californiasaint

Not to worry, not even the worst loss in club history! (Yet.)

Shot on target! It's the little things. Who broke the black box?

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10787716/jose-fonte-opens-up-to-graeme-souness-about-his-transfer-from-southampton-to-west-ham His stock was elevated after euros and he wanted to be paid appropriately. He would have stayed with Saints if they had come to a compromise, I’m sure. Saints played hardball and lost, now there’s no way to afford a player of his quality despite desperately needing one. It was a mistake..

Ideal would be another run at europe, but after last season I'd be quite happy to stay mid table while beginning the process of shaking up the team

Could very well be the end of Saint's chances to finish in the top half. Manager is sufficient, but how long will he last under current conditions? Black box appears to be malfunctioning. No real prospects to sell to bigger teams to generate income. Passive ownership. Going to take an influx of $$$ to turn the team around. Where will it come from? Will settle for "end of an era."

There was a spirit and sense of identity to those teams that IMO is almost non existent in what is fielded today. A strong captain who carried the team through promotion was clearly a piece of that. Yet rather than recognize all the value he brought, management chose to mind the balance sheet (somewhat ironic that those who made the decision have now been culled by their own reaper). The current product on the field definitely shows none of the fight of those prior squads, talent aside. As for Fonte himself, not surprised played poorly at WH, no identity and strong disconnect there as well. Thriving in Portugal/Lille, clubs with strong cultures, as Saints once had. He raises or lowers his game depending on the environment, curse of many Portuguese players.

Fonte deserved better after all he gave to the club. His departure in many ways the beginning of the end...

Good point, though I doubt Hojberg and Romeu even refer to themselves as such!

I suspect you left Iceland out of this list for a reason... Cedric will die a champion, not something that can be said for many Saints.

The joke here is that the more someone is a fan of the MLS the less they actually know about football (or even that it's called anything other than soccer!)

Chinese love fireworks

Given that a number of your countrymen share my view I don't think this is a lost in cultural translation moment...

I rate him, but he did have the worst performance score of any Saint last season... http://www.squawka.com/players/cedric-soares/stats#performance-score#southampton-(current)#english-barclays-premier-league#8#season-2017/2018#819#all-matches#1-38#by-match

I don't know who you think I am, but I rarely use social media or online forums in general, so you're going to have to find a new bogeyman. As for trying to wind people up, I'm not. Was merely pointing out blatant hypocrisy where I saw it. The fact that it drew such a defensive reaction tells me I hit a nerve, but fear not, I won't crash the Saintsweb pity party anymore.

So? Millions of jilted drama queens out there watching the Kardashians / TOWIE. I'm happy to argue with all of them. Stupidity in numbers isn't really a defense.

I understand re-reading is something you probably find yourself doing quite often, but in this case, are you aware that I quoted you? It's right there, in your own words. And for the record, no one says y'all in California unless they're visiting from Texas. Perhaps consider a visit yourself? Even though you maintain your life isn't dull, your 15,000 posts on this message board suggest otherwise. A little vacation might do you some good. Later, dude.

Thanks for making my point for me. If holding ancient, relatively unsubstantiated grudges is "fun" for you, then you're either not right in the head or your current life is so outrageously dull that you need to dwell on the past for excitement. Take your pick. I'll happily be the "weird one" for not belonging to either camp.

What? And as for those who say I don't get it.. trust me, I do... it's just that mocking players that left for losing a Champions League Final makes you look like a jilted lover who can't get over an ex. It's been years for some of them. Doesn't matter who went or how they went, it's over. Move on.

It's only bizarre to those who expect players to show full loyalty to a club who won't give it back to them. Management has shown time and time again that they are unwilling / unable to invest in players. Why throw a fit when others come along who will? If the Saints were better, no one would leave. The problems start at home. Blaming Liverpool is what the management would do. (And did, for VVD, and our season if you were to believe them...)

There's a difference between shedding tears and acting with class. I don't trust many in this thread to know it.

Funny that the same who slag off the management for putting mediocrity on the field get upset when star players reach for something Southampton will never give them. Watching former players compete is the closest Southampton will get to Champions League football, and the club has entirely accepted this. Why begrudge the players who have seen the writing on the wall, or teams with the ambition to chase trophies? It's as small minded a mentality as the leadership.

To my knowledge no one has actually seen it working, and the club will claim that's because it's proprietary and cannot be stolen etc. But it's quite easy to put a box and a bunch of screens in a room and pull up some footage and call it the black box even if it's just a regular computer. In the long run it doesn't really matter if it works or not, still genius from a PR perspective -- the players who get recruited feel special, clubs who want to buy those players later feel like they're benefitting from superior scouting, etc. Even if the black box ends up being some bloke in a basement I don't care as long as the players keep coming in!

I choose to focus on tangible, measurable results as a method of evaluation versus speculative "benefits" as one could just as easily make a list of potentially negative consequences arising from this decision as well, particularly those that impact future ability to sign ambitious players in the same mold as VVD. I negotiate contracts for a living and the only thing I am certain of is that this VVD episode will be a point of discussion in future negotiations featuring competent representation. Whether it is a positive or a negative for Saints depends on the skills of the attorney involved. If VVD continues to hold out, things will not be good for Saints on this front, so reintegration must be of highest priority.

At the moment absolutely nothing has been achieved outside of sticking to their word (which I suppose is an achievement in itself.) Retaining VVD can only be considered an achievement if he plays to the best of his ability this season, improves the team, and is sold next summer at a high price of the team's choosing. A tall order, to be certain, but the board knew this when they made their decision not to deal the player. Looking forward to VVD coming back in line (although today's loss to France did not help matters...)

There is a way to do this by tying value to other players in the market, for example player's final value shall be the greater of Xm or the average of the last 3 players at his position to be sold during Y period. I anticipate the team's new contracts to be much more sophisticated as the general counsel has switched this past September.