Next years aims...

So after staying up this year (not 100% yet - but nearly there), what do you think our aims should be, and what do you think we'd need to do to get there?

For me I think we should be aiming top 8 to 10, and would need to spend around £30m to do this, with a new Centre Back, Central Mid, Striker and Winger/Forward coming in:

Astori

Wanyama

Bony

Lopez/Zarate/Diamante

As well as this we need to rid ourselves of around 8 to 10 fringe/loaned out players:

Sharp

Chaplow

De Ridder

Forte

Fox

Martin

Lee

Hammond

Barnard

This will hopefully raise a bit of money through transfer fees (hopefully £4-8m) and then free up some wages (around £80-100k per week).

With this sort of investment and purchases I believe a top 10 finish is very possible, and could even push on to challenge the top 8.

Next year realistic aim for me,

target 50 points/top 8 finish

but top half definitely

good cup run and general progression on the pitch

Hasn' this been done to death already?

Upper midtable, keep our young players together, build around the talent we already have, and get rid of players not good enough.

on the match of the day aftershow party both Alan Shearer and Rat Nevin had us finishing 9th next year. Would be happy with that to be fair!

Clearly win the league now Fergie has retired....

Anywhere from 12th and up without having to look over our shoulders at relegation and a nice cup run seems realistic and i'd be happy enough with.

Anything above would be just gravy!

Dont know about others but, as much as new faces would be nice/neccessary I would also like to see a bit more progression of players from the dev squad if possible. Would rather have the likes of seagers and gape on the bench instead of de ridder. The likes of JWP and Shaw have both had good seasons and can hopefully kick on, hopefully we can manage shaw to avoid him burning out, for all his quality it'd be nice if he didnt have to play a forty game season at such a tender age.

I reckon we'll be aiming for top half, maybe an outside chance of aiming for Europa League places.

Hasn' this been done to death already?

 

Upper midtable, keep our young players together, build around the talent we already have, and get rid of players not good enough.

This.

Hasn' this been done to death already?

 

Upper midtable, keep our young players together, build around the talent we already have, and get rid of players not good enough.

Pretty much.

Gunna be a long summer..

Why comment on a thread if you think it's been done before? Strange people.

Why comment on a thread if you think it's been done before? Strange people.

It has been done before, clearly. However no harm discussing it again though with a stuttering few weeks, if people dont want to partake i'd imagine they can just ignore it. Its exam season for me so any excuse not to revise i'l take!

I think some people will find it hard to comprehend our ambitions for this summer. We will be spending above the 30M cited in the OP as the aspiration from the club will be higher than 8th.

Whether or not this is achieved though will be a different matter.

Personally I share the sentiments of a few on here already. Only sell who we want to sell, keep everyone we want to keep and continure to add more quality in key positions. A solid top half finish wilth a few scalps along the way would be fine but the club will want a little more.

Two lesbians. Sisters probably. I'm just watching.

Cortese's realistic ambition would probably be to qualify for Europe through league position, i.e. top 6 IMO.

Two lesbians. Sisters probably. I'm just watching.

 

You joke mate but I've seen the plans for half time entertainment next season. Cortese is ambitious and serious.

That would be great half time entertainment, 2nd only the dog display teams they used to have at the Dell. Seeing a guy in a fat man suit run away from an angry alsatian dog was better than the match sometimes.

Still premature to discuss next season imo, still need a point.

But assuming we get it , aim for me is tp get to 40 points and see where we go after that.

the steps become harder as you get nearer the top

League 1 to Championship and then to Premier relatively easy compared to going from 17th to 10th

League 1 to Championship and then to Premier relatively easy compared to going from 17th to 10th

Usually I'd agree with you but this season the difference is only 5 points. I think the bottom half, maybe all the way up to 8th is getting very congested with not too much to choose from between the teams. Getting above that group will be a much bigger challenge as the teams tend to have money from playing in Europe and are a bit bigger than us so have more pull with the better players.

Okay, lets go through the teams we will definitely finish above next season.

Spurs - Will struggle without Bale

West Brom - Will struggle without Lukaku

Swansea - Will struggle without Michu

Villa - Will struggle without Benteke

Everton - Will struggle without Moyes

Man Utd - Will struggle with Moyes

Liverpool - Gerrard getting old, can't carry the team much longer

Chelsea - Jose goes to Bayern so they get Andy Gray instead

Arsenal - Something about Wenger and foreign kids

Norwich - They keep inbreeding

Man City - FFP rule destroy their squad

West Ham - Their hoofball will get found out

Stoke - Their hoofball will get found out

Newcastle - Saints turn up at SJP with new German signing. All French players immediately give up.

