I actually agree, and I don’t think any football fan should accept that their club isn’t at least showing a modicum of ambition.
Given that seven of the top ten places are pretty much nailed on every season, that leaves three places open for the likes of us and traditionally more successful clubs like Leeds , Villa, Newcastle, Sunderland, West Ham, WBA, Leicester, Wolves, Derby, Sheff Weds, Forest, Blackburn and I hate to say even the Skates, not to mention the others of a similar size and history like Norwich, Coventry, Boro, Bolton, Stoke, QPR, Watford etc etc.
I don’t agree . He’s entitled to have a rant , but it seems to be him who made it a bit personal in this instance . Unless Cortese comes back splashing someone else’s cash , mid table to upper mid on occasions is the best we can realistically hope for given the current climate . Relegation IS a possibility as it is for most teams in the PL .
Not at all, I suppose what I should have said was that fans want their clubs to show ambition periodically. Football like a lot of things in life is a cyclical phenomenon, and I accept (good word) that we have had some great years which have, however temporarily, come to a hiatus. All clubs experience the same thing: Man City won’t be brilliant for ever, Leeds might get back to the PL, and even Liverpool might win something someday. What I don’t accept, though, is the chairman of the club telling us that we are a small club and should limit our ambition accordingly, as he did at the fans’ forum a few weeks ago. Another role that football plays in life is to serve as the stuff of dreams and fantasies, and I want to be able to dream that my team could play in Europe again, or win a cup, or even beat a top 6 side occasionally. That’s not too much to ask is it?
Since we have the money for being in the EPL, the money from transfers and most of the ones you quoted don't, i will omit most of your list from the argument. I do think that Bournemouth, Watford, Leicester, Wolves and Fulham have questionably shown more ambition than us. Yes, if i was a fan of some of the sleeping giants you mentioned I would be pissed off as well
Pretty much what I was going to post. Imagine you were a fan of, say, Bristol City. They come from a bigger city than Saints, yet they haven`t been in the top flight for 40 years - I bet they would love to be in our position.
I believe that even Cortese plan and vision was not to emulate the top six, but to achieve success not through expensive buys and high wages, but rather to produce a first team made up of a core of player through the academy ( the Barca model). That's why so much was invested in Staplewood (thanks Kat for finishing it). The big disappointment to me is that it has yet to yield a bountiful crop of suitable talent. Whether it ever will is debatable and it could take five or twenty years to see it or never at all.
Just watch them. Steve Lansdown has the money and the ambition, and they’ll be in the PL in the next few years.
Agreed - in fact, I`m indirectly helping them by investing with HL ! They don`t seem to splash cash on players - they`ll need to add more quality sooner or later, I feel.
The focus seems to have shifted away from our academy in general. This is part of the problem with having cultivated a massive squad of well-compensated players: all of the kids are now backups to the backups of the backups, and in many cases none of the players ahead of them are actually all that good. The Cortese model was a smaller squad with money invested heavily in a couple key upgrades a year, with the depth provided by the kids. Now, it's entirely possible that there was a lull in our talent base (lining up with intakes from the years in the lower leagues, perhaps), or poor injury luck that thwarted it. But the road forward again probably looks a lot like the road forward in 2010, if we choose to take it. (As an addendum, for all the talk about profligate spending, that model would also be far better equipped to deal with relegation. Lower wages, fewer players to shift, a base of young talent to lean on, etc)
Personally, I would just like to see the club start to make better decisions. It’s not about winning every game/moaning every time we lose. I haven’t been to a game this season in person, and it’s because the final straw came for me away at Watford last season as I watched Pellegrino’s horrendous subs cost us yet more points. I don’t feel like I’m getting enough enjoyment to warrant spending my hard earned money anymore. It’s not about losing games for me, it’s how we lose them, it’s all so avoidable.
Hello mate . If you are finished with it then yes please . Next Monday Thursday or Friday would suit me , same place ? If so what time suits you ?
I currently feel that the Club is in a kind of Limbo area, the worse thing is the uncertainty, and that starts from the top, with owners that won't speak to us, to outline what their aims and intentions are. Then there are the various Board levels, it isn't clear what any of them are responsible for, or what they are doing to revitalise the Club since the take over. PR is poor and although we get a few messages on the OS, it doesn't really give you any reason to think we going anywhere fast. Presumably the Finances are sound, there should be enough coming in to cater for the basic running of the Club. Actual investment in Players is difficult to fathom, with so many complications involved, FFP notwithstanding. We had a near miss, when they took their eyes off the ball and were lucky to survive, surely lessons were learned and efforts to prevent a repeat must be in the Owners minds, quite how they will deal with it is a mystery and time will tell how it will work out in the end.
you need the bad times to appreciate the good times I am starting to think there is more to life than football
Come to think of it, selling Reid and Flint recently maybe indicates Bristol City`s level of ambiition at present.
