Stern: I've got no regrets   08/30/07

Trinidad and Tobago leading striker Stern John says he has no regrets having to give up his place at Premiership club Sunderland in order to allow uprising Kenwyne Jones to make his entry into the top flight of English football.

John, who turns 31 in October, was part of a swap deal between Southampton and Sunderland which saw the latter club pay 6 million pounds for Jones on a four-year deal. John meantime moved to the Championship Division side on a two-year deal. This was the second time John had to make room for another player after having to join Coventry City when Dwight Yorke arrived at Birmingham City.

“Obviously it’s disappointing to have to leave Sunderland but only because I think I wasn’t given a fair enough chance by the manager. I had a good preseason and I had only 45 minutes so far in the League and one goal to show for it. Obviously he had other strikers he preferred and now he’s put out money for Andy Cole as well. That’s part of the game as well and I have accepted that. Nothing surprises me in football and you learn that as your years as football go on,” John said on Thursday. “But at the same time I’m really happy for Kenwyne to get this chance. To have a club offer 6 million for you is fantastic. And the option was there for me to stay at Sunderland.

“The manager didn’t actually tell me to go as he also he gave me the option to stay on. He said though that I wasn’t guaranteed playing time and it was up to me whether I wanted to stay on with that in mind. But the only way Kenwyne could come was if Southampton were also getting me. I had a good thought about it and I felt it would be great for Kenwyne to get this deal. Both of us had a good talk about it as well. In life you get chances and you have to grab it and this is Kenwyne’s time. I’m going to be 31 this year and I have to look after myself. Going to Southampton also means a better deal for me and it means Kenwyne can go into the Premiership at 22 which is fantastic. Everybody is happy at the end of the day,” John added.

John added that they even stayed in touch during the final processes for the deals to go through.
“When Kenwyne and I were doing our medicals, we phoned each other to make sure it went well. It’s nothing personal and while he has a chance to experience the Premiership at this time, it’s also a chance for me to take up a new challenge and I’m looking forward to that. It’s down to trying to take Southampton back up again. I’ve been part of that experience at Birmingham and Sunderland so why not a third time.”
Looking ahead to Southampton’s match against Queen’s Park Rangers Saturday, the former Nottingham Forest hitman admitted he wanted to make an immediate impact.

“I trained at the club for the first time today and there was nothing strange about it. It’s a nice dressing room and the rest of the guys have accepted me. They also see me as a senior pro coming into the team, taking teams up and playing in a World Cup so now it’s just about me performing for the club.” John added.

Jones meantime told BBC that he was absolutely delighted to make the
 move and is ready to face Manchester United on Saturday.

“I’m just really happy to be a Sunderland player now. At some point in time you will have t play them so why not now. I think I will be welcoming the challenge to play against the Manchester Uniteds and Liverpools now,” Jones said.

“Sometimes when you look at it it’s not going to be everyone, but some people only get this opportunity once in a life time. I ‘m happy that it came at this age for me. It was not a difficult choice. My decision to come here was a basically a heart and head decision. A few words from certain players…(led to) the manager putting the icing on the cake. I speak to Dwight, Carlos and Stern a lot… even before this we normally speak. All they had was praises for the club, the manager and the fans.”