Adam the Lama to return to Saints? Is this true?

[Fabrice29]

18 minutes ago, Chez said:

Ok, fair enough, but why do we want to sign a guy that Brighton planned to start less than 14 games? Are we similarly planning on him playing 20 minutes here and there? 

 

That’s for the club to explain, not me. Would be shocked if it wasn’t linked to a coaching role of sorts though because that’s a route Lallana clearly wants to go down. Stuart Armstrong only started 14 times last time we were in this league by the way, if we’re fixating on numbers.

Edited May 29 by Fabrice29

[Graffito]

36 minutes ago, Chez said:

Ok, fair enough, but why do we want to sign a guy that Brighton planned to start less than 14 games? Are we similarly planning on him playing 20 minutes here and there? 

 

The indications seem to be a primarily a coaching/mentoring role. There’s a need for it isn’t there? Isn’t that why “shoehorn” was shoehorned?. 

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Best player for ball retention that I can remember seeing at Saints. Makes sense why Martin would want him

[Colinjb]

Reflecting on my previous position..... This isn't quite as bad as I remember.

[Dank]

Walcott didn't work because he relied on pace. Lallana is perhaps the most technically gifted Saints player I've seen since Letiss and fits well with our style of play (recieving and moving the ball forward in tight areas). Coming on with 10 minutes to play and leading by a goal when we are struggling to hold the ball would be useful... but more importantly teaching technical skills... there's not many coaches out there who have demonstrated better at the highest level. I'd take him on a free (player/COACH)

[Colinjb]

4 minutes ago, Dank said:

Walcott didn't work because he relied on pace. Lallana is perhaps the most technically gifted Saints player I've seen since Letiss and fits well with our style of play (recieving and moving the ball forward in tight areas). Coming on with 10 minutes to play and leading by a goal when we are struggling to hold the ball would be useful... but more importantly teaching technical skills... there's not many coaches out there who have demonstrated better at the highest level. I'd take him on a free (player/COACH)

Hopefully he wouldn't follow in Hoddle's shoes of simply getting frustrated with those not as technically able as him

[FarehamSaintJames]

There’s a really good segment on Total Saints Podcast (Ep 281) about Lallana’s potential return, and some comments about how he’s always been frustrated that maybe his time at the club has been thought of not so fondly by fans because of the way he left.

Again, they say if he basically returned and came out and did a PR piece admitting that he was a dick at the time, all would be forgotten. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Couldn’t agree more.

[Saint_clark]

21 minutes ago, Dank said:

Walcott didn't work because he relied on pace. Lallana is perhaps the most technically gifted Saints player I've seen since Letiss and fits well with our style of play (recieving and moving the ball forward in tight areas). Coming on with 10 minutes to play and leading by a goal when we are struggling to hold the ball would be useful... but more importantly teaching technical skills... there's not many coaches out there who have demonstrated better at the highest level. I'd take him on a free (player/COACH)

No, but he did rely on being agile and twisting and turning a lot which probably contributed to his long list of injury problems - and will only get worse as he approaches 40 years old. 

Seriously, if people were against the idea of Fonte coming back at 38/39 who was fit as a fiddle his entire career at centreback, who was a consummate professional, I can't believe there are people OK with taking a 36 year old Lallana who has always struggled with his stamina and fitness who's main piece of advice for youngsters would be take the move to a bigger club as soon as you can. 

[Nolan]

22 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

No, but he did rely on being agile and twisting and turning a lot which probably contributed to his long list of injury problems - and will only get worse as he approaches 40 years old. 

Seriously, if people were against the idea of Fonte coming back at 38/39 who was fit as a fiddle his entire career at centreback, who was a consummate professional, I can't believe there are people OK with taking a 36 year old Lallana who has always struggled with his stamina and fitness who's main piece of advice for youngsters would be take the move to a bigger club as soon as you can. 

Didnt hear of Fonte touted as a coach to be honest....

[beatlesaint]

4 minutes ago, Nolan said:

Didnt hear of Fonte touted as a coach to be honest....

Yeah I think thats the big difference here. 

