Tweets from @mattspiro, French football writer and broadcaster: @mattspiro: Schneiderlin gives blow-by-blow account of Saints spat in France Football: 'Either I posted that tweet or I went into club firing teargas' @mattspiro: Schneiderlin: "Everyone was leaving, no new signings, fans going mad... the bosses said 'if we sell Morgan, they'll burn down the stadium'." @mattspiro: Schneiderlin decided to stay after hearing fans sing name at Anfield. Now targeting CL qualification. 'It'd be a bomb in English football' DTLW
He certainly went ballistic as he moved out for a night in hotel I believe. GF probably couldn't handle it. I agree that the fans would have gone nuclear if Morgan was sold, but I prefer to believe keeping him was tactical (though it is also possible the money was too low...Spurs only wanted him at a knock down price). When he calmed down he probably saw the sense in playing his best when he had at last got into the France side. Then when he heard the fans, he finally realised that this wasn't exactly hell on earth (as he seemed to think for a while). I'd love to know why he and Poch thought there was a buy out clause...perhaps there was in an earlier contract, but it was removed when he signed the new one. His agent needs slapping anyway....don't they take care of the details?
Maybe there was a 'verbal buy out clause' like the Suarez one OR maybe even there is one in his contract. Either way it certainly wasn't met by Spurs bidding £10m in cash even if there were extras which would no doubt have been unachievable ones. I would think any deal Levy offered made Liverpool's unachievables look almost realistic. I will believe that he 'decided to stay' IF he signs an extension this season. Otherwise I still think he will be gone in the summer.
We could all be gone in the summer. All that matters for now is how he plays this season, and so far he's doing okay.
"After I refused to play the friendly against Leverkusen on August 9? The chairman came to tell me he will let me have the weekend to think about it. I talked to a lot of people. Some told me to start a trail of strength, to go on strike, that the club will finally give up. But it was like tossing a coin. My agents never told me to go on strike, they just told me to make my decision. I also felt the officials will not let me leave. They would have preferred to put me on the side-lines for 6 months. So I resumed training-sessions, I really needed to play football again and I played against Liverpool. At Anfield, all the Southampton fans applauded me and chanted my name. It was so heart-warming. So I knew I would spend the whole season at Southampton."
I wonder who told him to go on strike? Whoever it was (and my money is still on his agents) needs shooting.
He doesn't exactly sound very committed to Saints. Playing for his own benefit. Still as long as he puts the effort in on the pitch that's the main thing. Sounds like he'll definitely try to leave next summer. Shame it would be nice to have someone who genuinely loves being at the club again.
Okay so here's the rest... “Was the meeting with Southampton officials on July 29 tense? Yes. “In the months building up to it, there was interest from clubs – three clubs and Tottenham were among them. “Since February/March, my agents and I had talked with Southampton about a possible departure. The club always told me they would sell for the right price. “My agents and I went to that meeting on July 29 in a peaceful state of mind, with exciting propositions. To me, with my six years at Southampton and everything I had given to the club, everything should have been sorted that day. “I told them I signed for a project that was supposed to keep the best elements in order to go higher. Before that meeting, (Adam) Lallana, (Dejan) Lovren, (Rickie) Lambert, Luke Shaw and (Calum) Chambers all left. I said to myself: ‘This is not the same situation, this is not possible. What are they doing?’ At that moment, Southampton hadn’t signed anyone. “Chambers signed for Arsenal the day before our meeting and the club saw the fans getting mad. They thought: ‘If Morgan leaves the stadium will be burnt’. So they told us: ‘Morgan is not for sale, we won’t listen to anything. That is the decision and there is nothing more to say’. “It was a real shock to me. Of course I was angry. I thought: ‘I just played in the World Cup after two good seasons in the Premier League. I never say anything, but I can’t stay in a team that plays for survival. I need to reach a new level’. So I told them: ‘You don’t respect me and you don’t respect your words, you treat me like cattle’. They defended their interests and I defended mine. “After I refused to play the friendly against Leverkusen on August 9, the chairman came to speak to me and let me have the weekend to think about things. “I talked to a lot of people. Some told me to go on strike, that the club will finally give up. My agents never said that, they just told me to make a decision. “I felt that the officials wouldn’t let me leave, that they would rather leave me on the sidelines for six months. So I resumed training because I really needed to play football again. “I played against Liverpool at Anfield and all the Southampton fans applauded me and chanted my name. It was so heart-warming. I knew then I would spend the whole season at Southampton. “Maybe now we will achieve something amazing here. Champions League qualification would be fantastic. I hope to play in the Champions League one day, of course. I want to play every three days. But why not play in the Champions League with Southampton?”
So it looks like we are in the same position this year as we were last, qualify for champions league and all the best players will stay (providing they are rewarded adequetly for now being champions league players). fail to qualify and if the top 4 clubs come sniffing its bye bye to our best players such as schneiderlin.
A strike wouldn't have benefitted him...the club had said he wasn't going and we are rich enough to have sat it out. I don't think they would have budged. His career would have nose dived. I think he could see that and, being a sensible lad, decided to make the best of it and has now realised there are worse things than doing a job you love for good money (ask most fans). I presume the fact he now thinks we could reach the CL means they have found the happy pills in Nicola's desk drawer.
So we'll probably lose him next summer, although for a hefty fee. We should have possible replacements already lined up by then.
We are never going to be able to keep players offline come calling offering champs league, the days of Le tiss are over, even Europa league may not be enough to keep schneiderlin
It's another piece of the jigsaw that suggests that the club have taken up the ambition set by Nicola, and maybe even Markus had designs that way, though our old information is that he was very much the rich owner/fan only. It could be suggested that Katharina has become much more involved than her father ever was. In any case, this has become a medium/long term project towards sustainable CL qualification. Cortese said we couldn't compete financially, but we could and will be smarter. So far I think there has been plenty of evidence that the club are indeed being just that.
Didn't one of those Telegraph articles say we had targets for next season already? We probably have a replacement in mind. If he's expecting Champions League any time soon he's going to be disappointed unless a few teams have a complete disaster. Europe via a cup is our best hope.
Schneiderlin was especially important to us because we had lost so many players...his loss next season will hopefully be more tolerable because the team will have settled down and other players will be targeted. A third good season in the PL will make us even more desirable to prospective players.
Similar to Modric then. Players tend to hear what they want so when the club tells him he will be allowed to leave for the right price, he only hears that he can move in the summer if he wants. That ignores the key bit from the club's point of view, that he can only leave if the club receive a bid they think is right for the club. That value can change as it pleases the club and obviously he's finished the season and gone away for the World Cup thinking he'll be leaving only to return to find that the club have moved the goalposts, from his point of view. Morgan's handled it a lot more professionally than Modric though, he might have gone on strike but it was only briefly and he didn't miss any important games. At a guess I'd say he was made similar promises to Modric to appease him, in that he is told that he can leave if he puts in another season with the club. That doesn't mean he will leave though, it all depends on who's interested and how well you guys do this season. I suspect our chance to sign him has gone though, if he continues to play for France then PSG will probably be in for him and I wouldn't put it past United or Dortmund to go for him either. Levy is probably hoping that some of our current centre mids will convince him he doesn't need Schneiderlin as much as he thought and right now I think there are more important areas for us to invest in anyhow. Anyway, all the best for the rest of the season. You might not wish the same for usbut having a new team trouble the big sides is always an asset to the league, especially when they play entertaining football like you guys. You never know, maybe we'll surprise everyone and both finish in the top 4
