Protest against EPPP

[SCIAG]

So, let me get this right. There are no limitations at all...if a PL club wants to come in and clear your entire under 16's...they can do so for few hundred thousand at most? Brilliant.

Someone's trolling, there is no way this'll go through.

There are limits. Clubs are only allowed so many players in each age bracket (20 at u16, 15 at u17). In practice, Man United won't sign our entire u16 team tomorrow.

will our academy be able to be a class 1?
- edit no not without building accomodation(or could we buy some barracks from arborfield?)

There are three clubs that would be Grade 1 right now, Southampton, Chelsea and Man City.

There aren't many disadvantages to being a Grade 2 academy compared to Grade 1, the only one that has been announced is that you get less compensation if a player is lured away.

[mr_number]

Football is such a disgrace these days. How did it really come to this honestly? Lets pander away to those big premier league clubs so we can market the premier league all round the world and make the top dogs more money!! I mean in the last decade or so we've witnessed

* ITV collapse ( hey ho about money as usual)
* players booked for taking shirts off and showing passion,
* double standard disciplinary procedures for different clubs
* non-contact tackles resulting in red cards
* Increase in cheating, play-acting and match fixing.
* over-priced tickets forcing out the average fan
* astronomical wages forcing clubs in debt
* Sponsors in every ground ( restricting capacity especially in champions league games)
* Foreign scallywags looking to launder money through random UK clubs
* players getting in a huff not happy with their 200k a week for living in a rainy cold environment and refusing to play.
* FA stepping in disciplining managers for fielding weaker teams against the big 4 ( the monopoly they created btw) as if they have a right to decide that clubs team in any way at all
* To top it off football league clubs now being blackmailed into basically giving up any young prospects they have for a nominal fee.

I mean the lists endless and I'm sure i've missed stuff out. What are any of us still doing here? Why are football fans allowing themselves to be exploited and cheated the way they are? It is such a shameful sport it makes me want to spit on the carpet in disgust.

Everyone was right about me, I am a miserable w**k these days and now I see why. When you watch something you thought you loved get turned into absolute gutter trash then it makes you bitter all the time. When that time comes its probably best to move on because there is no resurrecting this at all. I hope reading at least go on some kind of late surge again this season, it would make a fitting finale for me.

I do kind of agree with a lot of this. I mean, I still enjoy going along to games, but you do just start feeling it's a bit of shit excuse for entertainment/sport

[rfc2001]

If this ever happened, I would burn down every stadium in the premier league!!

[rfc2001]

Starting with the Etihad Stadium followed by Old Trafford

[rfc2001]

Should be increased drastically not decreased!!

[Svlad Cjelli]

If this ever happened, I would burn down every stadium in the premier league!!

Read the posts - this was agreed on last Thursday. After the PL threatehened to withhold £5.4M of Youth Development money the FL clubs voted 46-22 in favour.

This IS happening. Want some matches?

[RoyalBlue]

If this ever happened, I would burn down every stadium in the premier league!!

Read the posts - this was agreed on last Thursday. After the PL threatehened to withhold £5.4M of Youth Development money the FL clubs voted 46-22 in favour.

Well that sounds like a really lousy deal! For the sake of £5.4M (and that only until next time the PL bullies decide to threaten to withhold it or cut funding in some other way), those clubs have given up how much going forward?!

If Madejski genuinely despises the way the professional game operates in this country and wants to change it, this was probably the time to start to take a stand. But no, RFC cave in to the big boy's demands.

It's time the greater number of smaller clubs got their act together and joined forces to stand up to the PL Bully boys. Let them sod off and form their own league free from relegation. Wow! What an exciting spectacle that league would be!

I'm starting to firmly believe that a fairer, more equal and competitive Football League, free from the big money boys, would be much better for the game and its supporters alike. What's more, I bet it wouldn't be that long before the tv boys were back, knocking on the door, desirous of screening a more competitive and entertaining league. But that's probably how the problems started in the first place!

[Big McC]

[quote="melonhead"][quote]melonhead wrote:

will our academy be able to be a class 1?
- edit no not without building accomodation(or could we buy some barracks from arborfield?)

Oh, excellent! All we need is another reason to sell better players to raise yet more money.

[Svlad Cjelli]

I'm starting to firmly believe that a fairer, more equal and competitive Football League, free from the big money boys, would be much better for the game and its supporters alike. What's more, I bet it wouldn't be that long before the tv boys were back, knocking on the door, desirous of screening a more competitive and entertaining league. But that's probably how the problems started in the first place!

Agree - but the problem is that at last half of the Championship aspire to be the big money boys themselves - so act in the same way as the ones we all despise.

[melonhead]

melonhead wrote:

will our academy be able to be a class 1?
- edit no not without building accomodation(or could we buy some barracks from arborfield?)

Oh, excellent! All we need is another reason to sell better players to raise yet more money.

how much is a block of army barracks worth exactly?or building a block of our own at hogwood?
and ive never seen JM unwilling to invest in non playing assets like that before tbf.
if its likely to stay on the books for longer than 4 years, and increase the value of the club/his own assets long term, hell pay the money
always

[Hoop Blah]

I think this is being made out to be a bigger deal than it really is.

I don't think the big clubs will stockpile the talent in quite the way it's being suggested. I also think the opportunities it opens up for the likes of Reading will outweigh to risks of losing the odd potential star for considerably less than we might under the old tribunal set up.

Under the old system, a player with the ability of a Beckham or Shearer would still move to another part of the country to go to the academy of their choice and so 'local' clubs still had to fight for the best of their local talent. It will just mean that clubs will need to ensure they give players the best chances to make it so they become a more appealing prospect for a youngster than going to sit in Utd's reserves for 3 or 4 years (Trevor Sinclair being a perfect example).

