The Academy

We do get a rare Wayne Rooney, comes up through the youth academy and ends up aged 17 and playing for a Mid table Prem club. But its fairly rare. Particularly when you consider the huge numbers of hopefuls in youth academies.

My favourite career path for a player.......... Mateta, Olise, Eze..... perform miracles at small clubs and keep climbing the career Ladder. Eventually you get to a top Champions League club and the World Cup. But you even get the odd Matt LeTissier.....bigger than his club yet he stays playing for them - eschewing the big transfer.

But certainly, Academy players must have some kind of financial-protection from being poached by Giants - to protect the Club. Remember Jonathon Bostock. Probably now he is another Deliveroo driver ?
 
PalazioVecchio said:
We do get a rare Wayne Rooney, comes up through the youth academy and ends up aged 17 and playing for a Mid table Prem club. But its fairly rare. Particularly when you consider the huge numbers of hopefuls in youth academies.

My favourite career path for a player.......... Mateta, Olise, Eze..... perform miracles at small clubs and keep climbing the career Ladder. Eventually you get to a top Champions League club and the World Cup. But you even get the odd Matt LeTissier.....bigger than his club yet he stays playing for them - eschewing the big transfer.

But certainly, Academy players must have some kind of financial-protection from being poached by Giants - to protect the Club. Remember Jonathon Bostock. Probably now he is another Deliveroo driver ?
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Pretty sad career. He's now been released by Solihull Moors.

www.givemesport.com

Ex-England wonderkid who turned down 10-year contract at Barcelona signs for 5th tier club

🗣️ "You name the club, I had interest from them. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool..."
www.givemesport.com www.givemesport.com

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Academies can be a fairly heartbreaking business - for all the kids. But then again, you choose to be the forthcoming Messi....heartbreak guaranteed. The kids at the plumbing college never get disappointed.
 
Teddy Eagle said:
Pretty sad career. He's now been released by Solihull Moors.

www.givemesport.com

Ex-England wonderkid who turned down 10-year contract at Barcelona signs for 5th tier club

🗣️ "You name the club, I had interest from them. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool..."
www.givemesport.com www.givemesport.com

#
Click to expand...
How many kids would hang in there hoping to one day show the world how good he is , such a sad journey , for every 1 kid there's a 1000 failers and I played with some in my day , I was close at 15 then miles away at 17 , fine lines scored 30 to 40 goals a season then found not so easy against older players , went from striker to playing fullback which gave me a new lease of life was 23 by then to late in life
 
PalazioVecchio said:
Academies can be a fairly heartbreaking business - for all the kids. But then again, you choose to be the forthcoming Messi....heartbreak guaranteed. The kids at the plumbing college never get disappointed.
Click to expand...
The football academy these days is very different and possibly misunderstood by many.

The Academy system (the tiered CAT system) was set up primarily to improve the standard of home-grown players with a target to win the World Cup. Players when they join an Academy can be told that they may not necessarily end up playing for that club and the goal is to make them better players.

As such Academies receive significant funding from the FA (we're talking significant millions £ depending on the academy category). This funding not only pays for coaching staff, running of training grounds, academy players expenses but also players education (further education in BTec and A levels, coaching badges).

Many staff in different academies do talk to each other and pass players on to fill positional requirements or playing opportunities (minutes).

There is a lot of support for those who don't make it (ie, not offered apprenticeships at 16 or pro contracts at 18) and it's now not uncommon for an academy player (with the support and funding of the league / PFA) to secure a position at a lower league club or Australia or more so now days to secure a 'full ride' soccer scholarship in the USA playing in the College systems whilst studying for a degree - A 'full ride' can easily be worth over $240K to the individual and a life-changing experience.

Needless to say - if the concern is around payments to the club then the easiest way to curb 'poaching' is to raise the compensation thresholds paid when academy players move clubs.

If it was raised to a minimum of £500K comp for an academy player who's been at a club for two years then that would probably put a slow down or stop many so called 'poaching' moves.
 
Prestige and money are hard to compete with at any age, let alone with teenagers.

If we cannot keep players in their 20s from jumping ship to play for a bigger club, what is to keep a teenager from doing the same thing?

That being said, there are still literally hundreds of thousands of really talented kids out there who would love a spot in our Academy. Especially if we continue to expand out the talent net and try bringing in more players from overseas who would kill for a chance to be at one of the best Premier League Academies.

One last perspective on the ones walking away to bigger clubs, is it that may not necessarily a bad thing that they walk if their primary focus is money and fame. There are few academies out there that are able to produce quality players like we are. So if the player is leaving, are they leaving for an academy that is actually better or one that will just get them their money quicker at the cost of long term development.
 
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