One of the best posts of the year there from curtis.
Thanks!
Excellent post. I agree with everything but few points. Barcelona are second highest spenders in this decade. They have spent close to 750 Million. They have excellent youth players but still they spend cash.
To a certain extent, I agree with you...Barcelona follow only two parts of the "holy trinity" very well: developing youth players and playing attractive soccer. The reason I cited them as such a well-run club was because I love their philosophy. They have a religion: playing the Barcelona brand of pure, beautiful football, and this philosophy is taught at all levels of the club. The youngsters are raised on it, and the senior team looks to them first because they have the been trained in the ways of Barcelona football and are trained perfectly to the roles of Barca's unique formation and style. How many first team Barca players came from their youth team? Valdes, Pique, Puyol, Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets (who is a better player every time I see him), Messi, Pedro...that's 8 of 11 players. Bojan is coming around the corner, and they have several other very promising youth prospects.
This is why I admire them more than any club in the world (although I'm not a Barca fan). They have assembled arguably the greatest team ever primarily from the ranks of their youth squad. It didn't happen overnight, and they struggled a lot in the earlier years of the decade, but their long-term vision paid off in the end. There is such a thing as the Barca DNA, and their system is so pure that world class players can't even adjust to it. Ibrahimovic couldn't. Mascherano can't. And even David Villa hasn't been really all that consistent for them. When they had to make a coaching change, who did they pick...the best, most expensive manager available (perhaps Mourinho)? They choose the inexperienced coach of their reserve team, someone who had played at the club and was familiar with its philosophy. And they won the treble in his first season. Not to mention the guy is a total class act, one of the most humble people in football. I really gained a lot of respect for him after watching the press conference after the Superclasico. He talks about the Barcelona philosophy, and that's the reason behind their existence, more than making money or winning trophies. And he totally avoids accepting any praise from the media. If you can understand Spanish, definitely check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbF4pGHg4-w
Now as far as their budget goes, true, Guardiola made some expensive mistakes. Chygrnsky was a horrible decision. They wasted a whole lot of money on the Ibra debacle. And Mascherano was not worth the money when you have Busquets emerging as a world class DM. But also remember that Barcelona just signed the first shirt sponsorship deal in their history. And they don't do anything extra to pander to overseas markets. They aren't nearly as commercialized as some of the Premiership clubs. And their debts are mostly non-football related: 8 of their starting 11 were for free.
True, Arsenal aim for quality football, youth development, and financial prudency...but how many of their players came from their academy? I really admire Arsenal, but for me, Barca is the best club in the world right now.
We spend lot more as we earned that, it was not some sudar daddy's money. When you condsider our Net spending to our revenue, it is not even comparable. No Berbatov, Rio, Rooney's transfers didnt contribute towards Debt. We were excellent financially, making endless money. So we spent hard earned cash to build the team and replace our stars. We have every right to do it as we earned that money and not on someone mercy. What we have achieved after Glazer take overr is truely exceptional. You can check net spending along with the trophies won. Then you will see how we are operating.
And Regarding United Youngsters, we have few quality youngster. Rafael, Fabio, Cleverley, Welbeck, Matty James, Ravel Morrison Smalling, Evans.
And Anderson, Nani, Hernandez are just 22-23. So they have 10 more years in them.
I do agree with you. When I first got into the sport I chose Leeds as my English team (it was the era of Viduka, Kewell, Smith, and then a little later a bunch of great young players like Lennon, Milner, Robinson, etc.), so I am a bit biased against ManU. However, they have been incredibly consistent over the past two decades, and yes, they're a very well-run club. Fergie has a great eye for talent, and they have a system in place that has kept them going for so long...you get players like Giggs and Scholes who have played since the early days of the Prem and are still good for them because United runs through their blood.
What I will say though is that ManU in the past two decades has been an extremely commercially successful club (especially making money overseas, Americans and Asians worship ManU and buy a lot of their gear), and this certainly contributed to their success. The ridiculous inflation of transfers and wages didn't really pick up until the 00's (of course Real Madrid had a part to play in this), and back in the 90's, I'm pretty sure ManU were the biggest spenders in England. Granted, the transfers and wages back then are very small in comparison to what they are today, but still, this enabled them to establish themselves as England's best team, and Ferguson and their system has kept them there. But do you think this would have happened had Ferguson left or retired long ago? I think he's really the only reason they've been so consistent for so long...had he left, I bet they would have struggled (big shoes for the new guy to fill), would have gone through a few managers quickly, and spent a big of money on players that didn't fit in well.
