Legod Third Coming

Really? Next you'll be telling me the tides can't be turned back I think we all know the cost - the interesting thing will be to hear the Chairman tell us what his ambition is. If he says he is targeting the Champion's League in five years, then he will have a credible plan in place for it. Because he us a credible guy.

He promised you Premiership football in five years. Gave you it in three - should/could have been two.

And again. Exfeckingxactly. Our Chairman has made a promise and delivered on it. But somehow because he may be making another promise, he has no idea how to deliver it?? So that would explain how he became so succesful - knowing less than a few people on the internet with too much time on their hands. I must give that approach to business a try...

What a lot of people on here seem to do be doing is saying 'this is the football landscape' QED we cannot be a top four club... But if anything the past ten years have told us it is that the Status Quo simply does not exist any more anywhere. The world isn't like that. Rover has gone. New Labour has gone. The desktop computer has come and gone. When did you last buy a newspaper? Who supplies your digital television now... how easy is it to Skype your buddies in Beijing? Two standout predictions I have been privvy to in in the last 20 years... "That will never catch on...", my current business partner on being shown by then Vodafone Chairman Gerry Whent something called 'SMS'... "There will never be a day when I need television on my computer, I have a television..." yours truly in discussion with someone at Microsoft... The world is moving on, at pace. Football will move on at pace. Christ I can remember going to Old Trafford in the league cup and winning in front of a stadium one third full! Media rights and digital management, Chinese and Indian exposure will shift the landscape completely - yes in favour of the bigger clubs first (they have a global fan-base already) but can you imagine what impact a team playing free-flowing, pass and move football might have, over time, if it can be at least consistent and moderately successful? I bet there's a hell of a lot more Indians have heard of Swansea City now... sustainability is the key! And if there is anything our Chairman will love, it is to upset the football apple-cart. I'm going to love watching him try!

Exfeckingactly!!!!

You and me both. And 1 point - I fecking measly little point - away from a handsome four figure payout... If I ever see David Norris I will lamp him!

I hear you - and as you know of old I am a dreamer when it comes to success I am, however, reminded of something that goes a bit like this: "Man's great failing in life is not that he sets his ambition too high and comes up short, but that he sets it too low and succeeds..." If we do come 17th, you'll find me complaining. Because if this Liverpool team can come 9th, so can we!

I think that's a bit unfair on the aspirants among our fan base... We will only need 40,000 seats when we have a waiting list for tickets every week. I doubt that will happen within one season or two, but give it five or ten years of sustainable Premiership football and it's well within the bounds of possibility.

And to be honest, why are people so hell bent on limiting aspiration?? Trust me, there is not a Manchester City or Chelsea fan alive who thought that either would come within a shout of winning the league and Champion's league titles respectively fifteen years ago... That is how quickly things change in football.

They're not though are they? They were being used to answer previous points... Both of those clubs have a global fan-base established over decades which we will, also, take decades to match. I do reference a 30 year old example to make my point...

OK. Let's try again. I can't cut and paste and I can't have several conversations at once (I am genuinely trying to write a proposal but this is much more fun!!!)... 1. I don't believe that fair play rules will ever prevent some clubs spending more than others. Why would anyone want such a thing? 2. If they do come in and do prevent some clubs spending more than others (which I doubt and which I personally ABHOR as a free market economist) then we are as well served as any club, accepting that we have half as many seast as Arsenal but we can still sell sponsorship to anyone... 3. Those who doubt the Chairman's ability to make good on his promise are no doubt forgetting the scepticism which greeted his previous five year plan (delivered in three, could have been two if his manager had paid attention and not gone seeking silverware - which I applauded, hands up...) So, those who do not think it is possible cannot have it both ways. On the one hand you are saying we cannot afford it and on the other we cannot buy it?? Well make your fecking minds up. Which is it? If fair play comes in, then we have every chance. If it doesn't, we have every chance that a Chairman who already found one billionnaire might just be connected to a couple more... So where's your problem?

I have NO IDEA! The point is that if the Chairman aims for CL status (which I think from memory he indicated) he cannot be an idiot. Ergo he must have a financial plan to achieve this, right?

Not today, no. But if we're successful that's the price you'll pay, sadly. Having said which, I get offers all the time for club seats at the Emirates, Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge for well under half price to make sure they're filled...

No, they have had 'investment'. Just like Manchester United... We can have that investment.

How about Chung Lin?

Couple of things. First, there is no reason why Villa, Everton or Sunderland could not compete at a higher level in the Premiership and I expect you may see exactly that in future. There is no excuse for Everton's poor start to the season (every season) and Sunderland under O'Neil with a little purchasing power behind him and a full pre-season will be a totally different proposition. Villa have the stability and finance to be competing with Newcastle that's for sure. So if you said we could be a Newcastle then I would agree, why not? Yes they got lucky this year with Arsenal and Chelsea both underperforming... but... Second, if Cortese tells you (as he has) that he sees us competing for the Champion's League why do you doubt him?? You are saying "I have seen no evidence that Cortese will finance us to Champion's League level" - well that's akin to saying that my 7 year old nephew does not yet have the £10m sponsorship required for Formula One... he doesn't but he has a kart, a helmet and is wiping the floor with the competition AT HIS LEVEL. That's all he needs to do right now. Now, what I have seen is evidence that Cortese is not an idiot. Far from it. So if he thinks we will be capable of challenging for Champion's League status, he clearly has an idea how. Wouldn't you agree?? Maybe that involves new owners? How many clubs do the richest nation on earth own in the Premiership at the moment...

