Expectations/Hopes? I just want signs of progression. Koeman has got a big job on his hands and so long as I can see a decent style of play and plan, and we improve throughout the season, cool. No relegation battle please, but this is a season of consolidation as the new boss gets to grips and builds his own Saints side.
For me it's far too early because of the massive uncertainty as to what squad we'll have by the time the league kicks off. I don't see any reason why the teams that finished below us last season should improve past us though. I genuinely feel as though we're the 8th best team in the league and the teams that finished above us probably will again. I don't think the likes of Stoke/Palace/Swansea/West Ham have much scope, only team you could make a case for in that respect is Newcastle, who underachieved.
I thin Newcastle showed they were heavily reliant on 1 player personally. I don't think they underachieved at all.
expectation 12th hope top half as mentioned, in some ways we're in a similar position to the first season after the takeover. to me that means we might fall short of our targets a bit.
I prefer to see it as our promotion season, but better as we have a renowned coach (no offence, Nige) and a 70-100 mill budget. Sounds good to me.
On the subject of the "plan changed" theory and the players all getting the hump as a result, is there any reason to beleive FFP could have contributed to this? I can only imagine if Cortese wanted to push on to the champions league quickly enough to satisfy these impatient players, we would not have been able to comply. I hope we build a really solid squad this season from which next season we can use that platform and begin to sign some stars again.
Of course not. They agreed with Cortese that they would stay on lowish wages forever so that we could comply. They loved him like a father. *cough cough*
There was a post on The Echo saying that Saints had deliberately delayed the Lallana deal to July 1st to put it into the next year for FFP. That meant that Shaw ensured FFP for last year and Lallana ensures FFP for this one. I have no idea if this could be true, or what it means, but I guess it could have some truth.
