The Championship Thread - 2025/26

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ristac said:
I get that <ok>

This has turned into a discussion about the quality of your coach, when my initial intention was really stating I was amazed at the value/quality of some of your players when the talk is top 3 after a dreadful season and it being a hard one to call until everyone's transfer activity has finished.

Like Ipswich, McKenna is the best equipped to get them back up but if he goes it would dent their hopes. I also feel this is McKenna's level, if he does get them back up they need someone else in the PL but easier said than done.

We need a PL shake up, of course I am biased but it would be fantastic if the three promoted stayed up and we had Everton, West Ham and one other relegated. The mould needs breaking
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Nothing against Leeds but it would be much better if the 3 promoted teams came straight back down again. With that happening for 3 consecutive seasons it may force the Premier
league to do something about it. If at least one of them stay up nothing will change.
 
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SaintMarv said:
Nothing against Leeds but it would be much better if the 3 promoted teams came straight back down again. With that happening for 3 consecutive seasons it may force the Premier
league to do something about it. If at least one of them stay up nothing will change.
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If we signed some of the players we’re supposedly going for, I’m confident we’d stay up. The issue is players choosing Everton, Bournemouth and Brentford over the likes of Leeds and Sunderland simply because they fear relegation.

It’s not just about PSR, it’s getting players not fearing newly promoted teams. The quickest route for change when it comes to PSR would be Man City winning in court against the FA
 
I think the Championship will be harder than most Saints fans think, i can see anout 50% of our players leaving. The better players will be sold but i can see Still getting rid of those players who are not committed or perceived to have let us down last season. Next season's squad will be unrecognisable.
 
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Ian Thumwood said:
I think the Championship will be harder than most Saints fans think, i can see anout 50% of our players leaving. The better players will be sold but i can see Still getting rid of those players who are not committed or perceived to have let us down last season. Next season's squad will be unrecognisable.
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50% of our players won't be leaving - that's 12 or 13 players (if we're just limiting it to the 25 man squad). Simply not feasible to sell then replace that many players.
 
tomw24 said:
50% of our players won't be leaving - that's 12 or 13 players (if we're just limiting it to the 25 man squad). Simply not feasible to sell then replace that many players.
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No, it won't be 50%, and nor should it be. I'd be happy for him to shift out the non-committed, but that's largely ABK.
 
I reckon it will be at least 50% of our most used 11 from last season

Ramsdale
Dibling
Fernandes
Aribo
THB
KWP
Sugawara
Onuachu
ABK

will all leave I think, probably a few more so 10 or 11 out might not be as crazy as it initially sounds
 
We need 10 or 11 out at a minimum. Probably pushing 14-15, to be honest.

I think, at the last count, we currently have 35 senior players reporting back for preseason. And thats not including any of the u21s who might be given a chance.

That's quite simply unsustainable.
 
Saints Fan4Life said:
We need 10 or 11 out at a minimum. Probably pushing 14-15, to be honest.

I think, at the last count, we currently have 35 senior players reporting back for preseason. And thats not including any of the u21s who might be given a chance.

That's quite simply unsustainable.
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I agree. And realistically even if 15 left we’d probably only need 5 or 6 new players to be fine numbers wise for the squad. Obviously how good the squad is would depend on who those signings were as we would lose all of our best players.
 
Sounds like Wilder might be leaving Sheffield United. Could see Cooper being a good fit there.

Rohl would be interesting!
 
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Saintmagic said:
I reckon it will be at least 50% of our most used 11 from last season

Ramsdale
Dibling
Fernandes
Aribo
THB
KWP
Sugawara
Onuachu
ABK

will all leave I think, probably a few more so 10 or 11 out might not be as crazy as it initially sounds
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I can see these being sold too

Larius
Bednarek
Downes
Archer
Brereton Diaz
Armstrong
Bazunu
Bree
Smallbone
Shea Charles
Edosie


Some we will want to move on. Others, like Charles,.will get snapped up.
 
Ian Thumwood said:
I can see these being sold too

Larius
Bednarek
Downes
Archer
Brereton Diaz
Armstrong
Bazunu
Bree
Smallbone
Shea Charles
Edosie


Some we will want to move on. Others, like Charles,.will get snapped up.
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What? We'll be left with no squad at all. Bednarek will likely go, I agree but we don't want to sell Charles and why would we sell Edozie? And most of those players aren't good enough for the PL but will do a good job in the Championship. Charles is the only one I know of getting PL interest. We may sell 2 or 3 from that list but nowhere near all of them.
 
