St Will Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 (edited) Just seen on Twitter he's back and working at the academy, which I think was predicted. Edited 4 November, 2009 by St Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Will Posted 4 November, 2009 Author Share Posted 4 November, 2009 http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~1846071,00.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atticus Finch of Maycomb Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 well the ITK on here certainly missed this one! Any explaination why this was not forseen, fellas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altoniansaints Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 sure i read on here that he was coming back before the weekend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corky morris Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Thought it was interesting how Cortese mentions that the academy has been 'neglected' for the last few years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sussexsaint Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 sure i read on here that he was coming back before the weekend! Yep there was a thread on here last week about this keep up Atticus Nice to have someone who cares passionately about the club back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Thought it was interesting how Cortese mentions that the academy has been 'neglected' for the last few years! It wasn't neglected; it was merely that all of the academy players were playing for the first team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scummer Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Thought it was interesting how Cortese mentions that the academy has been 'neglected' for the last few years! It was a major part of the cost cutting. We trimmed the coaching staff right down, to the extent where we weren't actually meeting the required standards of an academy. There were some well-informed people who believed our academy status would be removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Fan CaM Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 (edited) I absolutely loved the last part of the OS piece. Nicola is saying that they intend using the top talent from the Academy in the 1st team rather than considering them an asset to sell. Will these guys ever get anything wrong?!?!?! What a fantastic statement for not only Saints footie fans now, but a signal of investment intent that the whole of Southampton should be happy to hear. Also, I like the idea of using previous club players to act as ambassadours for the youngsters coming through - visionary, exciting times ahead indeed. We are VERY lucky to have Markus and Nicola - they are shaping a club to be SO proud of now. That's made my day. Edited 4 November, 2009 by Saint Fan CaM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Will Posted 4 November, 2009 Author Share Posted 4 November, 2009 I absolutely loved the last part of the OS piece. Nicola is saying that they intend using the top talent from the Academy in the 1st team rather than considering them an asset to sell. Will these guys ever get anything wrong?!?!?! What a fantastic statement for not only Saints footie fans now, but a signal of investment intent for the whole of Southampton. Also, I like the idea of using previous club players to act as ambassadours for the youngsters coming through - visionary, exciting times ahead indeed. We are VERY lucky to have Markus and Nicola - they are shaping a club to be SO proud of now. That's made my day. Here here! Although we are doomed because we drew on Saturday ;-) Very excited about the future for SFC, Markus and Nicola really do have their heads screwed on and have barely put a foot wrong. Very impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pancake Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 I absolutely loved the last part of the OS piece. Nicola is saying that they intend using the top talent from the Academy in the 1st team rather than considering them an asset to sell. Will these guys ever get anything wrong?!?!?! What a fantastic statement for not only Saints footie fans now, but a signal of investment intent that the whole of Southampton should be happy to hear. No offense, but didnt Lowe et al try that last season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glasgow_Saint Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 I predicted this in the summer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocco boxo Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Doddys diddy men to rule. Welcome home Jason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iowsaintsfan Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Sign up MLT to work on set pieces and we are there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrent Of Abuse Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 No offense, but didnt Lowe et al try that last season? Almost, but he missed out the bit between signing the young players and putting them in the first team - something about training them to be good enough. As with the first team, you can't get rid of the coaching staff and expect everyone to go on winning games by themselves. We actually have the financial backing to put these plans into action now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
