The demise of the Academy?

[not3bad]

In terms of converting potential, they've not exactly been helped by a succession of managers who were either reluctant to give  young players a chance or were so crap that they mis-used them and the side was poor. Provided that Lambert can stick around for a good number of years and the philosophies and infrastructure that are put in place during his stay remain, we should see promising young players adapt to the first team.

I thinik merely having a succession of managers in the last few years hasn't helped, no matter how they're used.  The huge advantage the likes of Arsenal and Man Utd have is a stable management team that know the capabilities of their academy.

[Steve R]

There will no doubt be a few more in the pipeline, but a quick look at FA Youth Cup final teams/subs in the period 2000-2009 reveals that out of what must be close to 300 players, only 19 have gone on to become top-flight regulars.

Sidwell, Wilshire (arsenal), Rooney (everton), Bardsley, Richardson, Ebanks-Blake, Wellbeck(manu), Adam Johnson (middlesboro), Bale, Walcott, Nathan Dyer (Southampton), Richards,  Sturridge (man city)

Liam Ridgewell, Steven Davis, Gary Cahill, Craig Gardner, Gabby Agbonlahor

It's a bit subjective and I may have missed be one or two, but we seem to do pretty well with 5, 3 of whom went on to play at international level.

[Mazrim]

Even some of those that don't make it here go on to do alright.
Whittingham is one of the best in the Championship and James Collins, formerly of this parish, just dumped dirty Stoke out of the league cup with a hattrick.

[ktvillan]

We done well with our academy but we need to set a standard template for whole club in footballing style and system. We also need to find way to turn very good prospects into world class players. I hope PL and his Germans method and new coaches will help. It just need a little shake up.

That's a good point, the most successful academies (I'm talking about Ajax, Barcelona for example) see it as important that the youngsters are brought up playing the game the way the first team will be playing it.  But that's easily said when the first team style is based on modern technique and tactics rather than the dinosaur approach of MON and TSM.  I'm not sure what style the youth and reserves have been playing but I'd guess it's been more of a pass and move game than the first team have generally been applying (Houllier and PL excepted) during the Lerner era.   

[Percy McCarthy]

Yes, they've played some lovely stuff for a few years now.

[ktvillan]

That's what I suspected Percy, and maybe some of those good habits can come to the fore and be put to good use now we have a proper manager.

[Percy McCarthy]

Indeed. There's really only one way to play with Barry Bannan dictating games.

[Ger Regan]

I made the point already (but was ignored, you rotters), but I really don't think it was a coincidence that so far in their careers, Albrighton and Bannan's best form came under the manager who tried to play the best football (whatever you make of Houllier's shortcomings is irrelevant, up until this season this is undeniable).

[Percy McCarthy]

Good point Ger, sorry for ignoring you.

[Ger Regan]

It's quite alright, I'm used to it by now. *sniff*

[Legion]

Did someone type something?

[Percy McCarthy]

Lol.

[paul_e]

nothing to see here...

In reality you're absolutely spot on.  I've been advocating for a while that we should have a football director who dictates the style from the top down and who picks managers, coaches and scouts at all levels to build a 'club way'.

Barcelona's success is based almost entirely on homegrown talent, based around teaching kids from 10 years old in a system that is used at all levels.

The advantage Barcelona have though is having the reserve team play to a reasonably high standard, we'd still need to use loans to get that experience for them.

The key to getting the loan system right is to hand pick teams based on style and offer players to them and avoid letting players go to the hoofball merchants, try to avoid letting them pick up bad habits.

[ozzjim]

Agreed, and it is no coincidence that Bannan did best on loan at Blackpool under Holloway because they played football.

[peter w]

Our academy is excellent and it will only be invested in more in coming years. Especially as our scouting system improves.
Some think it should be a machine spitting out wonderkids every few months, but that's not realistic.

The odd wonderkid will come along every now and then, but if we're producing good players that are either of use to us or are sold for decent money, it should be considered a success in my opinion. We have one of the best around and it should be developed further until its the best in the country and one of the best in Europe.

I think that's the thing. for clubs its about producing one or two players and hoping that get to first team standard. If not for us then for a lower league club. Money brought in vindicates the Academy. for fans its about getting a wonderkid which is rarely likely to happen. Every academy , or young player coming through is generally compared to Man Us youth-team of the 90s that churned out top players at premiership and international level. That was a perverse oddity and not likely to be seen anywhere again.

our Academy is bringing a lot of players through. Some get a lower league career some even play in the Prem. I think most clubs would look at us with more than a touch of envy/respect.