I’d say he’s not of the world’s best.
That's what I'm saying too

I’d say he’s not of the world’s best.

We have been in and out since 2010... One of the seasons we missed out because Chelsea won the CL even though they finished 5th. We are more consistent than any other club so we are certainly front runners. How long before you would be satisfied with our consistency?
Well in and out isn't consistent is it? What is it 4/8?
Might sound pedantic but unfortunately it's just as likely that you drop off and struggle to get back amongst them that it is that you'll maintain it and become a real force.
Would you have considered us a top 8 club this year cos we finished there 4 years on the bounce?
This is nonsense though as back when those clubs made their names it was more of a level playing field.
It'd be utterly impossible for a club the size of Leicester to establish themselves as a top team without City like investment.
Admittedly it is more difficult because of money in the game, but then again the sides down the bottom are also getting more money.
The problem I can see from your team Southampton, is not that your selling your best players every year, it's that that money doesn't seem to be reinvested back into the team.
Everytime you get an over inflated fee for a player, as let's face it you can always make the top sides spend more than a players worth. VVD a prime example. Your owners to me seem like they are just pocketing the majority of the money. The club even made public that they where in a strong position financially, and didn't need to sell, so you'd expect to see Southampton making waves in the transfer market, but instead your owners have just pocketed the cash, and refused to pay fees and wages, that are knowhere near what they've just received. You've been doing this for season after season, not reinvesting the money you've received and that's why you have gone from pushing the top sides, to a side looking like they are going down.
Spurs are proof that it isn't impossible to get amongst the established names. It was never a top 6 back in the 00s it was always the top 4. Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. City have managed to muscle in from the outside investment, but Spurs have done it the hard way. I would now say they are probably in a stronger position than Arsenal going forward, and on a similar level to Liverpool.
When Spurs received big fees for their players, like the Berbatov and Gareth Bale money, look how they reacted. They went out and reinvested the lot. This is a big reason why they are where they are now.
So for me it's not a problem the smaller clubs losing their best players to the bigger clubs, the problem is the greedy owners not spending the money they receive. Southampton are not the only club doing this, i just singled you out as its your team, and you've received more than most from the top clubs for your best players, and you should not be in anywhere near the position your in now.

Admittedly it is more difficult because of money in the game, but then again the sides down the bottom are also getting more money.
The problem I can see from your team Southampton, is not that your selling your best players every year, it's that that money doesn't seem to be reinvested back into the team.
Everytime you get an over inflated fee for a player, as let's face it you can always make the top sides spend more than a players worth. VVD a prime example. Your owners to me seem like they are just pocketing the majority of the money. The club even made public that they where in a strong position financially, and didn't need to sell, so you'd expect to see Southampton making waves in the transfer market, but instead your owners have just pocketed the cash, and refused to pay fees and wages, that are knowhere near what they've just received. You've been doing this for season after season, not reinvesting the money you've received and that's why you have gone from pushing the top sides, to a side looking like they are going down.
Spurs are proof that it isn't impossible to get amongst the established names. It was never a top 6 back in the 00s it was always the top 4. Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. City have managed to muscle in from the outside investment, but Spurs have done it the hard way. I would now say they are probably in a stronger position than Arsenal going forward, and on a similar level to Liverpool.
When Spurs received big fees for their players, like the Berbatov and Gareth Bale money, look how they reacted. They went out and reinvested the lot. This is a big reason why they are where they are now.
So for me it's not a problem the smaller clubs losing their best players to the bigger clubs, the problem is the greedy owners not spending the money they receive. Southampton are not the only club doing this, i just singled you out as its your team, and you've received more than most from the top clubs for your best players, and you should not be in anywhere near the position your in now.
This transfer window aside we have reinvested virtually all the money back into wages and players. When we sold everyone in 2014 we received about £100m, we spent about £60-70m on players and increased wages. Due to the size of the club if we sell a player for a large fee we won't be able to replace them with someone for a similar price as they won't be interested in coming. So we buy cheaper replacements, hoping to identify potential (like we did with Mane and Van Dijk). If we spent all the money we received on players our squad would be massive as it would be sell a player for £40 mil, replace with 3 £15m players.
Where we have ****ed up is giving long and bigger contracts to the other players in the squad who were in the teams that did well in the last few years, but who aren't wanted by the top teams (Forster, Davis and Long spring to mind). They are all on £50k+ a week now which nobody else would give them so are happy to stay, which is holding us back. I have no problem with them doing that as loyalty is a 2 way street, but it was ******ed by the club to offer them deals like that in the first place. The other thing tied to that is the wage difference between our top earner and smallest earner in the first team must be very small compared to other clubs. Our top earner is reportedly on £80k and I'd be surprised if any of the lowest earners were on much less than £40k so we have a large wage budget, but being taken up by no superstars and mainly just average PL players.
I still haven't got over giving Forster a new contract tbh.
If you need help with your creative writing, I'll be more than happy to help you ...![]()
outrageous lol.
350k a week, i wonder how much they are paying auba to move to you? Arsenal splashing the cash
Arsenal strengthening Chelsea by giving them exactly what they need
Arsenal strengthening Chelsea by giving them exactly what they need