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Article: The 5 year plan | Football Southampton

Discussion in 'Southampton' started by SaintinSerbia, Jan 29, 2012.

  1. SaintinSerbia

    SaintinSerbia Annoying Twat

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    THE 5 YEAR PLAN: TO GET THE SAINTS BACK IN THE PREMIERSHIP.

    Southampton Football Club was saved on the 8th of July 2009 when Marcus Liebherr bought the club and Nicola Cortese was brought in to look after the clubs business side. They had a 5 year plan to haul a faltering league one side back to their rightful place in the Premiership.

    YEAR ONE (2009 – 2010)

    Alan Pardew is made manager – Saints spend £3m on new players.
    Rickie Lambert, Dean Hammond, Radhi Jaïdi, Graeme Murty, Dan Harding, David Connolly, Michail Antonio, Papa Waigo, Lee Barnard, José Fonte, Danny Seaborne, Jon Otsemobor and Jason Puncheon.
    Saints win the Football League Trophy and finish 7th in League 1.

    YEAR TWO (2010 – 2011)

    RIP Marcus Liebherr.
    Nigel Adkins is made manager.
    Saints spend £?m on new players.
    Frazer Richardson, Guly Do Prado, Danny Butterfield, Jonathan Forte, Richard Chaplow, Ryan Dickson, Dany N'Guessan

    Saints seal promotion to the championship finishing in 2nd place in league 1.

    YEAR THREE (2011 – 2012)

    Saints sell Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain for £12m.
    Saints spend £?m on new players.
    Daniel Fox, Jack Cork, Jos Hooiveld, Tadanari Lee, Yago Falque
    Saints sit 2nd in the Championship on January 29th 2012.

    Obviously the plan was to consolidate in year 3 /4 and have built a team capable of making mid table in the Premiership in year 5.

    My question is? Is it better to get promoted this year with a weaker team and face possible relegation / massive spending in the summer or failing this year and continue building a Premiership team in the Championship that will not need changes when promoted? Or will failure this year leave us as a perennial Championship team like Cardiff?

    ( I suspect I've left out some players we've bought and passed on)
     
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  2. TBD

    TBD Active Member

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    This obviously puts in contex our amazing season. Should we fail to go up its still been a great season presuming we dont loose all of our remaning games or something stupid. However this division isnt an easy one to get out of as many clubs have shown, should we fail this year I think next season will be a rebuilding one with another push the season afterwards. As long as we stay solvent and getting good crowds promotion with abit of luck should come sooner or later.
     
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  3. JMMP

    JMMP New Member

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    july 2009 seems ages ago now.
     
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  4. saintlyhero

    saintlyhero Well-Known Member

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    I think it's fair to say that if we fail to get an automatic place then Cardiff are the most likely to grab it.
    If you could guarantee me that we could keep our players (Lallana, lambert etc) for another push next season then I would not be too down hearted if we failed this term.
     
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  5. JMMP

    JMMP New Member

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    I say we go gung ho in the summer transfer wise.
     
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  6. AdamBanana20

    AdamBanana20 New Member

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    Our main objective was to be in top 10 come January,to give ourselves the chance to win the race.We've led the race for 4 months now and you know,there's gonna be fluctuations in this division and our aim is to get this magnificent football club back in premier league.
    <laugh>
     
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  7. RickieLambertsGoldenBoot

    RickieLambertsGoldenBoot Well-Known Member

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    We are in a massive position now and we will not get an opportunity this good again.

    Say we don't get promoted this season, next year WE WILL be favourites, we will be targets!

    We should buy now in preparation for the Prem.

    I've always said that <ok>
     
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  8. JMMP

    JMMP New Member

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    We are targets now.
     
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  9. North Hants Saint

    North Hants Saint Active Member

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    With the position we're in, we've got to take advantage and go all out for promotion - which the team, Nigel and Cortese are clearly trying to implement.
     
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  10. Rich

    Rich Well-Known Member

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    This.
     
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  11. Itchen North Matt

    Itchen North Matt Active Member

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    I don't think we'd need to do anything too drastic to stay up should we get promoted other than to add some more strength in depth and a really good striker to partner Lambert (assuming we don't get Hooper by Tuesday). I think Adkins could do that with the right tools - worse managers have kept worse Saints sides up in the past. There's always a danger of going down as the top half tends to be the same teams every year and the rest is a battlefield. We wouldn't be one of those dreadful teams like Derby were who scraped through the playoffs and got slaughtered in the PL.
     
