Summer Transfer Window 2024

[revolution saint]

Slightly adjacent to us but seems like Galatasary have had a 20M+ bid accepted for Gabriel Sara who some have thought could be a decent fallback if Matt O'Riley doesn't happen.  Just goes to show how expensive even non-premier league players can be.

My YouTube algorithm still chucks up a load of Leeds videos and they seem to be quite excited by the idea they could get Rak-Sakyi.  As an antidote to this lull in the transfer window I'd recommend looking at Leeds videos of the play off final both previews and post match - they're quite funny with the benefit of hindsight.

[FarehamSaintJames]

I’m going to revive the social media idiots thread tomorrow and just start posting what some absolute fuckwits are saying.

I saw a “Martin Out” comment a few days ago. 😂

[Lighthouse]

3 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

Unfortunately there are thick people everywhere on Twitter.

You’ve got people panicking because we haven’t spent £500M on a player yet, people moaning that we haven’t signed ten players like on FIFA. People moaning about a pre-season defeat which is extremely meaningless.

I wish you could chuck stupid people away or mute them but unfortunately you’re never far away from one, they’re like a turd that just won’t flush.

There’s some Saints fan accounts on Twitter which just permanently talk shit, JustSaints is one, SaintsSocialite latches on to any rumour, SaintsHQ you’d think the guy running it is a manic depressive.

As long as our squad is stronger when the window closes I couldn’t give less of a toss.
The club is clearly working on things in the background, I think they’ll be one or two surprises along the way.

Just some people seriously need to grow up and quite frankly shut up if they have nothing constructive to add.

Football is not the be all and end all, life is too bloody short to be angry about Lallana not being in a match day squad, or Ronaldo not being announced as a Saints player yet.

You're getting very animated about strawman arguments and random Twitter accounts you choose to read through your own free will. It's not the middle of June any more, people are concerned because two weeks before the start of the season the only sign of even a reasonable improvement is at LB and our forward options are considerably weaker. It's not that we're missing the last couple of pieces, we're nowhere near even fighting relegation at the moment.

[lambtiss]

2 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

No, the discussion was about yoyo clubs in the PSR era. I know that, because I started the fucking discussion. 

This is your post that I was replying to, perhaps there is an another "fucking discussion" as you so eloquently politely put it, where you mentioned the PSR era, but that's not my issue. We are all Saints supporters mate, supporting a common cause .... so try acting like it. 

[6ft8saint]

5 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

I don't know why people are so panicky at the moment. It's been absolutley evident that our squad isn't going to be finished before the end of August, it will go right up to the deadline. 

We were never going to have all of our requirements filled by the Newcastle game, there is not a scenario in the world whereby that was a possibility. We may need to roll with the punches a little bit over the first couple of games, but the messages I'm seeing about the club being slow, sluggish, losing their way, asleep on the market, penny pinching, only focused on Gozepte etc are just nonsense. (that's not a dig at you personally by the way, it's all the things I see over social media from so called fans)

As has been said so many times, we will wait for opportunities in the loan market - top level players too - they will only become options and available as we reach the end of the window, the same can also be said for guys like Matt O'Riley - as we get closer, he may push himself, which will force Celtics hand (to Atalanta or us). 

I think we've had a really structured and sensible window up to this point, we got the early deals in we could get in, but we have to be patient to get the quality enhancement signings we are clearly still after. 

Good points... I just wonder if you'll still feel this way after we get beaten again in millwall tomorrow. 

 

I'm sure you'll counter this with it's only pre season but I worry currently we look weaker than we did last season and I'm not sure russ has any idea on his starting 11 and is still obsessed with the jack stephens project. 

[Maggie May]

We’ll be fine this season. We have a manager players want to perform for. The core is strong. We should be preparing for when RM is tapped up (England or top 6 IMO).

[S-Clarke]

4 minutes ago, 6ft8saint said:

Good points... I just wonder if you'll still feel this way after we get beaten again in millwall tomorrow. 

