16 minutes ago, Sluffy said:

As an afterthought about talking of the Brentford model, I wonder if that is what several of the German clubs do as you often see some of the best young British academy talent moving to there as the young players can't immediately break into their own clubs first team?

They go in the opposite direction and have a mandatory rule that all clubs in the top two leagues have an academy

I was at one stage quite sympathetic to the idea of scrapping the academy in favour of a B team but the B team hasn't borne any fruit here and I think it's less likely to succeed as a model because clubs have cottoned on that any player they think might make a career professionally are worth keeping on to later be sold for a fee

There's also the fact that Brexit has made it more difficult to sign young players from from Europe, which has a big impact

2 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

There's also the fact that Brexit has made it more difficult to sign young players from from Europe, which has a big impact

It's why you are seeing a bunch of the top clubs just signing youth players from one another.

EPPP also means the top clubs can just stockpile talent from the other academies, Arsenal signing someone today from Cardiff for instance.

2 hours ago, Cheese said:

The Trump pardon stinks enough, but I find this bit most concerning: "In May, the 69-year-old invested €100million ($114m; £85m) in newly-promoted Serie A side Venezia, with his daughter Francesca Bodie becoming the club’s president."

Really hope Sharon knows what she's doing getting this blatantly dodgy lot involved.

Feels like it’s to good to be true.

4 minutes ago, onefinfrandsen said:

Feels like it’s to good to be true.

Either that or too bad to be true. I'm sure it'll all be fine...

10 minutes ago, jmjhb said:

It's why you are seeing a bunch of the top clubs just signing youth players from one another.

EPPP also means the top clubs can just stockpile talent from the other academies, Arsenal signing someone today from Cardiff for instance.

Chelsea in particular have taken the piss with it

It's smart business from their perspective but hugely damaging for the sport in general

1 hour ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

Yeah, I'm not convinced it's good news

I fully trust Sharon Brittan and Micheal James judgment on this one.

There's not a chance they'd jeopardise us.

We need cash to survive at this level and this lot have plenty.

2 hours ago, jmjhb said:

It's worth doing for the (small) chance you unearth and develop a player like Wharton at Blackburn. Relatively small losses, comparatively, to elsewhere in the business. We'll spend more on that this season on a bad signing.

Blackburn have had some bumpy times financially over recent years, bumbling along in mid / lower Champ, but the Academy has survived and still keeps producing, either for their first team or to sell on.

Their fans I talk to grumble more about duff signings over the last couple of seasons than anything their Academy is doing

15 minutes ago, onefinfrandsen said:

Feels like it’s to good to be true.

The Sheffield Wednesday fans though Thai multimillionaire Chansiri rocking up there was too good to be true...

That didn't end well.

Anyone Trump has given a Presidential Pardon to should be treated with the utmost caution in my opinion.

1 minute ago, ianofcleveleys said:

Their fans I talk to grumble more about duff signings over the last couple of seasons than anything their Academy is doing

I'm sure fans of all clubs would be doing the same as Academy are 'hidden' costs as in the sense no one knows what they are but if your club spaffs out a few hundred thousands on a Nlundulu or an Adeboyejo, then the stump is there in front of you, failing badly ever Saturday for the rest of the season.

These Americans main business model is Sports/Concert stadia. Venkys is Chicken food production

These Americans own Football and Ice Hocky brands. Chansiri is Tuna food canning

Why are people bringing other clubs owners into the conversation....

The Americans are specialising in their own business. They are the people we need to attract

14 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

These Americans main business model is Sports/Concert stadia. Venkys is Chicken food production

These Americans own Football and Ice Hocky brands. Chansiri is Tuna food canning

Why are people bringing other clubs owners into the conversation....

The Americans are specialising in their own business. They are the people we need to attract

Yes it could be reason Tim leiweke as been offered a seat on the board for only a minority share to Heighten the profile of the club and bring investment in .

I think is personal involvement with bwfc is totally different to Venetia were they bought the club and investmented 100 million were not seeing that tje club have said it’s nothing to do with tje playing side

57 minutes ago, jmjhb said:

It's why you are seeing a bunch of the top clubs just signing youth players from one another.

EPPP also means the top clubs can just stockpile talent from the other academies, Arsenal signing someone today from Cardiff for instance.

I don't want to get into detailed financial chat, but the current rules are an absolute con.

