Southampton Football Club - A Blueprint for Success

[mcbendy]

A good read:

 

http://footballrepublik.com/southampton-blueprint-footballing-success/

[BadgerBadger]

Very good

[John Boy Saint]

I interesting read. I thought we sold Walcott for quite a bit more than the £5,000,000 stated fom the outset with the add ons making it quite a tidy sum by the time they were achieved. But then loads of strange things went on when the money was running dry.

[Lazlo78]

Wondering if I should copy/paste the rest of the article for The9 - I know he never made it past this: "where previously they would have had to of lived within 90 minutes of the clubs training ground."

[Joey-deacons-left-nut]

"Third Tier strugglers" ?!?!?!?!?

[adrian lord]

Good read.

 

Where's the bit about the billionaire benefactor blueprint though?

[The9]

Wondering if I should copy/paste the rest of the article for The9 - I know he never made it past this: "where previously they would have had to of lived within 90 minutes of the clubs training ground."

 

Thanks for saving me the trouble of clicking the link.

[farawaysaint]

Thanks for saving me the trouble of clicking the link.

 

I die a little inside every time someone writes that

[The9]

I die a little inside every time someone writes that

 

Same thing happens with me when I see people who haven't bothered to learn English before writing it.

[aintforever]

A good read but fact is we are where we are because we are owned by billionaires.

 

The Walcott the Bale money didn't stop us going bust and getting relegated twice so not exactly a blueprint for success there.

[Frank's cousin]

A good read but fact is we are where we are because we are owned by billionaires.

 

The Walcott the Bale money didn't stop us going bust and getting relegated twice so not exactly a blueprint for success there.

 

Beg to differ - money provides a huge advantage, but it needs to be invested wisely and within a well managed long term strategy - which is what we have done. Many clubs have had money but keep failing to maintain long term success - Blackburn won the title through massive spending, but spending just on players and wages, not investing in infrastructure, or youth development, which is why since the money dried up, they have struggled.

 

Our 'blue print' needed money to kick start it, given where we were (L1) and money again to invest in additianal quality as we came up through the divisions so quickly and therefore had to spend a fair amount just to survive and a bit more to be competitive, whilst the fruits of the academy take time to develop. Without money you end up as a Crewe - successful academy, but never enough cash to augment youth with quality experience to progress through the divisions... so money has enabled us to follow our strategy rather than just spend spend spend on short term improvements.

 

The 'success' of our 'blueprint' will only realy be measureable in 5 or 10 years time, if w can maintain a competive challenge in teh top flight, yet also turn a profit/break even as the conveyor belt replaces older players or those who simply want to leave for 'bigger' clubs.