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Episode 383: Renew Bree and Stewart?!?
95 Plays1 day ago
Southampton – As we get further into the season, the thought about those contracts that expire this season, are worth giving some time to think about!
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Transcript
Greg Hosts Solo, No Content Filler
00:00:12
DailySaintsPod
Hello and welcome back to the Daily Saints pod. My name is Greg. Flying solo without Zach today because scheduling ourselves to get it together and get daily content out to you sometimes a challenge. Apologies for anybody who missed us yesterday. just didn't really have much to
Thoughts on Football and Clubs
00:00:33
DailySaintsPod
talk about. And as much as we love being a daily show and getting content out for you... We don't just want to phone it in and give you 20 minutes of us talking absolute nonsense when we didn't really have talking points.
00:00:46
DailySaintsPod
But we are back today, or I am back today, to talk through some stuff that's been on my mind. You know, I like to have these episodes where I get my thoughts out and think about stuff to do with the club and stuff that I like to think about when it comes to the game. Yeah, I'm just going to get straight to it.
Ownership and Vision Balance
00:01:06
DailySaintsPod
Look, there's been a lot of anger towards Sports Republic and the ownership and what we club models and whether there's benefit recently and before the decent run of form has made it harder to be so angry.
00:01:19
DailySaintsPod
And at all of that's fair. We've been angry here and that will be a point of contention, a point of discussion for probably years to come. But when...
00:01:29
DailySaintsPod
when that anger occurs, it's easy to lose the detail and importance of balance, right? So it's easy to be angry when we lose and happy when we win. as much as you like to think of these games in isolation and think of it as a simple game of football, kick the ball in the net, after all, as we always say, actually the truth is,
00:01:55
DailySaintsPod
you know, much more complicated than that because there's bigger pictures to think about. It all comes down to balance, not just on the pitch. Obviously we talk about that a lot and about how balancing your attack and your defense is important, but, but specifically the balance of the here and now versus the bigger picture.
00:02:38
DailySaintsPod
And, uh, I mean, that's largely what I want to talk about the future.
Young Players in Crucial Games
00:02:41
DailySaintsPod
The example, comes to me because of the game at the weekend right we saw so many of our young players out on the pitch and given an opportunity to go out and shine and do their thing uh you know in a game where you're still experiencing a senior first team game of football just with less pressure because it's the cup and it makes me wonder about the even bigger picture that gets lost when we think about the now and the results.
00:03:11
DailySaintsPod
And the example I'd like to think of, think back to earlier in the season when Tonda came under a lot of criticism in a game for taking Leo Sienzer off in the, think the 60 or 61st minute when we were...
00:03:26
DailySaintsPod
needing a goal and he was clearly our best player on the pitch replaced him with Jay Robinson. And I'd like to frame it in a few different ways, right? From the perspective of that game, was that the right substitution to make in that moment to get a result from the game?
00:03:41
DailySaintsPod
Absolutely not. Not even a little bit. That was undebated among Saints fans, right? It was universally, that's a crazy substitution.
00:03:52
DailySaintsPod
But taking a step back and looking across the three-game week that we were in the middle of, right, is the balance of not having Leo available for another game worth the desire to push and get a result from that game?
00:04:09
DailySaintsPod
Now, I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. That's a far more complicated hypothetical to judge, right? Is having Leo available for 60 minutes for three games better than having 90 minutes of two?
00:04:23
DailySaintsPod
Because there's still 180 minutes of output.
00:04:26
DailySaintsPod
I don't know. I don't know the answers to that. I don't know if anyone knows the answer to that. It's one that you could debate. What about if you take... a step even further back from that, right? Because that's the simple things to think about, and you could even think about that across the season. What about from an even bigger picture perspective?
00:04:46
DailySaintsPod
Like, for example, Jay Robinson in the example that I've been using, what if... In the future, for Jay, as a young player who has the potential to be a fantastic player for us, hopefully, what if in the future he's in a position where he's on the pitch in a game in a similar position then where he needs to chase the game and he needs to be in the position to do something? Do you know what? He's got the confidence to go and do that because he experienced coming on
00:05:20
DailySaintsPod
for Leo in that moment and experienced the pressure and the, the other stuff that comes with it. And so now in this game, next season or the season after he has that experience to build upon.
00:05:35
DailySaintsPod
And what if because of that, he goes on and gets the goal or does something, right? It's, it's sometimes hard to see the forest for the trees.
