Quote:
Originally Posted by Bewolf
That is kinda contradictionary in regards to what Osprey said. If there is not a propper youth training scheme because all the money goes to foreign players, what youth is supposed to learn from them?
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well that's just balderdash, to be frank.
the financial fair play rules make developing youth players all the more vital, as you need to discover the next ronaldo and messi rather than buy them. some clubs have exceptional youth development set ups (such as manchester city, everton's is noteworthy as well as, of course, united. arsenal create some wonderful players as well. liverpool's used ot be good, but hasn't really produced anyone that comes to the top of my head since gerrard.) which, whilst they may not produce many players that walk into city's first team (hart and richards are currently the only two to have gone through it), do produce players that are capable of playing in the premier league or other top leagues in the world (guidetti on loan in the eredivisie last season was rather special i gather, onuoha, wright-phillips and barton at QPR, boyata at bolton), and are thusly sold. united's youth set up used to be quality as well, but their output has not lived up to the generation of scholes and giggs. only welbeck and cleverly are all that noteworthy of the current crop, but it's a bit early to say whether they are actually going to come good, or if they'll be a bit macheda. the problem for lower league teams is that they used to discover these players and sell them up the leagues for a profit. as the top flight now need to reduce expenditure and steal a march on their rivals they snap these kids up at any age from 11 for pennies, meaning the lower leagues are robbed of both revenue stream and of talent that may turn out for them for a couple of seasons, helping to earn promotion or higher league places before being sold. if anything, the less able players are sold down the leagues at more than it would have cost these teams to develop them, although it seems quite common that the top flight just release players from tehir contracts if they aren't going to make it, so they are free agents and can sign for whoever for nothing.
osprey, i'm a manchester city fan, like my brother, like my father and like my grandfather. my dad was born and raised in salford, and, after jaunts in edinburgh, eventually moved back within about 40 miles of manchester, where i was raised. i stood on the terraces in the kippax when i was 11. i've been to watch us play second division shite (and i mean old second division), i've seen your lot come to us when you were decent, i've watched in dismay as we play for a draw when we need a win to avoid relegation, i've been to wembley to watch us snatch salvation from gillingham... and i've seen us, finally, play the kind of football my childhood self was convinced we were capable of. to paraphrase somewhat, i've served my time in hell. to say that all clubs have disengaged from their fanbase is also to display a rather amusing level of ignorance. i can only speak for city but fan involvement and engagement is actually better than i can remember at any point in my life time. i remember one kind of fan involvement very vividly, namely protesting against swales' ownership of the club. now we have every season ticket holder's name emblazoned along the walls of the stair cases going up to the seats.
so you can take your supermarket analogy and stuff it.