The Southampton Courier
Market3 Mar 2036
Thomas Wright hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Southampton can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Mar 2036
Only the photograph left for Mthobisi Zondo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mthobisi Zondo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Southampton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom3 Mar 2036
Mthobisi Zondo signs for Huddersfield Town while still at Southampton
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mthobisi Zondo has agreed terms with Huddersfield Town for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Words exchanged at Southampton
Jakob Gunnar Sigurðsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market3 Mar 2036
Southampton promote Michael Atkinson from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Michael Atkinson has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market3 Mar 2036
Benjamin Allen steps up from the Southampton academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Benjamin Allen has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout3 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of Donte Frank
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Nikola Jojić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Arthur De Lima signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arthur De Lima and Southampton agree another 3 years.
In brief
- The dugout Alejandro Iturbe is still paying for one afternoon at Southampton
- Player ratings Nobody on the pitch touched Fotis Ioannidis
- Squad Alejandro Iturbe lets one through his hands