Jose Fonte - The King is Dead, Long Live the King

Jose Fonte baby, Jose Fonte Woaaaaah.

Three years or so of singing that and we were informed it was promounced ‘Font’ and not ‘Font-ay’.  Who cares…?

When José first signed for us from Crystal Palace, it was in our first season in League 1 and it was ridiculous as he was far too good for that level.  He absolutely strolled through games and no one could touch him and it was amazing that we’d managed to persuade him to drop down a division to play for us.  After a season and a half of partnering Radhi Jaidi in possibly the most intimidating centre back partnership that League 1 has ever seen, we were off to the Championship and José and Jos Hooiveld bossed the division and up we went again to the Premier League.  His prophecy of getting in the Premier League had come true but it was a struggle when we got there as all the defenders we had struggled like mad with the step up.

For the opening match of the first full season under Pochettino, it was a surprise when José was in partnership with first choice Dejan Lovren but it worked and we flourished.  Out the door went the manager and the captain and in came Ronald Koeman and made José the captain which was a brilliant move and made him a much better player.  A season with Toby Alderweireld and one with Virgil van Dijk under Koeman and he’s become a regular in the Portuguese national squad and was in the squad for the European Championships in 2016.  Portugal started slowly with José on the bench and let in a load of goals but scraped through the group and José got his chance, partnering Pepe and from then on in they were better and ended up winning the tournament. 

For the rest of the football world it was all about Cristiano Ronaldo but for Saints fans it was about José Fonte (with a little but if Cedric Soares thrown in).  It was the next best thing to England winning something or Saints winning something.  Our captain was holding the Euro 2016 trophy aloft.  It was one of the great international moments along with Rickie Lambert’s England debut…. but something had changed.  Getting himself a new ‘super’ agent gave the first inclination that something was amiss and and then his various social media accounts were still posting Portugal celebration pictures when the Saints season was about to start.  Cedric was back in Saints mode but José was not and the Captain was not giving interviews and not really giving any impression of leading.  In and out of the team all season, mainly due to player rotation rather than bad performances and then the Everton away game when he gave a goal away and looked like he didn’t care in the slightest.  A transfer request and a move to West Ham for £8 million.

United or Liverpool.... Errr!

There were rumours at the end of Euro 2016 was that he was coveted by Manchester United and their Portuguese manager Mourinho and our José even commented on it being flattering to be linked.  If that move had happened I don’t think anyone would have thought ill of him.  Maybe the interest was genuine or maybe it wasn’t.  Maybe a bid was knocked back or maybe there was no bid.  Come January, no clubs of that stature were interested and so he’s off to West Ham which in the context of José Fonte’s remaining years as a Premier League player, is a sideways move at best and I think that’s what grates.  With the Olympic Stadium they may push on in future years but that’ll be after he’s retired.  Yes he’ll have more money per week and yes he’s got an extra year on his contract which at 33 is a big deal.  He says Saints didn’t offer him a new deal whereas the club says it did.  I don’t really care but the past few years have left me very wary of believing a players or a managers side of the story.  At various points, I thought Lallana was ‘Saints for life’, I thought Alderweireld was an honourable bloke and I thought Koeman was different and honoured his contracts and laughably, I thought Lovren had a good attitude.  As a balance, I don’t believe Les Reed when he says contract talks are going well, either.

From a club point of view, £8 million for a 33 year old is decent but we have to get a replacement and now.  Les Reed recently said that no one leaves unless we have a replacement lined up and we need one.  We were one short in that position even with José and now we’re two short.

José - Something has happened and we’ll never know exactly what.  I’ve already aired my opinions but now is the time to look back and celebrate the player and what he meant to us for the years he was here.  Here’s some key José incidents as I wrote about them at the time.

17-1-2010 – Signing and Debut

The transfer window has opened and three new players have arrived : Jose Fonte, Dan Seabourne and Jon Otsemobor.

Fonte is an amazing signing when you consider he was a regular for Crystal Palace in the Championship. It’s remarkable what a bit of cash in a cash-strapped times can do. The CV (in the form of comments from Palace fans) seems very good and he’s the right age at 26. He of course had come into the squad in place of the departing Trotters and while I’m sure he’ll be a more than adequate replacement on the pitch, he will not provide us with nearly the same comedy value.

29-3-2010 JPT Final

Deflated, Carlisle resorted again to hoof and hope – Jaidi headed everything away and Fonte was so laid back he was in a deckchair.

30-5-2010 Review of first season

Jaidi is a colossus of a man and must have headed away thousands of aimless punts up the field this season as our opponents often used to work on the theory that he’ll miss one eventually. Yes he’s a bit limited on the floor and yes he’s knocking on a bit but it’s fine when he’s complimented with a skilful ball playing centre half like Jose Fonte who is quite simply, class. Pace, awareneness, distribution, strong in the tackle, good in the air… check. Different class and no more needs to be said. How on earth we managed to sign him is a mystery but hopefully his assertion that Saints would be his quickest way into the Premier League will be proved correct.

24/4/2011 Brighton Away

Saints get a free kick in their own half out on the left wing and the master of all creative free kicks, Kelvin Davis goes to take it. He booms it forward towards the back post to where Jose Fonte Baby, rises like Big Ron in his prime and heads it over Wankergren and drops it in at the far post. Off comes the shirt, round the running track in 40 seconds, across the long jump pit, over the steeplechase barrier and with a hop, skip and a jump he’s with the Saints fans who have all gone nuts and the advertising boards have fallen down.

As it was St.Georges Day, it would have been kind of poetic if an Englishman had scored but we’ll settle for St.Patrick and did you know that St.George was also at one time, the patron Saint of Portugal and then he was replaced by Jose Fonte…. Part of that’s true anyway.

