In the meantime, I think clubs outside the massive “elite” will have to rely on a solid youth academy, and then hope to pull in large sums of money by selling off their blossoming stars. …and it wouldn’t hurt to wish for a lucrative takeover as well. These wealthy owners are not just interested in immediatly-lucrative clubs – look what happened at Man City, look at Queens Park Rangers! (2nd wealthiest in Britain!)

I think the January transfer window will never work in favour for the average and lesser clubs. Players tend to be highly over-priced at the time, and like you said, the big clubs will strengthen themselves at the lesser clubs’ expense, usually picking away at their best.

In the end, the big stars won’t go to any modest club unless there is $money$ or have a fading career.

Your post does have logical sense to it and it was nicely written but someone has to be at the top and someone has to be at the bottom; however, you’re right, not through the millions bajillions of money they spend. it IS getting ridic. but then again, do i sound like a hypocrite when i say that? and just to put a little bit of the ‘other’ side into this, not every fan of real, manu, liverpool, and barca are glory hunters. [well, maybe barca]

i guess you can say “no es justo” but on the bright side mid-small size teams like sevilla that are really quality / as capable as the larger teams do earn the rep of cultivating stars [aka sergio ramos etc]

oh! and that manshitty nonsense couldn’t have been worded better. players like robinho are what contribute to the game’s ‘ruin’. seriously, #1 Chivas fan up there has a point. robinho’s a piece of mierda. which leads me to saying that sure it’s hard to progress in a world of filthy rich clubs nearby but i guess you can say that the clubs with the real quality, in and out, and that have the REAL players who stick it out seem just as ‘rich’ but then again, it all depends on who you talk to obviously.

but hey, i’m not good at consoling, especially a “real-mierda” supporter so yeah, reality is reality.

And they’re (reportedly) going after Villa and numerous other players who are in big teams.

This whole money thing is getting so crazy that it’s having an effect on already rich clubs that carry a lot of prestige. Honestly.. would Robinho have gone to City if it wasn’t for the money? He picked CITY over Chelsea for christ’s sake.. what the hell is that? Chelsea who had just gone to the Champions League finals and the same Chelsea that is winning EPLs. The Chelsea who continues to beat Barca! *grrr*

This is one of the reasons I am in love with Aguero right now. He knows he can play for real madrid, chelsea, man city, etc. and earn millions of dollars every MONTH but he stays at Atletico to pay his dues to the team that made him what he is.

Good luck with your squad!

This is not something that I am particularly familiar with, so I can’t necessarily relate to your post. My love besides Barca is my hometown team Chivas from Mexico. They’re one of the big clubs in Mexico but if Mexico ever starts producing huge players the way Portugal, Argentina, and Brazil do, then I will certainly feel the same way you do because any quality player from Chivas will not want to stay there if they can go to Europe.

I remember when Salcido went to PSV.. still hurts even now because he was my favorite player and he was the best we had..

Bravo was another big loss. He was our top goalscorer and he was basically the face of our team for a bunch of years.

Carlos Vela is a product of our youth club, but I was never acquainted with him so I did not feel his loss.

Anyway, our youth club is just getting better and better. As I said, we produced Vela, but we’ve also produced a lot of the youngsters that are in Chivas right now and they are doing extremely well. Unfortunately, as soon as they get good enough to attract european attention, they will leave.. and they wont leave for dozens of millions of euros, they will leave on the cheap because they just want a chance to play in europe.

Regardless of how many players and how much money we get for them, I still feel extremely happy that they are telling the world that Mexicans can play football too. I want Salcido in Chivas, but I am damn proud that he is winning trophies in PSV. I want Vela in Chivas, but I am damn proud every time he plays for Arsenal and he does well. I can at least say they were a product of our youth club and they always represent it, no matter who they play for and how much they get paid.