Fonte submits Official Transfer Request

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Got to sell asap if you ask me. Fonte a few weeks ago on instagram saying "contrary to reports, no offer has been made to me by the club". LR today, "Jose has indicated that he wants to play elsewhere" a new improved deal in terms of money and contract extension has been turned down several times. Power phrasing but that's the gist of it. Can't see JF taking this lying down, so need to get rid off asap for the good of the club. I support Southampton FC, not Jose Fonte FC.

He's been a great servant to the club, and has always been one of my favourite players, but this is beyond repair. Players come and go as we all know more than most.
 
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fatletiss said:
I agree with your sentiment apart from it being "beyond poor". With all due respect to you, you haven't given a possible way of dealing with it other than to say we should have let him go - and I and probably 31,000 other Saints fans would have been up in arms if our skipper had become the fourth player leaving in August.

What could the club have done?

Offer him a new extension? They did that twice and he turned it down
Offer him a rise? they did that and he said "no"

Now all that has happened is he has asked for a move. I genuinely can't think of anything else the club could have done, however I am happy to hear any suggestions.

*none of this is being sarcastic, genuinely would listen to other options
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You are quite right. I haven't. I've simply stated that it is beyond poor that the club have allowed the situation to escalate to this degree. And I stand by that. My opinion, based on personal experience of dealing with leaders (particularly strong and respected leaders) within groups is that you simply must, at all costs, fully resolve any issues, perceived or not, before you can regard the matter as addressed. The club clearly understands that Fonte is more than just the current incumbent of the armband. The club should therefore have made certain that this exact situation (and "disgruntled player says something potentially upsetting in first few days of transfer window" is hardly a tough one to predict) was not allowed to happen. That is simply an ultimatum- take this or go with our blessing. Fonte's departure could quite easily have been used as a legitimate reason to deny another transfer if we wished to maintain an air of "not a selling club"ability.
 
hotbovril said:
You are quite right. I haven't. I've simply stated that it is beyond poor that the club have allowed the situation to escalate to this degree. And I stand by that. My opinion, based on personal experience of dealing with leaders (particularly strong and respected leaders) within groups is that you simply must, at all costs, fully resolve any issues, perceived or not, before you can regard the matter as addressed. The club clearly understands that Fonte is more than just the current incumbent of the armband. The club should therefore have made certain that this exact situation (and "disgruntled player says something potentially upsetting in first few days of transfer window" is hardly a tough one to predict) was not allowed to happen. That is simply an ultimatum- take this or go with our blessing. Fonte's departure could quite easily have been used as a legitimate reason to deny another transfer if we wished to maintain an air of "not a selling club"ability.
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What you don't factor in, HB, is Jose's agent getting in his ear straight after his winning the Euro's and telling him he can now set his sights higher than Southampton FC. Of course, I have no evidence that this happened, but we know from our last few summers that agents have a massive influence on players wanting to improve their situation. Les Reed says that Jose was offered an improved and extended contract. What else could the club have done?
 
I'm not surprised that Jose Fonte has handed in a transfer request, mainly because of how strongly he was linked with a move away in the summer. Both he and the club seem to be contradicting one another with regards to offers to improve his contract but it has now come to light that since Fonte and Portugal won the Euros in the summer he has rejected offers from Southampton both to improve his wages and extend the length of his deal. I really feel as though that was the turning point in all of this. Since the summer he has barely done so much as an in-house interview and as the club captain I feel he has a responsibility to address the fans from time to time. It has been clear since the summer and since the Euros that Fonte sees his future and the latter days of his career elsewhere. It's very disappointing how the whole thing has been handled but what is even more depressing is that the last survivor and perhaps the keystone of the side that dragged Southampton from the bottom of League One to where we are today now wants to abandon ship. Whatever materialises over the coming days or weeks won't take away the most fond memories I have in all the years I've supported Southampton. Jose joined the League One Saints from Crystal Palace who were in the Championship at the time, such was his belief in the long term project of the club. The season we got promoted to the Championship he practically carried us over the finish line and his last gasp winner against Brighton was one of my favourite Southampton goals in over 15 years of supporting them. Players come and go every year but players like Fonte who give their life, soul and best years of their career for the club barely come along every 10 years. Will be gutted the day he leaves, bloody love the guy! Worried about what the future holds for us now, a want-away skipper doesn't set a good precedent for the rest of the squad. Of all the players we have lost, Walcott, Schneiderlin, Lambert, Lallana etc, I'd say this one will hurt the most.
 
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Not been handled well but lets face it he's a Euro winner with probably only a season left at the top. Can't blame him for wanting to cash in. He's given us the best years of his career. Get another CB on the bus and onwards and upwards.
 
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hotbovril said:
You are quite right. I haven't. I've simply stated that it is beyond poor that the club have allowed the situation to escalate to this degree. And I stand by that. My opinion, based on personal experience of dealing with leaders (particularly strong and respected leaders) within groups is that you simply must, at all costs, fully resolve any issues, perceived or not, before you can regard the matter as addressed. The club clearly understands that Fonte is more than just the current incumbent of the armband. The club should therefore have made certain that this exact situation (and "disgruntled player says something potentially upsetting in first few days of transfer window" is hardly a tough one to predict) was not allowed to happen. That is simply an ultimatum- take this or go with our blessing. Fonte's departure could quite easily have been used as a legitimate reason to deny another transfer if we wished to maintain an air of "not a selling club"ability.
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Fair enough. We disagree. I have years of management experience too; none of it relevant to a superstar footballer though. I just don't see what the club could have done. They did the things they could. My last question to you is this:

Do you think the club should be strong when star players want to leave?

