Forget building with youth: club academies now exist to boost revenue
The Guardian How to establish a football dynasty? For decades, the orthodox, long-range formula was to establish excellence within the youth team, recruit complementary talent, and facilitate those with club values within their veins to set standards, to help run the dressing room for a manager.
European footballs greatest teams have almost always laid their foundations on youth systems Pep Guardiolas Barcelona, Arrigo Sacchis Milan bedrocked by Milanello-hewn defenders, Johan Cruyff and his fellow Ajax graduates, the Bayern Munich team led by Franz Beckenbauer all followed the template.
Much the same went for English football, with Manchester Uniteds Busby Babes and Class of 92, and Don Revies Leeds; teenagers cleaved together, collective spirit and shared experience forging their growth into winners. Liverpool of the 1970s and 1980s bucked that trend with lower-division talent expertly scouted but they were accompanied by locals such as Tommy Smith, Phil Thompson or Jimmy Case. Brian Cloughs Nottingham Forests strength lay in the recruitment skills of Peter Taylor but the key player was John Robertson, signed at 17.
