The Myth of our youth policy

[PeterWithesShin]

I don't class Barry as a product of our youth system as we poached him when he was 17. He was in the first team within a year.

I think he signed for Villa on his 16th birthday. We didn't need to poach him as he had never signed a professional contract in his life before joining Villa.

You could be right about the age. We pretty much poached him, not that i'm complaining about that, but all his formative training was with Brighton who developed him into a player we wanted.

[Legion]

We've been very good at producing winning Youth sides.

But the focus should really be on finding (and then bringing out the best) of a very special player at that level, regardless of overall league placings and cup success. Rather thane decent, functional players.

The amount of players that have come through our academy and are now playing in the top two divisions is impressive. 

But we're not on a par with the West Ham set up who provided the backbone of the England side for the best part of a decade.  Nor Everton, who didn't produce a huge number of homegrown stars, but those that they did bring through (Rooney, Rodwell and now Barkley) have provided (or in the case of Barkley could provide) the funding to remain in the top 6. 

Southampton's praise isn't unmerited either:  Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain and now Lallana and Shaw. Even moneybags Citeh have produced Shaun Wright Phillips (sold for £30+ million) Hart, Richards, Sturridge and, er Ireland (who is a shitbag, but a shitbag who moved in a deal worth £8 million to them). 

Going back a bit further, the Leeds set-up produced Robinson, Woodgate, Harte, Kelly, Smith and Lennon -players who either had long careers with them or who provided vital revenue with big transfer fees.

It should always be about quality, rather than quantity.

Didn't Sturridge start his career at villa?

Yes he did. He moved because his family wanted more than what was offered by the club to keep him on.

[Clark W Griswold]

Ive always felt that our lot, particularly in recent years have the 'Billy Big Bollocks' about them where they play a couple of games for the first team and think they've made it. The Moore brothers, Bannan, Davis (who i thought was really good but looks a right arrogant twat these days at Southampton), Lichaj and eventually Vassell went that way also. Ridgewell, Gardner were not good enough at the time, in fact Ridgewell was pretty dire imo. Baker, Clark, Albrighton and Delfoenso all look like they'll fizzle out to me for one reason or another. Gabby has done well to be honest, a proper success story and so has Cahill, which suprised me a bit seeing him play for Chelsea and England. Thought he was a bit over rated and still do to lesser extent. Wish we still had him though of course.

[KevinGage]

Sturridge went to coaching sessions operated by the club when he was about 10.  We might have wanted him, but he was never on the books.

[PeterWithesShin]

According to Wiki (yes I know) Sturridge was with us for 4 years, Cov 3 and then moved to City.

Youth career
Born in Birmingham,[1] Sturridge began his playing career at the age of 6 at local club Cadbury Athletic, before being spotted at the age of seven by the youth academy of Aston Villa.[3] He left Villa four years later to move to Coventry City, from where he joined Manchester City's Academy in 2003, aged 13.[3][4] A Football League committee later ordered Manchester City to pay Coventry £30,000 compensation, with further payments up to a maximum of £200,000 based upon appearances and international honours.[5] The following year, he was the leading scorer and voted player of the season (the only other person to achieve this was Argentine footballer Carlos Tévez) as City won the Nike Cup, the world's largest under-15 tournament.[6] At 16, he played for Manchester City Youth during their 2006 FA Youth Cup run. The youngest player in the side, he scored four goals en route to the final,[7] and another two in the final, though they were insufficient to prevent a 3–2 aggregate defeat to Liverpool.[8] That summer, he signed his first professional contract, which came into effect when he turned 17

[abc123cox]

Keep an eye out for a 12 year old lad coming through named Cameron Archer, I may not be a qualified scout but this lad is amazing. Also hoping we take on Angel jnr seen his clips and he's something special.

[Legion]

Sturridge went to coaching sessions operated by the club when he was about 10.  We might have wanted him, but he was never on the books.

I am pretty sure that a 'contract' can only be signed when the player reaches the age of 10. His family made excessive demands which resulted in him going elsewhere. I'll ask Cam's Dad how it worked for his son.

[Mister E]

The issue is not that our youth policy is a myth; it is that we have unable to integrate players properly into the first team environment.
In some cases, it has been because of managers like MON who have wantonly offloaded players - Cahill, Gardner, Ridgewell and Davis are all holding down P'ship positions (as is Whittingham, who, I think, left just before MON).
In other cases, the squad has been too threadbare to give the youngsters any protection and structure.

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm pretty sure MON sold Whittingham.

[saunders_heroes]

I don't class Barry as a product of our youth system as we poached him when he was 17. He was in the first team within a year.

I think he signed for Villa on his 16th birthday. We didn't need to poach him as he had never signed a professional contract in his life before joining Villa.

You could be right about the age. We pretty much poached him, not that i'm complaining about that, but all his formative training was with Brighton who developed him into a player we wanted.

I'd definitely claim him as one of our own. He was still a kid when he joined.

[Legion]

I'm pretty sure MON sold Whittingham.

The bastard.

[saunders_heroes]

I'm pretty sure MON sold Whittingham.

No it was O'Leary. I was surprised at the time as he was playing quite well for us.

[Legion]

I'm pretty sure MON sold Whittingham.

No it was O'Leary. I was surprised at the time as he was playing quite well for us.

The utter pig-nosed numpty bastard.

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm pretty sure MON sold Whittingham.

No it was O'Leary. I was surprised at the time as he was playing quite well for us.

It was MON. He was sold in Jan 2007.

[saunders_heroes]

I'm pretty sure MON sold Whittingham.

No it was O'Leary. I was surprised at the time as he was playing quite well for us.

It was MON. He was sold in Jan 2007.

I genuinely thought it was O'Leary. Perhaps he sent him out on loan or something.