Waits for stats on Huth and Morgan..... They had the perfect storm. Huth and Morgan getting away with **** which you now can't get away with. Being a unknown quality, so teams couldn't deal with them. We don't have that either. Unearthing a gem of Kante who ran their team. Again this is very very rare. People need to face it, Leicester is a blip that won't happen again for many years. To simple go " we may do a Leicester" is stupid We have obvious weaknesses in our squad and need to fill them. Not saying go crazy, I am saying spend some cash.
Are Spurs a blip? They spend considerably less in the transfer market than the rest of the top 6. Is it stupid to go "we may do a Spurs", and develop our own players, while hanging on to the ones we already have? I would say it's stupid to go shopping in those sections of the market where we cannot afford the prices. And I would also say it's stupid to think we have no hope of ever cracking it at the top level without going nuts in the transfer market, given the fact that other clubs have shown that it can be done.
Look at my post again. I didn't say anything about spending loads. Fact is the top 4 is it's own league and will only get worse with the spending power they have. How many of the first team Spurs players came through their academy? They find bargains, but even they are starting to spend more and more each season. Spurs are based in London and also can afford higher wages then us, so that puts them above us anyways. I can never see us cracking the top four consistently, We may randomly get there one season out of 100. But that will be about it (if we don't spend big). It is far more likely we get relegated if we don't bring in players then it is to win the league.
Spurs start from a much higher base than Saints do. They're a traditionally "big club" that can point to reasonable historic success. I've said it so many times on here. In 1990 the "Big Five" were Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, Everton and Man Utd. The only two clubs to consistently break into that group since are Chelsea and Man City and they did it by spending huge amounts of money on players, wages and (eventually) infrastructure. I see no reason to believe any other method would work.
They also have one of the two best managers in the league, and the best at putting a young 'team' together.
There is no "top four" group of teams anymore, though. There's a top six, and it's not unthinkable that Everton will make it a top seven in upcoming years. There are downsides to that, and there are benefits. The primary downside is that there are six teams getting access to CL funds on a regular basis; the upside is that the teams at the top are inherently more unstable, given that the funds and talent are being distributed to a larger clutch of teams. There might not be any more 5000-1 shots winning the league, but there'll be more unlikely CL appearances.
I agree that an attempt on the top 7 should be the target but definitely not an expectation. Thing people need to remember is that although it's true we're a good summer away from challenging for Europe again, we're also a really bad one from potentially being in a dog fight. You could say that and it'd be true for probably 6/7 clubs too, it was so tight in midtable last year. Plus, we're not the only midtable side with ambitions to push on towards the top 7, and there's a few who are able/willing to spend more to do it.
True fats, 4 consecutive top finishes gives us a divine right to be there now without doubt Don't you dare suggest that about a top club and the top 4 though
So we are linked with nobody.... Just how Saints like it, time to expect ye olde bolt from the blue.. COYRs
If it's a loan we need an option to buy at the end of it as I don't want to be developing chelsea's youth.
Not usually a fan of loans but this might work. He's at an age where he probably wants to start playing and how many of the players that Chelsea loan out do they ever actually take back and put in the team? If we can agree an option to buy this could be a good signing.
