I not sure you posted (DTLW maybe?) but I'm sure someone said we were looking at 'younger goalkeeper' as back up for the first team goalie [whomever that may be]. Is that still on the cards? Having lost Morgan, Clyne, and Toby and got poor back up player from the Netherlands and having Bertrand and Forster missing for a while I am a bit concerned that if Maarten Stekelenburg gets injured or suspended we have Kelvin or Gazza in goal. Our defence could go from being one of the best in the division to the worst in one season. Perhaps I'm being overdramatic but the message from the club seems to be we aren't buying too many more players. Should that statement turn out to be true I personally think we look as if we have gone backwards from last season. I hope I am wrong but I'm not convinced.
Have the club given out that message that we aren't signing many more players. I thought we were still looking...especially now we haven't had to lay out a lot of money on Toby. We can't seem to bring goalies through the Academy, so we may bring in a youngster (but hope he isn't needed this season). People are being dismal about Forster, aren't they? Every time he is mentioned his recovery time seems to be getting longer
Hey fran etc, I really shouldn't be posting here at the moment as I am hot-headed and haven't really calmed down. I just get fed-up with us being 'little old Southampton' and everyone seemingly convinced if a good player leaves we have some magic formula that means anyone we buy from anywhere to replace them will automatically become better..grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I'm sure the club said don't expect any 'marque' signings, so we will probably get more Micronesia international signings as back-up but nothing to get us excited about 'challenging for the next level'... In my current mood, and I stress my current mood, I feel that all this stuff about us 'staying at this level' and being a club to admire etc, is all a bit of a pipe-dream. I don't think I should post anymore for a while - but in my defence I have been honest and said what I truly believe at this moment in time and I have no wish to anger or upset anyone because I really like the people on this forum. I have never posted on Saints Forum since coming here [maybe once to rile up Alpine Saint but I think that's fair as he was always obnoxious to me].
I actually agree with you. The "Little Southampton" thing is unshakeable and will never go away. We're an unfashionable city with medium aspirations and medium wage structures. We are well organised and will produce a lot of good players through our academy. But we'll rarely keep them. The 7th place finish has upset the delicate balance of my Saints supporting brain. I should be happy if we aren't relegated, but I'm not able to see it that way anymore. The way pre-season is going, I would give us a 0% chance of improving on last year. Why? Money money money money money. Status status status status status. We get into Europe and the players who give off the idea they might stay leave anyway - and not to Champion's League teams but teams in the same crappy Euro competition we are in! Blah.
I'm chilled, but it is frustrating that we aren't at that next level where top players clamour to come here, but this will take time. Saints is well regarded as the football world admires our style of play and naturally look at our players. Just takes patience....we are not on a meteoric rise as City and Chelsea were when money was thrown at them...we are on a sustainable path, but will get there.
I would argue we are already there. We are on the plateau of the upper-mid table medium sized club. There is nothing beyond good luck which could propel us higher. Every time we ever have world class players they will leave. You can't build a top 4 team in one season (unless you are a Utd and can spend ridiculous money). I'm not trying to be negative - but maybe it is time to accept our position. Otherwise, I may get quite miserable as really crappy teams like Spurs keep gazumping us for decent players.
You keep saying this - but the only reason we are down is because we were too high. Do you really, honestly believe we will ever have the status to not only sign but keep bigger name players? I can enjoy being an upper mid table team - but not if I keep believing the hype we should be more. I miss keeping players. In the old days, no one wanted our players and tranfers were exciting because we might get someone who wasn't as crap. Now they all want to go. Even the ones we got last year, we're just waiting for to leave. It doesn't matter how well you scout; this system will never get you top 4. I am optimistic we will have a fun cup run this year. I am optimistic we might finish 10th - 8th. Is there any reason I should be optimistic for more than that?
Only if you allow yourself to be carried away by unrealistic expectations in the first place. The down side of all the clubs PR stuff I suppose.
That's what I am saying. I need to re-adjust. I'd started to believe our team would be better this year than last's - and it won't be. Upward trajectory levels out eventually - and then falls.
Do you know the future? I tend not to look too ahead and just enjoy the present. But yes one day I do think we will be at the stage of keeping and buying big players. You only have to look how far we have come since Liebherr bought us. But then I manage my expectations and know it won't be all plain sailing and won't happen all at once. We haven't even been back in the Prem that long and we are doing brilliantly, we are even in europe. It's just some people expect things to change far to quickly. What people have to do is stop getting overly excited(or down) about what could happen and enjoy what is happening. Enjoy the now not what you think could be our future. Yes we will lose some players to the bigger and more established clubs, but nothing so far has got me worried we can not replace them players. In short enjoy we are in Europe. Enjoy that after only a short period of time we are doing brilliantly in the Prem. Enjoy we have a great owner and board that like to do things the right way and enjoy we have a manager like Koeman.
But I thought supporting football was about passion, anger, happiness and all that other stuff Sky adverts keeping telling me it is. If you just say hmmm, this is jolly good, things could get better, I am enjoying this, wouldn't be a weird atmosphere at the stadium? Surely we should get riled up and demand the best for our team all the time, demand that we stop selling to Liverpool and Tottenham and stop looking like our tagline should be 'We train up players for your club'. I can't do this passionless.
I agree....we needn't play this season's games as we are obviously going to be crap according to some fans. We were 8th, then 7th....even if we are only midtable this season (and that isn't a prediction) it doesn't mean we are going to slide down the table to oblivion. And even if we lose good players, it means we had them, made them look good and the bigger clubs are financing our progress.
Who said anything about being passionless? All I am saying is manage your expectations. How can we demand for our club to stop selling our best players? Can we stop players wanting to play for bigger teams? So far we have progressed every year of course some years there will be up and downs. But as long as I can see Saints have a ambition I am happy.
I haven't seen anyone say we'll be crap? I think it is just a slap in the face for some of us that we work hard to get into Europe and yet it is the teams in exactly the same European competition that pilfer our players. And they are my two least favourite teams! ARGHGAGHAGHGAHGAHAGGAHGAHGAHGAHGAHAGHARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!
But last season was terrific...every player tried their best and we were competing for the CL spot for most of the season. The fans were up for every game....don't you think it would look a bit strange if we protested about the sale of Shaw, Lallana etc when we were doing so well. The board have done wonders for us....how ungrateful and frankly weird we'd look to be dissatisfied with their hard work.We're not facing relegation and the board haven't let out SMS to the gypsies...no reason for protests. We have no idea what they have been trying to do: Clyne wanted to leave so should we have held out and let him leave for nothing, Toby wasn't ours and I suspect that Spurs was his choice, and so far we haven't bowed down and sold Morgan for peanuts, so try as I might, I can't see your gripe. Last season, certainly, but that turned out okay....this window will be nothing like that.
That would be fantastic but the clubs and fans dont have that kind of control. Money and perceived prestige will always come up trumps in the current game. We can't stop players (or their agents) from engineering or forcing moves away so the best we can do is adapt, replace and gradually grow our 'brand' to the point were we can compete financially and eventually prestige. Looking at it objectively, we are still one of the wealthiest clubs in the world, able to attract players and youth from all over the world...thats a fantastic situation to be. So lets just apply our strengths, take our hits and march on.
Hopes and expectations don't necessarily have to be tied so closely together. I don't get why it has to be either "I expect us to finish 12th, and that way my hopes aren't up and I won't be depressed if it happens." or "I expect us to 2nd and will be irate if we don't" It's perfectly possible to be optimistic we can finish in the top four, and yet not be disappointed if we finish 14th. And then still hope for top four all over again the next year.
