Promotion Paradox

[alpine_saint]

After looking at PL standards and egos in the England team today, I am suddenly much more upbeat about another season as a big fish in the small League 1 pond.

 

We (or rather you as I live abroad and wont get to games next season) will be watching a TEAM, fighting for each other and a common goal - to get this club promoted.

 

The bizarre thing is, if we get promoted, it will bring us one step nearer to the self-centred hedonistic ****** we had to endure today............

 

At least our next season is about sporting achievement, I suppose..

[Badger]

Interesting point but the Premership remains the promised land all clubs aspire to. It may seem a holy grail yet in truth,as you point out,it might be more of a poisoned chalice.

 

Looking forward to an honest promotion push next season.

[lambertsrightleg]

add to this all the plastic fans who will return and i'll probably enjoy the football a lot less. however, getting there is going to be one hell of a journey and one I wouldnt miss for th world

[Arizona]

Waaaaaay off the mark with that one Alpine.

 

England faield because they are a bunch of egos playing for themselves and not for each other, combined with the fact that they only play together half a dosen times a year anyway. They were badly managed, under pressure, over rated, lacked belief... I could go on.

 

Saints are a completely different bag of nuts and will always have an ambition, regardless of which League we're in.

[alpine_saint]

Waaaaaay off the mark with that one Alpine.

 

England faield because they are a bunch of egos playing for themselves and not for each other, combined with the fact that they only play together half a dosen times a year anyway. They were badly managed, under pressure, over rated, lacked belief... I could go on.

 

Saints are a completely different bag of nuts and will always have an ambition, regardless of which League we're in.

 

So you are saying our players wont become like them when (if) we get there ? I so hope you are right.

[Arizona]

So you are saying our players wont become like them when (if) we get there ? I so hope you are right.

 

Were MLT, Benali, CMFG, Ormerod, Lundekvam, Pahars et al?

[The9]

Frankly if we're playing 4-4-2 we've got no chance.

 

[saintkiptanui]

Were MLT, Benali, CMFG, Ormerod, Lundekvam, Pahars et al?

MLT wasn't, Benali wasn't, claus wasn;t the other two debatable but a hell of a lot of other players were exactly like that, short memory.

[Arizona]

MLT wasn't, Benali wasn't, claus wasn;t the other two debatable but a hell of a lot of other players were exactly like that, short memory.

 

There were quite a few players we had in the CCC with egos too, as well as the ones in the Prem. There were some arrogant c**ks playing for Israel in the Flemming Park World Cup special. Yes there will be a few more in the PL but nothing close to what's going on with the England team.

[Block 5]

It's all about the money.

 

That's why ML is here.

[Whitey Grandad]

I tend to agree with you, Alps. On the whole I prefer lower ticket prices, 3pm kick-offs, and winning most of our games. I wouldn't mind getting promoted to the Championship though.

[Smirking_Saint]

Frankly if we're playing 4-4-2 we've got no chance.

 

 

Lol i agree with the9 for once (actually i agree quite a lot but don't like to admit)

[Saint Fan CaM]

Unfortunately, because when we enter the Premiership we'll be needing better players to compete, we will have lost most of our current squad on the climb through the CCC. The key will be to maintain managerial stability so that the team spirit that unites the squad to gain two promotions will be carried through to the Prem. If all the elements of the club are in place by the time we get to the Prem, I doubt we'll be modelled on any of the current top Prem teams anyway. There is a real strength of vision in Cortese's strategy for the club and this will be key to how the entire club reacts when finally taking it's rightful place back in top division.

 

As the song says, it's the climb that's the most challenging and rewarding aspect of getting to the pinnable of success in whatever you do. I've watched Saints almost go down and out of existance - nothing will spoil the journey back up again for me.

[Red]

Let's not confuse England with Saints - totally diffferent, as indeed are most of the teams the England players play for! I do tend to agree that there are too many ego's etc. with PL players, but a hell of a lot of non English PL players are doing really well in the WC (as well as some who are not of course - Tores for example).

 

England played as we did in our last relegation season - gutless, without direction, no motivation, and above all a belief that we are owned something (too good to go down - in our case - mis guided belief that Engalnd are world beaters for the national team). Maybe the players don't care enough - remember money grabbing A(rse) Cole sold his sole to Chelsea for 10K more a week when he was on 120K a week already - do these players really want to bust a gut for a lot less???

 

We were ok in qualifying (not great but much much better than we are now), warm up matches were an early signal that something was not right, and the group games should have sounded a big RED BELL, but no we plough on as though we are gods of the game. I am sorry but any England squad that includes Heskey, never mind plays him and worse still brings him on at a do or die moment, is not going to win the "kiss the ugliest bird at the dicso" contest, never mind the WC :-)

 

Let's face it we are not good enough - let's get a good English manager (please god not Redcrap) - Roy H is a good shot in my books, and shake things up. Why the feck was Rooney playing when he was clearly not fit or even worse disinterested?????? Wonder if the Rooney Nike ad ever gets another airing :-)

 

England, follow the Saints example and start with bright, smart, new owers and players proud to play for you - if you try your very best, we will forgive your losses (at least I will).

 

Rant over !

[skintsaint]

watch ML sell us as soon as we are promoted into the Prem.....not that I would complain. Just I think thats what they will do personally.

 

but back on subject - I would rather Saints be in the prem with the lazy moneybag players only for the fact we could then watch them on TV at least twice a year over here...

[hutch]

Getting promoted to the PL isn't about status, it's about money. Loads and loads of it, to squander away into foreign player's (and owner's) overseas bank accounts.

 

£48m to Pompey (and others) as a bonus for getting relegated is just obscene.

