More thoughts on contracts, signings and building a PL squad at SFC

[Kristian Loekkegaard]

Hi everyone. Danish Saints fan since January 1980 here. Thanks for having me.

Anyway, so far:
Stuey A., Perraud, Lyanco, Adams (?) OUT.
I expect ABKotchap, DCCar and - unfortunately - KWP to leave as well but KWP (probably) leaving for West Ham (hopefully) opening the door for the signing of Flynn Downes.
 
Lallana, Taylor, Ronnie Edwards, Nathan Wood IN.

So, Saints' bank book still balanced (I hope) but we need to splash some real cash to get a PL ready no 9, no 6, RB and keeper. 

No idea what will happen with Paul Onuachu (he was excellent some years ago in the Danish Super League) and Carlos Alvaraz. Maybe we should keep them if they show up for pre-season with desire and fight and show themselves? I kind of hope we will keep them unless we can sell them for good money.
Likewise - no idea whether the fact that Bednarek and Stephens have only one year left on their contracts will mean goodbye?

Sekou Mara out on loan?
Get in another no. 8, for example Danish guy in Celtic, Matt O´Riley? or Callum O'Hare?
 
 

Edited July 8 by Kristian Loekkegaard

[Tommy Mulgrew]

Hello KL.  Welcome.

You must be a glutton for punishment.  44 years; well done.  I and some others on here have supported Saints for more than 64 years.  Battered and bruised but we keep coming back for more.

Have a read of the more recent pages of the summer 24 transfers thread; it covers the ground you have stated on this new thread.

DCC has already gone and, to add to your list, we need a LB because Manning is not good enough for Premier League football.

The transfer period is still in its infancy - a long way to go yet.

[The Kraken]

Christ. I was born in Southampton so I didn’t really get a choice of who to support. You actually chose us from Denmark?!

Welcome Kristian. And a good assessment 👍

[Dellyears]

40 minutes ago, Tommy Mulgrew said:

Hello KL.  Welcome.

You must be a glutton for punishment.  44 years; well done.  I and some others on here have supported Saints for more than 64 years.  Battered and bruised but we keep coming back for more.

Have a read of the more recent pages of the summer 24 transfers thread; it covers the ground you have stated on this new thread.

DCC has already gone and, to add to your list, we need a LB because Manning is not good enough for Premier League football.

The transfer period is still in its infancy - a long way to go yet.

Did we get anything for DCC?

[SaintsFan86]

17 minutes ago, Dellyears said:

Did we get anything for DCC?

£5Million.

[Kristian Loekkegaard]

45 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

Christ. I was born in Southampton so I didn’t really get a choice of who to support. You actually chose us from Denmark?!

Welcome Kristian. And a good assessment 👍

Thank you very much 🙂. Yes, I chose the Saints. 11 years old. No regrets.  Everybody here in Denmark and everywhere else abroad was supporting the socalled big clubs (as is the case today). I wanted my own club. And Saints did well in the 80s and developed an astonishing amount of talent and signed some big players under McMenemy, so I felt happy and totally fell in love with them AND The Dell. 
Barely 17 years old I went to the Dell for the first time. That was in 1985, Easter. Shilton had a save (vs Everton) on that particular day, that I will never forget, watching from 3 meters away. The Dell was such a special stadium. 
And when Keegan joined Saints (later on in 1980) I remember that I suddenly got a lot of respect from the other lads in the school yard who were all Liverpool, United, Forest, Spurs and Arsenal fans.
Saints could easily - with just a little bit of luck - have won another FA cup, maybe even two, in the 80s. Remember Adrian f*cking Heath in overtime in the semi final 😒..... and Everton went on to the final and won it. A final Saints would have won, I still feel to this day. 😒

Anyway, thanks for your nice reply my fellow Saints fan and up the Saints 🥰

 

[SaintTex]

^^ that is awesome.

i just had my 10 year anniversary as a Saint supporter from Texas (first year - the 2013-2014 season; joined this site in 2014.)

i will have lived a truly blessed long life if i make it to a 44 year anniversary! You are super fan, Kristian!

Edited July 9 by SaintTex

[spyinthesky]

I wasnt born in Southampton but our family moved into rented accommodation in Milton Road and my Dad had a season ticket in the East Stand in the early 1950's.
He first took me along as a pre school nipper but had to take me home when I cried after the Albion Band stopped playing prior to Kick Off.
My Dad took me back again when I started at Primary School and although being swayed by relatives in my home town, I stuck with Saints and remember watching the likes of Tommy Mulgrew, Len Wilkins, Don Roper, John Page, Derek Reeves and the like, mainly from the Chocolate Boxes.
So many memories!!!
Fortunately the good ones stick in the mind far more than the many disappointing days.

[gio1saints]

Hi Kristian, Any ideas from the Danish press on why O’Reilly, supposedly a £30M player (and superstar in Scotland) and eligible to play for Denmark did not make the Danish euros final squad? Would be interested to know if there was any reasons speculated or otherwise seeing as he’s been heavily promoted here as a possible - and highly desirable - Saints signing. 

