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Liam Fontaine - Update: Deal falls through


St.Patrik

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fontaine had ankle surgery towards end of last season. he then featured 1st game of the season against cardiff and played 90 mins but has since been out with ankle injury. i can see why bristol city have glady accepted our improved offer of 800k especially since he has less than a year left on his contract.

 

this is a bit of a worry

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Makes me think that Adkins sees a long-term future in the team for Seaborne and/or Martin. If he wasn't sure about those two he may have spent £4m on a new defender. This is the sort of signing that says "here's a bit of extra competition/cover, whoever is playing best plays". It might mean it gives him a chance to send Maritn out on loan to get some more games while having cover/competition for Seaborne, with long-term view to Martin being in the team.

 

I thought we had a policy of signing players that improve what we already have?

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Fourth Official expects him to be our next signing. ItkAgent says Leicester to go all out for Maynard this week and try get him before the weekend...but we're still interested, but he prefers Lfc...might all be b*llocks

 

And you just know what would happen on Saturday if they were to sign him this week!

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I'm glad people are quick to moan after probably never seeing him play. Anyway, this is from a ST holder...

 

"He is still a very good player though and when he's on his game, he's brillaint. He's very composed on the ball, win's a lot of headers and throws himself at danger."

 

Sounds like an Adkins signing to me.

 

Yes no point whatsoever in being critical until we have seen him play half a season, but just as many eulogise about a signing having never seen the person play.

The fan's reaction from the departing club is always a good yardstick for me and the reviews from Bristol do seem a bit mixed. Richardson was the last player who got a mixed send off and I am no fan of his.

Still think our pressing need is another burly forward.

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So to sum up: He's 5'9" and 5'11" and 6'1"; Bristol City fans think he's their best defender and wouldn't mind seeing him go. He's good in the air and also not so good in the air, needing to play alongside an aerial giant. He's potentiallly Premiership standard and is a died in the wool Championship quality player. That's nice and clear now, thanks.

 

You missed "and he's got a dodgy ankle so is crocked anyway"

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My housemate is die hard Bristol City fan, goes to watch them a lot. He said he has no idea why we would want to sign him, makes mistakes and can get made to look stupid by a decent striker. The only reason he wouldn't want him to go is that they are short at the back at the moment. He is fairly shocked we are in for him. Not a good sign!

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I thought we had a policy of signing players that improve what we already have?

 

If that was true all our recent signings would go straight into the starting XI but only Jack Cork has managed to do that so far.

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My housemate is die hard Bristol City fan, goes to watch them a lot. He said he has no idea why we would want to sign him, makes mistakes and can get made to look stupid by a decent striker. The only reason he wouldn't want him to go is that they are short at the back at the moment. He is fairly shocked we are in for him. Not a good sign!

 

Seems the general consensus. I keep trying to tell myself that our past form this window would suggest this is all speculation and we will come out with a surprise, but it seems there's far too much smoke with this one. Disappointed!

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I'm quite sure Adkins knows what he is doing. Fontaine has played over 200 games for Bristol City, mostly in the Championship and captained them in the first game of the season - sure he is no mug. Sounds like he had a good spell at City but needs to move on to fulfil his potential.

 

It may be a good move, but writing off every decision as 'Adkins knows what he is doing' is foolish. He isn't sone super being, he is human and can make mistakes like anyone else.

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I agree. Bit worrying to read Bristol fans saying this Fontaine bloke is best next a ball winner, as opposed to being one himself. What we really need is another Svennson type to complement Fonte .... or to put it another way a younger, faster Jaidi... and what is more he has to be able to play left side because the otherwise excellent Fonte apparently can't.

 

Still, maybe the Bristol fans are exaggerating.

 

I reckon Nigel will know a bit more about whether this guy is more suitable as a partner for Fonte than a bunch of fans on a fans website. I would not be too concerned at all. More worried about the recent injury issue but I'm sure our medical process these days is pretty robust as we dont seem to sign duds from that perspective anymore.

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It may be a good move, but writing off every decision as 'Adkins knows what he is doing' is foolish. He isn't sone super being, he is human and can make mistakes like anyone else.

 

He can, but he is paid to live and die by his decisions. I believe thus far his decisions have been spot on, so until that changes he and the club should have our full support for any transfer dealings. Forte may not be first choice, but he is a useful squad player and was invaluable last season with his two goals against MK Dons.

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I'm not going to judge him until I've seen him play for Saints. 200+ Championship starts at 25, he can't be that bad. NA obviously thinks a move and a fresh start may bring out the best in him.

 

Don't even bother waiting to see him play; how foolish! The usual bed wetters and despondent doom and gloom merchants have spoken and he is clearly crap, as is NA for buying him. Welcome to Saints Liam, eh?! Jeez.....

