Playing for the club they love...

Following on from Rickie getting his dream move to the club he loved as a boy, Sunderland have the arse with Newcastle because they signed Jack Colback and don't receive a penny in compensation. Colback says it is a dream move because Newcastle is the club he supported as a boy.

So 2 questions:

1) Which current players supported Saints growing up? (I believe Ings is one)

and

2) Which teams did our current players support as kids? (I suppose Shaw and Chelsea is a well known one...)

TIA

Lallana - Everton,

Shaw - Chelsea,

J Rod - Man United,

Osvaldo - Boca Juniors,

Cork - Chelsea,

José Fonte - Real Madrid

Vokes and Ings, both supported saints I believe. Jutkeiwvicz or however you spell it was too.

Lallana is an Everton fan for some reason. JWP was a Pompey STH.

Sam vokes went home and away all through his childhood and according to Tim wanted saints to hijack his move from bmth to wolves

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I heard Messi was a huge Saints fan as a kid

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I heard Messi was a huge Saints fan as a kid

 

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Knowing the way our luck is going that would be St Mirren

Calum Chambers - Man Utd

Matt Targett - Southampton

There are obvious problems with playing for the team you love.

Firstly you have to be good enough. Then, if you are good, the club has to be good enough for you, unless your feeling for the club is stronger than a desire to move away. So looking at the top 4, there aren't that many who are good enough to come through the ranks. Giggs is an obvious example of someone who was good enough, and who was at a club that he supported as a kid and met his expectations.

We support Saints, and I am presuming that most are like me, and if I was good enough to play football, I would want to play for Saints and no one else (in this country). Money might well come into it, but if the top earners at the club are on £65k a week, then if I got that, then I am sure that I wouldn't feel too poor! Would I turn down an extra £35k a week? Love of club vs an extra £1.8m - £3.4m vs £5.2m?

Then there is the question of ambition, which people seem to have gotten all wrong. What is more ambitious - getting into CL and maybe winning it with Manchester United or Southampton?

If I was good enough to play for Saints, then I would want to play for them. But if Man United offered me £100k a week and all the Hollyoaks slags I could nail, then I'd be off like a shot.

Once you've done a few seasons at Saints and, say, finished eighth, what else is there to do? Move on. You'd be mental just to stay for the sake of loyalty. All I would do is make sure I leave with enough goodwill to come back either in the twilight of my playing career, or as manager, or a nice plum role on the old pre match dinners.

CB, I grew up here and have no desire or interest in living in Alderley Edge. Nor nailing dyed blondes from Chester - Bournemouth's foreign language students would be fine or a short jaunt up to London.

But....if I loved Saints and we had finished 8th, would I be off? Or would I want to hang around and get Saints higher, or rather, try to get them higher? Thinking that 8th is the best it can get is rather defeatist and lacking in ambition.

CB, I grew up here and have no desire or interest in living in Alderley Edge. Nor nailing dyed blondes from Chester - Bournemouth's foreign language students would be fine or a short jaunt up to London.

 

But....if I loved Saints and we had finished 8th, would I be off? Or would I want to hang around and get Saints higher, or rather, try to get them higher? Thinking that 8th is the best it can get is rather defeatist and lacking in ambition.

I think wanting to play at the very highest level (I'd go to Arsenal or Chelsea too, Arsenal would be my first choice) is hardly showing "lack of ambition".

Thinking you can single handedly elevate Saints is not ambition, it's a bit dopey.

Thinking you can single handedly elevate Saints is not ambition, it's a bit dopey.

So what is the point of supporting a team other than those who populate the top 5 or 6 places in the Premier League? The remaining 86 or 87 clubs in the league are just a waste of time.

So what is the point of supporting a team other than those who populate the top 5 or 6 places in the Premier League? The remaining 86 or 87 clubs are just a waste of time.

What?

The topic is what you would do if you were a player. I've answered it, I'd want to play for Saints but if I was good enough I'd want to player higher up. If I wasn't good enough for Saints I wouldn't jack in football, I'd sign for Reading, or Yeovil or whoever.

You seem to be saying if you were a footballer you'd only play for Saints or no one else, which is ridiculous. At some point you are likely to go up or down. There are very few Jason Dodds, and he wasn't a fan anyway.

In the real world I support Saints and couldn't care less if we finished top four, in fact I like it just fine that we don't.

I agree with CB Fry. I think when you're a footballer and it's a career you feel differently about it than being a fan.

Matt Le Tiss I suppose is the only example of someone I can think of who stuck around.

So what is the point of supporting a team other than those who populate the top 5 or 6 places in the Premier League? The remaining 86 or 87 clubs in the league are just a waste of time.

Thats the best summary of a glory hunter rather than football fan I've ever read.

So what is the point of supporting a team other than those who populate the top 5 or 6 places in the Premier League? The remaining 86 or 87 clubs in the league are just a waste of time.

Most of us support our local team or the team that our dad's followed. That is the point.

I know we do, hence why I support Southampton. My point was about players who play for the club they support and trying to get that team to the top, rather than jumping ship to a team that is better equipped (ie financed) to do so.

Darren Anderton (OK not current, but always got tonnes of unfair abuse from us)

If I was a player such as Danny Ings, I'd insist on a buy out clause in my contract to allow me to move to Southampton if they became interested.

If I was in Lallana's position, I'd do what he's doing. I'd have every intention of staying at Saints so long as the ambition was there to really push on. However if that wasn't there and a bigger club came in for me, I'd be off. Loyalty doesn't come into it when you want to earn and achieve as much as possible.

So basically, my first choice would be to succeed and earn as much as I could at Southampton, if that wasn't possible, I'd look to move.

It is a short career and I think you have to try and play at the highest level and in turn want to win silverware!

MLT is not the only one who stuck with us, Terry Paine stayed until LMcM gave him the push after 800 games and Nick Holmes stayed to the end, I'm sure there are others but its all a bit different today.

Every team i support in any sport i would stay loyal to them if i was in pro in that sport, but thats me.

Il rather earn 20-25k a week be a cult hero and legend then move to another club earn 40-50k a week or more, my sporting heros are MLT and Allen Iverson, two of the most loyal and loved sportsmen who won the heart of the citys they played for and the fans that paid to watch them, while having teams built around them and being the main man, thats something i would much prefer to have along side my name.

Specially now as well as England players are now from all clubs not top 4-5.

Every team i support in any sport i would stay loyal to them if i was in pro in that sport, but thats me.

 

Il rather earn 20-25k a week be a cult hero and legend then move to another club earn 40-50k a week or more, my sporting heros are MLT and Allen Iverson, two of the most loyal and loved sportsmen who won the heart of the citys they played for and the fans that paid to watch them, while having teams built around them and being the main man, thats something i would much prefer to have along side my name.

 

Specially now as well as England players are now from all clubs not top 4-5.

I think that a fair few would feel like that, but when it comes to earning two or three times more elsewhere, I am not sure that we can approach it very objectively unless actually being confronted with the offer of £100k a week.

Aaron Martin was a local boy and a Southampton fan. Just seen he's at Yeovil now.