young kids won't be ready straight away and you shouldn't base the spine of your team on youth players. I'm sure we still think we've cracked football though.

[OldNick]

I doubt this £126m has come out of Dragan's pocket as I dont believe he is massively wealthy. Therefore has this been put onto the clubs debt? If so it is alarming as our revenue stream is going to be reduced rapidly once we get relegated. Also if Dragan is not ultra rich can he keep bailing the club once this happens?

Worrying times, and I still wonder if Martin Semmens regrets the choice of bidder for the club

[Appy]

5 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Good Signing:

Lavia £11m - Top player, this is an example of where age doesn't always matter. If you're good enough you're good enough, no matter how old. This kid is good enough.
ABK £10m - Good player, great attributes. At the start of the season he was a beast, got a few niggles since.

Bad Signing:

Aribo £6m - Cannot deny that this guy has been a flop. Looks so out of place. He has a great touch, but his style means that he's so slow to do anything with it. Shows how utterly horrendous the SPL is, Elyounoussi adds weight to that as well.

Bree - 750k - Cost wise, no drama there. But he was brought in as the managers mate and I wouldn't expect to see him again. Pointless signing.

Jurys Out / too early to tell:

Bazunu £12.3m - Jury is out for me. I don't think we can really categorise him as total dump yet, he's a young kid put into a raging inferno. I'd have had no problems signing him for the future – but not for now.                                                                                                 

Orsic £5m - Can't class him as a bad signing because he hasn't played. Need to see more of him before coming to any conclusion.

Paul Onuachu £16m - Jury is out, need way more time. The guy is huge, that is clear, good strength and actually a decent touch. We just don't play to his strengths. If we did, we have a real weapon there.

DCC £7m - Decent player with good pedigree, but he just hasn't played enough to conclusively say if he's good or bad.

Larios £6m - No drama on this one - a punt on a young kid, could be good in the future.

Edozie £7m - Ditto as above, huge potential IMO. Just not quite ready for regular PL football.

Sulemana £22m - Can't come to any conclusions yet, not played enough.

Mara £13.5m - Another kid thrust into the fire a bit too early, not quite ready, but clearly potential for the future.

Conclusion:

So the main takeout from all of the above is that we gambled on too many - Mara, Bazunu, Edozie. I'd argue in the summer those 3 positions were prime for upgrading with first team ready players, not kids. We needed a new experienced ST, we needed a new experienced GK, we needed a new experienced wide man. We filled those 3 holes with inexperienced kids who aren't yet ready, and is it no surprise we are where we are. I don't think it's fair to consign any of them to the dump, they're just young and we've hung them out to dry really.

The club got all excited by the Tino experiment and thought they'd once again 'cracked football', but they haven't. You'll get the odd kid who is ready from day 1 (Tino, Lavia, Bale etc), but it's safe to assume the majority of young kids won't be ready straight away and you shouldn't base the spine of your team on youth players. I'm sure we still think we've cracked football though.

I would say the Bazunu is long past jury is out, yes he’s young, but for what we needed after Forster left, with all our goalkeeping problems, he’s been a disaster. 

[S-Clarke]

Just now, Appy said:

I would say the Bazunu is long past jury is out, yes he’s young, but for what we needed after Forster left, with all our goalkeeping problems, he’s been a disaster. 

I just wish we'd have bought him and an experienced GK in the summer. The guy Bournemouth have (Neto) would have been a good shout on a free, with Bazunu the young understudy. 

I just hope this experience hasn't totally ruined him as a player, there is a chance it has but we'll see.

[Appy]

Just now, S-Clarke said:

I just wish we'd have bought him and an experienced GK in the summer. The guy Bournemouth have (Neto) would have been a good shout on a free, with Bazunu the young understudy. 

I just hope this experience hasn't totally ruined him as a player, there is a chance it has but we'll see.

Look at Sam Johnstone now too, not getting a look in for Palace, I mean he isn’t amazing, he was so much more ready for us. 

[nta786]

Just think in a really short summary - not getting a striker in which Ralph could work with, not getting a better keeper i.e. if we had Pope reckon we'd be 5/6 pts better off, and finally the Jones debacle will be the 3 reasons why we go down. Could write an essay on it though there are so many factors. 

