Much of the current anger is purely directed at Adam, however I haven't liked Liverpool since the end of Evans and the start of Houllier. That started the dull boring defensive ****e which Benitez continued with. Then there was the way they backed Suarez, the amount of dives by Suarez and Gerrard. The lucky 2nd last year. TBH I hope they get relegated and twatbeard decamps to QPR. **** 'em, I only care about Saints these days, the rest of the teams just make up the numbers.
Agreed. Even his advert in the Echo missed the target by a million miles. Most people accept that players will want to play champions league and win trophies, but Adam didn't say that. He seemed he'll bent on going, rather than declaring that this was a one-off, too good to be true opportunity. Actually, I think it's wishful thinking that he will fail at Liverpool as he is a great player. It's just that he shouldn't be surprised if he's unloved in these parts for a long time and has forfeited good relations with the club (whose terse one line announcement speaks volumes) as well as the fans.
It's all part and parcel of being a Saints fan Red. It's happened before and whilst none of us want it to, it might just go and bloody happen again. At least we've made everyone pay through the nose this time. It does make the victories against the player-poaching teams all the sweeter though. As everyone else has said, what is disappointing is that we thought we had another Matt Le Tissier in Adam Lallana, and it turns out he wasn't in the same league. We rather hope, now he's gone to you, that that is true in every sense. I hope Rickie does well for you, but forgive me for also hoping that Luis "the croc" Suarez bites for Barca next season.
Yeah, no ill feelings towards Liverpool apart from some who probably didn't like you anyway, but Lallana has to varying degrees upset/frustrated/infuriated almost all Saints fans so there will be a fair amount towards him.
I must be weird. I personally wish Adam all the best. Yes, he's handled the move poorly, but beyond that he has been the most exciting Saints player over the past 4/5 seasons, and was a massive part of our recent success. People go on about him pledging his loyalty to the club only to change his mind. Big wow. I very often make decisions on a Saturday evening, that I disagree with immediately the next morning. Such is life. Seriously though, has no one ever eagerly accepted a job offer, only to suddenly change their mind a day or two later? I have quite a few times. Let's face it we all brown-nose our employers when we need to. It's exactly the same with footballers. Just a job. Furthermore, losing key players gives us the chance to bring through more exciting young talent, and to be honest I really enjoy the fact that Southampton has the best reputation in the entire country for developing youth, especially after what happened in Brazil. If we can introduce three exciting English youngsters every season, and still play exciting, attractive football, then that means a lot to me. I really want English football to rise up again. The national team, the Premier League, everything. And if that means the "big" teams occasionally signing our youngsters (for massive sums of money), rather than buying cheap foreign imports, I can live with that.
"Loyalty" is a ridiculously overused word in football. It would mean that a player decides to remain at a club because he feels that he owes them something in return for what it has done for him. As such I can't think of any player who has that thought process. Even the great Le Tiss! He had his reasons for staying of course, the main one being that he was happy here and it suited his way of life. But that doesn't make him "loyal" in the sense we want it to mean. Its a bit like thinking that your cat loves you when he rubs up against your legs. He has his own reasons for doing it (well, OK, I don't want to upset people, he does love you really) All of the above doesn't mean I feel any better about Lallana though Not only is he not loyal, he is a hypocrite.
I think the term loyalty is being used very loosely to describe someone who kissed the badge endlessly for years and a year ago cheerily proclaimed that he would love to play for the Saints for the rest of his career IF SAINTS WANTED HIM. I don't for a minute think that many of us believe every cliche ridden, media taught spiel that players come out with but the words he chose HE CHOSE to use were very very clear in what he meant. There was no maybe, no might, no could. It was a message saying I LOVE SAINTS AND WANT TO PLAY HERE FOREVER.
A very refreshing viewpoint across the post. It's quite clear that you and us played a very similar brand of football last season, and as you say, great credit to your youth system. It's easy to see why Rodgers looked very carefully at your players. I just hope Lallana proves me wrong.
I'm very confident he will. He's an excellent footballer. Probably the best English midfielder last season. I reckon it will only take him a couple of games to win you over. Like I said, I hope he does.
Black has a point about loyalty. Sammy Lee might not be too well regarded at Brighton, but I dare say they will get over it.