00:05:45
DailySaintsPod
You don't always think about that long-term plan. You can't think about what Jay Robinson may or may not do for us in two seasons' time because it's far too abstract and far too hypothetical. We talk a lot about the quote from Johan Sporz about squad building being an art that will be judged with hindsight. And I think it's safe to say...
00:06:09
DailySaintsPod
a lot of the same about balancing
Strategic Player Contracts
00:06:11
DailySaintsPod
that out. And, you know, having games like Saturday where all of the young players shine brings to the forefront of the mind for me how important our academy has been for us over the years for a number of reasons, right? For the players it has produced who have done fantastic things for us. For the players that it's produced who we've sold for a tremendous profit, which whether you're lucky or not is...
00:06:37
DailySaintsPod
realistically the sort of business that keeps the club afloat and so you know taking the short term hit sometimes in these games to give them experience of real tough pressurised moments in games Sometimes we can't judge that at the scale of the game-by-game basis, especially as we do as a daily podcast, right? Every time there's a game, we talk about it.
00:07:02
DailySaintsPod
And you have to sort of sometimes take a step back and think about that and about the future, And believe it or not, that's one hell of a preamble into what I actually want to talk about today. I'm sure you're all very well aware that that's exactly how my brain works, right? We have this big preamble that leads me to think about...
00:07:25
DailySaintsPod
Something that will affect that and then we'll talk about it. So what I actually want to talk about today contracts and specifically contract renewals and point that's come up after the match at the weekend from James Bree because we've got several contracts in the summer that are out, right? So...
00:07:46
DailySaintsPod
So let's look at them, talk about it a bit, think about it and see, you know, where we go. because realistically, whatever happens toward this running of the season, regardless of whether next year is a tough year in the Premier League or let's face it, another tough year in the championship, uh, the summer's likely to see, see movement, right? It's going to be a shift one way or another.
00:08:14
DailySaintsPod
And the key thing we've seen happen so often, much to the criticism of many fans in the last few seasons and a few years, is just letting important players' contracts run down to absolutely nothing.
00:08:28
DailySaintsPod
And then not seeing a benefit of either selling them for a price or the benefit of retaining that player. I mean, I think back to, obviously, Kyle Walker-Peters and Shea Adams and Stuart Armstrong, all just players who just expired. That's it. We just let them go at the end of their contract. And there was no benefit to us for that happening. So...
00:08:53
DailySaintsPod
So hopefully the owners and the board have learned from that and are already sort of thinking about these things, even with so many games to play.
00:09:04
DailySaintsPod
Because it's just not something I think that we can afford to keep letting happen to player after player after player. So yeah, I alluded to it. It's a conversation point that Daily Echo and Alfie brought up about James Bree after scoring the winner in the Cup. His contract's up in the summer. Tonda was asked about it and he said the board is aware of his feelings, which is...
Contract Renewals: Bree, Stewart, McCarthy
00:09:28
DailySaintsPod
uh you know exactly the sort of cryptic answer you'd expect from tonda although in this case you know when it comes to contracts and negotiations i'm sure his hands are tied uh to what he can say in you know in so many ways and i'd like to think the fact that it's even being talked about publicly rather than just being shot down implies that there's some kind of offer on the table Is it a simple decision for the board, player that they effectively sent out on loan at the start the season because they didn't think was going to be part the picture, but now at least in the short term has come back and been a huge part of that and we look considerably different without him?
00:10:09
DailySaintsPod
I don't know. Is it simple decision for James Bree as if he would sign a new contract if we put it in front of him? I mean, it's been a tumultuous time here for him. He's played under seven different managers for us. Obviously got sent out on loan this season only to come back and do what he's done.
00:10:27
DailySaintsPod
I've always rated him. I've always liked James Bree. Yeah.
00:10:30
DailySaintsPod
I mean, I've always thought about how difficult it must be for him from the very start of his time at the club. He was brought in as a Nathan Jones player from Luton.
00:10:41
DailySaintsPod
And then very shortly after we bought him, Nathan Jones was gone. He was no longer Nathan Jones player for us. And then Luton got promoted that season, you know. And we got dumped out of the Premier League. And mean, that can't have been easy thing to deal with for him his own. But he persisted. He was a key part of our championship promotion season.
00:11:09
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. played a part for us in the Premier League, probably not as big of a part as he would like, but definitely not to the extent where I would ever consider him one of the... You know, we've talked about the problems and the scars.
