Building a Soccer Club

@IHateSoccerPod Install these in every park

So what can we do to make sure this happens with soccer this summer during the men’s World Cup?

Not sure if this is everywhere… just took the dogs for a walk for a 🏀 break and nearly every kid in the neighborhood seemed to be shooting hoops. Why can’t this happen in soccer? Is it because…

@Matty00741 @henrywinter If you want to give credit to something other than the club for developing these kids, give it to their lunch breaks at school where kids can play football with their friends easily for 2-2.5 hours every day.

@buildingaclub @henrywinter Buying or recruiting an elite 12-16 year old from a club other than RM and Barca isn’t a consequence of La Masia development skills, it’s a consequence of being one of the two dominant super clubs in Spain. Prior to restrictions their transfer spend remained competitively high.

8 of the 16 players Barcelona used last night were nurtured fully, or partly, by the club. That breeds togetherness and identity. Whether for reasons of financial necessity or club culture, more English clubs need to re-assess the balance between recruitment and development. 1/2

@Matty00741 @henrywinter They have different policies president to president, but they’ve relied on La Masia pretty consistently since Cruyff was coaching.

@buildingaclub @henrywinter Not at all, Barcelona have always spent big at the cost to its academy, it’s the billions in debt and sanctions that have curtailed their big money signings and a greater reliance on La Masia, clubs waffle on about ‘identity’ especially once they’ve run out of money.

@Matty00741 @henrywinter Part of the reason the Bartomeu presidency is viewed so negatively is he spent so profligately and ignored La Masia. Bringing back that identity was key in Laporta’s winning as well.

@buildingaclub @henrywinter Perhaps, but Barcelona have been in financial crisis recently which then deliver opportunities to players that otherwise might not have got the chance. Maybe their dependence on Catalonian talent has been driven by not being permitted to access their usual talent markets.

@Matty00741 @henrywinter Most are local from Catalunya. Pedri they bought at 17 from Las Palmas, Gavi came from Betis at 11, Araujo came from Uruguay at 18. Pretty sure the rest are local kids.

@henrywinter I’d like to see the data of country of origin of these ‘homegrown’ youngsters, I suspect Barca have a strong historical foothold in South America and elsewhere hoovering up all the noticeable talent, I agree with the sentiment but I suspect they’re just recruiting the best kids.

@IHateSoccerPod Maybe it’s just my little corner of the world, but the kids that don’t care about winning only stick around for a season or two.

@buildingaclub I’m not talking about the coaches wanting to win… But I sure as heck want the players to be about winning.

I swear that only soccer people come up with the dumbest sayings and things. “Development over winning” “If only our best athletes played soccer” “You need to improve your speed of play” (does that mean I’m too fast? Or too slow?) “Birth year vs. School Year”

@benno_nagel It should but it rarely has historically. Clubs in the 19th century were PR tools for local businessmen that were also to keep employees happy. Clubs are (for the most part) like a house. Costs you $$ to own, but often you can sell it for more than you bought it for.

@buildingaclub It should be led by quality soccer development. The entertainment value would explode and would translate to team economic value.

I posed this question to ChatGPT and this is what I got. We have a serious problem in American soccer. Despite all the stuff around things, the soccer part is still lacking considerably. Imagine this as an ROI measurable in any other industry.

@benno_nagel 100%; soccer on its own is a bad business. Only consistently works if you do it in tandem with real estate development (soccer does a great job boosting real estate values).

@buildingaclub It’s a bad ROI on the actual soccer side either way

@benno_nagel Just put it into claude and got this (includes men and women youth costs but just men’s transfer value)

@benno_nagel Of every pro American soccer player today? Please don’t make any assumptions but ask me clarifying questions before you start.

@NealGardner_ THIS

Honestly, I think we need Pique to run in 2031. He’s got all the smarts to succeed Laporta.

@LaLigaMichael @AnthonyKyaw I remember 18 year old Casillas in that Champions League run in ‘99. As a Barça fan, happy to face Courtois over Casillas any day.

95% of people on Liga Twitter didn't start watching until the end of Casillas' career. I could call out some big fan accts, even people I like, who pretend like they started sooner but are lying. Imagine if people stopped speaking about great players they didn't actually watch.

@WeAreAustinTV @efreyes123

@efreyes123 Time for Ervin Torres? 👀

Coach Nico Estevez tells us that Dani Pereira will be out for 1 month. He picked up a hamstring injury against Charlotte last match day. #austinfc #verde | WAATV

@IsaiahLCarter Oh no! A local soccer community supports their local LGBT community! The horror!!

You're a lying bitch.

@EvilMopacATX Dumb but my least favorite: the power lines seem so much more in my face than everywhere else I’ve lived. Don’t know why I notice them more here either.

Weird Austin Shit™ Name your favorite/least favorite/neutral odd thing about Austin I'll go first: Only one side of the street having a sidewalk in neighborhoods🤯

@LaLigaMichael I’m in my 40s in the States and there were barely any chances to watch Ronaldinho save for Champions League

What percentage of people responding to this would y’all say are even old enough to have watched all these guys? 😁 Heck, I doubt 25% of Liga Twitter today is even old enough to have watched *all* of Messi’s career. (I know lots of big accts who lie/pretend they did, ofc. 👀)

@JoeChatz Honestly they should shoot for 80 teams and divide it into 4 regional leagues.

50 teams in one league? What a truly terrible idea for a professional league