Before you make a plan you have to be clear about what the future may hold.
If you dont believe me think about Peter's and Waterman's book "In Search of Excellence" in which they identified really successful businesses except that a couple of years later they had all lost markets and were struggling. The business world had changed and they had not kept up.
What will football at the top look like in England in a few years time for I do not believe it will look anything like it does now.
Too many clubs are in real finacial trouble and major changes are afoot. Small crowds will not support super leagure teams which is where we want to be.
If I was Cortese I would want to establish a Super Club to mop up all of the football interest in the South Coast.
I would ensure that Portsmouth get taken over by a nobody who ensures they are a Div 2 team and use them as a feeder club and grounding for oue academy players.
I would want to build a more prestigous stadium in a better location with a 75,000 capacity and I would seriously consider rebranding to get rid of the Pompey Saints nonsense and unite both cities behind a mega club to fiulfil the fans ambitions.
The area is rich and densley populated and if the SouthEast was a country it woiuld be about the twentieth richest country in the world. I would want to see all those clubs from the North of England become also rans and for the Solent Super Stars football team or whatever it might be called become the best supported English club with an international following second to none.
After I had done all of that I would then start to think about world domination.
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As usual. StG says a few things that several would not dare to utter, but there are several good points. Yes, I agree, it an option about the Super Club. The population of the Solent metropolis is getting there, so this may be part of Cortese's long term thinking. who knows..?
One thing I am sure about and that Cortese intends to take the Financial Fair Play Rules very seriously indeed. He has mentioned the importance of those right from the beginning of his being at SFC.
Keep in mind also that Nicola advised Markus to buy SFC in the teeth of a European recession. So what..? Well it illustrates that people who understand money and have it at their disposal don't do what the rest of us do. So when we think money is tight, don't automatically think it's the same for them. It may be better to spend now, rather than later. So, for example, you want a new stadium..? Buy it sooner rather than later, while it's cheaper to do so. Do it properly and ultimately you can't lose.
OK, as I asked the question I suppose I ought to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. I'm not going to fart about with 4-4-2s, 4-3-3s, styles of play, whatever. That's what I employ a manager for, and he knows I want winning football played the Southampton way. So get to it, Mr Adkins, if you please.
For the purposes of this please allow me the assumption of promotion this season. Normally I don't count any chickens, but I'm not being Me at this moment, and so although Nicola will have a backup plan, he'll also have a main plan that starts with promotion this season. OK, Me being Nicola, ambitions to be achieved by the end of 5 years:
1. Win the Premier League
2. Expansion of St Marys to 45,000 completed.
3. Aiming for 33% or more of the first team to be sourced from the Academy, with an absolute minimum of 20%
Right I'll just take my Nicola Cortese mask and cloak off for a second and see what I've written. Blimey, we're not worthy..!
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