Sunderland - Their manager is a complete fruitcake. But definitely not a Facist.

3 promoted teams - All relegation fodder. This is their one season in the spot light.

Reckon we might struggle against Fulham though

Fulham will struggle as Berbatov is another year older and the have a neutral stand

Okay, lets go through the teams we will definitely finish above next season.

 

Spurs - Will struggle without Bale

West Brom - Will struggle without Lukaku

Swansea - Will struggle without Michu

Villa - Will struggle without Benteke

Everton - Will struggle without Moyes

Man Utd - Will struggle with Moyes

Liverpool - Gerrard getting old, can't carry the team much longer

Chelsea - Jose goes to Bayern so they get Andy Gray instead

Arsenal - Something about Wenger and foreign kids

Norwich - They keep inbreeding

Man City - FFP rule destroy their squad

West Ham - Their hoofball will get found out

Stoke - Their hoofball will get found out

Newcastle - Saints turn up at SJP with new German signing. All French players immediately give up.

Sunderland - Their manager is a complete fruitcake. But definitely not a Facist.

3 promoted teams - All relegation fodder. This is their one season in the spot light.

 

Reckon we might struggle against Fulham though

Seems fair, Fulham gave us a good run for our money with Jos the boss and Kelvin Davis up front for them this season so they should build on that for champions league next season.

Usually I'd agree with you but this season the difference is only 5 points. I think the bottom half, maybe all the way up to 8th is getting very congested with not too much to choose from between the teams. Getting above that group will be a much bigger challenge as the teams tend to have money from playing in Europe and are a bit bigger than us so have more pull with the better players.

imo 5 points is a lot, it will be interesting how FFP will eventually effect teams league places, with more emphasis being placed on gate income and wage bills

imo 5 points is a lot' date=' it will be interesting how FFP will eventually effect teams league places, with more emphasis being placed on gate income and wage bills[/quote']

 

not really, don't forget that we simply threw away 4 points this season due to monumental f*cks up by a bloke who shouldn't really have even been in the side. If we had played Boruc against Norwich and Swansea at home we would in all probability be on 43 points today.

imo 5 points is a lot' date=' it will be interesting how FFP will eventually effect teams league places, with more emphasis being placed on gate income and wage bills[/quote']

 

Twice in a day I am disagreeing Mike Sorry mate but IMO gate money will mean less and less as time goes on. The international TV deal is the big thing now-a-days, that and sponsorship because of that (Chinese adverts etc). Football is a strange global brand these days and the gap between those teams in the premier league and those out of it (in league 2 for example) is getting bigger and bigger. I agree on the wage bill front though.

This season my forecast was 17th, next season top half, the following season push for a European place !

Continue to improve the academy and infrastructure etc..

Revert to red/white stripes and black shorts !

Replace the crappy club website !

Replace the clock above the dugouts !

Maintain ticket prices as now !

These would be my 'aims' as requested by the OP, sadly my expectations may fall short in one or two areas !!

Top half. Somewhere between 10th and 8th, and a cup run.

+ keep the supporters onside with a price freeze, in recognition of the megabucks TV cash next year

Top half. Somewhere between 10th and 8th, and a cup run.

9th?

You joke mate but I've seen the plans for half time entertainment next season. Cortese is ambitious and serious.

What plans are these, have I missed something?

Not actually sure if qualification for the Europa league appeals to the club. Given it puts a huge strain on squad resources and a lot of sunday fixtures i think Cortesi wants CL or nothing. CL has the money, exposure and player pulling power to match cortesi's ambition. Maybe the rumoured spending spree is to accelerate cortesi's long term ambitions?

Our aim should be to not hold the record for the amount of points lost from a winning position.

24 wasnt it? That would put us 6th!

Expanding our squad enough so that we can risk going after both cups.

Hopefully also a top 10 finish

I think we'll genuinely progress next year (if we stay up, obviously...but we're as close as we can be right now!) I see us as one of the most progressive teams in the country right now - right up there with Swansea. I'd look to emulate what they've done this year and I honestly believe it's then only going to go from strength to strength for us.

