The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[Legion]

A miracle.

[Malandro]

A miracle.

yes thats it

[dave.woodhall]

I'm not going into an extended quotation but I believe that with the money O'Neill spent he did just about the minimum he should have to be regarded as a success. However, he was always going to have his best players cherrypicked, as is any manager who doesn't have the resources to add world-class stars regularly and any club who can't pay Galactico wages to keep them.

Agree with that. I'm not having a pop at Randy for cutting his losses just that he knew what he was getting involved in.

Just out of interest, what do you think the club needs now? And that isn't a dig I'm interested.

In a fantasy world, I'd happily have similar to what we had under Brian Little. Spent money, but not outrageously compared to others, but have players who can actually pass, dribble, excite.
Its a shame that such a simple game has got so complicated.

If I could go back to one realistic time it would be the day of the 1996 League Cup final. Not only were we on the big stage but for the only time in my life we behaved like we belonged there and this was a normal day at the office - play, win a trophy, move on to the next one. We had big game players, they hadn't cost a fortune but they could be relied upon to perform when the occasion demanded. Whether we or any other club could do that again I don't know. You'll certainly never find players like Yorke and Ugo in the reserves or Wright, Charles and Johnson journeymaning in the lower divisions.

[olaftab]

If I could go back to one realistic time it would be the day of the 1996 League Cup final. Not only were we on the big stage but for the only time in my life we behaved like we belonged there and this was a normal day at the office - play, win a trophy, move on to the next one. We had big game players, they hadn't cost a fortune but they could be relied upon to perform when the occasion demanded. Whether we or any other club could do that again I don't know. You'll certainly never find players like Yorke and Ugo in the reserves or Wright, Charles and Johnson journeymaning in the lower divisions.

Yes agree with that. I remember driving down to Wembley  and no sign of nerves, no reservations and no doubt. Confident that we will win and win we did because there was absolute  belief in the team and the manager's ability. Playing Leeds team in a downward spiral also helped, of course, but it would be nice to get that feeling about our team again.

[Malandro]

If I could go back to one realistic time it would be the day of the 1996 League Cup final. Not only were we on the big stage but for the only time in my life we behaved like we belonged there and this was a normal day at the office - play, win a trophy, move on to the next one. We had big game players, they hadn't cost a fortune but they could be relied upon to perform when the occasion demanded. Whether we or any other club could do that again I don't know. You'll certainly never find players like Yorke and Ugo in the reserves or Wright, Charles and Johnson journeymaning in the lower divisions.

Yes agree with that. I remember driving down to Wembley  and no sign of nerves, no reservations and no doubt. Confident that we will win and win we did because there was absolute  belief in the team and the manager's ability. Playing Leeds team in a downward spiral also helped, of course, but it would be nice to get that feeling about our team again.

It was nice for Savo to get that beauty too, although that one didn't end too well. I knew there was a player there.
Can you remember the stick he used to get in the papers!

[richard moore]

Agree with Dave wholeheartedly. It also felt like the last time we were on a par with a club like Arsenal who we beat en route. They headed off in one direction post 96 whilst we, for the most part, have travelled a very different path

[Toronto Villa]

Much of our history unfortunately tells a story of spurned opportunities. There have been so many moments where we could have been greater and more successful than we have been. We have never been able to sustain that momentum primarily because of ourselves than outside factors.

[Villan For Life]

So what really went wrong for Brian Little then? Doug certainly backed him with cash. I've always questioned the signing of Collymore and Curcic. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but we didn't build on 1996.

[silhillvilla]

I'm not going into an extended quotation but I believe that with the money O'Neill spent he did just about the minimum he should have to be regarded as a success. However, he was always going to have his best players cherrypicked, as is any manager who doesn't have the resources to add world-class stars regularly and any club who can't pay Galactico wages to keep them.

The moment Gareth Barry decided to leave the dream began to fade.

[not3bad]

I'm not going into an extended quotation but I believe that with the money O'Neill spent he did just about the minimum he should have to be regarded as a success. However, he was always going to have his best players cherrypicked, as is any manager who doesn't have the resources to add world-class stars regularly and any club who can't pay Galactico wages to keep them.

The moment Gareth Barry decided to leave the dream began to fade.

Players would have wanted to leave whether Randy kept spending or not though. It's the way the game works.

[Chris Smith]

A new owner could come in and invest a quarter of the money Randy has and we'd be in a much better position. What we need is more brains than cash.

I think what's currently happening at Southampton suggests that this isn't true, given that the gilded elite will have taken their 3 best players as well as their manager by the start of next season. The only way they could have kept their squad together was by convincing them of their "ambition" by going on a massive spending spree this summer.

Sadly given how the game is now structured  if we aspire to any kind of significant  lasting success it has to be by virtue of an extremely benevolent billionaire, otherwise no matter how much ingenuity we have with regard to coaching, scouting and player development we'd still  only ever be a feeder club for the aforementioned elite.

Say Southampton receive £50m ish for Shaw, Lallana and Lambert, if they spend it the way we spent our Downing, Milner, Young money then theres no doubt the only way is downwards for a few years. If they have a decent manager in by that time then you'd expect them to do more with it than what we did.

I wasn't suggesting that for a quarter of Lerners outlay we could be up there and challenging, but with a more responsible attitude and building something a bit more sustainable he could probably have come in, spent a hell of a lot less, realised he hasn't the nous or knowledge for it and not have an outlay of £300m to try and recoup.

If reports are correct then most of the money Southampton receive will be swallowed up in repaying outstanding transfer fees and the £30m due on their new training ground. I think they could be in for a tough time, similar to us post O'Neill.

[pauliewalnuts]

How have they managed to spend 30m on a training ground?

Is it made of gold?

Or in London?

[silhillvilla]

Hoping Lerner puts a timeline on the sale and if it drags on too long he recommits for a few more years and takes us off the open market.
Then again when you're losing US $150,000 a day by owning us that's easy for me to say.

[john2710]

Hoping Lerner puts a timeline on the sale and if it drags on too long he recommits for a few more years and takes us off the open market.
Then again when you're losing US $150,000 a day by owning us that's easy for me to say.

If he doesn't sell & we go down, he'll lose a hell of a lot more than that.

[Matt C]

How have they managed to spend 30m on a training ground?

Is it made of gold?

Or in London?

MON commissioned it.