Quote from: OCD on July 09, 2021, 07:05:36 PMI wonder whether the owners have ambitions for our youth academy to be talked of alongside those of Barcelona and Ajax. Villa are really going for it at all levels within the academy. The set up at Bodymoor is very impressive, not just the players facilities but the attention to detail. Parents have lounges with workstations and Wifi allowing them to work whilst waiting for the kids to finish training, viewing galleries over looking the 4G and the show pitch. Complementary food is on offer as the parent maybe be waiting from 5pm until gone 8pm three evenings a week. They have one such building which has just opened, and Purslow apparently visited it, deemed it too small so another is to be built next door. Locally, no club is anywhere near Villa's facilities.Little touches like this make a huge difference and help attract kids to sign. Facilities though do need filling, the academy staffing apparently has tripled in the last two years at BH, giving players more attention. Other clubs like Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea have amazing training facilities (arguably better than BH) , but unless you have got the staff and the players, it's pointless. Player-wise the approach seems straight forward. Sign the best players we can locally and source the best players around the country and beyond. The more we get in, the more chance we have of unearthing another gem or two. If they don't make it at Villa, they still may have a worth (£) as I said 'commodities'. The lads are sold a project by Mark Harrison and Steve Hopcroft and the physical set up at Bodymoor helps sell the club as well as top coaching. I believe players like Bogarde and Swinkels were hooked in by the club and the attention to detail. What is clear, is that the owners are backing the academy; new facility near VP, staff, better facilities at Bodymoor etc. Last year Villa U18 had what amounts to an 'A' team with Barry, Young, Swinkels, Kessler et al, and a 'B' team for run of the mill U18 league games. The former bolster the U23s when needed and therefore a pathway and progression is clear. Another point is young lads see Chuck, Louis, Kessler, Ramsay in and around the first team, so reinforcing the point that a pathway is there. What all of this needs is...money, lots of money. Some clubs have it, most don't. We do and we are spending it correctly.
I wonder whether the owners have ambitions for our youth academy to be talked of alongside those of Barcelona and Ajax.
'Complimentary' food. ;-)
There's a video up of this week's training. A good few kids training with the first team. I likes that.
Trying to sign Bryan Small's nephew - https://www.footballinsider247.com/sources-aston-villa-make-move-for-everton-wonderkid-thierry-small/