Jones' Comments on Jimmy-Jay Morgan

[washsaint]

"not ready for the 1st team and leaves with our blessing"

What a crock of s****.  He may not have been ready but I would much rather him coming off the bench than Walcott, Elyuseless, Adam Armstrong, etc.

Likewise Ballard has to be a better option off the bench than many of our squad.

 

[Fan The Flames]

Not being ready for the first team is irrelevant. It would have been nice to have kept him. The blessing bit, I guess Jones felt he had to say, afterall we are all on his case about being chippy.

[Whitey Grandad]

15 minutes ago, washsaint said:

"not ready for the 1st team and leaves with our blessing"

What a crock of s****.  He may not have been ready but I would much rather him coming off the bench than Walcott, Elyuseless, Adam Armstrong, etc.

Likewise Ballard has to be a better option off the bench than many of our squad.

 

To be honest I don't think that any of the first team are ready for the frst team.

That's if he even knows what our first team is.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

Probably will be seeing a lot more of these lads going in the next coming months. No reason with the amount of subs you can have on the bench, that they shouldn't expect to be named. If the club think that they are that good enough that should be the minimum they would expect. We've gone beyond bringing on Walcott and Djenepo to try and influence games. These lads can't do any worse.

[swannymere]

He was asked to comment on something that was well in play way before he arrived. He's probably said the right thing, not scorched the earth so as to prevent a possible return and probably correct in his level of suitability for the first team. 

[the saint in winchester]

Yeah, this was touched on by - by inference - at the Fans Forum. Rasmus and Semmens saying (in effect) we took the decision to increase the size of our squad and the consequence is not all the squad can make the 18 every weekend, meaning we will see squad players in the B team with increasing regularity. Seem to remember Rasmus defending bringing in younger players from other clubs as he said we didn't have anyone coming through from the academy. I pulled a face at that, as we have effectively given them no pathway to the match-day squad by increasing the existing squad. Although they weren't named, this did seem to restrict opportunities for JJ, Dom and the others who I would have liked to have seen coming through. That is/was The Southampton Way.

[Master Bates]

May aswell sell all the youngsters off and close the Academy.

[Turkish]

10 minutes ago, the saint in winchester said:

Yeah, this was touched on by - by inference - at the Fans Forum. Rasmus and Semmens saying (in effect) we took the decision to increase the size of our squad and the consequence is not all the squad can make the 18 every weekend, meaning we will see squad players in the B team with increasing regularity. Seem to remember Rasmus defending bringing in younger players from other clubs as he said we didn't have anyone coming through from the academy. I pulled a face at that, as we have effectively given them no pathway to the match-day squad by increasing the existing squad. Although they weren't named, this did seem to restrict opportunities for JJ, Dom and the others who I would have liked to have seen coming through. That is/was The Southampton Way.

Semmens always went big on this club ethos being the pathway for young players. Guess when he let Rasmus buy the club that was his compromise, 

[Saint_clark]

Just because a young player isn't ready for the first team now doesn't mean we should be comfortable with letting them go. Especially a prolific youth striker - look how much we've struggled with signing a decent striker ever since Pelle left. Producing one of our own would help save a huge amount of money. Ridiculous attitude. 

[egg]

What's wrong with saying that a kid moving on goes with our blessing? What do people want him to say, "good riddance to the little shit, I hope he ends up at Eastleigh" or similar? 

 

[hypochondriac]

5 minutes ago, egg said:

What's wrong with saying that a kid moving on goes with our blessing? What do people want him to say, "good riddance to the little shit, I hope he ends up at Eastleigh" or similar? 

 

Absolutely nothing wrong with what he's said, everyone is picking up on everything he says now and looking for signs of incompetence. 

[Toadhall Saint]

He wasn’t staying - not sure what the big deal is. 

