Are we competing with Liverpool?

I believe most Saint's fans didn't realise just how ambitious our chairman is until recently!

I'm getting the feeling NC wants us to compete with every team in the premier league to be the best. But on every level possible? Maybe it is a coincidence that we seem to be competing with Liverpool for new players? Liverpool have a number of key players who will need to be replaced with top quality young players so they can challenge for a place in the top 4? Does NC seriously think we can?

So far it has been Gaston Ramirez & Vegard Forren plus the possibility of signing Couthino & Davide Astori in the current transfer window! To me that is quite a bold statement! He wants us to be challenging for a top 4 finish in the following seasons to come! I haven't forgot about our relegation battle but if he signs the players we need in the next week I will be feeling very confident

I get the impression he has targeted Liverpool for us to Aspire too or maybe he just REALLY doesn't like them who knows!

Liverpool want to build a new stadium but can they afford it? With us I think the bulldozers would on site now if NC gave the command


If Liverpool keep missing out on these talented young players to us then they will just have to accept second rate players! Exciting times COYR's

 

I believe you maybe late to the party DA, although I have been shouting this real deal stuff since 2009. I'm really surprised some people have taken this long to be convinced. I'm sure there are plenty of others still out there, including some absolute plonkers at Saints Web [I had the misfortune to stumble over them today, via a link]. Perhaps I shouldn't be too surprised though. Saints have, for two or three generations, gone back to being the small club that punched above its weight, but that knew its place, after Ted and Lawrie gave it its first sense of presence amongst the big lads. Not anymore. It's wake up time like it's never been wake up time before. WAKE UP Saints fans. When they talk about the ship coming in, well the one marked SFC is about to dock.

 

Of course we are competing with Liverpool. Unfortunately though, that's in part because Liverpool aren't what they once were either in terms of talent on the pitch or in finances. It will be exciting when we start competing with Man U for players which has always been the plan.

I don't think we took Forren from LFC though. They were only going to give him a trial which is an odd requirement for an established player so while they had some interest it was mild and I think they were unconcerned when he opted for Saints. Ramirez was perhaps a steal, though LFC never made a bid and hard to know from the rumors. I think Liverpool is definitely interested in Coutinho though or at least they should be and their fans definitely are, so that would definitely count as nabbing a player from Liverpool in my book.

 

Nicola said from the beginning that he wanted Southampton to be an example in all aspects of being a football club (play, academy, finance), so I doubt he aspires to be any particular club. Poch has been tasked with getting us into Europe, so I suppose that would be at the Liverpool level in recent seasons. Liverpool were said to have 30 million in the kitty for this window, which sounds a reasonable amount but not at the prices players like Astori and Coutinho command.

 

I've been saying this only since the start of this week... mediocre is not acceptable anymore at SFC. Exciting times. Let's hope our eye is kept on the battle we are currently in, and then we can be moving onwards and most definately upwards.

 

He's not looking to compete with Liverpool, he wants to compete with Barcelona. Whats wrong with aiming for the top? Much better than being happy with just surviving in the Premier league year after year.

There is no reason with the players we produce through our academy that we can't replicate what teams like Ajax, Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona have done.

 

Absolutely. Why else would a new manager take his players to the Nou Camp and show them Barca's trophy cabinet only a few days after starting? Not to humiliate them, but to give them ambition. Liverpool have a fabulous history in European competition but currently are not the standard to aspire to.

 

In my magic ball I can foresee us beating Liverpool 3-0 at St.Mary's. Scorers Ramirez, Forren, and Coutinho.

 

Exactly!

Some people say that NC is only spending other people's money so it is easy. Remember he is a banker (yes I spelt that correctly!) and that is what he has done all his life - and done it very well. I don't agree with the Nigel situation, but a week later I can see what he is doing and yes it is quite exciting!

No7

 

We're competing with whoever has the temerity to make bids for under-25 players with potential.

 

I've seen the odd comment from time to time regards our ambition and direction from TSS, and although it didn't send shivers down my spine, there was a twinge of excitment, albeit with some trepidation. Slowly however, this seems to be becoming a reality.

Reaching the size of barcelona is obviously unlikely, but the model is there, and perhaps (as well as Poch being based in Barcelona for much of his career) it is no coincidence that they are spending time in Barcelona to soak it all up and to make ot a reality.

Althought not the same model, what do people think the perception (in Europe) of Man City was before they became big? And are there any other clubs in Europe that people can think maybe went through a similar transformation?

 

Lyon in France
FC Twente in Holland, they were bankrupt about 10 years ago (I Think).

 

Lyon? They went from being cannon fodder in the 80s to the best club in France by the beginning of the millennium, and their owner isn't really a sugar daddy.

Edit: hah, apparently a couple minutes late.

 

Birmingham and Blackpool reached higher in the table when they clawed there way back in to the prem, now look at them. You guys are right at the bottom of the table and are talking about aspirations to compete with Barcelona. Christ almighty.

 

Liverpool are the footballing equivalent of U2

 

For different reasons you could also add Athletico Bilbao to that list. Mauricio Pochettino follows the same philosophy of football having played under manager Marcos Bielsa for many years. It was through this style of football that Bilbao reached the Europa League Final last year, beating Manchester United with a brand of football which had the whole of Europe raving about them. Also taking into account the fact that they only allow players from the Basque region of Spain to play for them makes it all the more impressive.

This season they have not been able to repeat those dizzy heights. This in large part was due to them selling star play Javi Martinez to Bayern Munich for 40 million euros (something like that anyway) and the contract dispute with star striker Fernando Llorente. If they had the financial muscle to compete with the bigger sides in Europe who knows were they might have ended up.

So not only are we trying to compete financially we are also looking to compete tactically.

 

Well anything that means the decline of one of the traditional big four, especially one that players Suarez, then that's fine by me.

Just need Southampton to start competing with Chelsea and ruin their recruitment policy now as well, hahahahaha

 

15th is not right at the bottom of the table. Now go and keep on spending ludicrous amounts of money for **** English players.

 

We are building a good young team for the future alot like yourselves. Based on a certain way of playing which again is a lot light yourselves as Rogers follows a similar football philosphy to Pochettino. Hence the reason we always seem to be looking at the same players. It's not something that is going to happen over night as you well know but whats wrong with aiming for the top. We are not looking at the short term like the the teams you mentioned, we want to be at the right end of the Premiership long term. Obviously our priority this season is to stay in the division but we now have good finacial backing and an academy that procduces top quality players. Which we have always done the difference now is that we can afford to keep them.

 

Fairly entertaining but never going to get back to the level of Joshua Tree.