Brentford's B-Team model explained: Does scrapping your academy work?
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- čas přidán 4. 10. 2021
- Brentford scrapped their academy five years ago, introducing a B-team model instead to better protect their assets. So how does it work and is it proving successful? The Athletic's Brentford reporter Jay Harris joined Flo Lloyd-Hughes and Dan Bardell to explain their innovative setup...
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#brentford #epl #theathletic - Sport
Which Brentford player has most impressed you so far this season? 👇
Every single one of them! So impressed with them, and hoping they stay up for many years to come.
Mbuemo is great
Mbuemo
Mbemou
lots of players, but I actually didn't expect Pontus Jansson to be that good in the PL level
This model works well as long as other teams continue to have academies and you can take the players they have developed. If too many teams do this the number of players to pick from will diminish.
Great point! And no one is talking about your second point
Most clubs are from an area though where academies are worth the time and effort and aren't loaded with wealthy clubs like London
If the teams who nabbed them with their larger academies in the first place had to actually pay a fair share, pay sell on clauses for the first 5-10 years of their professional career, then this wouldn't have had to happen. However, I believe after COVID, teams going bankrupt, Barca, Madrid and almost the entirety of continental clubs are starting to invest back into the Academy. Unfortunately this still includes poaching, however they are doing it for a fee before the scholarship ends
hard to develop too much in academies. Talent can be found of course
If other teams had B teams too, they could just set up a B team league similar to the Bundesliga
@8:55 Gael Kakuta just turned 30 and he's now at Lens
In Portugal even top clubs have a B team (as well as U23). It's a key stepping stone in the players development. Same in Spain, Germany, etc
i have always heard about the Barca B team, so i'm surprised why this is a conversation.
@@oama2009 England seems to be discovering the youth system, no wonder their national team has won nothing for more than half a century. Anyway, good on them and for football.
@@andrepereira3800 we are known for having great academy's, don't be rude, the reason y this is quite a new change is because their wasn't a need for B teams
@@vvdisking5218 not trying to be rude, but England has always had a problem converting academy graduates to the first team. B teams allow, if used correctly, for a smoother transition between youth and professional football. U23 is miles away from the Premier League, so you need to loan (or sell), with all kinds of problems coming from that.
@@vvdisking5218 furthermore, England has only developed the youth system since the dawn of the Premier League. Your players are now much more complete, technically and tactically talented, yet the transition to the PL is extremely difficult even for Newcastle level clubs (no offense) losing out on Ivan Toney's.
This is brilliant, never heard of this. Another great talking point about Brentford
I didn’t expect to be saying this but there are aspects of what brentford are doing that clubs like Barca could benefit from. I’m not suggesting Barca should scrap their academy. Rather the way they manage their B team. Barca B is constantly battling to remain in the highest tier of Spanish football they’re allowed to play (la segunda) getting relegated to lower divisions is problematic for the club because it makes it harder to keep the best emerging talents because they don’t wanna get hacked down constantly by a bunch of has beens In the lower tiers. It doesn’t help their development to be playing at such a low level. I’d rather see Barca organize their opponents for Barca B and focus on player development rather than league position and being desperate to avoid relegation. I think Barca B could benefit from playing youth teams of strong teams and select first teams of smaller clubs that play excellent football in closed door friendlies that really put the players skills to the test in ways that they wouldn’t when playing lower division teams that may approach the game with a win at all costs mentality that results in dirty play which doesn’t adequately prepare the youngsters for top flight football. As it is anytime a youngster shows promise the first thing the club and player aims to do is to get promoted to the first team as possible and to get the hell away from the B team. I think it would be better if the B team was seen as less of a hell hole that needed to be escaped from but rather an important development stage that prepares the player better so that they can slot into the first team faster and make an impact sooner
Love the Brentford model one of the best run clubs in world football.
Well done Athletic UK! I hope you all do one on the Danish, UK, French, or other positive cultural influences/impacts to Brentford F.C.
This Is actually a fantastic piece. What type of contacts are these B Team players on? Can they still offer YTS / Scholarships, or are they all on full time and or youth contacts, as they select and sign these B Team players after they’ve been released from other clubs?
They are on Pro contracts but much lower salary due to the level they are playing at. They are given a clear pathway to first team football whether that's at Brentford or another club.
@@blirt1653 great idea and definitely works for Brentford
Really interesting topic!
Very interesting video. I'm pretty conservative when it comes to football and I believe that football clubs should represent their communities. I don't think you can do that with a B team model. It's of course a very clever way of trying to catch up to the big teams who steal all the talent in the entire country. I think poaching youth players should be regulated much harder.
The way the B-team model has been used elsewhere in Europe is an absolute travesty. Letting them compete in the main league system is absolutely insane when they keep stepping on the little guys.
We have to protect the small teams. This isn't the way to do it. Also, Brentford is doing the same (poaching) with, for example, nordic talents.
You're not aware that the Spanish B-teams play in their 3rd division in Spain? In Germany they play in the 4th tier, Regionalliga. In Austria they allow 3 top clubs to compete in the 2nd tier. It's important to give the young talents the opportunity to play against adults. Nowhere else is it so restricted as in England. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th tier regular clubs in those countries aren't thrilled either to play those B-teams, but they don't get a choice. It slightly hurts the lower division clubs, but it's a huge advantage for the development of the young players on the top end.
Super interesting conversation
Spain, Portugal and Germany all have B teams. A lot of them are in the second division. Players like Bernardo Silva, cancelo, matic, jovic, Ivan cavaleiro, Hélder Costa and Nuno Tavares are where they are now because they played for benfica b team
8:31 is that an actual Bee😁 following IT. Do they have trained Bees assigned to every player?
This is quality journalism
S/o to Jay Harris
Excellent podcast.
