Buy big or play the youth

[linkenholtroyal]

With the manager still undecided, I thought another topic was worth opening. In an ideal world where the Thais have deep pockets.
Would you rather the new manager spent loads of money on a new squad. Or..... Spend the year blooding the youth we have and having a reading team, Samuel, Stacey, fosu, cooper, kuhl, tshibola etc. if you had to choose one or the other what would you rather see next season??

[Lower West]

Few of the kids are anywhere close to a 46 game Championship season level. Evans struggled to last 6o minutes. There's a real step up from league one now. Championship football is faster, more intense.

[Mike Hunt]

Where is the "Lets buy a few proven players that will improve the squad, and sprinkle that with the right youth players ready to make the step up" option?

[Ian Royal]

Given spending big is a good way to go into Admin and we've invested heavily in an academy all ready the answer is obvious.

[Handsome Man]

We need to improve our first team to have a chance of success next year. This generally works best if a maximum of 3 or 4 players are added to an existing set up, so we should look to buying about five really good players over the summer, and hope that only a couple of them turn out rubbish. The rest of the squad can be youngsters.

[Sutekh]

You need a mix couple of "marquee signings", up and coming talented youth and your standard experienced professionals to get the best possible chance of success. So the answer to the thread title is "both".

[Sanguine]

The answer of course is both, but certainly I can't imagine Jaap Stam is leaving the famed Ajax youth setup just to come to Berkshire and nurture Dominic Samuel. His experience of such an advanced youth programme will be invaluable to us, but I'd expect 4 or 5 signings with good experience at this level.

[Top Flight]

Few of the kids are anywhere close to a 46 game Championship season level. Evans struggled to last 6o minutes. There's a real step up from league one now. Championship football is faster, more intense.

I have to agree with you. We need proven players, but we should be trying to blood our youngsters and see how they handle it. Just not all at the same time the way Brendan Rodgers did it.

[Longhorn1970]

Few of the kids are anywhere close to a 46 game Championship season level. Evans struggled to last 6o minutes. There's a real step up from league one now. Championship football is faster, more intense.

I have to agree with you. We need proven players, but we should be trying to blood our youngsters and see how they handle it. Just not all at the same time the way Brendan Rodgers did it.

Sadly the game is spiralling out of control. The owners have a judgement to make do they splash some cash and build a decent squad capable of competing for a top 6 finish and get bums on seats or do they gamble on an inexperienced (and ambitious) management team and hope that they can pull a few rabbits out the hat with a bunch of kids. Either way they risk their reputation and our future to some extent. Personally I don't think you can play more than 2 or 3 youngsters at any time, so some investment should be made given a few are likely to move on this summer ...

[Top Flight]

I agree with you Longhorn for once.

[CountryRoyal]

I agree with you Longhorn for once.

Stellar endorsement if ever I've seen.

[Royal Rother]

Stop buying players and paying them wages they simply don't deserve. It is NOT the way to succeed - quite the opposite.

Bring the youngsters through, accept likely relegation and come back stronger for the experience would be my advice. But you need a manager who shares that vision and fans who would not see the likely short-term impact as failure.

Look after the most promising Academy players of all ages (and their parents) like never before - and get them to buy into the vision as well so they can see a path into the 1st team as reality not just fantasy.

With the quality of youngsters the club has within its ranks I think that policy would have a good chance of succeeding long-term but whatever, it's a far better way to fail than the road the club is heading down at the moment.

But then I don't really give much of a shit these days.

[Faithful Son]

Is Stam going to join a club such as ours, with a track record for being very impatient, take a gamble on youth players and risk getting sacked in 6 months? Don't think so.

[Rea Ding]

obvs buy big if we wanna do well in this league

[Royal Rother]

Is Stam going to join a club such as ours, with a track record for being very impatient, take a gamble on youth players and risk getting sacked in 6 months? Don't think so.

Probably not but that's why football is fcuked.

In reality of course the risk of getting sacked is pretty much the same either way.

Spend loads and the expectations are higher - 9th at Christmas could see him get the sack.

Spend nothing, play the home grown youngsters and expectations are lower - pretty much have to be in the relegation zone to have your job at risk, even then, unlikely to get the chop.