Answer: In Saints last most successful era, which was a period between 1980 to about 1989 Saints didn't wear stripes. They wore variations on classic stripes. So what I do I think.? It's no big deal. I don't like the current kit, but the team still look better when they are winning than when they are losing. So, hopefully we're looking at Saints at their best ever. I think that answers your question.
Three targets and three bagged - cant argue with that. I suspect he will expect nothing lower than 7th but this may be achievable now....
I now think Nicola is thinking Europa League as a minimum. I don't think he will be able to maintain a smile if Saints don't qualify for Europe or not win a trophy, this season. Ambition at Southampton FC is on the verge of being greater than it ever has been in the club's history. I honestly never thought I'd see these days until Cortese and Liebherr arrived and then I have dared to believe from 8th of July 2009.
Depends. A vocal minority are extremely pissed off at what they perceive to be a complete show of disrespect to the club's tradition. Most people don't care, particularly after the first couple of games of the season. Personally, I don't see it as anything more than a shirt. As TSS said, the most successful period in our history was without traditional stripes, so it's not exactly an ever present.
Stripes weren't around at the very start so I don't buy the whole 'we must wear stripes' argument. I really don't mind as long as we play good exciting football the way it is meant to be played and are successful with it. Cortese can do no wrong, he earned the right to replace Adkins and has earned the right to change the kit. We owe him a lot and the majority of saints fans love him.
I said a week or more ago that Cortese will be targeting top6 and that Poch will be under pressure if we finish 10th. This just makes it easier to achieve that target. Cortese is much more ambitious than most of us are and expects his targets to be achieved. Great days for the Saints
Well I've tempered my predictions a little because I want Saints to exceed them. Here's a little nugget though. If you remember, Cortese started out with a 5 year plan to get SFC to the Premier League and then we'd see. So, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14. This is that 5th year coming up. Saints are 2 years ahead of schedule because this was the last year of the original plan that we were to spend in the Championship, and yet this is the 2nd year of PL occupation instead. It means that Saints must be 2 years into a new plan or after this season there will be a new 5 year plan. The mind boggles what Cortese has in store for this club. I suspect there are a significant number of fans with sores on their arms where they keep pinching themselves. Oh, and I won my tutorial battle in Rome: Total War, if anyone is wondering. When I've done a bit of research I'll go for the biggie.
Ambition is easy when you are spending someone else's money. We were able to land Osvaldo in large part because of the money we have to throw around due to having no debt. The standard move nowadays is to take the money spent to acquire a team and make it part of the team's debt. The Liebherrs' just ate that cash. That's amazing. Financial backing becomes even more important with FFP in effect. Saints made 900k profit last year, which isn't really a whole lot though credit has to go to Cortese as how many clubs even manage to break even? We are also spending money on our academy, which is a smart thing to do but again, it's only because we have the money. We can lose 105 million pounds over the next three years so long as the owners inject equity into the team. Otherwise, it's a mere 15 million. Without the Liebherrs we would not have the cushion to take the risk on Osvaldo. We are fortunate to have great owners. Thank Katherina Liebherr now. Thank Cortese when Osvaldo works out.
And remember his huge hissy fit to get this money to spend. It shows in what regard Katherina holds him that she didn't just say..ok, leave then. I do wonder what he promised in return...CL in 5 years?
The man is brilliant. I'm not sure I've ever doubted him for a second. He even had my full support over Adkins, despite the fact I never saw it coming. We are very lucky to have him and, coupled with the Leibherr money, are continuing to go places. Still no sign yet of putting our feet up and accepting our current position in the football pecking order.
IMHO the ultimate end game here will end with new owners and NC still in charge . How far down the line ? I have no idea .
Someone just walked over my grave: suddenly thought, at what point would the Leihberrs sell us. The better we do, the more value we have. I don't want an Arab, American or Russian oligarch to buy us....I love our special status.
I don't think it'll end with him in charge. If he succeeds in meeting his own targets, I think he'll want a new challenge. He is a highly driven man who walked into a fairly new industry to him (he had some sports finance involvement previously) and took it on his way. So far, so good. I have two niggles at the back if my "saints fan mind" 1. What happens when he achieves his goal 2. What happens when he/we hit a big bump/failure Nearly all upward curves are a result of more successes than blips; we don't seem to have really had one (blip) yet.
The question is how do you make money in football? Randy Lerner pumped a lot of money into villa but could only get on the fringes of champions league qualification and the next major cash windfall. Personally I can't see us having another window with this level of investment. If we don't get into Europe in a couple of years then we'll have players Likely to want to leave. Selling and re-investing that money is going to be Cortese next big challenge