[disconnect]

They also mentioned that the academy was fundamental and the lifeblood of our club, but the fact of the matter was that the group who should be getting in the first team squad now - 19/20/21/22 year olds were not good enough. I can totally see that - you only have to look at how some of our best 19/20 year olds (Olaigbe, Watts, Chauke, Vokins) are doing out on loan at (/given away to!) lower league teams to see that if they're not starring in teams 2/3 divisions below, of course they're nowhere near ready to be playing for us. They actually sounded pretty enthusiastic about the group below that (Ballard, Doyle, Dibling etc), as we all are hopeful for, but don't want to throw them in too early. Next season, I expect to see some of these players on the bench a bit more.

[coalman]

4 hours ago, washsaint said:

"not ready for the 1st team and leaves with our blessing"

What a crock of s****.  He may not have been ready but I would much rather him coming off the bench than Walcott, Elyuseless, Adam Armstrong, etc.

Likewise Ballard has to be a better option off the bench than many of our squad.

 

He's on a hiding to nothing there. At worst he didn't need to say he's not ready for the first team. But right to wish him well.

[Colinjb]

2 hours ago, egg said:

What's wrong with saying that a kid moving on goes with our blessing? What do people want him to say, "good riddance to the little shit, I hope he ends up at Eastleigh" or similar? 

 

Honestly, yes.

The blokes on borrowed time, at least let him see it out in an entertaining way.

[egg]

1 minute ago, Colinjb said:

Honestly, yes.

The blokes on borrowed time, at least let him see it out in an entertaining way.

To be fair, that'd be quite amusing! 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

I objected to "He wouldn't be good enough for the high aggressive, front footed, high xG Luton side, where I earned awards. So he's not good enough here, as I work, now free of influence from board, players and sanity, to build a side as good as that award winning Luton team was." 🙂

It's important for the pathway to be available to the academy. That pathway now applies to the slightly older youngsters we've bought recently. They filled the gap in quality at that development stage.

So, we should be seeing some of them on the bench, if we're going to more easily bring in others at that stage.

The club and NJ needs to balance that against having players who can get us points in close games to stay up. We may we'll lose this year for the younger players, before we get outgoings in the summer.

Should we go down, we may have far more opportunities to see real progress with the younger players.

[Whitey Grandad]

I don’t know and I’m guessing here but I’m assuming that Luton doesn’t have a footballing academy that is the envy of the world?

[Bad Wolf]

For once, Jones hasn't said anything wrong here.

[Maggie May]

Oh look, another post knocking NJ. 

[Toussaint]

2 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I don’t know and I’m guessing here but I’m assuming that Luton doesn’t have a footballing academy that is the envy of the world?

Neither do we 

[Toussaint]

5 hours ago, egg said:

What's wrong with saying that a kid moving on goes with our blessing? What do people want him to say, "good riddance to the little shit, I hope he ends up at Eastleigh" or similar? 

 

I don’t think it’ll be long before the angry mob rig up a ducking stool for him, if he survives 20 minutes under water he can stay on (until the next capital offence)

[Crab Lungs]

6 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Absolutely nothing wrong with what he's said, everyone is picking up on everything he says now and looking for signs of incompetence. 

A lot of people have turned into rabid bunny boiling exes with their behaviour.

[notnowcato]

15 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Absolutely nothing wrong with what he's said, everyone is picking up on everything he says now and looking for signs of incompetence. 

Exactly. All the evidence of incompetence you need is once the team sheet is in and then the inevitable shower of shit that follows. 

[FarehamSaintJames]

I thought I read that JJM wanted a five figure salary having never played a first team game or part of a squad.

I’d argue that either he is easily led by his representatives or he’s a bit naive himself in thinking he’s worth that much having only kicked a ball about at kids level.

With it now transpiring that he has a dodgy knee to go with it, £5-10m for a kids who’s never played a first team match, moving to a team, quite clearly for money and not for matches, and one that doesn’t give youth a chance?
I’d say we’ve done very well out of all this. He’ll end up at some average Championship team.

