[Albion] Asset stripping

[lasvegan]

Call me shallow but I'm in complete favour of Bournemouth, Brentford and Palace being asset stripped if it takes the attention away from us.

I think they are well run clubs?

 

[Justice]

I’ve always hated the summer transfer antics of the big clubs but this season is a bit different. Whilst some of our players are linked with summer moves away, there are far more clubs around us in the table, losing players & managers to bigger clubs. Brentford are frankly being asset stripped and Bournemouth now have lost 1 player and have 4 others strongly linked with moves away. Without tempting fate, it’s usually us losing all our star players. I don’t know whether to laugh or just hate the bigger clubs and their antics even more.

We do the same thing to clubs what’s your point?

 

[Brovion]

For goodness sake. "Asset stripping"? Talk about dramatic. Losing one player for £50m to Real Madrid isn't asset stripping. Losing Mbuemo (who's been there for 6 years) for a massive fee, and a manager (who's been there for 7 years) for a reported £8m also isn't asset stripping.

Is it a shame? Yes. Would I prefer it if clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea didn't do it? Yes. But it isn't asset stripping. That's what Belotti and Archer did. This just big clubs with a big budget and a lazy recruitment team.

Agreed. I think 'food chain' is a better description. Sunderland fans probably feel the same about us taking Watson. (Except they'd bridle at the very notion that we were 'bigger'). In the absence of a Draft it's the way our football system works.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I’ve always hated the summer transfer antics of the big clubs but this season is a bit different. Whilst some of our players are linked with summer moves away, there are far more clubs around us in the table, losing players & managers to bigger clubs. Brentford are frankly being asset stripped and Bournemouth now have lost 1 player and have 4 others strongly linked with moves away. Without tempting fate, it’s usually us losing all our star players. I don’t know whether to laugh or just hate the bigger clubs and their antics even more.

I think a big reason we are successful - and Brentford and Bournemouth too - is that you have to not only accept this to be the case but actively embrace it. You can't get too emotionally-attached to individual players, because the world of football is filled with excellent players, you simply replace the stars with the next generation of potential stars.

A successful club will ACTIVELY and WILLINGLY sell its stars, because thats how you grow the club. Selling a star gets you 20-50 million in the bank and opens a place in the squad for the next young player to become a star. Can call it the Bissouma - Caicedo - Baleba progression. Caiceido doesn't become who he is by keeping Bissouma, neither would Baleba be a thing without Caicedo's sale. We have a star in CM and £120m invested in other players. And what this all collectively does is increase the value of the SQUAD. And squad value is inextricably linked to a club's position in the league. The better you sell, the quicker the squad value increases. And as the squad value increases, so do the transfer fees you can pay, the wages you can pay, the overall quality of the team. And so, whereas an Adam Webster was once a record signing, a star we are worried about losing, in time he becomes just one of the squad, and eventually one of the reserve players we want to shift on.

By contrast hanging on to your star players does a few things. It costs a lot in increased wages for that player - they become very expensive. It reduces their sell-on value as they become older and their contract runs down. It reduces the amount of money available for positions elsewhere in the team, and blocks young players from coming through. See Zaha, Wilfred. Keeping him kept Palace below mid-table. See also loads of big-name clubs who ended up in the championship. Reject transfer bids, offer larger contracts, build clubs around individual players - that only works if you are Liverpool or Man Utd.

So no, we must embrace the sales, because it is how we get better.

 

[JBizzle]

Also as annoying as it is, I'm sure Watford wanted to keep Pedro, we know Boca wanted to retain Barco, Leeds wanted to keep Georgi, also Watson/Sunderland, Minteh/Newcastle etc. Nobody wants to sell their best players, but we do the same to those lower in the food chain financially

 

[SAC]

So, in summary.

It's shite when other clubs do it but part of football life when we do it.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Also as annoying as it is, I'm sure Watford wanted to keep Pedro, we know Boca wanted to retain Barco, Leeds wanted to keep Georgi, also Watson/Sunderland, Minteh/Newcastle etc. Nobody wants to sell their best players, but we do the same to those lower in the food chain financially

Exactly. Teams like Watford, Boca, Leeds, Sunderland, Newcastle and, most recently I understand, Juventus just have to accept that when a big club comes calling

 

[JBizzle]

Exactly. Teams like Watford, Boca, Leeds, Sunderland, Newcastle and, most recently I understand, Juventus just have to accept that when a big club comes calling

Hilarious isn't it?

