Exactly, the rich clubs getting richer and and poor clubs getting poorer - nothing new there then. I would love to see the money being distributed better, even if the top clubs paid a percentage to help grass roots and in development, etc. That would help English football no end.

 

Why? The Premier league is the cash cow in English football and the reality is that we don't benefit from Accrington Stanley being in League Two. 

That article in the mirror about Kompany and Fernandinho nearly going to blows against each other is frightening to read, No wonder why we are so Jekyll and hyde when our supposedly calm and cool captain is not actually as calm and cool as he makes out, I think it's time to strip him of the captaincy and give it to someone like Zabaleta or Silva.

 

Ive never considered Kompany 'calm and cool'. Every time he gets a foul called against him his reaction is border line a bookable offence

I have no problem with idiots on twitter like below being brought to book but I assume 'furious Liverpool fan' Peter Ffoulkes is just as effective policing, and making public, the bad behaviour from those within his own club?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/chelsea-contact-police-after-fans-5305738?

Jon Ronson's latest book takes a look at this new phenomena of open sharing and attack on social media.

Why? The Premier league is the cash cow in English football and the reality is that we don't benefit from Accrington Stanley being in League Two. 

 

Maybe not quite to that extent, but certainly Premiership and Championship level.  The gulf between top clubs and bottom clubs, even in the Premier League, is massive. I know this probably won't ever change but I do think English football would benefit from a bit more investment for those lower level clubs for developing youth players. 

Maybe not quite to that extent, but certainly Premiership and Championship level.  The gulf between top clubs and bottom clubs, even in the Premier League, is massive. I know this probably won't ever change but I do think English football would benefit from a bit more investment for those lower level clubs for developing youth players. 

 

I'm going to upset people with my view on this and that's fine, but I'm of the belief there are too many professional clubs and that we should restructure the game for those teams at the top. Truth is youth development is best done at the top clubs up until the point they go from academies into the first team. Honestly, the days of kids starting at small clubs and going into the international team are long gone because they've been poached by a big club at the age of 16 at the latest usually. 

 

What we need are b-teams competing in the lower leagues like they have in Spain and Germany. If you want to replicate the previous world-cup winners then look at the teams the players have come from. It's not a lower league team, but a b-team in the lower leagues in most cases.

I have no problem with idiots on twitter like below being brought to book but I assume 'furious Liverpool fan' Peter Ffoulkes is just as effective policing, and making public, the bad behaviour from those within his own club?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/chelsea-contact-police-after-fans-5305738?

 

5.3m people follow Chelsea FC on Twitter. 

 

I'm getting tired of individuals actions being reported as representative as the whole fan base. 

me too and since Paris, it's getting pretty tedious that Chelsea are constantly being portrayed as the worst of the worst, when clearly every club has a problem in one way or another with a minority in their fanbase....as has since been shown with incidents involving Villa, west brom, Wolves and west ham to name just four

I'm going to upset people with my view on this and that's fine, but I'm of the belief there are too many professional clubs and that we should restructure the game for those teams at the top. Truth is youth development is best done at the top clubs up until the point they go from academies into the first team. Honestly, the days of kids starting at small clubs and going into the international team are long gone because they've been poached by a big club at the age of 16 at the latest usually. 

 

What we need are b-teams competing in the lower leagues like they have in Spain and Germany. If you want to replicate the previous world-cup winners then look at the teams the players have come from. It's not a lower league team, but a b-team in the lower leagues in most cases.

 

My views aren't set in stone on this, and in all honestly my knowledge isn't that great, and I can see your point Blue Daze; youth players do get snapped up by the top clubs - I'm not actually sure this is best for their development in certain situations.

 

I like your point about b-teams playing in lower leagues - so would that mean youth/reserves in League 1/2?  

I wonder how the fans of said clubs would feel about that.

me too and since Paris, it's getting pretty tedious that Chelsea are constantly being portrayed as the worst of the worst, when clearly every club has a problem in one way or another with a minority in their fanbase....as has since been shown with incidents involving Villa, west brom, Wolves and west ham to name just four

 

I see some pretty nasty stuff wrote about Chelsea on Twitter on pretty much a daily basis. 

 

Twitter is a petty dark place and it's one of the reason I've never really used it personally, only read things on there. 

 

That said I don't see full page articles about those comments springing up and off the back of the Paris incident things that would previously have gone unreported by mainstream media have now suddenly found a platform and it's cheap click bait for people to continue bashing us. 

 

It's tiresome at this point. 

My views aren't set in stone on this, and in all honestly my knowledge isn't that great, and I can see your point Blue Daze; youth players do get snapped up by the top clubs - I'm not actually sure this is best for their development in certain situations.

 

I like your point about b-teams playing in lower leagues - so would that mean youth/reserves in League 1/2?  

