November was an interesting month for us. We destroyed one opponent and were bullied by others. We had a range of emotions to deal with as players moved between first team commitments and our group, injuries ravaged opportunities and new faces began to join us from the U17 group. It really made us all think about the benefits and the purpose of why we are here. As I have been writing a lot about the players in my previous articles, this time I wanted to talk about the club.
In recent years I've done a lot of work to look at the social return on investments made within a sport or physical activity context. There are a series of metrics to work with in order to see the financial value as an output but if we apply some of those principles to Lincoln United FC, we will be able to get a better understanding of the value our Development Squad has on First Team affairs. Obviously, there are a number of assumptions made here and possibly some ideas that could be debated and analysed further, but it's a start.
A figure between £5K and £6K is used to calculate all of the costs associated with a team playing step 7 in the Lincolnshire League. This figure covers all of the cost-based items such as pitch hire, referees, etc. It doesn't factor in volunteer time (coaches, analyst, physio, secretary, etc) or transport to/from games. Those commitments are made out of the love of the game and to support our fantastic club. It is an investment in order to recieve an intrinsic reward such as pride in what we see happen or joy in winning a difficult fixture.
To put the operational costs in to perspective, it works out at about £150 per first team fixture. The short-sighted person might see that as a bit more budget that could be better used towards another first team standard player. The longer-term thinking sees that as an investment in the 16 lads that play on Saturday and the 22+ that train every Wednesday. That works out at a maximum of £3.95 per person, per interaction, often less than that. Obviously, not all of the lads in the Development squad will progress to first team football but what they will do is create competitive challenge in the training environment and this will enhance the development of others around them. Some of the group might find themselves leaving us to play for other clubs at step 7 as we turn our attention to supplying opportunities to more youngsters within our production line. So, why would we want to invest in that? It's simple really. The better the opposition, the more challenging the opportunity is for our developing players. It provides more meaningful moments that require better decision-making skills. Nobody wins when you score 10 goals in one game so there is real value in mass producing better players for the benefit of the game as a whole. As standards within Lincolnshire rise, it becomes more attractive for local, better, players to stay with us and play at LUFC. They see the pathway, the coaching that is in place and the level of challenge within the fixtures as more beneficial than sitting on someone else's bench earning a few pounds for the inconvenience.
So that brings me back to the start. Our purpose is to develop the environment and the conditions for all players to thrive: to help them become the best version of themselves with a love of playing locally and ideally for our first team. What else can you buy for £3.95?
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