Fonte submits Official Transfer Request

[Brixham Saint]

Nope


But really really wrong

Soon as he went to Mendes it all went wrong. Mendes stroked Fonte's ego and made him believe he could get him a big move. Utd made contact but that was it, but 'some one' kept leaking stuff to the press to try and get more interest. All this and the way Jose was acting, pissed the club of a little. Hence why he was cut out of all the media stuff etc. No big clubs came in and Fonte decided he couldn't dent his ego and sort things with Saints, so went with the best offer available, which was a move to West Ham.

I don't like Reed etc, but that is because of another reason. Fonte's agent is the person in the wrong here.

You don't like Reed because.........?

 

[fatletiss]

I'm neither gonna agree nor disagree with this, but you are most likely correct. Agents are **** personified. However a good board with ambition should be able to null the threat of any agent, no matter how predatory he may be. It's not like the agent spends 24 hours a day with the player, whispering in his ear about 'what might be' etc. They're most likely on some super yacht in the Med drinking champagne. The club however, is with the player every day. If they can't reassure him and give him positive vibes, then the fault partly lies with them.

Also, I'm not really sure how my point can be "wrong". The only person who could say if I'm right or wrong is Fonte himself, because I'm discussing his inner emotions, and no matter who your source is, I doubt they are close enough to Jose to know his true feelings.

The fact is, we have lost our star player, manager, and now captain, in just over 6 months. If the board are not partly to blame for this shambles then who is?!

Oh yeah right, let's just play the 'agent' card again.

We could have kept all three if we had offered more money. Simple as that. Some people would argue against the club doing this, but I wouldn't. They all deserved to be given more. And anyone who says we couldn't afford it, well, if we finish 7-8 places below 6th in May, then that's £10m we would have 'lost' due to being so stingy (yes I know there's no guarantees we would have finished 6th again, but u get my point).

I get your point, however I read your first post first. That clearly indicated you blaming the club (our captain actually leaving, etc). I don't think anyone can blame one and not the other, which is why I'm not moaning about either.

 

[Schad]

You don't like Reed because.........?

According to a couple people with sterling reputations around here, Reed has apparently been pissing off academy players and their families by trying to push them to hire Les' son as their agent. And it's been going on for quite a while now.

 

[fatletiss]

As I have said before we are a stepping stone club. Kat and the others want us to be a club that doesn't rely on the owner pumping money in to clear debts etc. Player sales will always happen when a club is run this way. It's why I myself don't get connected to any player, it's easier that way.

Am I saying making the club run itself with no big backing is the right way? Nope, but I am saying you either accept it as how Kat runs things or you are going to moan everytime a player moves on.

.

Of all the posts written in the last five years, this one should be stickies and read over and over by fans who get unhappy when players leave or we don't spend millions.

 

[fatletiss]

Keep seeing people say "fans need to realise what sort of club we are" in the suggestion it will stop them getting pissed off when we sell.

But the fans realise exactly what sort of club we are, which is why they are annoyed. They aren't happy that we are ran this way and every time a player is sold it reinforces their negative view.

N.B. This is not a reference to all fans, just those that have major issues with the way in which we are ran.

Which tells me they may have picked up the wrong scarf when they chose their club or won't ever be happy until we are owned by a free spending mega billionaire.

They won't be happy for a while and perhaps haven't the same inner emotional tie to a club that some fans have.

 

[fatletiss]

According to a couple people with sterling reputations around here, Reed has apparently been pissing off academy players and their families by trying to push them to hire Les' son as their agent. And it's been going on for quite a while now.

And that's wrong and should be dealt with if true.

 

[Ronnie Hotdog (MLsfc)]

Which tells me they may have picked up the wrong scarf when they chose their club or won't ever be happy until we are owned by a free spending mega billionaire.

They won't be happy for a while and perhaps haven't the same inner emotional tie to a club that some fans have.

I think it's the inner emotional tie that is the problem for them!

You say "when they chose their club" but this never happened for myself. As a young child I (forgive me) suported Man United. But after watching my first few saints games I kind of fell in love. It was never a choice to support saints, it just sort of happened. Even if I hated things at saints (very much the opposite) I couldn't stop supporting them if I tried because of that emotional tie I have with the club.

I suspect this is why you hear fans complain week after week about the club being ran this way or that, wanting the manager out or putting down a decent player, but they keep renewing that season ticket!