 

Pretty much. You'd have older players in there too but ideally you'd bring through young players who would play in a system that replicates the first-team against proper opposition.

 

 

I wonder how the fans of said clubs would feel about that.

 

Awful. But the reality is that football is changing.

 

For instance, Man City have just built an academy stadium that has a capacity larger than the average attendances of all but THREE League Two clubs.

me too and since Paris, it's getting pretty tedious that Chelsea are constantly being portrayed as the worst of the worst, when clearly every club has a problem in one way or another with a minority in their fanbase....as has since been shown with incidents involving Villa, west brom, Wolves and west ham to name just four

 

Don't know if it's been mentioned but there was an article about a Manchester United fan sending a racist tweet about Welbeck - the first three paragraphs were about it, the following three paragraphs were about Chelsea. We're mentioned in every single article about racism now, in this case on a 50/50 basis.

 

Here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31818499

Noticed that as well, utterly pathetic.

Don't know if it's been mentioned but there was an article about a Manchester United fan sending a racist tweet about Welbeck - the first three paragraphs were about it, the following three paragraphs were about Chelsea. We're mentioned in every single article about racism now, in this case on a 50/50 basis.

 

Here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31818499

 

We're actually mentioned on over 50% of that article.http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/

I'm going to upset people with my view on this and that's fine, but I'm of the belief there are too many professional clubs and that we should restructure the game for those teams at the top. Truth is youth development is best done at the top clubs up until the point they go from academies into the first team. Honestly, the days of kids starting at small clubs and going into the international team are long gone because they've been poached by a big club at the age of 16 at the latest usually. 

 

What we need are b-teams competing in the lower leagues like they have in Spain and Germany. If you want to replicate the previous world-cup winners then look at the teams the players have come from. It's not a lower league team, but a b-team in the lower leagues in most cases.

I don't understand why people are so desperate to copy what other successful sides do while completely missing the reasons why it worked for them in the process. In recent times it's been Barcelona and their passing game, now it's Spain and Germany's "blueprint". But anyway, I digress.

 

So your idea is to destroy years of history for these other clubs just so the big clubs can benefit and that England may, perhaps, one day win the world cup? 

 

Why do you think youth development is best done at the top clubs? I understand they have the best facilities and often have the best players for the youth to learn from but if that were the case we would be churning out mini Messi's on a regular basis. Perhaps I've misunderstood your meaning of "top clubs" and teams like Southampton, West Ham, Crewe, Leeds, etc all fall into that. 

 

Wouldn't it be better, and easier, to prevent these clubs from hoarding all these 16 year olds instead of completely destroying the integrity of the league system by vastly increasing the compensation award to teams that spend years developing a player? They actually introduced something similar to this a few years ago (Elite Player Performance Plan) but instead of increasing compensation they somehow found a way to decrease it through some unnecessarily complicated ranking system (which by the way, the clubs in the highest category have to pay £2m a year for which for small clubs is not really affordable so they remain in the lowest categories and when their players are pinched they end up with compensation as little as £10k-£50k). That's just one idea, I'm sure more capable men with more experience in the matter can come up with something else that doesn't involve such a drastic change.

 

Say the B teams idea does go ahead, who is going to go and watch B teams play? Barcelona and Real Madrid barely get any attendances as it is for their B teams, who would go watch Spurs B team play? How will Nottingham Forest sell tickets to games against Spurs B? That's a very important source of revenue for the smaller teams. It would be such a soulless experience being a Nottingham Forest supporter and having to face of against Spurs B with barely any fans.  Can you imagine them in League 1 or in the championship? It would completely destroy the little TV money the clubs there receive.

 

For me, the negatives far outweigh any positives and it doesn't fill me with hope the people behind this idea (FA Commission) are the likes of;

 

Danny Mills - No experience of coaching, certainly no experience at grassroots.

 

Rio Ferdinand - Again, no experience of coaching or grassroots. Why he's even involved is a mystery.

 

Howard Wilkinson - Better than Danny and Rio I suppose but old and has little relevant to add to the future of English football.

 

Greg Dyke - Had to be involved really but again he has no experience in coach or grassroots. He has more experience in journalism than he does anything coaching related.

 

Greg Clarke - No coaching or grassroots experience, only there because he's chairman of the football league.

 

Glen Hoddle - Probably in it because of his academy but it's been a failure, I can't see what he's done to warrant being involved in something so important.

 

Roy Hodgson - Had to be on it but his methods and ideas are old and outdated, just like Howard. 

 

Roger Burden - Similar to Greg Dyke but at least he has a bit of football experience. Not relevant enough to be included in this though.

 

The only good choices they made on that commission was Dario Gradi and Ritchie Humphreys. The rest are not fit to be discussing the grassroots football and the development of youth. 