What I was suggesting as regards Arsenal is that we can achieve exactly what they have. Moved from a 40k stadium to a 60k stadium and have borrowed accordingly - not spunked money on the team in the way Citeh and Chelsea have done. Kraken, you say that no-one is writing off CL contention but in a heartbeat refer to us challenging regularly as a 'pipe-dream'. Why?? Chelsea were an average top six Premiership side (maybe finished as high as second under Vialli or Tinkerman, can't remember) at best before the Russian arrived, now they challenge regularly for the Champion's league. So why are Southampton immune from this investment good fortune?? I can well remember Arsenal being a very ordinary mid-table side living in the shadow of Queens Park Fecking Rangers!!! (And I distinctly remember watching Newcastle, Fulham and Manchester Citeh ply their trade in the lower reaches of the old second and even third division).

Ok, tin hat time... Why do you care about fair play? How has it helped in any sport you name?? Let's take F1. If you had 'fair play', do you think you would ever have seen a Red Bull race? No. But for years people would have said - it's unfair, Ferrari win every year... Short memories that's your problem. When I was aged 12, I had only ever seen Liverpool win the league. Since the Premier League, I have seen Blackburn, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and this year Manchester City win it... one of those clubs has dominated because of one man and good on him! Money doesn't guarantee success but sport is about the best example of the free market there is and, on the whole, it works doesn't it?? Yes there will always be losers. But what would you suggest, the money is distributed equally like some Stalinist/Leninist collective (within which by the way, the rich were still always rich but the poor were really, really poor)? Years ago when Rugby was 'amateur' Serge Blanco used to rock up to training in a Lamborghini - unpaid, he had a job at the club's owner's business... Isn't sport about achieving the pinnacle and hasn't that always been about talent, hard work and finance?

I think there's a difference between expecting Champion's League football next season and writing it off per se... Couple of points. 1. A lot of the money that Ashley 'invested in Newcastle' was not buying playing talent but paying off massive debts. He then brought in the ABSOLUTE KEY to any success - a manager who can attract/identify/bring in great players. 2. To regularly challange for top honours would require a significant annual investment in wages - let alone transfer fees. It's not buying the £10-25m players that's the issue (and forget the £50/60ms you hear banded about, I reckon those days are over - the transfer fee bubble has or will burst). It's the fact that these players will have to be on £50-150k per week. Why? Because if they are not, they will leave and go to a club who will pay that... 3. Ultimately there is no reason we cannot copy the Arsenal model which is to try to challenge without stretching the finances to breaking point. And, in my view, if the manager there was less intransigent, they could have challenged for top honours much more regularly. I'm no tactical genius but every great team does have a great spine (or at least a very reliable back five) as well as its talent... Arguably, Southampton is at least as attractive a proposition as Manchester City was - well maybe slightly less because of the smaller stadium - but the catchment area is now massive with our neighbours going pop... So, it is not a case of can Nicola and Nige do the business for us next season or the season after, but can you foresee the circumstances in which it is feasible for us to be such a club. And I can. In 1982, I thought Liverpool would win the league forever....

Ok, here are some things to consider... The first game I ever saw was Portsmouth versus Chelsea in the second division. At the end of that game Chelsea were within one point of relegation to the third tier of English football. It would be about 1980. If you had said to Manchester City fans during their spell in League One with 16,000 turning up to Maine Road that they would have won the Premiership in 2012... what reaction do you think you would have received? In 1974, when we were relegated, so were Manchester United. Porto won the Champion's League. Greece and Denmark have won the Euros - Germany, France, Spain, Holland and Italy still existed. Newcastle were relegated in 2009. Their owner is worth half of ours (£1.5bn versus £3bn)... In football, NOTHING is impossible.

The Emirates Stadium - sounds ok. The King Power Stadium - sounds faintly ridiculous - like a WWE destination... So I guess it depends what it's called. But I wouldn't mind watching us in 2013 in the Allianz Arena...

This is one of my big concerns for next season. Rickie might want to link up with his dad a la Redknapp...

There were glamourous games this season??!!!!

I had a Membership and I can't ever remember it being an issue - even ended with three tickets for the Cup Final. An awful lot of people who complained back then wanted to go to one game a season (United) and found it tough - I'll be honest, I don't have huge sympathy for that...

Simon Cox was in our box at Cheltenham. What can I tell you about him? Drinks Carlsberg, very polite, backed a couple of winners (mind you Quevega was not hard at 1-2f), quite short, got a lot of advice from my mate about his pension and humoured him throughout!