In regards to the Crewe model. I'm pretty sure that a lot of the talent they've produced over the years started off at other clubs and they just took the rejects on, gave them a chance then sold them off at a profit whilst under professional contracts (certainly the case for the likes of Platt, Savage, Geoff Thomas and Ashley Ward).

[RoyalBlue]

I think this is being made out to be a bigger deal than it really is.

I don't think the big clubs will stockpile the talent in quite the way it's being suggested.

I don't think the stockpiling of talent is the real risk here. It's far more about smaller clubs receiving less income from any talent that they produce as the PL bullies mug them under these new arrangements. Less income means less money put into youth development and the majority of acadanies, centres of excellence and development centres. As opportunities there diminish so the amount of talent being developed declines. A bad move all round.

[melonhead]

also, even if they do take em all, it would just mean more loans back to this level to get games, and more players not making it dropping down in the end anyway.


surely its better for us too, taking players from low leagues as we do, we get them cheap, and only have to pay up more if they are actually succesful, rather on some airy notion of potential.

the only thing that rankles with me is the way the prem have forced this through(although surely that 5 million spread across three leagues isnt worth shit, so i have no idea why everyone capitulated so easily)

[Hoop Blah]

the only thing that rankles with me is the way the prem have forced this through(although surely that 5 million spread across three leagues isnt worth shit, so i have no idea why everyone capitulated so easily)

I really don't see this as a financial thing. With the sums involved it can't be. Those teams, like us, that voted in favour of this must see it as an opportunity to be the ones doing the talent grabbing more than losing a few to the top clubs.

That's the only conclusion I can come to, that and they think they'll be able to protect themelves enough against losing their talent by treating them well, giving them opportunities and having a reputation for getting the best out of players potential.

[Hoop Blah]

I think this is being made out to be a bigger deal than it really is.

I don't think the big clubs will stockpile the talent in quite the way it's being suggested.

I don't think the stockpiling of talent is the real risk here. It's far more about smaller clubs receiving less income from any talent that they produce as the PL bullies mug them under these new arrangements. Less income means less money put into youth development and the majority of acadanies, centres of excellence and development centres. As opportunities there diminish so the amount of talent being developed declines. A bad move all round.

I agree that's the thinking most are employing, but if the top clubs are still only taking a certain number of U18s through their academies then I don't see the threat being that high. Clubs will need to get their promising players on pro terms before their snapped up and not let it get to the stage where they get their heads turned by the big clubs to the extent where they walk out on the club that developed them.

I'm just not convinced that the impact is as big as people are fearing.

[RoyalBlue]

the only thing that rankles with me is the way the prem have forced this through(although surely that 5 million spread across three leagues isnt worth shit, so i have no idea why everyone capitulated so easily)

I really don't see this as a financial thing. With the sums involved it can't be. Those teams, like us, that voted in favour of this must see it as an opportunity to be the ones doing the talent grabbing more than losing a few to the top clubs.

The 'We're all right Jack' attitude is the very reason this is a bad thing.

Maybe it is survival of the fittest but if you starve all those lower down the food chain to the extent that they die off, then eventually there isn't the food that the stronger need to thrive on.

[bagman]

The main reason for achieving Category 1 status is that any other (Premier) club will be prohibited from signing players we have developed (unless the clubs agree to a non-tribunal determined fee). All other categories do not have this protection. So for Reading it is a simlpe cost v benefit analysis, which even Nigel & SJM can work out

The bigger challenge is the proposed but relatively unpublised European academy league, where the top 4-5 English academies would play the likes of Barcelona, Madrid, Milan etc. Would Tishbola and Tanner have signed for us given those opportunities?

[FiNeRaIn]

The bigger challenge is the proposed but relatively unpublised European academy league, where the top 4-5 English academies would play the likes of Barcelona, Madrid, Milan etc. Would Tishbola and Tanner have signed for us given those opportunities?

Who?

You talk about them like they are household names...

Any relation to Bamberdele "Dele" Adebola ( Mbe) ??

[Dougie Is God]

Palace fan here.

Don't deceive yourselves that it's a good thing for Reading. This is a plan to control the market by cherry picking the best from other, lower level youth academies. It will screw over the vast majority of the professional football clubs in this country.
One of the reasons for this is that It is a massive cost both financially and physically to provide a category 1 facility. For the rest of us it will mean that we will get far less for any young players coming through an academy while at the same time costing more to run it.

I am certainly one for embracing change and development where it is necessary, justified and as fair as possible.

EPPP is none of those things. What's more is that despite us being told that it is to 'benefit' the national game, there has not been one legitimate point or argument made which displays why our current youth system is failing our national team. The Premierships oversized squads filled with overseas players is what is stifling our national game - but the PL and FA won't do feck all about that because the money floating around is far too much to turn their noses up at.

If you are going to tomorrow's game please show your solidarity with all football League fans and boycott the first 5 minutes of the game. At this time their is a protest out side the main stand at Selhurst Park at which I'm sure any Reading fan attending will receive a warm welcome. So do your club and future young players a favour and join us as we stick two fingers up to the Premiership and their EPPP plans.

Further info about fans against EPPP here; http://the72unite.co.uk/#

The Unite 72 Video; http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 1WVQHRb-YY

[FiNeRaIn]

Great post. Don't expect too much support though...if Readings board voted for it plenty on here will accept that and take it as a good thing without seeing it for what it really is. Blind faith. Those are the types of fans we have. Its an absolutely shocking rule and thoroughly disgusting its gone through, no two ways about it.