Anyone else think?

[Guest Coubury]

We wont finish in the top 10 next season?

 

Im having my doubts!

 

Just after reading this article on sky sports http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11678_3629294,00.html

 

I know hes Said before he only needs 3-4 play players but i reckon we need more

 

Our current squad is a long away off the top 6 when you look at the squad Spurs Everton Villa Pompey Blackburn etc

 

Players that need replaced include Viduka, Milner, Geremi, Faye , and some may argue Barton.

 

 

I reckon we will have a hard time persuading Top players to come here, And unless we bring in 7-8 players I think we are long way off Finishing in the top 6 next year.

 

 

[Guest geordienorway]

Why should we replace Faye?

[Guest Stephen927]

The current squad doesn't need a major overhaul IMO.

 

We were 6 points off West Ham who finished 10th this season, despite the terrible season we had overall.

[Shak]

We need 3 or 4 players who will come in and really improve us, get them and I think we could be a pretty useful team and would expect us to be finishing in the top half.

 

There's some very good players at the club, we just lack a few very key components in putting together a good team that will bring out the best in them.

 

A centre-back that organises the defence, a main playmaker in midfield and a frontman who we can play the ball into feet to and will give us a bit of a physical presence up front. Three key components in any good side, and we have none of them, barring Viduka maybe when he's fit and in the mood.

 

Get those three players and we're a whole new animal. Not an easy task though.

[Dokko]

I think what we've got now is around about top ten. I think with no signings we'll finish around where we have 12th, so a couple of decent signings would get us in the top ten.

 

But for me the club does need an overhaul ASAP.

 

 

[Baggio]

We need 3 or 4 players who will come in and really improve us, get them and I think we could be a pretty useful team and would expect us to be finishing in the top half.

 

There's some very good players at the club, we just lack a few very key components in putting together a good team that will bring out the best in them.

 

A centre-back that organises the defence, a main playmaker in midfield and a frontman who we can play the ball into feet to and will give us a bit of a physical presence up front. Three key components in any good side, and we have none of them, barring Viduka maybe when he's fit and in the mood.

 

Get those three players and we're a whole new animal. Not an easy task though.

 

That's about right, Keegan said he wants 3 or 4 for the first team and I can see those being 3 of them, I can see another midfielder coming in too who can get up and down the pitch better than Geremi, apart from that he said he wants a few more for the squad which I can see Diane and a new left back being.

[Guest Coubury]

Why should we replace Faye?

 

 

I have watched most of the games this season and he certainly isn't the best centre back and is prone to make a few errors

 

Shak your right We need A centre-back that organises the defence i.e replace Faye and a playmaker pitty we lost out on Modric,

 

Also i right sided Midfielder as much as i like Milner he couldn't cross a road fs

[Guest MaetihS]

Top 10 or not is not impt as long as we improve our league position even by one place and have a good cup run. One step at a time. Our expectation will rightly be heightened if we can get some real quality in but as it stands now, looks unlikely so i say 11th place next season will be acceptable unless we splash the cash on some mint players.

[BlueStar]

I'm not expecting any great shakes next season.  Maybe a few decent signings will give me some giddy optimism but inspite of an upturn in form near the end of last season I can't see us making many gains on our rivals above.

[Crumpy Gunt]

Ashleys bright idea of bribing folk to pay up front by offering free cup tickets / 10%off etc. should be totally ignored until he shows his hand.

 

Notice after Keegans outburst and subsequant 'invite' to London, Ashley chose the directors box at Everton. I get a strong feeling not much will be spent over the summer with Keegan likely told the majority of his spending money will be generated by sales. And as we've little of any real value ....

 

Hope I'm wrong though and Ashley pushes the boat out bigstyle.

[Elliottman]

I think the season has been finished a few weeks, the transfer window hasnt opened yet, mosy clubs havent bought a single player and people need to just calm down and predict our season when its just abut to kick off.

 

Thats just my opinion though.

[Dave]

I think Keegan would have had us in the top ten this year had he been in charge all season, even with this lot. We ended up being only six points off West Ham in tenth, and everyone accepts our season was complete shit. Add on the points we gifted Derby under Allardyce and we'd have been even closer.

 

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's nailed on, but I see no real reason for us not finishing in the top half next year. With the right three or four signings for the first team we can hopefully look beyond that.

 

Agree with others though in that Ashley's still not shown his intentions, and that we need to wait until the transfer window shuts before we can judge.

