Yeah those guys are batshit insane. I was quite surprised when I was in New York last year that there are adverts on TV, billboards, etc. encouraging people to understand and respect Mormonism.
Scenario 1: -Obama re-elected -Everything is fine, Saints progress goes as I described previously Scenario 2: - Mitt Romney elected - USA goes to war with Iran - UK joins war with Iran - It all kicks off with major world powers joining in on both sides, nukes included - WWIII, all men in their prime are required to go off and fight - Football suspended for the foreseeable future - Five-year plan has now become more of a survival guide.
I wonder if Mr Cortese will judge success by financial or football measurements once we are in the top flight. I realise that they can go hand in hand, but not always. We all seem to have gone down the league position or trophy route, however success to Mr Cortese may be judged on a balance sheet or a P&L.
Think they go hand in hand, but Nicola does want footballing success first...his aim being the Champions League (that was probably a bit tongue in cheek as we were in League 1 at the time). He knows that, managed correctly, footballing success means financial success. Managed correctly is the important part of that sentence.
just put it in bold Fran to reiterate it. I said they CAN go hand in hand. We know an example of two where they haven't.
I believe Cortese will stick to a fairly rigid wage structure. I pulled those numbers out of the air, but those would seem sensible so that we wouldn't be overloaded with hugely expensive players if we were relegated. Second season syndrome hits a lot of promoted teams hard and we'd want a backup plan if it happened to us. I say 4231 because they tend to play 2 central midfielders and someone in the hole. I suppose it is flexible.
Re: Jack Welch. He earned the nickname Neutron Jack, after the military practice of killing citizens whilst leaving the infrastructure standing. Jack's talent was hostile take-overs and asset stripping. Often destroying perfectly functional companies and making plenty of innocent hard-working individuals redundant in the process. Another common tactic of Jack and his ilk was greenmailing - buying up lots of stock to force the management of the company to buy stock to prevent a takeover. This in turn caused the share value to rise, leaving the vulture capitalists free to dump the inflated stock and walk away with a profit. If the management didn't bite, he buy the company, strip its assets (thus creating the impression of success due to an inflated bottom line), dump the stock and leave the waste behind. Basically, the guy is a bully who has done nothing to aid society in any way, shape or form. I think I'd prefer to see a strategy where we base out business on sound investment and prudence, making the best of what we have and building ourselves up through hard-work and talent, not pursuing get-success-quick schemes that ultimately leave a hollow shell behind them. When you listen to Nigel in interviews he often talks about trying to get the players to be the best that they can be, which is the very antithesis of Neutron Jack.
Under FFP rules, no club will be allowed to pay out in salaries more than it earns. This won't include investments, of course, which will allow for improvements in infrastructure and revenue gathering streams, but it means that the fat cat clubs of the Premier League will come back towards the more financially prudent slimline models and make the PL more competitive, which it badly needs to be. The investment of a £15M Academy infrastructure is also cheaper than buying in half a dozen international quality players. Granted, you can't guarantee the time, the number of players, or the quality you'd get out of it, but those that didn't measure up would be sold on. Within a few years the quality and numbers would rise significantly, and eventually effectively pay its own way. Although I doubt if Cortese even allows for thoughts of relegation, a simple clause in contracts would only be required to keep most things on an even keel. Clubs that fall into the trap of doing well in their first season, only to be relegated in their second, just have themselves to blame. They haven't made it and neither do they have a divine right to stay there. Since the real money is to be made at the very top of the PL, it behoves clubs to make sure they keep as close to that position as possible. That way you avoid relegation as well. I'm a bit surprised by a few of the answers, so far. Obviously a few need to start a thread on US politics to satisfy themselves. Also, by those who are keeping to the subject [my thanks], there's been a lot of getting bogged down in the detail. You're not football managers, you're the helmsman. You decide where the club goes and how far you intend to take it. Anything else is delegated to others. Where's the ambition..?
1. finish 12th 2. 8th with a good cup run 3. Europa and win a cup. 4, top 4 5. Win the league Now get on and do it please..........
If we are in top 4, number 5 should read win the League and the Champions League. Big Si...you lack ambition.
