5 Year Plan

[Batman]

Reed talks of a 'realistic aspiration' from the summer of 2015

deluded or talking sense?

 

http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/southampton/news/reed-champions-league-realistic-for-saints_235957.html

[Verbal Kint]

If they're giving JWP 6 year contracts then isn't a genuine aspiration. He should never discuss the CL as most fans hold it against him when we end up with a midtable squad

[baggytrousers]

I think it is a realistic aspiration but as Read states "We have to do it a step at a time. We have to be patient, because we don't have the ability to do it all in one hit. We have to build towards it.".

 

It's fair to say that we're very much in the building phase and different fans will have different perspectives on how well that's going. As with any building phase you're going to have some good days and some not so good days, things that work, things that don't.

 

It's important to realise that this is a 5 year plan but a lot of posters on here don't seem to have the patience to look at the club over a 5 game timescale yet alone a 5 year one.

 

Over the summer our 3 key signings were all 22 years old or younger (roughly the same age as Sam McQueen) but so many fans expect them to instantly replace Pelle, Mane and Wanyama who were clearly much more experienced.

 

Also, we have tied several key players to long term contracts and are looking to open up the academy pathway after a couple of years of it stalling under Koeman.

 

Clearly our field of vision has moved to a more medium to long term viewpoint than previously. Personally, I find that exciting but I understand that there are fans out there who get frustrated with the slight steps backwards that can happen when you're trying to move the club up to the next level.

 

I think there a number of posters out there who are constantly looking for the silver bullet answer (sign Bony, Berahinho, Siggurdson, get Spider back, etc.). I think that's unrealistic, short-term thinking and is highly unlikely to work.

 

In my opinion the way the club is heading is our best chance of getting in amongst the big boys one day. Only time will tell if we succeed or not but in the meantime patience is needed.

[Gunnery]

I'm not a Puel/Reed basher and I'm reasonably happy with 8th and League Cup semi at this stage of the season having juggled Europa etc. But I do wish we wouldn't have these unrealistic expectations, We are never in a million years going to qualify for the Champions League, the gulf between us and clubs that do, is massive. And whilst I accept that selling players is how we operate sustainably, it is not how you go about qualifying for the Champions League!! I would much rather the club set realistic goals like FA Cup final, League Cup final, Europa League knockouts etc....talk of Champs League is delusional IMO and it makes fans of other clubs laugh at us.

Edited 29 December, 2016 by Gunnery

[DuncanRG]

Of course it's a realistic aspiration. It would be far bolder as a prediction, which some people confuse it with.

[CB Fry]

I'm not a Puel/Reed basher and I'm reasonably happy with 8th and League Cup semi at this stage of the season having juggled Europa etc. But I do wish we wouldn't have these unrealistic expectations, We are never in a million years going to qualify for the Champions League, the gulf between us and clubs that do, is massive. And whilst I accept that selling players is how we operate sustainably, it is not how you go about qualifying for the Champions League!! I would much rather the club set realistic goals like FA Cup final, League Cup final, Europa League knockouts etc....talk of Champs League is delusional IMO and it makes fans of other clubs laugh at us.

In fairness it's not impossible we can finish in the CL spots, just very unlikely and if we do it and we will do it our way, and require at least two of the big six to have awful seasons.

 

The dinlows will always want us to spend spend spend and they all drooled over the fabulous investment made by Palace and Stoke and West Ham in the summer which has got them precisely no further than we are right now. But some people just want to see vanity spunking of money away as if that's an end in itself. Can't see it personally but some people are desperate to wa nk into a sock over the net spend table.

 

If we finish top eight five years in a row then that will be unprecedented for a club our size in the Prem era - it's only Bolton who I can think of that have done four in a row.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/queen/iwantitall.html

[Wade Garrett]

I think it is a realistic aspiration but as Read states "We have to do it a step at a time. We have to be patient, because we don't have the ability to do it all in one hit. We have to build towards it.".

 

It's fair to say that we're very much in the building phase and different fans will have different perspectives on how well that's going. As with any building phase you're going to have some good days and some not so good days, things that work, things that don't.

 

It's important to realise that this is a 5 year plan but a lot of posters on here don't seem to have the patience to look at the club over a 5 game timescale yet alone a 5 year one.

 

Over the summer our 3 key signings were all 22 years old or younger (roughly the same age as Sam McQueen) but so many fans expect them to instantly replace Pelle, Mane and Wanyama who were clearly much more experienced.

 

Also, we have tied several key players to long term contracts and are looking to open up the academy pathway after a couple of years of it stalling under Koeman.

 

Clearly our field of vision has moved to a more medium to long term viewpoint than previously. Personally, I find that exciting but I understand that there are fans out there who get frustrated with the slight steps backwards that can happen when you're trying to move the club up to the next level.

 

I think there a number of posters out there who are constantly looking for the silver bullet answer (sign Bony, Berahinho, Siggurdson, get Spider back, etc.). I think that's unrealistic, short-term thinking and is highly unlikely to work.

 

In my opinion the way the club is heading is our best chance of getting in amongst the big boys one day. Only time will tell if we succeed or not but in the meantime patience is needed.

 

A step at a time is sensible, but we don't help ourselves by taking backward steps every Summer selling players.