The Long-Term Vision Playbook
25 October 2026
By M J Kocx
The fallacy of instant overnight success.
Instant gratification.
In modern football, clubs can so easily give into the temptation to chase immediate success and silverware.
Patience has become a rare commodity in modern football.
Fans. Executive teams. Investors. Sponsors.
All crave immediate success in some form.
All crave long-term success and stability at the same time.
Yet, long-term planning is critical in football, as in business.
Speculative transfers. Chasing quick fixes. Sticking plasters. Seeking managerial bumps in team output.
All of these are foolish. They directly undermine the long-term sustainability and financial health of football clubs.
A football club’s foundations should be strong. There should be a clear style of play and in-house business structure.
There should be no panic buying, nor frenzied selling of players during transfer windows.
All transfer decisions should be careful and deliberate. Backed by data, science, and human expertise.
Upcoming Article Structure
In the next series of articles, running from October to December 2026, The Football Independent will debunk the myth of instant gratification.
It will propose a long-term model that can be utilised by football clubs and management teams, aka The Model. The Model is a five-year roadmap for revamping a football club.
Now, The Football Independent does not argue that The Model is the only way to run and structure a football club’s operations.
However, The Model can be used to achieve financial sustainability and long-term silverware.
It is critical that in implementing The Model, football clubs convey planning details to sponsors, fans, management, staff, and players.
Full transparency may be rare in modern football, but organisations which are clear in their mission statement and agendas are well placed.
A football club is nothing without its fans. The fans deserve the respect and attention of the management team. They deserve the right to be heard and the right to be consulted on changes to the football club.
Structure of Upcoming Articles To Be Released
Article Date: 1 November 2026
Title: Year 1 – Due Diligence
Areas for the football club to address in that period…:
o Onboarding and assessing the football club’s finances
o Reviewing playing squad and related expenses
o Identification of long-term recruitment approach and self-financing structure (whereby all future outgoing player sales finance all future player incoming transfers – the Net Zero Balance approach, see our earlier article on Net Zero Balance)
Article Date: 8 November 2026
Title: Year 2 – Foundation Setting
Areas for the football club to address in that period…:
o Development of youth pathways and junior playing squad(s)
o Collaboration between youth coaches and players on style of play in progressing through football club ranks
Article Date: 15 November 2026
Title: Year 3 – Long-Term Investment
Areas for the football club to address in that period…:
o Allocation of capital to update training facilities
o Allocation of capital to recruit young promising talent
o Structuring of long-term player contracts and development of loan systems to loan out surplus players critical to present needs of the playing squad and manager
Article Date: 22 November 2026
Title: Year 4 – Process Refinement
Areas for the football club to address in that period…:
o Review of Years 1 to 3
o Updating and refinement of player recruitment and processes
Article Date: 29 November 2026
Title: Year 5 – Process Refinement
Areas for the football club to address in that period…:
o Review of Years 1 to 4
o Updating and refinement of player recruitment and processes
o Future planning for the next 5, 10 and 20 years
A football club is not revamped and streamlined overnight.
To get a football club and its players functioning optimally, many things need to be gradually improved over time.
The modern-day myth of getting rich or promoted quick rarely works for football clubs.
Sustainable growth. Clarity in long-term planning and vision.
These measures can save a football club a lot of heartache, fan disconnect, and financial distress in the long-term.
From
Yours truly,
