Is the Saints transfer policy working?

FFS, mate. I've not had my breakfast. Spacesaint wins the award of worst analogy of the year (yes already) and you get the too-much-information and failure-to-discourage-awful-analogy awards. And after I'd posted about you great value too (see 118 above!).

Oh and your long suffering wife gets the "Get Me Away From This Loser" prize, which should give her the means to make a better signing!

 

Apologies if already posted but Jack S said he was asked to share.....

Apparently some of you lot have been having a meltdown of monumental proportions over our transfer dealings this window, so I have been requested to pass on a little unofficial information, by way of commentary on how certain things unfolded.

As I shared back in the summer regarding Jose Fonte, [which was mainly called 'bullshit' on the internets before the season began to unfold] -- our dearly beloved Captain came back from the Euros with an ego so overly inflated it struggled to fit through the dressing room doors at little old Southampton. The only thing keeping him from floating off into the clouds, was the "Winners Medal" around his neck, the weight of which just about kept him in fleeting touch with the ground.

His general "I am unbelievably wonderful, aren't I?!" attitude, whilst at first tolerated and to some degree indulged due to Jose's previously widespread popularity, began to rub quite a few players and staff at the Club up the wrong way, as it continued into the season, and showed no signs of abating. The fact he still had the support of some senior players due to their previously accrued respect for him, caused something of a split between some of the players. It was not particularly nasty or accrimonious, but certainly not the easiest atmosphere for the players and staff to work with at times. "Awkward" was a word that came up a lot to describe some of the working relationships at Staplewood.

The Club would have kept Jose until the summer [due to lack of available preferred options in Jan window], but it was Claude himself that decided he wanted to move him on now if we could, to resolve a lot of the underlying bad feeling which can lead to rifts. The Manager just wanted it sorted, so he could begin fostering the kind of team spirit he desires to build up again at our Club, everyone pulling in the same direction, with no distractions or divided loyalties.
Obviously Claude cannot say so himself publicly, but he found Jose to be "très difficile" to work with. Something of a "thorn in the side" of the way he likes to work on the training ground also, due to varying kinds of "interferences".

Whilst he is missed by some of the players who still liked and respected him -- already there is a vast improvement in the atmosphere around the Club now that the Ego has landed in pastures new.

It might not look like it to some from afar, but it really was in the Club's best interests that a relationship which was growing in toxicity was brought to a premature end. There are nothing like the hard feelings as when Lallana left throwing out toys and refusing to play; it was simply for the best that Jose [and we] moved on.

Ultimately, Jose left as that is what Claude Puel wanted.

Once it was clear that was to be the case and there would be no resolution found -- we pressed on with the matters of how to proceed.

Defensively speaking, our main target was Fabian Schär from Hoffenheim. We believed we had an understanding on a fee for him, but when Virgil got injured and the Fonte situation was becoming more public, the fee suddenly rose by more than £5m, 'allegedly' because Hoffenheim were being asked to up their bid for the player they wanted as a replacement.

We were not prepared to pay over our valuation, and moved on to our second target, who is playing at a top Portuguese side [I was asked not to say who for reasons pertaining to the Club in question]. We previously were of the understanding that the player would be keen to join us, and came to an agreement with his Club -- however, when it came to tying things up with the player's agent, we learnt that circumstances had changed, and the player did not want to move abroad until the summer, due to current personal circumstances / family reasons.

We moved onto our third target, Mamadou Sakho, but considered the required fee to be ridiculously inflated under the circumstances, and the wages asked for by the player to be extortionate for the level of ability on offer. So...

we moved onto the alternative plan of attempting to bring forward a potential deal we were looking into for the summer, namely Serdar Tasci from Spartak. His contract is set to expire in the summer, but we tried to bring him in on loan now with the view to offering a permanent contract at the end of the season if all went well.

We agreed a loan fee with the club, but felt the player's wage demands were unrealistic. We were still hopeful of coming to an agreement as the closing of the window loomed, but an injury to the player effectively ended our interest at this time.

We did have another "iron in the fire" even then, which we could have got over the line in time -- Claude was asked for his further input, but it was his decision to stick with what we have. Claude has been very impressed with Jack Stephens, and wants to give him further opportunities to improve. He has also been very pleased with the progress of Florin Gardos in training since returning from injury. He is very rusty from so long out, but Claude apparently sees a lot to work with in him, and said his return is already like having a new player. Full of "interesting possibilities" I should imagine.

No truth to Jordy Amat rumours.

Virgil's injuries [plural] are complicated, but not as bad as we first feared. [Unofficially] - his achillies tendon was not ruptured [a very small tear which is already healing well], along with some minor ankle ligament damage, shallow hairline metatarsal fracture and heavy bruising of the foot. We won't be seeing him again for a few weeks, but he shouldn't be out for months as has been widely reported. If his recovery goes as well as we hope, Virgil could be back in training in around four to six weeks or so.

