txaggiefarmer05 said:
Casual fan here, and yesterday I was watching Brighton & Hove. So they've been up for 5 years and are obviously making OK money, but do they spend decent money to bring guys in, are these smaller clubs just developmental clubs? Watching yesterday they were really fun to watch, and either through AV or Tottenham subreddits I know Bissouma is a big target. In a general sense, should they keep him to stay up or sell him to make money?
Don't know much about English cities and it doesn't look too far from London, is Brighton a ****hole or do players prefer to stay in London or close if there not in Manchester?
I know I always hear about Villa's academy, and I'm sure there are other quality academies, but are they just at wealthier, more perennial epl clubs like Everton, Southampton, or West Ham? Do the big 6 care as much about development since they throw money at whatever they want?
Sorry for the essay, just figured I'd get it all out at once.
You're probably going to get a lot of iterations of the same answer to these questions on this thread with different flavors from different posters. All of the questions you asked are really good ones and I hope they generate a lot of interesting discussion.
I'll start with something of an anecdote (and I realize the plural of anecdote isn't data but this will set the tone for my post): There are 4 "full-professional" levels in the English system -- EPL, Championship, League One, League Two. Below that, there are plenty of clubs with paid professionals on the roster but they aren't considered full professional clubs. Every year, as you know, teams are promoted and relegated. The two sorry clubs at the bottom of league two fall out of the professional ranks into Conference National.
On the other end, there are petrostate-backed (Man City), American investor and/or billionaire backed (Man U, Liverpool), and other big-money backed (Chelsea) clubs. Even these clubs, with all of their money, could theoretically have a bad season and find themselves spending a year in the Championship.
Over the summer, a controlling stake in the MLS's Houston Dynamo was on the sales block for a purported $400 million. A controlling stake in Newcastle United (a large club with a solid history, huge stadium, and maniacal fanbase) was purportedly on the block for about $300 million. A big driving force in the price difference between a very big (nearly) perennial EPL side and an underperforming, small market MLS club who fields a team that would probably be mid-table in League One (third tier in English system) is that the MLS Club owns its spot in the league.
The paragraphs above are to illustrate the big differences between American-style franchise based leagues and to drive home the fact that you are asking the right questions. The front office in each situation has different motivating factors behind every transaction they make. Remember several years back when the Houston Astros went on a 3 season streak of losing 100 games as part of a long-term "rebuilding" effort? It worked. But if relegation existed, the Astros would have acted differently to keep their spot in MLB or would have spent a few years in AAA (or even AA given how bad the team was for a while). Sorry if all of the above was a little too "elementary" but I think it helps to understand thinking inside of the front office.
A club like Brighton starts every season with goal number 1 as keeping their place in the league. The cut of the TV money and all of the other money associated with being in the EPL is huge. As Dre_00 described it, they are playing a good amount of moneyball. They have to put 11 guys on the field that can churn out ~40 points over a 38 game season. They look to sell high and buy low to keep their coffers as full as they can. Sometimes it pays off in spades. Look at Leicester with N'golo Kante. They bought him for a modest 5.7 million pounds, played him in a "small club" side that actually WON the EPL, and then sold him off to Chelsea for 32 million. So if a smaller club thinks they can sell high, they will sell high.
Anymore, pretty much every club has a development academy. The pipeline might not churn out a large number of guys that go on to play for the first team, but it does. And others get sold to other professional outfits. There is good money to be had in running a quality academy.
In terms of geography, there are some players that might prefer London over other places in England, but at EPL wages, picking Brentford so you can live in London instead of Leeds purely for the fact that you want to be in London is a small factor. The UK is so much smaller than the US and the variations in climate and environment are much less pronounced. There is a much smaller difference between London and Manchester than there is between Oklahoma City and Los Angeles.