Ian Thumwood said:
I can see these being sold too

Larius
Bednarek
Downes
Archer
Brereton Diaz
Armstrong
Bazunu
Bree
Smallbone
Shea Charles
Edosie


Some we will want to move on. Others, like Charles,.will get snapped up.
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I’d add Bednarek to my earlier list as likely to go, but don’t think I’d include anyone else from your list. I don’t think there will be much interest for any of them, and it would just be too much turnover in one window

If there is genuine interest for any of them and reasonable fees being offered then they all could go, just don’t see that as very likely
 
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Saintmagic said:
I’d add Bednarek to my earlier list as likely to go, but don’t think I’d include anyone else from your list. I don’t think there will be much interest for any of them, and it would just be too much turnover in one window

If there is genuine interest for any of them and reasonable fees being offered then they all could go, just don’t see that as very likely
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Charles is the only other one I've seen linked with other clubs and we don't want to sell him. We may sell someone like BBD if a reasonable offer comes in but with a new manager coming in it's an opportunity for a fresh start for the players who have been on the fringes or loaned out. And while all those players either weren't ready for the PL or not good enough, they're all very good Championship players so we don't need to clear them out either.
 
To be fair I could see the club cutting their losses on Larios. He's basically been injured for 3 years now and I'm sure there was a rumour a while back that he wants to go back to Spain.

The squad is huge so overall I think we need to shift at least 5 or 6 more players than we bring in. I imagine a few of both the ins and the outs will be loans.
 
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tomw24 said:
Charles is the only other one I've seen linked with other clubs and we don't want to sell him. We may sell someone like BBD if a reasonable offer comes in but with a new manager coming in it's an opportunity for a fresh start for the players who have been on the fringes or loaned out. And while all those players either weren't ready for the PL or not good enough, they're all very good Championship players so we don't need to clear them out either.
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Yeah it goes back to my earlier point of how much of an eye do we have on if/when we return to the PL. As we know a lot of our squad weren’t up to it, but were useful in the Championship, so if there is a decent offer for someone like Armstrong do we let him go or keep him and if we do go up try and move him on then. If we take the offer now then we need to find players who we think will be able to make the step up, and also get us promoted in the first place which isn’t an easy task and is a big risk and might result in us not going up any time soon. Also how annoyed players like BBD, Armstrong and Charles are at their treatment plays a part too.

How much of the performance last season are the club blaming on management and how much on player quality? Do they think that some of the players maybe could play PL football under a different system. Still should be the main driving force behind who stays and goes, but obviously he hasn’t actually worked with the players yet.
 
Saintmagic said:
Yeah it goes back to my earlier point of how much of an eye do we have on if/when we return to the PL. As we know a lot of our squad weren’t up to it, but were useful in the Championship, so if there is a decent offer for someone like Armstrong do we let him go or keep him and if we do go up try and move him on then. If we take the offer now then we need to find players who we think will be able to make the step up, and also get us promoted in the first place which isn’t an easy task and is a big risk and might result in us not going up any time soon. Also how annoyed players like BBD, Armstrong and Charles are at their treatment plays a part too.

How much of the performance last season are the club blaming on management and how much on player quality? Do they think that some of the players maybe could play PL football under a different system. Still should be the main driving force behind who stays and goes, but obviously he hasn’t actually worked with the players yet.
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All really interesting stuff that serves to highlight what a huge job there is to be done in the next 8 weeks.
 
Ian Thumwood said:
I can see these being sold too

Larius
Bednarek
Downes
Archer
Brereton Diaz
Armstrong
Bazunu
Bree
Smallbone
Shea Charles
Edosie


Some we will want to move on. Others, like Charles,.will get snapped up.
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Whatever happens I think there's one certainty in that list. Bazunu - I think we'll get stuck with him. I only hope he isn't first choice because with his stats, teams will know that for every 2 shots they have on target, one of them will hit the back of the net.
 
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NNSaint said:
Whatever happens I think there's one certainty in that list. Bazunu - I think we'll get stuck with him. I only hope he isn't first choice because with his stats, teams will know that for every 2 shots they have on target, one of them will hit the back of the net.
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I do agree, but I also think he is a better keeper now we have hopefully stopped pausing around at the back.
 
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