VIDEO: Saints director Les Reed speaks at Global Sporting Innovation Conference 2014

I'd say not, because his youth career was solely done at Strasbourg.

 

The legacy left by Rupert Lowe was not good to hear about, hopefully the lessons learned from that debacle will ensure that it never happens again to Southampton FC. We have a lot to be grateful for, a lot happened in a very short time and I for one, refuse to slag or criticise Cortese or Poch for their contribution, without their input in those formative times it could have easily gone pear shaped yet again. It is time to accept the new set up and move on, in the hope that all of their ambitions are met, it will still need 100% backing from the supporters, criticise if it doesn't seem right, I have no problem with that, but creating witch hunts and attempting to undermine what is going on is the sure way to bring back the bad times, there is a very thin line between success and failure. Les Reed in my opinion came in for some unfair treatment during the Summer, I can accept that it was a lot to do with the lack of knowing what was going on, and mischief making didn't help. He isn't the best communicator in the World, but at least this effort goes some way to understanding the philosophy of the Club and his involvement.

 

Not a dynamic speaker but I really liked the content. Very interesting to hear how it works behind the scenes. It gives me lots of confidence for the future. If we need to find new players or managers the system is all set upand ready to run.

 

As someone who is interested in a career in sport science, found it really interesting to see what he had to say. Loved the thing about the Ipads**, a small touch but you can see the benefits.

** I was disappointed not to hear that other tablet computers were available.

 

Wow, just wow. I could post for hours on just how exciting that was, but the number one message from me was the "bottom up" philosophy.

The message to everyone, fans, media, opponents, is simple. It doesn't matter who you take, who leaves, this club will remain the same. We've proven that. We have a very wide based triangle shape to our business, with the original peak being Cortese, the coach and the best players, but we have seen a few times over the last few years that removing one from that top portion of the triangle doesn't crumble the organisation. This summer saw a large number of that top portion go, including the chairman, coach and several top players, but guess what... The remaining 95% of that triangle was still there; is still there.

Simply brilliant and what a fantastic job this club has done to have this in shape. No doubt Markus and Cortese put the right people in and Les has done a great job. Cortese has actually proven to be a victim of his own success; he was so good at setting the club structure up that he want missed when he went.

So proud to be a saints fan and I have always backed the board during those difficult times (I had one wobble when Kreuger seemed to be spouting contradictory stuff), but now, having seen this one 30 minute video, I can rest completely confident in the future of our club. Anyone wanting to destroy what we have needs to rip out the bottom of that triangle.

 

As I said on another thread, apparently not a coincidence that we have had four good managers. I do remember Nicola saying in one of his first interviews that he wanted the club set up so that it could survive the loss of central personnel. Onwards and upwards (though that is only 2 places at the moment ).

 

IMHO, it can't be done, unless every other team in England starts to bring through talent the way we do. Young English players are grossly overpriced thanks to their rarity. We produce them, so we end up being able to sell them for far more than they are worth compared to the foreigners we can buy to replace them. It would be madness to hold on to a player whom you beive you can replace for (say) £10M if someone's offering £27M for him.

I don't see it happening. I also don't see it a a bad thing. A little sad, perhaps, but it will keep us on a sound financial footing so we'll still be around in 25 years. Some current top-flight teams won't.

Vin

 

I notice les said they feel host families are a better structure than the Lodge was. Interesting in light of Rupert's recent, generally ignorant sounding assessment of our prospects predicted the end of our academy conveyor belt due to selling the lodge.