General The OUFC Model

Unless they already have the attitude that they want to achieve like Lunny, Rothwell, Cam Bran, Roofe, Lego etc.
I think this is slightly unfair to be honest, footballers careers are very short, add to that the fact that as youngsters, they've not actually made it, I find it quite unsurprising that a lot of them take the money while it's offered

Of course, some believe in themselves enough to take the plunge, but it's not hard to see why some might worry about dropping out of the relative safety of Prem Academies
 
I think this is slightly unfair to be honest, footballers careers are very short, add to that the fact that as youngsters, they've not actually made it, I find it quite unsurprising that a lot of them take the money while it's offered

Of course, some believe in themselves enough to take the plunge, but it's not hard to see why some might worry about dropping out of the relative safety of Prem Academies

I wasn't criticising others for taking the money but maybe didn't make that clear. Just that there are those who want to achieve and will drop to go back up.
 
At the point you are *in* (and competitive in) the Championship and are thus seen as the club to progress *to* rather than *from*? But even then we might be seen as a steppingstone to clubs in the Prem, Players at the lower Prem clubs look for a step up to the higher ones, and even some of the players in the higher clubs end up going to a big European club!

I suppose the point is that any ambitious player is going to want to play at the highest level they can, so as soon as a player looks as if he could play at a higher level someone higher will make an offer.

The only clubs who aren't stepping stones are those at the very top of European football (ie. Real Madrid, Man City, Barcelona etc)
 
at what point do you need to stop being just seen as a stepping stone rather than opportunity to progress with us?
Been saying that for years but keep getting told we are a selling club ( which in theory we are ) but we get a good team to get her and then sell a couple and we have to start all over again so tbf unless we have a season like last we won’t be anything more than a L1 side.
 
Been saying that for years but keep getting told we are a selling club ( which in theory we are ) but we get a good team to get her and then sell a couple and we have to start all over again so tbf unless we have a season like last we won’t be anything more than a L1 side.

We lose £ms and that has to be covered somehow. It isn't a theory, we are a selling club and would be in the CHampionship as well. As said earlier even plenty of PL clubs are selling clubs.
 
We lose £ms and that has to be covered somehow. It isn't a theory, we are a selling club and would be in the CHampionship as well. As said earlier even plenty of PL clubs are selling clubs.
Southampton are a good example of a higher level selling club. Wouldn't mind being like them!
 
Feels like a bit of a moot article now unfortunately. We wouldn’t be able to sign half the players we did in the past and who are mentioned in the piece, because the salary cap now makes them unaffordable. It’s too big of a drop and they would either go out on loan only or just sit and pick up their deals while they were there, and clubs like us wouldn’t have sold them for millions of pounds.

We would be nearly half a million quid short of being able to afford our L2 promotion team now, between what the wage bill was that season and what the cap is today. The likes of Ledson, Rothwell etc who only came in after we got into L1, when our wage bill went up further, would be even more unobtainable than the ones we managed to convince to come the season before.
 
Feels like a bit of a moot article now unfortunately. We wouldn’t be able to sign half the players we did in the past and who are mentioned in the piece, because the salary cap now makes them unaffordable. It’s too big of a drop and they would either go out on loan only or just sit and pick up their deals while they were there, and clubs like us wouldn’t have sold them for millions of pounds.

We would be nearly half a million quid short of being able to afford our L2 promotion team now, between what the wage bill was that season and what the cap is today. The likes of Ledson, Rothwell etc who only came in after we got into L1, when our wage bill went up further, would be even more unobtainable than the ones we managed to convince to come the season before.

Rotherham complaining that L1 and L2 clubs can't afford to pay the loan wages of Championship players because of the salary cap.
Andy Holt says - "lower the loan wage then".
 

Rotherham complaining that L1 and L2 clubs can't afford to pay the loan wages of Championship players because of the salary cap.
Andy Holt says - "lower the loan wage then".
It’s fine for him. His lot are punching above their weight playing any team bigger than Runcorn. It would be like me welcoming a price increase on Aston Martin’s.
 
Feels like a bit of a moot article now unfortunately. We wouldn’t be able to sign half the players we did in the past and who are mentioned in the piece, because the salary cap now makes them unaffordable. It’s too big of a drop and they would either go out on loan only or just sit and pick up their deals while they were there, and clubs like us wouldn’t have sold them for millions of pounds.

We would be nearly half a million quid short of being able to afford our L2 promotion team now, between what the wage bill was that season and what the cap is today. The likes of Ledson, Rothwell etc who only came in after we got into L1, when our wage bill went up further, would be even more unobtainable than the ones we managed to convince to come the season before.
yes - the example of players not going out on loan because the loanee club can't afford the salary is a bit of a distraction.
They were never our players so even if we improve them, we don't get a transfer fee.

As you say, the issue is that once a player gets signed from the academy onto a decent professional wage on a three or five year deal at a Premier League / Championship club, they are hardly going to stick their hand up and ask to be released to get more game time, as the L1 and L2 wages simply won't compete.
 
Remember the 2 man city wasters??? couldnt give a f##k and were packed off back,wonder where they are now?? for every Roofe/Branaghan there are twenty like them.
 
Does this model work better in League 2 or League 1? or hard to tell?
A good academy player will be more likely to stand out in League 2 and get more game time.
Whereas in League 1 the existing squad should be a bit harder to break into.

I think some academy players need to wake up that they aren't going to break into the first team, and instead of going out on endless loans, they are better off dropping down the divisions in order to prove themselves.
Compare Roofe with Carlton Morris. It only took two seasons from leaving West Brom for Roofe to be playing in the Championship for Leeds and then Belgium and onto Rangers. Morris spent seven years on loan from Norwich at various clubs without ever really making an impact before signing for Barnsley which isn't really a "big" Championship club
We saw how Browne was targeted in every game so with these younger players I think it depends on the players development/physique. Quicker more skilful players should work hard and try and play L1 and I would be wary about playing L2 especially if I were injury prone. L2 is brutal - if you try and play decent football they chop your legs off!
 
Remember the 2 man city wasters??? couldnt give a f##k and were packed off back,wonder where they are now?? for every Roofe/Branaghan there are twenty like them.

Isaac Bradley Jordan Buckley-Ricketts (born 14 March 1998) is an English footballer who plays as a forward for Stretford Paddock Football Club. (wikipaedia says). Can't remember the other one's name.
 
We saw how Browne was targeted in every game so with these younger players I think it depends on the players development/physique. Quicker more skilful players should work hard and try and play L1 and I would be wary about playing L2 especially if I were injury prone. L2 is brutal - if you try and play decent football they chop your legs off!
I was listening to some of the radio commentary for one of the FA Cup games last week and they said that the academy players are coached to be playing EPL standard tiki-taka football or whatever, and getting bundled off the ball by lumping great conference players stopped their game. The commentator did say that if they kept to their game, eventually it should come good.
 
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