once_bitterne Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 I absolutely loved the last part of the OS piece. Nicola is saying that they intend using the top talent from the Academy in the 1st team rather than considering them an asset to sell. Will these guys ever get anything wrong?!?!?! What a fantastic statement for not only Saints footie fans now, but a signal of investment intent that the whole of Southampton should be happy to hear. Oh please! We may well not being in a position where we HAVE to sell promising youngsters just to keep afloat but that doesn't mean that they won't all be sold. As long as we are in the lower leagues as soon as we have a promising young player that one of the Prem teams wants then that player will be off. Even when/if back in the Prem if a Big 4 team wants one of our young players then again it is 100% certain that that player will go. Cortese can do nothing about this and he is naive to how football works if he thinks he can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Didcot Saint Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Oh please! We may well not being in a position where we HAVE to sell promising youngsters just to keep afloat but that doesn't mean that they won't all be sold. As long as we are in the lower leagues as soon as we have a promising young player that one of the Prem teams wants then that player will be off. Even when/if back in the Prem if a Big 4 team wants one of our young players then again it is 100% certain that that player will go. Cortese can do nothing about this and he is naive to how football works if he thinks he can. Whats to stop us from being a "Big Four Club" then? With these guys in charge and our brilliant support anything can happen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
del boy Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Sign up MLT to work on set pieces and we are there I hear that throw-ins are his speciality? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eelpie Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Oh please! We may well not being in a position where we HAVE to sell promising youngsters just to keep afloat but that doesn't mean that they won't all be sold. As long as we are in the lower leagues as soon as we have a promising young player that one of the Prem teams wants then that player will be off. Even when/if back in the Prem if a Big 4 team wants one of our young players then again it is 100% certain that that player will go. Cortese can do nothing about this and he is naive to how football works if he thinks he can. True, but this view is negative and does not mean that we can't continue to produce top players. And many of our recent youth find their level in the Championship anyway, and are doing quite well there today. Where would we be right now without Lallana, even if he moves on eventually? Could we not have done with some of our CCC ex-youth at the beginning of this season? I wager not all of our ex-Academy players currently in the CCC would have moved on had our current regime been in place earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
once_bitterne Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Whats to stop us from being a "Big Four Club" then? With these guys in charge and our brilliant support anything can happen! LOL. I think some degree of reality is needed. We have a very good chance of getting back to the CCC, a good chance of getting back to the Prem. But becoming a big 4 club?? Not a hope in hell!!! Yes Leibherr is rich but I can't see in a million years he would be willing to spend the sort of money at his football club that Man City's owners are. And even in that case it is far but certain that Man City can break into the top four. As a Saints fan for 30 years I have no problem at all with us never being a Top 4club in my lifetime, I will be more than happy if we can get back to being a Top 10 Prem side with the occasional good cup run and home victory against the Big 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Give it to Ron Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 . As a Saints fan for 30 years I have no problem at all with us never being a Top 4club in my lifetime, I will be more than happy if we can get back to being a Top 10 Prem side with the occasional good cup run and home victory against the Big 4. I will second that...some may accuse us of lack of ambition though :-) I will take getting into the top half of the division by Christmas first though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
once_bitterne Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 I will second that...some may accuse us of lack of ambition though :-) I will take getting into the top half of the division by Christmas first though! I don't think I would even want us to be one of the Big 4! I've grown up with us being a team punching above their weight in the 70s/80s so I think it would be a huge culture shock to have us as one of the 4 powerhouses of English football! (with a ground filled with a large % of fans who only started going to games when we became good!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corky morris Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 This is off topic now, but I have a number of Bolton fans as clients & they are starting to get fed up with the PL. They are not gonna win it, they dont look like going down - in their words 'its all a bit boring'. They miss the promotions & relegations. They dont expect to beat the top 4 at home or away. They look forward to about half the home games. Maybe it is something to do with Megson & Alledyce's style of football as they often moan about that too. Maybe they are simple northerners who just moan a lot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericofarabia Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 As a Saints fan for 30 years I have no problem at all with us never being a Top 4club in my lifetime, I will be more than happy if we can get back to being a Top 10 Prem side with the occasional good cup run and home victory against the Big 4. With