I felt
this article has so many implications for us (CAFC) that it deserves its own thread for discussion.
In short; if this is the thinking about the development of young players that RD wants to bring here, then I think it would be fantastic.
This article is about the national approach, and where it focuses on individual clubs, it is on Anderlecht, but we know that Standard have heavily invested too. One interesting point is this; the clubs express concern that now the eyes of the football world are on Belgium's development programme, young layers are being snapped up by FAPL clubs but then not getting game time when they need it for their development. It could be that The Network provides a way to give players that game time without losing them. It is not 100% foolproof - the Network cannot wave the ridiculous wads of cash that Chelsea can to kids and their often impoverished parents - but it may be a defence. And if we are part of it, we benefit in two ways. Talented Standard kids can come to us, and our talented kids could do a spell at Sint-Truiden or Jena.
It is not all cut and dried, but I would like to believe that there is a connection between this amazing story and RD's blueprint for success.
Comments
What an uplifting article, PA. I'm sure it is no coincidence that this connects so closely with The Network's philosophy. The article also refers to the University of Leuven (studies thereat) - iirc that is the alma mater of RD and KM. It all seems to fit together. And - shrewd businessman that he undoubtedly is - if RD is in it at least partly for the coin, then at least it's a coin that the Belgians deserve to keep for themselves in the face of rampant EPL looting.
Whatever it takes to persuade DP that here is where his best interests lie, one thing stands free and clear at the top of the list - GAME TIME !!
The money being put into the PL is so distorting and damaging our game - something really needs to be done to spread the money wider rather than it being frittered away on whatever PL players spend their wages on.
I've been a big fan of the German revolution but we can now see that the Belgians have followed a similar path and are now seeing a similar reward, in a country with a population only 15% of Germany. I think I will adopt them as my second World Cup team. I still cannot bring myself to support the Germans :-)
Vincent Kompany who has just won the Premier League with Manchester City started at Anderlecht
Thibaut Courtois who is well on his way to becoming the World's Best Goalkeeper just won La Liga and was Runner-Up in the Champions League after starting his career at Genk
Eden Hazard currently at Chelsea (the World-Class player through the French System) Won nothing this season and anyway he started at his hometown club in Belgium Royal Stade Brainois before being snapped up by Lille
Then you've also got Romelu Lukaku (Anderlecht) / Kevin Miralles (Standard Liege) / Simon Mignolet (St. Truiden) who had great seasons with Everton and Liverpool
No way you can get that lucky.
It is true though that if you have a smaller population then you will have some up and down periods. The Czechs (10m) are going through that at the moment.
The question is, why a country of 60m, the birthplace of football, the home of the "greatest league in the world" has underperformed for the last 24 years.
Hopefully exciting times ahead for us, watching more generations of our young players in the first team, excelling on a technical level.
i.e. Just look at Kosovo.. Astrit Ajdarevic and Adnan Januzaj are two who could represent them now (Of course looking very unlikely for Januzaj as he's with Belgium at the World Cup)
Think you might have your geography a bit mixed up. Czechoslovakia was only ever the Czech and Slovakia countries (total 15m). The other countries you mention are former Yugoslavia.
The Czechs yearn for the Euro 96 team of Nedved, Poborsky, Berger and Smicer, or the 2004 team of Cech, Koller, Baros and the emerging Rosicky. One of the issues may be that general access to good sporting facilities has been lost since the fall of Communism.
Since January Charlton have lost good, experienced players such as Alnwick, Hamer, Yann, Stephens and Dervite, with Morrison and Poyet also likely to leave. That's the core of the first XI gone, not to mention two good managers, Powell and Riga. Is this really the time to start implementing this idea? Should it be introduced gradually with a mix of experienced and young players (as Peeters had indicated)? Long-term it is a good idea but it shouldn't be introduced drastically for Charlton as we don't have the luxury of a settled squad and being one of the top established sides in our division. There is a lot of work to be done just to ensure we don't get relegated to begin with. As it stands we could be in for another long season. We need to avoid this scenario first before we start planning too far ahead.
Agree with you, has to be implemented gradually. But the general Belgian strategy is all long term any way. If we are pioneers of this approach in England, while maintaining a competitive first team squad, I'd be proud of my club again.
Only time will tell the extent to which Belgium has simply got lucky in producing a rich vein of players at one time or whether it's the result of something structural and systematic. Whatever the answer though, there are some clear learning points.
Necessity is the mother of invention. It can also prompt radical action and risk taking. The country needed to do something significant if there was to be any realistic hope of competing at international level. Moreover, arguably, there was very little to lose.
In many ways, our own position is not dissimilar. When Richard Murray passed the baton on to Slater and Jimenez, because he was no longer able to fund the Club's losses, the sale did not simply save the Club from administration (a let's start again with a clean slate strategy), it avoided the possibility of a downwards spiral and potential liquidation. The Club cannot keep losing money and it's very clear that if we are to become sustainable without a very patient and loyal sugar daddy, let alone move forwards and join Premier League Two as a Yo-Yo a Club, we'll need to do something ambitious, but different. Arguably, we haven't got much to lose either.
Let's hope that Duchatelet does have a grand vision and a radical plan designed to beat the financial odds. The focus on youth development and the potential use of the network to share and develop players offers a tantalising glimpse of something very exciting, especially if aligned with strong social values, as seems evident in Belgium.
As I've said before, however, the real question is how, exactly, Duchatelet is going to make this work. It's not going to be easy, if indeed it's a part of the plan, to agree and implement common standards in player training and development across the network or to manage player sourcing, deployment and sale effectively. Where is the mastermind behind the plan for execution, the eminence gris, the network's Johan Cruyff?
It may be that Duchatelet's approach is to be laissez faire, to decentralise and encourage cooperation amongst like-minded coaches which he will select for each Club, e.g. Luzon and Peeters. Who knows? There probably is no right answer, but I think I'd be a bit more confident of success if there was more clarity and structure around the approach to execution.
It's certainly going to be interesting. I'd also suggest that it really isn't obvious what the realistic alternative might be.
http://grantland.com/features/world-cup-2014-belgian-national-team-vincent-kompany-eden-hazard-marouane-fellaini/
All i can say is they started implementing this system at my own club Lierse SK some years ago, with kids 8-10 years old
the oldest ones of those who came through that youth development are now like 17-18 yo. last year we tried 5-6 of them out in thefirst team, two have become regulars already. All i can say is xwe never ever saw youth players at our club being so technically skilled, so confident on the ball and so confident in 1vs 1 situations. And this is for 17-18 yo kids, and not just one of them but all of them that came through.
so it doesn't have to do anything with luck. It does have to do with a philosophy , stick to it, and be patient until you see the results appearing. Which would be in 6-7 years when you start implementing this system now at a young age.
the good thing that came out of it is because we were out of youth players we could set up the system we have now and it starts paying off now.
So if RD sets up the same system here, would it be harder for the likes of Chelsea/Man U/Spurs to plunder the youth or would it cost them a lot more than it would taking them from Belgian teams?
Another good thread this, Prague.