 

[fatletiss]

I think it's the inner emotional tie that is the problem for them!

You say "when they chose their club" but this never happened for myself. As a young child I (forgive me) suported Man United. But after watching my first few saints games I kind of fell in love. It was never a choice to support saints, it just sort of happened. Even if I hated things at saints (very much the opposite) I couldn't stop supporting them if I tried because of that emotional tie I have with the club.

I suspect this is why you hear fans complain week after week about the club being ran this way or that, wanting the manager out or putting down a decent player, but they keep renewing that season ticket!

I think you didn't quite get my message there. Most fans are like you and I. You fall in love with a team or a club. You don't choose them. It happens and then you realise you are in up to your neck and you love that club through all the **** and all the good (well the little bits of good). It's then too late, you're in deep and you haven't chosen them because they're going to win the league every other season. As you say, it just sort of happens.

Anyone who has that emotional tie and is moaning over the same things (spending over the top money, selling players) either doesn't understand their emotional tie or doesn't really have it.

That or they just were brought up getting everything they wanted so I'll blame the parents.

There is not a single Saints fan out there of any age who fell in love with Saints for the glory. Even a fan of the last 7 years has hardly been brought up in trophy laden glory. So I suggest it's about lack of emotional control, expectation and understanding.

 

[Osvaldorama]

Southampton fans are a moany lot, but we have had more to moan about than other clubs this season.

Selling your captain to a team one or two places above you in the league, in January is mental from a football perspective. We are the only club in England that would even consider it. You have to forgive some fans for thinking we are still run like other clubs really.

Edit: I'm not saying that it's the wrong decision, just that we are the only club that would do it in the Premier League.

 

[fran-MLs little camera]

We need another CB, so far from ideal, but Puel says that the Fonte situation has been distracting for the team. That must have escalated with the official request, so would forcing Jose to stay be the answer. Might not do anything deliberately, but would Fonte be in the right frame of mind to finish the season. May be the best all round....Virgil would be a different kettle of fish.

 

[Romsey_Saint]

I trust the person I talk to more then a random guy having a rant. Also Mendes is the most powerful agent in the world, we would have no chance against him. The sad thing is once a player/agent wants to leave that is that. All clubs can do is delay it for a bit or get the highest price.

As I have said before we are a stepping stone club. Kat and the others want us to be a club that doesn't rely on the owner pumping money in to clear debts etc. Player sales will always happen when a club is run this way. It's why I myself don't get connected to any player, it's easier that way.

Am I saying making the club run itself with no big backing is the right way? Nope, but I am saying you either accept it as how Kat runs things or you are going to moan everytime a player moves on.

Koeman:
Played the club a bit, but then got a crazy offer he couldn't turn down. I have no problem with that.

Players:

Mane: Used us as a stepping stone and I have no problem with that.

Pelle: Good offer for a player his age.

Fonte: Got his head messed with by his super agent. 100% agent ****ing up a players head.

Wanyama: Has a dick head as a agent and that is 100% true. But Wanyama wanted to move to a bigger club, so didn't sign a new contract. I have no problem with that


Lallana: Acted a twat and fed the press lies, that is the only part I got annoyed with, him wanting to move to a bigger club is fine by me. Same with Lovren.

Etc etc.

People need to realise what kind of club we are. Maybe it will stop some fans going mad when a player leaves.

As long as we replace the players we sell with decent/ good players (we will never be able to replace players with players of the same standard) then I am happy. The board have done well so far, so deserve to be trusted.

If at the end of the season I see it as a **** up. Then I will change my mind.

Beefy - this must be your longest post ever!!

 

[fran-MLs little camera]

Another point we must remember is how difficult this has been for Puel. He could have done with help from the team captain when coming to a new club and country...he didn't get that support from Fonte afforded to Adkins, Pochettino and Koeman.

 

[St. Luigi Scrosoppi]

You fall in love with a team or a club.

Despite what the romantics think love is not eternal that is why there are divorce courts and divorce lawyers.

If a woman you love starts to piss you off all the ****ing time then it is decree absolute time.

I am falling out of love with the Saints and with football just as you might fall out of love with a woman. You just get tired of the same old, same old crap.

