Tinmans Love Child Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 I'm fed up with modern football, and our plight over this and many other previous seasons got me thinking of how we could do things differently and look after ourselves as a club instead of chasing everyone else. Would we do any better/worse than we have done over the last however many seasons? My idea was to stay close to home.... Hypothetically, imagine if our only policy in terms of players was that we would ONLY ever have players in the squad and first 11 who have come through the academy I.e. We would never ever buy a player again. If you phased out current players not from the academy over 5 years, giving you 5 years to develop players, then from 2022 season, only academy products! Positives - As a club we would have a very unique identity, young players would be attracted to the academy as we offer a great chance of them making it. Fans would relate to the players more as they will be mostly local. The players may give more of a toss for the club. Any players sold would pump money straight back into the academy. No expenditure on players who don't care, aren't any good, or are overpriced. Negatives - Obviously you couldnt buy yourself out of trouble if needed. Depending on the crop of players coming through you may have good or bad seasons which can't be changed overnight by pumping money in. However, on the whole we don't have many good seasons as it is, we spend a fortune, fans are disconnnected so it could be interesting. i appreciate it won't ever happen but just for fun, any other positives or negatives? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 How about all clubs should only be allowed players who were born within 10/20 miles of that club, then you would truly have players who represented their club/area and that club would progress or not on its own merit not on the size of the owners wallet. Pretty much sort the prem out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo88 Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 The problem would be signing sufficient young players who had the ability to play first team football at a high level. Fifty years ago this might have been possible, but now the Premier League clubs hover up any young player no matter where they live. They don't care if only one in a hundred makes the grade as they can afford it. Chelsea currently have 38 players on loan to other clubs. Not all are young, but it illustrates how big clubs operate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiale Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 8 minutes ago, ziderheadarmy said: Already happens in Spain with Athletic Bilbao https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletic_Bilbao_signing_policy Bilbao capitalise on a heavy Basque identity though, it would be like us having a fierce loyalty to Wessex, or Mercia and wanting to play for the areas capital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Vega Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 1 minute ago, Fiale said: Bilbao capitalise on a heavy Basque identity though, it would be like us having a fierce loyalty to Wessex, or Mercia and wanting to play for the areas capital. Love this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinmans Love Child Posted March 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 Didn't Celtic win Europe with a whole team from Glasgow back in the day, amazing but would never happen again unfortunately Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Balls Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 We have 3 major issues going against us, even if you said that academies could only recruit players from within a certain distance, say 30 miles. That would at least mean our best & brightest don't disappear off to Southampton or wherever. First is population, which compared to most other major conurbations in the country is pretty small, with nothing else that big nearby. Second is that compared to other areas of the country, this part of the world has never produced that many professional footballers. Rugby remains popular and does produce local players, whatever City supporters might feel. Finally there is no real regional identity binding people together around a Bristol team, unlike some teams on the continent, particularly Spain, or even the Geordie nation in the North East. If you want to look at the best example in the UK of local players playing for a successful club, it's the 1967 European Cup-winning Celtic team, all 11 of whom came from within 30 miles of Glasgow. Could that ever be repeated in the modern money-dominated era? That would be more of a miracle than Leicester winning the Premier League! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Balls Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 9 minutes ago, Tinmans Love Child said: Didn't Celtic win Europe with a whole team from Glasgow back in the day, amazing but would never happen again unfortunately Darn you just beat me to saying that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Hunt-Hertz Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 A local club, for local people! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowshed Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 38 minutes ago, Tinmans Love Child said: I'm fed up with modern football, and our plight over this and many other previous seasons got me thinking of how we could do things differently and look after ourselves as a club instead of chasing everyone else. Would we do any better/worse than we have done over the last however many seasons? My idea was to stay close to home.... Hypothetically, imagine if our only policy in terms of players was that we would ONLY ever have players in the squad and first 11 who have come through the academy I.e. We would never ever buy a player again. If you phased out current players not from the academy over 5 years, giving you 5 years to develop players, then from 2022 season, only academy products! Positives - As a club we would have a very unique identity, young players would be attracted to the academy as we offer a great chance of them making it. Fans would relate to the players more as they will be mostly local. The players may give more of a toss for the club. Any players sold would pump money straight back into the academy. No expenditure on players who don't care, aren't any good, or are overpriced. Negatives - Obviously you couldnt buy yourself out of trouble if needed. Depending on the