I am feeling a little uneasy at the moment about what is happening with our football club. I am a great supporter of Nicola and I understand his ambition for our club and like him I want us to be super successful. However I am beginning to wonder whether we are trying to sprint when we have only just got to our feet from crawling. In most walks of life and with most business development models you do things incrementally and gradually but we have started at the bottom of the ladder and are trying to get to the top without climbing the rungs in between and I think while we have faith in Nicola I am not sure other people do. We have been associated with some very high profile signings and our fans have become quite excited about the prospects of seeing some great players again but the great players we are looking to sign donât seem so sure about us. I will be pleased if we do sign the players we are going for but I am getting a bit twitchy in that I feel we may miss out on them all and also at the same time leave it too late to sign other players. Leandro Damiao, Ever Banega and Victor Wanyama are meant to be our targets and yet we read constantly of them looking to sign for clubs that are already successful rather than one hoping to be so. So why am I feeling a little uneasy? It is because I think we needed another season to strengthen and consolidate our team in the PL and with a top ten finish we would be a far more attractive side for new signings. As it stands at the moment it looks as if Everton who unlike us do not have the ready money to buy Victor Wanyama may end up getting him because they are seen as being far more successful and stepping into a successful team is a lot easier than joining a team that it is hoped you will help to become a success. The pressure is different and the pitfalls are fewer. As I am writing this I am feeling less and less confident about our signing any player of real status and that we will end up getting second best players as we did last season and in January. Big name signings were bandied about but failed to materialise and we ended up with signings that were so poor that they played very few or no games at all and the exciting players ended up at Liverpool and Man Utd. Are we running before we can walk and are we going to end up with grazed knees and some crap signings? I hope these are the rambling thoughts of a nervous fan rather than a reflection of what is likely to happen.
I think there'll be a domino effect Godders. If we can pull in one big name, the others will start seeing the backbone of what we're trying to achieve and will feel more inclined to follow suit. It just needs one to take the 'gamble'. A season of consolidation and a 12th place finish will sadly make us no more attractive next season. Reach for the stars and etc etc...
I don't really get what you're saying Godders. You're uneasy because you think we need a top 10 finish to attract better players? Don't you think we need to buy better players to get into the top 10?
It's the luxury of time; we have a shade under two months, and there are plenty of capable squad players in the world. We can try to run, then walk if necessary, then have a midday siesta, and then walk some more, and then perhaps have time for a casual meal followed by a nice, brisk walk. That analogy got out of hand.
I thought Catch 22 was about leaving not joining! Anyway folks this posting was me expressing a real concern to be taken seriously and I just hope it is not necessary and we end up signing Leandro Damiao, Ever Banega and Victor Wanyama.
Not bothered about the money being spent. I know the club do its homework on players as to what type of man they are as well as their footballing abilities, but at the level of shopping we appear to be doing now, you get much MUCH bigger egos, expectations and it can only take one bad apple at a club to destabilise a lot of hard earned team spirit. Club has been clever in signing up most our best players on improved contracts at the end of last season.... but won't be a surprise that any new comers will be on higher wages and it may put a few noses out of joint.
Even one of the three would be a coup, and ultimately that's the reality in which we're operating...if we target these sorts of players, some will choose to go elsewhere. Perhaps the majority will choose to go elsewhere, actually, but in signing a fraction of them you'll have improved the squad to an extent that would be unlikely had we chosen not to target them at all.
Well, Wanyama sounds like a baby's wail, Ever Banega sounds like an Argentinian President and Leandro Damiao is clearly an anagram. I hope we run with our home produce.
Godders..... I think your post raises a fair point. In my relatively short time as a fan..... I've seen annual relegation struggles, 10 workhorses with 1 genius/lazy player, a scattering of 2/3 season stars but generally we've punched above our weight. Under Lowe we under invested in the playing staff, but managed to blag a new stadium and started the slippery slope into our woes of 2007/2008. Since then the club under cortese has been relentless in raising aspirations across the board. I think this falls into this category, although it does leave me wondering about the players we want to bring in. I guess the better the player, the more interest from others. It seems that a lot of the European names have very dubious advisers who seem hell bent on the money side of things, that's not to mention the co-ownership side of things. I'm slightly uneasy about it..... But I've got to trust that cortese lives and breathes this club and will not suffer fools gladly in terms of people who may affect the long term food of the club.
I have no problem with the ambition but I've been saying for a while we may be aiming too high with our signings. I suppose the key is not to pursue the players who aren't interested for too long. On the topic of youth products, I don't think we CAN go with youth products right now. The only player from our academy who is guaranteed a place if fit is Luke Shaw, although Lallana and JWP are obviously in and around the first team squad. There are some prospects coming through the academy but none of them appears to be so good they're demanding a place in the team.
I get what you're saying Godders. In aiming high so quickly, Cortese may be overlooking the slightly more bread & butter player required to consolidate in the Premier League, and Saints may well be caught short, so to speak. Well I think we won't be caught short because already I see there's enough quality under Pochettino to remain in the PL, so that's consolidation already in the bag, if you like. Having accepted that, why wait..? Saints don't become any more acceptable to star players by coming in at another mid-table position at the end of next season, so the massive improvements might as well start now. Besides, Cortese seems to like to make improvements in huge steps, and still make an operating profit, by the way. Not for him the slow putt-putt potter of steady improvement, with a little bit of standing still at the lights for a few seasons, like the previous owners could only manage. So why change his style now..? Be slow to improve and we could end up going backwards as the rest of the field overtakes us. That has the ring of all too recent memory about it too and it's one that I'd rather not revisit. Besides, he's kind of got us all expectant now, and it would be a bit of a shame to take the metaphorical foot off the mythical gas, eh..?
Gotta take risks, I think. If we don't then I don't see us ever establishing ourselves at a higher level than the likes of Fulham and West Ham.
The hardest bit of being a smaller team in the PL is keeping hold of your good players each transfer window. Time and time again you see clubs having their best players poached by the big clubs, and then trying to replace them in the window, so in effect they are never moving forwards. Our best players seem to have bought into Cortese's vision, that is the only thing keeping the likes of Schneiderlin, Shaw, Clyne etc here. That's why it's imperative we move on quickly, careers are short and talented players won't hang around forever. It also probably helps that Cortese must be a right arse to deal with for prospective buyers.