[East Kent Saint]

I always enjoyed his running with the ball , ghosting past players . His finishing not so good ! I got the impression that Poch told the players get out while you can when he left , which may explain his departure.

[VectisSaint]

39 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

who's main piece of advice for youngsters would be take the move to a bigger club as soon as you can. 

as soon as you can after 8 seasons in the 1st team squad. FFS. He's still made more league appearances for Saints than for his other clubs combined.

[Saint_clark]

35 minutes ago, VectisSaint said:

as soon as you can after 8 seasons in the 1st team squad. FFS. He's still made more league appearances for Saints than for his other clubs combined.

The first sign of a top 6 club being interested in him he was signing their shirts while he was still our captain, less than a year after signing a bumper new 5 year contract with us. 

[Secret Site Agent]

14 hours ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Adam the Lama returns to Saints

 

Adam the Llama returns to Saints

An 'l' of a difference. 🙂

Yeh sorry about that. My daughters spelling I am afraid when he was her favourite player. 

[Oldandtired]

1 hour ago, Saint_clark said:

No, but he did rely on being agile and twisting and turning a lot which probably contributed to his long list of injury problems - and will only get worse as he approaches 40 years old. 

Seriously, if people were against the idea of Fonte coming back at 38/39 who was fit as a fiddle his entire career at centreback, who was a consummate professional, I can't believe there are people OK with taking a 36 year old Lallana who has always struggled with his stamina and fitness who's main piece of advice for youngsters would be take the move to a bigger club as soon as you can. 

Did you ever see him play? One of the best players I've ever seen play. for the club

[Whitey Grandad]

7 minutes ago, Secret Site Agent said:

Yeh sorry about that. My daughters spelling I am afraid when he was her favourite player. 

The one-l lama, he's a priest
The two-l llama, he's a beast
I will bet a silk pajama
There isn't any three-l lllama

Ogden Nash

[Saint_clark]

7 minutes ago, Oldandtired said:

Did you ever see him play? One of the best players I've ever seen play. for the club

I agree. What's that got to do with him as a player today? 

[RedArmy]

I wonder if THEVMAN will re-sign for saintsweb. 

[notnowcato]

Understandable but equally sad to see such vitriol towards a former player who left us 10 years ago.

What I don't think we truly know is the club's side of Adam's exit, we know they put out a curt departure notice which I thought that lacked class.  I don't blame any professional looking to further themselves, especially if that's vindicated by winners medals.  Adam didn't have to put a notice in the Echo; but he felt he needed to - let's be clear he gained nothing from that and I believe the message came from a good place.

If Adam does rejoin us, we should judge him on what he does for us from this summer onwards.  And if he does join, I hope the club are really clear in what capacity.

[Chez]

3 hours ago, Graffito said:

The indications seem to be a primarily a coaching/mentoring role. There’s a need for it isn’t there? Isn’t that why “shoehorn” was shoehorned?. 

Not sure what you are talking about with regards to the "shoehorn" comment. If it's about Stephens getting games, then I'd say he was picked, quite rightly, to play, not to mentor. I think the whole mentoring thing is a load of bollocks. We pay coaches and managers to mentor the players. That is literally their job. Paying an older pro a shit load of money to train, sit on the bench and tell the younger guys how he did it at Liverpool makes no sense to me.  

I don't really care about Lallana's own coaching aspirations. I've no idea why we would want to bend over backwards to help him transition from player to coach. If we have a youth coaching post open, we should simply employ the most highly qualified and well respected youth coach we can find (who's annual salary would equal a week of Lallana's), that will have a wealth of contacts/scouts and knows exactly how to work with youngsters to get the best out of them. if that is Lallana, then I'm all for it.

 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

22 minutes ago, notnowcato said:

Understandable but equally sad to see such vitriol towards a former player who left us 10 years ago.

What I don't think we truly know is the club's side of Adam's exit, we know they put out a curt departure notice which I thought that lacked class.  I don't blame any professional looking to further themselves, especially if that's vindicated by winners medals.  Adam didn't have to put a notice in the Echo; but he felt he needed to - let's be clear he gained nothing from that and I believe the message came from a good place.

