Ajax

[thehumblegringo]

Another one which has an interesting point to it: https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features...ing?page=0%2C1

I really hope Ajax beat Man United in the final and qualify for the Champions League to give Dutch football a real boost. Man United don't need it at this time and don't deserve it either.

It was a really good article but far more depressing than the other two.

[surge]

It was a really good article but far more depressing than the other two.

It is indeed more depressing. The nature of football currently is that Ajax may be creating a wonderful system but a West Ham, to give one example of many, should be able to copy the system and put 10x the financial might behind it. You just have to trust that the culture cannot be replicated even if the all the parts can be and the more innovative club stays on an even keel or even slightly ahead.

Whenever I read these sorts of articles I try to compare it to what's going on with Wales and (more recently) Cardiff City. The first link you posted talks about teaching technicality over tactics at a younger age, building the best individuals on and off the field and needing coaches who understand how to coach in order to achieve that. I believe we are doing well in the second two factors but wonder how close we are to matching the Dutch, the Italians, the Spanish at achieving the skill level needed to be regularly successful (regularly qualifying for tournaments) or whether that is going to come much further down the line and only if we continue to get the best coaches at all levels?

Another article which you might like (not so obviously related to the thread) is one about Italian coaches and shows that what we have been doing in Wales recently has been done in the more forward thinking countries for decades: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...learned-to-win