you on that with a slight adjustment ... a good cup run every year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Oh please! We may well not being in a position where we HAVE to sell promising youngsters just to keep afloat but that doesn't mean that they won't all be sold. As long as we are in the lower leagues as soon as we have a promising young player that one of the Prem teams wants then that player will be off. Even when/if back in the Prem if a Big 4 team wants one of our young players then again it is 100% certain that that player will go. Cortese can do nothing about this and he is naive to how football works if he thinks he can. You are talking about a situation well in the future where unless you have a crystal ball, you cannot make that prediction. Your thoughts might well have been so preconditioned by your past experiences of following this club, that it has rendered you incapable of accepting some other possible scenarios. It is NOT 100% certain in the future that any player will leave if one of the big four come knocking on our door. Granted that if a player wishes to leave then there is little that the club could do to prevent him leaving, but on the other hand, we are in a position for perhaps the first time in our history to be able to turn down initial approaches for our players if we wish to keep them. We can put silly valuations on them and then the prospective purchaser will either go away, or pay silly money. We have a situation that players will join the academy, be trained by our staff, the better players progressing to play in the first team. We will be able to offer them comparable wages to most other clubs if the player is worth it. That player might well then decide to stay here because he is settled here, has friends and family nearby, likes the way that he has been treated by the club, has a future here. The lesson has already been learned by others that often they might earn better money elsewhere, but spend their time warming the substitues bench, or play in the reserves. This is a serious statement of intent by Cortese that things will be changing and that we intend to keep the cream of our academy graduates for ourselves. It is a very welcome development and I look forward to it bearing fruit in the next five years or so, by which time we will hopefully be back in the Premiership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopkins Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 You are talking about a situation well in the future where unless you have a crystal ball, you cannot make that prediction. Your thoughts might well have been so preconditioned by your past experiences of following this club, that it has rendered you incapable of accepting some other possible scenarios. This is a serious statement of intent by Cortese that things will be changing and that we intend to keep the cream of our academy graduates for ourselves. It is a very welcome development and I look forward to it bearing fruit in the next five years or so, by which time we will hopefully be back in the Premiership. Firstly "You are talking about a situation well in the future where unless you have a crystal ball, you cannot make that prediction" you say... To be fair so are you. Fact is you make predictions based on previous experiences and fact is in the football world, good quality youngsters with ability will eventually leave the club for a bigger one. Its the way the football world works. In reality, Cortese's statement is nothing but the same thing most chairman will say about there academys and in reality this statement of intent from him will mean nothing when it comes to trying to keep our players. There is very few clubs in the premier league, let alone lower than that (Which if you haven't noticed we are) that can keep there top youngsters if better clubs want them and if the right money is offered. Cortese statement sounds brilliant, but take it with a pinch of salt please as unless the footballing world gets changed upside down in the next couple of years, we will be selling players on to bigger clubs... because every club does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 well the ITK on here certainly missed this one! Any explaination why this was not forseen, fellas? http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=17628 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Mockles Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 No offense, but didnt Lowe et al try that last season? I think Lowe had a different policy and you missed the critical 2 key words. "top" and "talent" (re: the academy). HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey-deacons-left-nut Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 re - the big 4... we probably will be... it's just that Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool won't be in the Premiership by that point...... a European Super League WILL happen..