If Adam does rejoin us, we should judge him on what he does for us from this summer onwards.  And if he does join, I hope the club are really clear in what capacity.

No issue with a player leaving to better themselves etc, its all about the manner of the departure and the way the move was handled. Seems a common theme for transfers between us and Liverpool, with Lovern and Van Dyk similiar.

[Lighthouse]

It’s worth pointing out that being a good player doesn’t necessarily make you a good coach, as Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard have all recently proven. It doesn’t even mean you can coach your own attributes into other players. Che Adams isn’t a crap finisher because we never hired a top class, retired striker to teach him some secret technique, that’s just his own personal limitation. I could spend a month at football boot camp with Del Piero, Shevchenko and Van Nistelrooy, I still wouldn’t get into a half decent Sunday league team.

[ally_uk]

Whocares how he left the club I don't. Most the melts whinging will soon pipe down when Lallana top bins it! 🤣🤣🤣

[Lighthouse]

3 minutes ago, ally_uk said:

Whocares how he left the club I don't. Most the melts whinging will soon pipe down when Lallana top bins it! 🤣🤣🤣

PL goals over the last 7 years: 0 2 0 1 1 0 0

I can barely contain my excitement.

[hypochondriac]

13 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

It’s worth pointing out that being a good player doesn’t necessarily make you a good coach, as Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard have all recently proven. It doesn’t even mean you can coach your own attributes into other players. Che Adams isn’t a crap finisher because we never hired a top class, retired striker to teach him some secret technique, that’s just his own personal limitation. I could spend a month at football boot camp with Del Piero, Shevchenko and Van Nistelrooy, I still wouldn’t get into a half decent Sunday league team.

I think the point is that we really don't know do we. Anyone saying they know for sure what Adam does or doesn't have to offer is either lying or is Adam himself. 

[Midfield_General]

4 hours ago, notnowcato said:

Understandable but equally sad to see such vitriol towards a former player who left us 10 years ago.

What I don't think we truly know is the club's side of Adam's exit, we know they put out a curt departure notice which I thought that lacked class.  I don't blame any professional looking to further themselves, especially if that's vindicated by winners medals.  Adam didn't have to put a notice in the Echo; but he felt he needed to - let's be clear he gained nothing from that and I believe the message came from a good place.

If Adam does rejoin us, we should judge him on what he does for us from this summer onwards.  And if he does join, I hope the club are really clear in what capacity.

Lots of other players left around that time and were sent off warmly by the fans and by the club with best wishes messages and highlights reels. 

When he left, the club put out the type of one-line statement they only saved for players who had caused trouble behind the scenes or conducted themselves extremely badly. No thank yous, no best wishes, just 'we can confirm he has left'. It's pretty clear that there was a reason for that. 

There was a very strong rumour at the time that he had gone on strike and refused to play in order to force the move through. While that was never confirmed or denied by the club, given that he had been there for 14 years and was our captain, for his time to end that way it's pretty clear that the way he conducted himself to get the move seriously pissed the club off and they felt very let down by him. For a club which is generally pretty supportive of letting players further their careers, that does not reflect well on him at all. 

Whether he actually went on strike or not we don't know, although there was enough credence to the rumour that he felt he had to come out and deny it. But it's clear that he didn't behave well towards the club that had nurtured him from the Academy to the England squad, and who made him captain. For those talking about 'showing class', he then came back with Liverpool as a player and showed his own class by goading the Saints fans while they were dicking us 6-1 at home. I know that for a fact because I was there and saw him do it. And that ad in the Echo that he took out of himself was a joke - he thought he could act like a twat behind the scenes and then just brush over it with some faux-sincere badge-kissing shit from his PR team and that the supporters were so thick they'd just eat it up. 

People say 'oh but he was young then' - he wasn't, he was 26. At that age you know perfectly well how to conduct yourself. And all this stuff about what a great example he'll set our young players? What an absolute crock of shit. He set the worst possible example you could set to any young player. 

Players leave - fine, of course they do. Some players act like twats to force transfers - whatever, that's up to the them. But for anyone wondering why not everyone is welcoming him back with open arms, well, those are the reasons. It's not just blind hatred of someone who left, he brought it on himself. There's a reason players like Lambert are still universally loved, they left too but they didn't act like cunts doing it. 