The difference between us and the rest is, IMO, finance. We have the scope to continue adding to our side and also secure our best young players to long-term contracts. I look at squads such as Fulham, West Ham, Stoke, Norwich for e.g. and see an aging squad with no real youthful foundation to it, and I don't think any really have the financial clout to replace all those aging players straight away. They'll probably buy enough to continue muddling along in mid-table, but I think we've got a real opportunity to over take all those sides.

The bonus with us is that we already have a nucleus of fantastic young talent, there's no denying that. Cork, Morgan, Clyne, Shaw, Rodriguez, Ward-Prowse - brilliant young players, will only get better and will grow with this club. Sprinkle a little bit of international class in and around them and you have the basis of a fantastic premiership squad. I think we could become as strong as Villa were 4 or 5 years ago, but believe we have the clout to sustain it whereas Villa couldn't and had to start selling.

I'm genuinely excited for the future, and I don't think our football club has ever been in such a good position both on and off the field as it is at the moment.

Cortese's realistic ambition would probably be to qualify for Europe through league position, i.e. top 6 IMO.

This.... He sets high targets, but I think we will just fall short 8th. Saying that I thought playoffs in my wildest dreams in the championship season!

Oh and at last Everton will go down!

This.... He sets high targets, but I think we will just fall short 8th. Saying that I thought playoffs in my wildest dreams in the championship season!

 

Oh and at last Everton will go down!

Don't think Everton will go, but they may well slip to mid-table.

I'd worry if I was a Fulham fan, a very old squad and not much financial clout to rebuild in the summer. Could be a hard one for them next year.

Our aim should be to not hold the record for the amount of points lost from a winning position.

 

24 wasnt it? That would put us 6th!

I seem to remember it was even higher than 24 (maybe 27?), we are not going to turn every lead into a win but if we could half the amount of points given away i.e. an extra 13/14 points it would have put us this season inbetween WBA in 9th and Liverpool in 7th.

Europe has to be the aim.

Our aim should be to not hold the record for the amount of points lost from a winning position.

 

24 wasnt it? That would put us 6th!

Good shout, and that really could be how close we are, but all teams lose some points late on. Even Man U. This is why an improvement in this area would be good, coupled with beating teams at home, that we 'should be beating' the likes of the QPRs, Wigan's, WBA, Swansea's, West Ham's..... And not just raising our game for Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea......

8th would be great, and 6th would be amazing.

10th is no good, we would still be looking over our shoulders all season, this year any of the bottom ten could have gone down, we want to be looking above us not below, it's less nerve wracking and us oldies want to live a bit longer

10th is no good, we would still be looking over our shoulders all season, this year any of the bottom ten could have gone down, we want to be looking above us not below, it's less nerve wracking and us oldies want to live a bit longer

let me get this straight, 10th in our 2nd season back is 'no good'..?

Replace the clock above the dugouts !

I'm lost without that clock, Eterna is all well and good but they dont seem to make clocks, as well as ludicrously expensive watches.

To get out of the Championship at the first attempt, will be difficult.

I'm lost without that clock, Eterna is all well and good but they dont seem to make clocks, as well as ludicrously expensive watches.

I also sit in the Kingsland and it really ****es me off when I look straight across the pitch, it seemed to disappear when Eterna were announced as sponsors so I guess that the original one was made by a competitor but I can't understand why they don't just get a big clock made and stick their name on it ?

It's the little things that mean so much, you know !!

The aim will be survival again so 17th will be OK. I am sure that we will also have a 'yoyo' strategy should the worst happen.

The aim will be survival again so 17th will be OK. I am sure that we will also have a 'yoyo' strategy should the worst happen.

Your aim should be to get some new "material". This is just a tired and lazy effort at trolling.

The aim will be survival again so 17th will be OK. I am sure that we will also have a 'yoyo' strategy should the worst happen.

What took you so long?

Your aim should be to get some new "material". This is just a tired and lazy effort at trolling.

The trolls will be scratching around for stuff for a little while now we are safe

The trolls will be scratching around for stuff for a little while now we are safe

always some non drama to be over egged by people looking to point score on here.

Top half. Somewhere between 10th and 8th, and a cup run.

9th?

:lol:

I would say 10th-8th if we sign 3-4 players that are required back up RB LB and Winger and CB if Forren is not up to scratch.

We could go higher and say 8th-6th this will happen if WBA lose lukaku Everton lose Moyes and these guys were not replaced.