Ambition

[Kronenburg1892]

I'm not sure we deserve anything.

If anyone wins something, it's usually down to hard graff and focussed direction.

Reputation and expectation can drive as well as hinder the above process, but without graff and focus you'll get no where.

Right now, our expectation is being lowered on a weekly basis, with what we know in that we have a weak team with a weak manager. Which is being amplified by our expectation in a weak team with a weak manager. Almost a perpetual loop of downward focus.

But..

...it will hit a wall. A point when everyone gets ****ed off and sees the reality of what we really are. Or, which is more likely, we'll start to get bored of talking about what we should be, and start dreaming of what might be. Then focus is shifted from looking down, to looking up.

That's what's missing right now. We have no direction yet. We think we're ****, so we will be ****.

Roy is a dead man walking imo. I also think we need some distance away from G&H and last season before anyone is going to roll their sleaves up. I also believe NESV will also look at our league, look at which teams are strengthening, which are on the wane and when the best time to invest to get maximum bang for their buck.

I seriously don't think we're going to sign a Messi anytime soon, and hoping for a miracle signing is a fools pleasure. We're being played. We are now officially a leisure industry. Times for league strikes will only exist in the boardroom. It will be a bubble to take our money away.

[RedReet]

It took us a while to get back to that "signing top players" mentality after Houllier - we used to cry out for proven class I couldn't understand why we couldn't get those players. Instead of signing players from Inter or Barca, we were getting German clubs' cast offs and little known bargains (with the odd exception). I remember when we were linked to Kluivert and then signed Litmanen - it felt odd.

That changed with Rafa, Morientes was the first international huge name we had signed in AAAAAAAGES. We signed Luis Garcia from Barcelona and Xabi Alonso, and although they weren't well known at the time, we all knew these were top players and Rafa had some sway.

Feels like we're totally regressing now. We need NESV to make a statement of intent. To buy without having to sell, and a top player with a proven track record as well.

I agree Arn, we should be getting the equivalents of Kaka - can't see it happening though.

To be fair Cisse was quite a coup for us at the time as he had a lot of interest in him. Kewell, Babbel and Anelka were also big transfers for us, albeit we didn't follow through with the latter.

[Icon]

He's a direct descendant of Admiral Horatio Nelson. FACT.

And a close friend of mines cousin...

[Daniel 7]

To be fair Cisse was quite a coup for us at the time as he had a lot of interest in him. Kewell, Babbel and Anelka were also big transfers for us, albeit we didn't follow through with the latter.

I'd argue that Cisse was seen as a signing that went down as "potential" even though the price was ridiculous. Wasn't that one of the signings investigated for agent dodginess?

Babbel and Anelka - absolutely. Great players, but there was 4 years between signing those two and Morientes.

Kewell....yeah, I suppose. That Sky Sports coverage of him stopping just before he went "The team I'm going to sign for is..." still makes me cringe.

[RedReet]

To be honest I always had my doubts about Morientes doing well here, so I was just trying to think of a few players who did genuinely surprise and excite me when news broke that they signed.

[Daniel 7]

To be honest I always had my doubts about Morientes doing well here, so I was just trying to think of a few players who did genuinely surprise and excite me when news broke that they signed.

Yeah, I thought the same. Always thought he looked too slow for the Prem, I was right!

[GorbyPeacePrize]

The first thing to do is to get us playing like a team; just signing 'star players' and then expecting them to go out on the field and 'do the business' is complete wishful thinking. We need top class players within a framework that will allow the team to be competetive over the long term, and for that we need a top class Coach/Manager, so we are snookered while Hodgson is still casting his ugly shadow over the gaff.