I have to be happy that my team, Arsenal, are currently top of the league.
The pyramid, however, allows for the dream of moving from the bottom to the top. This will never happen, of course, because at the very bottom of the pyramid you will generally find second teams, third teams, or pick a number if you are playing for a very large club. What this means is that if the second team reach the level that the first team are at they will be prevented from progressing. They should replace the first team really but we have all experienced club politics that keep the first team weak and the second team strong.
What we are really looking at is Club strength. Some clubs are stronger than others and I like to see clubs that choose to operate their different abilities in different leagues rather than different levels of the same league. The easy option as any club grows is to put the new team in at the lowest division of the league that the first team are in, and that makes sense as that is where you have the contacts and you know the rules.
Every competition has its published rules, but every competition also has its unwritten rules that often require years of experience to acquire. Any club that wants to be accepted has to know the unwritten rules which is why experience in any competition is invaluable. When I look at the job advertisements in the local papers they more often than not state "experience at this level essential".
Park football requires kids to turn up with a football and put their track suit tops down for goalposts. Organised leagues require an entry fee that can be paid by charging a membership fee to all players of the club involved. Higher up and the players want to be reimbursed their expenses in order to play, so generous sponsors or spectator money becomes important.
By the time you are professional you need to add wages to the costs. A manager, a physiotherapist, people to man the turnstiles on match days, an administration team to deal with all the paperwork which multiplies as you start to deal with ground repairs, car parking deals with the local council, coach hire fees to travel away, or as I saw very recently a rust bucket of a minibus to transport the players.
Different clubs run on vastly different budgets and I have it in my mind that the turnover of Bradninch Second Team is slightly smaller than the turnover of Arsenal Football Club. Each Club must try and produce the best results that they can given the budget that they are allowed. After many years of experience some clubs now realise that they are better off playing and winning in a lower league than they are playing and losing in the higher echelons. Fans want to watch victorious teams and will stay away if results are always bad.
There are no quick fixes in this sport - I challenge you to get a team from Level 10 to the Premiership in 10 seasons - so barring a large fortune being thrown down the drain a long slow process of building has to take place over many years to get in place a structure and a fanbase that can support improvements and progress.
I am following North Ferriby United with interest as they seem to be on the up. How far can they go? When I read about their ethos it seems that they are doing everything right.
The pyramid, however, allows for the dream of moving from the bottom to the top. This will never happen, of course, because at the very bottom of the pyramid you will generally find second teams, third teams, or pick a number if you are playing for a very large club. What this means is that if the second team reach the level that the first team are at they will be prevented from progressing. They should replace the first team really but we have all experienced club politics that keep the first team weak and the second team strong.
What we are really looking at is Club strength. Some clubs are stronger than others and I like to see clubs that choose to operate their different abilities in different leagues rather than different levels of the same league. The easy option as any club grows is to put the new team in at the lowest division of the league that the first team are in, and that makes sense as that is where you have the contacts and you know the rules.
Every competition has its published rules, but every competition also has its unwritten rules that often require years of experience to acquire. Any club that wants to be accepted has to know the unwritten rules which is why experience in any competition is invaluable. When I look at the job advertisements in the local papers they more often than not state "experience at this level essential".
Park football requires kids to turn up with a football and put their track suit tops down for goalposts. Organised leagues require an entry fee that can be paid by charging a membership fee to all players of the club involved. Higher up and the players want to be reimbursed their expenses in order to play, so generous sponsors or spectator money becomes important.
By the time you are professional you need to add wages to the costs. A manager, a physiotherapist, people to man the turnstiles on match days, an administration team to deal with all the paperwork which multiplies as you start to deal with ground repairs, car parking deals with the local council, coach hire fees to travel away, or as I saw very recently a rust bucket of a minibus to transport the players.
Different clubs run on vastly different budgets and I have it in my mind that the turnover of Bradninch Second Team is slightly smaller than the turnover of Arsenal Football Club. Each Club must try and produce the best results that they can given the budget that they are allowed. After many years of experience some clubs now realise that they are better off playing and winning in a lower league than they are playing and losing in the higher echelons. Fans want to watch victorious teams and will stay away if results are always bad.
There are no quick fixes in this sport - I challenge you to get a team from Level 10 to the Premiership in 10 seasons - so barring a large fortune being thrown down the drain a long slow process of building has to take place over many years to get in place a structure and a fanbase that can support improvements and progress.
I am following North Ferriby United with interest as they seem to be on the up. How far can they go? When I read about their ethos it seems that they are doing everything right.
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