[saintant]

18 minutes ago, OldNick said:

I doubt this £126m has come out of Dragan's pocket as I dont believe he is massively wealthy. Therefore has this been put onto the clubs debt? If so it is alarming as our revenue stream is going to be reduced rapidly once we get relegated. Also if Dragan is not ultra rich can he keep bailing the club once this happens?

Worrying times, and I still wonder if Martin Semmens regrets the choice of bidder for the club

Isn't Dragan a billionaire? Does that not class as being massively wealthy these days? Blimey!

[OldNick]

2 minutes ago, saintant said:

Isn't Dragan a billionaire? Does that not class as being massively wealthy these days? Blimey!

Billionaire as in singular cannot afford to spend £126m out of that wealth, and may not be cash rich.

If you have savings of £1000 and take £126 out of that for a hobby, whilst it doesn't cripple you, you are inhibited a tad. Especially a football club where yu are not likely to make a profit, especially how this gang run it!!!!

[saintant]

1 minute ago, OldNick said:

Billionaire as in singular cannot afford to spend £126m out of that wealth, and may not be cash rich.

If you have savings of £1000 and take £126 out of that for a hobby, whilst it doesn't cripple you, you are inhibited a tad. Especially a football club where yu are not likely to make a profit, especially how this gang run it!!!!

I wasn't arguing the merits of what he can and can't afford to spend on a football club - merely trying to establish whether billionaire status makes one massively wealthy and I'd have thought it does. Could be wrong of course.

[whelk]

Can someone explained what ‘done dick all of shit’ means?

Edited 27 February, 2023 by whelk

[beatlesaint]

2 minutes ago, whelk said:

Can someone explained what ‘done dick all of shit’ means?

I think it means the young man hasn't quite realised his potential yet 🤣

[saintant]

5 minutes ago, whelk said:

Can someone explained what ‘done dick all of shit’ means?

Same as the square root of fuck all I think.

[OldNick]

12 minutes ago, saintant said:

I wasn't arguing the merits of what he can and can't afford to spend on a football club - merely trying to establish whether billionaire status makes one massively wealthy and I'd have thought it does. Could be wrong of course.

It is all relative. I get what you meant, but typical of being a Saints fan we seem to have got a pauper billionaire lol 😃

[Lord Duckhunter]

Some of the comments are harsh on Bree, personally I’d prefer him to AMN who is going through the motions. 
 

Baz-Pony

DCC- looks ok to me, but somethings up somewhere.

ABK- Good signing.

Alcaraz - £12m - Looks ok, got something about him.

Mara £13.5m - I think he’ll be ok in the long run. 

Lavia- Excellent 

Edozie- Not for me, too much mincing around atm. 

Aribo- Disappointing

Orsic- looks shite so far. 
 

Larios- Who knows? 
 

Tall Paul- Won’t be any  good until we get it in the mixer, but worrying signs he’s pony. 
 

Sulemana-Flatters to deceive, like a mini Allan Saint-Maximin. Looked dangerous for the first half hour of his Saints career, but pony since. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, beatlesaint said:

I don't think you can blame Tall Paul when he's had what ? One decent cross to feed off in the past three games, against Chelsea, and he nearly scored. 

If we start getting crosses into the box and he's nowhere to be seen then fair enough, he'll be a poor buy, but until we play to his obvious strength we have no way of knowing. 

there have a been one or two decent crosses where he has been nowhere to be seen. Not many mind. In general our crossing is terrible. It's not just poor delivery, it's having limited players that are unable to even create half a yard in order to allow them to get a cross in that isn't blocked. 

[Saint Matty 76]

I actually think Onuachu has looked pretty good with his feet and general hold-up play, we're just massively under-utilising his height because players like Perraud have absolutely no crossing ability. Not to mention the absolute lack of creativity of the two players behind him as well. I think we'd probably benefit from putting Che up next to him and dropping Sulemana back, or having two wingers either side of him instead. 

You can pick positives out of pretty much every signing we've made, other than probably Aribo and Orsic so far. Players like Mara and Larios who've been essentially irrelevant would likely have a good role to play in the Championship etc. Bazunu being the worst performer by a country mile.

Edited 27 February, 2023 by Saint Matty 76

[once_bitterne]

31 minutes ago, whelk said:

Can someone explained what ‘done dick all of shit’ means?

I heard the expression on a podcast last week and decided I must use it more in every day conversation.

