Farmers league: squad structure and resource dependency

Abstract

PurposeThis research aimed to measure the influence of resource dependency (trading and/or shareholder's dependencies) squad age structure by building archetypes to identify strategic dominant schemes.Design/methodology/approachBased on the Ligue 1 football clubs from the 2009/2010 season to the 2018/2019 data, the authors use the k-means classification to build archetypes of resource dependency and squad structure variables. The influence of resource dependency on squad structure is then analysed through a table of contingency.FindingsFirstly, the authors identify archetypes of resource dependency with some clubs that are dependent on the transfer market and others that do not count on sales to balance their account. Secondly, they provide different archetypes of squad structure choices. The contingency between those archetypes allows to identify three main strategic schemes (avoidance, shaping and adaptation).Originality/valueThe research tests an original relationship between resource dependency of clubs and their human resource strategy to respond to it. This paper can help to provide detailed profiles for big clubs looking for affiliate clubs to know which clubs have efficient academy or player development capacities.