{"id":21327,"date":"2018-02-27T16:00:05","date_gmt":"2018-02-27T16:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/?p=21327"},"modified":"2018-02-26T22:06:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-26T22:06:00","slug":"vive-la-revolution-part-xv-une-autre-grande-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2018\/02\/vive-la-revolution-part-xv-une-autre-grande-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Vive la R\u00e9volution Part XV: Une autre grande d\u00e9cision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Catch up on the story so far…<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/h3>\n

“It’s not a decision to take lightly. It’s not as easy as just going ‘we will go pro then’. We’ve worked very hard to maintain our levels despite being amateur. Yes, we finished a disappointing 9th in the league. But we did get to the Coupe de France semi-finals where we only lost 1-0 to the great Marseille. A part of me still believes it is possible to get into Ligue 1 as amateurs, it really does. Yet there is so much sense in turning pro. What will we do? Well, even Zidane thinks now is the time….”<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

THE ARGUMENTS FOR TURNING PRO<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I turned to the loyal #tenpotatoes crowd in Slack for their thoughts.<\/p>\n

#1\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Are we stagnating?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Can we call one season where we finished lower than the season before stagnating? Forget the cup, because anything can happen there. Is this just a blip or is it a sign that the teams around us are going to keep spending and getting better players than us because, well, they are paying them?<\/p>\n

#2 Being able to sign all those lovely newgens<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Well, would we actually be able to? Even if we turn pro, I will revert to my initial philosophy of only signing players on a free transfer, so will much actually change?<\/p>\n

#3 Think of the transfer fees you can make!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Hmm, maybe – but unless I am selling players for over \u20ac1m a pop I am not sure we really need the money.<\/p>\n

#4 You’ll be able to invest in more facilities<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I am not sure I agree. Just turning pro will not change that – we already have “great” facilities as that is where the money has been going so far. Turning pro will come at a cost and if anything will mean I will have less money to invest in infrastructure.<\/p>\n

#5 Players will develop faster when pro as they will be training full-time<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Possibly, possibly. I cannot completely disagree with that, but the players are improving as it is so would the actual gain be worth the outlay?<\/p>\n

#6 You’d finally get a reserve team and an Academy side?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Again, not sure that would be the case – though there has been an excellent suggestion about “managing” an affiliate side (a bit like Reids did in Taste the Feeling on FM17).<\/p>\n

So the arguments for <\/strong>have<\/strong> hardly overwhelmed me.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

That said, if we did go pro we probably would be able to sign better players. It would make the save progress logically into the next phase – managing that transition from amateur to professional and the financial aspects of making sure we balance the books. Plus, if I was looking to bring in players that were actually with clubs (albeit on free transfers) then I could start to employ some statistical recruitment methods which would be fun. Right now, every new signing is a bit of a punt.<\/p>\n

\n

THE ARGUMENTS FOR STAYING AMATEUR<\/strong><\/h2>\n

#1 Imagine how good it would feel to get promoted as an amateur team<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I can’t deny, it would feel good.<\/p>\n

#2 What’s the harm in giving it one more go?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

There is no\u00a0real\u00a0<\/em>harm as such, though I did start to lose interest in the last few league games of last season – and if I don’t see some quality potential recruits then I cannot see us doing better this next season.<\/p>\n

#3 Yeah, but imagine how good it would feel to get promoted as an amateur team<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Oh shhh.<\/p>\n

And so on and so on and so on.<\/p>\n

See, it is a fecking difficult decision. It really is.<\/p>\n

Find out what I do very soon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catch up on the story so far… “It’s not a decision to take lightly. It’s not as easy as just going ‘we will go pro then’. We’ve worked very hard to maintain our levels despite being amateur. Yes, we finished a disappointing 9th in the league. But we did get to the Coupe de France […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103,248],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nVive la R\u00e9volution Part XV: Une autre grande d\u00e9cision - The Higher Tempo Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2018\/02\/vive-la-revolution-part-xv-une-autre-grande-decision\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vive la R\u00e9volution Part XV: Une autre grande d\u00e9cision - The Higher Tempo Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Catch up on the story so far… “It’s not a decision to take lightly. 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