In 5 years time will; Adam Lallana have been capped? Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 english wingers/attacking midfielders Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 wingers/attacking midfielders playing in the english leagues. Will; Rickie Lambert have been capped? Jack Cork have been capped? Jack Cork or Spiderman be a regular in the national side? Will; Adkins still be our manager? The "big four" of Shaw, Ward-Prowse, Chambers and Stephens still be with southampton? We still be in the premier league? Will; Pompey still be in league 1? Davis still be our number 1? We still be at St Marys with 32,000 capacity? Will; We have played in Europe? We have got to at least a domestic cup semi final? Any of our player be "world class" Or if they have a country in the top 20 of the world will they be the star player? And to get you in the 5 years time mood, heres a song to listen to as you answer the questions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25g4CxHQoH4
My answers In 5 years time will; Adam Lallana have been capped? Yes Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 english wingers/attacking midfielders? Yes Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 wingers/attacking midfielders playing in the english leagues. No Will; Rickie Lambert have been capped? Yes Jack Cork have been capped? Yes Jack Cork or Spiderman be a regular in the national side? Yes, both of them more so Cork. Will; Adkins still be our manager? Yes The "big four" of Shaw, Ward-Prowse, Chambers and Stephens still be with southampton? No I think at least one will go and one won't make the grade sadly We still be in the premier league? Yes Will; Pompey still be in league 1? No, championship strugglers Davis still be our number 1? No, but he'll be our 2nd choice. We still be at St Marys with 32,000 capacity? No St marys but with a larger Capacity Will; We have played in Europe? Yes We have got to at least a domestic cup semi final? Yes Any of our player be "world class" Or if they have a country in the top 20 of the world will they be the star player? No. Ten years time YES
Adam Lallana have been capped Maybe, probably not Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 english wingers/attacking midfielders Probably not Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 wingers/attacking midfielders playing in the english leagues. No Will; Rickie Lambert have been capped? No Jack Cork have been capped? Probably not Jack Cork or Spiderman be a regular in the national side? Cork no Morgan possibly Will; Adkins still be our manager? Hopefully The "big four" of Shaw, Ward-Prowse, Chambers and Stephens still be with southampton? Probably not all of them We still be in the premier league? Yes Will; Pompey still be in league 1? No Davis still be our number 1? When he's 40? No. We still be at St Marys with 32,000 capacity? Probably not. Will; We have played in Europe? No. We have got to at least a domestic cup semi final? Possibly. Any of our player be "world class" Or if they have a country in the top 20 of the world will they be the star player? No probably not.
In 5 years time will; Adam Lallana have been capped? May-be Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 english wingers/attacking midfielders No Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 wingers/attacking midfielders playing in the english leagues. No Will; Rickie Lambert have been capped? Maybe, but less likely than Lallana Jack Cork have been capped? No Jack Cork or Spiderman be a regular in the national side? No Will; Adkins still be our manager? Unlikely - not many managers hang around the same team that long these days The "big four" of Shaw, Ward-Prowse, Chambers and Stephens still be with southampton? Pass We still be in the premier league? That's any-one's guess - I reckon the bottom half of the Prem is now so tight you could end up anywhere from 12th to 20th next season Will; Pompey still be in league 1? I bloody hope not I'd like to think we'll be back in the Championship by then Davis still be our number 1? I doubt it We still be at St Marys with 32,000 capacity? If you stay in the Prem you'll probably exand St Marys. If you slip back to the Champinship it probably wont happen Will; We have played in Europe? I very much doubt it, unless you win the League Cup We have got to at least a domestic cup semi final? Pass Any of our player be "world class" Or if they have a country in the top 20 of the world will they be the star player? Pass
I would answer no to all of them apart from us being in the premier league (although probably not after having been there for the whole five years). Sorry, i'm a realist. And even then it's nothing more than a possibly.