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pancake Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=17628 Dont feed the troll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Uwe Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 LOL. I think some degree of reality is needed. We have a very good chance of getting back to the CCC, a good chance of getting back to the Prem. But becoming a big 4 club?? Not a hope in hell!!! Yes Leibherr is rich but I can't see in a million years he would be willing to spend the sort of money at his football club that Man City's owners are. And even in that case it is far but certain that Man City can break into the top four. As a Saints fan for 30 years I have no problem at all with us never being a Top 4club in my lifetime, I will be more than happy if we can get back to being a Top 10 Prem side with the occasional good cup run and home victory against the Big 4. IMHO I think football in 5 years time will be completely different to the bloated, corrupt offering that we see nowadays. Man City, Chelsea etc are not on a sound financial footing; they are propped up by continuous cash injections from wealthy owners. Every club in the Premier League is going around begging for investment as they struggle to stay afloat (Hull being the latest club in the spotlight). One day - and perhaps not in the too distant future - the lights will go out. Anyone who believes football in its current guise is sustainable is frankly living under a rock. We on the other hand could actually do well if certain things come to fruition - who's to say that Platini's proposals won't get looked at again regarding these clubs who basically put themselves into masses of debt in order to win silverware? We have got a very good structure at the club now, and in addition we have responsible, ambitious owners. Coupled with a decent Academy system we can become more or less self-sufficient, living within our means. Whether we succeed or not will of course depend on the pitch, but we are moving in the right direction. I'm not saying that the likes of Man U etc are suddenly going to sink faster than the Titanic, but at the same time I genuinely believe things will change. They can't go on the way they are, that's for sure. So maybe we can mix it with the big boys in 5 years time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 (edited) Thought it was interesting how Cortese mentions that the academy has been 'neglected' for the last few years! Looking back 50 years,few League clubs persevered with youth squads and many others ended up spending tens of millions on overpaid imports, and created huge debts for the clubs that could never be recovered by more sales. Both Saints and Man.Utd (though they were in diff.leagues (literally) had good youth squads in the late 1950's ..ours included Paine and Sydenham who played +/- 1200 games between them. Much of Man U's great side was lost in the Munich aircrash 1958?. After that Tommy Docherty's Chelsea 1960-produced Osgood,Venables,Tambling and Hutchinson to name a few. Ron Greenwood late 60's-75 brought on Moore, Peters, Hurst, John Bond, Lampard (snr)...and Harry Redknapp (where have I heard that name before?) ... and of course Bond and Redknapp followed him with the same formula. Ramsey did well at Ipswich (1960-2), also later George Burley (whatever happened to him ?) Liverpool always had good youngsters (1965-80) till they started buying foreign. Now it's only Gerrard and Callagher. Alex Ferguson created a superb young team in the mid 1990's with Becks, Butt, Scholes, the Nevilles and Ryan Giggs. Sainst youth talent has come in flashes over the same period; Paine & Sydenham have been mentioned. Then we had; Chivers & Channon. later Nick Holmes, Stokes, Steve Williams, Gerry Gurr, Bob McCarthy, Fry, Bennett, Andruszewski, Hebberd, Waldron, Moran, Graham Baker, the 3 Wallaces, Agboola, Lawrence, Le Tissier, Shearer, Maddison, ...and later in the 1990's; Dodd, Benali and Kenna, then Oakley and Bridge were also here as teenagers, (as was Chris Baird) - even if they didn't all play at U16/U18 level. The original Academy may well have been a Hoddle idea at first, but it produced; another Mills, Crainie, Walcott, Bale, Surman, Best, Blackstock, McGoldrick and a few lesser names. Sadly few (ex.Walcott and Bale) were ever Prem.standard at a time when we had a struggling side, and obviously left when we needed experienced heads to save ourselves. The Double Dutch experiment looked more exciting on paper than on the pitch, and RL couldn't asfford to continue supporting it but it was still a good idea. The above 30 names managed a League career (for better or worse) but over a period of 50 years - was it enough? It would have been nice to think we could have produced a few more, but if we can genuinely create league sides that have 4-5 home-grown talents - then the Academy will pay for itself many times over. Few will argue that Doddsy is NOT a good choice for the job - especially as he came from Bath at 18 years old himself - he knows the task. If it works properly the Academy will saves many millions in transfers in future and even generate income from players who eventually move to other clubs. Good thinking Mr.Cortese! Edited 4 November, 2009 by david in sweden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
15saints Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Has anyone noticed that the French guy, Georges Prost, who built up our academy to where it was considered one of the best, is now in charge of Lyon's academy, which is now considered the best academy in europe. Irony anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughieslastminutegoal Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 No offense, but didnt Lowe et al try that last season? I think you missed the word "TOP". Last season that word was "ANY", and "ONE AT ALL" was used instead of TALENT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Has anyone noticed that the French guy, Georges Prost, who built up our academy to where it was considered one of the best, is now in charge of Lyon's academy, which is now considered the best academy in europe. Irony anyone? Not sure ironic is the right word. I mean, its not like you've got 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife. Bbut anyway, Prost must be doing something right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Firstly "You are talking about a situation well in the future where unless you have a crystal ball, you cannot make that prediction" you say... To be fair so are you. Fact