Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin: ‘I was treated like cattle over Spurs move’ Morgan Schneiderlin has accused Southampton of treating him like cattle over his attempts to get a transfer to Tottenham. The France international, aged 24, asked to leave St Mary’s following the sales of Rickie Lambert, Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren and Calum Chambers, but was denied his own move. Although he has since buckled down and been one of Saints’ best players this season, he does not regret his very public outburst after having his transfer to Spurs blocked. He said: “When something does not please me, I say ‘I’m no longer a sheep. I fight for my interests, my career’. “With everything I’ve been through, I know that there are opportunities that should not be missed. That’s why I was upset. Following this meeting and seeing the release of the president [the chairman Ralph Kruegers statement that Schneiderlin would remain at Southampton], I had to show my disagreement. “Either I posted that tweet or I went into club firing teargas. Through this tweet, I wanted to do something to make people understand the situation. In five seconds, I saw the reach of social networks. This tweet is a passage in my life. It was a kind of bomb. “They [Southampton] could have done it differently. Because it was me who became the villain. People saw the tweet, read the papers, but they were not there during the previous three to four months, they were not at the meeting. “I went to the guy who did not respect the club as I have always done. At the time, I was told that the club wanted to move forwards, but how could I understand that when we sold all the best players? “In recent months, there has been interest from clubs to me. Three, including Tottenham. From February to March, I and my agents, we talked with Southampton to evoke a start. “The club had always told me he would sell me for the right price. Me and my agents, we went calmly to this appointment July 29, with very interesting proposals. For me, with six years in Southampton and everything that I had given to this club, everything should be finalised in the day [for a transfer]. “I told them that I had signed for a project that was to keep the best people to go further. But before that meeting, Lallana, Lovren, Lambert, Luke Shaw, Chambers had left. I wondered, ‘This is not the same thing, it’s not possible. What are they doing?’ “Chambers signed the day before our meeting with Arsenal. The club then saw our fans were starting to freak out. The bosses said, ‘If we sell Morgan, they’ll burn down the stadium.’ “They then assured me, and my agents, ‘Morgan, is not for sale. We will not listen. Morgan will stay. This is the project. He has nothing to say’. It was a shock for me. I thought, ‘Why block me after I gave my all for the club?’ “I told the club, ‘you do not respect me, you do not respect your words, you treat me like cattle’. They defended their interests and I defended mine.” Schneiderlin went on to explain the turnaround in his relationship with the club. He told France Football: “I felt Southampton would not let me leave. They would have preferred to leave me in the gutter, so to speak, for six months. “So I started training, I took pleasure in touch the ball, I really needed to play football, and I was made to play against Liverpool. At Anfield, all fans of Southampton applauded me and my name was chanted. It has warmed my heart. I knew then that I would spend the season at Southampton.” youtube/watch?v=gELm5Gb3ACU
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 09:53:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015