Since some years, Belgian midtable side Beveren are making money in a quite controversial way.
Every week they line up 8 to 11 Ivorian players on the field (with very unequal performances). They did qualify for UEFA, but were ridicolous (0 points)
here's an article from sigames.com
The Ivorian Influx Starring Jean-Marc Guillou
The Beautiful Game
By RichRoyal 18/03/2005
The Belgian first division is not exactly high on the list of priorities for the average football fan. The likes of Anderlecht and Club Brugge have had their heyday and with the stars of the league ready for pastures new, the world of football media is, understandably, willing to take a back seat. However, as we all concentrate on the Champions League, transfers, Galacticos et al, something rather strange is happening in Flanders football fields…
According to the club’s official website at the start of the season, 13 of an 18 man squad hailed from the former French colony of the Ivory Coast. Coincidence - maybe? Lots of friends from Abidjan, the capital of the country, deciding that Beveren is the most vibrant and liveable places in Europe - I think not! The most telling reason for the mass Ivorian influx is the unmistakable presence of Jean-Marc Guillou.
Guillou is the architect of a ‘system’ at Beveren that some would say is tantamount to slavery. The Frenchman previously managed the dominant domestic side ASEC Abidjan to various successes in what is a largely raw and developing league, but soon realised that he had found a lucrative hole in the modern football market.
For decades agents and string pullers of European clubs have been looking for the next George Weah or Patrice Mboma to give them an extra impotence in their drive for success. It is a time consunming practice with very little guarantee. For every polished diamond, there is a thousand or more dirty stones that the top clubs are unable to take a chance on. Beveren are the first European club to provide a formalised structure to link the wanabee starlets with the professional game on our continent.
Guillou seems to have made no secret of his plans. Beveren are shaping into a business of the most efficiency. There is a continious stream of Ivorian players coming into the club with an almost cast iron promise of first team football. Those who are good enough are inevitably sold, whilst those who fail to make the grade are sent back to the homeland with little chance of a future in football. It is almost reminiscent of a closing down sale at a failing store with everything dragged out onto the shop floor in a somewhat desperate hope that someone will spot a gem amongst all the rest.
Guillou did not arrive in Beveren by chance. He put together a syndicate of businessmen and backers under the guise of the company Goal and invested around a million in a club that were close to bankruptcy. Guillou also developed countless academies back in the Ivory Coast and set about brining the crème of African talent to his club in Belgium.
The business venture of Jean-Marc Guillou is startlingly similar to the jewel trades of nineteenth century Belgium. The ports of Antwerp and Brugges in particular were bustling with diamonds of Africa. When in Belgium, experts cut and polished the rough stones and turned them into prize stars of the rich and famous. The difference is that now the diamonds are tall, dark and physically fit athletes and the polishers are the coaches and staff at Beveren.
Beveren stadium, the ‘Freethiel’, now acts as a showcase for the Ivorian players with a view to moving the players on for a substantial profit. Already a link up with Guillou’s long time friend Arsene Wenger at Arsenal has seen the likes of Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure, who is seen as the Holy Grail back at the academies in the Ivory Coast, move to Highbury (albeit Toure came directly from the Ivory Coast) along with the transfers of Gilles Yapi Yapo to Nantes and Yaya Toure to Metalurg Donesk. The trade is booming with left wing sensation Romaric and striker Kaiper ready for moves to the French first league within the year.
It is the likes of Toure and Eboue that continue to drive the investment in Africa. With every Ivorian success in Europe’s major leagues comes a renewed vigour that the continent is the future of football. So the cycle will continue and more clubs will follow the example of Beveren and turn their clubs into a market giving a new kudos to the term feeder club.
