I think that producing youngsters or developing promising players, then selling on some to balance the books is a solid business plan. We can't compete with clubs owned by oligarchs. If done properly we could still have great seasons and slowly improve (that just looks harder because we had an exceptional last season). A finish in 8-12 this season would be very successful...the bar has just been set unrealistically high. Managed correctly, we could be a very successful club...it will just not be on the meteoric scale we've had in the last 5 years. There could yet be a time when people become shocked if we are out of the top 6, but that may be twenty years down the line. I don't forsee relegation...there will be at least 5/6 worse teams than us. Let's hope this is the darkness before the dawn.
Its the lack of signing we should be worried about. With the momey we have its scary to think theres only 3 weeks till kick off and only 2 signed so afar
Last season was fantastic, and realistically we can't expect much more than 8th. I would be very happy to follow a team that finishes 8th every season, so long as we played exciting football with homegrown English boys, and continued to be the darling of English football. It's a great feeling to see these lads grow up and develop. The prospect of watching different guys play for us each season, guys from countries irrelevant to me, just doesn't appeal to me so much. In sum, we will never be Champions League, so we have to decide what we want our club to be, and to embrace that. What's more, I really feel we had a 'golden generation' coming through, but now we've just shattered that possibility.
I don't agree we can't expect more than 8th. We had a great team, with at least five players (and very likely 2-4 more) already of top4 quality, which is best shown by top4 clubs buying them this summer. If we had ambition to build on that, we might have topped a few teams, Everton perhaps, and why not Tottenham.
Not to mention that the whole team was so young we had many years worth of improvements out of them. To finish above Everton and Spurs was a year of keeping the team together and one or two astute signings away - fact.
To be fair all of the players are going for high transfer fees to teams in the champions league. If asset stripping was taking place all the players would be leaving to any team. They're not they are going to the biggest teams for a lot of money. The players leaving / left think they should be playing champions league football which they will be. A lot will depend on the players coming in or being promoted to the first team. Are they as good or better than the players who have left time will tell.
I said "much more than 8th". I don't regard 7th/6th as being all that much more significant. Of course top 4 is not impossible, I just think we need to be realistic.
I am willing to go out on a limb here and say that the players we bring in won't be as good. The chances of us bringing in 7/8 players in one window who all have the potential to be CL players is slim to none
Really tired of the argument that just because a player might be looking up we should bend over for them.
Well to enter to top four is a project which would take ten years or so. Look at Tottenham, they invested massively and they still aren't there, but they're within reach and they have raised their club profile a lot. If we were to reach their level within two or three years, I would say it's a significant achievement for Southampton. We had a great basis to at least attempt to do so, and I would rather if we had tried than just give up at the start.
But what could the board actually do to keep them? If a player wants to go he will go. Players have too much power to be able to fight them, contracts mean jack ****. If we were bending over wouldn't we just accept any price? Yet we are getting a lot of cash for the players leaving.
Players like Benteke, Rooney and Baines (and many more) have thrown sulks and transfer requests and been managed well enough to get over it. Then of course, how many teams in history have had the whole team sulking to get out at the same time? Takes pretty awful management to get into a position where everyone is unhappy in the first place. Even players like Fonte and Cork are unhappy.
Rooney was never leaving he just wanted more cash. Benteke would have been sold by now if he wasn't injured. Baines is at a bigger club that are in europe. The players aren't unhappy as such they have just been brainwashed to be winners. Cortese made them think anything was possible and massaged their egos. I am not saying it's a bad thing, but as soon as the guy that created this dream left they decided to join teams that will make their dream true. Cortese even made us start believing it so imagine how the players felt.
I think the pissy Rooney threw was about more than money. Benteke didn't go last season when he was fit and throwing a sulk. Baines had the opportunity to join far bigger teams than Everton, I doubt the Europa league is much of a draw when he had CL teams after him.
Thank you LTL, as I say it's only opinions,and mine are what they are,just wish it never comes down to my opinion is more valid than someone else's, it's a bit like my dad is bigger than your dad. But thanks
