The dream will never be stolen-end of story. We are all here, so passionate, so hell bent, so distracted when we should all be sleeping because that dream lives on in all of us. When I first saw Saints in the early nineties; I was hooked and in my naive eyes clubs like United and Arsenal had the big names but it didn't matter. I watched Le Tissier, Dowie and Franny et al live their dream on the off chance it would lead to my dream of witnessing Saints become successful. As a 36 year old, that dream still exists. Despite perennial relegation scraps, Augustin Delgado teaching me what painkilling injections were, hoping that when we were in the brink financially that selling the stadium to the council was a sick joke-despite all that I still believe in my dream. If that's not bad enough, I push it into my three children.... And I will not apologise. Things could be better but could be a hell of a lot worse.
As Captain Sensible once said (Well, West Side Story actually but I'm not that old). You've got to have a dream, if you don't have a dream,then how you going home to make your dreams come true"
That is so sad as you have missed out on all that is good. Well at least you have got Britain's Got Talent so that must please you as that **** is about as good as it gets for you youngsters these days.
Lol, the best part of this comment is that I am called a youngster I actually hate Britain's got no talent and the fix factor. If it is any consolation, I love all 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s music and think that talent stopped being appreciated in the 90s/00s. The fact that we as a society are more interested in 'reality' stars than real talent says it all to me. Maybe we should have a show for a 'real' person to become a football star... Anyway, maybe that's one for Koeman's Korner....
This song is probably the most appropriate. I remember watching the Andy Williams show as a kid, usually for about 10 seconds or however long it took my aged P to leap from his chair and switch channels. Yes we had no remotes in those days.
Thanks, Godders - was going to correct as well (it was my mum's favourite record and I heard it so much growing up!) ........
All I've ever wanted was to be a Premier League team. I fear for this dream. If the core of our team next season is Fonte, Romeu, Pelle/ Long... We could be in trouble. We sell our best players every year, we sell so much we leave ourselves without a right back when at one point we had two top right backs. Its unsustainable.
One of the very best musicals and addressed some important issues especially racism. Younger than Springtime has to be one of the best songs.
90s was a golden era that briefly bypassed the PWL dominated music scene which was a pre-cursor to the modern Cowell template. Late eighties into the early nineties was a resurgence of guitar rock / folk / Dance before becoming commercialised again and then the noughties brought in the modern way of constant promotion. I don't think a back bone of Fonte, Romeu, Pelle, Long would see us going down. With those 2 up front I fail to understand why we don't cross the ball into the box. They are both great headers of the ball yet we try to do 1 2s and play them in round the corner all the time. As for the dream. Dreams can never be taken away by anyone but he/she who had the dream. We can all still dream. What has been taken away is the belief. Cortese had a plan. To do it all in a sustainable framework. Problem being when it started to look as if things were becoming unsustainable he just carried on. We could well have been another Pompey, never mind being £1m short of money to fend the bank off as we were last time. The whole problem is down to expectations. It isn't about saying 'We are going to be mid table for a few years'. Its about being realistic and not just spouting out the same old nonsense when things have changed. The Club had aims, plans and ambition. At the time they seemed slightly optimistic but achievable. The 'playing field' changed and those aims started to look less achievable and at this point the board (One man board at the time) should have come out and tempered the expectation slightly. Not to say 'We will never be a Champions League Club' but not to keep saying 50% homegrown, Top 4 club, sustainable. There would have been and even now certainly isn't anything to be ashamed of by being honest, stating where we were, where we are and where we want to be but putting things into context. That does not mean we don't have ambition. It doesn't mean we have failed. It just means that we alter our plans when the situation changes. Something football people should know a lot about. I pretty much agree with ChilcoSaint's post about Cortese and I also agree with Shepherd's use of the word 'hyperbole'. IT wasn't hyperbole at the beginning but as we have moved through that 5 year plan things have changed, most out of our control and to continue with the same mantra is just plain foolish because many football fans lap it all up. I was sold on it too but slowly came back to reality and am right back on the ground now. Saints the 13th best team in England. Its familiar to me. Most of my life Saints have been like that
Must disagree with the notion that the playing field has changed in a fashion that makes charging down the top of the table more difficult. It is January, and European places are held by Leicester, West Ham and Palace. A strong pound vs the Euro and surging revenues have combined to give the non-elite purchasing power in the transfer market that would have been unthinkable half a decade ago...nothing that I can see has worked against us or our previous vision. So either we were fools to have ever believed, or we are fools now to dismiss the possibility while others make progress in that direction.
So the choice is dreams or mediocrity? The actual choice is dreams built on sand or dreams built on foundations. Is this just a reflection of X-factor society? Godders purports to be old-school and yet seems to say we can just turn up to an audition and become stars. Dreams take work, they don't just appear like magic, they don't follow a linear path from League 1 to Champions League winners and a beautiful sunset. When we sing "Johnson's Paint Trophy, you'll never win that" and "We come from League 1" it should mean something. Dreams involve plans and when they go wrong you take stock and re-plan and go again. Your club is working hard to achieve those dreams through reality - who said it would be easy? Don't be cynical and unhappy ... Get happy, or die trying
