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Southampton: How Did The Summer Exodus Actually Happen?
Southampton just won't stop selling.
How Has The Southampton Exodus Happened!?
Roll back a little over two months and Southampton had just deservedly drawn 1-1 with Manchester United and ended the Premier League season in 8th place. It equalled our best ever finish in the Premier League and was, without a shadow of a doubt, the best season in living memory for me as a Saints fan. The world was our oyster and we were undoubtedly going places, right? Wrong, fast forward and we have lost 5 significant members of our team; Shaw, Chambers, Lambert, Lallana, and Lovren, with Schneiderlin making it clear he wants out and the vultures circling over Rodriguez too. How has this happened?
Roy Hodgson helpfully suggested we were victims of our own success, thanks for that statement of the obvious Roy, but then again did Swansea not do the same the season before, and what about Newcastle before that? Personally I think the young English element of the squad has lured many in, as has the exciting style of football, but does this mean we had to sell these players, no. We needed to put our foot down and say to the players that the mission hasn’t just ended because we finished 8th, we needed to convince Pochettino to stay by backing him in the transfer market and convincing him of further ambitions, and we needed to send a positive message to the fans that this was just the beginning. The departure of Pochettino has ultimately led to the mass exodus we have had, with him still in charge I think Chambers and Lovren would have stayed and Lallana and Shaw could have been convinced to carry on, whilst no-one would begrudge or deny Lambert his dream move.
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Pochettino was clearly not convinced by the boards ambition and that’s worrying, but perhaps not a surprise as it was Nicola Cortese who talked him into the job and the project; the writing was on the wall for the boss as soon as the Italian chief executive departed, but it does ask the question of why the board fell out with Cortese and wanted more involvement in the club if they were planning on continuing the long term ambitions Cortese had previously stated, or whether Katharina Liebherr feels she has had enough of what was originally her father’s pet. Regardless of that it was important when Pochettino left that we acted quickly to replace him and though Ronald Koeman represents a positive replacement in my eyes, he arrived with Lambert already gone and Lallana and Shaw virtually gone. It is a massive shame that neither of those two gave Koeman the respect of having a chat with him and hearing his ambitions for the club though, and Lallana furthered his separation from the Saints fans by stating how he had already been wishing he could be a Liverpool player whilst still at Saints.
It’s just got worse from there, but rather than rehash all the departures, I want to approach another possible reason for the exodus; Financial Fair Play. Whilst seemingly admirable in its wish Financial Fair Play has just served to further the gap between the top 5 or 6 teams and the rest, with Everton the hugely commendable team competing at the same level on a much smaller budget. The revenue the top teams bring in means they can afford to spend huge amounts and still be comfortably under the FFP’s target (with the exception of Man City who just get a little slap on the wrist). This means that these clubs can offer huge amounts and tempt players into putting the club under pressure to let them go. I am certainly not complaining about the money received but I would much rather keep the core of the squad together than sell the majority of our first team for large bucks and struggle to replace them. The board must take a large portion of the blame for what has been a poorly managed summer and a catastrophic one for the fans who are the biggest losers in this whole affair. Finally the less said about the red side of Merseyside the better; why won’t they just leave us alone!
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COMMENTS
This can all be said in one word - Cortese. He was the last link between the vision of the man who bought the team and everyone else. Poch was hired on with that vision in mind, and when it disappeared so did any hope of realistically achieving it.
As for Financial Fair Play, Southampton had more than enough leeway between keeping the majority of what they had and any costs associated with the wages paid to their replacements. What they couldn't offer is what every team that has come in for their players has (with NO exception) - European football. Again, it all comes back to Cortese, he was the backbone of any direction this club had. Any new backbone is going to borne anew, someone up top is going to have to state a direction for where they think this club's asperations should be.
I see a different picture Pochettino was already beginning to struggle 2nd half of last season due to the wear and tear that his style of play inflicts on the players, Tony Adams made some interesting comments on Sky Sports last November whilst being interviewed where he predicted that Saints would fall away after Christmas as Arsenal used to every year under George Graham when Arsenal played that style. With the exception of Shaw the players who have gone are no great loss, Lambert struggled last season after his selection for England, Lovren was not the same player when he came back from injury, I've had several interesting conversations with people about Lallana I don't see what others appear to, yeah he's pretty with the ball but there's not enough consistency or end product in my opinion for him to be considered the fantastic player everyone claims him to be, Chambers is still a kid and didn't really contribute last season and going back to Shaw, I think that Ryan Bertrand will prove to be as good if not better once he's settled in. And very importantly If they can get £20m+ for Schneiderlin take it he's got a bad attitude and is not so good that he can't be replaced. What a terrible situation we now find ourselves in, we have a manager who has played for and managed some of the top clubs in Europe who still has the majority of the squad from last season left and £100m+ to spend on replacements without the club having to put their hands in their pockets. Good luck to Spurs and our new sponsors LFC I think that Saints have got the sweet end of the deal.
Everyone has opinions. For me I do not agree with Michael but Neale says it all for me. I have been a season ticket holder since 1975 and have therefore seen the good and not so good times. These are good times. Michael’s ambition was shared by Leeds and Portsmouth. We ended last season nowhere near a European place. In fact it has been widely quoted we were 23 points off relegation and 23 points off entering the fourth place Champions League spot. We were effectively safe from relegation by Christmas. Even Ferguson said that was always his first box to tick. From then on we had nowhere to go, with injury to key players. We redefined mid table. No one either above or below us could get near us. We were truly in a league of our own. The most depressing time was when we fielded a weak team against Sunderland in the FA Cup with the gates of Wembley half open to us and not only a Cup Final but we now know a European place on offer. The draw would have been the same. Just substitute SAINTS for Sunderland and then Hull and these would have been a few winnable games, but Pochettino showed no respect or understanding of tradition or what the fans wanted. For me anyone who wants to go, can go if the price is right. No one is too big for Southampton. The club will still be here long after these players have hung up their boots, and it is my believe we have a good long term future and an interesting 2014/15 season.
SABOTAGE