While it definitely works for Brentford and may work for other clubs their size, I think their is a prestige element associated with a good academy. In the way that clubs want to win trophies for the prestige, having a famous academy is also a point of pride: look at Barca, Ajax, Benfica, and, more recently, Chelsea. Clubs are not just driven by money (though that is a recent trend), they are also driven by a desire for glory.
I got scouted and offered to join brentfords youth academy a few years back, couldn't go because I was moving very soon but still its interesting to see how well they are doing.
Most effective way to first team is very good idea!! While the media make it look like brentford will not even tty evolving young ppl around their area, but in reality they might have the beat way!
Except Brentford sign a lot of ex cat 1 academy players after they are released by their club. So this clearly was cost driven originally. The irony now is with changes to the rules thanks to Brexit and FA changing rules on u21 players from abroad. Brentfords access to B team players is much reduced, unless they recruit ex academy players. With Brentford now being a Premier League club, a Cat 1 academy would be an acheivable goal if tied to the improvement of Brentfords training complex.
The reality is you don't have to be a premier league club to have a Cat 1 academy. But your academy not being Cat 1 is a problem. By definition it means medical facilities, pitches, teaching facilities, all weather pitches, indoor facilities etc are not there. So it's really easy to pilfer the kids showing them a flashy academy and facilities . The issue is it costs a decent chunk of money to run them every year. Then to actually put in the level of facilities required is potentially expensive. However if two or three make it into the first team then they pay for themselves. In the savings on transfer fees, wages and potential sell on/clauses.
Also owners can spend on academy facilities without breaching FFP. A lot of them however choose not to. I really don't understand why clubs don't fund first team and academy facilities together.
but when pep talked about the B team model everyone slated him
Because it would be ridiculous to have b teams in the actual football league.
@@yakm5385 the germans and the spanish don’t seem to think so
@@laurent4819 The english lower leagues are more exciting because of the lack of b teams.
And so they should slate him. It isn't in the best interests of the game, obviously.
:-)) Like your work
Flo has a lovely lovely voice
Rangers B team is one of the best outside spfl and players are constantly getting put into match day squads because of their performances
If you talk to ajax players they always talk about the growth of playing in the kkd (dutch second division)
They always take about players between 17 and 21 getting competitive games with near 70mins a match on average to have a chance to fulfill their talents. Which is interesting.
It has really helped us at Ajax many talents progressed from there
Yes, exactly. For starters they get to play against 'adult' opposition rather than just against other U21 teams, and the football played in the Dutch second tier is more physical than technical, which helps them in their development.
It "works" for us other lesser clubs may not be as successful
Will this hurt the national team in the long run ? I mean it sounds like less academies will result in less local players
if anything on a small scale it might help, with players released from the most competitive academies being given another chance
A step beyond the B team model, is to have a farm team, in the lower league's, Man U should have bought Bury, the city and redbull groups doing this already, even the Watford owners, Brentford to some extent also owning multiple clubs
Is there a middle ground? Have an academy but replace an u23 team for a B team. Allow the that level to contest at professional level, isn’t that what happens in Europe?
Yes
@@ryanfinnerty6239 I think that seems like the best option for a lot of clubs who CAN afford big academy set ups, but the B team or reserve teams in England don’t get enough chances against pro teams
That's basically what Southampton have done recently.
@@battlep0t what’s their b team ? What league t they in ?
Wrong to say Ivan Toney dropped down he was over looked and came through Northampton. He made his debut at 16 before moving to Newcastle at 19 And was loaned out every season twice. He played very little reserve football ever
So he dropped down then…
He dropped down to league 1...
@@AManCalledDutch dropping to league 1 is a much higher standard than reserve team football
They have but they haven’t at the same time
Seeing Chelsea lose like 5/6 of their u23 squad for barely nothing, I now know how the smaller clubs feel about their youngsters. The more it goes on, the more smaller teams will probably go with this model.
Chelsea could actually play them in the first team instead of sending them out on endless loans
Chelsea make loads off their loan system and their youth.. their model is actually successful and over compensated for their transfers this window
@@donnydon6522 I know & agree, it works for Chelsea as they can afford to stockpile youth and earn back thru loan fees and fiannly selling them off
@@DarylSpykerman how many footballers in the English football pyramid is from Chelsea? Something like 20% of the u16 to senior team call up at some point we’re at Chelsea. Not all of them will play for the first team, it’s impossible. How many teams in PL atm have more starters from their academy?? We literally have 5/6 academy players that play regularly. That’s nearly half of the team.
@@anthonyalex2930 yes, few youth team players make it to EPL first team but thats because the clubs source the globe for players,. The B team route works for Brentford as it reduces operating costs while picking up players released from EPL clubs. You seeing Chelsea lose 5-6 U23 players is not the same.
Why is this news in England while it has been done for years in countries like Portugal, Netherlands, Spain and many European countries.
thats why it has take a revision of football in england i heard.
And danish fc midtJylland got same owner, even that fc midt Jylland are a fusion club from 2 clubs on north part of denmark
Fc midt Jylland has become a Power factor in danish football, before it was almost only fc copenhagen and brondby with few other clubs shines up from time to time
Many scandivian players are around denmark before going out on europé
So brentford are harvesting many good players like Christian norgaard
Best team in denmark almost offer The same as Netherland Ajax and osv When ur Comes to raise up players
Same thing is happening in Belgium and it would be an even more impressive achievement if Bloom can win a title there. This is what can be achieved when club owners actually understand football.
B teams are better model for clubs .....but.....I would rather have hundreds of kids in academies away from the streets
The kids would just be dispersed and trickle down the pyramid. That isn't a bad thing btw
bUt BrEnTfOrD dOnT hAvE dEpTh