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Agree with the comments that this isn't asset stripping, this is just the way the transfer market works.

However it's fair to make a point about wealth distribution in football, across the UK and internationally. There have always been bigger clubs with more resources and that isn't unhealthy. But a situation where A PL club has 50 times the resources of a championship club, who has 10 times the resources of a league 2 club. This is going to lead to some very unhealthy dynamics.

Wealth inequality internationally is probably an even bigger problem. When there are top football nations who have sink leagues because they can't keep decent local players past the age of 17, I don't think that's right.

It's very tempting for us to celebrate the success of the PL because we're mostly English and we're in it. And i'm sure most of us are getting an ego trip that we beat Juve to a signing and Muff fans love it that they can take Porto's main striker despite gates of 10k. But we all loved football before we loved Brighton and I don't think highly entrenched inequality is going to make the game better

 

[el punal]

I’ve always hated the summer transfer antics of the big clubs but this season is a bit different. Whilst some of our players are linked with summer moves away, there are far more clubs around us in the table, losing players & managers to bigger clubs. Brentford are frankly being asset stripped and Bournemouth now have lost 1 player and have 4 others strongly linked with moves away. Without tempting fate, it’s usually us losing all our star players. I don’t know whether to laugh or just hate the bigger clubs and their antics even more.

If the so called big clubs end up like Spurs and Man Utd did last season - bring it on. Both badly managed and badly run. Perhaps there’s a bit of a sea change in how to be successful in the Premier League (and football in general) in that ‘lower unfancied’ clubs like us, Bournemouth, Brentford, Fulham and dare I say it, Palace, have the right formula to not only compete but be successful. Could it be that the big dogs are under so much pressure to achieve and win a trophy year in, year out, that they buy players for exorbitant fees in the hope that it brings in the results required? Seems like throwing mud at the wall and hoping it sticks.

 

[Braggfan]

We could introduce a draft system like in American sports - where weakest teams get first pick of the best players - to make it fairer and more competitive.

...or perhaps bigger teams attracting better players is part of what makes football so entertaining.

It's not as if takes away the competitiveness completely - Palace, Forest, Newcastle, Villa are all in Europe now, having been in the Championship fairly recently. Us and Brentford aren't far off either. Man Utd are in real crisis and are at genuine risk of relegation next season.

Remember, we 'poach' top young talents from 'smaller' clubs that our own these days as well.

Selling top talents sucks as a supporter - but the cash injection is significant. Well run clubs like us benefit from this model - and the 'big clubs' splashing the cash will end up in serious trouble one of these days (I think it's coming soon, for more than one of them).

We'll lose one or two of our best players this summer for sure, and probably for silly money too.

I think football is too far gone to introduce things like a draft system, which is a shame.

For fans like us, and those of Bournemouth, Brentford etc, I think we're always going to experience the problem of our best players and managers leaving to go wealthier clubs. The best any of us can hope for, is that we find a way to come to terms with how football is these days.

 

[dolphins]

I’ve always hated the summer transfer antics of the big clubs but this season is a bit different. Whilst some of our players are linked with summer moves away, there are far more clubs around us in the table, losing players & managers to bigger clubs. Brentford are frankly being asset stripped and Bournemouth now have lost 1 player and have 4 others strongly linked with moves away. Without tempting fate, it’s usually us losing all our star players. I don’t know whether to laugh or just hate the bigger clubs and their antics even more.

Asset stripping is too strong but I know what you mean from when I've been in my BHA glass-half-empty moods during transfer windows, a few seasons back, it really annoyed me. Now, not so much as BHA seems to be successfully running the conveyor belt of succession. As Palace are finding out now, planning is key! Much worse in my mind was Potter doing the full preseason, and a few games into the season leaving us, meaning his replacement had to hit the ground running with the players he had, trained in a different style.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

I think football is too far gone to introduce things like a draft system, which is a shame.

Don't be so negative. Anything is possible.

Just need to write to the hedge fund owners and oil states who own our clubs along the lines of .......

Dear big 6 club owner

We've decided to institute a draft system. What this means is that those billions of pounds worth of footballers you've bought to aid the sports washing project of the repugnant state you represent ... well, we're going to re-allocate them to Burnley.

Hope this is OK.

yours, football