Big Adam Blackmore Rant

Southampton Football Club
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From his Twitter feed. The perfect response to some of the hysteria.

Excuse the rant…and please allow me to finish…but the over-reaction by some following #saintsfc exit from Europe leads me to say it is way too early for the panic button to be pressed & fingers to be pointed at figures in the club for perceived failings have people forgotten the result of last year’s meltdown?

Best #EPL finish ever? Is this a club in crisis now before Sept ?!? Come on

Yes, performances at #saintsfc and results have been below the high standard s of last 2 years but you cannot build quickly every year?

at some point the policy of taking big money for key players is going to affect the quality of #saintsfc squad but it is early still and maybe a period of re-adjustment & some more investment is needed but it’s too early to say the people that have got so much right are suddenly bad at what they do - like RK, Les Reed, & players - over time the club has grown steadily & whilst fans can rightly claim that money spent has not been matched by money brought in, it is too early to write off ability of key people because of a few results

There is no way #saintsfc could foresee the trouble caused by Man Utd over Mane & seemingly by Wanyama & his agent. That is unsettling the squad with players asking questions I’m sure, & #saintsfc as a club needs to hold it’s nerve up until Tuesday 6pm & stick together

If Wanyama & his agent are constructively working to get him out of #saintsfc then I hope he can look his teammates in the eye if he remains at St Mary’s after Sept 1st. If not then fans I spoke to last night would rather take the cash & move on.

There is no doubt that at some stage the club need to invest in two or three high quality signings if they’re to back up their rhetoric of wanting to stay at the right end of PL table & consistently compete for Europe, as they want .

So I get fans who are worried now after a poor start but I think it’s way too early for judgement & some journalists adding their ill-informed thoughts to keep poking at the wounded animal is not helping but division between key club staff is not something i think is true & fans should rally round - as they already do. End

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Perhaps this is the type of article that Big Adam is ranting about. Neil Ashton was always regarded as having an inside line in the NC years.

(And yes I know you lot hate the Fail but it does raise some questions that tie in with Adam’s rant

Daily Fail bullkrap

On Monday afternoon Ronald Koeman watched Southampton’s Under 21 team continue their unbeaten start to the season with a 1-1 draw against Middlesbrough at the club’s Staplewood training ground.

At first glance there is nothing remarkable about that, except there were a number of times during the game when Koeman was shaking his head at Martin Hunter’s young team.

When Southampton’s ambitious coach arrived at one of the best-run clubs in the country last summer, there were promises of progression and a push for the Champions League. A year on, there is tension building between Koeman and Southampton’s head of football development Les Reed, with the pair in frequent disagreement over the talent pool at the club.

Two years ago, when Southampton opened the Barclays Premier League season with a 1-0 victory at West Bromwich Albion, they started the game with six English players.

Southampton championed English talent, making a commitment to the national team by developing young players and building an academy that was the envy of other Premier League clubs.

At Watford last weekend, the only academy player in the starting XI was Matt Targett, who was forced to play with an illness because regular left back Ryan Bertrand is recovering from knee surgery.

Tensions are rising at the training ground and not only because Koeman has been powerless to prevent some of his best players leaving over the past 12 months.

Reed, who remains close with Hunter, continues to push the Under 21 players towards the first team, but he is being met with resistance by Koeman.

The Dutchman wants players with first-team pedigree.

In the summer, young academy graduate Jordan Turnbull was promised a role in Southampton’s pre-season preparations following his return from a loan spell at Swindon Town.

The England Under 20 defender had agreed a new three-and-a-half-year contract in February, was assured of a bright future at the club and promised a chance to make an impression.

Turnbull started just one pre-season game, a 5-4 defeat against RB Leipzig on July 8, and has returned to Swindon on loan for the season.

Sam Gallagher, another product of the fabled academy, has joined MK Dons on loan after Koeman decided he would not make his first-team squad this season.

Midfielder Harrison Reed, who has made a handful of first-team appearances over the past two years, is frustrated with life on the bench. He is considering a loan move to Derby.

James Ward-Prowse’s progress has also been stunted. He has lost his starting place in the England Under 21 team and has failed to convince Koeman he should be in the Southampton side. When Ward-Prowse came on as a substitute at Vicarage Road last Saturday, the central midfielder was played in an unfamiliar position out on the left.

Southampton have made a shaky start to the season, with the departure of Morgan Schneiderlin to Manchester United and the contract issue with captain Jose Fonte continuing to cause friction.

United’s continued pursuit of Sadio Mane, who arrived from RB Salzburg last year, has also been destabilising in the final days of the summer transfer window

Koeman, who has aspirations to manage the Holland national team, is concerned that his reputation is on the line as he searches for his first win of the Premier League season.

He wants to manage a team chasing the game’s top honours, but he fears that Southampton’s selling policy will stifle his ambitions.

Without the fame academy, they also risk losing a lot of goodwill.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3213295/Southampton-s-talent-struggling-break-Ronald-Koeman-losing-faith-prolific-St-Mary-s-academy.html#ixzz3k6RMPDk0
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

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Two completely takes on the same subject. While one has to be wary about bias with local newspapers (you want to see the amount of excuses the Liverpool Echo have made for Brendan), I do have a lot of time for Blackmore, particularly as he doesn’t shy away from touchy subjects like the situation with Big Vic.

Ashton’s piece looks very much like he has conjured stuff out of the ether, particularly the idea of a selling policy. He might want to refine that with something like…

“… he fears that Southampton’s policy of selling players that have been offered big money and have had their heads turned…”

… because there’s not much else we can do when that happens.

I kind of agree with Blackmore. We do need to get some high quality players in sharpish, but I’m not sure that is going to solve any immediate problems.

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Wow, he fitted that all into a tweet?

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Originally posted by @Coxford_lou

Wow, he fitted that all into a tweet?

Nope, I stitched it together and sent him a link :slight_smile:

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:slight_smile: Just had a look… A good rant over multiple tweets is a thing of beauty. Nice one Adam!

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I hate Ashton. That is all.

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To be fair to Ron, I watched the u21 game the other day and I was shaking my head too.