Edited July 9 by gio1saints

[Kristian Loekkegaard]

14 hours ago, SaintTex said:

^^ that is awesome.

i just had my 10 year anniversary as a Saint supporter from Texas (first year - the 2013-2014 season; joined this site in 2014.)

i will have lived a truly blessed long life if i make it to a 44 year anniversary! You are super fan, Kristian!

Thank you SaintTex. Good to have a fellow Saints fan from Texas, because - being the son of a history professor - I visited Dallas, Texas,  on November 22, 2013, on the 50 years anniversary day of the Kennedy assasination. It was a day with an incredible amount of activity I must say. Just as I had hoped.   
Anyway, thanks for your nice comment and up The Saints 

[Kristian Loekkegaard]

4 hours ago, gio1saints said:

Hi Kristian, Any ideas from the Danish press on why O’Reilly, supposedly a £30M player (and superstar in Scotland) and eligible to play for Denmark did not make the Danish euros final squad? Would be interested to know if there was any reasons speculated or otherwise seeing as he’s been heavily promoted here as a possible - and highly desirable - Saints signing. 

Hi Gio.  I'm quite sure Celtics Matt O'Riley made the "priliminary" Euro 2024 Denmark squad - but ultimately he lost out to a CM with more routine and more caps for Denmark (Thomas Delaney, who funnily enough also has an Irish sounding last name).
We were many Danish fans who disagreed that O'riley was not picked. He is a "running machine", box to box, with an eye for assists and goals.
I'm hoping we can convince Celtic to bring the signing fee down. 30 million pounds sounds too much for a player they paid 1.5 million pounds for two and a half seasons ago in League One. 
He would be a great signing for Saints, I'm sure. O'Riley apparently turned down the chance to go from Celtic to Atletico Madrid some time ago, allegedly because he wants to play in the English Premier League. Fingers crossed he will ultimately become our player because he knows and likes Russell Martins playing style from their time together at MK Dons.

[Kristian Loekkegaard]

22 hours ago, Tommy Mulgrew said:

Hello KL.  Welcome.

You must be a glutton for punishment.  44 years; well done.  I and some others on here have supported Saints for more than 64 years.  Battered and bruised but we keep coming back for more.

Have a read of the more recent pages of the summer 24 transfers thread; it covers the ground you have stated on this new thread.

DCC has already gone and, to add to your list, we need a LB because Manning is not good enough for Premier League football.

The transfer period is still in its infancy - a long way to go yet.

Hello Tommy. Thanks  
True, we Saints fans who have supported Saints for several decades have certainly had our fair share of bruises. However, and please forgive me for being sentimental,  we will always carry with us the pride that Saints - even as a second tier side -  managed to win the FA cup in the 70s (be4 I myself became a devoted supporter of the club) and in 1978 began our journey into 27 years in a row in the top flight. A great achievement, I think.
During the 80s Saints had so many really exciting players, many of them home grown, including 2 of the 3 Wallace brothers - and later on Shearer and MLT - and we played some really good football that would have, as far as I remember, qualified us for Europe more than once (83/84)  if not for the Heysel Stadium disaster.
The 90s were fine too for me, because we managed to avoid relegation season after season playing at home in a forced diminished maximum crowd capacity stadium (14.254?) - on a pretty tight budget - with serious home grown technical talent and steel talent personified in legend MLT and Francis Benali and Jason Dodd + a certain keeper, Tim Flowers - and one or two outstanding signings personified in for example Pahars and, imo,  keeper Paul Jones.

Thinking back at all this I'm glad that our manager RM seems to have a good eye for home grown talent and young players and - with the transfer period still in its infancy, yes - seems to be in charge of our signings - as used to be the case back in the day.
I really hope we will sign Flynn Downes, Matt O'Riley, Callum O'hare and a good no. 9 and RB + LB and , why not? .  keeper Jason Steele, who looks a good keeper and who must be hungry for more PL games as he is 33 and has not reached 50 PL games yet, I think.
One year left on his contract with Brighton, I can see Steele peak with us as he is well suited to Martins system - being a "late blossomer" or not    remember what Nigel Martyn did for Everton and Leeds way up in his thirties? (probably a bigger talent than Steele , though)

[Tommy Mulgrew]

Thank you for your carefully considered reply, Kristian.  I am sure you will be an asset for the forum

Your English is so good and idiomatic that I wonder whether you have ever lived in Scotland, Baden-Wurttemberg or the Alps or even Ottery St Mary, Devon.  🤔

(That is not a serious point - it’s one for longer-serving members on here, not you.)

I hope you have an enjoyable time supporting Saints this season and beyond. 😀

One suggestion that I hope will be helpful to you: perhaps you might like to avoid the CoT thread or, at least, treat it with a pinch of salt.

[Kristian Loekkegaard]

5 hours ago, Tommy Mulgrew said:

Thank you for your carefully considered reply, Kristian.  I am sure you will be an asset for the forum

Your English is so good and idiomatic that I wonder whether you have ever lived in Scotland, Baden-Wurttemberg or the Alps or even Ottery St Mary, Devon.  🤔

(That is not a serious point - it’s one for longer-serving members on here, not you.)