[Wurzel]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and so is completely changing a business model, but it does leave me wondering where we'd be now if we'd kept pretty much the same squad as last year but added a £50m stiker a £40m AM and £30m DM and still have change from what we have spent.

[SambaMaverick]

AMN - At least we didn't pay a fee, not worth keeping around - relegation or not. 5/10

Sulemana - Looks like a quicker, more expensive Edozie. Players like him are ten a penny in this league. 5/10

Onuachu - Jury is out as he's probably had one half-chance so far. Doesn't appear to be a clear upgrade on Adams. N/A

Bazunu - Utter shit. Worst goalkeeper in the PL, will struggle in the Championship. Should've got Navas in January. 2/10

Alcaraz - We needed someone like him but he's come into a real shitshow. No idea if he sticks around next season, can see him on loan in Italy. 5/10

Mara - Not an upgrade on Shane Long. We overpaid for no reason. Could come good but can see him slinking back off to France. 4/10

Lavia - The only clear cut success of the SR reign. We'll make a tidy profit this summer. 9/10

ABK - Impressive in spells earlier this season but seems to have injury problems. Should be able to sell him on for a tidy profit this summer. 6/10

DCC - Can't see why this guy doesn't play save for some unfounded speculation about his attitude. Don't know whether he'd be willing to stick around next season, but would be class in the Championship. 6/10

Edozie - Could be a decent player but in his current state, nothing special at all. Might thrive in the Championship. 6/10

Aribo - Shite. Can see why he was playing in Scotland. 2/10

Larios - Will never be physical enough to make it as a defender in this country. Will be preyed upon by every team in the Championship. 2/10

Orsic - Looked anonymous in his first appearances so can see why he's not played. Will head off to Italy, etc. at a loss this summer. 3/10

Bree - Should be decent when KWP fucks off this summer. 5/10

 

[Ex Lion Tamer]

49 minutes ago, Wurzel said:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and so is completely changing a business model, but it does leave me wondering where we'd be now if we'd kept pretty much the same squad as last year but added a £50m stiker a £40m AM and £30m DM and still have change from what we have spent.

The counterpoint being that we wouldn't have put the club on as strong a footing long term. We might have stayed up which is obviously a good thing but after a season or two we would find ourselves with lots of ageing players who would need replacing for even more money, and less scope to make profit on the new players.

Also we tried to sign a £40m striker and couldn't pull it off for whatever reason.

Relegation is shit obviously and I wish it wasn't happening. But we do have a really strong pool of talent now that we can either sell for decent money or keep and use for a rebound

[Daft Kerplunk]

Just like when we spunked money on Hoedt and Lemina, the club is hoping for x3+ returns (like we got thanks to Ronald's appeal to players like VVD and Mane) instead of thinking who is going to make the team better, some of whom would improve their value as a result. 

2 or 3 absolute nailed on first teamers was vital.  We could still have signed Lavia, Bella-Kotchap, and Bazunu (who is still very young for a keeper) plus Alcarez and Sulemana.  It needed (and still needs) more focus on what's required to make the first team good.  Same as in the academy. If they aren't good enough at 20, they probably never will be so get rid of them kindly.  Make the whole system more competitive to improve individual value, not just take a scattergun approach thinking you've (as someone else helpfully says) cracked football.       

[OldNick]

6 minutes ago, Daft Kerplunk said:

Just like when we spunked money on Hoedt and Lemina, the club is hoping for x3+ returns (like we got thanks to Ronald's appeal to players like VVD and Mane) instead of thinking who is going to make the team better, some of whom would improve their value as a result. 

2 or 3 absolute nailed on first teamers was vital.  We could still have signed Lavia, Bella-Kotchap, and Bazunu (who is still very young for a keeper) plus Alcarez and Sulemana.  It needed (and still needs) more focus on what's required to make the first team good.  Same as in the academy. If they aren't good enough at 20, they probably never will be so get rid of them kindly.  Make the whole system more competitive to improve individual value, not just take a scattergun approach thinking you've (as someone else helpfully says) cracked football.       

Im all for the black box and the info it spews out but you are at the mercy of who is in charge of the info. If they are a poor judge of a footballer they aren't going to get the calls right

[sydney_saint]

The signings look like a game of Football Manager where you sign a bunch of youngsters and they all automatically get better with game time and then you sell them on in a couple of years. Except real life isn't a video game.  

