So reading a thread earlier about Sheffield Wednesday and Chansiri has gotten wondering. Why is it we rarely hear players/managers talking about former clubs? It's widely written about when a club is a total basket case, yet there never seems to be anything directly from the players. I mean, a few may appear on podcasts and talk funny stories but there's never anything substantial. I'd love some Saints players who were there during our "interesting" times to give a proper account. For example, did they all hate NJ? Did they collectively give up? What really happened between Fonte and Pardew? Is it written into their contracts kind of like a NDA, or is it more a bro code? Has anyone ever worked in profesdional football and can explain it?
I'm sure stuff will come out in auto biographies etc. I'm still hoping we get the full LD Sports story one day.
Even the autobiographies tend to give only a very brief nod to issues but even then most players don't do one! There's so much I want to know from over the last god knows how long. -This season -The league one years -The '05 relegation -Is Hoedt as much of a **** as he comes off? There's loads more. Given how much of players lives are under a microscope, it's weird we don't hear much about what it's really all about. The closest we got was The Secret Footballer books, I loved them
I heard that too. The funny thing is that the ones that the players like (NJ, RM etc) we are ****. I hope they all hate Still.
Lincoln I am split on football books and the insights they offer. Player biographies are either recycling old stories from the back pages of the newspapers or a bit pedestrian. There are some journalists like Michael Calvin or Johnathan Wilson whose books offer real insight that you rarely find in biographies. I am not interested in the gossip often peddled by footballers in their books but would love to know why tactics , formations and game plans do not work. It would be interesting to learn why managers are successful or failures an which players could fit a system and why others could not. Most footballers are boring to listen to and repeat stock phrases. By and large, I prefer historical football books and refer reading about the origins of the game. However, it would be refreshing to read a book about how people working for a club genuinely influenced match performance. It can be funny reading stories and anecdotes about past players as they can be entertaining. However, the Hagiography publishing crew gey closer than anyone to revealing how Saints work. A post 2000 history of the last 25 years would be fascinating as sports science has become more important. I would love to know the logic behind appointments like NJ and why these moves ultimately failed.
I imagine most players don't want a reputation for revealing secrets so won't say too much while they're playing or while there's a chance they'll be looking for work as a coach or manager. They also get paid so much these days that releasing a book probably isn't as appealing as it used to be. With the growth of podcasts and YouTube channels that all need to create content we might well get a few revelations that way.
Loads of the players from the 90s and early 2000s are appearing on various shows now telling inside stories. Basically it’s all about how they just got hammered all the time and were proper lads
Have you read Big Dunc’s book yet? I’m off on holiday a week on Monday and considering it as an option.
No not yet! Take it for a test drive and update on here, I could use something new to read. Going anywhere nice?
Ooooh get you! It's now a straight toss up between you and @thereisonlyoneno7 (with his island kitchen) for who's first against the wall come Ians revolution.
Happy to have a fist fight with Corbyn to decide the winner. I mean. Really happy. He can even have his brother there too. Please. (Cue Libs incoming “no politics fanx”)
I welcome a challenge to Starmer but think the new party will cause most damage to the Greens. Corbyn really resonated with voters in 2016 but I think that the new party will effectively embolden a move against Starmer. It is fascinating. A break from the two main parties that have had a strangle hold on politics must be welcomed. Hopefully the results will be a realignment of British politics to the Left. It does leave the prospect of a coalition more likely albeit a more Left wing one.
Back on topic, now Edozie is back, do we think we need another left winger, now we have Fraser and Sam there?
Even if the likely leave (Dibling, Ramsdale, Fernandes, THB) I don’t think we really need to do much. A RB, DM and AM (now Downs looks to have signed) and we probably are good to go. Sign another youngster or 2 and loan in 3 or 4 fringe PL players (GK, winger, centre back or just use the loan slots to fill the three needs I mentioned earlier if possible) On paper that should be top 6 Champ side, possibly top 2 depending on how well they are managed and who the signings are. Much like last time we were relegated we shouldn’t spunk much money this season, even though we should raise a fair bit through player sales. Save that money for the window after promotion/covering the diminished parachute payments year 2 so we can have another go next season at promotion
