A word from the BOARD

[Bermuda Saint]

A Message from the Board

As a member of the board (I pick up the tea cups), I feel I must respond to all Saints fans that have wailed, moaned and cried about our clubs meltdown and lack of direction. Well you are right, we did have a melt down and lacked direction. We were scrapping in another relegation battle and eventually lost our battle and our 27 years in the top flight, a humbling tumble down the leagues to land in the basement of league 1 and to that we apologies to the fans. But we had seen the writing on the wall, the emergence of mega clubs and their new obscenely rich owners were perverting the market place, we could no longer afford or attract the quality of players it would take to be competitive in the PL for any sustained period.

We had seen the academy as our saving grace. Build a world class youth academy and tried to raise your own crop of stars, these seeds were laid in the R. Lowe era. The focus on the academy was one of the few things they got right. The rest led to administration and almost the extinction of the club.

Along comes our hero, ML, he has a dream and money to revive SFC, He appoints a no nonsense Chairman, NC, and his deputy Reed. They put a 5 year plan together and plot to achieve this goal. A mandate of the style we will play from first team right through to the academy was imposed. Mangers that employed this “playing football the right way” were hired and fired. AP and NA were fired controversially, and then like now fans screamed out for clarification and a report to our every move. But that is not our way. We do as much as we can confidentially and quietly out of the media. This is not to anger our supporters, we have been given the job of leading this club, we will do this for the benefit of SFC. As a board we all basked in the success of the next two years. Hard decision were made along the way. ML has died and KL takes over, again the fans cried “THE SKY IS FALLING”. Investment continues into the squad as we prepare for our second season in the PL. New coach MP continues to improve the squad and results. The world is our oyster and top 4 is being dreamed of. Then the wheels start coming off. NC is not happy and leaves. MP threatens to leave too, players not happy. “THE SKY IS FALLING”. KL and Reed try to steady the ship by appointing Kreuger to the team? Not as a football man, but as a motivator, a PR guy, a salesman, someone who will open up new advertising and worldwide fan appeal bringing new forms of revenue. But now we have a hint of what’s to come. MP wants out, our best players are being courted by some of the biggest clubs in the world. Reed said to me “the dream is dead”, oh and two sugars please. But went on to say “a new era has begun!”. We had many late nights with a pint and crisps in our last campaign trying to figure out how we were going to get to that next level. NC wanted KL to pay up or shut u…..he was fired…so it was obvious we were not doing a MC and use her billions to buy a title. She had supported a big purchase here and there if we could justify the expense. But we found it hard to attract the level of players we wanted to get us into that next level. Last season again the fans cried “THE SKY IS FALLING” because of our late signings and lack of information leaked about our dealings. But this is the nature of our club standing. If we want world class signings we usually have to wait for the big boys to make their moves. This leaves us haggling at the last minute, not because we haven’t tried to wrap thing up early, but the players are usually CL quality and want to play for a CL team. This year will be no different.

MP leaves and the want away players (they asked us to leave, we didn’t ask them to leave) are sold at record breaking prices, again the fans cried “THE SKY IS FALLING”. I read a few fans state we should have not sold any players until we have a replacement. Here is how I see it – we were getting way over market value for LS and AL, we got our asking price and rid of players who no longer wanted to play for SFC. MU and LP could not be toyed with, they are huge clubs that will walk with their generous offers and pick another world class talent. We cannot wait till we get replacements as I said before, we are not a big club, we have to wait in the transfer market to obtain the high valued targets we have because bigger clubs want them too. We appoint a very high profile manager with a very good CV. He doesn’t want any player that is not committed to SFC. He will continue to play “football the right way” and has a record for developing youth. We are committed to reaching the highest levels of football, but have taken on a practical approach and with a little bit of luck, we can have the combination of a great coach and talented players, that will stick together for a few years to see what they can obtain together as a team before the Mega bucks vultures come swooping again.

 

1) Invest in academy and produce PL footballers, schooled in our brand of play.

2) Use them! Give them time to develop in PL games

3) Buy a few foreign affordable “next great player”

4) Buy a few English or championship players.

5) Buy one or two marquee proven game changers.

6) Hire a coach that fits the style of SFC and has a history of nurturing the youth into great players.

7) Keep as much SFC board business as quiet as possible until deals are final

 

Ting-a ling, ting- a ling, that’s Reed wanting another cuppa, keep your bell on man! I hope the SFC supporters can be patient a little longer. We hope to get a few in early using RK connections and the rest will be down to the wire as we continue to chase after world class, sought after players. I know it is hard to believe but the “SKY IS NOT FALLING”, in the Board we trust………

[Smirking_Saint]

Bullet points please

[Dig Dig]

If you're truly a member of the board, I hope you don't space your writing like that whilst doing business on behalf of Saints FC.

