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Sneak-peak: 'The Southampton Way' - 1 hour doc on Saints on NBC in the USA on NYD


Saint-Armstrong

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Just finished it. It was fantastic. Essentially, a 1 hour promotional video for the club.

 

Not sure how many fans it will generate in America, but it pretty much highlighted the reasons I am a fan.

 

Speaking as an American, I can tell you that winning is what will build a fan base in America. (and the ability to purchase a cheap kit :p )

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Very well produced programme, big emphasis on the youth setup with a lot of exposure of the under 18s and the nurturing at Staplewood. I've not watched any of their 'Download' programming before as I expected them to be fairly generic run of the mill shows about top four sides. Pleasantly surprised at how in depth about 'little 'ol us' it was. Certainly done ourselves no harm and I dare say we've gained some lost fans still wondering who to follow and a lot of soccer mums.

 

Hope this gets to YouTube or something. It's still sitting on my dvr but I'm afraid I don't have the knowhow or the distribution skills of Javi Le Tiss to help.

Edited by LVSaint
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Very much enjoyed it, even got a bit misty eyed when they were going back over the history, Le Tis's last goal, relegation, comeback etc.

 

Very positive and affirming for a fan, not sure quite how many it will convert as surely you'd have to be a fan of a Premier league side to even be tuning in to such a documentary hidden away on a niche channel - not complaining nonetheless.

 

Couple of minor gripes:

 

- Narrator guy had a really annoying tendency to talk reeeaalllyy slllooowwwlllyy whenever talking about the "bad times" at Southampton, that was very distracting. He'd then pick it up again in much more chipper tones when talking about our resurgence, but it came across more as a GCSE project piece - very amateurish.

 

- The wrap-up bit at the end was dumb too. After they came back from the last ad-break they just played a series of clips they'd already shown in the main show. It was essentially the trailer for the show. Was odd placement as we'd already seen every bit, just here the context was removed. It was the TV version of the summary paragraph in your coursework essay where you round up all your key points, but transposed over to the TV format was boring and unnecessary.

 

- They focussed on a few kids, including one enthusiastic guy with dodgy long floppy hair (no offence lad!), but I'm still none the wiser who they are!

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Just finished it. It was fantastic. Essentially, a 1 hour promotional video for the club.

 

Not sure how many fans it will generate in America, but it pretty much highlighted the reasons I am a fan.

 

Speaking as an American, I can tell you that winning is what will build a fan base in America. (and the ability to purchase a cheap kit :p )

 

A fellow Saints fan a mere 3 hours from me!

 

I recorded this on my AT&T DVR last night, so if anyone knows how I can transfer this and upload it, I will be happy to do, so others can watch it.

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A fellow Saints fan a mere 3 hours from me!

 

I recorded this on my AT&T DVR last night, so if anyone knows how I can transfer this and upload it, I will be happy to do, so others can watch it.

 

This is a pure guess, but can you stick a USB stick into it, copy the recording onto there then stick the USB stick into your PC and upload to YouTube?

 

That sounds overly simplistic so I'm sure it isn't as easy as that.

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:thumbup: watching it now! Doesn't feel like it's made by Americans, I wonder if it was put together by club media bros?

 

Cortese appears to have been airbrushed out of history! :lol: Les Reed's 5 yr plan!

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:thumbup: watching it now! Doesn't feel like it's made by Americans, I wonder if it was put together by club media bros?

 

Cortese appears to have been airbrushed out of history! :lol: Les Reed's 5 yr plan!

 

I think you are right. not very american at all.

and no Cortese lol

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The narrator is one of the two "Men in Blazers" who do a podcast and a weekly show about soccer on NBCsn. They played a part in the ESPN's coverage of last summer's World Cup before they moved to NBC. Their work is primarily humorous in nature so he was an unusual choice for the narrator, but he was a logical choice for NBC to make so I think the production was American. Obviously Southampton provided lots of the footage. The opening segment was, I think, actually produced by Southampton.

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For the man who was guilty of doing that so much himself with managers he sacked and basically 125 years of club history it's quite funny seeing it happen to him !