[SUPERTOON]

Expect to see us finish above West Ham Man City and Pompey dont thik anyone below us this season will finsh above us thats if we make 4-5 good signings

[Dan Gleebals]

Ashleys bright idea of bribing folk to pay up front by offering free cup tickets / 10%off etc. should be totally ignored until he shows his hand.

 

Notice after Keegans outburst and subsequant 'invite' to London, Ashley chose the directors box at Everton. I get a strong feeling not much will be spent over the summer with Keegan likely told the majority of his spending money will be generated by sales. And as we've little of any real value ....

 

Hope I'm wrong though and Ashley pushes the boat out bigstyle.

 

 

If that is a reality and true, KK will not stay.  He was promised funds when he came here, if they pull that he will walk.  I personally think things are better behind the scenes than is being made out.  All will be ok and we will get the players we need.

[ChrisJbarnes]

top 10 should be do able. the huge challenge is above that. i mean look at spurs everton aston villa man city blackburn portsmouth west ham all of whom in my opinion have better overall squads than ours at the moment (west ham is arguable). we can get top 10 by bringing in 1 or 2 good players. to get top 6, itll be a lot harder and to be honest, at a game like aston villa vs portsmouth, you could see the result go either way. its highly competetive outisde the top 4.

[Taylor Swift]

Three or four players will change our team. I think we have all the minor cogs in place already, much like we had them before we bought Bellamy and Robert. We just need two more of those. Two more sparks and we'll fuck everyone else up.

[maze]

First of all, I'll just add James' thread in here, because it's very good and relevant

 

I'm not gonna write a fucking novel about this, as it has been discussed so many times in here, that we have now moved on to discuss the discussion.

 

I guess a lot of people, including myself, expected a 'overhaul' last summer. We appointed Big Sam, we were taken over, and although BS wasn't the new board appointment - they did decide to keep him. For me that was a sign of trust, and not "we'll-keep-Sam-and-see-how-it-goes" kind of thing. Now somewhere along the road a certain Ashley decided that he didn't want to spend a lot of cash - which in turn disappointed me (and maybe a lot of you guys) = no 'shopping spree'/overhaul after all.

 

Almost a year after the takeover, we should now have a clearer view of how everything's going to be. As most of you are aware of deep down we had a huge debt problem. Ashley cleared that - or atleast most of it. Which enable us to continue in a more healthy financial state. So the long-term foundation's actually undergoing (far from completed) a major overhaul, compared to how far down in the shit we were,and could have been.

 

Also, our youth academy has a long way to go before we reach the level of i.e. West Ham - because thats were we want to be (only X times better). This process clearly takes some time - and the faster we start - the faster it'll yield results. This leads me over to our 'scouting network', which obviously has been missing in the past, more or less - now it finally looks like we are doing some very good progress here, and we have been linked with so many  players lately that it is actually fun to (atleast think) we have an exciting time ahead of us.

 

The things I've been writing this far mostly concern the infrastructure (in addition to financial stuff), and some might think: " What the hack has this shit to do with the topic". Well I'm getting there....

 

So, let me give you two situations:

 

X: Club A has not paid much attention to infrastructure (here: backroom staff, youth and money)

Y: Club B has consistently developed their infrastructure, (in other words improved backroom staff, more healthy financially speaking, and given youth academy its deserved attention )

 

Who's gonna succeed...??

 

X?

Y?

or both?

 

Well, obviously both can succeed. To what degree is another 'golden question'. Now lets say Club A is Newcastle. We have spent big on many many players, we've got some success, and when we need to replace players we do, and then continue our success. We have to spent big, because we don't have the infrastructure that Club B has. (this example is wide, and one could build on this! I know.... ) alternatively we can say that club A is Chelsea. They have a super squad, and have success, but its been a long time since we have seen a Chelsea product capture a first team spot (or even had the chance and trust). So every time they need a new/better player - they buy him.

 

Many people like that - it's the madman's world. Shop 'till you drop mentality. But you all know Roman have spent a lot of money on Chelsea, and they are yet to show some positives financially....

 

Alternatively Newcastle can become Club B (transform from A to B) - Clearing the debt, start making some money. Maybe Club B has a 'half-decent' squad (some fans think so) and/but they still manage to finish somewhere in the middle. So they spent some money and brings in a couple of good first team players to - the very least sustain their position in the league. At the same time they use a lot of money and energy on consistently developing their infrastructure. As time goes one should expect this commitment to yield some positive results. Maybe the results are of such character that they have the players Club A desperately want, so they can either:

 

a) keep

or..

b) sell

 

Lets assume that Club B doesn't have to sell*, and therefore keep these 'super' talents. Now, one should really expect this club to grow, and climb the table. Maybe not that fast in the start, but that will come eventually. As time goes by, Club B continue their positive development, earning money and so on, and they start mixing their own super talents with talents from other clubs - and all of their hard work have made them among the top clubs.

