Anyway, I'm watching Chelsea v City in the Youth Cup final. It's shite. We're all fucked. There is no future, and not just because the planet is dying. The rainforests are being cut down, and the top two youth sides in the country are the two sides you;d pick last when you were selecting clubs you'd trust to safeguard the future of English football. None of these kids can pass a ball, and the polar bears are slowly being suffocated.
What? Surely not, I thought this was why Hodgson was England manager, why we were throwing money at clubs to develop academies, so they could produce footballers. I'm quite frankly shocked that we aren't doing so, really I am.
But yeah, Bournemouth are a seriously impressive outfit. Hope they enjoy untold levels of patronisation, though.
A giant has just made it 2-1 to Chelsea. Paul Bright, the FC United academy coach, was saying how many youth teams look for players who are good now, rather than who will be good in 5, 10 years time. And that will often be the biggest and strongest player, and not the most technically accomplished.
I don't know how good this Abraham lad for Chelsea is. But he's just scored his 39th goal of the season. And he's enormous. I wonder if these two things are linked?
Yes, nice to see them go up (though could have done without it being thanks to the stereotypical Russian investor, much like Watford), especially as I have a colleague who is a Cherries fan of 50 years standing.
cantagalo wrote: Yes, congratulations to Bournemouth. Well deserved.
Looking at the dross in the lower reaches of the Premier League, I think they'll stay up comfortably.
That is the bottom reaches of the Premier League that currently includes last seasons Championship top 3 in 17th, 19th and 20th place, right? Three sides who, last season, were at least as good as Bournemouth and Watford have been this. OK, maybe not QPR, but arguably Leicester and Burnley in '13-'14 were better than the two sides who have gone up this time.
Without significant investment the height of Watford and Bournemouth's ambitions will be 17th place. Again see Burnley, and even they brought in a few, though only George Boyd seems to have gained a regular spot in their team.
Actually, talking of investment has me wondering. Bournemouth have been around for a century and a quarter, give or take. I wonder what their entire historical income is? Prior to the last handful of seasons they won't often have turned over more than £2million in a year. And then there is all that historic inflation to take into account. It may be that next seasons £90million bonanza will be more than half the amount the club has taken in in it's entire existence.
Let's see how the "£90m bonanza" is handled though, recent cases like Blackpool, QPR and Tan United make me wonder how much long (or even medium) term good it does a club.
Fruut van Marjinsen wrote: Hi all, my own preview of play-offs for anyone interested: theliquidfootballblog.wordpress.com/2015...-conference-leagues/ Comments/feedback welcome
So, Twitter tells me that AFCB will be the 47th different club to play in the Premier League.
They'll be the one that no one gets on Sporcle in five years.
It's mostly Americans on there - they love a story like this and I think they'll be easier to recall for the purposes of a memory test then the likes of Barnsley, Oldham and Swindon.
Harry Truscott wrote: Let's see how the "£90m bonanza" is handled though, recent cases like Blackpool, QPR and Tan United make me wonder how much long (or even medium) term good it does a club.
Well it just depends on whether or not the chairman is a mentalist and pisses away all the money. Qpr, Hull and Cardiff are prime examples in this regard. Most other clubs use the windfall to clear some of the debt they accrued getting to the premier league. They also spend money on upgrading their training facilities and the likes.
if you keep your head and accept that you may yoyo, you can benefit hugely from a spell in the premiership and seriously strengthen your club. But if you spend all the money on trying to stay in the premier league then you won't gain any benefit and eventually lose out to better run clubs and be relegated and turn into a financial black hole.
It's not clear what bournemouth's plan is likely to be, but given the well planned nature of their rise on the pitch, you'd assume that they are well run off it.
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