He was no more than an employee who was paid for his work at the time.

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As a Saints fan, I am all about the passion. While Cortese was instrumental in our history, he does not fit into my personal and extremely biased vision of our meteoric rise back to the top flight. Cortese liked to leave out the stars that were a part of our history, so I can do the same for him.

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:thumbup: watching it now! Doesn't feel like it's made by Americans, I wonder if it was put together by club media bros?

 

Cortese appears to have been airbrushed out of history! :lol: Les Reed's 5 yr plan!

 

Was put together by Premier League Productions. UK based production company.

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That Le Tissier goal against Arsenal always brings a tear to my eye. I've never been as happy at a football ground as I was when that goal went in. Unbelievable...last minute, 2 - 2, Le Tissier off the bench to score the winner in his last game and Saints' last game at the Dell. Every Saints supporter walking to the ground that day will have hoped that would have happened and the fact it did is incredible.

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Thanks for the link.

 

Despite some ropey production and a slightly wonky flow to it I thought it was a nice watch, clearly tailored for a newcomer.

 

The heart of the story is an exceptional organisation deploying the right strategy in the right way. The pathway, the player development, is truly fantastic and seems to be able to transend any individual, which is the sign of a really strong culture.

 

And the facilities look astonishing again.

 

Les Reed's role slightly over egged for the sake of the NBC narrative but nice to hear him, and as usual he spoke well.

 

But poor old Ralph, who I desperately want to like, still struggles to sling a decent sentence together on camera.

 

All in all, it was lovely.

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A great piece for the club. Nicely positions our 'angle' of having the most productive / renowned Academy in the league for new supporters and general interest from casual fans. I thought everyone spoke well and there were a few bits and bobs in there which were news to me as well. As to whether or not it makes a tangible difference to the club will be hard to know, but it certainly doesn't do any harm.

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Great 41 minute advert. Loved it.

 

For the main audience (presumably Americans with some interest in "soccer"), I particularly liked Ralph's suggestion that Southampton FC are basically the same as the Green Bay Packers...

 

That was my least favorite part.

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A great production but why oh why have a picture of Gazza in full view for several minutes? MLT, yes, but not Gazza. Or was I mistaken?

 

Looked like a symbol of a proud English international to me.

 

Though it was definitely Gazza, I was half expecting the picture to gurn for the cameras.

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A great production but why oh why have a picture of Gazza in full view for several minutes? MLT, yes, but not Gazza. Or was I mistaken?

I wondered about that - is that picture up in the ML Pavilion, or was the interview with LR filmed somewhere else. Either way, it was an odd choice for a background image.

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It's hard as an American to pick a team when we haven't grown up with it. I'm 43 and I've bounced around a few clubs watching and rooting for them but have been with Southampton the last 2ish years (I like Norwich City too but can't watch them across the pond).

 

It is hard for 30/40 something year olds to pick a team out of the air in my opinion. I enjoy SFC as they most mimic my beloved New Jersey Devils (NHL). While they are **** now they have a really interesting history with a rag to riches theme that resulted in 3 championships as well as a history of developing lunch pail stars willing to work at both ends of the ice, not just being Prima Donna types. I know the EPL is different and unless there are some money rule changes this might not ever happen here. I love the idea of Southampton being very efficient at finding talent be it homegrown or from abroad and playing with an attractive style.

 

It is a cope out to just pick an oil baron or money team in the Manchester clubs, Chelsea and the like on the continent. Southampton is the perfect club for Americans who appreciate hard work and idea of a small team making it big.

 

My two cents..

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A truly amazing summary of what Southampton Football Club now means in the World of Football. Got really emotional for long spells with tears of pride streaming down my cheeks. Managed to download and it will long be something to watch if ever the dark days ever return.

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A great production but why oh why have a picture of Gazza in full view for several minutes? MLT, yes, but not Gazza. Or was I mistaken?

 

The Les Reed interview was at St George's Park, not Staplewood.

 

Saints trained at St George's Park when they stayed up north for an extended period earlier in the season.

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