Greg Bobkin
Silver Seagull
- May 22, 2012
- 16,042
Could do a job
It is a truly noble act that we are prepared to invest heavily in so many players for the benefit of other clubs in the world and at the expense of potentially better investment in our own first team.
I think that this shows that we are a selfless club; a rare quality in this day and age.
This thread will be catnip for the 'he'll never play for us' crew.
Hope so. Highlights the stupidity of the club hierarchy in taking their eye off the ball in (presumably) trying to ensure PL survival. If in any doubt, see any Percy Tau thread. Still, at least we seem to have at least started preparing the PT paperwork. Unlike with AMc.
What on earth do these squads of Albion 'recruitment gurus' DO all day, other than fill the massed ranks of the U23's with players who invariably come and go without ever troubling the first team bench.
Quite bizarre that a PL club still acts pretty much like a County League side in so many of it's players dealings.
This thread will be catnip for the 'he'll never play for us' crew.
Thats a quite ridiculous post mate. The whole point of the U23 recruitment is to identify young players with potential to make the step up one day and sign as many of them as possible. Why you would choose a thread praising one of them for his football achievement as a reason to criticise the U23 recruitment policy makes no sense whatsoever
All part of the same malaise IMHO. It's like the club just drift through the seasons filling academies and squandering millions, with no apparent real focus on the one part of the circus that keeps the whole thing solvent: the first team. How long is it now since they've failed to address the lack of goals? How many millions squandered on players that don't even have work permits to play in this country? How many U23 players come and go without touching the sides? Just seems like there's a lack of focus on the core activity of trying to produce a successful first team.
All part of the same malaise IMHO. It's like the club just drift through the seasons filling academies and squandering millions, with no apparent real focus on the one part of the circus that keeps the whole thing solvent: the first team. How long is it now since they've failed to address the lack of goals? How many millions squandered on players that don't even have work permits to play in this country? How many U23 players come and go without touching the sides? Just seems like there's a lack of focus on the core activity of trying to produce a successful first team.
Worrying quotes from his father,
He claimed that if the 20-year-old doesn’t want to join the English side, he will not.
“Today the players decide. If he’s happy at Boca, he will stay at the club.”
The club is treating these players as investments. I don't think the intention is that every youngster is going to play for the first team, but we buy them for a few thousand and then sell them for lots of thousands, thereby raising more money for wages etc.
Think of it in a similar way to collecting objects, polishing them up and then selling them on.
All part of the same malaise IMHO. It's like the club just drift through the seasons filling academies and squandering millions, with no apparent real focus on the one part of the circus that keeps the whole thing solvent: the first team. How long is it now since they've failed to address the lack of goals? How many millions squandered on players that don't even have work permits to play in this country? How many U23 players come and go without touching the sides? Just seems like there's a lack of focus on the core activity of trying to produce a successful first team.
The club is treating these players as investments. I don't think the intention is that every youngster is going to play for the first team, but we buy them for a few thousand and then sell them for lots of thousands, thereby raising more money for wages etc.
Think of it in a similar way to collecting objects, polishing them up and then selling them on.
Yeah, that's fine. Except they spunk thousands on scouting them, travelling across the globe, player expenses, agent fees, wages, transfer fee etc. And then maybe you make £2 Million quid in three years time.
Does seem like a slow and staintainable production line. Nothing wrong with that at all. But, as Barber vaguely alluded to in one of his missives towards the end of last season, all of these Albion initiatives like the Academy, the ladies team, even AITC, depend for their continuing level of investment on the first team staying in the top tier. Just sometimes feels, rightly or wrongly, that that's not where the club is fully focussed.