Good post, you have to have ambition otherwise never move forward. I remember chatting to city fans in August saying how ridiculous it was we were chasing Ramirez as he would never join us. They pointed out the fact they have been there, when linked with robinho they felt no way would he join, once he did they gradually added more and look at them now. Granted city threw big money about in short space of time but to progress quickly you need to invest in better players. I feel we will be pleasantly surprised with our squad come August 31st!
I agree; I think that this season's target will be about getting a top 10 finish, not avoiding relegation again(a.k.a rerunning last season). Some here are already about top 6 this season; there's ambition and there's over-ambition. Cortese will have SMART targets, afterall there was a 5 year plan to get to the Prem (even if we did it in 4). Last season was about more than just staying up, it was also about showing we could compete against mid-table teams. This season will be about proving we can compete against mid-table teams and showing up the ocasional top tear team. The the target for the season after will be a first attempt at Europa league and so on. It's about continous improvement, not standing still. And not only with Cortese, but in any profession. Don't you want promotions in your workplace? And don't you have to do CPD to get those? I do - Cortese's just applying that mentality to football.
Slightly OTT but see http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/calling-all-global-saints-901463.aspx I think it doesn't include the Isle of Wight!
Smart target..? The smartest result is getting there as quickly and as sustainably as possible. But for one or two results, top ten was almost achieved last season. We've heard whispers of Europe, and that's this season's ambition, if I'm not mistaken. Europa Cup qualification will satisfy Cortese. Anything else he will consider so-so or an outright failure.
Good stuff on this thread. I don't know the minimum Cortese expects this season, but I do know Liverpool, Swansea and WBA have strengthened this summer and these clubs have to be our short term target to be on a par with this season.
'SMART' = Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-constrained. Sorry, it's a bit of business speak that I've heard everywhere I've worked; I thought everyone would know it.
I am deeply offended...takes 22 min in a boat to get to Southampton. That's overseas as far as I'm concerned.
Hope that they're prepared for many harrowing tales of fans on the west side of the Atlantic who go to such great lengths as waking up before noon on a Saturday (!) to commit copyright infringement by watching a dodgy stream.
Now if there was an acronym for 'Arse' to follow the acronym for 'Smart' then we could run 'workshops' for management irony.. I'll have a first stab and would welcome other efforts.... Smart Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-constrained, Airing Ridiculously Stupid Evidence.. Thank god, or whoever, that the foolishness of 'Management Away Days' is behind me... QUOTE=St Godders the Peacemaker;4983412]Brings back horrid memories of when I used to work for a living. Management by Objectives FFS.[/QUOTE]
We used to have a management trainer who used to tell the story of a gunslinger who rode into a cowboy town and was amazed to see targets on the fences, the doors, the walls and on trees each with a bullet hole right through the centre of the bulls eye. The gunslinger walked into the town saloon, so the story goes, and asked the bartender who the ace shot was only to be told it was the village idiot. "Well he may be an idiot but he is clearly a real sharp shooter" said the gunslinger. "Is he heck as like" said the bartender (he was from Manchester you see) "He just goes round shooting his gun of everywhere and frightening the living daylights out of us all and in the morning he goes round with his pots of paint and brushes and paints the targets over the bullet holes". The moral of the story being you set your targets at the start not the end of what you are doing. That story is over forty years old.
Van der Saar to Fulham, Mascherano to West Ham, seemingly unfeasible transfers do occur, we just need to make the right ones. Lovren was playing in the Champions League last year yet we got him.
OK, my meagre sailing knowledge accrued from 30 years of bobbing about on the water occasionally, allows me to tell you that a ship carries its own boats. A boat carries nothing else, save perhaps a dinghy or two. This is why big ferries can be ships, like Channel ferries, yet they can also be boats, like the Isle of Wight ferries and the Hythe ferry. Submarines are boats. The Red Jet is a boat. A catamaran is usually a boat because big ones are generally not made, but I'm sure there's a big cat or trimaran ship out there somewhere. Phew..! All that time at sea finally became handy.
What has this got to do with football? What are you some sort of naval architect? Instead of posting this on a football website why don't you go visit a nautical geeks website. Who do you think you ****ing are anyway the CEO of Sunseeker?