 

I'm sure you'll counter this with it's only pre season but I worry currently we look weaker than we did last season and I'm not sure russ has any idea on his starting 11 and is still obsessed with the jack stephens project. 

We're certainly not weaker, not sure where this is coming from as I've seen a few mention this. We're on par with the side that started the playoff final.

If you think Brooks - we've got Charly back. Fraser, we've brought in BBD. 

I cannot get behind the notion that we are weaker, on par yes, but not weaker. What happens in pre-season friendly's is largely irrelevant, but I still wouldn't expect us to have all our signings done by Newcastle.

Come the start of September I'd expect us to have a squad that can compete in the PL. Count me disappointed if we don't after then, but I'm not going to get all panicky before. Let's not also discount the guys we've already bought in, i.e Downes/THB - they have a chance to prove themselves as PL players.

[FarehamSaintJames]

I think we’ll be fine this season.

There is a clear unity and togetherness about the players and sometimes that is enough to get you through rather than players that are individually brilliant, but not working for the team.

RM has clearly installed a mentality of we’re in it together and you fight hard for each other otherwise you aren’t part of the plans.

It’s about having the right characters in the building, I’d say the club are doing that, and I’d rather they took it to the end of the window and got the right ones rather than rush it to appease a few idiots and get the wrong ones.

[Bad Wolf]

32 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

I’m going to revive the social media idiots thread tomorrow and just start posting what some absolute fuckwits are saying.

I saw a “Martin Out” comment a few days ago. 😂

Just the one?! You should see these facebook fan pages etc. There are masses of comments wanting him gone. For some bizarre reason, the bulk of the fanbase just does not seem to like him no matter what he says or does. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

35 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Yes that's the likely team at the moment. Rubbish midfield and attack for the prem and an average defence. 

A near peak RussBall midfield ! 🙂

Also an 11 with 3 new signings, 2 loans made perm and 1 resign in McCarthy. More than half the side with some work done to it.

Looking at the backups, there's not a lot screaming out as direct competition. That 11 is the strongest by a fair bit.

Hopefully, it's knowing that it's starters/direct competition that will take a little longer, if required, this window.

[Lighthouse]

4 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

We're certainly not weaker, not sure where this is coming from as I've seen a few mention this. We're on par with the side that started the playoff final.

If you think Brooks - we've got Charly back. Fraser, we've brought in BBD.

We've lost Che, Brooks, Fraser and Rothwell, gained BBD and seen the return of CA. McC is worse than Baz, many disagree but I fear it will start to dawn on people in a couple of months. Suga will also have to be seriously decent just to match KWP, I'd be happy to 'break even' on that one.

Those are the areas we're weaker. We're stronger at LB and that's about it really.

[danjosaint]

17 minutes ago, Maggie May said:

We’ll be fine this season. We have a manager players want to perform for. The core is strong. We should be preparing for when RM is tapped up (England or top 6 IMO).

Have u been on the drink

[Bad Wolf]

Just now, Lighthouse said:

We've lost Che, Brooks, Fraser and Rothwell, gained BBD and seen the return of CA. McC is worse than Baz, many disagree but I fear it will start to dawn on people in a couple of months. Suga will also have to be seriously decent just to match KWP, I'd be happy to 'break even' on that one.

Those are the areas we're weaker. We're stronger at LB and that's about it really.

Che was crap, Brooks was crap, Rothwell was crap and Fraser was a squad player in The Championship. Though I'd be happy with him being a squad player again, I really don't think we're all that worse off for him not coming permanently.

[6ft8saint]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

Decent starter 

Sugawara Bednarek THB Taylor 

Downes decent starter 

Armstrong BD 

Decent starter

 

With a decent winger as an option along with Aribo and Smallbone might give us a chance to survive. 

I worry he will try and fit Jack stephens in the defence somewhere

[Bad Wolf]

19 minutes ago, Maggie May said:

We’ll be fine this season. We have a manager players want to perform for. The core is strong. We should be preparing for when RM is tapped up (England or top 6 IMO).

