- Oct 19, 2004
- 39,837
- 50,713
I think it is just the cultural norm in Enlish football and ingrained patterns of behaviour really. You say what's the excuse for clubs below PL level but they often haven't had the money for youth academies and the Football League has been built on clubs doing (often extreme) wheeling and dealing. A lot of managers in the pyramid will have previously come through that system as players and it's just the done thing, it's all they know.
At PL level now it's just an arms race. It's like in all walks of life, if people have money then the vast majority feel it has to be spent - and the easiest way is signings. Look at our fans for instance, if we're not going out and spending 50 million (at least) a summer then it feels like to a large number that we're being 'left behind' because of what other clubs are doing... And don't tell me those in charge of clubs don't react in the same way!
I also think that managers come in, often from abroad, and don't have the knowledge and therefore trust of the youth system at the club they take on and so are reluctant to use those players. There is also often a clash of styles and philosophies. I think of Guardiola for instance, people say he had the greatest squad ever at Barca but he still basically made Busquets and Pedro, and was blooding players, and not just the wonderkids like Thiago, but players like Tello and Cuenca. Yes it helps that the spine of the team was bloody amazing and you can introduce players around that, but he knew the system and pathway himself and had the trust in what it was developing. Now look at his work at Man City, who have put a lot in place themselves, and it's totally different approach.
Agree for too long in England academy coaching jobs were given to ex-pro mates who lacked the intelligence, innovation and communicative skills to be good coaches and the youth system suffered badly, old habits and mantras were just recycled year after year by ****s like Redknapp and his ilk, scared to embrace modernisation because they knew it would make them redundant, so they appointed the Sherwood's and Bonds et al to safeguard the status quo and the culture of wheeler dealing being better than coaching, developing, improving and integrating was just too long winded and required way too much hard work.
I think it's changing now at many clubs, there's some good work being done, but coaches and owners have got to start being braver and more forward thinking. They could be making more money if they were smarter about development.
I stand by my point about mid table and championship/Div1/2 clubs though, having a good development policy is financially far more cost effective than any wheeler dealing, just look at European clubs model. For them their really is no excuse - and I include us in that, everyone from PL 5th down - for not having a good development ethos, because any young home grown (and not just English - but home trained) player who can kick a ball straight and manages to make 50 appearances in any division will invariable sell for good money and represent much better investment of resources than trading 29yo shitkickers will.