Strasbourg and Troyes show contrasting BlueCo and City Group models | OneFootball

Strasbourg and Troyes illustrate two contrasting takes on multi-club ownership. According to L'Équipe, BlueCo have left Strasbourg relatively free since June 2023, while Troyes, in City Group since September 2020, follow Manchester City’s central model.

Both prioritise youth. Troyes limit over-25s and apply a group-wide salary cap excluding Manchester City, with a more francophone squad under sporting director Antoine Sibierski. Strasbourg target under-23s via David Weir, Mark Keller and BlueCo, and average age is 22.

City Group supplement team training with an Individual Development Program for U16 to U21 prospects. At Troyes, forward Mathys Detourbet, 18, features. Separate to this are ‘emerging talents’, aged 19 to 21, such as Nigerian Elijah Odede, 19, who join seniors, with three others out on loan.

Erick Mombaerts has codified Guardiola and Paco Seirul-Lo’s ideas into the possession-based ‘City Game’, shared with common tools and video. BlueCo impose no style at Strasbourg, though a vertical, as total as possible, approach was pursued by Liam Rosenior then Gary O’Neil. No directives reach youth teams, and academy chief François Keller’s London visits brought none.

Day to day, Strasbourg and Chelsea mostly interact on staff and player moves, with other contacts ad hoc. City Group require regular cross-club seminars across departments, though no inter-club fixtures are arranged, something many coaches regret.

BlueCo have contributed €23.5m to Strasbourg’s €180m Meinau revamp and added two new Molsheim pitches, one hybrid and one synthetic. Troyes plan an ultra-modern training centre, modelled on Lommel’s, costing €40m and funded almost equally by owner and local authorities. City Group want clubs to own player and property assets rather than rely on trading, which seems closer to BlueCo’s stance.

Source: L'Équipe