I have not felt this good about our club since the Peter Reid era, even after the deflation of the play off loss, I was feeling very happy with the way the club was going, it was obvious that we were going to to go up the the top flight, when not if and we were playing some really attractive football. Just now I am getting the same feeling but with a different model, buying young skilful players and again playing attractive football. Early days I know, but which team do you prefer? For me it is the current team, they are not better than the 105 point team, but the potential to develop into something so much more than that is just scary.
I think the team has so much potential and can go from strength to strength but we will have to sell eventually and it is important that we have identified good replacements. The mags are already circling around our brightest young talent and I have no doubt other teams are ready to raid our academy again. I hope these young players are being sensibly advised and make the right choices for themselves as the wrong moves now could spoil there careers. However I do believe that the current squad looks very good and can only get better given a bit of time to develop
The Reidy era was the best, and most exciting, football that those of us old enough have ever seen from S.A.F.C. and we are grateful to have been able to watch it. Partnerships like Quinny & Phillips, Micky Gray & Magic, Makin & Summerbee grew and we'll never forget them, but I can see similar possibilities in our present team/squad, and the potential is massive and exciting. Wednesday at Reading was fantastic and we're all hoping for a lot more of those type of performances where we oozed 'class' and the whole country seemed to take notice (I don't even need to mention that goal, which was a perfect example of 'the beautiful game'), but the question 'which team do you prefer ?' is impossible to answer . . . . let's be greedy and have our current team continue to achieve, and reach their massive potential, and remember Reidy's marvellous team
Reid years best of my life. We didn’t have the finances to take it on then and we do now. So for now Reid years remain unmatched but maybe, just maybe…
Reid era without doubt. This period of decent football doesn’t come close I am afraid. Maybe given enough time it will but right now it would be insulting to compare now to then in my opinion. Not that I am complaining about how we have performed in the last 6 months though. We look to have the makings of an excellent team but consistency is now the key to everything.
Not forgetting the Makin Phillips combo.. Although it was Mrs Phillips of course I Think it’s a very difficult and different comparison. Had we invested at the Christmas that year, I still think we’d have been one of the best 2 in the country that season. We were sitting very close to the top with nobody looking likely to catch us. This has a very similar feel to it excitement wise. There’s a lot to be positive about
Remember tho, you're judging all of the Reid era against (hopefully) the very start of the players-younger-than-my-socks era. And yes, a better name needed.
Reid Era by a mile. But at least we’re heading in the right direction. The shame is, that if the right investment and the right decisions had been taken at that time, we could’ve and should still be a force in the PL. Watching some of those games in the Reid era, was like watching “total football”. Summerbee, Johnston, Quinn, Phillips. SIMPLY THE BEST. Bart
I think we might be getting ahead of ourselves here. There is optimism but these lads are very young and very inexperienced. The difference (IMHO) with that Reid team is that form the 1st whistle of the 1998-99 season I knew we were winning the league. Our poor start the previous season cost us automatics, but there was nothing stopping us the following year. This squad has bucket loads of potential, but I think a couple of years growing together is what is needed before we harbour any serious thoughts of promotion. What I'd love to see is this squad stay together and grow together with a couple of addition here and there. No more mass turnover every window.
I knew from the walk down Wembley Way after the loss in the play offs we were going up. There was something about that team. As I have said in the OP I don’t think this team is as good as the 105 point team, it is the potential of what it can become that has me hooked.
Loved Allan Johnston, but it's mad to think he didn't play for us in the Prem (except when he very first arrived).
Keeping the best of our players will be the test of where this team will go. Some obviously will leave. They do at all clubs anyway, and we are in some ways, "buying to sell". It's getting these things done on our own terms which will define us. A different era to Reidy's, which was the best of my time going back to the sixties. Even as recently as then, you could keep more of your players if you wanted to. So , if we get the retentions right and keep the best of our emerging players we have a chance to be we can be. If that means playing hardball with poaching clubs regarding the really young lads, then so be it. That is enough for me. As for comparisons, though I was too young to see it at the time, the Alan Brown team of mostly young and a good few home grown players that got promoted in the early sixties might be a closer. Though it's fair to say that back then, we could sign Charlie Hurley against opposition from Arsenal and others!
This era has a long way to go to be anywhere near the Reid era. Promotions, relegation, Finishing 7th, The football, the players, the new stadium etc Hopefully we can come close again, but that time was a one off imo
