Is there any point in having academies ?.

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

Would think many Clubs could be easily 'convinced' to see this as the way to go...as could I
but then we have had Rooney, Jeffers, Rodwell and did OK for cash returns...but I have my doubts about cost benefit over the whole Prem.

wonder how 'academy produced' fared in relation to say in the 80's & 90's with 'came through the non-leagues' ? in relation to numbers/how many this weekend

these days though the kids that start to go to the academies do receive a level of coaching that is way above what other kids get & it will produce some outstanding players (that may have turned out to be anyway) and it also has a filter down effect with those that are released and go to lower league clubs having had that training, but what about the bigger picture, is it actually doing football any good ?
look at Barca, they had a crop that came through at the same time... 1 of those went away but then went back i.e. Pique, if he hadn't returned then would they have managed to sign anyone as good in the position, would the team then have achieved what it did, it came together for them in a similar way to how it did for Utd, but then look at all of the 'new messi's' that haven't really cut it, sure they can rip it up in the Spanish 2nd division where maybe there a load of others trying to play a brand of footy that is trying to emulate tika-taka but not really very good and so those that came through the barca system can excel. Our own Geri & Bojan being examples who have learned the namby pamby never get touched way but then when it's a bit physical they don't like it.
A while ago there were a load of Brazilian kids & kids from Wigan that did an exchange thing (think it was Carlos Alberto that instigated it) and they were sent over to toughen up, well the academy kids of today only play on perfect pitches & 4g, bet half are even indoors on them, my point being that we are producing a load of soft arses that need to get back to playing in the rain, covered in mud & having to control a ball that's just hit a bump, the worse these kids experience is a bit of rubber crumb stuck to their sock.
Having said that though the facilities that grassroots have to put up with are a disgrace & a professional game awash with money should be doing something about it.

 

[DrEFC]

Came to Spurs when he was 17, so yeah, really a Leeds product I suppose.

Sorry for being a pedant!!

 

[wandyr79]

If they are run right then there is room for academies at all levels.

Look at ours now, there is a very good crop of youngsters who have had a taste of first team action, yes most won't make it in the Premiership or even the Championship but that is the same at all levels of academies so where do we stop with the academies and just say, OK you 100 kids now have to go and try to get first team football at Tranmere or Southport or Rochdale or wherever.

Most will not get in so what they do, they go into an academy or reserve/youth set up, is that the same as being in an Everton academy but at a lower level?

I don't think that there will ever be a consistently perfect set up but academies do have a place at all levels if run in the correct manner.

 

[big bobs beard]

It must cost a fortune but the opportunities are so limited. I mean surely our kids have more promise and deserve a chance ahead of the likes of Kone, Oviedo, Gibson, and even the likes of Lennon Mirallas and Cleverly have peaked and will never get better than what we see now.
If we aren't going to promote the odd one there seems no point

 

[Rook]

You could make a rule that you can only loan out say 5 players. So dunno some of these kids could ply their trade in the Championship or something and stay with a club for a few years and develop. However maybe this is crazy talk. Patrick Bamford has already been to 8 clubs and was loaned out 5 times since 2014. The last goal he scored was when he was at Boro, 4 clubs ago!

 

[Pabbers]

Football is not all about the Prem, We have 4 full time pro leagues, and all those leagues are full of well paid pro players, that have worked hard to play football for a living.

Very elitist, arrogant and short sighted attitude.

 

[hallamblue]

Football is not all about the Prem, We have 4 full time pro leagues, and all those leagues are full of well paid pro players, that have worked hard to play football for a living.

Very elitist, arrogant and short sighted attitude.

Not really. Back in the day, Crewe had an academy, players went there, got first team experience and then signed for bigger clubs. Most of Everton's players over the 40 years I've been watching them have been bought from "smaller" clubs. It would just mean the very top clubs not having a youth scheme, and players would go to Tranmere, Southport, Warrington Town, Crewe, wherever and working their way up.

 

[Pabbers]

Not really. Back in the day, Crewe had an academy, players went there, got first team experience and then signed for bigger clubs. Most of Everton's players over the 40 years I've been watching them have been bought from "smaller" clubs. It would just mean the very top clubs not having a youth scheme, and players would go to Tranmere, Southport, Warrington Town, Crewe, wherever and working their way up.

Well no, because those players we even got from "smaller clubs" where at bigger clubs at some point. Jagielka was with us, Baines too I think.

Its a circle, and all these academies matter, all of them. Many of the smaller clubs U12 - U18's are filled with players that where picked by the big prem clubs, because of their massive scouting networks. These players may never have been made known to smaller clubs, had they not been at the big clubs initially.

Around 4 years ago (I mention this because my son was at man United), Man United had around 125 players playing in the Pro English league's, that had come through their academy.

That's is the point of these youth set ups, not just the few that make Elite Prem level, straight away.