Now he's an injury-prone sicknote at the arse end of his career, and we're convenient for him again because he can still get paid without travelling too far and can get back for the kids, apparently we should all welcome him back with open arms. Some people might be alright with that, and again, that's up to them. Some people aren't however, and think he burnt his bridges when he took the decision to take a giant shit on the club, and that what goes around comes around, and that he should fuck off. I'm one of them. 

Edited May 29 by Midfield_General

[Saint Matty 76]

I think people care a little too much about this one.

He's not going to be on a big wage, he's not going to play 30 games and he's more than likely going to be a dressing room figure than an intended on the pitch difference maker. 

I think his biggest playing role will be coming on in the late stages of games to calm the game down and keep some control of the ball. If he ends up doing anything more than that it's probably because he's excelled. Hopefully he can make a real positive impact on Dibling, Amo-Ameyaw etc as well.

Another good figure in the dressing room with plenty of top level experience, fine with me.

[Graffito]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

Not sure what you are talking about with regards to the "shoehorn" comment. If it's about Stephens getting games, then I'd say he was picked, quite rightly, to play, not to mentor. I think the whole mentoring thing is a load of bollocks. We pay coaches and managers to mentor the players. That is literally their job. Paying an older pro a shit load of money to train, sit on the bench and tell the younger guys how he did it at Liverpool makes no sense to me.  

I don't really care about Lallana's own coaching aspirations. I've no idea why we would want to bend over backwards to help him transition from player to coach. If we have a youth coaching post open, we should simply employ the most highly qualified and well respected youth coach we can find (who's annual salary would equal a week of Lallana's), that will have a wealth of contacts/scouts and knows exactly how to work with youngsters to get the best out of them. if that is Lallana, then I'm all for it.

 

Erm scratches head. Slightly unexpected response. But if you don’t see the benefit of experience and the ability to impart that experience to a still quite young team that struggled in the PL then fair enough. I’m sure we’d all like the most highly qualified and well respected youth coach there is but is that person available to southampton. I really don’t care about Lallana’s own coaching aspirations either, they’re irrelevant. It’s what he can do for the club that matters. Saints seem to think he can offer something, as did brighton who wanted to keep him another year. I’ve no idea whether he can help with coaching and mentoring or whether he can’t. I’m just trying to see it from the club’s perspective. Incidentally, if he’s coming just to play I’d be against it. 

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

Not sure what you are talking about with regards to the "shoehorn" comment. If it's about Stephens getting games, then I'd say he was picked, quite rightly, to play, not to mentor. I think the whole mentoring thing is a load of bollocks. We pay coaches and managers to mentor the players. That is literally their job. Paying an older pro a shit load of money to train, sit on the bench and tell the younger guys how he did it at Liverpool makes no sense to me.  

I don't really care about Lallana's own coaching aspirations. I've no idea why we would want to bend over backwards to help him transition from player to coach. If we have a youth coaching post open, we should simply employ the most highly qualified and well respected youth coach we can find (who's annual salary would equal a week of Lallana's), that will have a wealth of contacts/scouts and knows exactly how to work with youngsters to get the best out of them. if that is Lallana, then I'm all for it.

 

Are there not loads of examples of clubs successfully employing former players as coaches and using their knowledge and experience to great effect?

[Lighthouse]

2 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

I think the point is that we really don't know do we. Anyone saying they know for sure what Adam does or doesn't have to offer is either lying or is Adam himself. 

Does seem to be one heck of a coincidence that the coach we need to take us up a level just so happens to be a player looking to retire into a nice cosy coaching role, somewhere his family would be happy to settle down. As far as I’m concerned he can go off and prove what an excellent coach he is at Swindon or Pompey. We’re not a charity.

[Turkish]

He said on talksport he’s pretty confident he’s going to carry on playing so looks like it’s a playing contract 

 

[Saint_clark]

9 minutes ago, Turkish said:

He said on talksport he’s pretty confident he’s going to carry on playing so looks like it’s a playing contract 

 

But less than 14 games (935 minutes in total!) as that apparently was "too much football" last season. 