I also hadn't quite realised we had handed over as much as 35m to City for their youngsters! That is just so unbelievably dodgy, and only one of them looks good enough, albeit he looks exceptional. 

I don't mind the model of taking a chance on some youngsters, acknowledging some will fail. But you need to put them into a way more stable team. What really strikes me in that list is the lack of big boy experience. How many total appearances in the top 5 leagues between those 13 players?

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Some of the comments are harsh on Bree, personally I’d prefer him to AMN who is going through the motions. 
 

Baz-Pony

DCC- looks ok to me, but somethings up somewhere.

ABK- Good signing.

Alcaraz - £12m - Looks ok, got something about him.

Mara £13.5m - I think he’ll be ok in the long run. 

Lavia- Excellent 

Edozie- Not for me, too much mincing around atm. 

Aribo- Disappointing

Orsic- looks shite so far. 
 

Larios- Who knows? 
 

Tall Paul- Won’t be any  good until we get it in the mixer, but worrying signs he’s pony. 
 

Sulemana-Flatters to deceive, like a mini Allan Saint-Maximin. Looked dangerous for the first half hour of his Saints career, but pony since. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bit harsh on Sulemana.  Played well in his proper position out wide, but Selles has played him down the middle when a blind man can see he’s a winger.

[Wurzel]

1 hour ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

The counterpoint being that we wouldn't have put the club on as strong a footing long term. We might have stayed up which is obviously a good thing but after a season or two we would find ourselves with lots of ageing players who would need replacing for even more money, and less scope to make profit on the new players.

Also we tried to sign a £40m striker and couldn't pull it off for whatever reason.

Relegation is shit obviously and I wish it wasn't happening. But we do have a really strong pool of talent now that we can either sell for decent money or keep and use for a rebound

To be fair I pretty much agree with you. My "where would we be" meant where in the table - surely that would have put us on par with Brighton/Brentford/Fulham/Villa and Chelsea right now, but you're right, 2-3 years down the line we'd have to do it again but with not many saleable assets to raise the cash.  I do think SR have got the right idea of how to run a clun of our size, but think they underestimated how crap we were and tried to run before they could walk and made some very poor signings (considering the existing state of the squad) this year. They should have gone for 50/50 (profitable) youth and experience this year and then let a few youngsters become our experience whilst we "trade" others for more youngsters in 2/3 years time.  Being ultra optimistic we're not down yet and I can see a few more teams being dragged down into the mix. But in the long run maybe re-grouping next season with a succesful run in the Championship might be better for us than simply struggling to survive again next year. 

[OldNick]

12 minutes ago, Wurzel said:

To be fair I pretty much agree with you. My "where would we be" meant where in the table - surely that would have put us on par with Brighton/Brentford/Fulham/Villa and Chelsea right now, but you're right, 2-3 years down the line we'd have to do it again but with not many saleable assets to raise the cash.  I do think SR have got the right idea of how to run a clun of our size, but think they underestimated how crap we were and tried to run before they could walk and made some very poor signings (considering the existing state of the squad) this year. They should have gone for 50/50 (profitable) youth and experience this year and then let a few youngsters become our experience whilst we "trade" others for more youngsters in 2/3 years time.  Being ultra optimistic we're not down yet and I can see a few more teams being dragged down into the mix. But in the long run maybe re-grouping next season with a succesful run in the Championship might be better for us than simply struggling to survive again next year. 

That's if we can find form in the Championship!!!! Havent put any team to the sword this season

[HarvSFC]

Quantity, rather than quality again. Spread the £126m over five players at £25m each - Goalkeeper, centre-back, central midfielder, 10, striker and we'd have had a new spine that was desperately needed and at £25m each, you'd hope they're good players.

Instead, we're still shopping in the old markets, signing a load of players around the £10m mark, hoping they're all bargains, when in reality they've left us 20th in the league and weaker for it with an over inflated squad of players who might look to see out their contracts here.

Our most successful resale was Van Dijk after he joined 8 years ago. £13m spent, sold for £75m, £62m profit. A 24 year old highly rated Netherlands international with Champions League experience. In today's market he'd have probably cost £20m-£25m, but we still for the most part refuse to go that high despite the potential profit should the transfer go well.

Doesn't make sense, we're just backwards.

