Serie A

[Aficio]

I think players, especially young & Milan ones, prefer Albertini.

Conte could benefit from a good relationship with our former MF, if he takes the position.

Anyway, both FIGC candidates have clear vision: youth, cleanness, and Conte

[nefremo]

Thanks Dev. You did a great job with that.

If Tavecchio didn't make those comments, would anyone still support his ideas (and essentially him)?

They have a lot of common points, but a few very different ones. The B teams being one of the different ones and I think that's huge. That's why I hope it's Albertini. This is obviously not keeping in mind Tavecchio's comments, for which he has completely turned me away from him even before I knew what he stood for.

The one thing I don't like about Albertini is that on many of his points there is no specifics. Does he not know how he'll go about doing these things?...or were you just not able to find the info on that? If he simply has no plan of action than that's bad for a candidate. Because everyone can just talk big and say what needs to be done, but if they have no clear plan as to how they'll achieve their goals than it's pointless.

[ACMILAN1983]

How does Spain decide which teams have B teams? I know Real Madrid and Barcelona have B teams but I'm not sure which other teams also have B teams and how this was decided. Is it perhaps just the teams who can afford it?

I think it's based on resources and success of the B teams. Essentially, Barca and Real have the most notable and successful B teams because they have the money to fund the overheads of having a second team (bear in mind it's not cost effective for many clubs to do it), but also because they can groom (buy) successful young players, meaning these teams are pretty competitive.

There's a pretty big debate in England regarding this too, although it's not getting huge coverage as most fans don't have much interest. Guardian wrote an interesting article about it:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014...eu-players

Wondering which candidate Conte supports if he wants the NT job. :d

I don't think Conte would want the job now. The proposed changes that Albertini and Tavecchio want to develop youth players would take years to see any results, so if in Conte's shoes I'd take a break from football until another good club job comes along and then after that aim for the national job (effectively looking towards the 2022 world cup).

Thanks Dev. You did a great job with that.

If Tavecchio didn't make those comments, would anyone still support his ideas (and essentially him)?

They have a lot of common points, but a few very different ones. The B teams being one of the different ones and I think that's huge. That's why I hope it's Albertini. This is obviously not keeping in mind Tavecchio's comments, for which he has completely turned me away from him even before I knew what he stood for.

The one thing I don't like about Albertini is that on many of his points there is no specifics. Does he not know how he'll go about doing these things?...or were you just not able to find the info on that? If he simply has no plan of action than that's bad for a candidate. Because everyone can just talk big and say what needs to be done, but if they have no clear plan as to how they'll achieve their goals than it's pointless.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

About the lack of solutions proposed by Albertini on many points, I think we're looking at that problem for both. I think they both acknowledge and identify issues, but I guess neither have a solid solution in mind.

About supporting Tavecchio (his comments aside), I certainly wouldn't. Firstly, I'm actually pretty on board with the general changes Albertini has said, as it would be hypocritical of me if I wasn't seeing as it was just a year or two ago I wrote a lengthy post suggesting pretty similar things to what he's said, such as enforcing an homegrown quota and developing youth academies, as well as introducing "FFP style" rules in Italy. Also things like an 18 team Serie A is something I've been saying quite regularly for a number of years. I would like more clarity on some other points, but his ideas on direct sporting matters (i.e. things which are directly impacting on pitch performance) are things I agree with.

As for Tavecchio, as I said in my post, I found it more difficult to try and understand his points (partly due to ambiguity), which for me is never a good sign when proposing a new project or change. In addition, I find many of his ideas rather prohibitive or in the interests of individuals and clubs. For example, his non-EU ruling for me would be damaging to Italian football. We've seen players of this status enriching many leagues in Europe (notably in Spain and Germany, the two best youth developing nations at the moment), while others, like the Premiership have struggled when wanting foreign exports. As reza said in his post, it's not like this rule has helped youth development in England.

I find his ruling on not seperating amateur and professional leagues as damaging. While amateur sides would probably serve to benefit from this, it leaves Italy as a nation with little clarity (and transparency) on the numbers of football clubs and managing extreme numbers from one group is also difficult. In addition, his point on owners being able to have multiple clubs just screams of conflicts of interest to me and could be damaging when looking at sporting matters.

Generally, there are points I agree with on him on, but he simply notes them and as far as I've seen there's little evidence of solutions, or there are "wishy washy" comments deflecting attention from the crux of the matter.

I think you see why he has support though. You look at the likes of Galliani, Preziosi and Lotito and it seems inherent these guys would support him to serve their own interests, all of them having rather shady pasts. Likewise, it's interesting that Barbara, Agnelli and Palotta are obviously in support of Albertini, whose policies appear more transparent even if less serving to personal interests. The new generation of leaders coming through will surely identify with this way of working more.

I find this is the case in all walks of life. For example, I have noticed that past generations in my personal life often looked to make contacts and there was this culture of backscratching to work through life. Nowerdays, with globalisation so much more prominent and information and accessibility as easy as a click of a button, people are generally less reliant on other individuals and are more independant in thought, but value transparency and clarity when being informed by the authoritative figures when making decisions. I talked a lot about corruption and lack of transparency in FIFA yesterday, which I think perfectly exemplifies the old culture I was referring to. They hold power, but with "private" information becoming more available and being leaked with regularity, it's only a matter of time that the old model crumbles (hell it's come close with the whole Bin Hammam situation).

[Eli]

Very interesting article about the decline of both AC Milan and Italian football in general, definitely worth a read.

http://backpagefootball.com/institutions-decline/79842/

[ACMILAN1983]

That's the one I posted in the mercato thread yesterday. Thanks for sharing again, it's a great read and really would recommend to anyone interested.

[Eli]

I looked here if it was posted and I didn't realize you did already, anyway thanks for pointing that out. Perhaps any administrator can delete this new one, no sense double posting the same thing.

[reza]

In my opinion it's fine to have it here and there.
Very good read, thanks both for posting it, though there are small errors in it they don't take away from it.

[ACMILAN1983]

I looked here if it was posted and I didn't realize you did already, anyway thanks for pointing that out. Perhaps any administrator can delete this new one, no sense double posting the same thing.

I think it's worth keeping, it's two different threads. I'm just glad someone else read it

[Mystik]

Cagliari have joined Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Sassuolo, Cesena and Brescia as clubs that have withdrawn their support for Tavecchio after the comments he made. Roma and Juve never supported him at all. Slowly but surely clubs are starting to change their tune on the matter. I am quite disappointed that the team I support is backing someone who has constantly made comments against minorities in the support (be it sexist or racist)

On the topic of B teams, I read through the comments on the Guardian article and I realized something that did not occur to me before. It is not at all fair to the teams and supporters in the lower divisions if the clubs with the financial power are effectively allowed a second roster to load up with young talent. I say it is unfair because whereas these players would play for the Serie B/C clubs before, now they would sit on Juventus B simply because Juve can outspend the other clubs. Also, we would probably be displacing clubs in Serie B or C who have supporters that want to see their team with a fair chance of promotion. I would obviously need to see how it were to be implemented but I can see potential objections, especially from the supporters of Serie B/C clubs.

Lastly, on the topic of candidates, I definitely prefer Albertini's homegrown player philosophy over the non-EU idea of Tavecchio. While they both aim to achieve the same thing (stopping Galliani from buying more Viudez and Cardaccio fodder players.), I find the homegrown player philosophy more tactful, less exclusive, and we have seen that the non-EU/work permit rule didn't do anything for the England NT anyway...so why bring it to Italy?

[xudong]

This really pisses me off. That might be the only realistic purchase I hope that we would make this summer.