In an attempt to get things into perspective in my own head, I thought it would be worth casting my mind back almost exactly 5 years to the time we had just come out of administration thanks to the intervention of the saintly Markus. At that time we were in a mess, we had lost a large part of our first team squad, and we faced starting the new season in our lowest league position for a generation, in League One with -10 points. We all know what happened next, but I just wanted to draw some parallels with our current situation. We have a new manager arriving next week who will be handed a huge war chest to rebuild our squad. The exact sum, or the number of players needed, is of course unknown at the moment but we do know that the size of Koeman's task is probably a lot bigger than that faced by Alan Pardew in 2009. The return on investment in League One was much greater: we bought the leading striker in that league for just £1 million and he rewarded us with 117 goals in 5 seasons. To replace him like for like in the Premier League is likely to cost at least £20 million. The number of players needed makes attracting new talent harder, and the perceived size of our budget will push prices up. Just surviving in the Premier League will require a squad at least as strong as the one we finished last season, and pushing on towards the higher reaches of the league will need much more strength in depth. But you know what? I think we'll be fine. I would rather be where we are now than live through that summer of 2009 again. Our rise through the leagues was enjoyable, but we had a target in sight. We knew we were bound for the Prem, and here we are. It remains to be seen whether we stay here, but I see every reason to hope we will. If we have got rid of a disaffected core of players who don't want to give the new manager a chance then good riddance, we're better off without them. Let's start the new era with more hope than we started the last one.
Lovely sentiment Chilco. I'm going to wait and see what happens in the next four weeks before I work out if I am going to look forward to the new season in a positive light, or if I'm going to look at the last 6 fixtures to work out if we'll get enough points in April and May to stay up (like the good old days)
We need a sign of intent from the board. A contract extension for Cork or Fonte, something small, something to dilute the massive negative cloud. I can't even imagine what our next five year plan would say. Stay up, bring a couple kids through, survive. Choppy waters.
I would actually rather be back there- a fun climb up the league spanking teams L, R + centre. We have major re building to do just to equal where we finished last season. I worry that the aim is now PL survival, not nearly as much fun as thrashing everyone in our path.
TBH History - it will take lot more than a contract extension for Cork or Fonte to lift the cloud. Serious intent to keep the key players like Morgan and Lovren; Jay too... I think those first two are actually more important than Lallana.
Extending Cork and Fonte's contracts would certainly help a lot. They're established defensive players and we're going to need a strong defence next season. I know it's not the free-flowing champagne passing that we're used to, but a strong, disciplined defence with well-worked dead-ball routines will do a lot to alleviate any relegation worries we might face, and it'll give us a chance to bed in our next products from the superstar factory, so that they can blossom into the next crop of England players in a few years time.
I'm worried but I pretty much always am so that doesn't necessarily mean much. If two of Lallana, Morgan and Lovren leave then we are going to have a serious overhaul on our hands and the odds are not in our favour. If you had of asked for a top five Saints players a couple months ago then I'm sure at least 3/4 of Lambert, Lallana, Shaw, Morgan and Lovren would have featured on pretty much every list. The fact that these players have gone/are going/may go means pretty much one of two things, either the board don't harbour any real ambitions to crack on further up the table and are just cashing in on assets while they are at their peak values and looking at stabilising as a mid-table club, or they genuinely believe that they can use the funds to get an overall higher quality of squad. The first would be disappointing when we had so much potential for more but I'd get used to it, providing we still played good football and focused on youth. The second is conflicting as it's pleasing if we are still looking to break into the top seven and perhaps eventually the top four, but historically speaking from my limited knowledge selling all your best players for however much money does not yield particularly positive results. Money to wave around in the transfer market can only get you so far and our allure is fading quickly other than for more players looking for stepping stones, I don't think Koeman is really as much as an attraction as some think (Not knocking him, but I don't think he's a name that will make players sit up and listen) and I don't see us breaking our wage structure particularly. I suppose if the likes of Targett, Sims, Hesketh and Gallagher can turn out to be worldies we have a chance. My standard procedure of going off on a waffle-y tangent there, but to answer the question in the title... I'd rather be where we are now than where we were 5 years ago, but I'd much rather be where we were a few months ago!
