5 years ago we were in administration, facing possible liquidation. Every minute since Markus bought the club should be seen as a success, and how could finishing in the top half of the Prem 5 years after hitting rock bottom be anything else?
That bit is honest of you. I'm an optimist who keeps a dose if realism nearby. Yes, we can compete with any of the other teams on the pitch in any game and the days where you'd dread a 6 or 7 nil hammering, seem to be gone for the time being, yet as a whole club, we are some way behind the big guys. This means in terms of being able to have a squad big enough, with enough quality to go a season without injury or suspension worries. We may get lucky and have fewer players missing during the season but today, we are achieving at about the right level. Is be happy next season with anything other than a relegation battle. We have reached a point where the next step is very, very hard to achieve.
It's been a better season than I could ever have imagined as a life long Saints fan. The only real disappointment was limping out of the FA Cup so readily.
Our style and commitment as well as our position in the Premiership has to be taken as a real success. The excellent publicity our players have been getting has been a real success and could be capped off by a number getting to the World cup On the other hand our poor attitude towards the cups (especially the FA Cup when you see Hull at Wembley) was very disappointing
Success or failure?... hmm let me think....Well, the fact that over 90% of league clubs would swap positions with us in a heartbeat qualifies this season a "success" in my mind. I guess we have been a wee bit spoiled these last few years...take a look at an outsider's view on our position. http://chrispowellsflatcap.wordpres...ut-show-what-could-have-been-for-the-addicks/
Does put it in perspective. A good read, especially as he is that rarest of things...an article writer with a good grasp of the rules of grammar and how to express coherent thoughts (which avoids the misunderstandings that result from writers utilising the 'stream of consciousness' style).
He noticed and commented on our lack of a cutting edge. We need to put that right next season, because it's not all down to Jay's absence.
We're the 8th best team out of 92 in England, when 4 years ago we were below 50th. It's seriously hard to think the club is having anything other than success right now.
Sorry FLT, It was just another way of saying that I hope the present incumbents continue the same Cortese dream. We knew clearly what that was. It was to eventually achieve regular Champions League football on a sustainable basis. At the moment. we are, as Dan pointed out and I agree, less clear as to the intentions of this present board. That's not unnatural. With Cortese we had one person's uncluttered vision. He didn't need to speak to others about it apart from Saints media people to publish updated mission statements. Now we have a proper boardroom who need to know where they are going in the long term and some proof of their intentions will be seen this summer in the retention of best players and strengthening of the squad.
Mathematically we can still catch Man Utd! They just need to lose 3 home games against Norwich, Sunderland and Hull. We need to beat Everton and Swansea and Man Utd in the last game. Anything less would be a complete failure!
Ok, thanks for explaining. Would a summer of not stretching financially on transfers, make you think that ambition wasn't still there? By this, I mean not spending circa 30M, but maybe spending 15m as examples?
The season has been a success. I can't think of a time when Saints commanded so much of the journalistic print and that is generally a yardstick on performance and potential. I can understand the question though as whilst I think "failure" is too strong a term we certainly have been 'sub-optimal for the last couple of months in terms of results. We continue to play some fantastic stuff though, so I cannot let our recent results diminish a fantastic campaign. I can see us pushing 5th or 6th next year without any additions provided the team and the manager remain whole....
My concern is that fans expect every year to be better than the last...this is a marathon, not a sprint. Dropping to tenth next season, does not mean an inevitable and unstoppable decline.
