Depends how you view it. I posted earlier something like this: what if the board and Koeman have decided to completely rebuild? What if they have said any player who asks for a move will be sold if we get a good fee? I'm not too adverse to that idea. Yes, it's a risk. But at least it's a plan. It also gives the new manager a chance to build his own team. So in short they didn't HAVE to sell them, but chose to and with all what has happened over the past few weeks, il ok with that. Of course it would have been great to have had the same squad as last year plus 3 or 4 good additions, but that isn't happening now. I'm beginning to get excited (with some intrepidation) for this new era. NC and NP have gone, long live the new king... Whoever that maybe as long as he is wearing our badge.
Not deluded at all, Chilco...anything can happen given time. We could never make it quickly...you need oligarchs for that...but a slow climb financed by sales of our own developed players (though preferably not all at once). We could produce them through the Academy or by finishing them off and promoting them in the EPL (rather like a finishing school). This could have the advantage of attracting ambitious players (kids as well as adults) and eventually more would want to stay with us as we got more successful.
That's an interesting stat. So interesting to me that I'm going to work how many different clubs won the title in the last 22 years of the First Division, before it went PL. Would you believe it [?], only 7. To give the stat a bit more weight though, in the last 5 years of the First Division, 9 different teams appeared in the top 3 Also interesting is that 9 different teams finished in the top 3 in the first 5 years of the PL. Only 7 different ones since then. And that's if one starts the count again in the 6th season. If you exclude those already counted it's 3. So the Premier League has polarised clubs and reduced competition on a huge scale, in the last 15 or so years. Not really a good advert for competitive football. And the PL is considered the most competitive top league in Europe..! I think it's a joke. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...League_First_Division_.281892.E2.80.931992.29 By the way, if someone wants to check my adding up [done very quickly in my head] then please do so.
I think when people call the EPL the most competitive league, it's because on a single day any team can beat any other...rather than any team can win the league. It is what makes the league exciting...especially when teams are fighting for their lives.
In the light of events it's true. But would it be the same if Cortese hadn't walked/been forced out..? I don't think so. Certainly not for another couple of years
I think the cracks must have been showing...if all was perfect with Saints, Cortese would still be in charge. Chairmen aren't removed if all the books balance and nice profits are coming through. However, the big clear out may have been delayed and therefore more manageable. Believing that he wasn't perfect doesn't mean that I am not grateful to Nicola and all he has achieved at the club, but he was going to be accountable at some point.
Indeed, nothing is quite as it seems. I don't believe he was perfect either, for a second. I just think he was the best asset we had because he held everything together and gave a direction to the Club. I'm really sorry his era is all over because there's no knowing what we could have achieved. Possibly nothing, possibly a lot more than so far. Never mind, we look to the future. See, I'm coming out of this mood. I wonder if Lamb is still as incandescent..? It takes a great deal for him to lose it.
The problem with this is then you are putting your faith in the manager. Not in the players who have proven that they can play at a good level, but in the manager's (and Reed's) choices to replace them. This is not a manager who has been awesome everywhere he goes or has a huge reputation (as a manager) but one who has been mainly **** in his 2 other jobs outside of his homeland. If their plan is to let him spend a large % of the cash on players he wants and build his own team then I'd say the board is more incompetent than I thought. As for people saying it is unprecendented for this many players to go, it is also unprecendented for a midtable club like ourselves to have so many good players all at once. Comparisons to Spurs and Everton aren't right as they are bigger clubs who are in or around Europe most seasons. Could very easily be argued by agents trying to convince their players to move that last season was a flahs in the pan, was mainly down to Poch who has gone, have to take the opportunity now to move when it is there, than wait and see in a years time when there may be no interest in you etc
It was well delivered, well planned... bullshit. The only thing I know about Cortese is that he 100% knew that Saints reached their ceiling quicker than he expected & there was no chance in getting into the Champions League with the massive disparity in financial resources between them & us. But you don't admit that in public, no manager/chairman/owner will ever down-play expectations. But you don't need much of a brain to see through to the reality. Yes bullshit does carry a lot of weight with footballers and some other sportsmen because most of them are not that clever, they don't need to be, they can sit in a room, listen to the bullshit, whilst signing a contract for more money than they were previously on. They are then presented to fans with yet more bullshit about "joining a great club, with great fans blah blah blah blah" Errr... probably most trophies in professional football in most leagues are won by the richest clubs. You get the odd "Atletico Madrid" now and again, but its very rare (and hasn't stopped them being raided for players). Different clubs have only started winning the FA cup as the richest clubs don't give a **** about it (including ours last season). I get football, I get players wanting to move on, I get fans bedwetting about any little thing, I get the media spinning **** everyday, I get it all basically. You can believe all the bullshit you want. Some people are just more easily led than others.
You have missed my entire point. That's point is those players have decided to leave and the club have decided to empty the barrel of the "bad" apples, as in if they don't want to be here, go. It's not a case of "relying on the manager" ( although if they didn't think they could, they wouldn't employ him), more a case of... This is where we are, how do we respond. I'm not saying this is the best option and it will work, but I'm looking at now with a fresh view and can cope with that.
I am in agreement with CBK (worrying in itself) and can deal with what has happened. Doesn't mean I like it, but can deal with it. I must becoming a cranky old git.
Mate, we'll all deal with it somehow, because we really don't have a choice. It's not like we can start supporting Liverpool. If i went to live on a yak farm in Kazakhstan, I'd still find a way check the Saints result every Sunday. Unfortunately for my peace of mind, I'm hooked for life. I imagine most of us are, and even if there is some sort of therapy available with a passable success rate, most of us won't take it.
I get what you are saying too, I understand how football works. But what I don't get is the utter betrayal and bullshit coming out of the club from Les Reed and co. about keeping our best young players" and "aiming for Europe", "bringing in top, top players" etc. Just **** off and stop making false promises to us already. We can see that everything they are saying is a ****ing lie. We are southampton, none of us support saints because we want to win trophies year after year, we support saints because they are OUR club and we have no choice. They keep reeling out statements which contain more lies. We stuck by the club when at it's lowest, and we will all stick with them now, so stop treating us like ****ing mugs and feeding us bullshit.
I keep swearing after every disaster that hits Saints that I will protect myself by giving them up, but you can't. You still check results...you still worry...you still feel joy. Strangely, the only time I didn't want to abandon them was when we got relegated to League 1...couldn't have left them then. Perhaps it will be easier to abandon them in the EPL, but I doubt it. I really feel for Koeman...in a league he doesn't know with a team which will probably consist of few EPL-experienced players. Hope he likes a challenge.
Actually Villa gave their players big wages to keep their best players but the model relied on them actually qualifying for the CL in the future. In the end they missed out, the owner wasted a lot of money and the players went eventually anyway. You guys are really in an impossible position though. It's possible to keep your best players when it's just one or two that are targeted but this is starting to look like it's nearly half a squad and with each player getting sold the resolve of others to leave becomes stronger. I don't think you need a reality check though because, frankly, the reality is turning out to be pretty awful and as fans you should be allowed to be a bit optimistic.
Nothing personal, but of all the teams in the Prem, Tottenham are currently the one I most want to crash and burn next season.
No offence taken, lots of other club's supporters hate us but that's mostly because of the Jewish thing. Don't join them in the hissing and you're free to hate us as much as you want
Kevin needs a reality check if he thinks this is in any way comparable to what has gone before. Then again he obviously lost sight of reality when Blackburn came knocking with the megabucks.
