Back to reality?

Hi guys, this is my first article so please be nice.

With all the upheaval in the last six months, especially after the (mostly) great five years that proceeded it, I've started to question what is causing the anger and frustration and who or what is to blame?

Is it the current owner and board not having the ambition and belief that we can become a top 4 team?
Could it be down to NC & MP for creating a cult of personality so that players loyalties were to them and not the club?
Maybe it's greedy agents trying to turn the heads of our players to get themselves a nice payday?
Or how about the players who've developed and grown with the club, one minute professing their love for all things Saints and the next refusing to put on our kit ever again?

I've read all these reasons on here, on twitter, on Facebook and heard it on the radio and from people I've talked to. I'm sure that there's some truth to all these reasons and many more, but I think it comes down to one simple thing.

We've been brought back to reality.

It's been great to believe that the players have stayed with us and signed new contracts because they love the place and the fans so much and the thought that maybe our club could break into the fabled top four by doing things differently from everyone else was exciting. The reality is that almost any player at almost any club would get their head turned by a bigger club offering much higher wages and a greater chance to actually win things.

The reality is we are a medium sized provincial club that 5 years ago almost ceased to exist.

In the current climate of FFP (or as I prefer FSQ - financial status quo) it's almost impossible for any club of our size to compete with the big boys over a 38 game season and because we can't offer CL football or anything close to the wages on offer at Chelsea, Utd, City, Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal we will continue to loose our best players.

It's a bitter pill to swallow, an uncomfortable truth, it's a hard fact of life and it may not be fair, but what we need to remember is that we're a medium sized provincial club that 5 years ago ALMOST CEASED TO EXIST.

I love my club and when I think about where we've been and who we are, I'm reminded that there are far worse things in football than selling 3 players who's total purchase price was £1 million for close to £60 million.

 

Hi and welcome.

I enjoyed your post but have to say that what you say we are and what we want to be are two different things.

We have ambition and that is right.

Spurs are only a marginally bigger club than us but they have history.

We have to create our own history of success and we will not achieve it by accepting the status quo.

 

Welcome back, Godders. I suppose the lovely Mrs Godders is on Valium with the news of the possible loss of Morgan.

As said before, a perfect storm arrived because Saints were a leader cult who lost their leader and our players were so impressive last season. Losing one or two is quite usual, but losing so many is shocking, but I suppose each departing player makes their decision irrespective of the others leaving. Adam was the one you might have expected more from, but he was one of the first agitating to get off the ship. We are in a decent position if all or most of money is reinvested well.

 

She is inconsolable and doesn't think she will ever see him in a Saints shirt again.

When I said she would probably see him in an Arsenal shirt she said that was even worse as it was like seeing the one love of your life with a new partner and at such times all you want to do is rip their eyes out!

I should think that you are off the Valium now that Saints have turned down Cardiff's offer for Jose.

 

Some of our players should be taken behind the barn and shot, but, although we would feel better, we'd only be able to sell them for glue, so perhaps we will have to get our satisfaction from screwing every last penny for their sorry little arses.

 

Get her to handcuff Morgan until mid Auigust Godders then he's not going anywhere

 

If she managed to handcuff poor old Morgan I would fear for the poor lad. I don't think he would be any good to anybody for many weeks afterwards.

Rather sadly though those pink fluffy handcuffs of hers are barely strong enough to restrain me let alone a fit strong muscular athlete like Morgan.

 

New book coming out soon "50 Shades of Red and White" By St Godders (aka Lord Viagra) it will go viral I assure you.

 

Viral as in ebola?

 

Sorry Fran . Meant to click like instead . Happens a lot when I am using my phone .

 

I dont mind coming back to reality but it's going to be hard to bare yearly relegation battles with out Mathew le tissier saving our asses.

Look if we are lucky and we buy some quality players and they gel quickly we have a good chance of finishing strongly this year. If we don't and become a bottom half team it's Russian roulette with relegation.

 

I have to question how blinded by the red and white some Saints fans are when they suggest that Spurs are only 'marginally bigger than Saints'. They are vastly bigger. It isn't just history. PNE, Wednesday, Huddersfield all have history but they are not as big as Saints.

Spurs are one of THE biggest global brands in world football. Like I said before when they get their new 60k stadium built they will fill it week in, week out from day 1. If it were built already they would fill it now. We wouldn't.

