The Youth

[Risso]

My wife's nephew was at Blackburn academy, and when that didn't work out, he was picked up by Wigan afterwards. Unfortunately, he's so dim he makes Grealish look like a university professor, and all he was interested in at that age was going out and getting pissed, and having the more than the occasional fight. There's no academic programme in the world that would have helped him, he's just far too stupid.

[PeterWithe]

How many do the Greedy6 bring through?

Oddly, Chelsea do very well.

For all this, shows how when a club sells a home grown product even for 4 or 5m, it's a big success for their academy.

No idea of exact dates but you have to go back years, possibly decades, to find a Man U team without a homegrown player.

They didn't seem to have one in last nights team?

[paul_e]

Now this I can help with...
Education-wise, all schools with kids in the academy building u9-u16 will be contacted a minimum of twice a year (Prem League rule). Most clubs will touch base termly or every halfterm. Clubs record and track progress of the kids and offer support where they can; progress, attendance, behaviour etc. Most clubs offer school release (u12-u16) for a dayor half day a week; schools/parents agree to this and schoolboy progress is monitored. Comp Education sessions are obligatory during those days whereby clubs will pay for teachers to come in a support the indepedent learning. Clubs ask for reports and data to be shared with them.
At Year 10 and 11 (GCSEs) the Prem League track the schoolboys progress verse target grade. The Prem League operate under Ofsted so clubs under their education umbrella could be visited. Each club has a Education Support Manager (usually an ex-Headteacher) who monitors the data and meetings are held to discuss P8, traget grades, intervention etc for each u15/16. If a kid is in bother an offer of support or removing of school release may take place.
The u21 and first year pros are a funny bunch...they can access funding through PFA for certificated courses (up to 50% up to £7500 I think) but 99% choose not to pursue anything. Most think they've 'made it' and all say something like...'I just want to focus on my first year...see me next pre-season'. The Prem League are really pushing for clubs to offer a post-18 pathway.

On the point of the brutality of the system. All schoolboys and parents are made aware of the 0.5% chance or whatever it is chance of being a pro footballer after the age of 25. A number of parents act as if 13 year old Timmy is the next Harry Kane, I've heard comments like 'he's our golden ticket'...the lad is 14.
Another thing is the desperation. Released lads will go anywhere to trial and gain a contract...they are embarrassed at being released. They've spent two to ten years in a club tracksuit being lauded by all and suddenly they a re a civilian again. It gets worse the older they get.

This all makes sense and, as I tried to cover but failed the bold bit highlights where the real 'problem' is. I'm not sure how you solve that but it's definitely a problem that needs to be addressed, as is the 'golden ticket' idea. One of the biggest problems with the money in football is this.

[pablo_picasso]

Understand #AVFC will not be renewing contracts for Brad Young, Arjan Raikhy, Hayden Lindley & Declan Frith. (Gregg Evans)

I'm surprised about Raikhy, I thought he'd have some sell on value at least.

I have never seen anything in him that suggests he was worth keeping. Young too. Nothing more than a straight line pace merchant...

They'll get contracts with lower level teams where they can try and live up to their potential on a smaller stage. If they were never going to have a chance of making it they'd have gone long before now. This way they can be snapped up for free.

Always thought Young and Raikhy looked pretty good, and should be picked up by a decent league one/two team.

You can usually tell when a youth player is going to make it.
I remember watching a few youth games involving Grealish and Gary Gardener, they were streets ahead of the rest.
We know about JG, but I think GG would have been brilliant had it not been for the two bad injuries
Rooney is another example, albeit not one of ours, you just knew he would go all the way.

They are usually the ones who have a bit of physicality to them at a younger age. Rooney was a bit of a physical beast at 16. I remember watching Gardner score a perfect hat-trick in a youth cup game at Villa Park one year. He was unplayable. Its a real shame the injuries ruined him & he ended up at Small Heath...

[OCD]

Understand #AVFC will not be renewing contracts for Brad Young, Arjan Raikhy, Hayden Lindley & Declan Frith. (Gregg Evans)

I'm surprised about Raikhy, I thought he'd have some sell on value at least.

