I had a message from a mate Thursday telling me Wanyama wants out, his friend is good mates with big vic.
So all about money. We offer him a new deal, his agents wants more money for the both of them. So says to Wanyama to leave to get paid more. Agent hears comments about Spurs maybe interested so stires it more. So I am guessing the next step then is Saints to offer more cash to them both.
Just shows the different sort of perspective we have. Your view could be said of any relatively successful side under the top. It's nothing peculiar to Saints. In fact, even Koeman has admitted as such. Doesn't mean they will do what they want. Sometimes these players just need their heads clearing. As to JayRod, personally I think he can consider himself very lucky to be retained, but it was indeed nice to see him continue with us. I can be as sentimental as the next person.
That's pointless. a. it says any club can come in and upset the cart to claim any of our players, as we take our stand by selling any player anyone else fancies. And b. it will happen with the kids too - the best ones will get poached, as soon as they rise above the average in the team. And we will get rid of them as they don't want to be here. We'll be in league two by then anyway, so the quality of the poachers will have gone down by then. It's about one simple thing - our wages. That's why any player wants to leave us for Spurs. Its certainly not because they've got a sniff of a chance at winning anything or going anywhere. They're just the ****test team in a mini-league within a mini-league, and basically taking their turn as the playground bullies. The whole thing is rotten, but mirrors nature, basically. We need to adapt to survive here, and that probably means channelling some of the £100m into restructuring somehow the wage structure to prevent this happening. Not that I agree we should do this, and I personally think we shouldn't do it purely as a response to this type of alleged behaviour by agents etc. - but we also can't give up. Ron won't be - am sure he's well-versed here. We do it to Celtic and Feyenoord, albeit in what seems to my bias eyes to be a more gentlemanly manner.
I reckon also that Schneiderlin made this team and the defence in it look great. Possibly, instead of doing something about it on the pitch, Vic's worried that he'll lose his chance of a big move if we have a poor season.
It was nice, but JayRod had a career-threatening injury, and no one was going to sign him. We are taking every single percentage of risk on him (to protect a potential investment of course, but still...) Fonte also, is too old to make any step up the PL hierarchy, but of course wants to preserve PL status, so signed too. In the present system (not knocking it) it is more or less a fact that no one outside those two perimeters (age and injury) + one other (not quite good enough for the next level) will resign contracts for us. So Steven Davis will stay with us as long as we want him, as an example, and his agent doesn't rock the boat.
Not willing to be nasty to Wanyama. But I don't think he is the brightest guy. It's all coming from his agent who is close to Wanyama. He just wants more money, be it with us or another team.
I don't know what you mean Beef! Victor Wanyama @VictorWanyama: I had spaghetti and it was very nice i enjoyed it
Didn't he refuse a contract extension (and improved wages) at Celtic in order to run his contract down more and make sure he got the move a year later?
Call me naive and idealistic but I find myself yearning for the League One and Championship days when there was a togetherness and a strong identity in the team. It seems now we are a victim of our own successful scouting system. I want a team that is proud to wear the stripes of Southampton as I am, it is not all about winning to me, I want to believe in the players that I am supporting. As soon as anyone makes noises that they do not want to play for the Saints, then I want that player gone. I honestly think that we should be looking to bring the youngsters on as they will have more affinity with the club, which was witnessed in the way Tim Sparv refused to celebrate his goal. I think that we could put out an U21 team and they would survive in the Championship and obviously improve in time. I'm getting sick of seeing us merely as a stepping stone to the top six from players who haven't shown loyalty to their previous clubs, so why should they show loyalty to us?
Re: Saints_Alive.......... Even the academy lads have wanted to jump ship at the first hint at more money/bigger club wanting them. Chambers, Shaw, Lallana. Everyone wants instant success players and some fans and when they think they can get it elsewhere they're off. The money players earn is absurd and with all the TV money going up next year and every three years after it will only get worse. I can only hope that when the training ground is finished then some of the Premier League money can be put into wages to compete for the No 1 targets Saints want and keep key players.