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  12. Chaplow's Shiny Head

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    Look we have had an amazing couple of years especially the last 12 months that there just had to be a levelling of in form which has happened of late but i really believe we can push again and threaten for the title.Cardiff represents a great opportunity for a moral boosting win that we can use as a springboard to go again its great winning at Coventry and Forest but lets face it everyone has been doing that and we need to lay down a statement of intent to spread some renewed belief amongst the team and its followers and beating Cardiff could do that
     
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  13. Schad

    Schad Well-Known Member

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    We're doing it the right way, I think; the players that we have targeted are ones that can help us push for promotion, but aren't going to cripple our wage budget if we do not, and are of an age where they should be options long-term.
     
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  14. ImpSaint

    ImpSaint Well-Known Member

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    Quite obviously it is vitally important now that we are in the position we are to make sure we go up. Pre-season it was not critical this season. however now we are there it most definitely is.

    It is not just a case of 'if we don't go up then we will next year or the year after'.

    The championship is a very hard league to get promoted from and this chance may not (it might but not guaranteeed) come up again in the next 10 years!!!! We could be the next Cardiff always close but falling at the last hurdle therefore we MUST take this chance or at least do our very best to seal it.

    Its a no brainer to build a Premier side in the Championship to get into the Prem. Look at Leicester!!! Look at what we did under Burley!!!! The former is spending money that the lower half of the Prem would be jealous of. the latter (us under Burley) gambled which resulted in dire consequences as we know.

    Take this chance. Biuld the Prem side and take it from there.
     
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  15. fran-MLs little camera

    fran-MLs little camera Well-Known Member

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    There is no guarantee that if we don't go up this year, next year will bring promotion. Sometimes you just have to grab your opportunities. The best scenario we have a good year in the PL; worst scenario we have parachute payments for the following year.
     
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  16. Beddy

    Beddy Plays the percentage

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    We do not want to become a yo yo club like West Brom.......That quite frankly would be heart breaking and would not be good IMO for the club as a whole.
    We clearly do not have the quality to make any headway in the premier. Yes we have fairly good players but not enough good quality players.
    Hell, I have no idea how many can make the giant leap up in standard, no more than anyone else. I'll wager it will not be too many of our current squad though! Maybe 8/9 at the very best and non will be particularly outstanding.
    While I, like most others am delighted to see us at the top or there abouts. I still have this feeling we are punching above our weight once again. I would love to be proved wrong and hopefully I am. I just feel we need to get the team building side right. Up to now for me at least, we seem to be lagging a tad behind and just maybe, it would not be such a good thing for us to be promoted yet.
     
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  17. fran-MLs little camera

    fran-MLs little camera Well-Known Member

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    Promotion will get us income and money. Failure after such a good start could be a hammer blow to team confidence, so promotion now. No guarantee next season will be as good.
     
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  18. ChilcoSaint

    ChilcoSaint What a disgrace
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    If anyone involved with the club had any idea that we would have done as well as we have so far this season they're not saying. What they are saying, at least what Nigel Adkins is saying, is that we want to get promoted and preferably win the league, this season. I agree with Beddy that there has to be a careful balance made between the squad that gor us where we are, and building a Premier League quality squad. But I also agree with Fran that, given our current situation, it would be heartbreaking not to get promoted this time around. It could also have a negative effect on those players we are bringing in, such that they might think about jumping ship.

    Promotion this season for me, please.
     
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  19. fran-MLs little camera

    fran-MLs little camera Well-Known Member

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    Let's worry about staying in the PL when we are in the PL.
     
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  20. Beddy

    Beddy Plays the percentage

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    There is no doubt we have done well this year. Although we have struggled of late........It really doesn't matter why, the fact is we have. If we do not get promoted now I think quite a few fans will find it difficult to swallow......similarly if we were promoted and came straight back down because of lack of quantity/quality players. Either way seems to me there is going to be too many broken hearts if we are not cautious and prepared. It has happened before and it took a year or two to rebuild the fan base.
     
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