I saw the interviews with the players after the match and with Harry - they are all quite emotional but one thing that comes out is they all talk about our culture / spirit / the mood - they (our players / manager / owner) say - 'they wrote us off' 'they hate us' 'we showed them' 'out fight' So is this what Harry brought us - we have the underdog spirit - so in spite of our millions we feel hard done by - unfairly judged. So in the words of our South East London collegues - no one likes us - but we care and it makes us stronger. All said - amongst us the fans and the team - we have ended this season as a tight bunch and we had lost thus somehow over this season. This final has recaptured a tighter bond between the players - between the fans and between the fans and the team and the owners - that is palpable and could mean points next season. U R's
Fair point to be sure. But care has to be taken, sadly lacking last time when additions were made. Some have to made. That is inevitable. The manager has to ensure that at least six of the current team are still playing for us come the end of the January transfer window. Green, Simpson, Yun, Hill/Dunne (not both sadly) Phillips (the right one) and Austin need to be starting each game. Others will have to earn their places. Zamora does still have a role to play but I suspect it will be as an impact sub against tiring defenders. I agree that none of our loanees should expect to be included as that would damage the bond between the players and the club. That does not mean that they should not be given a chance to earn their way back in but I doubt any of them will want to take it. Targets for the year ahead should include clearing out the deadwood, setting sensible budgets for signings and wages and in principle at least, not even looking at anyone over the age of 28. There will be more than enough experience in our squad already. Let's remember there was a reason why players like SWP and Anton Ferdinand were playing reserve tem football.
There were several mentions of "Band of Brothers" mentality by the players after the match. I'm afraid that all I could think about were the Jacksons and the Bee Gees. I had a vision of the back four closing players down whilst singing "Huh, huh, huh, huh, stayin' alive" in falsetto voices.
Good post, though I don't really understand the 'culture' reference. It is certainly the spirit which has changed recently, and it seems that at least some of that can be attributed to the rugby coach/sports psychologist Steve Black. Credit where credit is due if Redknapp was the man to get him in. Word of caution though, this 'spirit' has to be self sustaining - Black and others like him can make a difference but have a bag of tricks which rapidly becomes repetitive and less and less effective. I've seen more than my fair share of sportsmen/coaches turned 'motivational speakers' (which Black also does) at corporate events over the years. They are always interesting because they have great stories to tell about sportsmen, which most of us love. And they have truly achieved something - I have heard from athletes/coaches in the field of yachting, rowing, athletics, American football, climbing, rugby (Clive Woodward), basketball...and that's just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. They all have books and websites (as has Black). Unless it's someone I've heard of/ a sport I really like, I usually skip these things now. Beyond technical coaching what they have to say boils down to working on 3 core things: - focus and concentration - effort and application - trying to beat your previous best all the time - for team sports understanding that everyone makes a contribution And they all have a variety of (pretty similar, 'visualisation' being the central one) techniques for working on these. The basic assumption for all is that the people they are working with are all already talented/skillful way above the average at whatever sport they do. Their job is to focus/release the talent effectively. We will need to retain and build on the spirit (Palace have shown what it can bring you) but also add a bit of quality to enjoy next year.
