by royalgull » 24 Apr 2013, 08:28
One of the major things wrong with football today, caused by the Premier LEague, finances and the transfer window like most things wrong with modern football.
When I first started watching football (wasn't that long ago) loans were used but they genuinely were 'emergency loans' unlike the current meaning of this term which is basically extra loans. The only time you'd see a loan player at your club was if all of your goalies were injured, or if both your left backs were injured etc etc, teams never carried ridiculously huge squads then, 18 first team pro's probably. Changing from 3 to 5 and then to 7 subs obviously makes that a harder prospect but if you had an injury someone filled in, now as soon as someone gets a knock you have to get a loan player in.
I've ranted about the loan system before, simply because it gets abused and it doesn't benefit football END OF. A young player at 12/13 coming through the ranks at Torquay United should be coached and encouraged to learn his trade here. He should then work through the YTS scheme, Reserves, into the first team, do well in the first team get his games help the club that has helped him, then get sold for £xamount to a bigger club with a sell on, do well there move on to a Premier League club then the Premier League club gets the finished article, he's worked his way up and the 2 clubs previously both get the money they deserve for improving said player and those smaller clubs can then survive and try and bring more through. That's the way it should work. He should only then go out on loan if he isn't involved at the Premier League club then for whatever reason.
The problem I and football should have is this doesn't happen, you see young lads like John Bostock at Palace and I'm sure there are tons of 11/12 year olds around the country that are being taken away from their local clubs at no age, signing for Man Utd, Chelsea, Spurs etc etc, where they have next to no chance of playing for their first team. These clubs stockpile these young lads they develop them through their schemes/academies, they get to 22/23 are sub for their reserves and end up on loan here or anywhere else. They play 5/6 games do pretty well, go back to their clubs, then go on loan again, and again and invariably sign for a Champ or League 1 club for £200k, where they rarely ever stand out. They don't have any experience even at 22/23 years of age, they haven't played any football, their careers have gone nowhere they become journeymen at 23 years of age having played 3 games here and 4 games there for a host of different clubs.
The worst bit about it is no one benefits from it apart from the Premier League club (shock horror), this is why there is no money at our elvel of football anymore forget ITV Digital and all that crap and tough times across the world etc etc, this would help solve a lot of issues in Leagues 1 and 2. The players career hasn't gone anywhere, the little clubs like us borrowing these players that should have been ours from an early age in the first place get a player for 5 games and nothing else, the champ/league 1 club that should be buying a better more experienced 22 year old from us for £200k with a sell on are now getting an average, naieve unfinished product from a Prem club on higher wages, they have to do more developing at a higher cost to them. The PRemier LEague club is the one who benefits. Instead of letting the youngster go through the process and end up paying 2 clubs the money they deserve they just nab him as a 12 year old, who cares if he makes it and we'll sell him for £200k.
the transfer window has a lot to blame for this and the amount of loans used across the board, the fact that clubs like us can't buy and more importantly sell all year round makes clubs stockpile players. you see Championship and lower end Premier League squads 35-40 players deep 'just in case' of injuries. You then end up with 2 squads worth of players sat around doing nothing every Saturday so they go out on loan to clubs like us who can't afford a bigger squad anymore because we can't afford to sell our best players during the season if we got in financial trouble and the whole sorry episode goes round and round in circles.
Finally you get clubs abusing the system, Watford a case in point this year have found a loophole in the rules and are playing a team full of loan players their club could never afford to buy. They are cheating in my eyes. They are giving that club a false represenation on where they are as a team and what they can afford to put out as a side. They aren't the first and won't be the last, Hereford did it a few years ago and there are clubs in the league this year who have excessively used the loan market to compensate the short comings in their squad. If it's there why wouldn't we use it? Hard to argue that, the problem is it shouldn't be there to use in the first place. All loans should be emergency and their needs to be more regulation in youth development to stop youth players being poached by clubs. also scrap the transfer window, if anything just to stop Jim White and Sky Sports twice a year would be ample reason but mainly for the reasons listed above.
