Conspiracy theory time. Anyone else thinking that the underlying approach may be focused on the U23 group as the future at the expense of the current first team squad? Bring in Bielsa, give him 2 years to bring them through and hey presto, team capable of competing for PL assembled with minimal outlay? Much of Orta's visible recruitment efforts and presumably club's scouting seems to be aimed at the youngsters, and it would lend weight to Ristac's theory above regarding season ticket sales. What do you reckon?
Well done Baldrick you've cracked the code Develop the youngsters into first teamers and then sell on for a massive profit. Rinse and repeat. Just don't tell the others.
Jammy you know those straws I gave you, well Davy needs them a million times more than you. He hasn’t realised that the puppy farm is all about trying to unearth talent to line Rads pockets and has nothing to do with progressing the first team.
Top man ! Will be joining you in spirit later so to speak. Damn those pesky drink drive laws or could have started ages ago.
There is always more than one stream to any complex project. There's no doubt that there's focus on the u23s, but I don't believe it's to the detriment of the first team. We've always neglected the u23s, so this catch up phase we're going through is picking up headlines because of the volume of activity - and the quality. Very little cost involved, comparatively speaking. I'm guessing this is probably a stop-gap phase whilst the 're-build Academy' phase is running, although the process will no doubt continue alongside the Academy, but with less intensity. But what a school to attend, eh? Bielsa is right in there. I've seen quite a few u23 matches, but don't ever recall seeing our manager in the dugout whilst they were playing. He's clearly deeply involved in preparing them for the first team.