crop of players coming through you may have good or bad seasons which can't be changed overnight by pumping money in. However, on the whole we don't have many good seasons as it is, we spend a fortune, fans are disconnnected so it could be interesting. i appreciate it won't ever happen but just for fun, any other positives or negatives? A negative is that at this point is that one of the UKs, perhaps Europe academies in the form of Southampton are operating in the locality - Bath/Keynsham and scouting proactively in Bristol. City do not match what the Staplewood campus offers or the educational opportunities for academy kids Southampton are prepared to pay for. Parents are choosing to send their kids to the above not solely because its Southampton but because of how they look after young players. How about a model where the aim is to fill the XI with 60% of local players. That as a concept is what the Spanish aspire to widely but apply also to their leagues. The fidelity concept aims to fill leagues with the majority being Spanish players rather than foreign players. First step. Set up regional coaching centres around Bristol. Run development feeding into a second step a newly built academy based at Ashton Vale along the lines of Southamptons campus employing wide ranging sports science/training facilities and educational facilities .... Circa twenty million just to get it going Steve. .#prideofthewest, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanterne Rouge Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 1 hour ago, Tinmans Love Child said: Didn't Celtic win Europe with a whole team from Glasgow back in the day, amazing but would never happen again unfortunately Just started another thread as I saw that Tommy Gemmell, one of that team died yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Isewater Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 1 hour ago, Mike Hunt-Hertz said: A local club, for local people! Nothing for you here . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olé Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 On disadvantages, this raises an interesting question on how appealing the area is, because if it is, we would be losing an advantage on the open market. I've always believed that Bristol has the properties be an attractive place that a player who wants to settle down and belong somewhere, would love to live. It exists in many other lines of work - people love to move to Bristol. And you have people like Scott Murray who are bitten by it and become full on Bristolian. I know a lot of footballers are just passing through but I always believe this will count for something one day. Bristol is beautiful compared to every other City in the UK. Granted this is only an advantage when we become amazing and the only thing separating us and Liverpool is living in a dump or not. Until then, sign me up for a team full of Dominic Barclay's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Fleuriot Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 I love the idea. We could big up the capital of the West. No more than four players in our squad born outside of the counties of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall. Maybe also throw in Newport and Monmouthshire, Dorset. Would still give us character. Not sure about "born" because you'd want to include people who spend formative years there but were technically born outside. So either born or six of their first thirteen years. I think the key point here is that we're not achieving anything anyway. And it's our ambition really to have a team of foreigners with a high turnover sometimes getting us to tenth in the Prem with the odd big scalp? (ok, I know, Leicester City blah blah) The more I think about it, I'd like the idea twice if I could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exAtyeoMax Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 2 hours ago, Major Isewater said: Nothing for you here . we didn't burn him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Fleuriot Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 3 hours ago, Cowshed said: How about a model where the aim is to fill the XI with 60% of local players. That as a concept is what the Spanish aspire to widely but apply also to their leagues. The fidelity concept aims to fill leagues with the majority being Spanish players rather than foreign players. First step. Set up regional coaching centres around Bristol. Run development feeding into a second step a newly built academy based at Ashton Vale along the lines of Southamptons campus employing wide ranging sports science/training facilities and educational facilities .... Circa twenty million just to get it going Steve. .#prideofthewest I'd make it a strict rule rather than an aim. Otherwise always excuses not to meet it. But love the youth set up idea. A far more exciting way to spend millions. 2 hours ago, Olé said: ...you have people like Scott Murray who are bitten by it and become full on Bristolian... Granted this is only an advantage when we become amazing and the only thing separating us and Liverpool is living in a dump or not. Until then, sign me up for a team full of Dominic Barclay's. If you said "four exceptions (in senior AND youth squad combined) per season", then allowed a five year senior squad "naturalisation" rule, you could stick to the principle quite nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allyolly Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 2 hours ago, Olé said: On disadvantages, this raises an interesting question on how appealing the area is, because if it is, we would be losing an advantage on the open market. I've always believed that Bristol has the properties be an attractive place that a player who wants to settle down and belong somewhere, would love to live. It exists in many other lines of work - people love to move to Bristol. And you have people like Scott Murray who are bitten by it and become full on Bristolian. I know a lot of footballers are just passing through but I always believe this will count for something one day. Bristol is beautiful compared to every other City in the UK. Granted this is only an advantage when we become amazing and the only thing separating us and Liverpool is living in a dump or not. Until then, sign me up for a team full of Dominic Barclay's. Never did I expect to see the names Dominic and Barclay on here tonight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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