If it is choice of words and you mean 'marginally better' then yes that could be taken as reality, but we have to stop thinking that clubs with that kind of stature and global appeal / brand are only slightly bigger than us because they dwarf us in comparison. We may get closer to them one day but until then we can only compete on the pitch and not in the financial / commercial sense.

If we actually think about it we are quite some way down the ladder and if a club like West Ham or Newcastle had Ronald Koeman as manager next season we would probably struggle to get any player that we were both after. We should think ourselves lucky that we are in the position we are, well run, minimal debt, great academy because that is the only reason we are competing as it is.

 

Ebola is a virus, when I said viral it was not in the biological sense but the World marketing sense, but you knew that and were trying me on at my own game, right?

 

First of all, welcome new poster. No-one will slag you off; having the piss taken is the worst thing that happens here generally, and in any case it is a thoughtful first post (sorry if that sounds patronising).

While I cannot comment on the veracity of these comments about Spurs - because I literally have no idea - let me share a quick story. I have a mate who has an IT job which I can't claim to understand, but part of it is that his company manages Liverpool's season ticket allocations. As we speak there is a waiting list of around 10,000. What is the waiting list for SFC? How often did we not sell out last season?

It is delusional to think that if we build a 50,000 seater stadium we'll have a revenue that will allow us to compete with the big boys. We need to build to become a global brand, and we aren't going to be a global brand if we don't attract global attention. It's a conundrum we need to resolve, or we have to accept that the current situation is our "reality". I have never accepted the idea that you can't change things. The current climate makes it more difficult to emulate the Liverpool of the the 1950's who challenged and then surpassed the big boys of their day. The coming weeks and months will show us whether the owners have accepted the staus quo or are willing to continue to build. Getting where we are was not easy, but will look like a walk in the park compared to what still needs to happen. We know what we want as fans, but are those with the power and influence singing from the same hymn sheet?

 

I'm not sure what you mean by a conundrum really? For me it's simple, to become a global brand you have to succeed on the pitch. So for me the focus has to be improving the team. Once you start competing on the pitch you'll also start competing off it. The only question is whether it's possible to do that without significant financial support from a super-rich owner.

 

The idea was always to do it differently...which is a slower but more sustainable method. Remember a sizeable amount of money has been invested by the Leihberrs with the idea that we would become self-sustaining. The Academy would provide us with cheap skilful players who would already play in the required manner, but would also provide an income when some were sold on. I think Nicola may have lost his way by getting carried away when success was even faster than planned.

 

I've always doubted how realistic that was/is. The only remote possibility I can see is that somehow we manage to do what Man Utd did in the early 90s and produce a freakish clutch of players in one go that will bring quick success and make up half the first team for 10 or more years. We've brought some great players through but unless they all come through together they just get picked off one by one. Walcott had left before Bale played, Bale had left before Oxlade-Chamberlain, who'd left before Shaw played and Shaw has left before whoever the next one is.

 

Welcome to Not606. I think I agree with the majority of what you have written. What I would add is that the EPL and the CL has made it practically impossible for a team to break into the top four unless your club has the financial support of a Arabic Royal Family or similar such super-wealthy investor to get you there is the first place. The funds are hogged each season by that 'elite' group meaning that someone outside, without that backing, can get into the big money. In essence, the other teams in the EPL and lower leagues now act as a feeder to those parasites who feed off the hard work and dedication that other teams, such as ours, goes to make themselves more competitive on the field.

This situation is best summed up by the complete disregard that the 'elite' teams treat our FA and League Cup competitions, not forgetting the poor financial return given to the euro-cup.

The situation will not change unless there is a willingness at the top of football to drive through change - we have no chance of that occurring within the EPL and Plattini lacks the muscle to sort out the clubs like Man City who flouted the FFP because they knew the rules could not be fully enforced and made it clear that they would challenge any ban in court.

The soul has been removed from the team and it will take time to rebuild what we had. I wrote some time ago (and was put down for it on here) that the loss of NC (and the dream he sold the players and the non-playing staff) and the subsequent loss of Poch would see an exodus of players - I was right then - I sincerely hope I am wrong now because after a great five years - I do not share the view that we will be all right next season; I think it will be very challenging for us.