00:11:21
DailySaintsPod
don't think that particularly that's the case with him. I've never doubted his work rate. I've never doubted his defensive ability. His physical presence is better than any of the other options that we've got at the moment, and that's why Tonda liked him in the first place, and it's...
00:11:36
DailySaintsPod
it's clear to see the impact that that has on the rest of the team when he plays. And yeah, I hope that we do right by him and offer him a new contract. And hope he signs it because for me, like, I like Brie. And I think that's, it feels like, especially based off of his current form, just an obvious no brainer, even if it's a short contract, like an extra year or an extra two years.
00:12:04
DailySaintsPod
It feels like a sensible one. Full-back is still a position we're going to need to strengthen when we realistically get to it. But yeah, he's got experience and
00:12:15
DailySaintsPod
I'd like to think that hopefully that's something that gets announced before the end of the season, just another boost. Yeah. The other, of course, big discussion point and talking point when it comes to contracts that expire this year is Ross Stewart.
00:12:31
DailySaintsPod
You know, this is an even trickier one for me to think about objectively. To me, objectively speaking, I think we're better team when Ross Duit is fit and playing for us. He is natural goal scorer.
00:12:47
DailySaintsPod
Even if he is not at the full level of fitness you'd expect, his ability to get himself in the positions where goals will occur is uncanny.
00:12:58
DailySaintsPod
We've seen that every time that he manages to get fit and plays for us. He clearly suits the profile of striker that we're aiming for and that we want to play with. And if he stays fit, he's got goals in him and scores for us when he is able to fairly routinely.
00:13:17
DailySaintsPod
However, when you take into account his full contract that he served with us, I mean, he's been more injured than he's not. You have to take that into account.
00:13:26
DailySaintsPod
And... You know, we knew this when we bought him. I'd like to think that that was a calculated risk. But honestly, the way it has come out that signings were taking place in that period of time when he was given the contract, maybe it's less calculated than we'd like to think. But...
00:13:46
DailySaintsPod
Obviously, the key thought is how much will you get out of another Ross Stewart contract? He's obviously a player of top quality who's not going to sign some kind of pay-as-you-play deal. That's just not going to work, right? That's not really the sort of thing that players tend to go for.
00:14:07
DailySaintsPod
But, you know, he going to be able to stay fit? mean, as it stands Has he done enough for us as such a key part to earn a new contract on the table from the club?
00:14:19
DailySaintsPod
I don't know, honestly. But you look at the situation we're going to be in in the summer, and... you'd like to think at least a short-term one-year deal is probably worthwhile for some level of stability. don't think you can kid yourself into thinking that he's ever going to be a 38 even a 46 game a season striker.
00:14:40
DailySaintsPod
Probably not even a 90-minute striker in any of the games he plays, but he's shown that when he does play, he can score goals, and that's got to be worth something.
00:14:49
DailySaintsPod
If he can deliver... 60 minutes in 60% of games, but in all of those games he gets, you know, three key chances.
00:15:02
DailySaintsPod
He's likely to bury one of them, and I don't know. Surely there's a price that is worth paying for that, even knowing that it's likely to be inconsistent.
00:15:14
DailySaintsPod
I don't know the real answer, but... I don't know. It will be interesting to see what happens to that either way. And honestly, I'm not sure it's one that we will hear about until the season runs its course. Either way, I think it will be one that goes down to the wire if we do decide to renew him.
00:15:36
DailySaintsPod
A couple of other contracts that are expiring as well, so thought I'd take a look through those. Alex McCarthy's deal is up at the end of the season, which is interesting. think we'll sign him on another deal.
00:16:00
DailySaintsPod
Is that another piece of the puzzle that we want to be dealing with in the same window? maybe I don't know. I don't know the answer that. I mean, I think, I think it's pretty clear the club's position on Bazzouna. Uh, I think it's really likely that we see him move on, you know, would he be good enough to be our second choice goalie? He absolutely would, but I don't think that he is going to want to be a second choice goalie. He's going to want to be the first choice for every place. He's going to want to fight his way, to stay in his international team.
00:16:30
DailySaintsPod
And, uh, You know, Ramsdale technically still on the books, although it's easy to forget, but he's likely to either get his permanent move to Newcastle, which seems pretty likely, or even if he doesn't, I suspect that he will move on to somewhere for a price that we will be happy with. I don't see him coming back and playing for us.
