The Preseason Thread - 2025/26

Good news!

 

What about Downes?

 

Any idea if Matsuki is back? I've been impressed with what I've seen so far of him.

 

Ouch!

 

Weird that Ipswich played Charlton in a friendly last night. Don’t often gets teams in same league play each other in pre season.

 

I thought the same, then it got even weirder when I realised they played at Colchester's ground!

 

I hadn’t realised, until checking just now, that the Brighton kick off is at 3.30 pm.
Available to watch on the official website for £5.

 

Charging to stream pre season friendlies is absolute robbery imo

 

Kids should be free.

 

I am not going or watching it, I have no enthusiam at all for this season, my ST arrived yesterday, I had to phone to get a physical ticket, this option should have been made available when I bought the ticket, they seem to assume that everyone has a smart phone, some of us dinosaurs do not.

 

And some of us just prefer a paper ticket!

 

Yeah it was very noticeable that this season they didn't even mention it and how to go about ordering a physical one.

It was easy enough to sort when I rang them though.

Now to just hope they haven't ****ed it up like last season where they still sent it to app and my card didn't scan.

 

I agree with the lack of enthusiasm for the season ahead.

Last time the Championship was new to us, and the aim of getting promoted and a fresh start in the PL seemed appealing.
But having just done that just to get absolutely pummelled in the PL worse then ever, the motivation to go through that again is just not there this time, making this season feel pointless. That the transfer window has so far been a damp squib doesn’t help.

I’m sure it’ll change when we we’re back in the swing of things and hopefully winning games again, but right now with mostly the same players that we just spent a season watching bending over and spreading their cheeks to get ****ed by the PL, and while we are likely to sell all the players that were actually worth supporting last season, and knowing how ****ing bent the whole system is, I just cba with it.

 

No luck of enthusiasm for me. No VAR and more than two wins makes this season a winner.

Plenty of new grounds for me too after none last season.

Must admit though that with the skates so early I'm struggling to care too much about the league games before it.

 

A good point that. If Saints were to be utterly brilliant and win the league after losing maybe two games and pummelling some teams 8-0 or more it would feel great.

Then the Premier League beckons. A league where after Leicester City won it certain chairman said at meetings, openly, 'This must never happen again', a league where top managers, who have forgotten more about the game than any of us will ever know, have said 'It is not a competition, only a few teams can win it'. A league we know is set up for two or three teams to make as much money as possible and continuously win trophies.

The only way you get on is to be bent/corrupt/cheaters - and that organisation is difficult to get into, asides from it's utterly pointless and morally devoid membership. I have a few medals from football, if I thought I had personally cheated, or my team had, to get them, they'd be in the bin, and not in the garden shed gathering dust.

I mean fans of other clubs will always slag off fans of other clubs - but it does make me laugh when most of them go on about how much money your club has.

So I will look forward to Saints games - until the first goal goes in (four minutes first shot on goal) - and I will want them to be an amazing success but let us be totally truthful, it is a pointless endeavour.

That from a sporting point of view is friggin' depressing.

 

Personally very excited for it.

New players:

Edwards
Quarshie
Charles (2.0)
Matsuki
Robinson
Downs
Stewart (fingers crossed)

And certainly more to come. New gaffer. We’re currently stronger-looking than we were in the Prem. It might take half a dozen games to get rolling, but when we do, it’s gonna be good.

 

I'm still enthusiastic about the season. But my confidence in what lies ahead isn't as strong as it has been in recent months. If you asked me today where I think we'll finish, I'd probably answer with top six - whereas previously I would have answered top two.

But I think that's just because we're going through a difficult few days and weeks. Seeing the likes of Stephens and Fraser back in the starting XI. Seeing Ramsdale heading to Newcastle, and an increase in the Dibling and Fernandes rumours. Seeing very few incoming rumours, let alone an actual signing. Seeing a difficult looking opening two fixtures to the season.

Hopefully it is just a sticky patch, and things will look much brighter come early September. I'm sure that is the case. But, yeah, right now I have concerns.

 

Reasons to be cheerful, lot more than three.

 

Interesting that Still really does not rate Sugawara. He was quite well thought of before signing for us and you'd think would be better than Bree or a makeshift right back.

We could probably get a few quid for him as well so I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up leaving.