Lighthouse

So why did he? I think he came back from winning the Euros, with Mendes as his agent, hoping he’d be able to get one last, decent contract for two years. Saints were happy to give him an extra year, which would have taken him halfway to his 35th birthday but anything beyond that starts getting risky with injuries and performance. After negotiations stalled over this, an offer came in from West Ham which met both Fonte’s demands of a two year deal and what we would consider a reasonable asking price. With 6 months left to run and little fear of relegation, we decided to accept, pocket the £8m and move on. None of that is unreasonable from either party. Not having a replacement sorted was stupid on our part and Fonte has acted a bit of a plank with his varying versions of events in the media. If he had just said, "I’m getting on and I want a two year contract to secure my family’s future," everything would probably have been less of a mess.

I thought the two Koeman veho shirts were alright, as was the Air Florida throwback from a couple of years ago. The others have been largely crap though I agree.

I agree. You can either believe that testing will ensure nobody in the stadium had the virus, in which case there’s no need for any of the masks, social distancing etc. Or you’ve accepted that some people will get into the stadium with the virus, in which case it’s likely to be spread significantly by breath and close contact. It’s a meaningless compromise, which as you say is just paying lip service. They should have some conviction, one way or another.

Got me thinking about our least injured players. I can’t remember Pellè missing a game through injury and Lambert was pretty decent in that regard.

Can’t believe it’s taken six posts to say it but HCDAJFU.

I can’t imagine Mendes phoning Reed up and saying, "he’s your captain, he’s just won Euro 2016, we have other parties interested... we want to be paid LESS than (at least) three other players in the squad." They’d be demanding top dollar, no shadow of a doubt, so I don’t believe that bit either. I don’t really care if it’s Reed. In fact I wouldn’t care if our DoF was the b*stard love child of John Westwood and the child snatcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Fonte’s version of events has more holes than a rusty colander.

I don’t buy any of that. Not that I’m in any way a fan of Reed but the idea that he told Fonte he had to leave AND take a pay cut, to which Fonte and his agent kindly obliged makes no sense. You can’t just tell a contracted player he has to leave, that’s the exact problem we’ve had for years with Clasie, Carrillo, Hoedt etc. Why would we force our captain and starting CB out of the club, mid-season, when we didn’t have a replacement? Anyway, I remember numerous interviews and sources at the time saying that he ‘wanted to be nearer family in London’. Why say that if you’ve just been forced out of the club (if that were possible)? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38694821

Can’t be arsed trawling four hours of radio, what did he say?

Former World Snooker champion, Peter Ebdon going full on fruitcake on Five Live. You know it's going to be good when someone uses the phrase, "wake up people!" And this was shortly followed by the phrase, "greatest psychological operation in history." If nothing else this virus is helping to highlight which of celebrities are the biggest crackpots out there. Sadly Tiss is one of them too.

You think secondary school kids are going to socially distance? You’ll have half of a dozen of them getting stoned together behind the bike sheds and another three fingering some girl called Kayla.

Seriously? They’re teachers, not drill sergeants. Trying to keep them in order is like herding cats.

It’s about the money. Nobody moves clubs because they’ve got a bigger stadium and more fans. ‘Ambition’ doesn’t mean much when they’re now about 12 clubs aiming for the Champions League. The manager, maybe but anyone moving from us to them is going to want a pretty decent pay rise to go with it. If you don’t believe me, let’s compare the players who’ve signed for Leeds and Bournemouth in recent years.

I like it but it's far to straight forward and good for a Saints shirt. You need to add a large pink square on one of the shoulders for no reason, some sort of pointless collar and buttons combination and a cheap plastic sponsor's logo, off centre for some reason, which starts to tear and peel after two washes.

Is that the woman who used to present Homes Under the Hammer, in an open marriage? I wonder if Dion is involved.

I've moved as much as I can be arsed, the Starmer stuff is all in the Labour thread.

All in all he’s decidedly average but would be a big loss. I think that pretty much summarises Saints.

The black one looks like some sort of bar chart of Covid 19 infections. Having said that, I do actually quite like those. Whatever we get I just hope the sponsor’s logo doesn’t look like somebody glue a Yorkie wrapper to the from with Pritt-stick.

Depends if they finish the season. If we don’t I can see it being a quiet summer for everyone, with mostly loans and free transfers. Let’s face it, Gao never had a pot to p*ss in at the best of times and this isn’t one of those times.

It depends on the bore of the drill bit I guess.

I’m not sure there’s all that much glory to be had on this thread.

I know I shouldn't really say things like this but I love the idea that you two are the same bloke, having some sort of psychotic episode.

This isn't about earning a living though, they will all still be paid (handsomely) whether they play or not, so why do they need to take the risk? You're correct with the second sentence but I don't think players will agree to it. It's not a risk they need to take, the rate of infection is still too high in this country right now.

Why are you pretending I didn’t know that when it’s basically the point I’m making? He and his family may not be ‘high’ risk but some reports are saying black people are up to four times more likely to die if they catch it. You’re asking players to take part in a crowded, physical environment with a very high risk of transmission. He doesn’t want to do that and put any of his family at risk and there are several other players who have expressed the same fears. What’s it all for? I can understand people needing to risk their health, going to work to put food on the table and lay the rent. We’re asking footballers to do this for a couple of hours of light entertainment.

Oh good, because I don't know where you stand. I was just browsing the Lounge and you described another posters colleague being killed cycling to work as 'horrific'. Also, it would appear I understand the virus better than the Premier League, who think disinfecting the pitches is going to make any difference at all. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52635005 It would seem that the parents of any black footballer are at risk, so how long should they not see them for? Finishing this season will probably take them into September.

And? I’d be saying the same if I was him. I assume his parents are both black and probably in their sixties, I’d be a bit more worried about them than what some strangers are watching on TV.