FM21: Player pathways: Adding value through affiliate clubs
INEOS’ first foray into football
In November 2017, Jim Ratcliffe, the multi-billionaire founder and chairman of petrochemicals company INEOS confirmed that he has added FC Lausanne-Sport to his eclectic collection of businesses.
The acquisition of the Swiss club was the first foray into the world of professional football for Ratcliffe, who now also owns French side OGC Nice.
When INEOS first located its office in Rolle in 2010, it began to build a close link to the community near to its offices in Canton Vaud and Lausanne, via investments into youth and community sports.
It was from this involvement that Ratcliffe experienced the passion of the Vaudoise fans at all levels in the sporting leagues, whetting his appetite and leading to him taking the leap of faith into the world of football.
At the time of purchase Ratcliffe believed FC Lausanne-Sport to be one of Europe’s most established football clubs.
FC Lausanne Sport
INEOS believes that Lausanne Sport has the potential to develop to become a top side within the Swiss league and join the likes of BSC Young Boys and FC Basel, Ratcliffe has set out his ambition of Lausanne to qualify for European football.
As you can see from the above visual the club has improved its ranking, climbing up the league structure from the second-tier in 2018/19 and now find themselves in the Swiss Super League.
To date, the Swiss league only accounts for 16% (Four) of players called up to the national side and 100% of these are from the two sides mentioned above.
This is an area of concern for the Swiss Football Association (SUI), who surely welcome the take-over of Lausanne by INEOS. The monies which Ratcliffe has invested to date into the grassroots of the game in Switzerland paired with his vision of further enhancing junior player development can only be a breath of fresh air for the SUI and potential prospects of Swiss origin.
If boys don’t play senior football between the age of 17 and 19 they’re not going to make it through to play champions league level football.
Of course the INEOS model will not solely focus on the development of young players from Switzerland, Lausanne will operate as a place where all young players under the INEOS banner can play in order to aid their development and provide them with the opportunity to play.
Racing Club Abidjan
It is not only in the European game that Ratcliffe has expanded his portfolio, the Englishman has also set up a partnership between OGC Nice and Racing Club Abidjan from the Ivory Coast.
The rise of RCA was driven by Souleymane Cissé an ex-professional football who set up a project with the view of engaging youngsters in education through football. As time went on, it was decided to separate those who had real potential as footballers from those who were there for fun.
The project then merged with a D3 club and it was noticed that the players, who were now provided with a structure, were evolving very quickly which has seen the club move from D3 to Ligue 1, the Côte d’Ivoire’s first division.
Before concluding this partnership with OGC Nice, many major clubs were interested and submitted proposals to RCA, notably to buy out the academy given its relative success in such a short period of time.
However, Julien Fournier’s involvement made the difference, the Director of Football met with RCA and exchanged ideas. A decisive one being clear that Nice is a club that gives a place to young people.
The ultimate goal of the partnership is to see African players play for OGC Nice or at least provide them with a pathway into the European game. INEOS’ acquisition of FC Lausanne-Sport certainly will assist in this journey by providing young African players a stepping stone in the form of a half-way home.
Ibrahim Cissé, an RCA academy graduate was the flagship of this project the youngster joined OGC Nice in the summer of 2018.
RC Abidjan were crowned champions of the Ivory Coast Ligue 1, for the first time in the club’s young history!
This is the fruit of the hard work that has been put in place since the foundations were laid in 2006, with the creation of the academy and then the merger with a D3 club in 2014. This season once again, they have plied their trade with a young squad, with players who have been at the club since their early days, and with a philosophy focused on good football. In 2020/21, the club will take part in the African Champions League.
French football’s financial crisis
Ligue 1 TV rights
After being starved of success, French clubs hoped they would be revitalised by an unprecedented TV rights deal worth more than €1.15bn per year (€814m a year from Mediapro and €330m from BeIN Sports) when the contracts were signed in 2018, creating the second-largest TV deal in Europe.
However in December 2020 Mediapro’s subscription service would close due to them not being able to pay their second instalment of €172m which was due in October 2020, this has thrown the future of French football into serious doubt.
The blame has been pointed towards the Ligue de Football Professionnel’s due to their lack of due diligence and failure to seek guarantees from Mediapro, especially after Serie A refused to strike a deal with the company only months before after the Spanish broadcaster had not offered adequate financial guarantees.