Under the pretence of stopping clubs spending more than their turnover they've locked in a massive advantage for the existing big clubs to such an extent that for example Spurs can afford to buy off Newcastle despite having no European football and Newcastle having virtually unlimited funds, but they can't make as much money out of their poorer North eastern fanbase as Spurs can with their London fans.

And then academy investment isn't included so those same clubs can stockpile all the talent.

Completely broken system

15 minutes ago, gonzo said:

I fully trust Sharon Brittan and Micheal James judgment on this one.

I wouldn't be surprised if they've been brought in by the Swiss

1 hour ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

Chelsea in particular have taken the piss with it

It's smart business from their perspective but hugely damaging for the sport in general

In the past decade or so Chelsea's over recruitment & inevitable loans and releasing of players has meant they lost out on de Bruyne, Sarah, Rice, Lukaku, Ake & many others.

8 minutes ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

In the past decade or so Chelsea's over recruitment & inevitable loans and releasing of players has meant they lost out on de Bruyne, Sarah, Rice, Lukaku, Ake & many others.

I'm sure the money they've made from the strategy overall will help cushion the blow

I doubt they've lost much sleep over losing Ake, to be fair

55 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

These Americans main business model is Sports/Concert stadia. Venkys is Chicken food production

These Americans own Football and Ice Hocky brands. Chansiri is Tuna food canning

Why are people bringing other clubs owners into the conversation....

The Americans are specialising in their own business. They are the people we need to attract

I wasn't talking about or comparing owners as such, merely offering a view about academies and their benefits.

I've already said what I think (which is positive) about what our new investors can hopefully bring to our table for our long term benefit

4 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

I'm sure the money they've made from the strategy overall will help cushion the blow

I doubt they've lost much sleep over losing Ake, to be fair

They still signed Ake for peanuts and sold him for £20M, so still not too bad really for somebody who only played about 5 games for them.

My understanding, as you've suggested, is their strategy, in the main, is pretty profitable, hence they keep doing it. They will miss out on the odd superstar, that's inevitable, but they're bringing decent money on a fairly regular basis, plus if cost so they loan fees and sell on clauses that they generate

14 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

I'm sure the money they've made from the strategy overall will help cushion the blow

I doubt they've lost much sleep over losing Ake, to be fair

You'd lose a lot on Salah & de Bruyne ... & there are many more.

5 minutes ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

& there are many more.

Which ones?

15 minutes ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

You'd lose a lot on Salah & de Bruyne ... & there are many more.

Thought de Bruyne left because Mourinho publicly slated his performance

He sulked and Jose didn't like the reaction so potted him

3 hours ago, gonzo said:

I fully trust Sharon Brittan and Micheal James judgment on this one.

There's not a chance they'd jeopardise us.

We need cash to survive at this level and this lot have plenty.

Agree on Sharon and the board, after where we were seven years ago and the graft she’s put in to dig us out of the shit.

2 hours ago, Farnywhite said:

Yes it could be reason Tim leiweke as been offered a seat on the board for only a minority share to Heighten the profile of the club and bring investment in .

I think is personal involvement with bwfc is totally different to Venetia were they bought the club and investmented 100 million were not seeing that tje club have said it’s nothing to do with tje playing side

They haven't bought Venezia

1 hour ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

They haven't bought Venezia

Says here he has and several other feeds says he is the owner the bwfc stuff is a different company he owns

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/venezia-owner-leiweke-buys-minority-171000236.html

Edited July 26Jul 26 by Farnywhite

10 minutes ago, Farnywhite said:

Says here he has and several other feeds says he is the owner the bwfc stuff is a different company he owns

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/venezia-owner-leiweke-buys-minority-171000236.html

They've invested in the company that owns the club as far as I can tell, which would seem similar to what they've done with us

And it's the same company - EEP

8 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

They've invested in the company that owns the club as far as I can tell, which would seem similar to what they've done with us

And it's the same company - EEP

No don’t think it’s same company oak view group are the ones involved with us .less people involved but Same guy but different company ours is do with events .

But like I said he may of been asked or given a seat to heighten the profile of the club or links he as for further investment who knows .

Most sources are saying he is the owner obviously it’s the company not him personally and is daughter is now tjhe chairman so by the sound of it there running it and put 100 million into the club