Had. Hasnt he ruptured his cruciate? Some players never re-gain the samé level of fitness. Worrying thought.
Ask again in September. If we don't lose any key players and make a couple of smart signings, my answer will be yes.
Remember that what we say matters not one jot. The club itself is aiming for Champions League. Now you can decide whether you'll support that or whether you don't give a toss. If the club get wind that the supporters aren't behind them you'll not see a faster back out from an ambition than SFC's retreat will be.
The club value our support, but our doubts won't affect their plans one bit. I would never say that we won't make the top four, but it will be very hard for any team to break the hold the top clubs have on those positions. However, it will be very exciting to watch Saints try with reasonable spending and not by just throwing money at it. A team to be proud of.
I hadn't realised until recently that by beating Sheffield United on the last day, we relegated Leicester, who then sacked Holloway and replaced him with Pearson. So it worked out extremely well for Pearson; he did his CV no harm by keeping us up, and when his contract wasn't renewed the job was there at Leicester for him to walk into.
He got sacked for Sven and went to Hull before returning, but i'm sure he wouldn't have returned were it not for his initial stint.
Adkins is a very good manager and his CV is superb. I think he deserves to manage in the Premier League and I hope he gets there with Reading. Nigel is a great student of the game and uses his knowledge and experience in medical & sports science, psychology etc to get the best out of his players. The trouble for Nigel is that he has zero experience at the very top of the game in any capacity and that led to his downfall. He hit his glass ceiling(for the moment) and the senior players at the club knew it. Adkins didn't have the coaching tools to improve our players to becoming top 10 premier league players. Pochettino has the experience, has the coaching ability and has shown to have taken those same players and pushed them forward again. Top 6 next season? Improved squad and a little luck, we have a chance.
The fact he got them promoted twice should have given the players faith in Nigel...but because of the poor start (which was at least partly due to bad luck with the draw) they needed someone that had been there and done it. The players remarked about Mauricio's presence as soon as he arrived...his confidence and the fact he had a plan gave them confidence. I wish all the best to Adkins...he is a good modern manager and he deserves another chance in the PL....sadly not next season.
5 years ago it took a very brave man to predict were would be where we are now. 5 years from now, who knows.
I did actually predict it from the moment we were bought. Not so much brave as naive probably. I wished I'd put a bet on. The only time I did was last season when I backed us to finish top half. Oops. What I really like about the way we have achieved it is that we didn't just do a Man City/Chelsea and spend a fortune on getting promoted. We did it the old-fashioned way, hard work and sensible investment. Good old us!
Love everything about the last five years...I feel involved in something special. I feel more involved and affectionate towards our players than I ever have before...don't know them personally, but it seems like I do.