16/5/2011 Promotion from League One End of Season Review

The first choice pairing have been JOSE FONTE and Radhi Jaidi.  Fonte has been imperious this season and is the best centre back in the league bar none.  It is still a total mystery to me why he came down to play in League 1 when he’s good enough to play in the Premier League.  Though he’s a big lad and more than capable of mixing it, he’s better off reading the game and sweeping up whilst letting a big ‘first knock’ centre half challenge for the ball.  Chipped in with about 7 goals this season as well and provided one of the best moments of the season with the goal in the last minute at the Withdean.  Will be linked with moves away, especially to Newcastle where Alan Pardew is manager.  The same media outlets who report that he’s off to Newcastle will be the same ones who reported that he and Pardew had fallen out.  This may come as a surprise to you but the media write a load of bollocks.

30/4/2012 Championship promotion Day v Coventry

As we built up down the right, Deano was slides in to retain possession and gets a kick in the back for his troubles and the move ended with Butters winning a corner on the right. Foxy went over to whip it in and José lost his marker and dived in to head it down, past the keeper and over the defender on the line for 2-0 to spark some big time José celebrations which were mainly about not being left with Jack Cork on zero goals for the season.

3/5/2012 Championship Season Player Review

José Fonte started the season a bit shakily, had a really good spell after Christmas after an injury lay off and then wobbled a bit towards the end.  In the last game though he showed how good he can be in both boxes.  I get the feeling he finds it all a bit too easy and switches off at times which he of course, will not be able to do next year.  With 100% concentration required at all times, I see him being a big player for us next year as he has it all in the locker, the intelligence, the  physicality, the ball playing skills and a bit of pace.  Having said he has intelligence – maybe he needs to be a bit more streetwise when wrestling with opposition forwards around the edge of the penalty area.

4/6/2013 1^st Premier League Season Review
The season started with JOSE FONTE (6.5/10) and JOS HOOIVELD (6/10) as the centre back partnership, then it was Fonte and MAYA YOSHIDA (7/10), then Hooiveld and Yoshida and then back to Fonte and Hooiveld as we went full circle.  Jose at times looked like a rabbit in the headlights and Jos looked like a slightly bigger, more clumsy rabbit in the headlights

20/8/2013 – 1^st choice under Mauricio

Mauricio looked unsurprisingly delighted with the result and I loved his (translated) answer when asked about the surprising choices of Fonte, Chambers and JWP.  He looked genuinely surprised at the question and said “why is it a surprise, they’re Southampton players aren’t they?”, basically saying that they’re in the squad, therefore they’re good enough to play.

Don't Even Think About Nutting Me

27/1/14 The Osvaldo Incident

There once was a time in the recent past, when I had nothing to write about in the build-up to games aside from positive stuff.  After all, it’s been a steady upward progression since this blog started in 2009.  Just recently though, it’s been a whirlwind of shite and this weeks instalment saw a statement from the club that Dani ‘The Prick’ Osvaldo had been banned by 2 weeks by the club for an incident on the training ground.  It turns out that the incident involved him kicking and head-butting Jose Fonte.  Who he nutted is largely irrelevant aside from the fact that the typical Italian coward picked on one of the seemingly more docile members of the squad.

6/6/2015 End of Season Review (1^st Year as Skipper)

Being named as skipper at the start of the season seems to have helped add something extra to the game of JOSÉ FONTE.  It made me think that Nigel Adkins missed a trick when he names Lallana as his captain instead of José.  The new skipper has been different class all season and the outside world is now beginning to realise that he is the man who makes the defence.   If ever you needed proof of this then look at that shitbag who pissed off to Liverpool who has looked an absolute clown this season without José telling him what to do.  The Koeman influence has seen his play out of defence come on leaps and bounds and maybe the one mistake all year which led to a goal (van Persie backpass at SMS).  He won the players vote for Player of the Season… he won the supporters vote for Player of the Season… he should be in every team of the year from the Premier League.

12/7/16 - The moment it all changed – Portugal Euro 2016

It was a ‘tear in the eye’ moment to see José Fonte carrying the trophy around and giving it the big one.  He stepped down a division to join us in league 1, won the JPT, promotion from league 1 to Championship, promotion from Championship to Premier league, 14^th, 8^th, Captain, 7^th, Europa league Qualifiers, 6^th, Europa League Group Stages.  He was nowhere near the national team when he joined us and now look at him – holding up the second most prestigious trophy in World Football.  And the best bit is that he’s still a Saints player and he’s achieved more as a Saints player than any of those bastards who’ve left in that time.  Now that’s a legend.

‘Legend’ – interesting word, bandied about far too much these days in relation to footballers.  Is José Fonte a Saints legend?  I guess it depends on your age – if you’re in your 20s then he probably qualifies but for those a bit older, does he rank up there with Mick Channon, Matt le Tissier, Francis Benali and Rickie Lambert?  Not quite.  I think that if he’d stayed to the end of this season and then moved to a Portuguese club then he’d be on the list.

He’s not done the ‘full Lallana’ and trashed all his good work but it’s not been a satisfactory end to things which is a shame.  You hope for some loyalty in football and there is none aside from fans to their team.  José seems like a decent guy and he always has but no one was interested in him before Euro 2016 and it’s easy to be loyal when no one else is wanting you.  It’s another example of the issues Saints have when their players are successful in an international side.  Our players used to leave because they didn’t get picked for their countries, now they often leave because they do.

He’s been great for Saints and Saints have been great for him.  Farewell Captain – hope it works out.  It’s just a shame it had to be this way.