Summer window

Southampton have raked in 176m in transfer fees this summer we shouldn't be letting him go there on the cheap

 

that’s not how it works tho. It’s either get some money now or no money later. Who he’s going to is largely irrelevant as they have all the chips

 

Not me tbh, I have Stewart on ignore unless he stays and commits to the club ...

... his miserable face, on the lap of honour, was shameful imo.

 

Big big difference first thing KLD did was recruit a management infrastructure that other than the commercial side which has now been recently addressed is a lot more professional than the chuckle brothers efforts of financial cuts . It has taken a root and branch approach to turn the club around and reverse years and years of decline though there is still work to do to get us back to the promised land of the Premier League . The level of support and backing by the fans indicate that for the most part that the club is on the right track .

 

Yet people always say when clubs know we are desperate for a striker they will charge more?

works both ways surely?

 

only when the buying club doesn’t know the selling club needs to sell to fund their own buys

 

I'm not sure that's the case tbh.

We can't replace Stewart if he stays ...

... we have to if he goes.

It's more a case of squad numbers than financial ones imo.

 

I’m not massively fussed about him going we’ve been without him for so long and the whole will he won’t he stay bores the life out of me now, be nice to put an end to it, hoping for a busy couple of days but think we might not get all we need

 

A theory, and happy to be told otherwise. But lets assume the journalist who is running the Southampton rumour knows nothing first hand. After all most don't, they prove that all the time. Looking at his scoop last week on Forshaw, a blink of an eye later he had gone to Norwich. Not an unreasonable suggestion that all he is doing is constantly guessing at stuff, and maybe once in a while getting close enough to say he was right. After all, everybody would agree another CM is needed, Forshaw a freebie and been in this area before, not difficult to draw a guess and put it out there.

Same here. The dots are all there if you want to join them someway or other. I posted last night that Everton get their man, so Canon can go. Palace want Adams and might now have a free run if Everton have no more dosh. Southampton havent been able to get a striker and it is suggested their manager is a fan. It isnt rocket sciencd to join those dots, but so many parts of it are guesswork and or could fail to materialise. The difference is this fella online has a platform and people seem to take it seriously.

What is my point? I doubt very much he has any real info. 2 and 2 together and he might have 4, or just as easily have 5. This next few days will be full of stories and guesses like this. It is a bit of interest and fun, but only thing any journalist knows for sure is that by Saturday we will all know who we have and havent.

 

We have the player they want, they have the means to buy him. There are limited strikers available in the market, he's on tiny wages so we do not need to sell

They do not have all the chips

 

Plus they're as far away from Scotland as you can get

 

If these reports are true and we’ve suddenly changed our minds about selling him, we must have a good feeling that a deal can be done for whoever would be replacing him. You don’t try and sell with 3 days to go and then start looking for an alternative.

 

Ahhh right so Sunderland are ****ed in every scenario? Got it haha

 

We have the most important chip mate. His contract.

The way I see it, from a negotiation stand point, is this. They need a striker if they want to go back up. We need a striker to challenge again. We habe said striker this season as it stands, they dont. I think we are rivals in this divisiom for top 2. So if I am going to strengthen you, it is for a fee I deem worthwhile, nothing less. The judgement is what is value. So I think we are the table with a good hand. If it were Everton as the buying club, for example, we would have a poorer hand.

In terms of our so called model. I dont think Stewart is one they see as needing a big fee from. Bought him cheap, he has added significant value to the club already with promotion performances. If a bid of £5m plus is in, then fair play, as it may allow us to buy a Canon for example, anything around the £2-£3m mark is not appropriate given he might come back and fire us up the table and we earn that anyway. I think if we do, or have, gone back to the negotiation table I think it ja because Southampton have blinked first on the sale price.

 

I’d have agreed with all of that but The Athletic are now running the same story and they don’t deal on tittle tattle as far as I’m aware. They’d have properly verified the story in my opinion and not just relied on the word of an agenda driven agent.

 

Am torn on the Stewart situation and it all boils down to his attitude. IF he is prepared to play and give his all this season, then I say we keep him and see where we all are at the end of the season
If he's angling for a move and bringing the dressing room down (no evidence to suggest this, just hypothesising) then we cash in, get rid and bring in Cannon or someone similar,

What we cannot afford is to let this drag on, sell him at 10pm on Friday then have Speakman come out on Sat saying we "couldn't get the deals over the line" but "planning for Jan has already started" whilst we then play Dack up front v Southampton

 

The worst that can happen is that Stewart stays, in which case we have a good Championship player ...

... or that Southampton have to pay us big money.

 

Walker is quoting Fishbreath though - not sure The Athletic have their own source on this?

 

I havent seen it in the Athletic so far today. Will be interesting to see if they have more detail to the story.

 

How many strikers do we need if Stewart leaves then? 2/3?