Not more than five or six years ago, Ligue 1 was ahead of the Bundesliga in the UEFA Coefficients, now it is fighting off challenges from Russia and Portugal to stay in the top 6. Is the problem a talent problem, or is it because clubs play too many games (two cups+ 38-game league schedule). If you had the choice, would you A) shrink Ligue 1 to 18 clubs, B) scrap the Coupe de la Ligue, or C) both?
B. but neither of these is a solution. the problem is money. and if the answer to that is sanitizing stadiums and raising ticket prices like in england or in paris thanks but no thanks.
The bosses of French football have no strategy nor an idea. They are monkeys trying to pathetically imitate those whom they feel are more skilled than them.
Mostly financial constraints, some mismanagement and sheer owner apathy. Below link article is some good read. http://frenchfootballweekly.com/201...rouble-ahead-for-ligue-1-and-french-football/ Hopefully France will win the 2016 Euro Cup at their home soil.
Marseille is going to be sold. They are going to make extra sure its sold to people who will compete with PSG. I know people here dont want this but right now Ill take a "2 team league" ala Real and Barca with PSG and OM leading the charge over the status quo which is a 1 team league ala Bayren Munich.
Ligue 1 has always struggled in Europe . The country has 2 european trophies to it's name, the C1 by OM which in the same season were busted for match-fixing and us, winning the C2 . Compare that to other countries and it's absolutely pathetic Well going by the way the rats talk about PSG and it's owners I can only assume if their club is bought by a rich owner they will all start supporting Consolat
The best clubs in the world are not billionaire owned. Barca and Real Madrid are owned by the people (the Socios) and Bayern Munich is a publicly traded company similar to Lyon. That's the way forward if you ask me. Not having a bunch of oligarchs ruining the league.
Whats wrong with having PSG and OM being the Barca and Real of France and OL being the Atletico Madrid. Thats a strong league right there.
That's not exactly a huge accomplishment. I guess my point is that the greatest clubs in Europe dont consist of a team made up of mercinaries playing for a paycheck. You need to create a culture and an environment that makes the players believe there is something worth playing for. I'm not convinced that Monaco has achieved that.
That's very idealistic and simply untrue. Players do care about prestige, but the majority care more about money and winning trophies. You can't build a club from the ground up and expect it to rival the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Those clubs have such a huge head start that it would be impossible for a club to attract the kinds of players it needs in order to start competing against the elite. You need money and that's just a fact. Look at Chelsea. I can't stand them and sure they're currently struggling this season, but overall, they definitely are considered one of the "big" clubs right now. They've won the CL, multiple Premier League titles, and are considered a top destination for many players. Do you think Cristiano Ronaldo would be playing for Real Madrid for half his current wages? Of course not.
Real Madrid dont have a billionaire owner. Neither do Barca. Those clubs are owned by thousands of members called "socios" I talked about that in my first post. Therefore the culture is different. It isnt a matter of an oligarch coming in and treating it like a business investment. Bayern Munich arent billionaire owned either. I think Lyon are doing it the right way. Building a solid foundation that will improve over time. Lets not forget that Lyon reached the semis of the CL while PSG havent. And that was before they had their privately owned stadium.
@Pandore You should watch this documentary about QPR called "The 4 Year Plan" It shows that clubs need more than money to succeed.
Of course clubs need more than money to succeed. My point was that in order to even begin to think about rivaling the elite on a consistent basis, one of the things you need is money.
This makes no sense. Real Madrid and Barcelona are already established. Clubs like Chelsea or PSG are always going to be behind unless they get a rich owner (which they did) in order to get players that could compete with the ones Madrid and Barcelona have. No offense, but Lyon is not one of the biggest clubs in Europe in any way shape or form, so mentioning them in this discussion is kind of laughable.
No offense taken. My point was that they are on the right path. Not that they have arrived at their final destination.
And my point is that the means of getting that money makes a difference. French clubs should be modeled after Bayern Munich, not QPR.
The socios don't feed their clubs. They just vote for the president. And sometimes just like every voter they vote for the wrong man - hi Rosell - or they vote for the only candidate they're allowed to vote for - hi Florentino. Real Madrid and Barça's business has grown for decades. Ticketing, sponsoring, merchandising, TV rights: those four sources come from a growing fanbase. The successes nourish the popularity, the popularity nourish the economic growth, increasing budgets nourish competitivity. Then there's a point when you've become so much powerful that not much can happen to you -- because now YOU make the rules both in Spain and Europe. You have millions of fans (real fans or Facebook fans) throughout the world. If you don't screw it - which we did thousand of times in France - you're assured to stand on top. If you want money, gain customers. If you want customers, gain fervent fans. If you want fervent fans, win something and play better than the others.
Which Bayern ? The 2016 Bayern that is one of the most powerful and established clubs in the world, European Cup multiple-times winner, or the 1965 Bayern who raised from nowhere with 3 home-grown players (Beckenbauer, Müller, Maier) and had nothing but a German title and a domestic cup ?
QPR is a small club in over saturated market (London). The guy who thought he could turn them into a Chelsea was a moron.
Both. The point is that they stuck to their vision and it paid off in the long run. Too many clubs are willing to sell their souls for short-term results.