Have you not just picked any young player we had who could have possibly been any good over a ten year period? I reckon the fact that the vast majority became perfectly decent but nothing out of the ordinary footballers does kind of indicate that they weren't the beginnings of an all-conquering side.Our academy was right up there at the end of the 90's and early noughties but we had Walter 'i don't trust youth' Smith in charge so the chance to have a bedrock and foundations of a successful side was lost. The likes of Michael Ball, Richard Dunne, Gavin McCann, Leon Osman, Tony Hibbert, Danny Cadamarteri, Michael Branch, Tony Grant, Billy Kenny, Franny Jeffers and of course the jewel in the crown Wayne Rooney if all moulded together properly could of given us a side to compete at the sharp end potentially with the right ownership and management structure but alas it wasn't meant to be
Ed_Winchester
Player Valuation: £950k
Kids footy is mad thesedays.
There was a kid in my eldest lad’s team who was streets ahead of the rest of the team at U7’s. His dad ended up taking him to Everton, Liverpool, City, Preston and Wigan in the hope of getting him into one of them. 6 years later he’s playing in a local grassroots league 3 divisions below my lad.
We were encouraged to take our youngest to one of Man City’s developments groups. For 6 to 12 weeks, everything was rosey and he was one of the standout kids in the group. We go up to the Etihad campus and you realise they were running similar development groups in Leeds, Bradford etc and there’s 100-150 similar ability kids there.
Fact is, a pro club will pay good money to cover development fees in order to sign a kid from another academy, even if that kid is 14 or 15, or even younger.
At grassroots level, some struggle to field teams but drop in the WhatsApp group that a scout is coming to the next match and suddenly everyone’s available to play.
Does Everton academy offer a better pathway to professional football than others? It all seems to be a gamble, but the better prospects you bring in also increases the risk of UEFA A Licence Mum and Dad threatening to pull their kid out if they don’t play in a particular position, or get more minutes on the pitch
…..it’s a lot different.
Hate to talk about ‘the old days’ but ‘street footballers’ came out the front door with a ball at their feet and went back in with a ball at their feet at the end of the day. They don’t realise but all those hours of fun they’re honing their skill set. Not only that, they have little competitive games with pals in which they learn an edge.
Organised school footy was great to apply that learning. Games every Saturday morning and a representative pyramid where the best play for city, county or even country. Then back to the street. I think there was a story that Wayne Rooney went out and played footy with his mates after his debut game v Arsenal.
Times change, I’m not knocking that fact. I signed for Liverpool in the early 70’s but I wasn’t allowed to train with them for a season because representative schools football took precedent. The Academy have taken over, which is fine for those involved but it becomes the be all and end all for many youngsters.
70% of kids might play once a week but outside of that it’s a different world where they have so many other things to do, not least in front of a computer screen. The game at the top level is much more global, I’d imagine many PL players come from origins of playing football daily with pals. No conveyer belt of local talent anymore, it’s just the way life has changed.
That's a completely different thing though. Like I say, where and when kids play has changed yes, but there aren't less kids playing and it isn't harder for clubs to find talent.
The difference is the academy set up means talent is found much, much earlier. Even in my day, a couple of generations after you, it was quite normal for lads to get picked up by clubs in their teens but that is extremely rare now. Kids are in academies at 6, there are 2 kids in my daughter's class at primary school who aren't allowed to play for the school or for their sunday league team because they're at PL academies and they won't let them. If you go to a park on a sunday morning you'll see loads of organised football and then a load of kids doing proper professional style training drills that even professional senior teams were barely doing 30 years ago nevermind normal kids. Parents pay for individual coaching sessions for their kids to give them the best possible chance of getting picked up. It's a completely different world to the old 'jumpers for goalposts' way.
The idea that kids aren't playing footy because they're too busy playing computer games is such a boring trope that's just a newer version of what the generations before you were saying, because every generation thinks theirs was the peak of civilisation and everything that's come afterwards is worse. The days of a scout nipping along to the local park and happening to see a 15 year old lad who he thinks could make it are gone, but that's because there are many more scouts doing a much more thorough job and looking to sign kids up at the earliest possible opportunity, not because everyone stopped playing football in 1961 and kids now just eat McDonalds and play call of duty all day.
Zatara
Player Valuation: £100m
Sam0697
Player Valuation: £950k
The academy was completely gutted in the last 5/10 years, so it's not a surprise to see those numbers. Friedkins have been making some positive noises about investing in it and overhauling the set up which is great, though it's obviously a longer term thing. We probably won't see the results of this for several years.
Like @Eggs we went out in the morning and played football, be it on the grass verge outside our houses and that was hail, rain or snow. We also played on school fields with home made goals we made ourselves as we got older. We never had PlayStation or video games or mobile phones, hear the Violins we played footy, cricket, tennis etc. Couldn't afford Hovis either.
JobForTheMoyes
Player Valuation: £50m
Don’t we have to sell whatever talent we had due to financial issues as well?
JobForTheMoyes
Player Valuation: £50m
Traitor!!!
Grass verge ? Luxury ! We played on broken glass
JobForTheMoyes
Player Valuation: £50m
It’s outrageous- they’ve ripped the soul out of the sport.
Grass verge ? Luxury ! We played on broken glass
Yes I know I was in goal !
That is grim.
But as always it's never just one thing.
Clubs been in intensive care for 4-5 years, barely survived.
Recent managers not good on developing young talent.
Is the city's talent pipeline as good as it was? Are Scouse kids going to RS, City, I don't know.
Deffo need to up our game.
But as always it's never just one thing.
Clubs been in intensive care for 4-5 years, barely survived.
Recent managers not good on developing young talent.
Is the city's talent pipeline as good as it was? Are Scouse kids going to RS, City, I don't know.
Deffo need to up our game.
barneygumble
Player Valuation: £70m
Nowadays, whenever we get a big talent, theyre usually given a head Turn by Man City.
We got done for tapping up families, but Man City found a loophole.
Look at the size of the Man City class groups from even 5 years old. They have absolutely saturated the market because even if they dont make it, they go for serious money.
25/26 - £14m
24/25 - £24m
23/24 - £33m
22/23 - £58m
So, our academy which was great, is impacted. But we are also all over the shop. Liverpool drifted for years and we always had good players, seems the opposite way now, they really nurture their players now.