Even if we go the season unbeaten, do the treble and win the CL next season, there's no chance of Russ ever managing England...

[hypochondriac]

4 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

We've lost Che, Brooks, Fraser and Rothwell, gained BBD and seen the return of CA. McC is worse than Baz, many disagree but I fear it will start to dawn on people in a couple of months. Suga will also have to be seriously decent just to match KWP, I'd be happy to 'break even' on that one.

Those are the areas we're weaker. We're stronger at LB and that's about it really.

They are both crap buy McCarthy is very much not worse than Bazunu. 

[hypochondriac]

3 minutes ago, 6ft8saint said:

I worry he will try and fit Jack stephens in the defence somewhere

Yes I expect so. I was more putting up what I'd like us to be play assuming we got the players in we needed. 

[Bad Wolf]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

They are both crap buy McCarthy is very much not worse than Bazunu. 

He really is.

[Bad Wolf]

4 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

Che was crap, Brooks was crap, Rothwell was crap and Fraser was a squad player in The Championship. Though I'd be happy with him being a squad player again, I really don't think we're all that worse off for him not coming permanently.

Actually that's harsh on Brooks, he was underwhelming but he did have his moments.

I'll upgrade him from crap to average. 

[Suhari]

42 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

I’m going to revive the social media idiots thread tomorrow and just start posting what some absolute fuckwits are saying.

I saw a “Martin Out” comment a few days ago. 😂

That was Lucy. She wasn't happy with the creativity or subtlety in build up, and didn't appreciate it simply being chucked in the box.

[6ft8saint]

53 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

Unfortunately there are thick people everywhere on Twitter.

You’ve got people panicking because we haven’t spent £500M on a player yet, people moaning that we haven’t signed ten players like on FIFA. People moaning about a pre-season defeat which is extremely meaningless.

I wish you could chuck stupid people away or mute them but unfortunately you’re never far away from one, they’re like a turd that just won’t flush.

There’s some Saints fan accounts on Twitter which just permanently talk shit, JustSaints is one, SaintsSocialite latches on to any rumour, SaintsHQ you’d think the guy running it is a manic depressive.

As long as our squad is stronger when the window closes I couldn’t give less of a toss.
The club is clearly working on things in the background, I think they’ll be one or two surprises along the way.

Just some people seriously need to grow up and quite frankly shut up if they have nothing constructive to add.

Football is not the be all and end all, life is too bloody short to be angry about Lallana not being in a match day squad, or Ronaldo not being announced as a Saints player yet.

Perhaps following your own advice might be good too. The whole point of a forum is opinion. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Taking the 11 below (posted earlier), compared to the side that went down (even if the formation was different)

McCarthy (improvement overall on Baz, though miss that passing)

Sugawara, THB, Bednarek, Stephens, Taylor (unproven with Sugawara (KWP will be a miss), Taylor has experience and considered an upgrade on Perraud. Central defence improved on what came down  in Salisu, ABK and Lyanco (although we loaned Bednarek and Stephens out at the time)

Downes, Smallbone, Aribo (a decline, but different. JWP at a level above. Lavia talented, but might not have lasted, while Stu wasn't at near his best. We've now got an excellent Downes, Smallbone who developed really well, and a fitter, more mobile Aribo.

AA, BBD (AA didn't have a good PL season last time, but was key last season. BBD has had PL goals, and we'll just have to see how effective an Adams replacement he is in other areas. Finishing would seem likely to be better.

A lot relies on Martin getting the best out of a side that is in a much better place than the one that went down. But the side obviously can't just match the lot that came down. It has to be a lot better to stay up.

I see

6 improvements (McCarthy, THB, Bednarek, Stephens, Taylor, Downes)

2 same (AA, Aribo)

2 unproven (Sugawara, BBD)

1 decline (Smallbone against JWP - so not a disaster here)

[SaintSpank]

3 hours ago, Bad Wolf said:

Just the one?! You should see these facebook fan pages etc. There are masses of comments wanting him gone. For some bizarre reason, the bulk of the fanbase just does not seem to like him no matter what he says or does. 

