NottinghamWhite wrote:The Jack Charlton thread has had me thinking. In 1963-1964 season Don had Leeds as champions of the old 2nd division, the following season runners up in the 1st division & beaten finalists in the FA Cup, the start of what I refer to as the bridesmaids era, then in 1965-1966 season once again runners up in the 1st division. In the 1966 World Cup we had 2 players in the squad of 22 Big Jack & Norman Hunter plus Les Cocker was the England & Leeds trainer. Not bad for a team that 3 years earlier had been a 2nd division outfit, I suppose you could say Southampton are a bit similar today
Anyway if like then we had managed to keep some of the players we have had over the last few years today's team would look something like this.
Carson
Byram
Rose
Johnson
Killgannon
Howson
Snodgrass
Gradel
Beckford
McCormack
Delph
Bench
Cairns
Murphy
Smith
Mowatt
Poleon
Warnock
Wooton
I'm sure I've missed some players but how if we had managed to keep the squad in tact how would our chances of promotion be compared to today's squad ? All hypothetical I know. I suppose the other $64000 question is which manager for me I'd have Poyet with Carver as his assistant.
It's a nice thought but players lack any loyalty these days to be able to build a stable squad. It's almost the same as thinking if we had Don's youngsters now, just how many of them would we have held on to, not that many I would like to bet.
