31st August 2013 - some thirteen years ago today a young-ish Brian McDermott joined the club, in a scouting role. Gee, how things have progressed in 13 years!! Thoughts?!!
I have to say daib0, I'm more concerned about our future than our past. I can't argue that the last 13 years have been the best in the clubs history, but our immediate future gives me cause for concern. The way we're playing, and our pitiful transactions in the recent transfer window, I feel we are in serious danger of being in a relegation scrap this season. I'm told that some Saints fans have said that things got worse at Southampton before they got better under Adkins. But at Southampton he had far better players to work with and a board who shared his ambitions.
umm, I'm not so sure that the players were better at Saints in those days - he took them on when they were in League Division 1 ... anyway, I do believe that Nigel needs time, and I don't see anything truly out of place at this moment.
Getting out of league 1 is a different proposition to getting out of the championship. By the time he was managing Southampton in the championship, he had far better players overall. My original prediction for this season was a top 10 finish with an outside chance of the play offs. I'm sticking with that. Anything else will be a bonus for me. And we only need to lose a few consecutive games and we'll be back in the bottom half. And the current situation regarding the takeover doesn't fill me with confidence. If Zingarevich does take total control things might improve, particularly during the transfer windows. If he doesn't, then we're in for a few more years mediocrity.
Actually the date is not quite right and neither is the scouting bit. Maurice Evans joined from Oxford early November 2000 and Brian Mac didn't arrive for another 3 months. He was appointed as the U17 coach. Also there are about 5 or 6 scouts at RFC who have been at the club for 15-20 years each, and are still there today. Brian had an awful lot of experienced scouts to help him.
