There was a big gap in the sports pages of my copy of the times today where someone (I leave it to you to decide who) had removed an article about our very own Morgan. I tracked it down and found it pasted inside someone's Morgan Schneiderlin Tricolour Scrap book! No there weren't little hearts drawn all over it but I did notice a trace of red lipstick on his photograph. It is a great read and explains why he turned down Arsenal and why he came to us and then stayed even though he did not expect to be playing in league one. Here it is in full although I might be breaching copyright. If I should end up doing time will someone keep an eye on the very lovely Mrs Godders and give her a lift when she wants to visit me in Winchester Gaol. Southampton are bottom of the Barclays Premier League, without a point after their first three games. Tomorrow they travel to North London to face Arsenal, unbeaten, impregnable, another arduous afternoon in store. As the sky darkens and the rain spits against the windows of the bar in the city’s Grand Harbour Hotel, Morgan Schneiderlin cuts a figure of contentment. “I made the right decisions,” he says. We are all defined by the choices we make. By the time he had left school, Schneiderlin had made two. The first came at 16. He had an offer from a “big English club”, as he describes them. He means Arsenal, but is too diplomatic to say so. This was his moment, a gold filigree invitation to the promised land, the Premier League. He said no. He would stay and continue his education at home, in Strasbourg. “I spoke with my family and they asked if I was ready,” he says. “I didn’t know. Leaving all of my family, all of my friends, at 16? I did not want to go to sit on the bench like some others. I wanted to go and play football. If I wasn’t going to, then I wasn’t ready.” That was the first choice, but it was not the choice most of us would have made. The line most agents, most advisers, take to young players is clear: go to Arsenal, or Chelsea, or Manchester City. You will make it. And even if you don’t, you’ll have the earnings. You’ll be safe. Don’t gamble on tomorrow. Cash in today. Two years later came choice No 2. Another offer from England, another life-changing decision. Schneiderlin was 18. “I got a phone call telling me Southampton were interested in me,” he says. “Things had changed. I had spent the previous two years working hard in training every day. Very hard. I was on the bench for every game, but never came on. “The manager kept telling me to be patient, but after two years you think if you are not going to play me, I will go. Southampton said they were a young squad and they were aiming for the Premier League. I was ready to take a chance.” Those first few months were difficult. They always are for a teenager in an unfamiliar land. “I didn’t speak any English,” Schneiderlin recalls. “I couldn’t even order pizza. There was no French television. I was alone. But I had made my choice. I knew I had to dig in and make it work. My pride forced me to make it work.” Schneiderlin impressed that first season, in the npower Championship. Manchester United and Arsenal dispatched scouts to keep an eye on him. They would have noticed a raw midfielder in a side gasping for breath. Southampton were relegated. They had told their young French prodigy they would take him to the Premier League. He found himself in purgatory. Schneiderlin had always wanted to play in the Premier League. He had decided to adopt Liverpool as his club because all his friends were Manchester United or Arsenal fans, and because of Steven Gerrard, all dynamism and danger in midfield. And yet now he was farther from reaching that dream than ever. Both choices, that summer, looked wrong. “I questioned myself, of course I did,” he says. “Of course, you ask yourself. I came to play in the Premier League, not League One. I thought about asking to leave. But a new owner came in and said he wanted me to be part of taking the club back up. The players they brought in made it clear they wanted to move forward. And plus, you have your pride. I wanted to show everyone I’d made the right choices.” Schneiderlin, now 22, is defined by those two choices, figuratively, literally. In another reality, he would be at the Emirates tomorrow afternoon, too, perhaps lining up for the hosts. That player, though, would be very different from the one who endured the spit and sawdust of League One. “I learnt so much,” he says. “You learn about physicality, about contact, about getting the ball back. You get tackled from everywhere in League One, challenges that would be a red in France, but are nothing here. I could not have learnt that anywhere else. You can’t teach it in an academy.” Nor the sense that he has now, of having earned his place in the Premier League. Southampton’s poor start is no source of concern. Nigel Adkins and his team are here to do something, he says. “I have worked all my life to be here,” Schneiderlin says. “We have had a difficult start, but we have shown we can compete. But that’s the Premier League. You’re playing against the best in the world. And it’s magical.” The Schneiderlin files Born in Zellwiller, Bas-Rhin, France, November 8, 1989 Turned down a move to Arsenal from Strasbourg, his home-city club, as a 16-year-old. Emerged at about the same time as Strasbourg produced Kevin Gameiro, the France striker. Joined Southampton for £1.2 million in 2008, despite interest from Portsmouth. In 161 appearances for the South Coast club, he has scored only four goals. Captained France at under-18 level and has appeared for each age-group side from the under-16s to the under-21s.
Thanks for posting that...very interesting. Perhaps Morgan may get a chance of another International chance now we are in the PL...depending on competition of course...know nothing about France side.
Really good article and shows that he has head screwed on the right way. It must have been really daunting coming here with no other French speaking players and must have been an attractive proposition to go to Arsenal where they have a large number of his fellow countrymen and probably offer more money. To stick with us through all of the relegations and everything else says a lot about the player.
I;m sure Mrs Godders wet herself this morning upon opening The Times Good read, and he's just such a top guy isn't he? If only more footballers were like him in the modern age
Yep he and JWP give us a real solid foundations in midfield for the future. Add Cork and it looks good for the next few seasons!
both he and Lallana had a torrid season when we got relegated from The Championship, both could have jumped ship but showed loyalty and are now beginning to reap the beifits.
A fabulous young footballer and obviously with a mature outlook its great that he has achieved his goal of prem football.But why do i feel nervous now our young jewels are on full show.
Know what..? I've never felt safer. Time was, was when Baird, Walcott, Jones, you name it, were mere acquisitions, to be picked up on the relative cheap. No more. It simply isn't going to happen. What did that awful 1980's Pop band Yazz say..? The Only Way Is Up..? I think they finished it with... Baby..!, which just showed how unimaginative they were. But in this case, the scenario is right. I think the current Saints squad is rightly fit for the Premier League, and the infrastructure and influence is such that people will want to stay rather then move.
Sorry to be pessimistic but he will go if we get relegated for two obvious reasons 1) We are relegated and he can play at this level , there has never been a doubt about that in my humble . 2) If we do go down the message sent from the board to the players is there is a distinct lack of ambition to purchase quality players and strengthen to squad when we had the chance in the premiership similar to 2004 . If we can stay up and we can keep the bulk of our talent from now on our future is very bright indeed , if however we show a lack of ambition which we have been guilty of previously then this will be more than a wasted opportunity it will be a great great shame .
I sincerely hope not , wasted all the hard work done and as we have the money to stay up without a shadow of a doubt so I do not know why it should even be relevant .
It is always half empty , its true , but to be fair it is subjective , it could be argued the half full ones are over reaching and over optimistic and I for one would rather be realistic as opposed to about as accurate as a scud missile.....................
Southampton Legend in the making! Wouldn't suprise me at all if he became club captain at some point.