 

I get the impression The FA don't seem to know what they are doing when it comes to youth development, either that or they are simply listening to the wrong people. They are just constantly changing and introducing new things every few years to make it seem like they are making things happen without realising that they are either making it worse or simply prolonging it's effect. 

 

Dyke has been on TV numerous times saying he understands that things can't just change overnight and it would take a long time before we see any chances. I certinaly hope he means that and someone isn't just feeding him lines cause if they do go ahead with B teams and then afterwards introduce something else it won't just be a couple of people with their hands on their waist going "Oh you, what are you like", it'll be millions of fans with pitchforks at their headquarters. 

 

I don't understand why people are so desperate to copy what other successful sides do while completely missing the reasons why it worked for them in the process. In recent times it's been Barcelona and their passing game, now it's Spain and Germany's "blueprint". But anyway, I digress.

 

So your idea is to destroy years of history for these other clubs just so the big clubs can benefit and that England may, perhaps, one day win the world cup? 

 

 

I'd destroy years of history at another club so that we could have a couple of decent players come through.

 

 

 

Why do you think youth development is best done at the top clubs? I understand they have the best facilities and often have the best players for the youth to learn from but if that were the case we would be churning out mini Messi's on a regular basis. Perhaps I've misunderstood your meaning of "top clubs" and teams like Southampton, West Ham, Crewe, Leeds, etc all fall into that. 

 

 

Crewe? I'm a big Dario Gradi/Danny Murphy/CM98 fan but like I said, times have changed. Same goes for Leeds and even West Ham nowadays. Ferdinand, Lamps, Carrick, Defoe and the rest of the 'couldabeen Hammers' is well over a decade out of date now.

 

 

Wouldn't it be better, and easier, to prevent these clubs from hoarding all these 16 year olds instead of completely destroying the integrity of the league system by vastly increasing the compensation award to teams that spend years developing a player? They actually introduced something similar to this a few years ago (Elite Player Performance Plan) but instead of increasing compensation they somehow found a way to decrease it through some unnecessarily complicated ranking system (which by the way, the clubs in the highest category have to pay £2m a year for which for small clubs is not really affordable so they remain in the lowest categories and when their players are pinched they end up with compensation as little as £10k-£50k). That's just one idea, I'm sure more capable men with more experience in the matter can come up with something else that doesn't involve such a drastic change.

 

 

Ship....sailed.

 

We don't hoard players against their will, they choose to often with the promise of riches from an agent. We have the best facilities, the best opposition and the best coaches - so why would a kid stay at Brentford or Gillingham?

 

Oh, integrity of the pyramid.

 

 

 

Say the B teams idea does go ahead, who is going to go and watch B teams play? Barcelona and Real Madrid barely get any attendances as it is for their B teams, who would go watch Spurs B team play? How will Nottingham Forest sell tickets to games against Spurs B? That's a very important source of revenue for the smaller teams. It would be such a soulless experience being a Nottingham Forest supporter and having to face of against Spurs B with barely any fans.  Can you imagine them in League 1 or in the championship? It would completely destroy the little TV money the clubs there receive.

 

 

Hmm....so what? Sorry, I support Chelsea and that's where my focus lies. Yes I'm selfish. What's your point? 

 

Maybe you'd get more than 4000 fans at *insert random League Two team here* to see the 'stars of tomorrow'. Who knows?

 

Look, you raise some good points about how it would affect these teams but it's something I don't really care much about. What I want is for us to bridge the gap between academy football and professional football as best as possible.

I'd destroy years of history at another club so that we could have a couple of decent players come through.

 

 

Crewe? I'm a big Dario Gradi/Danny Murphy/CM98 fan but like I said, times have changed. Same goes for Leeds and even West Ham nowadays. Ferdinand, Lamps, Carrick, Defoe and the rest of the 'couldabeen Hammers' is well over a decade out of date now.

 

 

Ship....sailed.

 

We don't hoard players against their will, they choose to often with the promise of riches from an agent. We have the best facilities, the best opposition and the best coaches - so why would a kid stay at Brentford or Gillingham?

 

Oh, integrity of the pyramid.

 

 

 

Hmm....so what? Sorry, I support Chelsea and that's where my focus lies. Yes I'm selfish. What's your point? 

 

Maybe you'd get more than 4000 fans at *insert random League Two team here* to see the 'stars of tomorrow'. Who knows?

 

Look, you raise some good points about how it would affect these teams but it's something I don't really care much about. What I want is for us to bridge the gap between academy football and professional football as best as possible.

Your post suggested you were talking on the behalf of England and the clubs that reside in the leagues, you made no mention of Chelsea in it hence my response. 