Guillou defends his decision to bring such a structure into the modern game. He tells that ‘Beveren do not have the means to play a team of local kids, In Belgiumthere is no protection for young players. We could recruit a local kid, develop him and if he’s any good he will be lured to a bigger club and we’ll get nothing for him!’. Laurent Denuit of Belgium Newspaper ‘Yesterdays Hour’ offers mild support for Guillou ‘If Guillou hadn’t come, they would have died. He was looking for a European club to develop his business, a club where he could put his players… they are totally unknown but get the job done and then they are sold too. It’s remarkable in every sense of the word…’
Nevertheless, Denuit is still one of the many criticising the lack of heart at the club. In an age where Arsenal have fielded a squad of non English players in the Premiership and the likes of Chelsea are not far behind, fans are asking themselves do they really care about every Johnny Foriegner who comes to the club in search of a new payday. This phenomenon doesn’t just stretch to the playing staff. With the old Mike Bassett
style coach gone and Sven, Rafa and Jose bringing in their own staff the whole ethos of the game is under threat. The Dutch revolution at Barcelona under Van Gaal, or the Brazilian influx at Porto - wherever you are in Europe you can understand the predicament Beveren supporters find themselves in.
Yet there are still those who fight the corner for multiculturalism. ‘White or black, who cares as long as the team wins?’ cries Beveren sporting director Koen van Hal, and it is hard to dispute with Beveren fans joyously celebrating a place in the national cup final and a place in the UEFA cup in 2004.
So how does this affect the average Football Manager gamer? Well, I believe that we are all guilty of turning our own chosen sides into a virtual reality Beveren. We try to buy the top players, whatever culture or creed and integrate them into our system. I for one have never taken the nationality of the players I buy into consideration, but perhaps now I will. Imagine a game where your fans turn on you if you manage Inter that consists of ten Brazilians and the odd Italian? Sure the football may be flowing, but being a football manager you are not solely judged on results.
SI strives for perfection, for total realism. Like the rest of you, I have qualms on training and regens, but what about the problem of your buys? Not once have I been criticised for ignoring local youth in favour of an ageing Mexican playmaker. Would the Man Utd faithful, paranoid of Malcolm Glaziers American consortium allow Ferguson to ditch the youth policy in favour of ten world class foreigners? I can see the protests now.
With mutterings for UEFA about restrictions on foreign nationals in European squads (a decision that will have wider raminifcations in European courts), this issue of Beveren and the wider football community will soon be at the forefront of talk shows and message boards world wide. So what of the players themselves - why don’t we spare a thought for them?
At Beveren, most of the players are brought over in their mid to late teens full of boundless potential spotted by the scouting network and links that Guillou has in the diamond mines of Ivorian soccer. The situation is seen in two very different camps. Some argue that these young men are treated appallingly by an authoritarian regime at Beveren. They are uprooted in bulk from their homeland at an early age and have to live with the pressures that come with top-flight football. The players often live with little stability in local hotels for tiny wages in comparison to their European counterparts and exist solely to fund the financial future of the football club. Denuit adds kudos to the claim that the Ivorians are flagrantly exploited. ‘…In market terms they are underpaid, an average Belgian player in the top flight earns seven to eight times as much…’
Others suggest that these young men will have the chance to nurture their innate gifts in the superior conditions of a European club. That the wages they earn far outstrip their friends and family back home. However tempting it is to hail derision at Guillou, it must be remembered that these players have the chance to become millionaires. The academies set up by Guillou offer football and a decent education in a country that can be best described as developing, and at worst backward. Guillou and his club deny exploitation with the average players earning £42,000 per annum. Not half bad for kicking a ball around a field for a few hours a week…
The truth of a complicated matter is more than likely somewhere in between either camp. At this moment Beveren and the players are in a win-win situation with Guillou profiteering from the labour of his produce. Clubs back in the Ivory Coast are the losing party with the inequalities in finance no more evident than in the world of player transfers. Top quality local goods are exported at a cheap price and sold on for maximum yield with Beveren the main benefactors. The club, along with most of Europe are in a somewhat Faustian predicament, with no pretence to nurture local talent, the soul of the club is wasting away. I wonder if football fans think Guillou’s policy is worth it…?
____________________________________________________________
So? what do you think of it? loss for Ivorian clubs, for local european talent? or good way to save small clubs:greedy: and bringing gems to bigger clubs?
