Villa Academy dream team (managed by Bryan Jones)

[Ivo Stas]

Where would this lot finish in the league..?

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/retiring-chief-bryan-jones-aston-7683586

[richardhubbard]

Bryan's academy dream team (4-3-2-1): Boaz Myhill, Chris Herd, Gary Cahill, Jlloyd Samuel, Peter Whittingham; Steven Davis, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Gareth Barry; Barry Bannan; Gabby Agbonlahor, Darius Vassell.

Substitutes: Jack Grealish, Marc Albrighton, Jonathan Hogg, Ciaran Clark, Nathan Baker, Craig Gardner, Andreas Weimann

[Mister E]

Bryan's academy dream team (4-3-2-1): Boaz Myhill, Chris Herd, Gary Cahill, Jlloyd Samuel, Peter Whittingham; Steven Davis, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Gareth Barry; Barry Bannan; Gabby Agbonlahor, Darius Vassell.

Substitutes: Jack Grealish, Marc Albrighton, Jonathan Hogg, Ciaran Clark, Nathan Baker, Craig Gardner, Andreas Weimann

Interesting - no Gary Gardner.

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm a bit dubious about claiming Hitz, Samuel and Barry as youth team products as we nicked them from other clubs and they were in the first team within about a year of signing for us.

[eamonn]

Bryan coached 'em, he can pick who he likes.

[maidstonevillain]

Bit of a reality check when you think about it. Our much vaunted Academy has on the whole produced, in 15 or more years, a team of Championship and Premier League standard squad players.  Compare that with the team that, for example, Southampton has produced in half the time.

[Matt Collins]

Is our academy really that vaunted any more anyway? I'd have thought the lack of success in the young and hungry era has put paid to a lot of that?

[manic-road]

The Villa academy has produced more players who have made a career out of football than most clubs academy.

[The Villa Werewolf]

Is our academy really that vaunted any more anyway? I'd have thought the lack of success in the young and hungry era has put paid to a lot of that?

'eh?!

It was independently rated as the best academy in Europe only about a year ago.

As for that team, it's a bit damning on Clark and Baker that Jones rates Samuel at centre-half ahead of them...

[Legion]

Our Academy is the dogs bollocks. As opposed to the first team which is just bo......

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

The Villa academy has produced more players who have made a career out of football than most clubs academy.

I've no reason to doubt that statistic, but many of those make it in the lower leagues, or become squad players in Premier League teams.  It would surely be better to produce a Bale/Rooney like superstar every 20 years rather than a Bannan/Albrighton/Davis ever year for 20 years.

Of that list only Cahill and Barry can be said to be great players with a record of achievement, and even then Barry isn't really our product.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Bryan's academy dream team (4-3-2-1): Boaz Myhill, Chris Herd, Gary Cahill, Jlloyd Samuel, Peter Whittingham; Steven Davis, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Gareth Barry; Barry Bannan; Gabby Agbonlahor, Darius Vassell.

Substitutes: Jack Grealish, Marc Albrighton, Jonathan Hogg, Ciaran Clark, Nathan Baker, Craig Gardner, Andreas Weimann

To answer the question of where they'd finish in the League - they're not better than our current squad.  And many of them did play together in the O'Leary/early O'Neill years and didn't really distinguish themselves.

[Holte L2]

Bryan's academy dream team (4-3-2-1): Boaz Myhill, Chris Herd, Gary Cahill, Jlloyd Samuel, Peter Whittingham; Steven Davis, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Gareth Barry; Barry Bannan; Gabby Agbonlahor, Darius Vassell.

Substitutes: Jack Grealish, Marc Albrighton, Jonathan Hogg, Ciaran Clark, Nathan Baker, Craig Gardner, Andreas Weimann

Interesting - no Gary Gardner.

No Craig Gardner either.  And I definitely think he's better than Hogg.

[PeterWithesShin]

Bryan's academy dream team (4-3-2-1): Boaz Myhill, Chris Herd, Gary Cahill, Jlloyd Samuel, Peter Whittingham; Steven Davis, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Gareth Barry; Barry Bannan; Gabby Agbonlahor, Darius Vassell.

Substitutes: Jack Grealish, Marc Albrighton, Jonathan Hogg, Ciaran Clark, Nathan Baker, Craig Gardner, Andreas Weimann

Interesting - no Gary Gardner.

No Craig Gardner either.  And I definitely think he's better than Hogg.

On the bench.

[Duncan Shaw]

Or the Moore brothers....