Is there really any point of BWFC having an academy?

Lots of expenditure forfor little return though.

Sorry - I knew that when I first read it but lost the plot later. Injury did for him too, though.

 

Paul Devlin wasn't it?

they still developed in our academy though and he was willing to take players from it and put them in the squad/first team

 

so it's not really neglecting it

I meant neglecting as in we made no effort to develop kids, fine sticking players in who were in the reserves when he arrived. In the time he was here he could have built an academy that was churning out players, but he didn't bother, neither did Megson.

 

Maybe Malcolm can provided the stats, I'd bet that in the last 10 years we've got somewhere near the lowest amount of players we've developed ourselves in the whole football league. For me, part of Fat Sam's legacy.

Our Academy is in far better shape in the last couple of years.

Comparisons further back just obscure this.

We are not the top of the food chain - neither are we the bottom - hence taking Hendrie from Bradford City, for example.

I meant neglecting as in we made no effort to develop kids, fine sticking players in who were in the reserves when he arrived. In the time he was here he could have built an academy that was churning out players, but he didn't bother, neither did Megson.

 

Maybe Malcolm can provided the stats, I'd bet that in the last 10 years we've got somewhere near the lowest amount of players we've developed ourselves in the whole football league. For me, part of Fat Sam's legacy.

 

and the improvement that you'll see over the next decade will be in part thanks to Coyle's work improving the academy infrastructure.

We are a victim of having something to play for every year (Europe or survival) - no chance to play kids

Paul Devlin wasn't it?

 

Don't know - but it was definitely a Sheff United player.

We are a victim of having something to play for every year (Europe or survival) - no chance to play kids

 

Same goes for all clubs

Same goes for all clubs

Not with 5 games to go every season.

We got £1m from Arsenal for him.

 

His mum is a dinner lady at a school where my uncle works. Fact. ITK

He went to the same school as Gumbo, the Marples and I

 

Anyway I'm pretty sure Moses Hightower and Larvell Jones came through the Academy

Gareth Bale came within one match of being dumped by Southampton at 16.

If he had been he might now be in Cardiff's squad. Or not.

Phil Jones wasn't even offered a youth team deal at Blackburn at 15 and was released (despite captaining England school boys, I think), a long term injury to a right winger and they offered him a youth team deal for one year, FACT.

 

Pot luck at a young age and we have never been lucky.

while we've not been guilty of letting much go that has gone on to achieve much

 

i suppose we have to accept the kids coming in might think twice about joininga club where lads don't generally make the first team

 

there has to be a chance that it's down to coaching so maybe you think twice

 

or maybe it is just that united/city get first dibs

while we've not been guilty of letting much go that has gone on to achieve much

 

i suppose we have to accept the kids coming in might think twice about joininga club where lads don't generally make the first team

 

there has to be a chance that it's down to coaching so maybe you think twice

 

or maybe it is just that united/city get first dibs

 

that's pretty much it from what I understand/know about it

 

gartside has been looking at ways to uncover youth talent but not via the normal channels as they constantly lose out to other clubs

Who runs the Academy, Jimmy Phillips or LSL?

Who runs the Academy, Jimmy Phillips or LSL?

 

Sammy Lee

We should be in a position to give kids a chance that they wouldn't get if they go to big spending city and United. My dad was a teacher for years and I got dragged to watch loads of lads from his school play for United, Liverpool, Everton reserves etc but not one of them made it. The only one who ever did was mark winstanley who's dad told him not to bother with the big clubs but make a lower league career where he'd get a chance to play. There must be something left in this angle.

while we've not been guilty of letting much go that has gone on to achieve much

 

i suppose we have to accept the kids coming in might think twice about joininga club where lads don't generally make the first team

 

there has to be a chance that it's down to coaching so maybe you think twice

 

or maybe it is just that united/city get first dibs

 

Very much so and I think they have a look at more players than ever (at younger ages too) nowadays.

How do Crewe manage to develop so much talent? They're not even as big as us, let alone Utd and City.

How do Crewe manage to develop so much talent? They're not even as big as us, let alone Utd and City.

Because they've a reputation for it so attract players that way.

Because they've a reputation for it so attract players that way.

 

But we had a reputation for developing our own players in the 70's and 80's.

Aye, we developed some fucking crackers in the 80s.

You're missing the point. We had a reputation for giving young players who had come through our youth system a chance. It didn't help us to attract the likes of Paul Moulden, who played for Bolton Lads Club and went on to play for City. So how is it that Crewe were able to attract the likes of David Platt, Rob Jones, Geoff Thomas, etc. at that time? 

Dario Gradi?

 

So how is it that Crewe were able to attract the likes of David Platt, Rob Jones, Geoff Thomas, etc. at that time? 

 

 

Catchment area.

no "big" clubs nearby (Stoke & Port Vale weren't big)

Best youth set up in the area, hence a growing reputation.

 

etc etc

Moulden was THE hottest property as a kid, having scored 300 or whatever goals in a season. His parents who ran the chippy on Thicketford Rd weren't Whites. As is pretty common round here, unfortunately.

 

I used to play with a kid from Breightmet who was in THAT United team as a kid, and was one of the two who didn't make it. Had he gone elsewhere, who knows.

 

The answer might be that Crewe have good coaching and as a small club are under less pressure to achieve so can put kids in. Only Platt from that list was top notch. And he was at United as a kid.