[Sfcphilc]

We've got a few million for a 17 year old that didn't want to be here, who will likely end up being EFL standard at best.

I don't see much of an issue here.

If players don't want to be here, get the most amount of money for them and let them go, whether it's first team or u18.

[Saint86]

17 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

Just because a young player isn't ready for the first team now doesn't mean we should be comfortable with letting them go. Especially a prolific youth striker - look how much we've struggled with signing a decent striker ever since Pelle left. Producing one of our own would help save a huge amount of money. Ridiculous attitude. 

The kid didn't want to sign a new contract and was clearly only interested in going back to Chelsea and the £££ signs. There isn't much we can do. Its not Jones' fault ultimately.

Jones could have played him in the first team maybe - but Chelsea would have still likely have signed him and the fans would have been even more annoyed. And it is unlikely that he would have been ready for the premier league at his size and age. Precious few kids do anything at this level at the age of 16/17 - I can pretty much only think of Rooney. Owen was 18 when he burst onto the scene, theo/ox/bale did effectively nothing for their first few years either, Kane was into his twenties...

The only thing it may have done is get the fans onboard - Koeman found this to his benefit when we were awful in winter under him, he made a load of changes, introduced some academy players, and i believe we went onto win 3-0 vs everton? I do think their is a lack of awareness from SR about what makes the fans tick at saints, its not just about developing kids, its about developing our kids. They would get a lot more patience and support if 1-2 kids were being given a few minutes. But then if they really aren't at the required level yet its also fair enough - we can't afford to throw away points more than we are.

Edited 10 February, 2023 by Saint86

[suewhistle]

To my mind I think there are two issues with the "pathway": bringing them in to the team at the moment and how it is all presented. There haven't really been any safe opportunities to get them on the pitch with our current dire situation and I suspect the general consensus is that they aren't physically ready for the grind we find ourselves in.

But we could certainly be more positive about their prospects down the line: "yes, not ready but not far away" type of presentation. As the example of Kane shows, there is nothing wrong with loans for development either. Perhaps get a few goals up against Grimsby (yeah well..) and bring one on. The buzz for the whole B team would be great and I'm sure all the team mates would help him celebrate his match day bonus!

[david in sweden]

IF... Morgan were to stay he would undoubtedly get game time in the first team ..in a year or so.

To have put him on the pitch just now, and expecting miracles would be totally wrong, especially at a time 

when the regulars are struggling.   Bad luck, Bad timing(?) .. but there is still a world of difference between 

Academy football and the drop zone in Premier League.

Our previous "successes"; Walcott, Bale, Oxlade- Chamberlain, Shaw and  Lallana all grew into a Saints squad

and were helped playing alongside experienced pro's.  After moving they all struggled at their new clubs

when expected to show up and do their bit.

 

Morgan was amongst a bunch of lads (U18's) who are part of the best Academy year we've had since Prowsey's time.

There are others - many of whom are local and have been with the club since 8 years old, and although it's a shame

he's gone, I don't think we will miss him in the long term, as we have others who are DAJFU at U18 and B team level.

I may stand corrected, but I thought JImmy-Jay was from the London area (?).and had been rejected by Chelsea

some years ago and he joined us soon afterwards. A chance to return and get a big salary was surely a no-brainer for him.

even if he's in along queue for aplace on their bench, and surely the  6 million compensation is not a lot to moan about. 

 

Edited 10 February, 2023 by david in sweden

[swannymere]

21 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

Just because a young player isn't ready for the first team now doesn't mean we should be comfortable with letting them go. Especially a prolific youth striker - look how much we've struggled with signing a decent striker ever since Pelle left. Producing one of our own would help save a huge amount of money. Ridiculous attitude. 

Truth be told, the shear volume of the 'Next big thing' that disappear without trace or fail to live up to standard is incredible. I'd rather throw the dice and take the money.