And what about Juve in all this?
discuss
Every week they line up 8 to 11 Ivorian players on the field (with very unequal performances). They did qualify for UEFA, but were ridicolous (0 points)
here's an article from sigames.com
The Ivorian Influx Starring Jean-Marc Guillou
The Beautiful Game
By RichRoyal 18/03/2005
The Belgian first division is not exactly high on the list of priorities for the average football fan. The likes of Anderlecht and Club Brugge have had their heyday and with the stars of the league ready for pastures new, the world of football media is, understandably, willing to take a back seat. However, as we all concentrate on the Champions League, transfers, Galacticos et al, something rather strange is happening in Flanders football fields…
According to the club’s official website at the start of the season, 13 of an 18 man squad hailed from the former French colony of the Ivory Coast. Coincidence - maybe? Lots of friends from Abidjan, the capital of the country, deciding that Beveren is the most vibrant and liveable places in Europe - I think not! The most telling reason for the mass Ivorian influx is the unmistakable presence of Jean-Marc Guillou.
Guillou is the architect of a ‘system’ at Beveren that some would say is tantamount to slavery. The Frenchman previously managed the dominant domestic side ASEC Abidjan to various successes in what is a largely raw and developing league, but soon realised that he had found a lucrative hole in the modern football market.
For decades agents and string pullers of European clubs have been looking for the next George Weah or Patrice Mboma to give them an extra impotence in their drive for success. It is a time consunming practice with very little guarantee. For every polished diamond, there is a thousand or more dirty stones that the top clubs are unable to take a chance on. Beveren are the first European club to provide a formalised structure to link the wanabee starlets with the professional game on our continent.
Guillou seems to have made no secret of his plans. Beveren are shaping into a business of the most efficiency. There is a continious stream of Ivorian players coming into the club with an almost cast iron promise of first team football. Those who are good enough are inevitably sold, whilst those who fail to make the grade are sent back to the homeland with little chance of a future in football. It is almost reminiscent of a closing down sale at a failing store with everything dragged out onto the shop floor in a somewhat desperate hope that someone will spot a gem amongst all the rest.
Guillou did not arrive in Beveren by chance. He put together a syndicate of businessmen and backers under the guise of the company Goal and invested around a million in a club that were close to bankruptcy. Guillou also developed countless academies back in the Ivory Coast and set about brining the crème of African talent to his club in Belgium.
The business venture of Jean-Marc Guillou is startlingly similar to the jewel trades of nineteenth century Belgium. The ports of Antwerp and Brugges in particular were bustling with diamonds of Africa. When in Belgium, experts cut and polished the rough stones and turned them into prize stars of the rich and famous. The difference is that now the diamonds are tall, dark and physically fit athletes and the polishers are the coaches and staff at Beveren.
Beveren stadium, the ‘Freethiel’, now acts as a showcase for the Ivorian players with a view to moving the players on for a substantial profit. Already a link up with Guillou’s long time friend Arsene Wenger at Arsenal has seen the likes of Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure, who is seen as the Holy Grail back at the academies in the Ivory Coast, move to Highbury (albeit Toure came directly from the Ivory Coast) along with the transfers of Gilles Yapi Yapo to Nantes and Yaya Toure to Metalurg Donesk. The trade is booming with left wing sensation Romaric and striker Kaiper ready for moves to the French first league within the year.
It is the likes of Toure and Eboue that continue to drive the investment in Africa. With every Ivorian success in Europe’s major leagues comes a renewed vigour that the continent is the future of football. So the cycle will continue and more clubs will follow the example of Beveren and turn their clubs into a market giving a new kudos to the term feeder club.
