Nick Potkins wrote: β13 Aug 2023, 11:16
...we were embarrassed by Collage Academy Players, part time players and a coaching team paid per hour.
Sorry, I simply can't just let that hang in the wind.
I appreciate the sentiment you are trying to convey with that remark (
ie it was meant as a jibe towards Torquay not Worthing) but living so close to the 'enemy' your reconnaissance should be waaay better than that.
There were no "Academy players" on the pitch. There were
former Academy players who have been brought through the age groups schooled in the system and tempo we play that runs right the club . The set-up has taken years to bear fruit and with players brought through from our Academy now playing in every league from the Championship down its the envy of most clubs at this level, and above... it should not be glibly tossed about as a jibe.
Yes we have some part time players but you could also say we are semi-pro. A group does train in the week as we enter year two of our three year plan to go fully pro. Again, to suggest we're a 'bunch of amateurs' is disingenuous.
Coaches. One that I know of, two that
might be
PPH, on the specialism side, but the main coaching core are contracted full time professionals.
So yes, I get your yellow focused aim with that but no, to a greater or lesser degree all of that is wrong. We are a club doing well but its taken over five years of hard graft to get us where we are now so comparisons with some sort of thrown together pub team are massively wide of the mark.
Its an interesting dilemma innit... were you to embrace the same organic growth model/ethos and build from an Academy with a single focus of producing and developing your own players playing an attractive, attacking and passing game it would undoubtedly yield fruit...
...but could your club, your fans, be patient enough to stomach a five year+ project?
I suspect the answer is empatically no. Because from the outside you appear to still be in a football league mindset, a mindset that requires almost instant gratification. Its born out for me by your pre-season, every one an EFL club.
You're not in the league though, you'd have been better served spending the summer properly understanding the level you are at, not the level you aspire to. You have now fallen to regional non-league football, what is your plan for getting out of it? More ex EFL players, more EFL loanees?
Some hard truths need to be learnt at Plainmoor and some hard choices need to be made, getting out of this league either ain't cheap or ain't easy. Either spend a fortune (Ebbsfleet) or understand where you are and work bloody hard.
Its not just gonna happen... and its not simply about changing a manager. Changing your mindset and getting everyone on board with it, that's the challenge I feel. I really don't envy it.