Walking Down The Halbeath Road

[Rob1885]

I guess if we're providing the majority of the funding for Fife Elite then it would be cost effective to have our own one in the long run.

[DA Baracus]

1 hour ago, 101 said:

I think it's a criteria for the UEFA solidarity payment or whatever the call it, so if Scottish teams made it to certain stages of European competition it would actually cost the club several hundred thousand not to have an academy, even a small one.

Not something we'll ever have to worry about as we won't be playing in Europe any time soon, and possibly never will again.

[HoBNob]

3 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

 possibly never will again.

That's a very bold statement. 

[101]

14 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

Not something we'll ever have to worry about as we won't be playing in Europe any time soon, and possibly never will again.

You don't have to be, you just have to be in the top flight hopefully we will be back in the short/medium term.

[Rob1885]

Not something we'll ever have to worry about as we won't be playing in Europe any time soon, and possibly never will again.

Negative Nancy

[DA Baracus]

22 minutes ago, Grant228 said:

That's a very bold statement. 

 

4 minutes ago, Rob1885 said:

26 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

Not something we'll ever have to worry about as we won't be playing in Europe any time soon, and possibly never will again.

Negative Nancy

I'd love to see it happen but the easiest route to doing so, finishing runners up in the Scottish Cup final when the winners already have a place via the league, is gone. That route only got us there after many, many years anyway. 

How realistic is it for us to finish 4th in the Premiership? We only managed a 4th place finish in the top league once in decades, and that was due to massive financial cheating. 

It would need to be an almost once in a generation alignment of things for us to finish in a European place.

[DA Baracus]

19 minutes ago, 101 said:

You don't have to be, you just have to be in the top flight hopefully we will be back in the short/medium term.

Eh? You get fined hundreds of thousands, just for being in the top league without a youth academy, should a Scottish club get to a certain stage in Europe? Half the league would have been fined last season then when Sevco went far in the Europa?

[Stellaboz]

11 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

Eh? You get fined hundreds of thousands, just for being in the top league without a youth academy, should a Scottish club get to a certain stage in Europe? Half the league would have been fined last season then when Sevco went far in the Europa?

I think he meant we wouldn't receive the money that others would from having an "academy".

Obviously I don't have any sort of figures to work with but would it be even worth it, in the hope that Celtic or Sevco get so far in Europe? 

[DA Baracus]

1 minute ago, Stellaboz said:

I think he meant we wouldn't receive the money that others would from having an "academy".

Obviously I don't have any sort of figures to work with but would it be even worth it, in the hope that Celtic or Sevco get so far in Europe? 

Ah, that makes more sense! I thought I had it wrong as it surely couldn't be the case!

It's not worth it just for a sum once every so often when Celtic or Sevco go far in Europe, but worth it for producing players. 

However it will take regular financial support and, long term, I worry that it might not be sustainable.

[101]

9 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

Ah, that makes more sense! I thought I had it wrong as it surely couldn't be the case!

It's not worth it just for a sum once every so often when Celtic or Sevco go far in Europe, but worth it for producing players. 

However it will take regular financial support and, long term, I worry that it might not be sustainable.

Yeh sorry it's income and it's (at the moment) fairly reliable that one of the teams makes it to the stages.

If Fife didn't have an academy and ours was the only one then you would imagine there would be a decent number of players playing at the desired level, I think that's where Greg Shields should be as head of youth development.

I don't think it would be sustainable for long spell outwith the top flight but if the new investors believe they can get there and stay there you can quickly make money hand over fist, it will be interesting to see the total sum the clubs got on the back of Rangers success.

[CallumPar]

Not something we'll ever have to worry about as we won't be playing in Europe any time soon, and possibly never will again.

Think you misunderstood. Clubs in this country with their own academy benefit from the solidarity payments, when any club from the country reaches certain stages in European competitions. For example, I’d imagine there’s a good chance Scottish clubs will get one this year, following Rangers’ success and we will miss out, due to not having our own academy.

Edit: sorry, just noticed someone clarified this before me. Ignore this.

[Stellaboz]

Can't we just stick a sign over the old ticket office saying "Youth Academy"?

[HoBNob]

1 hour ago, DA Baracus said:

. 

How realistic is it for us to finish 4th in the Premiership? 

Fairly realistic, St Johnstone and Motherwell have achieved it in recent seasons a few times each, it's absolutely possible and plausible. 

[DA Baracus]

8 minutes ago, Grant228 said:

Fairly realistic, St Johnstone and Motherwell have achieved it in recent seasons a few times each, it's absolutely possible and plausible. 

It's not impossible but I wouldn't say it was all that plausible. They are established Premiership clubs for a start. They managed it in a easier league too (mostly).

We need to get there first. We've been out of the top division for nearing a decade now. We then need to have a season of unprecedented consistency and success whilst at least 3 or 4 others have a bad season. That will all cost quite a bit too.

As I said, I would love to see it happen, but can't see it. It took Kilmarnock having their best season for decades, due to getting Steve Clarke in unique circumstances, to get in to Europe for the first time in nearly 20 years for example.

[DAFC.]

We need to get out of this division first. We have been a fairly yo-yo club with a decade of unmitigated success in the 60s. We've never been able to stay as long in the top-flight as a lot of those clubs. That's what needs to happen. Yeah, sure we have a lot more going for us in terms of stature than a good few clubs in the Premiership, but you have to earn it and solidify your right to be there. 

[parsforlife]

If the the investors back up what they have said about their aims then European football should be on the radar. Some seasons 5th would enough.  if that’s not something they think we could grow the club and improve on and off the pitch enough to achieve that then I don’t think they would have bothered.

But as said above let’s walk before we try to run,  we are along way off achieving that.

[itzdrk]

5 hours ago, Grant228 said:

Fairly realistic, St Johnstone and Motherwell have achieved it in recent seasons a few times each, it's absolutely possible and plausible. 

Aye same

[Salvo Montalbano]

Also worth pointing out that the new Conference League increases our European allocation and with the improved coefficient it has room to go better.

[Stellaboz]

1 hour ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

Also worth pointing out that the new Conference League increases our European allocation and with the improved coefficient it has room to go better.

Can't the same be said for other nations though?

[Salvo Montalbano]

Can't the same be said for other nations though?

Conference league, yes it does. Coefficient, like them or not, Celtic and in particular Rangers doing well in the Europa League recently - and with group games confirmed for the Scottish Cup winners - our coefficient has improved relative to other nations of similar size.