As Times is paywall no point in posting a link but a long thoughtful article explaining that we can't go on shipping out our best players and staff and expect to stay in the Premier League.. Brentford in same position.
It goes hand in hand with the people that compare us to Southampton, in that there was a point where they had a top 6 quality squad which they broke apart by selling for big money & they couldnt replicate it so eventually tumbled down the table. They see how well we're doing, they see us selling players for big money, and think the same will happen. & it may, one day. But the huge difference between Southampton & us, is that yes it was good scouting for them to find those players but the timing which had them in one squad was rather fortuitous. With us it is much more of a long term strategy. We've scouted, bought, developed, and sold players for big money in the past (White, Cucurella, Caicedo, MacAllister, Sanchez, Trossard, Bissouma). We've got players currently in the squad where similar could happen in terms of big fees (Ferguson, Pedro, Enciso, Adingra, Buananotte, Mitoma, Baleba, Barco, Van Hecke, Hinshelwood). & beyond that we have the next batch of players in their early development stages who havent even got to our mens squad yet (Sarmiento, Ayari, Kozlowski, Leonard, Mazilu, Osman, Beadle, O'Mahony etc). Basically the people who write these articles and say it cant last have no idea of the succession planning that goes on in terms of our playing squad. This golden era may not last beyond another 5 years, but there's also a very good chance that it does.It's an argument I've heard a lot, but I think it misses the key point.
he recruitment strategy goes much deeper than "buy a wonderkid, sell on for a profit after a season".
The fact that has happened for 3 or 4 seasons, coinciding with our improvement, doesn't mean it is all we are doing.
We have gradually increased the quality of the whole squad. over the past 5 or 6 seasons.
Our core players are good enough to keep us mid-table at least.
I fully expect the strategy to continue to do this, for a good while yet.
That we need to buy badly, have average at best players which are therefore undesirable to other teams, and will mean that we can keep the side together as the best way for us avoid relegation.Very strange indeed. What is he trying to say?
As has been already said, he's only right insofar as it's a truism. It's not remotely insightful.He's right in a way, it won't last all this, it's all been too amazing all this atm, but a club like ours cannot stay rooted in the Premier league,it's not sustainable.
Martin Samuel in today's Times
"Here’s a prediction. Not one I wish to come true. In the next five seasons, maybe even sooner, Brighton & Hove Albion will be relegated. Not because they’re bad, but because they’re too good. Given the context of their resources and limitations, Brighton are as good as any team in the Premier League right now. And, for that reason, it simply can’t last."
As Times is paywall no point in posting a link but a long thoughtful article explaining that we can't go on shipping out our best players and staff and expect to stay in the Premier League.. Brentford in same position.
'It's only a bloody game.cheer up'He's right in a way, it won't last all this, it's all been too amazing all this atm, but a club like ours cannot stay rooted in the Premier league,it's not sustainable.
Agree with all this.There's a narrative I've seen out there that we're a Southampton waiting to happen; that this model has proven to be unsustainable over a long period of time.
Which I don't necessarily disagree with - in theory a couple of bad transfer windows where we sign more duds than wonderkids could cause us problems.
I'm not naive enough to think we won't go down. The odds are against us, in the long term.
But it's a lazy narrative based solely around the fact that we, like Southampton before us, prefer to buy emerging talent to sell for huge profit. It fails entirely to take into account that Tony Bloom isn't a f**king idiot with his money.