[DG]

TLDR

[S-Clarke]

Hmmm.

[Saint86]

Can't work out if you are claiming to be a board member or the tea lady.

 

I find it hard to believe you are on the board of a multi-million pound business with that spelling at any rate.

 

Also your post history does not demonstrate that you are in the know...

 

Also, your comments about liverpool and man united - "they are huge clubs that will walk with their generous offers and pick another world class talent" - that is a shocking viewpoint for a football club who do not want to sell and have no need to sell.

 

All in all, my BS alarm is in overdrive

[hypochondriac]

If we sign all our players last minute, there will be no time to create a team. We will most likely lose a shedload of points whilst they get to grips we think the prem.

[Jonnyboy]

If we sign all our players last minute, there will be no time to create a team. We will most likely lose a shedload of points whilst they get to grips we think the prem.

 

What a pathetic Location.

[Saints foreva]

If we sign all our players last minute, there will be no time to create a team. We will most likely lose a shedload of points whilst they get to grips we think the prem.

 

Agree with this.

 

Our November/December schedule is horrible. It's important that we pick up some points in the first few months of the season, just as we did last season.

[Batman]

basically, points taken from that headache

 

Lowe reignited the academy we see today

lost of focus and money on it with the Leibherr era in order to produce our own stars

every hurdle has seen the fans claim "the sky is falling in"

NC was a no nonsense chairman and led us up the leagues

He wanted Katherina to fund a push for the top 4. she didnt so he left

That dream/era is over and time for a new one

players that left went for huge money really

Koeman is a high profile appointment and does not want players who really do not want to be here

going to be an exciting 2 years before the mega rich teams come in for our new stars and the cycle continues

will look to buy the odd marquee signing along with a few gambles and continue to give academy players a chance

we will continue to play attractive football

[Kingsland Red]

The attitude of our outgoing players is strange.

Ignoring the comment made on this forum that they are just dim I cannot understand their interpretation of the current situation.

Cortese's ploy in selling a club aiming for the CL realistically is no different from where we are now. Football is still determined by playing 11 v 11 on a field. It has not yet been replaced by league tables based upon wealth of the owners or the bull sh*t of the marketing man. The players' squad attitude make a team better than the sum of its individual parts.

 

To my mind Ronald Koeman is potentially a far better manager than Pochettino was potentially. However, despite the club's statement of intent in getting Koeman; players like Lovren and Spiderman still think the club lack the ambition of NC/MP. This is a nonsense.

 

Should we also not be factoring in that the club should not need to expend as much as their competitors on new players, as this would stifle the transition of players from the academy, a source of players that apparently other clubs do not have or wish to implement.

[VectisSaint]

The attitude of our outgoing players is strange.

Ignoring the comment made on this forum that they are just dim I cannot understand their interpretation of the current situation.

Cortese's ploy in selling a club aiming for the CL realistically is no different from where we are now. Football is still determined by playing 11 v 11 on a field. It has not yet been replaced by league tables based upon wealth of the owners or the bull sh*t of the marketing man. The players' squad attitude make a team better than the sum of its individual parts.

 

To my mind Ronald Koeman is potentially a far better manager than Pochettino was potentially. However, despite the club's statement of intent in getting Koeman; players like Lovren and Spiderman still think the club lack the ambition of NC/MP. This is a nonsense.

 

Should we also not be factoring in that the club should not need to expend as much as their competitors on new players, as this would stifle the transition of players from the academy, a source of players that apparently other clubs do not have or wish to implement.

Why is this a nonsense. It is clearly true, KL and her merry men do not have the ambition of ML/NC. That is why NC is no longer here. It is completely obvious. Perhaps KL's ambition is acceptable in the long term, but it is not the same ambition. Lovren has made it clear he does not know who is in charge, who is running the show now? Les Reed? Fine. But who is taking the lead in the way NC did? KL, no, she has already stated that she is non-exec. Ralph? Nowhere to be seen, maybe not even working for us full time. Big Ron is a great new manager and has a fine coaching team, but he is not running the club, and not driving it forward in whatever direction KL wants to take. That's not his job. So we are left with a Board who are seen as ineffectual, and managers and players are reacting - of course its easy for them to react when so many of them were coveted by big teams for mega bucks, but nevertheless it is a reaction based on the lack of direction and reduced ambition.

 

But don't worry, everything will be fine. Of course the sky is not falling in. But to continue to bury heads in the sand is ridiculous when we are so clearly in a lot of trouble, having lost 4 players already, another two likely to go, our only striker out till December, and all that on top of us having the smallest squad in the League at the end of last season. 5 weeks or so until the start of the season and we would be struggling to put a team out without resorting to players from the Academy who have not played yet. Oh and I forgot Osvaldo either still being here or calling in sick (when he isn't), oh and very strange behaviour from our only decent keeper who decides to get married and presumably have a honeymoon when he should be back training.