Given the rewards on offer, Mediapro’s deal was accepted almost without question by French football, which has been proven to be both catastrophically naïve and incompetent.
The LFP had been hoping another broadcaster would take up Mediapro’s contract when it issued a new tender on the 1st of February, but was left disappointed when all three bidders — Amazon, DAZN and Discovery — failed to meet the organising body’s undisclosed asking price. Neither Canal+ nor BeIN Sports made an offer.
The LFP has now reached a stop-gap TV deal with Canal+ who have agreed a deal up until the end of the 2020/21 season.
Adding value
Player pathways
The importance of providing player pathways has been made clear from Ratcliffe, who stated that ‘If Nice are to compete for the top 5–6 positions in Ligue 1 they need a sustainable model which develops players’ this is due to Les Aiglons not having a large support like rivals Marseille. They also lack the special attributes (tax haven) which draws players to Monaco and do not possess the same stature as Lyon.
Therefore Ratcliffe had to find a niche to give OGC Nice a competitive edge, one which differentiates it from others competing for European places. The strategic decision was made that OGC Nice would be a club who put their trust in young players which is reflected in them fielding the youngest starting line-up in Ligue 1 of the 2020/21 season with an average age of 22.7.
The hierarchy must be praised for this achievement, their player pathway (above) includes the relevant steps in order for individuals to develop, the philosophy of the club is clearly focused on development rather than buying individuals who are ready-made.
- Note — the bottom tier is OGC Nice Academy/ B Team
Despite this model only being in place for less than five years, the individuals below would certainly agree that it has been of benefit to them;
Dan Ndoye (Lausanne-Sport > OGC Nice)
Pedro Brazao ( OGC Nice B > Laussane-Sport)
Evann Guessand (OGC Nice U19 > Lausanne-Sport)
Lucas Da Cunha (Stade Rennais > OGC Nice > Lausanne-Sport)
Trazie Thomas, Armel Zohouri and Brahima Ouattara (RCA > OGC Nice > Lausanne-Sport)
Improved revenue
Loaning out a player is not only beneficial to the player, but it can also bring financial benefits to the parent club, given the uncertainty surrounding the TV rights deal you may well see more clubs across France look to invest more efforts in their affiliate programmes.
Take Olympique de Marseille, for example, Les Olympiens have a close relationship with Standard Liège for a while, despite them obtaining Vedran Runje and Michy Batshuayi from the Belgium first-tier side not much more has come from the partnership.
Standard Liège also are yet to have secured a youngster from OM which has ever starred in the Jupiler Pro League.
Another example is that of FC Metz, who in October 2020 completed a 10-year contract extension with prestigious Senegalese youth academy Génération Foot.
This strategic partnership has been instrumental to the club’s first division status in recent years, seeing Les Grenats bring in no fewer than 10 players over the last decade from Senegal.
Fruits of this partnership include the careers of Ismaila Sarr, Diafra Sakho, Habib Diallo and Sadio Mané, who have all moved on securing FC Metz a profit close to £20m.
Affiliates in Football Manager
Once a player reaches 18 in Football Manager it is important for their progression that they secure regular, good quality match experience. Without this, it is likely that their current ability will come close to reaching their potential ability.
A player will gain some match experience when playing for either his club's youth or reserve side in FM, although the individual will benefit more from playing for senior sides, depending on what level the club competes at.
The benefit of gaining significant minutes at a level which is competitive for the prospect has a direct impact on his progression, or in FM terms his current ability.
There are some underlying attributes which are directly linked to progression, they are;
Determination — the mental attribute is clearly visible for all to see under the players mental attributes, along with ambition and professionalism, these are hidden personality attributes.
The quality of training, which is determined by the quality of both facilities and staffing and also the morale of the individual also affect how the player will develop.
To give young players regular, good quality match experience it is often necessary to send them out on loan, therefore the above factors need to be considered when either selecting participants or affiliate clubs.
Monitoring Loans
I would advise to closely monitor players who are out on loan, and certainly consider recalling those who are either not playing regularly or not playing well.
You can view a list of players who are out on loan via Transfers>Loans screen, however I would advise that you ask one of your scouts to provide match reports on players who have left the club as this will give you a consistent flow of information which can aid your decision making.