When we were storming the Championship I sort of knew that was as good as it was ever going to get because the prem is a league only a handful of clubs can ever be competitive in. Then we all started to believe that maybe we could muscle in. That was naive. See that game against Coventry? That was the top of the mountain, the best feeling ever. And right now I'd far rather be us than them. The finances of this sport are pretty ****ed though.
Koeman has a fortune to spend. Last year, Tottenham bought too many good players with their 100 million and the team balanced got messed up - but they still finished top 5. We can't attract that kind of quality, but for 70 odd million, we should be able to build a top half team. My ambition is to finish 10th this year and then become a steady top 8 team and maybe win a cup over the next four. I would love to keep bringing through top quality young players too. Without Saints, England will never get any better!
Firstly, if I was on SaintsWeb I would have to say that we are showing complete lack of ambition because our owner hasn't said that we will win the league next season and the Champions' League the following year. Otherwise I would be charged with lack of ambition myself. Apparently what fans say has a direct effect on team performance Back in the real world (or at least the forum where only mild delusion is normal ), we are faced with partial dismantling of a side that only needed a couple of players to be a really good side. To offset this, all the money is there to be reinvested. So bad and good news. Our new manager has a war chest, but may have to convince players to come to an interesting but unfashionable side. Let's face it, it is easier for teams like Spurs and Liverpool to get good players for 70+ million than it will be for us. On the other hand, we have proved in the past that there are cheap players out there that can be made into internationals if trained properly. There are also flops. So a huge challenge for Ronald, but one I bet he is relishing. Needs to assess our players strengths and weaknesses and, with the help of the recruitment team, get the right players in. Hopefully, some are already virtually here. So, we have a club with great facilities, young players coming through and substantial funds (by midtable standards) to spend. The next five year plan should be to continue with what we do well (bringing players through the Academy), restructure a team, hopefully remain at least midtable (perhaps getting into the Euro spots), do well in the cups (giving fans excitement), and above all...be patient.
Why haven't we tied down key personal like JC & JF? This is surely a priority now. We need to show Chambers & JWP that there is still a plan in place. Is there still a plan in place?
This article puts a nice positive spin on things anyway: http://thepremierleagueowl.com/in-decline-no-southampton-have-never-looked-better/
"In an attempt to get things into perspective in my own head, I thought it would be worth casting my mind back almost exactly 5 years to the time we had just come out of administration thanks to the intervention of the saintly Markus. At that time we were in a mess, we had lost a large part of our first team squad, and we faced starting the new season in our lowest league position for a generation, in League One with -10 points." Probably two generations Chilco!! But you are right!!
Let's look at one of the teams that finished ahead of us!! Everton!! I don't think they have spent anything like the money that Tottenham have done in the past few years but they managed a top 5 or 6 finish. Admittedly, their core of players are slightly better than ours but why not learn from Everton and buy prudently and wisely.
Its a good positive article and it makes some valid points. The downside however will be the lack of depth this leaves us with. We suffered last season with a smallish squad and I know there is supposedly going to be cash made available; but this will only paper over the cracks. We should have been building on what we had - all we will be doing is replacing quality with unknowns. The team sheet presented also assumes that Lovren and Morgan are staying. Take those two out of that team sheet and we look a patchwork team...
Yes, a nice positive spin. We have lost three players: Lambert - no matter how much we loved him, he was needing to be replaced or heavily supported Shaw - an 18 year old left back. Yes, he is going to be some player, but he won't be a big miss in terms of team structure if we sign a fairly good left back Lallana - He had a fantastic season and we will miss his creativity and drive on the pitch. We may lose Lovren and he again will be a big miss, but if the scouts were already looking for a CB, then we should be bringing one in anyway.
