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José Fonte announces retirement

CSA96

By CSA96
in The Saints

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CSA96

CSA96

Posted
Posted (edited)

Calls it a day at the age of 42 (was still playing regularly last season in the top division in Portugal!) and ends with 881 games for club and country. 50 caps for Portugal and won the Euros in 2016, his country's first trophy. More appearances for Southampton than any other club in his career (288 games and 15 goals in a Saints shirt)

https://www.instagram.com/p/DY4MpG_gAaA/

Edited by CSA96
  • Like 10
Miltonaggro

Miltonaggro

Posted
Posted

A rock-steady and superb skipper during our recent salad days from Adkins to Koeman.  Nostalgic I know, but can't help but feel the likes of Fonte and Romeu would provide character and superb coaching for the current second and first strings at Saints.  

bpsaint

bpsaint

Posted
Posted

And Puel wouldn’t play him in the Europa league because he “couldn’t handle playing Thursdays and Sundays” ten years ago.

  • Confused 1
Lighthouse

Lighthouse

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

And Puel wouldn’t play him in the Europa league because he “couldn’t handle playing Thursdays and Sundays” ten years ago.

There were many criticisms of Puel but that shouldn't be one of them IMO. I think our recent Romeu experience has shown beyond doubt the difference in intensity between English and continental football. Playing every minute of every game in the PL and Europe is a lot to ask of a 33 year old.

That being said, he's had a fantasic career and is fully deserving of the title 'European Champion' from 2016.

bpsaint

bpsaint

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

There were many criticisms of Puel but that shouldn't be one of them IMO. I think our recent Romeu experience has shown beyond doubt the difference in intensity between English and continental football. Playing every minute of every game in the PL and Europe is a lot to ask of a 33 year old.

That being said, he's had a fantasic career and is fully deserving of the title 'European Champion' from 2016.

Fonte would go on to play in the champions league and manage playing in Europe midweek and then the weekend in the league quite comfortably.

He was being punished for considering moving away from the club following the Euros win that summer. It’s ridiculous but typically Saintsy that we wouldn’t play one of our best players in Europe and go out at the first hurdle.

  • Like 1
Pilchards

Pilchards

Posted
Posted

Had a lengthy interview on TalkSPORT earlier.

Said the punishment did not fit the crime and he currently has his level 3 badge for coaching.

He is very interested in talking up a managerial role in England and his ambition is to manage in the premiership.

He speaks very, very highly of Southampton and it’s one of those that you know Lampard will manage Chelsea one day and the same goes for Jose at Southampton.

 

  • Like 5
S-Clarke

S-Clarke

Posted
Posted

A great player for us, a leader throughout all the teams, even before he was the captain. He was one of the players people felt would struggle with the PL step up, more so than Jos, but it was totally opposite. 

He was a cultured CB and matured into one of the best leaders we've had. I hated the way it ended, but he'll never have a bad word echoed about him at Southampton.

for_heaven's_Saint

for_heaven's_Saint

Posted
Posted
54 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

There were many criticisms of Puel but that shouldn't be one of them IMO. I think our recent Romeu experience has shown beyond doubt the difference in intensity between English and continental football. Playing every minute of every game in the PL and Europe is a lot to ask of a 33 year old.

That being said, he's had a fantasic career and is fully deserving of the title 'European Champion' from 2016.

I disagree that he couldn’t play both. But if that was the case we should’ve prioritised Europe IMO. How long will it be until we see Saints in Europe again?

Either way, Jose is a saints legend. 

Maggie May

Maggie May

Posted
Posted
35 minutes ago, Pilchards said:

Had a lengthy interview on TalkSPORT earlier.

Said the punishment did not fit the crime and he currently has his level 3 badge for coaching.

He is very interested in talking up a managerial role in England and his ambition is to manage in the premiership.

He speaks very, very highly of Southampton and it’s one of those that you know Lampard will manage Chelsea one day and the same goes for Jose at Southampton.

 

That’s good to hear coming from a pro. I hope the court of public opinion starts swaying in favour towards us soon, especially if Boro continue to whine on and on about it.  

St Louis

St Louis

Posted
Posted

I have a small snippet worth sharing... I had dinner/drinks with a senior Saints director back in 2016, and as the drinks flowed, he started to share a few things he probably shouldnt have. One of which was that he said Fonte had come back from the Euro's in 2016 like Billy Big B*llocks (after winning it with Portugal), and that he was demanding a big pay rise, otherwise he wanted to move on (personally I think thats fair enough, he was 32 at the time, had players like Ronaldo around him all summer, was a Euros winner and probably felt it was his last chance of a big/fair contract).
But the interesting part was that the Saints director told us that we were absolutely not willing to give him a new contract, as ALL of his metrics (fitness, pace, etc) had actually been in the decline for a few years and we were already keen to move him on in the near future, so this made the decision easy for the club.
Incredible to think he managed another 10 years of playing! Admittedly didn't have a great time with West Ham, Braga, etc, but he did mange 5 brilliant seasons in the middle of that with Lille, playing 196 games and winning Ligue 1.
Proper Saints legend, it would be great to see him back with us in some capacity one day.

  • Like 2
Lord Duckhunter

Lord Duckhunter

Posted
Posted

Legend, one of my favourite players this century, would love him back as coach one day. But, his subsequent performances for West Ham proved we got rid of him at exactly the right moment. 

  • Like 2
die Mannyschaft

die Mannyschaft

Posted
Posted
33 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Legend, one of my favourite players this century, would love him back as coach one day. But, his subsequent performances for West Ham proved we got rid of him at exactly the right moment. 

I would have him on bench.

rooney

rooney

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Posted

One of the best centre backs we have had. He stepped down a league to come to us as he could see the potential at the time.

Saint Fan CaM

Saint Fan CaM

Posted
Posted

Had huge respect for him when he stepped down a league to join in the Markus/Cortese project. Lost some of that in his final weeks/months as it seemed he wanted to leave when he was needed most. Same as Lallana. However, the drop in quality after he left at CB was marked and it’s very apparent now in hindsight what a fine player he was for us.

Would not flinch at him coming back to coach, particularly as a specific defence coach.

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