Lord Pityme Posted March 6, 2017 Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 At present, and up till now I would imagine the club have been in talks with the SFA, and come to a point where they need to decide if they are going to apply for elite Academy status under Project Brave? It does seem as far as youth development and crafting the future of our game the SFA get it wrong and costly everytime, but if we are to assume this goes ahead, what should our club be pitching for..? Elite Status? Semi Elite Status? D.I.Y. Status? no doubt to qualify for elite status their will be minimum requirements regarding facilities, certified coaches, infrastructure and funding outwith whatever the SFA grant. The club, one would imagine have/are going through a 'cost/benefit' analysis to decide what option they feel suits best? do you speculate to accumulate and hire the required number of suitably qualified personnel, fix/install the facilities etc, to meet the grant criteria? Or decide a DIY job is the more cost effective route to go down? Despite being no great lover of the SFA's interventions to date, I believe if we are to continue to develop as a club, who wont be buying in talent we need to ensure their is a path, a way, an Academy their to carry on developing and/or producing the McLean's, McGinn's, McAllister's Naismith's, Morgan's, Magennis's and Mallan's etc... it could be a sustainable business and development model that ensures when the fans have a majority shareholding in the club we are back where we want to be, and belong! on a such a critical issue for the club and game's future you would have thought we would be being consulted as a fan base, pethaps that will happen, but it seems having appointed Malky Mackay the SFA are going to launch this anyway, and as we all know if Lawell agrees it will happen. So my thoughts, (and I am keen to hear yours!) are we should be setting up with the SFA grant and Smisa spending pot... The Smisa/St Mirren Academy Trust. It would need to be run as its own entity to ensure all funding etc is ringfenced solely for the academy, it would be a great vehicle to bring on local sponsors, even perhaps so minded supporters taking a stake in group/individual players development??? imagine our academy with smisa funds guaranteed for at least nine years along with fan, club, SFA and sponsors finance??? Is there a better use of funds to secure our future? If we can continue and improve the quality and number of young players who go on to command a decent fee, wont that be a fantastic return on investment for fans, club, community and national game??? any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebella15 Posted March 6, 2017 Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 It is already underway and St Mirren are not going for elite status Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Pityme Posted March 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 Cheers Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Pityme Posted March 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 Set up similar to what I believe the jags have. Still part of the club, but a trust where monies are ringfenced for that specific purpose. So if you sponsor/ donate you know exactly where the cash is going and allows the trust to bid for work in its own right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Pityme Posted March 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 Did you know there has been a community trust part of the club for a few years now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Pityme Posted March 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 17 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said: Nope. There you go then. The jags Academy is a seperate company (Thistle Weir Academy), it aids funding applications etc if you have a bespoke entity that you carry out your specific activities under. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldorf34 Posted March 6, 2017 Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 The jags academy is backed financially by the millionaires that won the lottery , so we cannot compete against that or the old firm. But lets not forget McLean and McAllister came from the Rangers academy and no doubt these new academies will drop kids out , we just have to pick up the best of the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Pityme Posted March 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 An Elite academy seems to me a no-brainer if we expect to be able to divert over £30k in smisa discretionary funding each year, in addition to SFA funding, sponsors, donations etc that our elite academy would still have access to the best knowledge, contacts and opportunities, could deliver a succession of pkayers for the club, and could make money too. or we could use the funds to replace HoF boards and such as like??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Pityme Posted March 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 50 minutes ago, waldorf34 said: The jags academy is backed financially by the millionaires that won the lottery , so we cannot compete against that or the old firm. But lets not forget McLean and McAllister came from the Rangers academy and no doubt these new academies will drop kids out , we just have to pick up the best of the rest. Most of that Jags money went on creating a facilities we already have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Pityme Posted March 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 1 hour ago, Slartibartfast said: As I've said, I don't know. If it's all possible then fair enough but, maybe because I'm not an expert on this stuff, I don't see how. Maybe it's obvious when you know a couple of things about it but I don't. I'm really just asking, not contradicting. Could be a holding company, seperate company, co-op or Community Benefit society. The advantage is that lets say the club was the parent company, if a new manager, or board wanted to boost the playing budget, or paint the dressing rooms black for example it cant re-direct funds to do so, without agreement of the Academy trustees, which would be us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Pityme Posted March 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 Aye I know what Thistle's is. We could have any of the above Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddiecat Posted March 7, 2017 Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 6 hours ago, Lord Pityme said: Aye I know what Thistle's is. We could have any of the above I'm intrigued LPM and a bit miffed you never told me about this before now I'll sort you out on Saturday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddiecat Posted March 7, 2017 Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 7 hours ago, Lord Pityme said: An Elite academy seems to me a no-brainer if we expect to be able to divert over £30k in smisa discretionary funding each year, in addition to SFA funding, sponsors, donations etc that our elite academy would still have access to the best knowledge, contacts and opportunities, could deliver a succession of pkayers for the club, and could make money too. or we could use the funds to replace HoF boards and such as like??? I'm all for it, replacing HoF boards can come later when we are established in whatever league and can afford to spend on items that don't really bring in revenue (you have to be in the stadium to see the boards) bringing through new players and getting good amounts of transfer money if they move on is my idea of the way forward for our club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Pityme Posted March 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 Do bawa posters think this is something Smisa should investigate and present options on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soctty Posted March 7, 2017 Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) 54 minutes ago, Lord Pityme said: Do bawa posters think this is something Smisa should investigate and present options on? I'd be all for it. The academy is crucial to the future of the club, both by providing first team players such as McGinn, Morgan, McAllister, MAgennis, Naismith, Baird - the list is a long one - and also by giving us another source of income, players being sold on for cash to supplement the revenue of the club. We've already seen in January how the sale of McAllister helped to fund the turnaround in the squad which appears to have improved the team to give us a good chance of now surviving. Producing and selling on players is how many clubs have survived and thrived over the years. Hamilton in recent years have benefitted greatly from the sale of players, enabling them to reinvest and survive in the top flight in the absence of a sufficient support base to fund their running costs. Edited March 7, 2017 by Soctty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linwood buddie Posted March 7, 2017 Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 Is this the same academy that a couple of posters said wasn't doing a decent job, or producing first team players? