Is there any point to our Academy?

[jayfox26]

2 hours ago, smudgerfox said:

You think a "tear it up" season by a 19/20 yo in League One is going to raise Chilwell/Barnes type of money? 

The fact we are in league one is because we have a dreadful owner and a terrible board. Its nothing to do with the academy. The fee we got for Monga or any other player is nothing to do with the academy. That again falls onto one our useless board members, John Rudkin. However £10m isnt that bad. Monga has done very little yet at 1st team level, but he is very young and clearly has raw talent. If we were still in the prem, or even a top championship side, and/or had a decent financial situation, then we could potentially have pushed for more money. 

[Jattdogg]

On 04/07/2026 at 03:22, smudgerfox said:

Monga gone. Cartwright gone. No doubt more to follow.

 

A generational talent in Monga sold for a fee that will pay a quarter of the annual cost of Seagrave..

 

All after years and years of investment in their footballing development....

Write an open letter to the overlords at KP.

[MrsJohnMurphy]

21 hours ago, smudgerfox said:

Chsrlie Methven estimated it at £40m on Where's the Money Gone podcast. But even if he's completely wrong and it's £10m - that means Monga has paid for Seagrave for one year.And that assumes we see all of that £10m straight away without strings.

And what do we do next year if we have no red hot generational talent to sell for £10m?
I'm struggling to see how it amounts to a viable business model..

and how much would staying at Belvoir Drive cost us? 3-4 million? we don't get a training ground for free you know

[ACF]

11 hours ago, BKLFox said:

Is it just our academy this is aimed at or ALL academies?

I ask because haven’t Man C, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U all spent in the region of £1bn on transfers in the past 2 windows alone, could throw Villa, Spurs in also as they have/are spending huge sums,  so also not filling squads full of 17yrs old straight out their factories.

 

Then look at the other 13 teams in the premier how many of them regularly bring a young lad through and how many, 1, 2, 3 a season, 1 or 2 every other season 🤷‍♂️ 

 

They have loads out on loan but how many actually make it at the parent club & at the ages we seem to want to fast track them in?

Manchester City have made £250m from academy sales over the last 5 seasons.

Liverpool have made over £200m since 2020 from players who played at youth level.

 

Manchester United, £193m. 
 

Chelsea’s is the third most profitable in the world over the last decade, behind Benfica and Ajax.

 

Selling homegrown players funds the rest of the transfer business to bring in stars. They are no different to any other club, besides their players being viewed as more valuable.