Guillou defends his decision to bring such a structure into the modern game. He tells that ‘Beveren do not have the means to play a team of local kids, In Belgiumthere is no protection for young players. We could recruit a local kid, develop him and if he’s any good he will be lured to a bigger club and we’ll get nothing for him!’. Laurent Denuit of Belgium Newspaper ‘Yesterdays Hour’ offers mild support for Guillou ‘If Guillou hadn’t come, they would have died. He was looking for a European club to develop his business, a club where he could put his players… they are totally unknown but get the job done and then they are sold too. It’s remarkable in every sense of the word…’
Nevertheless, Denuit is still one of the many criticising the lack of heart at the club. In an age where Arsenal have fielded a squad of non English players in the Premiership and the likes of Chelsea are not far behind, fans are asking themselves do they really care about every Johnny Foriegner who comes to the club in search of a new payday. This phenomenon doesn’t just stretch to the playing staff. With the old Mike Bassett
style coach gone and Sven, Rafa and Jose bringing in their own staff the whole ethos of the game is under threat. The Dutch revolution at Barcelona under Van Gaal, or the Brazilian influx at Porto - wherever you are in Europe you can understand the predicament Beveren supporters find themselves in.
Yet there are still those who fight the corner for multiculturalism. ‘White or black, who cares as long as the team wins?’ cries Beveren sporting director Koen van Hal, and it is hard to dispute with Beveren fans joyously celebrating a place in the national cup final and a place in the UEFA cup in 2004.
So how does this affect the average Football Manager gamer? Well, I believe that we are all guilty of turning our own chosen sides into a virtual reality Beveren. We try to buy the top players, whatever culture or creed and integrate them into our system. I for one have never taken the nationality of the players I buy into consideration, but perhaps now I will. Imagine a game where your fans turn on you if you manage Inter that consists of ten Brazilians and the odd Italian? Sure the football may be flowing, but being a football manager you are not solely judged on results.
SI strives for perfection, for total realism. Like the rest of you, I have qualms on training and regens, but what about the problem of your buys? Not once have I been criticised for ignoring local youth in favour of an ageing Mexican playmaker. Would the Man Utd faithful, paranoid of Malcolm Glaziers American consortium allow Ferguson to ditch the youth policy in favour of ten world class foreigners? I can see the protests now.
With mutterings for UEFA about restrictions on foreign nationals in European squads (a decision that will have wider raminifcations in European courts), this issue of Beveren and the wider football community will soon be at the forefront of talk shows and message boards world wide. So what of the players themselves - why don’t we spare a thought for them?
At Beveren, most of the players are brought over in their mid to late teens full of boundless potential spotted by the scouting network and links that Guillou has in the diamond mines of Ivorian soccer. The situation is seen in two very different camps. Some argue that these young men are treated appallingly by an authoritarian regime at Beveren. They are uprooted in bulk from their homeland at an early age and have to live with the pressures that come with top-flight football. The players often live with little stability in local hotels for tiny wages in comparison to their European counterparts and exist solely to fund the financial future of the football club. Denuit adds kudos to the claim that the Ivorians are flagrantly exploited. ‘…In market terms they are underpaid, an average Belgian player in the top flight earns seven to eight times as much…’
Others suggest that these young men will have the chance to nurture their innate gifts in the superior conditions of a European club. That the wages they earn far outstrip their friends and family back home. However tempting it is to hail derision at Guillou, it must be remembered that these players have the chance to become millionaires. The academies set up by Guillou offer football and a decent education in a country that can be best described as developing, and at worst backward. Guillou and his club deny exploitation with the average players earning £42,000 per annum. Not half bad for kicking a ball around a field for a few hours a week…
The truth of a complicated matter is more than likely somewhere in between either camp. At this moment Beveren and the players are in a win-win situation with Guillou profiteering from the labour of his produce. Clubs back in the Ivory Coast are the losing party with the inequalities in finance no more evident than in the world of player transfers. Top quality local goods are exported at a cheap price and sold on for maximum yield with Beveren the main benefactors. The club, along with most of Europe are in a somewhat Faustian predicament, with no pretence to nurture local talent, the soul of the club is wasting away. I wonder if football fans think Guillou’s policy is worth it…?
____________________________________________________________
So? what do you think of it? loss for Ivorian clubs, for local european talent? or good way to save small clubs:greedy: and bringing gems to bigger clubs?
And what about Juve in all this?
discuss
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