Superhudd
Simon Davies
So.. what does everyone think of this 11m deal for the school.
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I don't think there is a chairman in world football like him. A team that languished in 12th -14th for years with the same capacity of 30k odd as we have today, to be where we are, spending what we spend on a regular basis, a CL Quarter Final, best training ground in Europe...etc the guy worked miracles I honestly believe it, especially with no real sugar daddy because we all know Lewis isn't pumping cash in.
I don't think there is a chairman in world football like him. A team that languished in 12th -14th for years with the same capacity of 30k odd as we have today, to be where we are, spending what we spend on a regular basis, a CL Quarter Final, best training ground in Europe...etc the guy worked miracles I honestly believe it, especially with no real sugar daddy because we all know Lewis isn't pumping cash in.
Which school is it. There are a few in close proximity. Im assuming it is the one opposite the main spurs shop????
If the club has extra land with the right to sell in an up and coming area then its all good if they can make money from it to help with the building of our new stadium.
There hasn't been that many moves of major franchises. They've usually just expanded the leagues. There's a few from MLB that caused a bit of a stir because they'd been founded as far back as the 1870s and been around for 70-80 years, like the Atlanta Braves (used to be Boston Braves), Oakland Athletics (used to be Kansas City Athletics, but founded as Philadelphia Athletics) and the San Francisco Giants (previously the New York Giants).
The LA Dodgers (previously Brooklyn Dodgers) is MK Dons times 10 though. After 75 years in Brooklyn they moved to LA in 1958 because local authorities wouldn't help out with construction of a new stadium. Free stadiums are usually why moves happen. You don't expect billionaire owners to invest any of their own money or even the team's.
the Jag's spent a lot of money on their stadium last year (well, someone did), I think the Ram's are still the likeliest franchise to up sticks
I said it here I think last year that I believe Jacksonville will be moving to the UK, I heard rumours from someone in football that it was the plan of Khan as their interest in the Jaguars in US is poor and their are rank bottom, plus with Fulham being pretty middle of the road its a low upset tie up.....
Lets be fair, he is a multi billionaire and has invested little in Fulhams playing squad, I think its postcode and city wealth for future hospitality he is buying into......
It'll be several years, if at all before a NFL team becomes a franchise in the UK but LA needs an NFL team and its much more plausible the Jags move to the west coast
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/34767964
A slightly different angle to the player development story instead of just looking at the age of the teams actually looking at the percentage of "home grown"/"club-trained" players. Here defined as players that spent at least 3 years at the club between the ages of 15 and 21.
Unsurprisingly we're way ahead at 32%, solid drop to Arsenal in second at 24%, then United at 20%.
I think it illustrates that although some clubs like Liverpool and Saudi Sportswashing Machine are rightly being praised for their youth policy, that's quite different from having a good academy and overall player development philosophy. Bit different just signing up talented players in their late teens and early twenties, often for big money, and actually contributing to the development of players from an earlier age.
I've said it before, and will continue to say it, the FA should be sending Levy weekly shipments of hookers and blow as thanks for the steps we've made under him in terms of player development. And whenever we as a club have anything to say about how a player should be managed they should sit up, take notice and stfu. Perhaps they'll accidentally learn something.
I've heard it stated that Barcelona aims to have 50% of their squad made up of home grown players from La Masia. I don't know if that's still true, or if they're actually mangaging to reach that goal. I'm guessing perhaps not at the moment. Wouldn't be an unthinkable goal for us either actually.
I wonder whether our current crop of youngsters will be able to emulate Utd's Class of '92? Will Kane, Mason, Bentaleb, Pritchard, Josh Onomah coupled with the recently added Dier and Alli be our equivalent? Bearing in mind I deliberately missed off Tom Carroll and Andros Townsend as I don't think they will be with us long term we are doing just fine. How much would that initial list cost to replace in the current market with equivalent talent? A bloody small fortune.http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/34767964
A slightly different angle to the player development story instead of just looking at the age of the teams actually looking at the percentage of "home grown"/"club-trained" players. Here defined as players that spent at least 3 years at the club between the ages of 15 and 21.
Unsurprisingly we're way ahead at 32%, solid drop to Arsenal in second at 24%, then United at 20%.
I think it illustrates that although some clubs like Liverpool and Saudi Sportswashing Machine are rightly being praised for their youth policy, that's quite different from having a good academy and overall player development philosophy. Bit different just signing up talented players in their late teens and early twenties, often for big money, and actually contributing to the development of players from an earlier age.
I've said it before, and will continue to say it, the FA should be sending Levy weekly shipments of hookers and blow as thanks for the steps we've made under him in terms of player development. And whenever we as a club have anything to say about how a player should be managed they should sit up, take notice and stfu. Perhaps they'll accidentally learn something.
I've heard it stated that Barcelona aims to have 50% of their squad made up of home grown players from La Masia. I don't know if that's still true, or if they're actually mangaging to reach that goal. I'm guessing perhaps not at the moment. Wouldn't be an unthinkable goal for us either actually.
To be fair, its just a good business strategy, from Levy's viewpoint
- We are being outspent by the 4 clubs above us, and the club below us by a margin of 2-3X, and we can't change that until Stadium is complete
- Players like Harry Kane, Mason, Rose, Bentaleb supplemented by the odd smart Dier purchase may have saved us $100M
- Investments in the academy with sales of players like Jake, Caulker, etc means at worst case we break even.
- Additionally it is actually good for product, i.e. fans like homegrown.
To your point, executing on a development and youth purchase strategy is one thing, having it make a significant/ongoing impact on the first team is another. So either we have really changed something at the academy over last 5 years, and/or the manager has to take some credit (and Levy for having the vision/trust).