I have never seen anything in him that suggests he was worth keeping. Young too. Nothing more than a straight line pace merchant...

They'll get contracts with lower level teams where they can try and live up to their potential on a smaller stage. If they were never going to have a chance of making it they'd have gone long before now. This way they can be snapped up for free.

Always thought Young and Raikhy looked pretty good, and should be picked up by a decent league one/two team.

You can usually tell when a youth player is going to make it.
I remember watching a few youth games involving Grealish and Gary Gardener, they were streets ahead of the rest.
We know about JG, but I think GG would have been brilliant had it not been for the two bad injuries
Rooney is another example, albeit not one of ours, you just knew he would go all the way.

Rooney's a bit of an outlier, he was a once in a generation talent. That FA Youth Cup final was effectively a team versus one player.

[JD]

Rotters, that's a great insight. Thank you for sharing with us.

[Rotterdam]

No problem JD, I'm happy to try an answer any other academy based questions.

[PeterWithesShin]

No idea of exact dates but you have to go back years, possibly decades, to find a Man U team without a homegrown player.

They didn't seem to have one in last nights team?

It's matchday squad. Iqbal 19, and been there since 2012 and was on the bench.

[pauliewalnuts]

My wife's nephew was at Blackburn academy, and when that didn't work out, he was picked up by Wigan afterwards. Unfortunately, he's so dim he makes Grealish look like a university professor, and all he was interested in at that age was going out and getting pissed, and having the more than the occasional fight. There's no academic programme in the world that would have helped him, he's just far too stupid.

A university friend of mine, who was a very good footballer, had trials for England schoolboys.

In his group was Paul Ince.

He said he thought he was a decent player, and had always been the best player in any team he'd played in at every age until then, but remembers seeing Ince and realising how much better the top players are, and how incredibly difficult it would be to forge a career - if you had talent, that was just the start of it, it would also require an immense amount of application and work.

Also, they need massive mental fortitude, to be able to handle knocks and set backs. I always have respect for players who start off at top flight clubs as kids, but then find themselves booted down to league 2 and having to prove themselves all over again, before finally making it.

I guess that's the thing about top quality footballers - huge amounts of self belief, and they need to have it when they're teenagers / in their 20s, so at a young age.

I'm in my 50s with a lifetime of experience, and managed to go largely to pieces at a career set back last year. No idea how these kids manage it.

[curiousorange]

One thing in life nobody teaches you is mental toughness, or to put it another way, self-belief. There's also no set way to achieve it. I've been writing over a decade now, and all it took was a bit of vague criticism a couple of years ago to destroy my faith in my own ability. I can only assume the pros that make it learn to not look back at either any triumph or any disaster.

[Risso]

I'm in my 50s with a lifetime of experience, and managed to go largely to pieces at a career set back last year. No idea how these kids manage it.

Two things. A lot of them have the supreme confidence that a lot of fairly daft people seem to have. Secondly, even a couple of years on £20K a week is going to give you a nice safety net for the leaner times.

[curiousorange]

I'm in my 50s with a lifetime of experience, and managed to go largely to pieces at a career set back last year. No idea how these kids manage it.

Two things. A lot of them have the supreme confidence that a lot of fairly daft people seem to have. Secondly, even a couple of years on £20K a week is going to give you a nice safety net for the leaner times.

That first is depressingly accurate and even more depressingly common.

[Sexual Ealing]

A friend of a friend of my wife's has a teenage son currently at Hearts. We, along with a few other PL clubs, are making eyes at him. He was in Brum last week for a lunch with Emery, apparently. I don't know his name though, and Leeds are the favourites to get him.

Not much of a story that, now I read it back!

[eamonn]

He had lunch with Unai and will reject him? What a prick.

[OCD]

A friend of a friend of my wife's has a teenage son currently at Hearts. We, along with a few other PL clubs, are making eyes at him. He was in Brum last week for a lunch with Emery, apparently. I don't know his name though, and Leeds are the favourites to get him.

Not much of a story that, now I read it back!

James Wilson?

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/james-wilson-set-snub-hearts-29604729