is you make predictions based on previous experiences and fact is in the football world, good quality youngsters with ability will eventually leave the club for a bigger one. Its the way the football world works. In reality, Cortese's statement is nothing but the same thing most chairman will say about there academys and in reality this statement of intent from him will mean nothing when it comes to trying to keep our players. There is very few clubs in the premier league, let alone lower than that (Which if you haven't noticed we are) that can keep there top youngsters if better clubs want them and if the right money is offered. Cortese statement sounds brilliant, but take it with a pinch of salt please as unless the footballing world gets changed upside down in the next couple of years, we will be selling players on to bigger clubs... because every club does. Once-Bitter was making his predictions based on previous experiences, which you say is the basis for most predictions. But it is precisely that aspect of things that I take issue with. Intelligent prediction must also factor in changed circumstances affecting the current situation. I did not make any predictions as far as I am aware, but merely pointed out that there is a possibility that because our financial circumstances had changed immeasurably in the past few months, there was no longer the absolute certainty that we would be forced to sell players if we did not want to, just because a bigger club made an offer. I qualified my opinion by saying that if the player wanted to leave, it was better that he went, but if the player did not want to go and we wanted to keep him, we could do so. When we are in the Premiership, we ought to be able to keep most players here if they are happy here and even if one of the big four came in for a player, it may be probable that the player goes, but it is not set in concrete as a certainty. That player might reason that he would rather play first team football with us rather than reserves football for the other club, as I suggested. Anyway, by the time we are back in the Premiership, as others have pointed out, the big four might have left for a super European League. Who knows with any certainty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Is Dodd actually the best qualified person to turn our academy around? Yes he has played and coached at a very high level, but does he have the strategy and nouse to unearth, recognise, nuture and develop the best talent? This is a genuine question rather than a moan. We all saw what a difference having money AND the skill of Prost at the helm made to bringing youth through. This post is vital and I just wonder if we should be looking for another Prost rather than another Pucket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miffy Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 IMHO I think football in 5 years time will be completely different to the bloated, corrupt offering that we see nowadays. Man City, Chelsea etc are not on a sound financial footing; they are propped up by continuous cash injections from wealthy owners. Every club in the Premier League is going around begging for investment as they struggle to stay afloat (Hull being the latest club in the spotlight). One day - and perhaps not in the too distant future - the lights will go out. Anyone who believes football in its current guise is sustainable is frankly living under a rock. We on the other hand could actually do well if certain things come to fruition - who's to say that Platini's proposals won't get looked at again regarding these clubs who basically put themselves into masses of debt in order to win silverware? We have got a very good structure at the club now, and in addition we have responsible, ambitious owners. Coupled with a decent Academy system we can become more or less self-sufficient, living within our means. Whether we succeed or not will of course depend on the pitch, but we are moving in the right direction. I'm not saying that the likes of Man U etc are suddenly going to sink faster than the Titanic, but at the same time I genuinely believe things will change. They can't go on the way they are, that's for sure. So maybe we can mix it with the big boys in 5 years time! I completely agree that the current state of football is unsustainable and will significantly change in the coming years (maybe not 5, probably more like 10 IMO). Link the financial instabilibility with two other topics on this thread (European League and bored mid-table PL fans) and it seems inevitable. It seems likely that we will end up with a two tier system of a European Super League and and English League. It will be interesting whether SKy would be as interested in investing Millions into a 'new' premier league that doesn't have the big 4 or 5 clubs. If not then the landscape of true competition could return. I for one would welcome it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Mockles Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 I think you missed the word "TOP". Last season that word was "ANY", and "ONE AT ALL" was used instead of TALENT. Am I getting a sense of de ja vu here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St_Tel49 Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 I hear that throw-ins are his speciality? I bet they're not ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Fan CaM Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 It will be interesting whether SKy would be as interested in investing Millions into a 'new' premier league that doesn't have the big 4 or 5 clubs. If not then the landscape of true competition could return. It is absolutely inconceivable at the moment to predict the crash that would happen if Sky