 

(alternatively club B can be at the very start of their development, and therefore need the money, haven't qualified for Euro. comp. etc, so they sell to Club A for big money and use the it to - further develop, pay debt, or buy some good first team players. As time goes by Club B steadily builds up, and at the end of the 'day', when Club A knocks on the door and says : "Hi there, I want your players", they can simply say: "No, we don't sell". What's Club A gonna do? It's infrastructure hasn't be a priority and the clubs in the B-category doesn't want to sell   Well it's got to start doing the same as Club B started with - The only problem is that Club B is so far ahead and very good at this, that if Club A ever succeed doing the same it will take time)

 

The down side is of course that as a supporter, one cannot expect (any) short-term success. On the other hand, the long-term sounds very promising - both financial/infrastructural and of course on the pitch.

 

So, if you apply the above to this topic/thread it's pretty clear what's going on, aye?

 

Ok, so this is simplified.... and my god.. this became a novel..

 

Bottom-line is though,  a major 'overhaul' doesn't guarantee we won't disappoint as Tottenham did last season. Certainly decreases the value of our current players - cause we tell everybody that we wanna get rid of everything - and Keegan has indeed shown us that the players we have can play football. So by keeping the majority of the squad, and at this stage just add some more makes sense.

 

Finally, say we do "the club B" scenario, and become like the top four, well you all know we do have the financial power to atleast meet the players demand when it come to wages - just the opposite of what Arsenal can/does today

 

|maze|

[Guest Coubury]

Excellent post lol

[WhatTheFunk]

 

the whole issue with not having money to spend, and having to generate funds thru player sales is a diversion and a smoke screen imo.

 

Ashley will spend, but will not spend a penny more than he has to. Sound business it will be should he pull that off.

[Guest Brazilianbob]

First of all, I'll just add James' thread in here, because it's very good and relevant

 

I'm not gonna write a f***ing novel about this, as it has been discussed so many times in here, that we have now moved on to discuss the discussion.

 

I guess a lot of people, including myself, expected a 'overhaul' last summer. We appointed Big Sam, we were taken over, and although BS wasn't the new board appointment - they did decide to keep him. For me that was a sign of trust, and not "we'll-keep-Sam-and-see-how-it-goes" kind of thing. Now somewhere along the road a certain Ashley decided that he didn't want to spend a lot of cash - which in turn disappointed me (and maybe a lot of you guys) = no 'shopping spree'/overhaul after all.

 

Almost a year after the takeover, we should now have a clearer view of how everything's going to be. As most of you are aware of deep down we had a huge debt problem. Ashley cleared that - or atleast most of it. Which enable us to continue in a more healthy financial state. So the long-term foundation's actually undergoing (far from completed) a major overhaul, compared to how far down in the s*** we were,and could have been.

 

Also, our youth academy has a long way to go before we reach the level of i.e. West Ham - because thats were we want to be (only X times better). This process clearly takes some time - and the faster we start - the faster it'll yield results. This leads me over to our 'scouting network', which obviously has been missing in the past, more or less - now it finally looks like we are doing some very good progress here, and we have been linked with so many  players lately that it is actually fun to (atleast think) we have an exciting time ahead of us.

 

The things I've been writing this far mostly concern the infrastructure (in addition to financial stuff), and some might think: " What the hack has this s*** to do with the topic". Well I'm getting there....

 

So, let me give you two situations:

 

X: Club A has not paid much attention to infrastructure (here: backroom staff, youth and money)

Y: Club B has consistently developed their infrastructure, (in other words improved backroom staff, more healthy financially speaking, and given youth academy its deserved attention )

 

Who's gonna succeed...??

 

X?

Y?

or both?

 

Well, obviously both can succeed. To what degree is another 'golden question'. Now lets say Club A is Newcastle. We have spent big on many many players, we've got some success, and when we need to replace players we do, and then continue our success. We have to spent big, because we don't have the infrastructure that Club B has. (this example is wide, and one could build on this! I know.... ) alternatively we can say that club A is Chelsea. They have a super squad, and have success, but its been a long time since we have seen a Chelsea product capture a first team spot (or even had the chance and trust). So every time they need a new/better player - they buy him.