[OldNick]

"Thank you Southampton FC for all the memories and opportunities. Wishing you all the best, Saints." his message was probably the most heart warming and grateful Ive seen since Lovren went to Liverpool

[egg]

2 hours ago, swannymere said:

Truth be told, the shear volume of the 'Next big thing' that disappear without trace or fail to live up to standard is incredible. I'd rather throw the dice and take the money.

Yep. For every Alan Shearer, theres lots and lots of Ryan Seagers. I hope the kid does well, but chances are he won't. 

[LGTL]

3 hours ago, david in sweden said:

IF... Morgan were to stay he would undoubtedly get game time in the first team ..in a year or so.

To have put him on the pitch just now, and expecting miracles would be totally wrong, especially at a time 

when the regulars are struggling.   Bad luck, Bad timing(?) .. but there is still a world of difference between 

Academy football and the drop zone in Premier League.

Our previous "successes"; Walcott, Bale, Oxlade- Chamberlain, Shaw and  Lallana all grew into a Saints squad

and were helped playing alongside experienced pro's.  After moving they all struggled at their new clubs

when expected to show up and do their bit.

 

Morgan was amongst a bunch of lads (U18's) who are part of the best Academy year we've had since Prowsey's time.

There are others - many of whom are local and have been with the club since 8 years old, and although it's a shame

he's gone, I don't think we will miss him in the long term, as we have others who are DAJFU at U18 and B team level.

I may stand corrected, but I thought JImmy-Jay was from the London area (?).and had been rejected by Chelsea

some years ago and he joined us soon afterwards. A chance to return and get a big salary was surely a no-brainer for him.

even if he's in along queue for aplace on their bench, and surely the  6 million compensation is not a lot to moan about. 

 

He is from Bournemouth. He wasn’t released by Chelsea, he/parents chose to leave and he signed for Saints as it was much closer to home. Chelsea have kept tabs on him ever since. They’ve given him number 9 so wouldn’t surprise me to see him involved later this season. 

[The Kraken]

17 minutes ago, LGTL said:

He is from Bournemouth. He wasn’t released by Chelsea, he/parents chose to leave and he signed for Saints as it was much closer to home. Chelsea have kept tabs on him ever since. They’ve given him number 9 so wouldn’t surprise me to see him involved later this season. 

His knee surgery is said to put him out for 3 months, so that would be extremely optimistic. Not sure what you mean by the number 9 things, Aubameyang  is their 9 and according to Chelsea he hasn’t got a number yet.

[LGTL]

9 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

His knee surgery is said to put him out for 3 months, so that would be extremely optimistic. Not sure what you mean by the number 9 things, Aubameyang  is their 9 and according to Chelsea he hasn’t got a number yet.

Yeah ignore me on the number 9 thing. I also forgot about his knee op. Apart from that, I was spot on 😂

[The Kraken]

Wouldn’t be surprised that, unless he makes some remarkable development in the short term, he’ll be loaned out by Chelsea at some point in the next year or two. There’s new regs coming in (or already in) on how many players clubs can loan out; but from what I can gather players under 21 and/or who are homegrown in that country are exempt from the restrictions.

[trousers]

19 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

Wouldn’t be surprised that, unless he makes some remarkable development in the short term, he’ll be loaned out by Chelsea at some point in the next year or two.

A cheeky loan to a newly relegated championship team next season maybe...? #HCDAJFU

Edited 10 February, 2023 by trousers

[Ted Bates Statue]

Another massive talent slipping right through our fingers thanks to our manager for the moment, when what these young hungry players really need for their development is a run in our relegation-threatened side at the foot of the table. I cast my mind to another shining star of our academy, now free of the shackles of the cult of Ralph, which was so determined to hold his development back and prevent him from gaining a foothold on the fabled pathway. We can now only watch from afar as the career of Alex Jankewitz goes from strength to strength, just as the forum sages predicted not so long ago.