Has the academy production line broke down?

[richmfc 41]

We probably have more youngsters out on loan than we have at any time in the last 10 yrs.  wether they make the first team or not the academy is working

 

 

 

But is having them out on loan a sign that the academy is working? What if everyone of those loaned out drop out of professional football?

 

Short term picture doesnt always reflect the longer term one.

 

Even if you count those with a contract it's quite high

If playing for your first team is the measure then man city. ***nal. Liverpool. Chelsea etc have all got failed academies

[richmfc 41]

So how many players do we have playing league football that came through the academy

Off the top of my head

Wheater , bates,Morrison,downing,Gibson,Johnson...nearly, brunt, grounds,Davies, Bennett ,wyke , williams,

I'm sure I've missed loads

[Uwe 1,626]

So how many players do we have playing league football that came through the academy

Off the top of my head

Wheater , bates,Morrison,downing,Gibson,Johnson...nearly, brunt, grounds,Davies, Bennett ,wyke , williams,

I'm sure I've missed loads

 

Smallwood, Reach, Fry, Cattermole

[BillyWoofs_shinpad 1,112]

Graham? Cattermole? Reach?

[typicalbrough 17]

Franks, Hines, Owens, Wiltshire, Turnbull, Jones, Kennedy, Atkinson, Dolan

 

Johnson and Walker are still in the pro game. Otte is in the 2nd tier of mls

 

Murphy and a few others have retired after playing pro

[wilsoncgp 2,795]

I see Nathan Porritt was playing for Billingham Synthonia, that's the last that Wikipedia knows. I checked their site and he doesn't appear to be there any more.

 

After all that mess about surrounding the tapping up scandal. It seems in the aftermath of all that, he got sent down a horrible path and never came back from it. What an awful shame. I know we're going back 10-15 years when the scouting tech wasn't as great but I doubt so many big teams were looking to sign him up for no reason.

[Powlay 35]

We probably have more youngsters out on loan than we have at any time in the last 10 yrs.  wether they make the first team or not the academy is working

 

 

 

But is having them out on loan a sign that the academy is working? What if everyone of those loaned out drop out of professional football?

 

Short term picture doesnt always reflect the longer term one.

 

Even if you count those with a contract it's quite high

If playing for your first team is the measure then man city.  ***nal. Liverpool. Chelsea etc have all got failed academies

 

 

I go off the quote i posted on the last page for what my measure is. PLaying forst team football at a specific club is not the measure.

[chipchat 58]

Been following this discussion without chipping in - it's been a good debate, that's for sure. I'm in the camp where I think there has to be a pathway to the first team for young players. Whether they take that opportunity once they are there is up to them, but there has to be a possibility of having the chance.

 

Signings like Agazzi, Stephens, Kike Sola, Zucculini, Veljkovic all look fairly mystifying to me if you are wanting to have a set-up where young players have a chance, unless you simply don't rate the young players you have in those positions. De Pena I'm withholding judgement on so far because I feel he's a longer term prospect so we'll see how he goes, but certainly at the moment he hasn't offered more than Reach was giving us. Less, I would say, at this time, so if the criteria is what can he give us in a promotion push, we'd have been better off with Reach this season. Agazzi is a weird one. Really don't know what's going on with that signing. Kike Sola, I can understand the theory of having a more experienced striker as back-up in case of injury but his involvement so far has been negligible. Do we have an alternative in the youth ranks that could do the same job? Well, that's open to debate.

 

Fry has done well to come through and, when given the opportunity, taken it well. But I'd love to see the spots on the bench and occasionally in the team that were given to the likes of Stephens, Zucculini and Veljkovic going to the likes of Morris, Cooke or Jones. Chapman, I get the feeling this is his breakthrough season in terms of putting himself in the manager's thoughts and a Barnsley loan seems like a good plan for him. This for him I think is the equivalent of the season for Gibson where he went out on loan to York. If he makes the most of it, he can come back and find a space in the first team squad, waiting for a gap in the first 11 itself.

 

Most importantly, though, I think if we don't give our own young players a sight of how their career can develop with us then it'll start to cost us in terms of being able to recruit the best prospects. When we're trying to get top youngsters to our academy, they and their families are rightly going to ask well, how many of your academy get into your first team - and that's something we need to think about in the club as a whole.

[Tom 434]

Good post that, Chipchat. I'd just put forward with regards to Agazzi - there are very few goalkeepers who are happy to come to a team as a third choice, or even backup. Could just be that he's prepared to do that for a relatively modest wage, and doing so gives us an experienced keeper in backup if we require him, and also allows us to give Ripley a season of first team football elsewhere. There could also be an element of building good relationships with an agent about it.

These are just my thoughts, could be way off.

[typicalbrough 17]

Interesting point is that Agazzi is out on loan whilst A C Milan play a 16 year old keeper.

[Tom 434]

Donnarumma is a special talent though. I have a bit of a soft spot for Milan and watch them every so often, and he's the most highly rated Italian keeper since Buffon & De Sanctis came through.

[boro-unger 1,075]

Donnarumma is a special talent though. I have a bit of a soft spot for Milan and watch them every so often, and he's the most highly rated Italian keeper since Buffon & De Sanctis came through.

 

Born in 1999?! That was only about 5 years ago wasn't it?!?!?!

[typicalbrough 17]

Donnarumma is a special talent though. I have a bit of a soft spot for Milan and watch them every so often, and he's the most highly rated Italian keeper since Buffon & De Sanctis came through.

 

I agree he's special and he's playing on merit but some would have you believe because he's young and inexperienced he should be playing Series B football. People seem to draw correlation between appearances and ability.

[Brunners 2,407]

There's a difference between generational talent and your average run of the mill youth prospect. The two aren't comparable situations at all.

[typicalbrough 17]

Chapman's not a run of the mill youth prospect not just my thoughts but also the thoughts of scouts and staff at Chelsea, ***nal, Everton and Man Utd a***st others. These are all people who've seen him play multiple times by the way and aren't basisng an opinion on ignorance.