00:16:51
DailySaintsPod
Perrette, obviously we've got the option to sign. think it's probably too early to make a proper judgment on whether that will be something that we do or not. Early signs are promising. His clean sheet record and safe percentage versus shots taken records kind of speak for themselves. He's top of the charts in the shot percentage and more clean sheets than the rest of the season for us under his gaze.
00:17:16
DailySaintsPod
There's other factors that go into that, it's still an impressive thing. He's definitely not the complete package still. He's got a mistake in him.
00:17:26
DailySaintsPod
But I think he's probably good enough to be our first choice goalkeeper next season, whichever league we end up in, which is kind of nice to think about. Yeah.
00:17:38
DailySaintsPod
so so that would only at that point leave us in the hunt for a backup keeper so i guess to go back to it would would we renew mccarthy as a second choice or just find a new second choice i don't know honestly I think that McCarthy's last contract for him was... think it was pretty widely publicised at the time that he was thinking that would probably be his last contract. So, I don't know. I guess time will tell and we will
Romeu's Future: Coaching Transition?
00:18:05
DailySaintsPod
see...
00:18:07
DailySaintsPod
in that regard but it's it's going to continue to be a position that's a point of discussion whether Zach likes or not it's an important part of the team and it seems to be something we've been struggling with so other contracts expiring Oriol Romelu is obviously after his short term time back at the club he's It's obviously fantastic to see Oriel back at the club.
00:18:52
DailySaintsPod
But I think that we all know that at least in part, he was a novelty signing, bringing him back to the club. You'd like to think that what he brings to the dressing room in experience and drive and motivation is probably enough to justify the cost of signing him this season, to be honest.
00:19:13
DailySaintsPod
But it probably isn't enough to justify signing him on for any further than that. Yeah.
00:19:19
DailySaintsPod
I don't know what Orioles' opinion is or future holds if he wants to go and be a coach or something in the back room. But maybe this is a logical progression into that to come back and see out your career as a player with us, who many would consider here to be his home, his proper football home. Yeah.
00:19:41
DailySaintsPod
But if that's what he wants to do, he's a shoo-in for me to do an excellent job in something like that. Like say, the experience, the ability to motivate,
Strategic Planning and Expirations
00:20:17
DailySaintsPod
So if we do end up playing at Wembley in a playoff final this year, is there a more fitting way to see out a wonderful career than putting that red and white shot on and stepping out at Wembley in the playoff final?
00:20:30
DailySaintsPod
the picture and the story kind of already write themselves in my head which is always dangerous thing right it has to be said but but yeah that's uh that's where i suspect that will go the next of course
00:20:47
DailySaintsPod
is the rest of the contracts are our loan options and whether they think all of our loans have been brought in with an option to buy, at least as far as I am. My sources online are reading a show me.
00:21:04
DailySaintsPod
The obvious one being Jalert, who I think has unfortunately a a thorough time with injuries in his time with us.
00:21:14
DailySaintsPod
When he has been available, he has shown potential of a decent player and decent enough in spells. But it's a position on the pitch that we lack consistency in. And I don't know if bringing in another player who's prone to injuries is really what we're going to be looking for.
00:21:32
DailySaintsPod
mean, maybe we do bring him in because we've seen enough from him on the training ground. And when we have seen him to... to think that he can be that player. I don't know if I've seen enough from him, unfortunately, just through mostly circumstance and injury.
00:21:46
DailySaintsPod
But we will see. Kyle Lahren is far too early to make a judgment on, right? Signs so far are promising.
00:21:57
DailySaintsPod
already exceeding, I think, a lot of fans' expectations. You know, it was easy to fall into the, sports Republican, never going get a sign in right. Look at this player. Here's low-light reel of all the goals he's missed, but...
00:22:13
DailySaintsPod
seems to have hit the ground running for us just fine. Plenty of experience. Was always going to adjust much easier because of his vast experience adjusting to different types of football all around where he has played in different countries and different leagues. it's great to see. And hopefully he will go on to play an important part of the season and get his fitness up. And...
00:22:37
DailySaintsPod
And, you know, he does that, then maybe we'll sign him and that's one less thing to think about in the striker department next season. Yeah, and the other loan is, course, Perrette, who I talked about when we talked about the goalies. Yeah.
