http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/mauricio-pochettino-can-guide-tottenham-7917891 Fonte talking about the next step for Saints and Ronald Koeman's future at the club... (plus a look at Spurs!) There were more Saints quotes in the piece sent for the print edition, so I'll take a look tomorrow and if they're not in the print edition I'll make sure to circulate them online. DTLW
Just circulate them here anyway, DTLW. I've no doubt you'll put them into their proper perspective, rather than letting come from the viewpoint of a tabloid alone.
Here it is. Still some quotes missing so I'll just get the transcript up and post it in a moment... please log in to view this image
Here's the transcript of our conversation (I've cut other bits [Pochettino/business] to focus on the Koeman talk and Fonte's own future) So we’ve touched on the manager there. But just how important has he been for Southampton? You were obviously at the club when Mauricio Pochettino left, and the fans are concerned that if you keep losing top players and top managers, how does the club continue to move forward? I think Ronald has done an amazing job. Like you said, we’ve lost some great players and he and the club were able to replace them with good players as well. What he’s done for us has been fantastic and we hope that he can sign his new contract and stay with us for the next few years. He’s made us believe. We’ve had the best finishes in the Premier League, so we’re really happy. He’s been able to deal with all that has been thrown at him, so great credit to him and his staff and the board. Obviously, we want to go to the next step and the next step is to keep hold of our best players and manage to add even more quality to the great squad that we already have. Do you think it would be a statement to the rest of football if Southampton could get Ronald Koeman to sign a new deal? I think it’s the first step. It’s the first step. If we are able to keep hold of our best assets, it’s a big statement to the Premier League and to the world of what we want to achieve. So, I hope we can do it this year. We’ve got Kelvin’s testimonial coming up, but would you like to see a testimonial for yourself at St. Mary’s? Because, I’ve seen speculation in Portugal that has said you’d quite like to retire in Portugal… is that the case? That’s speculation, that’s speculation. What I said, in an interview. Actually, to put everything clear… put it clear for me. A journalist asked me ‘Would you ever come back to Portugal and which of the three big clubs do you prefer?’ I said: ‘Well they’re three big clubs which makes it hard for any player to say no.’ I’m very happy at Southampton, I feel at home and this is my club. It’s where I’ve been very successful. But in football, you never know. Today, the manager likes me, the club likes me, I like the club and it’s all good. The fans like me, I love the fans and we’re fine. I would love to finish my career in Southampton, but you don’t know tomorrow and in football things change very quickly. I’m happy where I am, I really appreciate what Southampton did for me and if I finish my career in Southampton - that’s great. We’ve seen Radhi Jaïdi go into coaching at Saints and Kelvin looks like doing the same, is that something you can see yourself doing? Most definitely. I’m already taking the coaching degree with Kelvin Davis. It’s something that excites me, I like coaching and I’m passionate about it. In the next five or six years, it’s something I look forward to because at the moment I still feel fresh enough, I still have a few years in me. But I am already preparing my future. Future Saints manager one day? I would love to manage Saints. I would love to, yes, most definitely.