I don't love the bricks and mortar of St Mary's Stadium nor do I love the managerial structure or the manager. I love the individuals who make up the team and the way they play the game. I admire Jose in particular and many others in the past like Channon and Davies who were my heroes along with Matty and Steve Williams and Killer but the team and players these days seems so transient that as soon as I get an allegiance to a player he is gone. It is like fostering children just as you start to get close to them they get taken back. It is no longer possible to really enjoy or admire a footballer or the team. VVD is a super player one of the best we have had in a long time but I feel no affiliation to him nor will I wont let it happen because I know that in six months he'll be gone. Some people may not mind that and that is their choice. I don't like it and that is mine and it is this that has eroded away my pleasure from and love for the game. I don't watch football on the TV anymore nor do I read the press. I only come on here and sadly these days it is to whinge and moan in the hope that the club philosophy may change.

 

[Le Tissier's Laces]

Nope


But really really wrong

Soon as he went to Mendes it all went wrong. Mendes stroked Fonte's ego and made him believe he could get him a big move. Utd made contact but that was it, but 'some one' kept leaking stuff to the press to try and get more interest. All this and the way Jose was acting, pissed the club of a little. Hence why he was cut out of all the media stuff etc. No big clubs came in and Fonte decided he couldn't dent his ego and sort things with Saints, so went with the best offer available, which was a move to West Ham.

I don't like Reed etc, but that is because of another reason. Fonte's agent is the person in the wrong here.

This is exactly what I have heard from someone very, very close to the club.

 

[Archers Road]

The stadium, the fan base and the fact they are in London is why they have far more potential. These are reasons why I could see young players going there. But Fonte does not have time on his side so realistically at best they could achieve similar to what we have done the last couple of seasons in his time there.

The only way they are able to fill that stadium is to practically give the tickets away. Even then it's been half empty bt the final whistle. It's also, according to a few Hammers fans I have spoken to, a pretty rubbish place to watch football (slopes too shallow, too far from the action). That stadium, despite them getting it for a anip, could be the worst thing to ever happen to them.

 

[Archers Road]

Godders, what is "Love in the time of Cholera" like?

Probably not as good as Hamlet?

 

[garysfc]

That's a really great post, Black.

Nope

 

[garysfc]

Another point we must remember is how difficult this has been for Puel. He could have done with help from the team captain when coming to a new club and country...he didn't get that support from Fonte afforded to Adkins, Pochettino and Koeman.

and from minute one. Of course, we'll never know but it did seem as though things were not right with Jose from the minute he returned from the Euro's whereas all ok with Cedric.

 

[garysfc]

Despite what the romantics think love is not eternal that is why there are divorce courts and divorce lawyers.

If a woman you love starts to piss you off all the ****ing time then it is decree absolute time.

I am falling out of love with the Saints and with football just as you might fall out of love with a woman. You just get tired of the same old, same old crap.

I don't love the bricks and mortar of St Mary's Stadium nor do I love the managerial structure or the manager. I love the individuals who make up the team and the way they play the game. I admire Jose in particular and many others in the past like Channon and Davies who were my heroes along with Matty and Steve Williams and Killer but the team and players these days seems so transient that as soon as I get an allegiance to a player he is gone. It is like fostering children just as you start to get close to them they get taken back. It is no longer possible to really enjoy or admire a footballer or the team. VVD is a super player one of the best we have had in a long time but I feel no affiliation to him nor will I wont let it happen because I know that in six months he'll be gone. Some people may not mind that and that is their choice. I don't like it and that is mine and it is this that has eroded away my pleasure from and love for the game. I don't watch football on the TV anymore nor do I read the press. I only come on here and sadly these days it is to whinge and moan in the hope that the club philosophy may change.

Jeez Godders, couldn't have said it better. Me too, with the out of love, afraid to form any player allegiance (although I continue to do so but more at arms length), knowing anyone any good will soon be gone. I agree with the previous posters about us being a selling / stepping stone club but I think the board have to make more of, NO should have, made more of a stance & fight over a few of the wannabe leavers over the last few years. This Jose saga for me is just so sad.

 

[fran-MLs little camera]

The club did prevent Morgan, Wanyama and Mane from leaving when it didn't suit us....and have tried it with Jose (but have given up as unlike the other 3 he hasn't settled down). They left in the end, but after we had a season to prepare. Players leave other clubs as well.