 

I guess this will be seen as being a bed wetter (by the immature on here who can think of nothing more sensible to say), whereas in reality it is just taking stock of the situation and realising that currently the Club is a bit of a shambles.

[Viking Warrior]

Removed deliberately

Edited 6 July, 2014 by Viking Warrior

[captainchris]

A Message from the Board

As a member of the board (I pick up the tea cups), I feel I must respond to all Saints fans that have wailed, moaned and cried about our clubs meltdown and lack of direction. Well you are right, we did have a melt down and lacked direction. We were scrapping in another relegation battle and eventually lost our battle and our 27 years in the top flight, a humbling tumble down the leagues to land in the basement of league 1 and to that we apologies to the fans. But we had seen the writing on the wall, the emergence of mega clubs and their new obscenely rich owners were perverting the market place, we could no longer afford or attract the quality of players it would take to be competitive in the PL for any sustained period.

We had seen the academy as our saving grace. Build a world class youth academy and tried to raise your own crop of stars, these seeds were laid in the R. Lowe era. The focus on the academy was one of the few things they got right. The rest led to administration and almost the extinction of the club.

Along comes our hero, ML, he has a dream and money to revive SFC, He appoints a no nonsense Chairman, NC, and his deputy Reed. They put a 5 year plan together and plot to achieve this goal. A mandate of the style we will play from first team right through to the academy was imposed. Mangers that employed this “playing football the right way” were hired and fired. AP and NA were fired controversially, and then like now fans screamed out for clarification and a report to our every move. But that is not our way. We do as much as we can confidentially and quietly out of the media. This is not to anger our supporters, we have been given the job of leading this club, we will do this for the benefit of SFC. As a board we all basked in the success of the next two years. Hard decision were made along the way. ML has died and KL takes over, again the fans cried “THE SKY IS FALLING”. Investment continues into the squad as we prepare for our second season in the PL. New coach MP continues to improve the squad and results. The world is our oyster and top 4 is being dreamed of. Then the wheels start coming off. NC is not happy and leaves. MP threatens to leave too, players not happy. “THE SKY IS FALLING”. KL and Reed try to steady the ship by appointing Kreuger to the team? Not as a football man, but as a motivator, a PR guy, a salesman, someone who will open up new advertising and worldwide fan appeal bringing new forms of revenue. But now we have a hint of what’s to come. MP wants out, our best players are being courted by some of the biggest clubs in the world. Reed said to me “the dream is dead”, oh and two sugars please. But went on to say “a new era has begun!”. We had many late nights with a pint and crisps in our last campaign trying to figure out how we were going to get to that next level. NC wanted KL to pay up or shut u…..he was fired…so it was obvious we were not doing a MC and use her billions to buy a title. She had supported a big purchase here and there if we could justify the expense. But we found it hard to attract the level of players we wanted to get us into that next level. Last season again the fans cried “THE SKY IS FALLING” because of our late signings and lack of information leaked about our dealings. But this is the nature of our club standing. If we want world class signings we usually have to wait for the big boys to make their moves. This leaves us haggling at the last minute, not because we haven’t tried to wrap thing up early, but the players are usually CL quality and want to play for a CL team. This year will be no different.

MP leaves and the want away players (they asked us to leave, we didn’t ask them to leave) are sold at record breaking prices, again the fans cried “THE SKY IS FALLING”. I read a few fans state we should have not sold any players until we have a replacement. Here is how I see it – we were getting way over market value for LS and AL, we got our asking price and rid of players who no longer wanted to play for SFC. MU and LP could not be toyed with, they are huge clubs that will walk with their generous offers and pick another world class talent. We cannot wait till we get replacements as I said before, we are not a big club, we have to wait in the transfer market to obtain the high valued targets we have because bigger clubs want them too. We appoint a very high profile manager with a very good CV. He doesn’t want any player that is not committed to SFC. He will continue to play “football the right way” and has a record for developing youth. We are committed to reaching the highest levels of football, but have taken on a practical approach and with a little bit of luck, we can have the combination of a great coach and talented players, that will stick together for a few years to see what they can obtain together as a team before the Mega bucks vultures come swooping again.

 

1) Invest in academy and produce PL footballers, schooled in our brand of play.

2) Use them! Give them time to develop in PL games

3) Buy a few foreign affordable “next great player”

4) Buy a few English or championship players.

5) Buy one or two marquee proven game changers.

6) Hire a coach that fits the style of SFC and has a history of nurturing the youth into great players.

7) Keep as much SFC board business as quiet as possible until deals are final

 

Ting-a ling, ting- a ling, that’s Reed wanting another cuppa, keep your bell on man! I hope the SFC supporters can be patient a little longer. We hope to get a few in early using RK connections and the rest will be down to the wire as we continue to chase after world class, sought after players. I know it is hard to believe but the “SKY IS NOT FALLING”, in the Board we trust………

 

Got bored and didn't read past the first few lines !!!