The loan system truly is one of the worst things about football today.
One of the major things wrong with football today, caused by the Premier LEague, finances and the transfer window like most things wrong with modern football.
When I first started watching football (wasn't that long ago) loans were used but they genuinely were 'emergency loans' unlike the current meaning of this term which is basically extra loans. The only time you'd see a loan player at your club was if all of your goalies were injured, or if both your left backs were injured etc etc, teams never carried ridiculously huge squads then, 18 first team pro's probably. Changing from 3 to 5 and then to 7 subs obviously makes that a harder prospect but if you had an injury someone filled in, now as soon as someone gets a knock you have to get a loan player in.
I've ranted about the loan system before, simply because it gets abused and it doesn't benefit football END OF. A young player at 12/13 coming through the ranks at Torquay United should be coached and encouraged to learn his trade here. He should then work through the YTS scheme, Reserves, into the first team, do well in the first team get his games help the club that has helped him, then get sold for £xamount to a bigger club with a sell on, do well there move on to a Premier League club then the Premier League club gets the finished article, he's worked his way up and the 2 clubs previously both get the money they deserve for improving said player and those smaller clubs can then survive and try and bring more through. That's the way it should work. He should only then go out on loan if he isn't involved at the Premier League club then for whatever reason.
The problem I and football should have is this doesn't happen, you see young lads like John Bostock at Palace and I'm sure there are tons of 11/12 year olds around the country that are being taken away from their local clubs at no age, signing for Man Utd, Chelsea, Spurs etc etc, where they have next to no chance of playing for their first team. These clubs stockpile these young lads they develop them through their schemes/academies, they get to 22/23 are sub for their reserves and end up on loan here or anywhere else. They play 5/6 games do pretty well, go back to their clubs, then go on loan again, and again and invariably sign for a Champ or League 1 club for £200k, where they rarely ever stand out. They don't have any experience even at 22/23 years of age, they haven't played any football, their careers have gone nowhere they become journeymen at 23 years of age having played 3 games here and 4 games there for a host of different clubs.
The worst bit about it is no one benefits from it apart from the Premier League club (shock horror), this is why there is no money at our elvel of football anymore forget ITV Digital and all that crap and tough times across the world etc etc, this would help solve a lot of issues in Leagues 1 and 2. The players career hasn't gone anywhere, the little clubs like us borrowing these players that should have been ours from an early age in the first place get a player for 5 games and nothing else, the champ/league 1 club that should be buying a better more experienced 22 year old from us for £200k with a sell on are now getting an average, naieve unfinished product from a Prem club on higher wages, they have to do more developing at a higher cost to them. The PRemier LEague club is the one who benefits. Instead of letting the youngster go through the process and end up paying 2 clubs the money they deserve they just nab him as a 12 year old, who cares if he makes it and we'll sell him for £200k.
the transfer window has a lot to blame for this and the amount of loans used across the board, the fact that clubs like us can't buy and more importantly sell all year round makes clubs stockpile players. you see Championship and lower end Premier League squads 35-40 players deep 'just in case' of injuries. You then end up with 2 squads worth of players sat around doing nothing every Saturday so they go out on loan to clubs like us who can't afford a bigger squad anymore because we can't afford to sell our best players during the season if we got in financial trouble and the whole sorry episode goes round and round in circles.
Finally you get clubs abusing the system, Watford a case in point this year have found a loophole in the rules and are playing a team full of loan players their club could never afford to buy. They are cheating in my eyes. They are giving that club a false represenation on where they are as a team and what they can afford to put out as a side. They aren't the first and won't be the last, Hereford did it a few years ago and there are clubs in the league this year who have excessively used the loan market to compensate the short comings in their squad. If it's there why wouldn't we use it? Hard to argue that, the problem is it shouldn't be there to use in the first place. All loans should be emergency and their needs to be more regulation in youth development to stop youth players being poached by clubs. also scrap the transfer window, if anything just to stop Jim White and Sky Sports twice a year would be ample reason but mainly for the reasons listed above.
The loan system truly is one of the worst things about football today.