I'm not saying that ManU didn't 'deserve' their money or that they are financially imprudent (the Glazers are another perfect symbol of what has happened in the world over the past 10-20 years...using assets they don't really have to secure a loan they had no business getting)...it's just that Arsenal has run on a tighter budget (they aren't as popular around the world), so I really respect the fact that they have been so consistent. Anyways, you're right, Arsenal isn't the only club that cares about these things, ManU deserves a lot of respect too....but personally I think it has more to do with Fergie than the club.
As far as United youngsters go: Nani and Hernandez are class. I think everyone knew Nani was going to be great, but Hernandez was a steal. To be honest I have never seen Anderson have a better than average game, I don't know what the big deal about him is. I don't think either of the Da Silva twins will turn out. They don't play good enough defense to be a defender in a league like the Premiership, and I don't think they're as skilled as some of the South Americans I watch every weekend. Evans has had some pretty terrible games, hasn't he? Smalling I haven't seen enough of. You definitely know more than I do since I don't really watch that much Premiership. But I think in terms of how many young players Arsenal has churned through its ranks over the past few decades, they're the best for youth development in the Prem. Their academy certainly doesn't seem to be though, and they get almost all of their young players from other clubs. West Ham and Everton have great academies, and I like Everton and want to see them do well. It's a shame that West Ham will probably go down this season.
They are one of the clubs who cares about Stability. For all the spendings Spurs are in excellent financial condition. We would have laughing at whole world with our financial power had it not been for Glazers. We ccare about stability. We always did. Even when we are paying massive interests, we are managing them. How is it possible? Coz of the model we rely on.
Had it not been for Glazers, in Financial fair play time, we would have ruled the entire market. But sadly thats not the case coz of take over.
Developing youngsters, Many clubs do the same. We do that. Everton are becoming one of the best in the country. There is always West Ham when it comes to academy.
Thats it. Yours was excellent post, maybe that bias towards Arsenal saying they are the only club. Apart from that i agree completely.
Yeah we pretty much agree, thanks for the compliments. I do think that you guys are pretty much a lock for the title this year. Chelsea won't be a challenger unless some of their rotation players improve drastically. It's too soon for Man City, and I don't think Tottenham is good enough. Arsenal will be your only competition, and I'm sure they'll have another injury crisis that will cost them the title. It's too bad though since I thought this would be their year...and you guys have won so much in the past few years, it's a shame Arsenal won't get to see the fruits of their labor pay off. It'd do the Prem a lot of good if they won the title I think, maybe change a few minds.
Arsenal needs to fix up that shabby defence first of all Koscielny is average at best, and Squillaci isn't half bad but he doesn't have the pace to keep up with faster players and Clichy?...excellent attacking wise but his defensive abilities are suspect. Wenger needs to break the bank to sign a decent left back and centre back, this philosophy of raising young players will only get you so far. I'd go as far as saying that Sagna and Vermealen are the closest things to being solid defenders in that line up. The rest are suspect, and that shows in big games. Having said that, another defensive midfielder wouldn't go a miss Song's class, but Denilson isn't big enough to push his weight around the pitch. Diabys a beast attacking wise but lacks that tenacious tackle that the likes of Cambiasso or Mascherano possess. Honestly I'd say beef that midfield and defence up, but I digress Arsenal are looking pretty in the table right now. It's too early to dismiss them from the championship just yet. But you need to ask yourself when you lose at home to teams like West Brom and Newcastle whether or not they have the drive to go the whole distance. I hope I'm wrong though.
The reason their defense is shabby is because TMV is out, which Wenger couldn't have foreseen. Squillaci and Koscielny are more technical CB's that should be paired with an imposing physical presence like TMV. That's what Wenger intended, but then he got hurt. Also, don't forget that it's their first year in the club. It takes a while for CB's to gel and form an effective partnership. This is why they can't just go and buy another one in January. It'll take the newcomer months before he is comfortable in the Arsenal system, and he won't be playing much, either if the other 3 CB's are healthy. I think the same goes for any DM, he'll just sit on the bench and never gel enough with the other players to the point where he can have the timing to play Arsenal's passing game. Who exactly do you think Wenger should/could buy this January? And at what price? I can't think of anyone good enough that they could get for cheap, and especially not any young players who would be worth the investment.