Whilst listening to the radio coverage of the England Under 21 game last night I was disappointed to hear the commentator remark just how much good work had been done by Arsenal and Wenger to develop Alex Oxlade-Chamberlaine as a footballer. I had several problems with this comment. Alex has been at Arsenal for just about two months and I think it takes a little longer than that to turn someone into a good footballer. The statement also gave no credit to the club that had nurtured him over ten years from schoolboy to professional footballer. It also gave no credit to the young lad himself for his effort and commitment to make his career as successful as possible. The commentatorâs ability to evaluate Alexâs development has to be questioned for I doubt he had ever seen Alex play prior to his Arsenal move other than perhaps for a few seconds clip on the Football League Show so he would not be in an informed position to make any evaluation of Alexâs progress. There is also the matter of just how much managers influence the development of young players. I sometimes think the media believe that some managers have a secret potion that they use to turn mediocre players into stars. When Gareth Bale went to Tottenham having done so well at Southampton he had a disastrous time initially and it was his determination and strength of character that saw him through. Redknapp, his manager was credited with his progress, but his track record shows he is not the great believer in nurturing and developing young talent that he would have us think. As for Wenger if he has turned Alex into a star in a matter of weeks what on earth has he done for Theo Walcott who most Southampton fans will say has not developed since he left their club for Arsenal? Our football commentators are too focused on the celebrity players and the clubs I have heard referred to as the Sky Five, Arsenal the two Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Chelsea. We might have a little more respect for them if they were better informed. From conversations I have had with the supporters of League One and Two clubs they have seemed more knowledgeable and better informed about football than some of our so called media experts.
Its out of order and so wrong to your club but its what you get these days. If you are not in the Prem then you are nothing to the media. Sky have drummed that in and BBC and co only follow it. The OX is clearly the player he is because of the Saints.
I think that most informed football fans are aware of the good work that's being put into the youth system at Southampton and appreciate what the academy is doing. Unfortunately for you, other aspects of the club haven't been run anywhere near as well, so you don't get to benefit from that hard work as much as you could.
Disgraceful! He's done nothing at Arsenal, yet it's only when he is on their books that he is picked for England teams!! Disrespectful to the other teams in England...
i'm delighted with alex's progress, i hope man city take watch and make a ludicrous offer soon, as hopefully we will get a slice from a sell on clause
I totally agree that it's a disgrace that Arsenal are receiving a single ounce of credit for Chamberlain at the moment. However I disagree that it's only once he has moved to Arsenal that he is being recognised. I keep on saying it - a new 2 year cycle started for the U21s this summer. Players like Walcott and Carroll can no longer play for them. I'm absolotely certain that Chamberlain would have called up amongst the new crop of players, even if he was still with us. The fact that it conincided with his move to Arsenal, is indeed a coincidence.
I hope that it's not like Bale's sell-on clause, then. That got paid up very quickly and for a pretty small amount, too. 25% sell-on clause for £2m.
Scoring in the CL is not doing nothing. Also he was with the under 21's before he came here. The under 21's have started a new cycle with new kids. The likes of Jones,Welbeck,Walker and co have moved up.
Agree on both counts. We deserve more credit (as do other clubs in our position), but at the same time some fans do need to accept that these things hapen in football. I've got no problem with Arsenal wanting to take Chamberlain, nor Chamberlain wanting to go to Arsenal. If the boot was the other foot, we'd be doing the same. Whilst it would be nice if every club trained and played their own players, from their own academies, it's just too idealistic and unrealistic.
Thankfully Cortese was involved with the sale of Chamberlain. Not Lowe, Wilde or Crouch!! Moreover, we're not in any sort of desperate financial situation these days.
The only thing I didn't like about the Chamberlain saga was the constant statements to the press. Wenger, Mark Chamberlain and Alex all stated how he should go to Arsenal whilst he was still a Southampton player.
Good Luck to Oxo. while i do agree with the OP, we sold him for a good price, so let the BBC give Gunners the credit. We all know the truth and he wouldn`t have scored in the CL with Saints so quickly (maybe in 2 or 3 years it could have been possible tic), just think of the cash we got for him and move on
that was when we had severe financial problems, so settled in order to stay afloat. thankfully we are very comfortable financially now, so will face no such problem
I too agree with the points here - plus, as nice as it is to get credit, credit doesn't get you anywhere, and contributes to more Premiership teams digging around amongst our youth ranks. Cold hard cash does, and if £12m contributes to us going up this season (or even at any point in Cortese's timeline), then it'll be worth it. However, I also do think it's a bit rich being told to get off our high horse and stop whingeing by an Arsenal fan called SamirNasri Is A******!
to be honest southampton have some of the best facilities in the country, with the new rules coming into place we are 1 of only two teams in england being given a five star academy or something, the other i think is chelsea but am not entirely sure
Agree with pretty much the majority the points here. Chamberlain while a great talent was somebody that wanted to move on to a bigger club, playing at a higher level (more often than I initially thought he'd be at this stage!), and getting more money. Nobody can blame him on any of these things, we would all do the same if we were in his shoes. One thing that Chamberlain did do though, was play his hardest every game he played for us, loved the city and the fans, and stayed long enough that all parties including SFC got a good deal out of it. Regards his departure, it's exactly the same as us taking players from Burnley etc. Regards the media coverage, I admit it's galling, but it aint gonna keep me awake at night. We got a good deal, and it doesn't really matter what the press say. Our club is built around results, not the media circus. One last thing though, did anyone else notice that while Oxo played very well and took his chances, the Iceland U21 'keeper Petursson certainly didn't look on top form with any of the 3 of them? Reckon we're more likely to see him in an Iceland superstore stocking shelves than playing for the full national side any time in the future. Lat
SSN raving about his u21 performance and talking about a starting position for euro 2012. Dont get me wrong i want him to do the best he can for country...But constantly refering to him as an arsenal sensation makes me and . He has played 4 games for them since joining and his development was done at OUR acadamy...Credit where credits due?
The saga re Oxo is not going to go away.........The truth is, we at Saints are not too happy with his Dad. To give him credit it was he who recommended young Oxo to come here as a youngster, despit his obvious ties with Pompey. As the lad developed and he began to show his full potential his Dad started to tout him around to other clubs up and down the country. He tried desperately to get other big clubs interested just before he signed a professional contract. It was the only contract on the table....so he signed. However this did not stop his Dad even then within hours of his signing the rumours started about the young starlet at Southampton. From then on the pressure for the lad to leave did not cease. Especially as he began to make his mark in the first team. We could of easily sold him in the pre season after his first season playing regular. We understand that there was some sort of bust up with one of our other players during training during his first season. This other player seemed to throw is dummy out which probably gave Oxo a better chance to move on in a strange way. However that seemed to spark more pressure from his Dad and Saints gates swelled with the extra scouting personell taking a gander. The rest as they say his history. You can't blame young Oxo in any way shape or form. Yes he did speak to the press, for which he got fined. Yes the press as they do, exaggerated what he actually said as the lad clearly was happy at Saints. In the end though you could tell the publiciity was beginning to get to the lad not withstanding the pressure put on him by his father. So our chairman reluctantly let him go. I am not going to say the lad should have hung on for another year or that Arsenal poached him. In truth it cost them a pretty penny if they did do that......and that as they say is football. I wish Oxo all the very best for the future and if I ever meet him again. I will say thanks for being a Saint and good luck at the Arsenal!!
