Southampton are known as a selling club. That has been obvious to everyone that has paid any attention to the club.
The likes of Gareth Bale, Graziano Pelle, Sadio Mane, Adam Lallana, and many others have walked the halls of this club, only to be sold to another team. The question we as fans love to observe is “why?”
It is the responsibility of the club to provide sustainability and results. A lack of results will obviously result in relegation, which is the task at hand to avoid. Southampton have been blessed with an influx of talent throughout the years and appear to be taking it for granted and getting perhaps greedy with their decision making. How can you blame them with striking luck on so many occasions with replacements?
Is our strategy of selling holding us back? Or is it the strategy that is necessary for us to continue on in the Premier League whilst sustaining talent and not going bankrupt? We have seen examples in the past of teams neglecting their financial limitations and making them currently irrelevant in exchange for one year of ‘glory’.
How do we balance the system so that we can keep our key players while continuing to bring in talent? The answer lies in our minds, rather than our hearts.
The term ‘fan’ comes from the word ‘fanatic’. We as fans truly are fanatics and become emotionally attached with our programmes. Each year we fall in love with, or completely hate, the team. However either way, we get emotionally attached. With this being said, we love to feel as though the players have the same emotional attachments with the club as we do. This is a business, and for most players, the most important aspects of the business are winning and money. Nothing else, aside from a few exceptions. We love the idea of the players putting everything out on the pitch for the fans, that they have this heart for the club that will never go awry, but this is not always the truth.
Our players, the names we have on the back of our jerseys, are trying to make a living just like the rest of us. When a player is ready to go, we should allow them to go. Not with hatred, distaste, or resentment, but with love in our hearts because they gave us everything they had when they were here. We will find a way to march on, even if it feels different. It is not up to us to tell a player what they can and cannot do. If a player truly does not want to be here, why should we want them to stay? This is only solving half of our selling problem, and not necessarily our most consistent issue.
The one issue that always seems to come into play is the board’s tactics during the transfer window. There is so much that we as fans are unaware of that when we sell our players, we are blindly taking stabs at the ‘poor work’ our board does. The bad news, is that the current tactic is not sustainable. Our strategy of continually selling our best players to bring in others is eventually going to drag us down.
I think it can be agreed upon though by our entire fan-base that this is not the team that will win us the Premier League. We will need to bring in other players to get into contention. How are we capable of bringing in other players? Money doesn’t just come from anywhere. We need to have the capabilities of separating our minds from our hearts during this time-period. I am not suggesting that we sell Virgil van Dijk or Manolo Gabbiadini. That would be foolish and an exact replica of what we have done year after year. We may have to look at selling pieces that are dying on our bench, however.
The thought of selling any of our players is heartbreaking to the fans. As I said earlier, we create an emotional attachment with these players and neglect any sort of thought regarding letting them go. I remember talking to an individual the other day who thought it would be unwise to sell Shane Long. His reasoning behind this was because of the goal that propelled us into the cup final. If you think this is a good enough reason to keep an individual on the squad, then it is a good thing you are not running an organisation.
If the day comes in this upcoming transfer window that we are selling some of our players, we as fans have every right to go up in flames. Before you do this however, attempt to think with your mind, instead of your heart, on why this may have occurred. The answer may make more sense than what is on the surface. Open up to other perspectives and look beyond your own emotional attachment with the organisation.
Do not be afraid of letting go of some of the players on our team. Although it may be heartbreaking to see one of your favourite players go, it may be what is best for the organisation, and the future of our club.
