There doesn't appear to be much consensus here over what our club's aims might be...and increasingly, there are questions about whether the principles at the club itself are pulling in the same direction. Consequently, I'm curious how the bulk of the fanbase would prefer the club to operate. Design your own framework for the future of a large, multifaceted organization one arbitrarily-designed multiple choice question at a time!
If anyone has any other items to add, I will add them. Assuming anyone actually makes it all the way through this.
The Academy
The academy is:
1. Paramount. Insofar as we have ambitions to rise above our current standing, they rely on a steady pipeline of top-quality talent being nurtured and brought through into the first team. We should use the kids in good times and bad, and give them chances even if we are not sure they'll make it. Otherwise, we will never be able to make the pitch to other top talents that SFC is their path to stardom, and any manager of our first team has to understand this.
2. Useful. While the '50% home grown' idea was a pipe dream, we can certainly expect some talent to arise from the academy, to fill in the gaps if nothing else. Winning games comes first, but opportunities should be presented when the quality of our U-18/21s and circumstances allow.
3. Increasingly irrelevant. We aren't in the Football League anymore; given our standing and our aims, it's unrealistic to expect the academy to play a significant role in our squad. Only rare top-quality talents will ever reach the first team, and if we want good players throughout the team, we will need to be prepared to open the chequebook.
Finances
Our short-term aims should be:
1. Pay down the debt. If we can operate on a strict budget for a couple years and eliminate most of the money owed, we will be in a much better position to push on later. We're well-run; we ought to be able to steer well clear of relegation in the interim.
2. Aim for stability, spend the rest. The CFO and others have stated that our debt has peaked. It's at a reasonable level given our revenues (particularly considering next year's revenue jump), and the aim should be to keep it around that threshold. It's too risky to try and pay down the debt while our competitors are spending freely; lose our PL status and we lose everything.
3. Spend, or sell the club. This is the Premier League...if the prospect of investing a bit of money is too much to bear, you're in the wrong business. Find someone willing to push for the top and exit stage right.
Transfer Targets
More often than not, we should:
1. Cast a wide net, and focus on youth. The majority of our resources should be used to buy young, hungry players who have yet to peak; they're generally going to be cheaper in wages/transfer fees, allowing us to add in larger quantities. When we mold them into top talent they can then be sold to repeat the process, and buying young ensures that we'll always have more ready to step up Our scouting and talent development has proven good enough to make this viable. Spurs are the model; beyond the academy products, they're littered with young transfers picked up before their value exploded, like Eric Dier, Dele Alli, Danny Rose and Kyle Walker.
2. Buy quality over quantity. If you're going to buy, buy potential match winners. It's much better to buy a couple top talents a year and fill out the periphery of the squad through the academy or some other bargain basement route than to spread the money around and end up overloaded with average players. They might cost more in wages, sure, but in the aggregate it'll save money, because they will provide more than two maybe-sorta-decent players at the same position. A return to what Cortese envisioned, in effect.
3. Focus on players who want to be here long-term. Our current woes owe to having a squad of foreign mercenaries. We would be far better off aiming for English in-prime/late-prime talent...true professionals who are good, but not likely to targeted by the top clubs, and will help to keep the dressing room pointed in the right direction. You might pay a slight premium in wages/fees relative to talent, but it's worth it.
4. What part of 'spend whatever it takes' is hard to understand? The answer is all of the above, just more of it.
Wage Policy
1. We need to have a strict wage cap, relax it for one player and it will either cause disharmony in the squad or our costs will quickly outstrip our means. That means that players will have to move on when their wage demands exceed those levels.
2. We need to have overall wage controls at or around current levels, but the squad can handle a few top players making significantly more; they'd much rather have as strong a squad as possible, and we can find savings elsewhere.
3. We need to raise our wages considerably. The finances of football are about to change again, and if we don't change with them we will have no end of difficulty keeping up with other mid-table sides, never mind the big boys.
Division of Responsibilities - Transfers
With regards to the decision-making on transfers:
1. The football ops people lead. The manager has input, sure, but he doesn't make the decisions.
2. It should be determined by consensus. The manager should not be able to sign players who are not recommended by the other departments, and conversely the board should not be signing players over the objections of the manager. There are enough good options in the world that it should never be a power struggle.
3. The manager leads. He knows who best will fit his designs. The scouting/research departments are there to assist him, and the board's job is to provide a budget and get out of the way.
Division of Responsibilities - Tactics
In terms of team setup:
1. The tactical approach should dictate the manager. We should have an organizational philosophy, and top-to-bottom unity in how we set ourselves up, to ensure continuity across eras and make it far easier to integrate youth and find the right transfer targets. Stylistically, the U-12s should look much like the first team; managers should be sought who are capable of working within this framework, tweaking as necessary but keeping the overall design intact.
2. We should choose managers with a style in mind, but from there it's on their shoulders. If they feel that a different direction is necessary, back them.
3. The manager is the alpha and omega. The tactics change as the managers do, because we cannot exclude good managerial options because they don't fit some preconceived notion of how we should play, nor should we be forcing managers to play a style that does not conform to their own desires. Choose the best manager regardless of their approach and let them take it from there. The youth squads can be run however best maximizes their talents, sure, but that has no bearing on the first team. Adaptability is crucial to succeed in football...they'll learn to fit the style when the time comes, or their time at the top level was never going to be lengthy.