My answer to this is "yes" because it sometimes seems too easy to leave Saints.
 
Found this fairly interesting:

Les Reed on whether Saints have hit a glass ceiling in terms of their league progress…

That’s what we have to achieve. We might aspire to be above that, but what we have to achieve is to be at the top of that group on a consistent basis.

That why when a season like last season comes along, we might be able to take advantage of it.

I don’t like naming other clubs but Leicester won the league and are now in a relegation battle. We don’t want to do that. We want to be consistent in everything we do, and build a club long term that can always be ready to go through the door if it opens, but on a regular basis and not just a one off basis if everything falls into place for us.

That’s what we want to have, is that consistency in those sort of positions in the league, at the same time to continue to aspire to do better than that if the opportunity arises based on our resources and circumstances.

Doesn't want to win the league? :emoticon-0104-surpr
 
How pissed off will Fonte be when no one meets our valuation?
I am sure an ITN on TSW said our asking price is £12-15m...will anyone pay that?
 
Saints FC 76 said:
Found this fairly interesting:

Les Reed on whether Saints have hit a glass ceiling in terms of their league progress…

That’s what we have to achieve. We might aspire to be above that, but what we have to achieve is to be at the top of that group on a consistent basis.

That why when a season like last season comes along, we might be able to take advantage of it.

I don’t like naming other clubs but Leicester won the league and are now in a relegation battle. We don’t want to do that. We want to be consistent in everything we do, and build a club long term that can always be ready to go through the door if it opens, but on a regular basis and not just a one off basis if everything falls into place for us.

That’s what we want to have, is that consistency in those sort of positions in the league, at the same time to continue to aspire to do better than that if the opportunity arises based on our resources and circumstances.

Doesn't want to win the league? :emoticon-0104-surpr
Click to expand...

He gets called out when he preaches how far we can go and then gets called out when he gives a very realistic statement.... damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

Who'd be a football chief eh? :)
 
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Saints FC 76 said:
Found this fairly interesting:

Les Reed on whether Saints have hit a glass ceiling in terms of their league progress…

That’s what we have to achieve. We might aspire to be above that, but what we have to achieve is to be at the top of that group on a consistent basis.

That why when a season like last season comes along, we might be able to take advantage of it.

I don’t like naming other clubs but Leicester won the league and are now in a relegation battle. We don’t want to do that. We want to be consistent in everything we do, and build a club long term that can always be ready to go through the door if it opens, but on a regular basis and not just a one off basis if everything falls into place for us.

That’s what we want to have, is that consistency in those sort of positions in the league, at the same time to continue to aspire to do better than that if the opportunity arises based on our resources and circumstances.

Doesn't want to win the league? :emoticon-0104-surpr
Click to expand...
That's not what he is saying. Our board think long term and want us to be a consistently good team and take our chance when that rare opportunity comes along. It came along last season (and perhaps the one before) and as I've said before, we could have been Leicester. That chance certainly isn't this season as all the usual teams are winning and we aren't at our best. We won't/can't pay a fortune for a lot of players and buy the title, but, if we are up there regularly, our chance may come. Of course Les wants the title, but he thinks our system is the best opportunity without risking relegation or money problems. Remember Blackburn Rovers. It fell into place for Leicester and could for us. I have no problem with what Les has said because I could have written that answer for him.
 
saintrichie123 said:
How pissed off will Fonte be when no one meets our valuation?
I am sure an ITN on TSW said our asking price is £12-15m...will anyone pay that?
Click to expand...
His notice went in because his agent has everything in place...it's all over bar the argument. I suppose we are looking for money that will enable us to replace him....we will certainly save on wages. Can anyone really see Fonte playing for us after January?
 
hotbovril said:
You are quite right. I haven't. I've simply stated that it is beyond poor that the club have allowed the situation to escalate to this degree. And I stand by that. My opinion, based on personal experience of dealing with leaders (particularly strong and respected leaders) within groups is that you simply must, at all costs, fully resolve any issues, perceived or not, before you can regard the matter as addressed. The club clearly understands that Fonte is more than just the current incumbent of the armband. The club should therefore have made certain that this exact situation (and "disgruntled player says something potentially upsetting in first few days of transfer window" is hardly a tough one to predict) was not allowed to happen. That is simply an ultimatum- take this or go with our blessing. Fonte's departure could quite easily have been used as a legitimate reason to deny another transfer if we wished to maintain an air of "not a selling club"ability.
Click to expand...

Lol. I don't think you will get many top leaders agreeing with you on this. It is the mark of a weak leader who feels it necessary to delve into the detailed issues rather than focus on moving the organisation forward strategically. It's a relatively minor issue being blown out of proportion by media and on forums. And it certainly wouldn't be a good leader who provides a development path and then does everything they can to stop them developing beyond the organisation.

I think SFC and Fonte are both behaving responsibly. We noted his request in the summer and held fire for six months in the hope that Fonte would see an opportunity opening up here to take him on to the next level (it will happen but not that quickly) but as he is still unsettled they have agreed to consider offers. I've got no problem with either. Both need to move on.
 
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Fat Les also say's we wouldn't have signed Alderweireld if we hadn't have sold Lovren, and wouldn't have VVD if we hadn't have lost out on Alderweireld. So that puts pay to the wet dreams of ever having a Toby and Virg CB pairing. Also emphasises Jose is the consistent rock throughout the changes.

He's also basically saying Claude hasn't had much time for coaching, but only for recovery and preparation for the next game.
 
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