I hope you have an enjoyable time supporting Saints this season and beyond. 😀

One suggestion that I hope will be helpful to you: perhaps you might like to avoid the CoT thread or, at least, treat it with a pinch of salt.

Thank you very much Tommy 👍. I have actually visited Edinburgh, Scotland for a whole month back in 2009 and I have spent a few days in Devon.
I enjoyed the landscape so much that I have longed back to Devon almost every day since I went there.
It was just before covid.
What an amazing region.
I promised myself that I will revisit Devon at every opportunity in the future.

I used to be a member, for several years, of the Saintsforever forum - until' the forum was sadly shut down.., basically because of "too much moaning" as I recall it...
That must be at least 15 years ago now? Before Liebherr and our journey back from League 1.
  
I learned about Saintsweb through the Total Saints Podcast, which I have followed for some time, and I'm glad I joined.
I feel very wellcome here and look very much forward to next season 👍 😎 

[Tommy Mulgrew]

My second paragraph referenced four former members of this forum and was not a question for you to answer, Kristian; sorry to put you to the trouble of an explanation.  (For those without long memories, Glasgow, Heisenberg, Alpine and Ottery.)

[suewhistle]

33 minutes ago, Tommy Mulgrew said:

 (For those without long memories, Glasgow, Heisenberg, Alpine and Ottery.)

Alpine wasn't a troll, just hard work.. 🙂

[Kristian Loekkegaard]

1 hour ago, Tommy Mulgrew said:

My second paragraph referenced four former members of this forum and was not a question for you to answer, Kristian; sorry to put you to the trouble of an explanation.  (For those without long memories, Glasgow, Heisenberg, Alpine and Ottery.)

Ok 👍
 

[Kristian Loekkegaard]

On 08/07/2024 at 19:22, Kristian Loekkegaard said:

Hi everyone. Danish Saints fan since January 1980 here. Thanks for having me.

Anyway, so far:
Stuey A., Perraud, Lyanco, Adams (?) OUT.
I expect ABKotchap, DCCar and - unfortunately - KWP to leave as well but KWP (probably) leaving for West Ham (hopefully) opening the door for the signing of Flynn Downes.
 
Lallana, Taylor, Ronnie Edwards, Nathan Wood IN.

So, Saints' bank book still balanced (I hope) but we need to splash some real cash to get a PL ready no 9, no 6, RB and keeper. 

No idea what will happen with Paul Onuachu (he was excellent some years ago in the Danish Super League) and Carlos Alvaraz. Maybe we should keep them if they show up for pre-season with desire and fight and show themselves? I kind of hope we will keep them unless we can sell them for good money.
Likewise - no idea whether the fact that Bednarek and Stephens have only one year left on their contracts will mean goodbye?

Sekou Mara out on loan?
Get in another no. 8, for example Danish guy in Celtic, Matt O´Riley? or Callum O'Hare?
 
 

Naive speculation and desperation, sorry, but sitting worrying about our empty no. 6 position efter Flynn Downes,
looking at our recent reinforcements in defence, I wonder if one or two of our CBs could work as a make shift no 6? Whether Flynn returnes to us (I strongly hope he does!!!) or not.

Jack Stephens? I know he has been played a couple of times in that position - first time under Pellegrino against Brentford in the league cup I think - and it did'nt work at all, but Stephens seems more flexible now after originally having been transformed from a RB to a CB under Puel and after having been shoehorned into the team last season as a LB or left centerback with license to run into midfield, which he did well.

(What might Russell Martin think about Jack as a no. 6, if he has thought about it at all?). 

Maybe TBH in a no. 6 role?  🤔 He is strong, very solid in defending and has an eye for a good forward pass.
Comments/critic more than welcome of course.

[V.Johnathan.Wilson]

I chose from Australia back in the James Beattie days when I was a kid, my biggest concern is still the left side of defence and attack, are we sticking with Charlie Taylor as our number 1 until the Janurary Window or are we bringing in a hopefully good understudy to compete for the number 1 spot at Left Wing/Left Wingback during this window.  For the striker position I'm not as concerned as there seems to be clear intent to sign an attacker/attackers but its a position that gets addressed before the pre-season friendlies start.

[Give it to Ron]

6 hours ago, V.Johnathan.Wilson said:

I chose from Australia back in the James Beattie days when I was a kid, my biggest concern is still the left side of defence and attack, are we sticking with Charlie Taylor as our number 1 until the Janurary Window or are we bringing in a hopefully good understudy to compete for the number 1 spot at Left Wing/Left Wingback during this window.  For the striker position I'm not as concerned as there seems to be clear intent to sign an attacker/attackers but its a position that gets addressed before the pre-season friendlies start.

I think it will be Fraser for left wing/back role with Taylor

[Kristian Loekkegaard]

9 hours ago, Give it to Ron said:

I think it will be Fraser for left wing/back role with Taylor

Yes, the sooner we sign Fraser the better 👍.  Discussions about a contract probably related to length af contract. I can see us offer 2 years and him wanting a 3 year contract.