A term that has popped up a lot recently in player interviews. Shaw, Clyne, Puncheon, Lambert, Schneiderlin and K Davis have all said it in interviews and I think it really shows where the club is heading. Cortese obviously has big plans and he wants the players to know about them. I'm no where near Cortese's biggest fans but respect his decisions and hope they have the clubs interests at heart. But if the club has this 'ambition' to be a top side I'm pleased all the players recognise this ambition and one day, hopefully soon, will become reality.
Call me cynical, but I rather suspect the ambition is manifesting itself in the form of significant salary increases. That's the only real way to make the players understand exactly how ambitious you are.
Yeah, in football, ambition = willing to spend lots of money. I'm not one of these people who believes most footballers are just in it for the money, though. I'm sure they've all spent their lives dreaming about winning trophies and playing in the top competitions. The money is a nice bonus.
Not saying it's all they care about, but realistically it is the priority. Of course if you're paying players more, then success in other ways is more likely to follow, so they will see it as an indicator that the club is going places. But let's not kid ourselves, they are signing these contracts primarily for a pay day. Anything else is a bonus.
I don't think you can say that as much for a lot of our players who have experienced the lower leagues. You can tell how much it means to Rickie to be where he is now. I think if we offered him a contract on the same money as he was on before he would have signed it with just as much glee.
I think most of the players are enjoying themselves and have bought into Cortese's ambition...of course they would want to stay. To succeed there must be the finance as well as the dream. A new contract (certainly increasing their wages) commits them to the cause. We are a team better than its parts...I can't think of one player who is a big 'I am' seeking to leave the club for a big payday. Oxo was the last one to do this. Should encourage all of us that the players (who are on the inside and in the know) feel like this.
I would imagine that "the ambition" for these newly signed players is not only the money (we are all the same) but also the opportunity to play against the top players and top teams week in week out. At Saints both young and experienced get this opportunity. Look at the difference in the present careers of Luke Shaw and ex Saint, Oxo. Luke is playing every week and getting all the praise as he see's off the premierships top players and is now beginning to rip into a few of their defences. Then there is Oxo. His Dad took him off to Arsenal at the first opportunity to chase the cash....where is he now? Can't get into a very poor Arsenal team that is struggling to keep up with the top teams. When he does get on the pitch with ten minutes to go he looks the shell of that exciting young lad we all saw a couple of years ago. He still gets into the England squad because he is an Arsenal player and he is living on his early promise and form but will be found out if he gets a chance to play. Such a shame....Luke, look and learn
Yeah, there's a real blurring of the lines in that regard owing to the fact that contracts can essentially be ripped up and rewritten at will. Signing a long-term extension that covers a good portion of your prime years, as Schneiderlin did, is a sign of commitment in some respects, but the odds are actually fairly slim that he sees out that contract on those terms; if he gets sold, it gets rewritten, if he stays, it probably get rewritten to keep his wages at the level that other clubs might be willing to offer. Which isn't to say that it's all fluff; tying down our players is a signal that we're intending to be more than a lower-tier revolving door, and that in turn might make it easier to keep them from being moved by interest from mid-tier teams. We're not likely to ever fend off pursuits by the Uniteds of the world, but if players feel comfortable enough with our direction (and our wages) to want to stick around until the really big fish come after them, we might get somewhere.
I'm not Nicola's best fan either, but I can see where he is coming from. To increase Rickie's wage by say £10k a week or even £20k a week (1m/year) over the next 3 years is a darn sight cheaper than paying for a new quality striker. Add that to the ambition and the fact that we love Rickie, Rickie loves us, a good deal all round. I must admit, I know it's all PR, but I get the feeling that some of our players would play for free such is the love they appear to have for the club! Oxo was the last who was 'Too big' for us, but everyone we have now seems to fit in and want to play for SFC. Sir Rickie is already a Saints legend as big as MLT in my eyes - and I am someone who 'grew up' on MLT and practically hero-worshipped him during the 90s!! COYR
Totally agree. I love the fact that the players are to use a Nigelism "Together as one" Seems to be a real spirit running from the u18's up! Long may it continue!
I think Lambert is an excellent player for us but to say he is as big as MLT is pushing it a bit. He's not even as big round the waist!
Ambition and aspiration are all very well but with that you need the skill, ability, vision, determination, resources, attitude, commitment, support and great people around you to achieve them. We are lucky in that we have it with Cortese who has all of these attributes and more and he is so focused that he will not let other people's opinions or criticism get in the way of his ambition to make SFC one of the top clubs in this country. Other people have not noticed our ambition, especially the London based media and the FA/FL/PL set up, but 5 years from now people are going to be astounded.
Call me cynical but I think the timing of these contract extensions is something to be concerned about. We still have a pretty good chance of going down and it wouldn't surprise me if quite a large reason for the players signing now is to have release clauses in case of relegation. I can't see any other reason for them to sign the deals now rather than the summer, with the exceptions of the players whos deals expire this year.
I'm sure we will be safe before the Stoke game and, perhaps, even before the penultimate game against Sunderland. We didn't just scrape our 9 points under MP...we should have had more. The team will be up for this and I'll happily predict more than 9 points in next 8 games.
I think that we will be fine aswell, just saying that I think the players will want an insurance/get out clause if the worst were to happen, and that is why they are signing the deals now.
Contracts are always full of give and take...there's probably a subclause where they have to give Nicola a kidney if he needs one. However, I'm sure the intent is exactly as stated...the club want to tie down the core of the team and the players are happy and want to stay here.
I think it's a case of money just oiling the cogs of ambition. It's all very well Cortese sitting down with the players and talking them through the plans but it's pretty hard to indoctrinate a player into the 'Southampton Way' just by telling them a grand tale of our rise to the top. But when you combine that with breaking our transfer record twice, bringing in players of such renown as Gaston, and nice little 5k wage rises etc., it's a lot easier to instill the belief that Saints are going somewhere.
Agreed, money is indeed a big part of this. Ramirez even said that he came here because "we would pay him lots of money". It might be that because of Ramirez' high wages and so everyone else doesn't feel at unease, key players like Lambert, Lallana, etc get wage increases. If we want to become a truly established team, players will want high wages, regardless of whether they've been with us in L1/the Championship or if they're being purchased.
