http://www.bold.dk/nyt/Friis-Hansen-skal-hjaelpe-Saints-i-PrL Translation of some key sections: "It's a new job title that hasn't been used in the club for some seasones. I will be a kind of sports director on the European market. This means, I will be responsible for finding players and starting a scouting-department with full time and part time employees. It's an incredibly exciting job and I am looking forward to get going", Friis-Hansen tells bold.dk" "The Club has a clear ambition of getting to the PL, so we need to find five or six quality players over the summer. I will probably need to find three players that in theory are good enough for the PL, but has the mentality to play in the Championship in one or maximally two seasons, which is the time frame for promotion", says Friis-Hansen." "The club is owned by the Liebherr family. They are incredibly rich and are aware that it will cost money. On short terms the goal is PL, but on the longer term they also want to play in the Champions League and be part of the top clubs in England. With their fortune backing them up they are about the fifth richest club in England, so it is realistic - look at Norwich who did it this year without the financial strength we have..." "Furthermore the club has an academy on line with the very best in England. They have developed players like Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale, which tells a lot about the quality. And there is a willingness to expand the academy, the facilities and the stadium if necessary." "The SFC-team is already very talented with names like Adam Lallana, Morgan Schneiderlin and not least Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The latter Friis-Hansen expects to be sold to a larger club for a hefty sum within long..." Surely I'm not the only one bloody excited after reading that?!
Ok............ Why is non of this on the OS? a bit puzzling......to say the least a statement like that will certainly get the tongues wagging. However why no official statement of intent.........is it me have I missed something?
The club appoint new people all the time, they just like to keep things on the down-low. I've been told on several occasions that since the arrival or Cortese & the late Markus last summer, the scouting at the club has improved dramatically. Premier League plan is/was 5 years......Champions League 10 I should imagine. *dreams*
David Burke joined us as chief scout and it was never publicly slapped everywhere. Les Reed's appointment was late to hit the OS and I am sure in time we will see some evidence of Friis-Hansen , great news though. Together as one.
That certainly is good news.......although I hope we don't do an Arsenal and have 80% foreign players and only 20% British because of that kind of set up. I know European players tend to be cheaper than British talent but the are not always hits straight away. Still we will see and yes it does sound very exciting news.
Nothing wrong with overseas players. Morgan is just great. I wouldn't mind a few more with half his talent. Guly has also proved to be a real find. I agree though I would not want our team to be mainly overseas players but you get the feeling that if we are to achieve Cortese's ambition then that may be the only way we will do it. Also remember when we had Terry Cooper as overseas scout he unearthed some gems. So this could be good for us.
Have to agree there Terry cooper.......really did find a few, Pahars was one of his was he not an Isrealy whose name escapes me who we had on loan but didn't actually sign. (I think he wanted more money than we were prepared to pay) was another exceptionally talented players Claus was he one of his?
Very, very exciting indeed. I think I love Cortese. We need a Cortese song so that he knows we actually like and apreciate him. I know he makes the odd bad PR mistake but he is on a mission. A blinkered dont f*** with me mission and I for one believe in him to make it happen. Here's to Markus and heres to Nicola
It's great that they are talking a big game but in the end it really depends on who this chap Hansen finds. If he fails repeatedly then this is all a non-issue. And I think most fans would be fine with a team of 75% foreign players if Saints are winning AND the players adopt to the town in a loving and embracing manner.
No I'd prefer to have the team as it is now. With majority Brit players, like Aston Villa were a couple of years ago... Remember there are new football rules coming in soon regarding 'home-grown' players...
Well said that man absolutly spot on. Beddy I think the Israili was possibly Eyal Berkovic, there was another Hassan Kachloul (excuse if spelling is incorrect)
Just because he's coming in it doesn't mean we are going to have a whole squad of foreign players! Although, if they have anywhere near the technical ability of Morgan & Guly then I'm all for it.
If this is going to mean we're going to have a (main) squad of overseas players, im totally against it and im a believer in English Football for British Players, I',m personally fed up of the foreign domination in THE ENGLISH LEAGUE, with barely any english players in it. As said, against this for reasons above, sorry but this is my opinion
The rules about home grown players are a bit of a worry as the money bags will be mopping up all of our own talent just to get their numbers up.
Great news!"On short terms the goal is PL, but on the longer term they also want to play in the Champions League and be part of the top clubs in England." I loved this part. A lot of you probably think this will never happen but i think we're more than capable in doing this, i'm not saying that it will happen but we've got all the potential do make it happen. Don't worry about having do many foreign players,Cortese has said so many times to introduce our youngsters from the academy(mainly british) into the first team he said that teams all over england will be looking for fresh english talent in 10-15 years and we'll have them at our disposal. This club is going places.Here's to the Cortese and the club
