If they had, all those players may have left for free and we'd have had no money to replace them with the good talent that we mostly have.
I'm only carrying on the same attitude I had at the end of the summer. I am upset with the board for not showing more ambition. Otherwise I'm still very supportive. I'm well behind the manager and well behind every player. I just get tired of fans hitting out at players who want to leave, as though it's a crime to desire playing for another club. Yeah I get annoyed as much as anyone else when they go, but at some point we have to ask why they are all leaving. Why aren't they happy at the club?
I do get you Black. I just picked up on the fact you seemed to blame the club when I don't think any of us can really apportion blame with any knowledge (maybe one or two with contacts). Bottom line is that nobody loves the club like the fans do.
Yeah. I think the club is well run, obviously. Successive promotions, punching above our weight. How can anyone complain at that? The clubs moneyball/business philosophy is slowly taking the romance out of following saints, but it has been bloody effective. I imagine it will just take a successful period on the pitch to cheer me back up as well
You'd think as a group of fans, any player leaving Saints would be water off a ducks back to "us" now. We've had so many, some of them loved, some of them not. Some left too soon, some left too late. Some left as heroes, some left as villains. Personally, I'm as attached to Saints players as I am to the little washing up sponges I have in my kitchen. They do a job, but at some point they are going to start smelling & go mouldy and I am going to have to throw them in the bin. Ok, maybe not the best metaphor.
We are a stepping stone club. Most of the players that left liked it here, but wanted to get paid more and be at bigger clubs. It's not about players not liking it here.
fatletiss said: ↑ "Godders, what is "Love in the time of Cholera" like?" Fatletiss it is excellent like everything written by by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I can recommend The House Of The Spirits by Isabel Allende too. I couldn't put it down. (Yes she is Chilean)
A stepping stone club, with some of the highest ticket prices out there, as well as the lowest spending on transfers of any PL club... Have we signed anyone yet?
Unless your sponges get really good at cleaning plates and choose to leave and wash up in next doors kitchen (which is bigger and even has an island unit!) then that metaphor doesn't work so well.
I'll try it. You've not let me down yet. You suggested him and I took one in holifay and the villa had a second one there. One eas "Memories of my melancholy whores" and the other was "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" Both excellent.
Absolutely. Should be a plus point for when we delve into the transfer market as it's been proven that players can get a move to a bigger club from us (if they play well). If it means we get the most out of them for one or two seasons, then it's all good. I can't see our "business model" being anything else right now. It's probably more profitable than focusing on developing academy players.
Better to get use to it, then get down by it though. I had to stop caring about players going myself and now just enjoy it while we have them. It has made me far happier watching Saints.
The most annoying thing is that I would do the same in the players situation. There playing careers are short and they want to earn as much money as they can in that time. Not to mention win some medals. I would hope I would do it with more class than some though. I think the days of one team players are over. The only teams that have a chance are the top teams but even for them it is getting rarer. The only hope we have is that the player leaves under mutually beneficial circumstances after giving us some good years. So after playing for us for 2-3 years the player speaks to the manager, the manager discusses with the board, the manager tells the player if he can leave or if he'll have to wait for 6 months-1 year so we can find a replacement. The player listens and does as he's told. That's the way it should work, none of this forcing a move crap when they are under contract. The most annoying players are the ones that force a move after 1 year. The player that annoyed me most was Chambers who could/should have given us some more years after coming though our academy, and would still have had plenty of time to play for a bigger club. But who knows perhaps he was told he had to go as it was such a good offer.
Provably realised he had to cash in whilst he could, as he is a bit rubbish. Still can't believe how much we got for him, based on his performances since!
