I get why Saints fans are upset over the way this is going, players just need to shut up and let the clubs hammer out the details of contracts. This does work both ways though when clubs reveal transfer requests or players pushing for a move, it waould all be a bit more civilised if the deals were done in the background. Unfortunately the media circus is something that some people crave and the social networks love so it's not going away.
right. take all the emotion out of this stuff 1. I don't think lallana is worth 25mil or close to it. 2. I don't think lovern is worth anywhere near 20mil 3. I don't think suarez is worth 75mil or close to it. 4. I do think every player has their price and every player is replaceable. 5. From what i am hearing players say especially lovern i wouldn't touch them with a barge pole frankly. HOWEVER.... lets just be clear as fans of a club we all need to get real here, sorry but players are not assets, nor do they "owe" a thing to the club. They owe performance for the wage paid. simple as. If you look at bayern munich we've seen over there that players historically like ballack will run a contract out and walk for free, players will like kroos drive the best deal and move on their terms. Over here we've seen how many stupid gentlemen's agreements? Modric comes to mind. If a player is STUPID enough to believe anything said informally to them well more fool them. On the other side if a player has a contract the club can do two things. hold on or sell for the best fee to cancel said contract. We'd all like to hold our best players forever but they age and they move on at some point so if you sell lallana for 25mil you should be absolutely laughing cos you get good performances out of him and about 10mil premium on top of his actual value. Same for lovern. LFC will get at least 20mil over suarez actual value as despite my learned fellow fans belief the reality is the guy is nuts, he does shoot early and often and does lack pace so in the medium term his value si not going to be anywhere near that 75mil clause. i wish LFc were not going near Southampton nobody else wanted lallana, and not at that crazy price and most likely nobody wants lovern either... especially not at 20mil! however we are donating to their new owners yacht fund so there's nothing i can do so i have to hope they work out. I would rather we buy twomore coutinho's and Can's who's value will double (less than one lallana) but it seems the going rate for any prem play now starts at 20mil given the mad tv money flooding the game.
In fairness mate we're happy to discuss football all day every day Check our transfer thread and you'll see "one of your own" not exactly acting in the true traditions of your club either. What you can't expect mate is for LFC to stop buying good players and you certainly can't expect us fans to sit silently while Saints fans rip our club as if we're the epitomy of all evil (not aimed at you personally). I think you've made some very good points and for what it's worth I understand the bitterness and frustration of seeing players you love leave. It's ten times worse when they do it in a manner that shows little respect for the people who have supported them through thick and thin. I actually think in most players cases it's not due to them being disrespectful or heartless but more to do with the fact they are just thick as pigshit. They have ambitions of course but they also have ****ish agents and entourages telling them all day every day that they are the best thing since sliced bread....they pretend they are in touch with the supporters and yet modern players are more sheltered from the fans than any previous generation (despite the illusion created by social media etc). What you also have to accept however is that this IS the modern way and it WILL happen again (to Saints and no doubt to LFC too). The players with humility and class are still around but they are fewer in numbers than they used to be and it only gets worse the higher up your club gets. At the end of the day though you at least know that you got a bloody good price for each of them and as long as that money is reinvested wisely it WILL make you a lot stronger in the long run. Hope you have another good season and I think the first game could be a bit tasty eh and the return fixture too....
What on earth are you talking about? I'm talking about being treated with respect by Lallana, not you lot! Blimey....paranoid much?!
I was with you until you started about the "new owners yacht fund"? Eh? Did we get taken over again and I missed it!!?
another example is gareth barry... Our club once refused to meet villa's price. the result was villa held him for one year... which was poison and sold him for less to city... now he did ok at city didn't he? the point is rather than being a loyal one club man he decided after more than the 6 years lallana gave to go win some stuff and was upset by villa and villa fans upset by him. LFC are ENTITLED to bid on any player. we put in a bid and we didn't reveal a single one of those bids to the press. In fact I think the rejected bids were made public by who? We talked to seville on moreno and they made it public to try and get more interest and drive the price. nobody has stepped in there either. We met Can's buy out clause.. again it was revealed by that club too. In short once it becomes public and then a player blunders in like lovern has the whole this is no poison. I will bet there'll be southamptons fans booing if he has to stay. I am also willing to be in 12 months you'll be selling him and he'll go for less cos 20mil is unrealistic.
Completely agree (and with luvgonzo above as well). It's a bit of a sorry state of affairs. Apologies for the behaviour or daft words of other fans, we all have those that can't discuss something properly (step forward astro). I have nothing at all against Liverpool, or even anything against the way they have conducted affairs here, even regarding the seeming wish to pick all the good players away from us! If anything, it's actually a compliment. The two clubs played a similar style last season, so why wouldn't you look to our better players? BR is a top manager too so they very well may do a great job for you. The games will be tasty, but as has been made clear, expect Lambert to get a standing ovation. Lallana & Lovren something very different!
look the yacht fund is just facetious and I do hope that you see the full kitty build up spent for your club. I do think you'll be lucky mind but I would hope you get to see it all spent... and not only on first team players but sink some into under age facilities and such so that you continue to develop top young players. Are you confident in your owner? IMO you are getting at LEAST 5mil more than lallana is worth even with an english player premium and loverns value is another 5 mil over his worth.. at least. thats 10mil of a bonus IMO. (freddie Shepard at newcastle and risdale at leeds showed how to waste that if your owner needs an example)
Somewhat ironic that given that you've already admitted that Brent is over paying and if he lands Lovren and Markovic will have spent the Suarez fee.