 

Many people like that - it's the madman's world. Shop 'till you drop mentality. But you all know Roman have spent a lot of money on Chelsea, and they are yet to show some positives financially....

 

Alternatively Newcastle can become Club B (transform from A to B) - Clearing the debt, start making some money. Maybe Club B has a 'half-decent' squad (some fans think so) and/but they still manage to finish somewhere in the middle. So they spent some money and brings in a couple of good first team players to - the very least sustain their position in the league. At the same time they use a lot of money and energy on consistently developing their infrastructure. As time goes one should expect this commitment to yield some positive results. Maybe the results are of such character that they have the players Club A desperately want, so they can either:

 

a) keep

or..

b) sell

 

Lets assume that Club B doesn't have to sell*, and therefore keep these 'super' talents. Now, one should really expect this club to grow, and climb the table. Maybe not that fast in the start, but that will come eventually. As time goes by, Club B continue their positive development, earning money and so on, and they start mixing their own super talents with talents from other clubs - and all of their hard work have made them among the top clubs.

 

(alternatively club B can be at the very start of their development, and therefore need the money, haven't qualified for Euro. comp. etc, so they sell to Club A for big money and use the it to - further develop, pay debt, or buy some good first team players. As time goes by Club B steadily builds up, and at the end of the 'day', when Club A knocks on the door and says : "Hi there, I want your players", they can simply say: "No, we don't sell". What's Club A gonna do? It's infrastructure hasn't be a priority and the clubs in the B-category doesn't want to sell   Well it's got to start doing the same as Club B started with - The only problem is that Club B is so far ahead and very good at this, that if Club A ever succeed doing the same it will take time)

 

The down side is of course that as a supporter, one cannot expect (any) short-term success. On the other hand, the long-term sounds very promising - both financial/infrastructural and of course on the pitch.

 

So, if you apply the above to this topic/thread it's pretty clear what's going on, aye?

 

Ok, so this is simplified.... and my god.. this became a novel..

 

Bottom-line is though,  a major 'overhaul' doesn't guarantee we won't disappoint as Tottenham did last season. Certainly decreases the value of our current players - cause we tell everybody that we wanna get rid of everything - and Keegan has indeed shown us that the players we have can play football. So by keeping the majority of the squad, and at this stage just add some more makes sense.

 

Finally, say we do "the club B" scenario, and become like the top four, well you all know we do have the financial power to atleast meet the players demand when it come to wages - just the opposite of what Arsenal can/does today

 

|maze|

 

The problem with this is that as club B, while we may not have to sell, the players agents will simply agitate and unsettle our young "stars" so they end up running down their contracts and leaving for club A (ie Chelsea) for nothing, but where they get a whacking great signing on fee, of which the agent takes a sizeable cut, and we get a couple of hundred grand for our trouble from a tribunal for developing the player(s).

[Guest MaetihS]

Expect to see us finish above West Ham Man City and Pompey dont thik anyone below us this season will finsh above us thats if we make 4-5 good signings

 

One of the reasons that we are a laughing stock i football, for god's sake, our blinded faith and belief that we are better than most. Fact we are not a top 10 club anymore.

[Guest optimistic nit]

I think what we've got now is around about top ten. I think with no signings we'll finish around where we have 12th, so a couple of decent signings would get us in the top ten.

 

But for me the club does need an overhaul ASAP.

 

 

 

the clubs above us will make a couple of decent signings as well though. we need to spend quite a bit in the summer.

 

 

bit of a conflict from saying this to saying we'll not break the top 4 in a million years though. i hope this is just keegan's way of standing up for the team, when in reality he knows its not good enough.

[Guest neesy111]

it's not about last season under allardyce where he brought in lots of players but no quality

 

it's about signing 3-4 top quality players, that will make the difference as we have a decent squad with the youngsters as well

 

if we can have 5-6 quality players in the team instead of the 2-3 we have now, then we can defo make europe

[Willow]

I'd say we need 5 or 6 players but I don't think any of us have any idea how this summers going to pan out. The european ch'ship is a spanner in the works too, so prices will be all over the shop at times.

 

I'm strangely looking forward to this window though......I'm an optimist at heart and when I heard we were willing to splash over £20m on Modric alone, that made me realise we may have something up our sleeve.....

[afar]

Expect to see us finish above West Ham Man City and Pompey dont thik anyone below us this season will finsh above us thats if we make 4-5 good signings

 

One of the reasons that we are a laughing stock i football, for god's sake, our blinded faith and belief that we are better than most. Fact we are not a top 10 club anymore.

 

Mackem WUM, back I see.