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I'm not going to judge him until I've seen him play for Saints. 200+ Championship starts at 25, he can't be that bad. NA obviously thinks a move and a fresh start may bring out the best in him.

 

Exactly. And most of the Bristol City fans on their forum refer to him as their best defender. He is young, hungry and has potential to improve, sounds like the sort of player we go for, and rightly so.

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Don't even bother waiting to see him play; how foolish! The usual bed wetters and despondent doom and gloom merchants have spoken and he is clearly crap, as is NA for buying him. Welcome to Saints Liam, eh?! Jeez.....

 

Erm no one has said this. You are inventing things in your head that you want to be true so you can have a moan. How sad.

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If people think this guy is bad value, remember we paid £1.2m for Wayne Thomas! The ankle injury is a concern if it is a recurring problem, hopefully the medical will flush it out one way or another. He seems to have pace, which we needed and may have stagnated a bit at Bristol but a new environment and a bright manager (that's no disrespect to Keith Millen) might give him a new lease of life. If we get 150-200 games out of him, that represents decent VFM in this inflated market and doesn't eat into much of the AOC cash.

 

Striker with blistering pace next please....

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"I for one would be extremely disappointed to see Liam Fontaine leave. As a club if we are to challenge for anything higher than mid-table mediocrity we need to be able to retain our best players and it’s my belief that if we are to sell Fonts, it will be a step in the wrong direction."

 

Some sense at last, and from an articulate, informed BC fan.

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"I for one would be extremely disappointed to see Liam Fontaine leave. As a club if we are to challenge for anything higher than mid-table mediocrity we need to be able to retain our best players and it’s my belief that if we are to sell Fonts, it will be a step in the wrong direction."

 

Some sense at last, and from an articulate, informed BC fan.

Heres one of their forums, mixed view I'd say, similar to this forum's view overall of someone like Richardson or Seabourne.

 

http://www.otib.co.uk/index.php?/topic/138481-fontaine-to-southampton-bid-accepted/page__pid__1417510__st__180#entry1417510

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Perhaps we are doing a medical for BCFC to find out what is causing his bad ankle as part of the Maynard deal as they can't afford professional medical advice or we are planning to buy him just to confuse Dave Merrington?

 

Seriously a strange one but we need to trust the club on this one I guess.

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Perhaps we are doing a medical for BCFC to find out what is causing his bad ankle as part of the Maynard deal as they can't afford professional medical advice or we are planning to buy him just to confuse Dave Merrington?

 

Seriously a strange one but we need to trust the club on this one I guess.

 

Just wonder if we may be paying slightly over the top for LF on the premise that we get first dibs on NM!!

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Heres one of their forums, mixed view I'd say, similar to this forum's view overall of someone like Richardson or Seabourne.

 

http://www.otib.co.uk/index.php?/topic/138481-fontaine-to-southampton-bid-accepted/page__pid__1417510__st__180#entry1417510

 

Lots of the comments refer to him being their best defender and are generally positive. They might feel we are paying a lot because he has a year on the confract but that doesn't make him a better or worse player but it does mean they make money from him that they wouldn't if he sat out his last year.

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Heres one of their forums, mixed view I'd say, similar to this forum's view overall of someone like Richardson or Seabourne.

 

http://www.otib.co.uk/index.php?/topic/138481-fontaine-to-southampton-bid-accepted/page__pid__1417510__st__180#entry1417510

 

Plenty of people saying he is their best defender; would you get any on here saying the same about Richardson or Fonte?!

 

Lots seem disappointed they're losing him; others not so bothered. General consensus seems to be that he has takent but has stagnated a bit in the last season or two, possibly due to being played as one of various different centre-half pairings. They say he's quick, which is a leg-up on Gorkss.

 

He's been a fixture in a side that has finished 4th, 10th, 10th and 16th in this league in the last 4 years. It's also rumoured that we've gone for him after turning down the opportunity to sign Gorkss, so if that's true we see him as a better option than someone who is nudging 30 and has signed for £1M for a significant rival of ours.

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If he has pace and is comfortable with the ball at his feet and can pass to feet' date=' sign him up I say.[/quote']

 

This.

 

Judge him from watching him play, not from a Bristol City forum or because you haven't heard of him, someone on the echo comments page said we should be going for Scott Dann instead, that sums up some of the mongs who support Saints.

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This.

 

Judge him from watching him play, not from a Bristol City forum or because you haven't heard of him, someone on the echo comments page said we should be going for Scott Dann instead, that sums up some of the mongs who support Saints.

 

Why not do that but also form an initial opinion based on those who have seen him play week in week out for five years?

 

Put it this way, I would be feeling a bit better about rejecting better players and going for this one if we had similar comments from fans like crystal palace with fonte or cork with burnley.

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