Where should any initial investment go?

[Shangri La]

Root and branch change at the Academy level. Same goes for recruitment.

I want to see the Academy at the focal point of our regeneration, with smart signings to supplement.

I think the transfer window in January will be a good indication of if we are going to change moving forward - not so arsed about splashing the cash, I just want to see a bit of imagination rather than the obvious ‘mate calling in a favour’ route we seem to have adhered too since the change of ownership (very supportive of everything else Donald has done).

 

[riffraff]

Nicola Cortese
Ralf Rangnik
Scouts

Someone to sit at home with a laptop monitoring every manager/head coach on the planet...points per game....money spent.....transfer profits etc etc etc

 

[Uncle D]

It is annoying as there's two cubicles with broken locks so the door swings open while you're on the pot! Women don't use those ones, which means a longer queuing time and the longer I'm in the toilet at half time, the less time I have talking to @Uncle D so I'd like it to be fixed!

 

[mikemanc]

Don’t think that’s necessarily true. He’d have no cash restrictions, little competition for local talent and a cat 1 academy to base it on. He didn’t have any of that at Brentford.

We've a much smaller pool of local talent than a club based in London and he/they believe it's better value for money to try and develop the best of the rest who you pick up at 18/19 than invest years in kids to see them leave for a pittance as we have been (I get you'd hope we could do more to keep them than we have). There's still restrictions on what we can spend and he should look to get the most from that. I guess it's something we'll never find out but I wouldn't want the academy to close. I understand the financial and pragmatic approach Brentford have taken but I'd always want us to be a route into football for local players.

 

[The Cabbage]

We've a much smaller pool of local talent than a club based in London and he/they believe it's better value for money to try and develop the best of the rest who you pick up at 18/19 than invest years in kids to see them leave for a pittance as we have been (I get you'd hope we could do more to keep them than we have). There's still restrictions on what we can spend and he should look to get the most from that. I guess it's something we'll never find out but I wouldn't want the academy to close. I understand the financial and pragmatic approach Brentford have taken but I'd always want us to be a route into football for local players.

Their reasoning is tied up in their financial position, their status as a cat 2 academy and the sheer competition for young players in London due to the volume of clubs in the area. Based in the reasons they set out I’d expect the approach would be different at Safc / particularly post takeover. If money for infrastructure is readily available, I’m sure he’d do things differently. Maybe he’d have a B team as well - which I’d be more than happy about tbh.

 

[mikemanc]

Their reasoning is tied up in their financial position, their status as a cat 2 academy and the sheer competition for young players in London due to the volume of clubs in the area. Based in the reasons they set out I’d expect the approach would be different at Safc / particularly post takeover. If money for infrastructure is readily available, I’m sure he’d do things differently. Maybe he’d have a B team as well - which I’d be more than happy about tbh.

Maybe so, I guess we'll never know. But I think we can agree that we need a figure like him or Jordi Cruyff or Les Reed to come in and sort the structure of the club out.