Message ends.

 

Mate, this could be truth-truth or false-truth. I don't have the tools to judge. However, I am going to do what we all do in the circumstances, and ask myself if it makes sense. Well, yes it does. So bollocks or not, thanks for this!

My nearest to being ITK, and it's pathetically little, comes from friends in France. They rate Claude highly, and this "spirit" thing is mentioned a lot. He did the "whole being greater than the sum of the parts" bit with Nice. Sounds good to me.

 

Jack Schitt knows Jack Schitt, for what it's worth. There are tabloids with more reliable information.

 

If that's the case, it stands to reason that we shouldn't sell even if the player is demanding the move; hold on tooth and nail and see if they'll change their minds, because we may have little chance of ever finding a player near their equal.

 

You're probably right. But his interpretation makes at least as much sense as any others we have been offered. And it's a marked improvement on the "the board don't know what they are doing" hysteria that seems to be the default position everytime things don't go well for us.

 

The bit I think is likely to be on the mark is the Virgil injury unfortunately

 

You seem not to have noticed that Jose isn't actually very good anymore.

And if (as more than a few sources have indicated) he was challenging or in any way undermining the manager's authority, then he had to go.

 

Not sounding too promising is it? Can't we just give him a bionic ankle, we must have the technology by now? It's been 40 years since Steve Austin ffs.

 

Thanks for sharing this. No idea if it's true but a lot of it makes sense. I'm hoping the wrong bit is about VVD.

 

Have to say that it does sound plausible about Jose. He has been here a long time, seen it, done it, got the T-shirt....coupled with his Euro medal....could make him less amenable to change. We saw him as Mr Southampton and he probably did too. All this would be difficult to a manager introducing a change in playing style and could initiate factions....those closer to Fonte v the others and especially the youngsters who were obviously delighted to see their chances open up. Jose wasn't played at the beginning of the season (his head wasn't in the right place according to Claude) which some fans interpreted as refusing to play (which Jose denied and I believe). That was probably Claude exerting his authority. Not playing him in the Europa could be the same thing or possibly a deliberate ploy if we thought we might sell him to a club still in the Europa. The whole thing could escalate to the point of no return as I can see how unhappy the whole situation would make Jose...especially as he became aware of some ungrateful fans turning on him....I bet he was bewildered (very few of us can see our own faults in a situation).

Is Jack Schitt informed or is he just good at interpretation of situations....who knows.

 

It's worth pointing out that the majority of the frustration of Fonte's sale comes from the fact it leaves us short in numbers rather than quality. At 33 he was declining and certainly won't be too hard to replace given time. That is the trouble with January purchases, no time and inflated prices.

 

Makes a lot of sense in my view.......there is little doubt about the unrest in the dressing room.That at least was easier to see from a fans point of view. The only doubt I have on the "big head issue" in Jose' s defence that to me didn't fit his personality. I didn't know him very well personally although I had met him a couple of times socially and he didn't strike me as being that way enclined. Having said that I understand that his dressing room personality and his social personality may have been totally different.
Regarding the signing of a centre back the suggestion of three or four in the pipe line to sign someone is in my view stretching it a bit. Although as soon as the teams heard about the injury to VVD it stood to reason the price would go up. As sympathetic I am to the club I still say they were slow out of the blocks on this one.

 

I don't have a scooby doo about what happened, with Fonte.
My instinct tells me that a footballer, happy with his situation at a club he has spent 7 years with, doesn't change agents, to one that is infamous for selling players, if it isn't his intention to leave.

 

He also tries to write as much as possible. Thinking it makes it look better for some reason. While all of the info has been out there in the first place.

Also who do I believe on the Amat rumours Di Marzio a person who has thousands on contacts or random guy.

 

He is an attention seeking clown, he just types what he thinks a lot of fans want to hear.

 

Look at his Twitter:



It's beyond cringy.

 

I'd personally have taken the 5m January hit and got Schar if any of what he says is true.

 

This ^^

Apart from the bit about personally taking the hit for 5m - I'll leave thst one to LTL as he obviously has a bigger sofa

 

Well, I have to be honest and admit that everything that "Jack Schitt" wrote is correct.

Apart from what he said about Fonte

And apart from what he said about a split amongst the players.

And apart from what he said about Puel making the decision to let him go.

And apart from the Central Defensive targets all falling down due to issues outside of Saints control (as if, paying £5m more for a player is THAT big a deal anymore these days, even for a frugal club like ours)

And apart from the Virgil injury assessment.

But apart from that, it's all true.

(People at the club find this bloke hilarious, by the way)