00:22:49
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, that's kind of all the contracts that are expiring at the end of this season. If you wanted to cast your mind even further ahead, though, because you'd like to think that that's the sort of long-term planning that Spores should be thinking about and looking at, there are a few contracts that end After next season, so Dozie, Manning and Shea Charles all have contracts that expire.
00:23:14
DailySaintsPod
So it's time now to just get the extensions in early, get that signed. Manning's an interesting one. It's been a bit of a mixed bag for him.
00:23:23
DailySaintsPod
Sometimes he gets a lot of criticism. Sometimes that's fair, sometimes it's not. think we talked a lot on the show about how in the premier league season he was one of our more consistent players and he's been a solid part of our team for better or for worse uh since he signed and maybe to be fair to him that's that's part of the problem right he'll be tarred with that same brush and has made enough mistakes to to be lumped in with that category uh when he's good he can be really really good don't get me wrong uh
00:23:55
DailySaintsPod
Sometimes he's very shaky in defence and it's a point of concern. So I don't know. don't know if we'll think about signing him on further.
00:24:06
DailySaintsPod
Dozie is an interesting one. be honest, I think it's more likely that we see him move in the summer. It's nice to see him breaking his way back into the first team. I'm not entirely sure where the club will fall on it, I suspect that...
00:24:20
DailySaintsPod
he'll go in the summer and if he doesn't go in the summer maybe next year he goes on to fight his way into the team properly and maybe we give him another deal but I don't know kind feel from reading in between the lines from what we hear from the club that although we're going to give him the opportunity to embed himself and make a mark on the team this season that from his perspective perhaps the writing's on the wall and in the summer we'll see that movement finally And then Shea Charles, to me, is the obvious one. He's He's player who's had a couple of injuries in his time with us, sure.
00:24:55
DailySaintsPod
And I'm sure that they will sort of have that as part of a concern. But when he's on the pitch for us, he shows that he is an important part of the team. He is a quality. And I don't know if I can really put it into words, but just kind of has an aura about him on the pitch It's just a quality that you can see and tell in a player. He just carries himself in such a way that he knows he can do it at this level and probably at the level up above. It's an absolute no-brainer for me. Sign him up.
00:25:25
DailySaintsPod
Get as many years on the deal as you can. young player who's going to go places for sure and hopefully will build that time with us. That's probably the easiest one on the list to provide an answer to for me.
00:25:38
DailySaintsPod
I think his work on the pitch speaks for itself and it's going to be important for us. But look, that's it. But, of course, huge caveat on the whole thought experiment that there's still a lot football to be played this season. And all of it can change at the drop of a hat.
00:25:58
DailySaintsPod
Ups, downs, comings and goings. That's why we love the game. If it was all straightforward and all easy, it would be boring after all. What would we talk about?
Balancing Strategy, Investments, and Expectations
00:26:08
DailySaintsPod
But look, if striking the balance, which is what I started the episode talking about, was actually an easy thing to achieve, everyone would do it, right? It would be easy. And whilst our situation at the moment is definitely far from ideal, we'd like to think we should be a lot higher up, especially with sort of... money we have seen invested in the players we've brought in. Outside of us and our club, one thing that is rampant in football pretty much everywhere at the moment is that the people who outwardly portray that it is easy and should be easy are very much proving to us all
00:26:45
DailySaintsPod
It definitely isn't. I'll leave you to decide who I'm talking about those instances, although think it speaks for itself. But listen, that is all I have got time for today. you have listened this far, thank you so much for sticking with me, and I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know your thoughts and opinions.
00:27:08
DailySaintsPod
Who should we be...
Engage with Daily Saints Pod
00:27:10
DailySaintsPod
setting as a highest priority to renew the contract of and add more years on let me know we are on all the socials everywhere as Daily Saints Pod we are on TikTok X Facebook Instagram Blue Sky YouTube everywhere. Hit us up, let us know and you're there, why not drop us a like and subscribe or a rating on Spotify if you're enjoying what you listen to. We are a newly independent podcast and all of that stuff goes such a long way to helping us and we see it all And we are grateful for it all. And it drives us to continue doing what we do and make this content for you. Because we do love doing it. And it really fills us with joy when we see it all. So thank you, everyone.
00:27:59
DailySaintsPod
We will be back tomorrow to talk more about Saints and more about football and more about all of it, as we always try to do. But until then, everyone, I hope you've enjoyed my episode. I hope that you have a wonderful day and we will see tomorrow.