Who would you say is the first academy graduate to benefit fully from the Finch Farm upgrade? Obviously Rooney was just a freak talent, Rodwell just seemed to have natural poise whilst the likes of Vaughan and Anichebe clearly made it on their respective gifts of speed and strength (although both have failed somewhat to keep their youthful level). Now though it feels like we are grooming players towards the first team due to our improved coaching rather than just the law of natural averages (eg. Duffy was tall so he got a few first team appearances which was seemingly nothing to do with our coaching as his football wasn't so good.). The likes of Browning, Dowell Ledson Garbutt and obviously Barkley all seem comfortable with the ball at their feet and have no obvious natural advantages other than just really good technique. Would you say Barkley is the first of a new breed or just a great talent that made it out of the old system like Rooney?
What I always found quite interesting was Ledsons age group were very strong. Probably the strongest we have had since 1998. They were also the first age group to have played all of their football at FF from under 7's upwards. So as opposed to it being a player I think what we can see is there has been an increasing quality from those who have benefitted from the use of FF. Whether that continues beyond our (current) under 19's/18's group is still to be seen, if it does we are in very good shape and may well be left with so many good young players we won't know what to do with them!
I suspect there are other factors alongside this.
Moyes built an infrastructure particular around scouting, but also the stability that has come from having a consistent owner and manager is a really big factor. It means the same sort of scouts are employed, the same youth coaches, the same youth schedules and routines are all built in. You don't get a new manager who completes overhauls the youth side of things and brings in half a dozen foreign lads into the under 16/18's every year if you keep the manager. Or Worse still you don't get a manager like Harry Redknap who ignores the youth side of things.
All of these factors were very beneficial. I know it's hard to believe, but what Manchester United liked about
Moyes was the structure he had built up at Everton in the youth levels. They are really struggling currently and felt he could help rejuvenate there structure. With having the same manager you keep the same scouts, who then often build relationships with the local community, local managers of clubs, schools etc. Scouting is a lot about network building, gaining trust which is best built over time. A lot of people under estimate this when they call on us sacking managers after half a dozen bad results. We would lose a lot of what we've built up, and the presence we have in the community in Liverpool.
Martinez has taken the youth side of things onto the next level. Moyes was more interested in finding the 1 special player every 2-3 years. Martinez is looking to get through a greater quantity and has involved himself even more with the youth side of things. So I think that factor has helped.
Finally the current under 18's/19's age group were also just very good. Sometimes you can just get a batch of players who are really strong and we have been quite lucky in that regard. While FF has made a big impact I am not sure we will say age groups as strong as theirs every year but we will see the overall quality being better than it probably has been a over the previous decade.
You are right though, I don't think FF will necessarily give us more Rooneys. He would have come through at any time, at any training ground (he trained exclusively at Netherton as a young player). Likewise Barkley was another freakishly good player. What I do think it will do though is raise the overall standard of players we have as a collective. Training with the first team with the quality of pitches we have will push all graduates up. So for the likes of Ledson, Dowell, Walsh and Kenny that has been a big advantage and they are probably the first to have benefitted from it.