 

Would have saved time if you had just said you were selfish and only considering Chelsea, which still doesn't really sit right with me personally for a variety of reasons but it at least makes more sense now reading it back.

Your post suggested you were talking on the behalf of England and the clubs that reside in the leagues, you made no mention of Chelsea in it hence my response. 

 

Would have saved time if you had just said you were selfish and only considering Chelsea, which still doesn't really sit right with me personally for a variety of reasons but it at least makes more sense now reading it back.

 

I'm not a massive fan of the England team to be honest. The last time I was genuinely interested was when we had about 4 players in the first team, but I do want us to bring through young English talent and whilst that is my primary focus I do believe it would benefit the national team too.

 

If you look at Bayern's success or Barca's then you'll see a lot of homegrown or club-trained talent who all spent time in the B-team. That subsequently led to national success but we seem to be completely ignoring this so that the 3,000 people who watch Mansfield or the 2,000 people who watch Morecambe aren't upset.

 

It's very nice and virtuous but I wonder if it's actually going to benefit us or the national team.

De gea will likely go to Real Madrid in the summer, with Bale going the other way - i wouldn't be surprised.

Me either tbh looks like a deal that would benefit both clubs

Bale would flourish at United sadly.

They would no doubt not have to spend so much with Di Maria probably going to PSG too.

We too have a bargaining chip in regard to a world class keeper though.

I'd destroy years of history at another club so that we could have a couple of decent players come through.

 

I wouldn't. I have no gripe with Huddersfield or Brentford or Plymouth. They have as much right to exist and play in the league as anyone else. The idea that a load of smaller clubs should basically be told to go and wind themselves up because their presence no longer suits the big four in the Premier League is shockingly arrogant and self-centred, even for the Premier League.

 

And I doubt it would benefit the England team or us much in any case. 

I wouldn't. I have no gripe with Huddersfield or Brentford or Plymouth. They have as much right to exist and play in the league as anyone else. The idea that a load of smaller clubs should basically be told to go and wind themselves up because their presence no longer suits the big four in the Premier League is shockingly arrogant and self-centred, even for the Premier League.

 

And I doubt it would benefit the England team or us much in any case. 

 

Firstly, two of those teams are Championship teams. What I'd like to see is b-teams brought into the league structure but unable to be promoted to the same league as their parent club.

 

I'd be interested to know why you don't think providing our young players with first-team football in an environment that closely mirrored our own wouldn't benefit us much. Look at players like Nat Chalobah and how much of a lottery it is landing at the right club - at Watford he flourished but Forest was totally wrong for him. Same goes for a number of other youngsters.

 

Yes it's arrogant and self-centred but we're a business, not a charity. 

Firstly, two of those teams are Championship teams. What I'd like to see is b-teams brought into the league structure but unable to be promoted to the same league as their parent club.

 

I'd be interested to know why you don't think providing our young players with first-team football in an environment that closely mirrored our own wouldn't benefit us much. Look at players like Nat Chalobah and how much of a lottery it is landing at the right club - at Watford he flourished but Forest was totally wrong for him. Same goes for a number of other youngsters.

 

Yes it's arrogant and self-centred but we're a business, not a charity. 

 

No one's advocating charity. I just take issue with the idea that a bunch of smaller clubs should be kicked out of the league to make way for our B team. I would want to end up like La Liga where the whole system is virtually rigged for the benefit of the top two clubs.

 

Bamford has done well at every club he's been loaned to. Has he just been lucky to be loaned to the right clubs, or is it that he's actually been good enough to force his way into the first team? At some point you have to question the players themselves, and ask whether they're really as good as we think (hope) they are. If Chalobah can't make an impression at Forest, then it begs the question of how he could ever hope to make one here.

 

So our young players end up playing for Chelsea B in League Two, against other League Two sides (assuming any agree to stick around after learning their main purpose is now to provide opposition for Premier League academy teams). I fail to see how that's going to make them good enough to play for us in the PL or CL, or win a World Cup for England, or get them any closer to our first team.

Edited March 11, 201511 yr by Englishman

Utd throwing another £150m at Van Gaal to waste...and they say we bought the league! I've never known clubs to waste so much money on players as Spurs, Liverpool (to an extent) and now Utd. I can't help but think Di Maria and Falcao at Chelsea would have panned out better for them - imagine Di Maria on the right and Hazard on the left! Utd have too many 'star' players that no-one knows what they're doing as Van Gaal's chopping and changing all the time. Wonder who the next intake of players will be? Perhaps £50m on Chambers!?

A very good post imo. It was odd on Monday evening seeing a team with able players using long ball tactics and Falcao not even playing. It seems that LVG does not know his best team or tactics. Isn't £150 million more just reinforcing a relative failure?

Edited March 11, 201511 yr by Spudulike