Just jealousy over Lucy Pinder

[East Kent Saint]

5 hours ago, 6ft8saint said:

I worry he will try and fit Jack stephens in the defence somewhere

He might have to slot in up front !

[Farmer Saint]

7 hours ago, lambtiss said:

This is your post that I was replying to, perhaps there is an another "fucking discussion" as you so eloquently politely put it, where you mentioned the PSR era, but that's not my issue. We are all Saints supporters mate, supporting a common cause .... so try acting like it. 

FFP and PSR are essentially the same thing, and that was mentioned. Bringing up Palace is completely irrevelant to getting promoted now - they never had to deal with it. 

Edited August 3 by Farmer Saint

[Chez]

7 hours ago, revolution saint said:

Slightly adjacent to us but seems like Galatasary have had a 20M+ bid accepted for Gabriel Sara who some have thought could be a decent fallback if Matt O'Riley doesn't happen.  Just goes to show how expensive even non-premier league players can be.

 

Ah, that's a shame and explains why we haven't sign him then. 

[lambtiss]

7 hours ago, Bad Wolf said:

Che was crap, Brooks was crap, Rothwell was crap and Fraser was a squad player in The Championship. Though I'd be happy with him being a squad player again, I really don't think we're all that worse off for him not coming permanently.

Che was in no way crap; he played 40 matches, scored 15 goals and had 4 assists. Similarly, Fraser was not a "squad player", he played 39, 6 goals and 2 assists which are decent stats for a winger and are a big factor in why we are interested in getting him back. 

I agree that Brooks disappointed after a very bright start, although he still managed 6 assists in 20 matches.

[Bad Wolf]

4 hours ago, SaintSpank said:

Just jealousy over Lucy Pinder

I'm jealous OF her tbh. Whether you taste him as a manager or not, there can be no denying that Russ is a handsome man.

[Chez]

9 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

The sluggish part will be referring to the huge lack of quality in attacking positions and goalkeeper. To take it to extremes to make a point, would you be describing the management as busy if they'd solely signed players for Göztepe and none for us? The only players thsy count are the ones we bring in for our squad. The fact they may have done work to sign players for other teams is utterly irrelevant. 

Good point.

We've signed a keeper and signed a striker. 

Lack Of quality in attacking positions is always an issue for us.

[Bad Wolf]

Just now, lambtiss said:

Che was in no way crap; he played 40 matches, scored 15 goals and had 4 assists. Similarly, Fraser was not a "squad player", he played 39, 6 goals and 2 assists which are decent stats for a winger and are a big factor in why we are interested in getting him back. 

I agree that Brooks disappointed after a very bright start, although he still managed 6 assists in 20 matches.

And when you look at the chances he squandered, 15 goals isn't good enough. Some of them he literally couldn't miss. He missed at least one sitter per game. I can't remember which game but one of them he missed 3 open goals in one match (he was flagged offside for one but he didn't know that).

His hold up play was decent but that's about it. He's a midtable Championship striker but that's it.

Fraser was a squad player in the sense that he started half the games on the bench (don't have official numbers but from memory it was about half)

[lambtiss]

2 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

And when you look at the chances he squandered, 15 goals isn't good enough. Some of them he literally couldn't miss. He missed at least one sitter per game. I can't remember which game but one of them he missed 3 open goals in one match (he was flagged offside for one but he didn't know that).

His hold up play was decent but that's about it. He's a midtable Championship striker but that's it.

Fraser was a squad player in the sense that he started half the games on the bench (don't have official numbers but from memory it was about half)

I can't agree; Che was equal top 6th scorer in the Championship, that is not the record of a midtable Championship striker.  Every Saints supporter knows that he misses too many easy chances (as do other strikers) but equally he does a lot of good work outside of the box and had no replacement as a target man who could hold the ball up and play other strikers in. His form got him a move to the 9th best placed team in Serie A, so he must be doing something right, good luck to him.

