£1 million is loose change. What an absurd statement when talking about a set up we know is aiming for being self sustaining. There has already been a massive injection of capital for the ground improvements announced in the last few days. But it's never enough is it.
And yes, I read the article. In it Greg Miller said "Let’s take Fleetwood, who are moving to Category Two this summer and are building an indoor dome costing them in excess of £1m." So that's in excess of £1 million just for the dome. No mention of the costs of acquiring the land to build the thing on, getting the planning, the difference in the cost of land which is the very point I made. Or do you suppose Greg is an expert on land acquisition as well as the best way to coach youngsters towards a football career?
As an aside, based on pure finance, how much money has Pompey's youth setup ever made. How many first team prospects have been created. Who has gone on to make money based on transfer fees. And then set that against the cost of running the academy. Or, in fact, pick any academy outside of the premier league.
The success rate for football academies in the UK is 0.012%. With those sorts of levels that's a big risk to move from Cat 3 to Cat 2. Given the massive setups of the big clubs, both here and abroad, it'd make more sense to take players who didn't quite make it there and bring them in later when all the expensive work has pretty much been done. Do you need cat 2 for that?
And yes, I read the article. In it Greg Miller said "Let’s take Fleetwood, who are moving to Category Two this summer and are building an indoor dome costing them in excess of £1m." So that's in excess of £1 million just for the dome. No mention of the costs of acquiring the land to build the thing on, getting the planning, the difference in the cost of land which is the very point I made. Or do you suppose Greg is an expert on land acquisition as well as the best way to coach youngsters towards a football career?
As an aside, based on pure finance, how much money has Pompey's youth setup ever made. How many first team prospects have been created. Who has gone on to make money based on transfer fees. And then set that against the cost of running the academy. Or, in fact, pick any academy outside of the premier league.
The success rate for football academies in the UK is 0.012%. With those sorts of levels that's a big risk to move from Cat 3 to Cat 2. Given the massive setups of the big clubs, both here and abroad, it'd make more sense to take players who didn't quite make it there and bring them in later when all the expensive work has pretty much been done. Do you need cat 2 for that?