
Originally Posted by
Wartman
If you take a look at the clubs accounts it is 2013 since the club made an operating profit of just over 2 million; since then that profit has been eroded and some as the club has lost nearer 3 million up to the financial year end 2017, and I expect the club to post a substantial loss for 2018. In order for the club to be in profit a few things have to happen
1) The first team wins promotion
2) The first team wins a trophy
3) The first team has a good cup run
4) The academy generates a player worth selling
It appears to me that the success of the academy relys on a strong successful first team, and this will raise the stock value of our starlets. At the moment our young academy graduates are being thrown into a very poor first team squad certainly lowering their value and in the process doing irreparable damage to their confidence. It is no coincidence that the number of scouts at Crewe first team games have dwindled over recent years and this is a message in its self that the people we are showcasing our stars too no longer believe them to be there.
Mr Gradi famously said once that the academy was far more important than the first team and then he was right, but now I am not so sure as I believe the performance of the first team over the last 4 years has done serious damage to our business model and I would respectively suggest that currently the priority of the club should be to build a first team capable of success and at this present time this is not happening.