START OF INTERVIEW
Interviewer: Southampton fans though were still singing your name. What was that like?
Lambert: It
was good. I love Southampton fans. I have a good relationship with them so it
was nice that the acknowledgment and the way they did. I tried to acknowledge them back in the same
manner. Same kind of respect and, like I
said, I’ve got nothing but respect for Southampton Football Club and the
players and the fans.
Interviewer:
Dejan Lovren received some different treatment. He got a bit of abuse. What did you make of
that? You know him well. How will he deal with that?Lambert: He’ll be ok. He’ll be ok. Obviously, a few of the players who’ve left have took a bit of stick and they’ll take it. That’s football. They will take the stick and it’s been surprising that it’s all been at the players and not on the owners which I found a little bit surpising but…. No, it’s full credit to Dejan. Didn’t let them affect him and, of course, had an excellent game.
Interviewer: Why is that surprising not the owners getting any stick?
Lambert: (Pause here while he appears to carefully consider his words) Well, there is obviously a reason … there is obviously a reason why the gaffer went and I think that was the moment, that was the moment when (another, slightly longer, pause) I think it came clear to the players what the ambition of the club was going to be.
END OF INTERVIEW
I have a few comments. First, someone needs to tell Lambert to stop touching his face when being interviewed on TV.
Second, Lambert obviously does not spend too much time reading the Southampton FC related forums if he really thinks that the “owners” have not taken a bit of stick. No surprise here though. I would be stunned if Lambert spent any time reading these forums.
Third, who are these other “owners” besides Katharina Liebherr? Maybe everything is their fault.
Fourth, Lambert attributed the players’ departures to Pochettino’s (MP) departure. He appears to claim that there was a reason MP left. When he did, the players somehow knew the reason was that the club lacked ambition. On its surface this is obviously an incomplete explanation (but, of course, we would not expect a complete explanation in an edited post-game interview). However, it leaves open the question of whether MP told the players about the alleged lack of ambition before he left and how it squares with the club’s claim that MP had been offered a new contract and support in the future. Could it all come down to a disagreement over whether Nicola Cortese’s European ambitions were excessively optimistic in the short term?
Plus, this explanation is inconsistent with Lovren’s statement “"When the chairman left, and Pochettino was going too as early as April, I realised things had fallen apart.” (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dejan-lovren-head-already-liverpool-7378180 )
I would put Lambert’s statement together with Lovren’s to suggest that someone was credibly badmouthing the club to the players before MP had officially informed the club he was leaving. Since only MP could have known in advance that he was leaving, MP had to be the ultimate source of this information. If he was sabotaging the team while still the manager that suggests he had an ethical problem, at the very least.
European football this year would have been difficult—unless obtained through cup success—yet MP seemed to deliberately diminish our chances at cup success as by his team selection last year. Southampton might have been three or four new players away from a sixth place finish this year—if the team was kept together. However, all the teams ahead of us have improved as well—except maybe Liverpool. Further, it is not clear that players of the necessary quality would have signed for us or that they could have been signed and the team kept together under the BPL Salary Cap Rules. In effect, we would have had to sign several players who would expect 100k pounds a week or more in pay without any of our old players demanding raises to similar levels. I just cannot make myself believe that was possible, even with MP as the manager.
Maybe, the problem arose in April because that is when the team’s accountant sat down with MP and explained the salary cap to him.
ADDENDUM
The full interview can be watched here: http://www.foxsports.com.au/video?v=lambert-slams-saints-owners_1227027745554&vc=204&nk=1825dc56bb5ae2d8770ffa76b4655648
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