In Ye Olden Dayes journos had to fill their rags with anything they could get hold of. Nowadays they still have to do that, but in addition have to stuff a theoretically unlimited website with as much stuff as they can. It's no surprise that they constantly go to the protagonists in any situation for a quote, and the more controversial the better. So we're constantly treated to the inner workings of minds that we'd probably be better off without. You're right- they should all just keep their gobs shut and get on with it. Their attempts to justify themselves in the face of criticism usually just ends up with them digging a bigger hole for themselves- and the hacks love it because it saves them actually having to think about something to write.
I've heard that the Swansea board are jealous of our new relationship with the Southampton board and are considering offering us their physio so as to instigate some kind of transfer dealings.
It's not as simple as that. The media is used by players, agents, clubs and managers, to get their view across whether directly or indirectly, in order to push their own agendas. In the case of Southampton, Lovren has ensured that his view is out there via both the written press and social media, with his sole intention being to ensure that his move to Liverpool happens. If he'd have said nothing in the background post the rejection of the bid by Southampton, then it's highly likely that Liverpool might have moved on to another target, he's now desperately trying to ensure that doesn't happen. So who's using who?
I think that's an example of what SaintAnton is saying, no? Similar to the Lallana situation - he used his close relationship with a local press guy, Adam Blackmore, to leak things about the club/how he was being treated/oh aren't they so mean etc etc to try and justify his actions and lay the blame squarely with the club. Didn't really wash though.
The board have categorically stated that any funds raised by player sales will be allocated to Koeman to spend as he sees fit to improve the first team squad. We have no reason (at this stage) to disbelieve that. It's not like the owners need the cash. Our academy is nicely positioned, and we also now have a brand spanking new £30m training centre, so in terms of facilities we're up with the very best now. Are we confident in the owner? In terms of her commitment (and despite what you might read or surmise), yes, as much as one can be. She seems willing to invest in the right areas, and is showing no sign of wanting to sell or anything like that. In terms of her (and her advisors) capability in effectively running and managing the oddities of a football club, perhaps less so - the appointment of her mate, the hockey coach, as chairman being a case in point. Bad move, and he's been quickly shuffled back behind the scenes before the laughter turned into outright derision. Hopefully she'll learn though. Yes, there's doubts on that side, but the main thing we're all watching now is to see how (and if) Koeman spends these funds.
They're all using each other for their own ends. I fully agree it works both ways. My point was more to do with the fact that social media are changing the world and we're only going to see more of it. We'd better get used to these things happening all the time, and the inevitable ****storms they bring. In the past, Lovren may well have made his mind up that he wants to leave, but his "my head is in Liverpool" quote only serves to alienate his Saints fans and make Liverpool fans wonder about his professionalism. I suppose you could say that this openness helpfully exposes the fact that many footballers are just mercenaries with little consideration for the fans who idolise them, but we knew that anyway.
I think Lovren sees the move as his big chance and his desperation to make it happen has come across loud and clear. Unprofessional or just honest? I suppose that depends largely on who you support. He's openly disrespecting the Southampton faithful, but I doubt he gives a toss. Same as most of them don't. I agree about social media, due to the reactive nature of it, players who engage with it tend to share more than they might think is sensible when they reflect on it. You'll see more and more players going to 'managed' social media, with a PR bod acting as a filter to their comments and posting content that's supposedly from them, but is in fact merely PR.
fair enough... though you can never spend too much on facilities. Like everton martinez wants each of his lot to have a room (or cell if you like) to sleep in the night before a game. do you have such "rooms" and do you feel if not there that a few million into the stadium or pitch might pay dividends. however thats an aside. You seem to have "more" confidence now than perhaps before but are waiting to see the money being spent? That's like LFc after FSG took over in much worse ciscumstances than your latest owner coming in
Not sure if I agree there - our latest owner came in after her father died, which was pretty bad. Or if you mean prior to that, he bought the club when we were in administration and with a 10 point deficit in League One. I think we 'win' in the worst circumstances stakes.....!
That wouldn't surprise me, but I'm no fan of PR either because that's mostly just lies to project the desired image and not the real one. I'm not looking for a solution to this- the cat's well out of the bag as far as I'm concerned- I just think fans have to resist getting emotionally involved with players who aren't going to reciprocate. Lovren's honesty-if that's what it is- shows us that if he'll do what he did to Saints, he'd do it to us as well if it suited him. We, like all clubs, have had a list of players -Owen, Mascherano, Torres etc, who are seen to have "let us down", yet people are still indignant when Suarez does the same thing. Footballers do what they see as best for their short, but ludicrously over-rewarded, careers and we can't expect anything else. Anyway, I thought you weren't speaking to me?