Edited May 29 by Saint_clark

[hypochondriac]

13 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Does seem to be one heck of a coincidence that the coach we need to take us up a level just so happens to be a player looking to retire into a nice cosy coaching role, somewhere his family would be happy to settle down. As far as I’m concerned he can go off and prove what an excellent coach he is at Swindon or Pompey. We’re not a charity.

Or maybe it's the case that he wants to come here for the reasons you outline and also we believe he has shown at Brighton that he has something to offer us? Both can be true. 

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

He was playing golf yesterday and was heard telling the people he was with that he was signing today as a player coach. It's predominantly a coaching role with the odd cameo role. I can only assume this means early cup games etc? 

[Turkish]

9 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

But less than 14 games (935 minutes in total!) as that apparently was "too much football" last season. 

Yeah he doesn’t seem to actually want to play. Just have a role as time wasting late sub maybe, be home to see his family and still get paid a premier league footballers wage. Whats not to like?

[warsash saint]

If Martin thinks he's good enough then that's enough for me!  The posters of this site don't exactly have a good record on their views on previous signings. 

Edited May 29 by warsash saint

[SaintsFan86]

12 minutes ago, Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd said:

He was playing golf yesterday and was heard telling the people he was with that he was signing today as a player coach. It's predominantly a coaching role with the odd cameo role. I can only assume this means early cup games etc? 

Sounds sensible, Should be getting paid peanuts then.

[OldNick]

2 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

Lots of other players left around that time and were sent off warmly by the fans and by the club with best wishes messages and highlights reels. 

When he left, the club put out the type of one-line statement they only saved for players who had caused trouble behind the scenes or conducted themselves extremely badly. No thank yous, no best wishes, just 'we can confirm he has left'. It's pretty clear that there was a reason for that. 

There was a very strong rumour at the time that he had gone on strike and refused to play in order to force the move through. While that was never confirmed or denied by the club, given that he had been there for 14 years and was our captain, for his time to end that way it's pretty clear that the way he conducted himself to get the move seriously pissed the club off and they felt very let down by him. For a club which is generally pretty supportive of letting players further their careers, that does not reflect well on him at all. 

Whether he actually went on strike or not we don't know, although there was enough credence to the rumour that he felt he had to come out and deny it. But it's clear that he didn't behave well towards the club that had nurtured him from the Academy to the England squad, and who made him captain. For those talking about 'showing class', he then came back with Liverpool as a player and showed his own class by goading the Saints fans while they were dicking us 6-1 at home. I know that for a fact because I was there and saw him do it. And that ad in the Echo that he took out of himself was a joke - he thought he could act like a twat behind the scenes and then just brush over it with some faux-sincere badge-kissing shit from his PR team and that the supporters were so thick they'd just eat it up. 

People say 'oh but he was young then' - he wasn't, he was 26. At that age you know perfectly well how to conduct yourself. And all this stuff about what a great example he'll set our young players? What an absolute crock of shit. He set the worst possible example you could set to any young player. 

Players leave - fine, of course they do. Some players act like twats to force transfers - whatever, that's up to the them. But for anyone wondering why not everyone is welcoming him back with open arms, well, those are the reasons. It's not just blind hatred of someone who left, he brought it on himself. There's a reason players like Lambert are still universally loved, they left too but they didn't act like cunts doing it. 

Now he's an injury-prone sicknote at the arse end of his career, and we're convenient for him again because he can still get paid without travelling too far and can get back for the kids, apparently we should all welcome him back with open arms. Some people might be alright with that, and again, that's up to them. Some people aren't however, and think he burnt his bridges when he took the decision to take a giant shit on the club, and that what goes around comes around, and that he should fuck off. Like me. 

I get your opinion, 2 or 3 years ago I would be fully behind it but the people at the club feel its ok. I doubt any of them were here when he did so and so dont have the same feelings.

I'm still a bit raw over Ings but if that comes to pass I will have to suck it up.