In 5 years time will; Adam Lallana have been capped? If there's any justice and he does what he did in the Championship, yes Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 english wingers/attacking midfielders? Probably not Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 wingers/attacking midfielders playing in the english leagues? No Will; Rickie Lambert have been capped? No Jack Cork have been capped? Yes Jack Cork or Spiderman be a regular in the national side? Morgan maybe, Cork probably Will; Adkins still be our manager? Yes The "big four" of Shaw, Ward-Prowse, Chambers and Stephens still be with southampton? Shaw and Ward-Prowse definitely, the other two are maybes We still be in the premier league? Yes Will; Pompey still be in league 1? No Davis still be our number 1? No We still be at St Marys with 32,000 capacity? No Will; We have played in Europe? Yes We have got to at least a domestic cup semi final? Yes Any of our player be "world class" Or if they have a country in the top 20 of the world will they be the star player? Maybe
Don't normally get into this sort of thing, but here goes: In 5 years time will; Adam Lallana have been capped? Possibly. Will he still be a Saints player..? Possibly not. Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 english wingers/attacking midfielders Possibly not, and it won't matter either. Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 wingers/attacking midfielders playing in the english leagues. Same answer. Will; Rickie Lambert have been capped? No. Jack Cork have been capped? Doubt it. Jack Cork or Spiderman be a regular in their national sides? No. Will; Adkins still be our manager? Possibly, but I doubt it. The "big four" of Shaw, Ward-Prowse, Chambers and Stephens still be with Southampton? Depends on how good they get and whether Saints want them. We still be in the Premier League? Unless there is a breakaway Euro League, then Yes. Will; Pompey still be in league 1? Whatever. Hopefully doing a bit better. Davis still be our number 1? Are you joking..? We still be at St Marys with 32,000 capacity? No. It'll either be bigger or we'll have moved. Will; We have played in Europe? Yes. Possibly Champions League. We have got to at least a domestic cup semi final? Almost certainly, unless it's not considered important enough. Any of our players be "world class" Or if they have a country in the top 20 of the world will they be the star player? Almost certainly. Best teams tend to have best players.
In 5 years time will; Adam Lallana have been capped? Yes Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 english wingers/attacking midfielders Maybe Adam Lallana be recognised as one of the top 3 wingers/attacking midfielders playing in the english leagues. Probably not Will; Rickie Lambert have been capped? No Jack Cork have been capped? Yes Jack Cork or Spiderman be a regular in the national side? Probably not Will; Adkins still be our manager? No The "big four" of Shaw, Ward-Prowse, Chambers and Stephens still be with southampton? Not all of them, no, because they won't all be good enough We still be in the premier league? Yes Will; Pompey still be in league 1? No Davis still be our number 1? No We still be at St Marys with 32,000 capacity? No Will; We have played in Europe? No We have got to at least a domestic cup semi final? Yes Any of our player be "world class" Or if they have a country in the top 20 of the world will they be the star player? Probably not, though Lee has a chance of the latter
In which case thanks for contributing to this one You seem very confident on our success in the future but not with our current players?
5 years is a long time in football. Unlike a lot of Saints fans, I happen to think Cortese isn't trying to get Saints back where they've been before. He's aiming for much, much higher than that. I've found that the majority of Saints fans lack the imagination and belief, for fear of being told they're idiots. Many think we've made it already. Totally wrong - this is merely the beginning. All that I've seen and heard so far makes me realise that Cortese won't be satisfied until we can call the best clubs our direct rivals. It won't have stopped in 5 years either. The process will still be continuing. EDIT: On our current players - I doubt any/many/most of them will be good enough and/or young enough.
Maybe. Most of the players Saints will buy and sell over the next years will be stepping stones to success. Rodriguez may be a top 6 Premier League player, but he may not be good enough for Europe or Champions League. I know I'm looking far ahead, but the OP said 5 years. Rodriguez may already have passed into the annuals of good/great Saints players who did their shift and left for Fulham.
regards at lallana, he may get played in a few friendlies- he does have a different style than other English wingers who can only knock it wide and then run after it as fast as you can.Young was considered untouchable as the player on the left, but had a shocking euro cup. Lallana may also be moved into a more central position. Rickie is sadly too old to try- maybe as a 119minute sub for the penalties. He will do well in the premiership though
Really? We have a pretty good core of good young players. The likes of Lallana, Cork, Schneiderlin, Rodriguez, Martin maybe, and the ones who are yet to break into the first team, should be around for at least another 5 years and good enough to play at the highest level someday.
That maybe true, but I wouldn't put my house on it. I don't have a crystal ball, but if one takes the example of Manchester City, who came back into the Premier League with a good set of players, and almost all of them have moved on, then it gives one an idea of how players come and go, and how the scene can change. Cortese says he wants upto 50% of the Academy players to make the first team. This doesn't mean that other Academy players will be discarded. Their skills will be sold, just like any other player, and the profit will go into the Club's coffers. If I'm right about the future of Saints, then a significant number of fans are going to have to get used to a drop in sentimentality and family feel in exchange for silverware and success.
