Oh, it's a great point. Rival supporters call us little Southampton, and we believe it. I've said several times in the last couple of years that the supporters are nowhere near as ambitious as the Exec. He's dragging this club along with the supporters hanging onto his coat tails. The supporters blow and bitch about stripes, the pies, and what shade the beer ought to be, but they are all like rabbits in the headlights when it comes to ambition. Cortese is settling for nothing less than as far as the club can possibly achieve and nobody believes him, because it's too bloody good to be true. In the cold light of day, I don't give a monkey's what posters say. I don't even care if the kit is particularly ugly. I'm never going to buy it, and it will only be around for one season, anyway. What I'm really up for is this club going places and rubbing other people's noses in it. If we drag a powerhouse of South Coast football behind us, then so much the better, but that doesn't really matter either. Hopefully, nobody will take Saints seriously before it's too late. And then we'll all be laughing.
I was going to leave this because when you get down to it, they're just posters but I think a couple of those posts deserve a reply. I have no problem with positivity, I have a problem with meaningless, vapid, banal, corporate-style management speak. I don't mind the pictures and the slogan for the group shot works - "Let the games begin" is at least appropriate (even if it's not the most original). It's also something most fans can relate to in late June. The question is, what does "Our honour is true" mean and what is its relevance? Then you have "Our dream is real". Is it? Have we already qualified for Europe and 50% of the first team are home grown? No, it's just a meaningless catchy line. For me something simple like "Are you ready?" on each of the individual shots could tie in with the same group picture and slogan and would work much better. I'm sure we aren't the only club to have something similar and (to throw in some buzz words) they're probably the result of some intensive brain storming and blue sky thinking intended to cause a paradigm shift while robustly demonstrating our core competencies but I'm afraid I'm not drinking the kool-aid. Once you peel the onion you soon see they're basically generic, insipid self-aggrandisement. As for ambition, well yes Cortese is ambitious and yes, we've risen through the divisions impressively but for all the talk we haven't broken new ground for the club, even judging by the relatively unambitious standards of the last 20 years. We finished 14th last year which was fine but unremarkable and (rightly or wrongly) fans of most other clubs would say that's about right for Southampton. I hope we push on and I hope we achieve the aim of regularly playing in Europe. I just think we should save the bombastic slogans and posters for when we've actually achieved something noteworthy.
Have to say they are beginning to make sense to me...I believe...is this the poster equivalent of the DVD?
Our Nigel would have loved them. Has anyone seen what Nigel had in the dressing room? Puck, if you think the posters outside are meaningless, banal, corporate speak, you'll struggle even more with the inside, unless they took them down when Nigel left. I struggle with people who think like this. You think it's meaningless because your mind has chosen a negative view point. Choose to view them positively and the very worst they become is "harmless" Try it and remember that it takes more energy and muscles to frown than it does to smile. Finally for me on this, all this might not be for us, it may be for the players and the opposition. Here at least I hope you see the benefit of management psycho babble: imagine Pochettino sending the boys out with a "ah well, United today lads, we'll probably struggle; just do your best." Trust me there will be loads of banal speak then.
Yeah, but there's positive and there's cringeworthy. Personally, I'd prefer something that's still positive but a bit more, er, subtle perhaps.
Like Hopefully, Possibly, Could Be...finishing with Fingers Crossed, Lads....wouldn't fire you up, would it?
Some of them don't even make sense though. What does 'Our honour is true' actually mean? Those are just words! 'Our dream is real', thats an oxymoron! You need to look at the diagram again Dougall;
'Our honour is true' The fact that Yoshida is the featured player may give you a clue, we all know the Japanese and their passion for honour, does that give you a clue? If you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?
On the Portsmouth posters would be = Our vision is clear = We are at the bottom of the pile and need to to climb. Our Faith is strong = We believe in DC. Our Dream is Real = It has been a nightmare. Our Honour is True = It hasn't been recently.. Our Time is now = We are starting again. Let the games begin = It's going to be a long Season.
I don't mean subtlety in terms of what's said (although something less cheesy might be preferable), but a bit more subtle than having several massive posters emblazzed all over the stadium. Like outside Fratton Park, there's a plaque commemorating the take over the club by the PST.
Urgh! Just shows the PST have no class. Commemorating an event which happened a few months ago. What a bunch of Cockwombles!!
Tbf, I dunno when the plaque went up, could have been a while ago. Last week was the first time I'd been to Fratton Park since April.
At times I found Adkins annoying so you may be right. I would point out that there's a time and a place for these things. Something said in a dressing room shouldn't necessarily be plastered over the side of the stadium. I don't just blindly hate them. The group shot works well and "Our time is now" isn't too bad really, particularly when matched with pictures of Luke Shaw but I can see no meaning or relevance to "Our dream is real" and "Our honour is true". I also said I was going to leave this because yes, they're only posters. I'm not intensely upset or enraged by them, I just think they're a bit ****. It was the posts from others that I felt needed a response. If it's mainly for the players and opposition then put some posters up in and around the dressing room area.
I'd just like to add that I don't think I've ever cared about anything less. I'm yet to see a football stadium that looks good from the outside.
Messaging works. That's why brands spend millions on advertising messages. Affirmations and conscious positive thinking works in the same way. Confidence comes from experience and positive thinking. So, if... the players believe it + the staff believe it + the fans believe it = success. Add in the psyching out the opposition factor and you have created the perfect home ground culture. Believe me, I'm a psychologist and psychotherapist
The slogan 'our dream is real' is pretty spot on if you consider this board as a fair cross section of Southampton supporters. Many consider the prospect of champions league football as nothing more than a pipe dream( I include myself). However that is the ultimate goal for Cortese so deal with it.
