by Red H » Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:45 pm
Rip it up and start again.
If you want to be really radical it could mean years in the wilderness (outside the top 4), and no guarantee of us ever coming back.
It could also make us a more sound investment for a Sugar Daddy, but I'm not sure how much I like that either.
Either way we need a Youth system that continually finds and nurtures the best there is, preferably from home, but if not from further away. If we could create 1 or 2 first team players every year, buy in one with potential, and one class act, on a consistent basis I have no doubt with Rafa tactical acumen everything would be as it should within five years. That is how long it would take, and I'm not sure we'd keep hold of our best in the mean time.
I don't know enough to say if there has been genuine development, or if the cracks have just been paperer over. Financially a new stadium is a must, we will be on the second string of premier league clubs with out it before too long. Money talks, and the Yanks are too silent for my liking. Do we have time to wait for the world economy to turn around, free up the cash, and make a stadium possible ?
I still can't imagine why anyone would want to support a club other than ours, with the traditions, and history, and fans we have. However, without success, potential new markets and revenue streams will be eroded, further limiting our potential. It is a dangerous time for all clubs. Who wants to support a rich mans plaything, or a corporate brand ? To become one of these things could be as potentially damaging, as being starved of the oxygen of success in the long run.
I think a glorious, and bloodless revolution would be preferable to the rule of tyrants, but what chance do we really have without a strong man, all we can hope for is a benign dictatorship, and some shrewd investment, on and off the pitch.