How difficult it is to hang onto ambitious players

This article got me thinking about how difficult it is to hang on to players with ambition if you cannot offer European football

http://www.journallive.co.uk/nufc/n...an-mission-to-keep-nufc-stars-61634-28880079/

You would think that any young player with ambition would want to play at the highest level possible. Jose Enrique is a prime example. The guy is young, ambitious, and more than capable of playing at Champions League level. He has given 100% to our club but wants to play in the top competitions and secure a place in his national team. Most of us understand how feels and will wish him well when he finally leaves us.

Alhough Andy Carroll would have been greatly influenced by the huge wage increase that he was offered at Liverpool, I have very little doubt that their potential to get back in the top 6 would have also been a major factor in his decision. The same applies to Henderson for the unwashed and Young and Downing at Villa.

This is why it is vital for the long term good of the club that Mike Ashley gives Pardew the funds to allow us to challenge for a top 6 place within the next couple of years.

Obviously this has to be done whilst adhering to a sensible wage structure, which in itself presents it's own problems, but if Ashley falls into the trap of being satisfied with us being a mid/lower table club who develops promising young talent and then sells them on at a profit just to balance the books, he will be once again gambling with our club.

You only have to look at the established mid table Premier League clubs who were still involved in the relegation battle with only a few weeks left of the season to see how easily it is to fall from a position of relative safety to one of relegation peril.

Obviously our aim for next year should be to improve on this year's final placing, but the following year we must be challenging for a top 6 place in order to, not just be able to attract better players, but also to hang onto the good young players that we already have. Tiote, HBA, Cabaye (hopefully), etc.

It appears to me that Pardew can talk the talk really well. Not just to us fans, and he has been very good in front of the media, but also to the players and prospective signings. They all seem to like him and be impressed by what he tells them. On the pitch he seems to be getting it right too, so, given the right financial backing, I am confident that within a couple of years he can get us challenging the top 8.

The problem is though, does Mike Ashley really want the same, or is he happy to gamble on mid table "safety"?

 

The clubs target and ambition is to be regulary challenging for European football by the end of the 2014 season.

Ashley will do this by investing in players who can help the club progress and importantly, stay to see it through. There's no point in going out and 'buying' European football, Look at Man City, they threw money at players and missed out on CL at their first attempt, and had it not been for the poor starts made by Liverpool and Spurs may have struggled again this year.

We need to build a team that gels and understands each other, then we can push on.

 

Building the squad to start challenging for a European place will take time.

We had a squad that was strong enough to waltz through the CCC.

We had a squad that was able to hold it's own in the Premier League and stay far enough away from the relegation zone.

The new batch of players for the forthcoming campaign should ensure that last seasons position is emulated.

The new influx of players after that should be the squad that can begin mixing with the top 8 and attempting to compete in Europe or having decent cup runs.

Small yet constant improvements: Kaizen