Kit
1. Stripes. Always stripes. Evenly spaced, traditional stripes.
2. Red and white, but go nuts.
3. That crazy neon thing that was leaked hasn't left my thoughts since. Must have.
If anyone has any other items to add, I will add them. Assuming anyone actually makes it all the way through this.
The Academy
The academy is:
1. Paramount. Insofar as we have ambitions to rise above our current standing, they rely on a steady pipeline of top-quality talent being nurtured and brought through into the first team. We should use the kids in good times and bad, and give them chances even if we are not sure they'll make it. Otherwise, we will never be able to make the pitch to other top talents that SFC is their path to stardom, and any manager of our first team has to understand this.
2. Useful. While the '50% home grown' idea was a pipe dream, we can certainly expect some talent to arise from the academy, to fill in the gaps if nothing else. Winning games comes first, but opportunities should be presented when the quality of our U-18/21s and circumstances allow.
3. Increasingly irrelevant. We aren't in the Football League anymore; given our standing and our aims, it's unrealistic to expect the academy to play a significant role in our squad. Only rare top-quality talents will ever reach the first team, and if we want good players throughout the team, we will need to be prepared to open the chequebook.
Finances
Our short-term aims should be:
1. Pay down the debt. If we can operate on a strict budget for a couple years and eliminate most of the money owed, we will be in a much better position to push on later. We're well-run; we ought to be able to steer well clear of relegation in the interim.
2. Aim for stability, spend the rest. The CFO and others have stated that our debt has peaked. It's at a reasonable level given our revenues (particularly considering next year's revenue jump), and the aim should be to keep it around that threshold. It's too risky to try and pay down the debt while our competitors are spending freely; lose our PL status and we lose everything.
3. Spend, or sell the club. This is the Premier League...if the prospect of investing a bit of money is too much to bear, you're in the wrong business. Find someone willing to push for the top and exit stage right.
Transfer Targets
More often than not, we should:
1. Cast a wide net, and focus on youth. The majority of our resources should be used to buy young, hungry players who have yet to peak; they're generally going to be cheaper in wages/transfer fees, allowing us to add in larger quantities. When we mold them into top talent they can then be sold to repeat the process, and buying young ensures that we'll always have more ready to step up Our scouting and talent development has proven good enough to make this viable. Spurs are the model; beyond the academy products, they're littered with young transfers picked up before their value exploded, like Eric Dier, Dele Alli, Danny Rose and Kyle Walker.
2. Buy quality over quantity. If you're going to buy, buy potential match winners. It's much better to buy a couple top talents a year and fill out the periphery of the squad through the academy or some other bargain basement route than to spread the money around and end up overloaded with average players. They might cost more in wages, sure, but in the aggregate it'll save money, because they will provide more than two maybe-sorta-decent players at the same position. A return to what Cortese envisioned, in effect.
3. Focus on players who want to be here long-term. Our current woes owe to having a squad of foreign mercenaries. We would be far better off aiming for English in-prime/late-prime talent...true professionals who are good, but not likely to targeted by the top clubs, and will help to keep the dressing room pointed in the right direction. You might pay a slight premium in wages/fees relative to talent, but it's worth it.
4. What part of 'spend whatever it takes' is hard to understand? The answer is all of the above, just more of it.
Wage Policy
1. We need to have a strict wage cap, relax it for one player and it will either cause disharmony in the squad or our costs will quickly outstrip our means. That means that players will have to move on when their wage demands exceed those levels.
2. We need to have overall wage controls at or around current levels, but the squad can handle a few top players making significantly more; they'd much rather have as strong a squad as possible, and we can find savings elsewhere.
3. We need to raise our wages considerably. The finances of football are about to change again, and if we don't change with them we will have no end of difficulty keeping up with other mid-table sides, never mind the big boys.
Division of Responsibilities - Transfers
With regards to the decision-making on transfers:
1. The football ops people lead. The manager has input, sure, but he doesn't make the decisions.
2. It should be determined by consensus. The manager should not be able to sign players who are not recommended by the other departments, and conversely the board should not be signing players over the objections of the manager. There are enough good options in the world that it should never be a power struggle.
3. The manager leads. He knows who best will fit his designs. The scouting/research departments are there to assist him, and the board's job is to provide a budget and get out of the way.
Division of Responsibilities - Tactics
In terms of team setup:
1. The tactical approach should dictate the manager. We should have an organizational philosophy, and top-to-bottom unity in how we set ourselves up, to ensure continuity across eras and make it far easier to integrate youth and find the right transfer targets. Stylistically, the U-12s should look much like the first team; managers should be sought who are capable of working within this framework, tweaking as necessary but keeping the overall design intact.
2. We should choose managers with a style in mind, but from there it's on their shoulders. If they feel that a different direction is necessary, back them.
3. The manager is the alpha and omega. The tactics change as the managers do, because we cannot exclude good managerial options because they don't fit some preconceived notion of how we should play, nor should we be forcing managers to play a style that does not conform to their own desires. Choose the best manager regardless of their approach and let them take it from there. The youth squads can be run however best maximizes their talents, sure, but that has no bearing on the first team. Adaptability is crucial to succeed in football...they'll learn to fit the style when the time comes, or their time at the top level was never going to be lengthy.
Kit
1. Stripes. Always stripes. Evenly spaced, traditional stripes.
2. Red and white, but go nuts.
3. That crazy neon thing that was leaked hasn't left my thoughts since. Must have.