I never really forgave LM leaving, also Mick Channon, but both returned and it worked ok

[Saint Keef]

I haven't read all of the posts on this thread, so apologies if this has already been mentioned. Just a thought. It's pretty unanimous here that we want Flynn Downes to sign on a permanent. However, West Ham might not be so keen to let him go. If we were willing to take Danny Ings off their hands, and it is possible they do want him out (new management etc), it may give us some negotiating power with them and the Flynn Downes situation if we agreed to take both, Flynn Downes at a reasonable asking price, and Danny Ings on a free or "nominal fee", with reduced wages. Would that be of interest I wonder. As I say, only a thought.

[saintant]

Who cares what Lallana may or may not have said when he left. Does anyone know for a fact that he threatened not to play? How many of us would have turned down a move in our career involving much more money and opportunities? Maybe it was all handled badly but you can bet there were faults on both sides and few, if any of us, know all the facts.  Maybe time to draw a line under it and welcome him back if he does sign because it will mean the club see him as a valuable asset.

[beatlesaint]

6 minutes ago, saintant said:

Who cares what Lallana may or may not have said when he left. Does anyone know for a fact that he threatened not to play? 

Yes we do, he phoned Les Reed ranting and raving. The source was a respected local journalist.

[notnowcato]

4 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

Yes we do, he phoned Les Reed ranting and raving. The source was a respected local journalist.

Justified with his ranting or not? Who knows, only those on the conversation.

[beatlesaint]

5 minutes ago, notnowcato said:

Justified with his ranting or not? Who knows, only those on the conversation.

Well probably not. He had signed a big new contract not 6 months before, stated he wanted to spend his whole career here etc etc so phoning up Reed demanding to be let go…..err no!

You only have to recall the clubs terse one sentence statement when he left to show what a petulant little twat he behaved like. I have never seen them say so little when any player has left, let alone the current captain of the day.

Edited May 29 by beatlesaint

[saintant]

13 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

Well probably not. He had signed a big new contract not 6 months before, stated he wanted to spend his whole career here etc etc so phoning up Reed demanding to be let go…..err no!

You only have to recall the clubs terse one sentence statement when he left to show what a petulant little twat he behaved like. I have never seen them say so little when any player has left, let alone the current captain of the day.

If it's true that we are in for him then the club have obviously got over what may or may not have transpired 10 years ago. Maybe we should too.

Edited May 29 by saintant

[Saint_clark]

1 minute ago, saintant said:

If it's true that we are in for him then the club have obviously got over what may or may not have transpired 10 years ago. Maybe we should too.

The management of the club have changed. We haven't. 

[CB Fry]

15 minutes ago, saintant said:

If it's true that we are in for him then the club have obviously got over what may or may not have transpired 10 years ago. Maybe we should too.

Who is "the club" in this scenario? Every single person in any position of influence has changed.

The weird thing is people can get on their high horse about "getting over" what happened in the past....but on the other side of the debate the people that want him to come are going off exactly the same nostalgia because he used to play for us. If it was some 36 year old from Wolves or Everton with no link to us I doubt we'd see anything like this clamour.

[saintant]

15 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

The management of the club have changed. We haven't. 

Fair enough. For me if he signs he starts with a clean sheet and I'll judge him on what he says and does not on what he may or may not have said and done in the past

[wadesmith]

Pay as you play please.

[saintant]

2 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Who is "the club" in this scenario? Every single person in any position of influence has changed.

The weird thing is people can get on their high horse about "getting over" what happened in the past....but on the other side of the debate the people that want him to come are going off exactly the same nostalgia because he used to play for us. If it was some 36 year old from Wolves or Everton with no link to us I doubt we'd see anything like this clamour.

Nobody is getting on their high horse - some are expressing opinions on the potential signing of Lallana that may differ from your own. Nothing wrong with that and it doesn't involve high horses. Some are prepared to give him a chance others less so. 

[CB Fry]

3 minutes ago, saintant said:

Nobody is getting on their high horse - some are expressing opinions on the potential signing of Lallana that may differ from your own. Nothing wrong with that and it doesn't involve high horses. Some are prepared to give him a chance others less so. 

Maybe you should get over it.