For anyone concerned about being linked with Townsend, here's what Guan 2.0 had to say on the 17th of this month he hasn't posted since. no news is possibly good news.
The thing about Guan is that I never actually understand a thing he writes anyway. He could actually be Les Reed but I'm never any the wiser after reading the snippets quoted here. 100 face palms, eh?
He's showing talent late of age then. Crikey..! First a basketball player, then a struggling actor making good as a TV star, then he goes into Films and now is a prospective winger for Saints at 69. That's a full life..!
He claims it's worth it because you can get a place in the CL if you win it. But he's still changing his team I believe.
Talking about European competitions, I read an interesting fact that I'd completely forgotten about the European Cup before it became the Champions League, and that was to compete in it you had to have won your particular domestic League. So, in a sense, it was actually harder to win it. Once you'd won it you automatically came back the following year to defend it, it's true, but you certainly couldn't regularly make do with 4th place like you can now. Which, dare I suggest here, makes Liverpool's four wins [before it became a League] and Nottm Forest's two [not forgetting Villa], all the more remarkable, when money didn't dominate football anywhere near as much, and success wasn't almost entirely won via the cheque book.
The winning your own league part making it harder is true but Forest and Liverpool are not very good examples of a period where 'success wasn't almost entirely won via the cheque book.' Forest broke the world transfer record for Trevor Francis and Clough was pretty famous for not being shy with the clubs money if he thought he was doing the right thing. Part of the reason he fell out with Derby. Liverpool spent a lot bringing Dalglish & Co together.
To be fair on Clough, he won the Elite League with his Second Division side and spent the winnings [plus a bit more it's true] on Francis, who wasn't allowed to play until the Final. At Derby he wasn't profligate as much as Derby were bloody tight with the dosh. He did bring them enormous success too, getting to the European Cup semis, after winning the domestic title, again with a largely second division side. At Liverpool, Paisley sold Keegan and got Dalglish in and made a profit. I think they're reasonably good examples.
