Shields Down...

The twists and turns of Southampton's 2022 continue anew, with the unexpected revelation by Twitter's favourite squeaky source, Fabrizio Romano, that newly appointed Saints head of recruitment, Joe Shields, was off to take up a similar position at Chelsea. After a meaty four months, Shields has displayed all the loyalty of a recently shagged black widow spider, and is currently packing the overnight case that he brought with him, for an extended period of gardening leave (which will amount to two more months than he's actually done the job for. Cheers Joe).

A post-coital Joe Shields in action...

So what do we have here? Well, clearly Todd Boehly has peered, green eyed, once more at the extravagance of Nottingham Forest, and thought "there's a bit of me in this...more cash!!!" Undoubtedly egged on by his fruitless (to date) pursuit of Romeo Lavia, the Toddster (as he probably isn't known) has cast his eye on anyone that's actually been at Saints for a shorter period than the much-missed 18 year old, and bunged a wedge of cash their way.

Todd Boehly...possibly

Are we really losing out though? Is it really a problem?

Well let's cast our minds back to the moment Shields joined, with no little fanfare, from Manchester City. Alarm bells and amber flags began to blare and wave in the background, when like an adolescent briefly empowered by a turn in the spotlight, he began engaging with fans on Instagram, saying things along the lines of "Hope I don't get sacked soon, LOLZ" (or something like that). Professional? Nah.

Coupled with that, all of a sudden, the Saints way of sneaking signings under radars became slightly less stealthy, with...guess who...Fabrizio Romano suddenly getting all sorts of scoops about the various Manchester City children that Southampton were about to sign. Now, I wonder where he got those from?

Reports by Adam Blackmore (more on him shortly) suggest that Shields did his Victorian tap trick once more and leaked the Chelsea offer for him before speaking to his club. You know, the ones that pay his wages. By all accounts the club were rightly furious. So, really, let's be honest. The guy sounds like a toxic egotist, in a time where club unity would be really rather nice, at least for a week or so.

Before he joined, we were sold the idea of a sharp mind, and an unnatural ability to spot emerging talent. That may all be true, but it does rather sound like his excellent relationships with U21 players may in part be because he shares a similar level of maturity. We learn, and we grow. I suspect Mr Shields has a fair amount of both to undertake, or he won't last long at Chelsea or anywhere with any sense of loyalty or morality...oh...hold on....

Naturally amongst the crayon-eating portion of the #SaintsFC crowd on Twitter, the blame for this situation was laid firmly at the door of Semmens (curious to point the finger there), Ralph (you what?) and, naturally, Adam Blackmore (seriously, it's time for a lie-down).

Fire up Twitter...I'm going in...

Money and ego, guys. Money and ego. It's no more complicated than that. People shift jobs when they are offered something more shiny. Sometimes they move jobs quickly. The trouble really is, this is football, so as fans we expect an undying loyalty to a club. That doesn't happen, either as players, managers or backroom staff. Surely as Saints fans we realise this better than most? If we only wanted dyed in the wool lovers of the club working there, we'd have Matt Le Tissier on comms, and...well....no.

One of the most curious and upsetting aspects of this whole rigmarole, was the abuse that (the excellent) reporter, Adam Blackmore, got for...reporting. Otherwise known as 'doing his job' - something Shields might take note of. Variously called out for being a 'club stooge', Blackmore had made the appalling journalistic mistake of trying to update fans on a situation, by relating information to them that had been well sourced.

My wife is a journalist, so I've become very aware of the recent Trump-fired trend toward seeing the media and its employees as somehow complicit in anything that goes wrong that might unsettle the entitlement that appears all-pervasive amongst society today. Southampton are struggling, Blackmore tries to provide a balanced and informed perspective as to why - ergo, poor Adam is a 'club stooge' that circulates false stories?

From a personal perspective, Adam Blackmore's Twitter feed is one of the very first places I go to, when I want to see confirmation of anything Saints related. Why? Precisely because he is well connected to the club, he reports honestly and without excessive histrionics. That used to be a virtue...

If you ever wanted proof that he isn't interested in just tweeting for 'likes', he even admits to being a Rush fan, and you can't be more honest than that (Go 2112!)