FFPR, long-termism and our youth academy

[southern muppet]

Everyone talks about and/or panics about how City will be screwed over by FFP but why does everyone overlook the fact the owner is investing £1.2 billion in youth development?

Nobody has ever invested this much into youth development in one go in European football before or to my knowledge not even cumulatively over a long period - and no one in the UK at club level has ever tried to copy the Barca model residential, education-inclusive academy until now.

Even if we entertain a scenario where FFPR forced us to sell a few high wage earners and plateau out as a top 6 team for a few seasons (our revenue is 5th or 6th highest in the league, league position tends to roughly correspond with revenue in the medium term) then eventually we'd just rise back up by spending more on youth development than anyone else.

Under FFPR, the Sheikh could spend £10bn every day on youth development if he wanted and not a penny of it would count towards a profit/loss calculation. This is obviously an extreme example for the purpose of making my point but the important fact is it's totally uncapped.

Why then do people act like Platini's rules and diktats could make City disappear, when in actual fact they could be a temporary hindrance at best...?

If you consider the Bob Marley lyric ''have no fear for atomic energy, cause none of them can stop the time'' then the Financial Fair Play Regulations are atomic energy and the Sheikh's money - so long as he remains permitted to invest as much of it as he likes in this kind of ground up development - is the time.

In other words, so long as our owner sticks around, we're totally sorted and unassailable, FFPR or not.

Discuss? :)

 

[80s Shorts]

Everyone talks about and/or panics about how City will be screwed over by FFP but why does everyone overlook the fact the owner is investing £1.2 billion in youth development?

Nobody has ever invested this much into youth development in one go in European football before or to my knowledge not even cumulatively over a long period - and no one in the UK at club level has ever tried to copy the Barca model residential, education-inclusive academy until now.

Even if we entertain a scenario where FFPR forced us to sell a few high wage earners and plateau out as a top 6 team for a few seasons (our revenue is 5th or 6th highest in the league, league position tends to roughly correspond with revenue in the medium term) then eventually we'd just rise back up by spending more on youth development than anyone else.

Under FFPR, the Sheikh could spend £10bn every day on youth development if he wanted and not a penny of it would count towards a profit/loss calculation. This is obviously an extreme example for the purpose of making my point but the important fact is it's totally uncapped.

Why then do people act like Platini's rules and diktats could make City disappear, when in actual fact they could be a temporary hindrance at best...?

If you consider the Bob Marley lyric ''have no fear for atomic energy, cause none of them can stop the time'' then the Financial Fair Play Regulations are atomic energy and the Sheikh's money - so long as he remains permitted to invest as much of it as he likes in this kind of ground up development - is the time.

In other words, so long as our owner sticks around, we're totally sorted and unassailable, FFPR or not.

Discuss? :)

SSSssshhhhhh!!

 

[Blue_Moon]

Why then do people act like Platini's rules and diktats could make City disappear, when in actual fact they could be a temporary hindrance at best...?

the idiots that think this are the same idiots that believe we're going to crash and burn when the owners "get bored and walk away".

people that envy our rise to the top are just going to have to get used to it, we're not going away for a long long time.

 

[southern muppet]

Why then do people act like Platini's rules and diktats could make City disappear, when in actual fact they could be a temporary hindrance at best...?

the idiots that think this are the same idiots that believe we're going to crash and burn when the owners "get bored and walk away".

people that envy our rise to the top are just going to have to get used to it, we're not going away for a long long time.

Agreed about those types, but a lot of our fanbase seem to see any possible encroachment by FFPR on our short term progress as basically the Apocalypse, too. I think we need to keep a sense of perspective about it.

 

[Martyn]

Why oh why do people insist on quoting the entire OP just to make a one word answer. Even when they are first to comment? Its not like we are all wondering what your reply is in reference to is it?

 

[LoveCity]

Our academy will be great but the full potential of it could be over 10 years away. For now we're doing the wise thing and buying up top 16/17/18 year olds in hopes they are good enough.

 

[Rammyblues]

Opens in 2 years, a year before full effect of FFPR, those in EDS who are 19 by then will be 21 and should start to either replace ageing memebers of our squad if they are good enough, I suspect our buying top youths will continue with the added advantage of the 40 rooms available on site for them to stay with all the facilities at hand (hopefully that will be a selling point) to lure the cream of the crop.


It won't replace all our players and no doubt once the collar site is up and running and providing sufficient revenue streams for the club the players who can't be replaced from the academy will be purchased but in full compliance with FFPR.

 

[Falastur]

Just want to st!rt by explaining myself. I am very excited by the academy plans and think it can be the best. However I dispute this constant assumption that we 100% WILL be the best and that nothing can stop us.

Everyone talks about and/or panics about how City will be screwed over by FFP but why does everyone overlook the fact the owner is investing £1.2 billion in youth development?

Wait, wait, wait. Where did £1.2 billion come from? I read a lot of news stories and I've never seen any number close to that used. Heck, I don't even know what you could spend that much on. The facilities only costed 100m. Are you sure you're not confused with the total club spend?

Even if we entertain a scenario where FFPR forced us to sell a few high wage earners and plateau out as a top 6 team for a few seasons (our revenue is 5th or 6th highest in the league, league position tends to roughly correspond with revenue in the medium term) then eventually we'd just rise back up by spending more on youth development than anyone else.

Throwing money at something is not a guarantee of success, though it does help. I'm genuinely excited about the academy but I wish people would stop claiming it's literally impossible for us to not make the bestest academy ever ever ever. We're Typical City for goodness sake. It took us 4 years just to get rid of Andy Welsh and we still let Jim Cassell mothball rather than using him.

We need to build a reputation first to get all the kids wanting to be here, and we need the best in the business running things. Without that, we will struggle. We presently have neither.

Why then do people act like Platini's rules and diktats could make City disappear, when in actual fact they could be a temporary hindrance at best...?

Because if Platini gets us banned from Europe before our academy is in place, it won't be enough to save us. If it was, Mansour and Khaldoon would have just built the academy from the start rather than doing the whole "buying overpriced superstars to drag ourselves to the top" thing we've been doing since 2008.

In other words, so long as our owner sticks around, we're totally sorted and unassailable, FFPR or not.

This is the crux of why I take issue with this post. We cannot blindly assume we are sure of success. Only a few weeks back, when Walsh was sacked, our academy setup came under scathing criticism by those formerly on the inside for deeply ingrained issues which are just being ignored by the high-ups. It was also hinted that Mancini isn't interested in the slightest by the youth setup. We aren't doing anything about this. It's stuff like this which suggest we may not have a trouble-free and successful run to the top. I just want people to realise that things do occasionally go wrong and to declare that we are immune from failure is foolish in the extreme.

 

[Chorleyblue]

Chelsea have just spent 100m. FFP is obviously not a problem to them!!

 

[mayo31]

I really don't see the owners walking away anytime soon so am fairly confident our future is safe.

So I then ask myself do I care about FFP enough to get in a twist about it and I don't. For years we were the laughing stock of football or something to be pitied. Those days have gone and I have enjoyed the last 4 years more than any of the previous 30 plus.

The barren years had the odd game or moment but nothing like the constant highs we have been given recently