[whelk]

4 hours ago, once_bitterne said:

I heard the expression on a podcast last week and decided I must use it more in every day conversation.

I just said it to the missus referencing little evidence of her doing any housework today. Went down great!

[spyinthesky]

As mentioned in one of the earlier posts, it seems the owners were prepared to shell out a wedge of cash to bring in players.

Unfortunately the majority of players, whilst young and possibly will improve, have done absolutely nothing to improve the squad relative to their transfer fee.

To my mind Lavia has been a shining light and both he and JWP and KWP plus Salisu will be off in the summer to better teams and to ensure some of the lost income from relegation will be recovered.

Tella is another one who may be sold for a decent fee as Burnley will have Prem money to spend.

Apart from Lavia I have to say Bree may be one of the better 'value for money' players we have signed recently.

He was rated as one of the best RB's in the Championship and arrived with a relatively small transfer fee and wages.

Feedback from the recent Fans Forum is that finances are in order to deal with relegation and we must all hope that is correct.

If we are struggling to finance a big debt then todays problems will be small in comparison.

Top players wages in the Championship are around the £30k/£40k mark so some of our mob are either going to have to suck this up or look for other clubs.

That said only Che Adams is likely to attract any interest from any other top league sides.

There are some players, mainly from abroad, who will look to move away and others who the club will want to move on.

No doubt our high class scouting system will be looking at loan options and that may be the catalyst for something better next season.

Oddly I am somewhat past caring after the Leeds debacle.

The weight of expectation has been taken off my shoulders.

We are down but I will be there on Weds and will renew my season ticket next season.

I have been a Saints supporter since the 1950's and have seen a few ups and plenty of downs.

I am there at St Mary's until the day my health gives me the red card.

Until then UTFS!!!!

[Hodgey]

The summer signings in terms of quality/price were generally good. They were just not what we needed at that time.

the last window was self confessed panic - strategy out of the window and supposedly the club aimed solely at staying up.

But since then we’ve appointed a coach as manager, bought a striker who looks no better than Adams and can’t last more than 60m, another erratic winger to add to our other erratic wingers, a winger who can’t cope with this league, a mate of a manager we sacked, and a decent looking Midfielder that we’re not sure where he plays or if he fits our system. 

wouldn’t surprise me at all if we see a lot more of Bednerak, Walcott, Adams, McCarthy, Moi, Armstrong and Djenepo for the rest of the season. And if that happens you know how bad those windows have been !

 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

So how does this £126m spend stand us in line with the Fair Play rules? The League's Fair Play Rules Book is 514 pages so can't be bothered to plough through that though aren't clubs meant to balance their books with a tolerance level of a £5m deficit? Relegation, Fines, Owners walk away...future looks rosy 😒.

C'mon Lavia, Tall Paul. Get us out of this mess!

[AlexLaw76]

9/10 for both windows!

[Turkish]

Sports Republic are so shit they cant even win the Net spend trophy and we've dominated that for years.

[Micky]

6 hours ago, trousers said:

Can't quite believe I'm saying this but when I saw Long's name on your list there it occured to me that I actually miss not having him on the bench to come on and be a nuisance in the last 20 minutes of a game...  Pretty much sums up where we've got to with this squad...

Agree to a point, Long, despite his lack of goals, could actually do a job for us when we were leading and trying to close the game out.  He'd be no good to us now though because we are very rarely leading.  Loved his work ethic alongside other strikers, that was his strength, but he was only a four or five a season striker. 

[FarehamSaintJames]

How often have we pissed money away, £10m here, £15m there? Way too often.

Sums it up really.

 

[SNSUN]

Biggest disappointment for me has to be Aribo. Was expecting a lot, lot more than the lazy nothingness he has delivered. Bazunu is definitely on the list for worse signing of the season, and in fact in terms of impact for the club it's likely he'd win worst signing seeing as how his position is specialist and he's repeatedly been awful.

 

Best signings have been ABK and Lavia but both have had injury issues. Alcaraz looks promising and Edozie may turn into a good player eventually. 

 

The rest I reserve judgement on, but DCC and Orsic's situations are baffling.

 

We need a new manager in the summer to come in quick, decide who they want to keep and ship the rest out. We would need 100 per cent committed players not people sitting on their contracts whilst contributing zilch. The best chance of promotion is the season after relegation. Following seasons see it harder and harder to achieve.