[Kingsland Red]

Why is this a nonsense. It is clearly true, KL and her merry men do not have the ambition of ML/NC. That is why NC is no longer here. It is completely obvious. Perhaps KL's ambition is acceptable in the long term, but it is not the same ambition. Lovren has made it clear he does not know who is in charge, who is running the show now? Les Reed? Fine. But who is taking the lead in the way NC did? KL, no, she has already stated that she is non-exec. Ralph? Nowhere to be seen, maybe not even working for us full time. Big Ron is a great new manager and has a fine coaching team, but he is not running the club, and not driving it forward in whatever direction KL wants to take. That's not his job. So we are left with a Board who are seen as ineffectual, and managers and players are reacting - of course its easy for them to react when so many of them were coveted by big teams for mega bucks, but nevertheless it is a reaction based on the lack of direction and reduced ambition.

 

But don't worry, everything will be fine. Of course the sky is not falling in. But to continue to bury heads in the sand is ridiculous when we are so clearly in a lot of trouble, having lost 4 players already, another two likely to go, our only striker out till December, and all that on top of us having the smallest squad in the League at the end of last season. 5 weeks or so until the start of the season and we would be struggling to put a team out without resorting to players from the Academy who have not played yet. Oh and I forgot Osvaldo either still being here or calling in sick (when he isn't), oh and very strange behaviour from our only decent keeper who decides to get married and presumably have a honeymoon when he should be back training.

 

I guess this will be seen as being a bed wetter (by the immature on here who can think of nothing more sensible to say), whereas in reality it is just taking stock of the situation and realising that currently the Club is a bit of a shambles.

 

The point being that the ambition has not changed, it is the dropping of the NC bullsh*t , i.e. the information fed by NC to incoming players, that has changed. The team being better than the sum of the players still is the case, and I do not think Koeman would have come here if the ambition had changed significantly.

I think Saints fans realised the NC ambition to break into the top 4 (6?) would prove to be very difficult, as about 5 or 6 clubs try and displace the established 4 (6?), but with lesser resources. Saints approach in producing academy players has put them in a better position, but it is still a long way from displacing established global brands.

 

And lets face it - Liverpool will not win the CL with a team full of Saints players !

Edited 7 July, 2014 by Kingsland Red

[Winchester Red]

Simple choice

 

Accept lesser signings now or wait for the better ones at the end of the window when the big clubs have had their picking.

 

Wail all you like, it won't change

[david in sweden]

I think we have to trust the Board to take these decisions, as (unlike David Cameron - who isn't a Saints fan apparantly)... they are not up for re-election next year.

 

However, with the transfer kitty increasing by the day, and Koeman carefully selecting his new squad, let's not forget that (at one time) Adam Lallana was struggling to get a place on the Saints' bench, when players likeTheo Walcott, Gareth Bale and Alex O-C had already made it to the first team and were on the train to North London.....

..and just a season or two ago ....we had our fans asking questions like ; James Ward-Prowse?....Luke WHO?...and how old is he ? .....and who is Calum Chambers ?.... Who are they?

 

To be absolutely honest,

I'm just as interested to see which Academy lads will make it to the first team squad, as I am to see which " established players " who will likely cost £10 million+ each.. will grace the first team sheet in August.

 

In that area, I'm trusting Les and RK to find the right players, at the right price.. (that's their task)...and the Board are there to make sure we don't get ripped off (financially).

[Viking Warrior]

Captchris if you got bored . Why repost the whole thing ?

[david in sweden]

Simple choice. Accept lesser signings now or wait for the better ones at the end of the window when the big clubs have had their picking. Wail all you like, it won't change

 

I agree in principle, but many of our best players have cost a lot less than the " norm " for top-rated types, and most of those " big money signings" we've made have been a real disappointment. You need look no further than Osvaldo and Ramirez to see that.

 

Jay Rod was " a steal " by today's standards, and though some fans thought Wanyama's fee was " a bit steep" , he has the potential to be much better.

Aside from the latest outburst from Dejan Lovren...who can deny that a player we bought for £8 million a year ago ..can be rated for £20 mill. today? They were good deals then..and look even better now.

 

I'm just waiting to see if RK's new signings will appreciate to the same extent next year, whether they stay for years...or not.

[Kingsland Red]

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/11323238.COMMENT__Lovren_not_fit_to_lace_his_new_boss__boots/?ref=var_0

[Winchester Red]

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/11323238.COMMENT__Lovren_not_fit_to_lace_his_new_boss__boots/?ref=var_0

 

Ha, won't stop the echo taking his £500 for a full page 'thank you to the fans' ad this time next week

[saint_ed]

Does anyone actually believe that?