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soctty Posted March 7, 2017 Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 2 minutes ago, linwood buddie said: Is this the same academy that a couple of posters said wasn't doing a decent job, or producing first team players? Aye, thanfully the main zoomer on that score has left the building. It's consistently brought players through over the years, from Stephen McGinn and Simon Lappin, all the way to McLean, McGinn, Mallan and McAllister. Even going back further, we have a track record of giving youth a chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldorf34 Posted March 7, 2017 Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 First of all the club have to apply to be an elite academy . In doing so it commits to increase its qualified coaches, costing us money we do not have. At that point a company called Double Pass will come in and score the academy on various criteria, only then will we find out if we are to be one of the eight chosen.. We are stuck between a rock and a hard place, if we wish to be an elite academy it will require cash in excess that Smisa could provide, but if we do not attain elite status we will not attract the best young players(and their subsequent sale income) and we may lose our best youth coaches The academy needs its own sponsor . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Pityme Posted March 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 25 minutes ago, waldorf34 said: First of all the club have to apply to be an elite academy . In doing so it commits to increase its qualified coaches, costing us money we do not have. At that point a company called Double Pass will come in and score the academy on various criteria, only then will we find out if we are to be one of the eight chosen.. We are stuck between a rock and a hard place, if we wish to be an elite academy it will require cash in excess that Smisa could provide, but if we do not attain elite status we will not attract the best young players(and their subsequent sale income) and we may lose our best youth coaches The academy needs its own sponsor . The Smisa money would be an invaluable start considering the Academy already employs coaches etc, but would need to boost headcount by only a few to meet criteria. Coupled with that a fan-led sponsorship/crowd funding drive could bring in the balance to meet the SFA funding requirement. The board really need to open this up to the support, and involve us all in the future direction of the club we will be majority shareholders in. This is the club's future we are talking about, that belongs to us all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TsuMirren Posted March 7, 2017 Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 On 3/6/2017 at 1:03 PM, rebella15 said: It is already underway and St Mirren are not going for elite status You know, I'm going to address a subject that's been hanging in the air for a while now. Who are you? You seem to interject yourself with little snippets of "knowledge" here and that, which quite frankly seems to contradict the information that is given to the support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TsuMirren Posted March 7, 2017 Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 12 minutes ago, Lord Pityme said: The Smisa money would be an invaluable start considering the Academy already employs coaches etc, but would need to boost headcount by only a few to meet criteria. Coupled with that a fan-led sponsorship/crowd funding drive could bring in the balance to meet the SFA funding requirement. The board really need to open this up to the support, and involve us all in the future direction of the club we will be majority shareholders in. This is the club's future we are talking about, that belongs to us all! I do agree that a valuable vehicle is there, in SMISA, to assist and that the members could provide more than finance. How many potential coaches are out there? How many could liaise with local clubs to bring everything closer? rebella has said one thing, members of SMISA are being told another thing and quite frankly we do need to know what's going on asap in order to put the right things in place. Even if the club has had a whisper or a tap on the shoulder to say "don't bother going for elite status as that's too many on the west coast" then the club should put the message out there so that we can build what is to come next. Perhaps the club are just waiting, but instead of "maybe it'll be this way, maybe we'll do that" let's get the right people in the right room and cost up each option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Pityme Posted March 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) 8 minutes ago, TsuMirren said: You know, I'm going to address a subject that's been hanging in the air for a while now. Who are you? You seem to interject yourself with little snippets of "knowledge" here and that, which quite frankly seems to contradict the information that is given to the support. Edited March 7, 2017 by Lord Pityme Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_the_saint Posted March 7, 2017 Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 Can I ask something which I don't quite understand? I was sure I read that we were the only club outside of the OF that the academy achieved Gold status with the SFA. How does these elite academies differ with the existing academies e.g. Gold, silver etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Pityme Posted March 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 43 minutes ago, steve_the_saint said: Can I ask something which I don't quite understand? I was sure I read that we were the only club outside of the OF that the academy achieved Gold status with the SFA. How does these elite academies differ with the existing academies e.g. Gold, silver etc? There are only eight iirc elite academy funding opportunities up for grabs, then there is a similar number of semi elite but with greatly reduced funding. The Gold status academy badge could be attained by any academy that met the criteria, but now many will lose that status and funding unless they can meet the criteria for Project Brave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_the_saint Posted March 7, 2017 Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 So what is the criteria for gold status n what is it for elite status? i assumed because we had gold then we would already meet the majority of criteria for elite? Is the criteria really that different? And why would we not want to become elite? Are we really that far away from it now that it would require significant investment? And what advantages would being elite bring that we don't already have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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