 

When the income is fairly and evenly distributed throughout the leagues, English football will start to get back on an even keel.

[NickG]

I knew a lad who played for skates late 80's/early 90's. He said that the players openly talked about not wanting promotion as knew they were not good enough for a higher league and would be pushed out

[mikee]

I don't think you can compare Saints and England really, not at the moment anyway. It appears to me that the England players are so well looked after and protected from the real world that they have lost their hunger and desire to succeed, and any patriotism for playing for your country has been replaced with professionalism. Some players don't even sing the national anthem - my favourite part of any england game - and those that do hardly display any passion for their country.

 

I understand the general point that the closer we get to the PL the more mercenary our players willl become. In the past this hasn't been too much of a problem as we haven't been able to compete with the bigger clubs but we are perhaps expecting that things will be different this time around, which is a double edged sword.

 

For me the key is to research potential signings in much more detail and understand their motivation for wanting to join, if it is about money rather than glory the club should steer well clear, even if this means we miss out on lots of good players. We as fans will need to be respectful of this and not give the club a hard time for not signing every good player that becomes available.

 

There are already signs that this may be the attitude we adopt with not signing players like Calderon and I am quietly confident that Cortese and Pardew will spot the mercenaries and will continue to invest in the academy to produce quality homegrown players who are committed to the club long term.

 

The largest salaries should only be given to players who have performed for Saints as a reward and to ensure thay are happy to stay long term.

 

Not really worth worrying about it too much at the moment as we still have a big journey to get there and as someone said earlier I am not going to let future worries get in the way of a great ride!

[Window Cleaner]

It amazes me when people look for these easy excuses with the England team. They were very badly managed, didn't perform at all and maybe didn't have enough strength in some areas. But that's one tournament, it doesn't make everyone awful, hate their country etc. I couldn't care less if they sing the anthem, it's an appalling anthem anyway. Hardly invokes passion does it. Most of us don't give two ****s about God or the queen, so singing about them in a monotone downbeat way won't get us going.

 

But my main point, and I don't know how the media miss it, is DO PEOPLE REALLY THINK PLAYERS FROM SPAIN, PORTGUAL, BRAZIL, HOLLAND, FRANCE AND SO ON, AREN'T OVERPAID, OVER-INDULGED ETC AS WELL??!!

 

It's just modern football, yet someone still wins the world cup, some teams still play well. Greece won euro 2004 despite being ****. With a bit of good management, England should have made the semis looking at the run in for winning the group, but we didn't. There's some ridiculous myth some beleive that we need 11 world class players to win the world cup. You don't. You need a good TEAM, and sometimes that means not playing people like Terry and Gerrard.

 

You don't mention Argentina and Uruguay, same template for both sides, devious hard bastards at the back, exceptional talent in midfield and two clinical strikers each at the front, managed by blokes who don't have Mother Theresa attributes either.Way to go

[mikee]

It amazes me when people look for these easy excuses with the England team. They were very badly managed, didn't perform at all and maybe didn't have enough strength in some areas. But that's one tournament, it doesn't make everyone awful, hate their country etc. I couldn't care less if they sing the anthem, it's an appalling anthem anyway. Hardly invokes passion does it. Most of us don't give two ****s about God or the queen, so singing about them in a monotone downbeat way won't get us going.

 

But my main point, and I don't know how the media miss it, is DO PEOPLE REALLY THINK PLAYERS FROM SPAIN, PORTGUAL, BRAZIL, HOLLAND, FRANCE AND SO ON, AREN'T OVERPAID, OVER-INDULGED ETC AS WELL??!!

 

It's just modern football, yet someone still wins the world cup, some teams still play well. Greece won euro 2004 despite being ****. With a bit of good management, England should have made the semis looking at the run in for winning the group, but we didn't. There's some ridiculous myth some beleive that we need 11 world class players to win the world cup. You don't. You need a good TEAM, and sometimes that means not playing people like Terry and Gerrard.

 

Well maybe this doesn't invoke any passion or patriotism in you but for me this is the key difference between club football and International football, otherwise England are just another team and the World Cup is just another tournament - an attitude which is, I am afraid, too prevailent amongst the current England squad.

[Toomer]

We had a few players when we were in The Prem who had ideas above their station and thought they were better players than they were, no need to name them as most of us would agree. After getting over the shock of two relegations and administration, have I missed The Prem and all the Billy big bowlocks players, TBH I have not, last season was the most I enjoyed going to the game for a long time.

Edited 28 June, 2010 by Toomer

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

After looking at PL standards and egos in the England team today, I am suddenly much more upbeat about another season as a big fish in the small League 1 pond.

 

We (or rather you as I live abroad and wont get to games next season) will be watching a TEAM, fighting for each other and a common goal - to get this club promoted.

 

The bizarre thing is, if we get promoted, it will bring us one step nearer to the self-centred hedonistic ****** we had to endure today............

 

At least our next season is about sporting achievement, I suppose..

 

I wholeheartedly agree.

[doddisalegend]

I knew a lad who played for skates late 80's/early 90's. He said that the players openly talked about not wanting promotion as knew they were not good enough for a higher league and would be pushed out

 

I've always wondered about that. It must be gutting to be part of a promotion winning team and then getting axed becuase "You're not good enough son" and then seeing your place in team taken by some Johnny foriegner on 50k a week. Works both ways though. Players who jump ship as soon as a side are relegated because "they're to good for a lower league" really get my goat too.

[SaintRobbie]

I want Saints to be in the Premiership with a 55,000 seater stadium packed as we're always pushing for European football. League 1 and the CCC are two years of pain on the way to achieving my ambition!

 

I wonder if I'll see that materialise?