[OttawaSaint]

1 hour ago, Bad Wolf said:

I'm jealous OF her tbh. Whether you taste him as a manager or not, there can be no denying that Russ is a handsome man.

I can see that...

[Harry_SFC]

1 hour ago, Bad Wolf said:

And when you look at the chances he squandered, 15 goals isn't good enough. Some of them he literally couldn't miss. He missed at least one sitter per game. I can't remember which game but one of them he missed 3 open goals in one match (he was flagged offside for one but he didn't know that).

His hold up play was decent but that's about it. He's a midtable Championship striker but that's it.

Fraser was a squad player in the sense that he started half the games on the bench (don't have official numbers but from memory it was about half)

Pretty sure Armstrong missed hell of a lot more big chances than Che did last season. I'm not defending some of his finishing but you're underplaying his contribution massively. I don't know the stats on minutes to goals but I'd hazard a guess that Che had a more than decent return. Sounds like an agenda to me.

Edited August 3 by Harry_SFC

[East Kent Saint]

2 hours ago, Bad Wolf said:

I'm jealous OF her tbh. Whether you taste him as a manager or not, there can be no denying that Russ is a handsome man.

Taste him ? 😝

[hypochondriac]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

Good point.

We've signed a keeper and signed a striker. 

Lack Of quality in attacking positions is always an issue for us.

We haven't signed a new keeper. A keeper we had signed a new contract. There's no material change from the previous season. We have signed a striker but that simply replaces the one who already left. 

We need to sign some more quality in attacking positions to the extent that it gives us a chance of avoiding relegation. 

[Charlie Wayman]

10 hours ago, Bad Wolf said:

Just the one?! You should see these facebook fan pages etc. There are masses of comments wanting him gone. For some bizarre reason, the bulk of the fanbase just does not seem to like him no matter what he says or does. 

He is not the sort of character that easily endears himself to other people. Something about him?

All that is irrelevant if he manages to get decent results in the Premier League, otherwise his days might be numbered. Predicting his survival beyond Christmas is risky.

[Polegategavin243]

And these signings have historically and will continue to be made between first game of the season and transfer deadline day. We are a small fish and we have to wait for the chain to start before we can then have our move happen. People seem to have lost site that good team spirit and confidence can help at the start of the next season, just look at Ipswich last season. People also need to be realistic, success this season will be avoiding relegation.

[hypochondriac]

What about jhon Duran if West ham don't end up going with him? Out of our league? 

[hypochondriac]

9 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

He is not the sort of character that easily endears himself to other people. Something about him?

All that is irrelevant if he manages to get decent results in the Premier League, otherwise his days might be numbered. Predicting his survival beyond Christmas is risky.

Quite a lot of neutrals don't warm to him. I can't say he's my favourite person ever unlike someone like Adkins but he's been successful which speaks for itself and he deserves to be able to do things his way. He proved he could have success last year doing things his way. 

[S-Clarke]

10 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

We've lost Che, Brooks, Fraser and Rothwell, gained BBD and seen the return of CA. McC is worse than Baz, many disagree but I fear it will start to dawn on people in a couple of months. Suga will also have to be seriously decent just to match KWP, I'd be happy to 'break even' on that one.

Those are the areas we're weaker. We're stronger at LB and that's about it really.

It's a bit of a stretch saying we've lost Rothwell to be honest. He was nondescript for us. 

As a number, yeah I'll give you that, but as someone who contributed we haven't lost anything. 

I still expect us to sign a wide player, a number 10, a proper number 9 and hopefully a goalkeeper if the blind spots are removed from those at the club. If those signings take until the final few days to get right, then let it take that long - these signings are being talked about as critical for us, which they are, so let us make sure we get the right ones and not jump early and miss a potential opportunity that only comes up on the final few days.

[Harry_SFC]

26 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

He is not the sort of character that easily endears himself to other people. Something about him?