were to pull out (at worst). There are so many clubs that rely very heavily on Sky money to keep their businesses afloat that the Premiership and CCC would be transformed. Saints are one of the very few clubs that would be in an extremely strong position should that ever come about thanks to Markus. I've always been of an opinion that one should not fear change, however this would be an incredible upheaval that would shake the very foundations of the FA. Bring it on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 (edited) Is Dodd actually the best qualified person to turn our academy around? Yes he has played and coached at a very high level, but does he have the strategy and nouse to unearth, recognise, nuture and develop the best talent? This is a genuine question rather than a moan. We all saw what a difference having money AND the skill of Prost at the helm made to bringing youth through. This post is vital and I just wonder if we should be looking for another Prost rather than another Pucket. A good point well-made Chez, but EVEN Proust must have been a 40 year old ex-player at sometime, and Puckett is around 50 now, and like Stuart Henderson fairly good at what they do....but they won't go further. There are certain types who do really well coaching youngsters; Stuart Gray and Steve Wigley come to mind, not to mention THE most successful youth coach in the club's history..Dave Merrington, all of whom failed to cut it when given the first team manager spot. Time will tell but Doddsy has his chance to make a second career with Saints. Let's hope for everyone's sake he does a good job. Edited 4 November, 2009 by david in sweden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Fan CaM Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 You are talking about a situation well in the future where unless you have a crystal ball, you cannot make that prediction. Your thoughts might well have been so preconditioned by your past experiences of following this club, that it has rendered you incapable of accepting some other possible scenarios. It is NOT 100% certain in the future that any player will leave if one of the big four come knocking on our door. Granted that if a player wishes to leave then there is little that the club could do to prevent him leaving, but on the other hand, we are in a position for perhaps the first time in our history to be able to turn down initial approaches for our players if we wish to keep them. We can put silly valuations on them and then the prospective purchaser will either go away, or pay silly money. We have a situation that players will join the academy, be trained by our staff, the better players progressing to play in the first team. We will be able to offer them comparable wages to most other clubs if the player is worth it. That player might well then decide to stay here because he is settled here, has friends and family nearby, likes the way that he has been treated by the club, has a future here. The lesson has already been learned by others that often they might earn better money elsewhere, but spend their time warming the substitues bench, or play in the reserves. This is a serious statement of intent by Cortese that things will be changing and that we intend to keep the cream of our academy graduates for ourselves. It is a very welcome development and I look forward to it bearing fruit in the next five years or so, by which time we will hopefully be back in the Premiership. Excellent post Wes. I find it hard to comprehend that any supporter cannot see the clear blue water between Lowes policy of selling our talented youth to finance the business (he admitted as much) and Markus/Nicola's stated policy of investment in the Academy and a desire to keep hold of its best output. Regardless, surely it's time to forget the mistakes of the past and be thankful of the fortune we received when Markus bought the club. Why should we not trust Nicola when he says we'll keep hold of our telented youth? It's time to look ahead - not back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jam Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Is Dodd actually the best qualified person to turn our academy around? Yes he has played and coached at a very high level, but does he have the strategy and nouse to unearth, recognise, nuture and develop the best talent? This is a genuine question rather than a moan. We all saw what a difference having money AND the skill of Prost at the helm made to bringing youth through. This post is vital and I just wonder if we should be looking for another Prost rather than another Pucket. This echos my feelings. I'm glad that Dodd is back at the club but this is one of the most important jobs at the club and he has no experience. I feel that a Prost type of figure would have been a better option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Fanbase. I don't see that as problem for two reasons. Firstly, although not a very big city, at least we do not have two or three clubs here. The nearest rival in the top flight are the Skates and they will probably be back in the second or third division when we are back in the Premiership. We have a huge catchment area south of London and if we were towards the top of the Premiership and from time to time giving the top four a bloody nose, then we would attract a big following in the South and South-West. Secondly, we would start to pick up the support of plastics from around the World if we marketed ourselves properly. You only have to travel to the Far East to see all the Chelsea shirts that have suddenly appeared since Abramovich turned up, whereas they weren't much on the radar before out there. Sometimes it's cool to support the new kid on the block as a plastic and if we were in the top ten again and beating the top four occasionally, our fanbase abroad would grow quite a bit. We could always help that along the way by signing the odd Chinese, Korean, Japanese of Thai player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redondo Saint Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 Sign up MLT to work on set pieces and we are there Throw ins? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DT Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 In my view, this is the first mistake of the new regime. He is not the right man for the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scummer Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 In my view, this is the first mistake of the new regime. He is not the right man for the job. It's not really clear to me what the job is, so I'm not sure if he's the right man or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 I know, but that's the same for many clubs. I'm just not sure how many plastics a club can really pick up. Man City for example, have many, but they also had 32,000 in League 1, and the potential for many more in the Premiership even when they were crap. Looking at the top 2, Man Utd and Liverpool have the most history, IMO, and Chelsea and Arsenal have the draw of London too. A club of our size can get near them perhaps, as we were almost starting to do at one time. Clubs like Villarreal have done brilliantly for their size, but the problem is you can't overturn the history of the top four. Players will want to play for them. It's a short career so they look to move to the big clubs rather than helping create a big club. It's annoying, but I don't know how you become a truly big club. I remember Roy Keane talking about Notts Forest saying it was impressive for a small club to win the European Cup twice. Well, why didn't that make them a big club? Say by some miracle, in the next 6 or 7 years, us, or some other random club wins the Premiership. It'll be a case of a small club against the odds, not becoming a big club. It would probably take 10 years or more of success to really be considered big. When I was just a little nipper, I can remember being aware as a schoolboy of several clubs who were big then, but whose stars have waned. Clubs like Sheffield Wednesday, Bolton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur, Burnley, etc, had good followings many years ago and were popular because either they had one or other of the star footballers of the day, or a great manager. Liverpool or Chelsea weren't that high up in the hierarchy until more recent times and their fortunes improved with the appointment of brilliant managers. To a certain extent a successful club attracts successful players, but in Liverpool's case, their upward spiral began with Bill Shankly. Manchester United really became much better followed when they attracted a lot of sympathetic support after the Munich Air disaster which wiped out the Busby Babes and Busby was capable of producing another good team afterwards. Other clubs' fortunes have improved immeasurably with the arrival of a great manager, like Clough at Nottingham Forest and Derby, Don Revie at Leeds, Docherty at Chelsea, Robson at Ipswich, etc. Currently, Ferguson keeps United right up there, as does Wenger at Arsenal. Liverpool are a bit wobbly at the moment and if Benitez fails, then their big name should attract the best managers available, in much the same way that Abramovich's billions can attract the best managers and players at Chelsea. Manchester City have the wealth and have bought the players, but Sparky isn't in the same league for me as the current managers of the top four. There is potential for a change to the natural order, though. How would Man Ure fare under another manager when Ferguson hangs up his boots? Where would their plastic fans go if they were only mid-table? The same with Arsenal when Wenger retires or leaves. Perhaps there is a great manager out there now, currently learning his trade, but who could yet prove to be the equal of a Ferguson, Wenger, Robson or a Clough and who comes to be our manager. Provided that there is no change of heart from Markus and Cortese, we are set up very nicely for such a manager to blossom here. If we have an ambitious and visionary manager, bring through talented youngsters from a re-invigorated Academy and keep the best of them here, are able to cherry-pick some of the other best players around, we can grow our support. We can then expand and develop our ground and become altogether a much bigger fish than we are currently. But things are very much different now than they were thirty years ago, as the game is very much shown to a World audience because of the media coverage and money. There are certainly opportunities to derive income and a following overseas, as there aren't the traditional loyalties there and it becomes a marketing exercise, something that I am confident that Messrs Liebherr and Cortese do have some expertise in. In the same way that we appear to have bottomed out and are now rising, other clubs at the top might have peaked and are due to begin a decline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Charlie Posted 4 November, 2009 Share Posted 4 November, 2009 It's not really clear to me what the job is, so I'm not sure if he's the right man or not. Exactly. It doesnt even say that its definately a coaching role, it could be more organisational. Jason is a Saint through and through and its nice the new regime are recognising this. If they can bring in some top youth coaches to work alongside his enthusiasm then thats great for everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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