retired_lapepe

No doubt Chelskij has been successful, and some fans probably enjoy it. It is a more fundamental question than success, IMO. It's a question of 'ownership' of the club. Not only who concretely owns the club, but how the fans feel towards the club. What 'soul' the club is perceived to have.

The experiment with Chelskij has been a success on the field, but I'm pretty sure many fans feel disillusioned by the whole affair. It's the same with most big clubs. To take Man Utd as it's the club I have some knowledge about. Before they moved training ground, people could show up, get autographs and talk to the players. That is more or less impossible now, at least to the extent it was before.

It's the same with Chelskij. Players have become more protected and don't talk to and mingle with the fans as they did before. The inevitable result is that the fans feel less connected to the club. Both as a direct result of having less contact with the players and staff of the club, but also because the club focuses more on making money than having a good rapport with the fans and be locally based, in various ways.

In short, the clubs are no longer football clubs, but international corporations with branches across the world. Success on the pitch is just a way to make money. Success on the pitch is not the end, but a means to an end. That is what has changed in England with the introduction of oligarchs and investors. I don't think that is a positive development.

retired_bj1fabre

I thank you.

Some googling on the Germany situation, rightly pointed out by Cosmo, revealed some interesting stuff on Wikisometimesrightapedia. Amongst this list of feeder relationships there are obviously a lot of speculative informal type ones, but there are some apparently public, formal feeder deals done (those with outside linkage away from the wiki) between UK clubs which I'd been unaware of. Connah's Quay and Man Utd is probably the most surprising of those, since the BBC runs it as a full-blown feeder arrangement, not just a "youth coaching link-up" type deal, which a lot of the others seem to be.

Very peculiar.

retired_cin4me9

Hmmm. millionairres buying clubs, and ripping the soul out of them, wouldn't get Ian started on that one.

retired_brad1080

Rourke - Is Connas Quay not a full member of the English FA? I see that it is a team from Wales so perhaps the explanation is there?

Also, at bottom your second link, it says "United also have similar agreements around the world with Walsall, Shelbourne, Oslo East, Royal Antwerp, Bronnapojkarna and Parramatta Eagles."

Well, the Walsall one is not formal because then Walsall would be thrown out of the FA, no? I suppose "bronnapojkarna" should read Brommapojkarna, if that is the case, this article is taking the ****. AFAIK, no Utdplayer has ever been there. Brommapojkarna (BP) is a team with a very developed youth setup, meaning that they produce kids for the big Stockholm teams to snap up for breadcrumbs. Link with manure? I think not.

retired_sandra

You're getting mixed up with Colwyn Bay there Alex.

retired_lapepe

IIRC the link with Oslo Øst got cancelled.

retired_lastdietever

Connas Quay are also a Welsh club Nobby (although I may have misunderstood your point). By the way, that Connas Quay link is over 4 years old, so not exactly relevant anymore.

retired_brad1080

Nobby - I just quoted Rourkes post, and that says Connah's Quay. I have never heard of them but AFAIK it is also a Welsh club?

retired_fox489

Just a side note here, but until recently (and it may still be the case) Germany had the highest average attendances in European (and presumably world) football. Admittedly they've lacked CL successover the past ten years, but we weren't calling the Premier League rubbish when United got to the quarter finals every year. As a Watford fan I've got experience of both ends of the scale, and they way they do it would give successful and financially shrewd smaller clubs a real chance to go all the way to the top, without risking the club's future if they fail.

retired_bj1fabre

The feeder deal is still running, according to the Beeb's 'page' on the club.

Although that said, the Beeb also report on the Newport/Utd link at around the same time in '03, describing it as a "similar arrangement" - and there it's an annual friendly, 'coaching assistance' and a first look at any promising youth players.

Still, very strange.