All that is irrelevant if he manages to get decent results in the Premier League, otherwise his days might be numbered. Predicting his survival beyond Christmas is risky.

I don't think he'll be sacked this season regardless. He's just signed a new contract and they clearly want some stability on the managerial front. 

[saintwbu]

20 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

What about jhon Duran if West ham don't end up going with him? Out of our league? 

Complete helmet by all accounts, so not sure he fits our normal approach character wise 

[6ft8saint]

3 hours ago, lambtiss said:

Che was in no way crap; he played 40 matches, scored 15 goals and had 4 assists. Similarly, Fraser was not a "squad player", he played 39, 6 goals and 2 assists which are decent stats for a winger and are a big factor in why we are interested in getting him back. 

I agree that Brooks disappointed after a very bright start, although he still managed 6 assists in 20 matches.

This is that red and white tinted issue. Che might have scored 16 in championship but I say for everyone he scored he missed 5. We are now in the Premier league and based on the previous 4years in Premier league he played 124 games but only scored an average of 6.25 a season. Sorry that's a crap statistic. Glad he's gone we need more goals to win games. Che was never gonna do that so yes he was crap

[hypochondriac]

13 minutes ago, saintwbu said:

Complete helmet by all accounts, so not sure he fits our normal approach character wise 

All accounts? I saw it hasn't worked out at Villa and he's barely played but I haven't seen many other reports. 

[6ft8saint]

41 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

He is not the sort of character that easily endears himself to other people. Something about him?

All that is irrelevant if he manages to get decent results in the Premier League, otherwise his days might be numbered. Predicting his survival beyond Christmas is risky.

I don't hate him but I do find his interviews like something out of the wizard of Oz. Lacking Courage, integrity. I just find it a bit fluffy. He got the team to perform last season and most of pre season but I believe the opposition up to Oxford flattered us and the wheels fell off when the opposition got better. He didn't come down the tunnel at the start of that match for 20mins. He took an age with sulemana sub and rather than changing the team at half time took till 65mins to put the 1st team on. Yes only a friendly but sets a concerning precedent. I really really hope we tie up the window well with some convincing signings other than players who we had last season (downes,thb,hopefully fraser)and we have a decent season. 

[saintwbu]

10 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

All accounts? I saw it hasn't worked out at Villa and he's barely played but I haven't seen many other reports. 

According to Villa fans and McGinn seemingly - suggestions of being a bit of a nightmare round the place as well as ‘liking’ content on social media about him moving to Chelsea a few months back. Looks a good player though.

[Barsiem]

Moukoko signing for Marseille, as per Romano on twitter.  No surprise there

[Lighthouse]

29 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

It's a bit of a stretch saying we've lost Rothwell to be honest. He was nondescript for us. 

As a number, yeah I'll give you that, but as someone who contributed we haven't lost anything. 

He contributed more than Alcaraz to the team last season, so if you’re going to include the latter’s return as an addition to the squad, then you have to accept that we’ve lost Rothwell. CA was a bit ‘emperor’s new clothes’ last season, people kept talking about what a class act he was who would rip the Championship apart but aside from one wonder goal he did naff all.

[hypochondriac]

5 minutes ago, saintwbu said:

According to Villa fans and McGinn seemingly - suggestions of being a bit of a nightmare round the place as well as ‘liking’ content on social media about him moving to Chelsea a few months back. Looks a good player though.

Yeah he's completely fallen out with people at Villa. I'd be wary labelling him a trouble maker because one move hasn't worked out though. You could have people saying similar about Fraser. 

Edited August 3 by hypochondriac

[6ft8saint]

15 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

He contributed more than Alcaraz to the team last season, so if you’re going to include the latter’s return as an addition to the squad, then you have to accept that we’ve lost Rothwell. CA was a bit ‘emperor’s new clothes’ last season, people kept talking about what a class act he was who would rip the Championship apart but aside from one wonder goal he did naff all.

Was he not on loan with juventus or did I imagine that????