by Vision »
08 Dec 2015 09:36
The whole "building a team" thing is interesting. I recall an interview with Brian shortly after TSI came on board saying all he ever wanted was to be able to manage and not have to lose his best players. I always thought that was a little naïve to be honest.
My feelings at the time I think were that it was a long term strategy AZ was looking at (clearly using Southampton as a model) and he clearly didn't fit that *.I could see the footballing logic behind it but didn't like the fact that we'd become the sort of club to treat a manager who'd achieved so much with us, so badly**.Not that we didn't have previous for it though. Older fans will recall we did the same thing with Maurice Evans although rather perversely we replaced his more measured neat and tidy football with Branfoot's new age (yes it really was the "high press" of it's time) long ball game.
The irony behind all this though was that almost the exact moment AZ embarked on this course, was the moment he realised he couldn't commit long term himself and started to bail out. This was compounded by making the mistake of thinking that Adkins was the driving force behind Southampton's rise as opposed to simply being a decent manager who benefitted from the previous manager's signings and a peerless youth system. It soon became apparent that far from building something , Adkins was going to have to fire fight for most of his time here.
Which brings us up to date. I'm not sure it's really possible to build a side over a period of time in the way it was back when Coppell was in charge. Football has become far more "short term". The financial rewards for Premier League football are so huge that it blinkers everything. Club's simply can't afford to just build as you just fall further and further behind and players themselves know that sitting on a Premier League bench is financially far more rewarding than playing in the Championship. It's another reason why the loan system is so huge these days.
Anyway I'm rambling again now but my point, if there is one, is that the next appointment will give us some indication of the way the Thais see us going forward. Will each season be a separate challenge for promotion until patience or money run out or are they looking to someone to continue building on the excellent existing Academy infrastructure?
* For all of Anton's disasters he was committed to the development of the Academy and the infrastructure around the club which has, and will, continue to bear fruit over the coming years.
** It's unlikely that Brian's promotion would have happened without AZ's intervention. I think we lost to Hull when the takeover announcement was made (give or take a day either way) but I remember McD's post match interview being one of the most depressing and downbeat I'd ever heard from any Reading manager. That defeat meant we slipped out of the play off places so by no means out of the race but momentum was slipping. Fast forward a couple of weeks and in comes Roberts. Also Jimmy Kebe signs a lucrative new deal and all of a sudden is off the treatment table and delivering on the pitch.
Last edited by
Vision on 08 Dec 2015 09:51, edited 1 time in total.