For up-to-the-minute sports news visit dailyecho.co.ukFriday, August 7, 2009 73
SAINTS Points deduction can create a positive 16-PAGESAINTS
PRE-SEASONSPECIAL
DON’T MISSTOMORROW’SDAILY ECHO
Alan Pardewspeaks out – ‘Iknow the owners
dream about thePremiership and theywant to do it in a struc-tured way’.
In-depth guide tothe Saints squad.
Club by clubLeague Oneguide – their
signings and theirchances.
The template forsuccess inLeague One – by
the man who knowsthe division so well.
Exclusive inter-views with Saintsmidfielder Simon
Gillett and Paul Wottonon their League Oneexperiences.
THIS season Saintsfans are in for a cul-ture shock, thatmuch is for sure.
The maligned kick and runmentality will still be inforce.
But those hopeful kicks arenow going to go askew moreoften than not.
Like the Championship,we will go to some nicegrounds and some bad ones.But the latter will beabsolutely awful.
I must admit, I have seenvery little League One foot-ball.
But there seems to be littledifference, in terms of quali-ty, with League Two.
Just look at those sidesthat have gone on and suc-ceeded once achieving pro-motion, like Peterboroughand MK Dons last season
In 2008/09 I watched a lot ofLeague Two football. I cov-ered Rotherham for the localrag up there and, had it notbeen for a 17-point deduc-tion, they would have proba-bly faced Saints this season.
And one thing really stoodout. How a side can succeeddespite their dearth of talentand points deduction.
You just need organisationin a team and a group of peo-ple who will work togetherfor the greater good.Something Saints have nothad in recent years.
Rotherham had a basicsquad. They had a good man-ager (ex-Manchester Unitedstriker Mark Robins), a fair-ly strong backline and adecent target man (RuebenReid), with men with thepace to run off him.
And they worked as a unit,
which is all it took. Saints found out in the
Carling Cup third round lossat the Don Valley Stadiumjust what the Millers werecapable of when they wereup for it.
For Rotherham, the mon-strous 17-point deficitworked in their favour interms of mentality. Onnumerous occasions staffand players told me howmuch it pulled the sidetogether.
Major issue
It made them push to provethe authorities wrong.
But the management didadmit there was major issuein building that team.
At League One and Twolevel it is fairly straightfor-ward to sign a defender thatwill help sturdy the ship.They just have to be big andable to concentrate.
It’s at the other end they,and unfortunately we, maystruggle.
Rotherham gambled onseveral strikers with hope offinding a gem. They had to.
No half-decent forwardwith any pedigree wanted tosign for a club languishingat the bottom of the league,fighting a point deficit fromthe offset.
Saints will have to do thesame.
We are in the league aboveand are a far bigger name.
But we are competing withthe likes of Leeds, Charltonand Norwich for the sameplayers.
And they have the bonus ofstarting on a level footing.
All of this, in one big melt-ing pot, means that this sea-son will be a difficult voyageinto the unknown.
Alan Pardew is a fine man-agerm but now he mustbuild a team.
A team that will play foreach other, not just their paycheques.
A team of players who willfight for one another and thefans.
A team that are proud towear the red and white.
I never thought I’d say thisbut Saints could do with tak-ing a leaf out of Rotherham’sbook ...
Rotherham can bea good templatefor us to follow ...
By Simon [email protected]
For up-to-the-minute news andsport – dailyecho.co.uk
GOAL-DENMOMENT: SternJohn scores atRotherham lastseason, but Saintssuffered a miser-able Carling Cupexit.
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