Ok, so I've been lazy at updating, sorry. Now the apologies are out the way, the reflection and hoping can begin.
So Saints' excellent end to the season was so disappointingly ended by the worst footballing team in the championship!! A real pity that Derby made it to the premiership by beating the two most attractive footballing teams in the division, Saints and West Brom. Saints' problem this season was that we were too weak as a team. We didn't really have any tough players, haven't for years!
Despite the penalty shoot-out defeat to Derby I came away really proud of the team and the way they played. Now we have to take all the positives from this season and look to build on them. We have a young team and some great players. Bale has gone, which is a real shame (especially as its to Spurs), but good luck to him and we still produced some great performances without him last season (like the playoff 2nd leg). It doesn't look like we should lose too many more players (for non-financial reasons) in the summer. I hope Baird can be persuaded to stay and we can get young Best on a new contract.
I did say non-financial reasons though. The club obviously lose the parachute payments next season and will need some new financing or a major reduction in costs (bye-bye players). So if there is to be a takeover who might it be? Well, in the last few months there's been mention of a consortium fronted by Graeme Souness and a possible bid by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. No news has been coming out of the club recently, as it is in an offer period, and so cannot legally release information. I guess it is a case of wait and see, and HOPE!! New investment into the club would be fantastic. I don't want an Abramovich to come in and spend £300 million, but to secure the clubs future and develop the squad for a strong title push next year.
To succeed next year Saints need to bring in at least one big, strong centre back, a midfield bully and a creative spark. If we can keep Best, Rasiak, Jones and maybe even Saganowski (unlikely!) we have a pretty good strike force.
2007/08 'should' be a great year for Saints, new investment (hopefully), a real push for automatic promotion and watching Derby struggle miserably in the Premiership:)
