Our facilities

[cityfanlee23]

In everyones opinion, with our fantastic facilities,

Should we be investing more money into youth systems than we are?

 

Nowadays the top teams are buying youngsters on the cheap (Some more expensive than others) and developing them for the future, if you look at United (I know they have spent a fortune on youth, but they are doing it right) They have some of the best youth prospects in the country, and probably some of the best in the world.

 

So are we wasting our top quality  academy  and facilities by not investing? I know that Players Like Laurrari in our academy (Probably our best prospect) was bought in and the word around the streets is that he could be anything at the point in time and apparantly he's played well on loan, 

 

I know King and liam moore are our successes, but King has been doing it for a lot of years now, so our strike rate could improve on players coming through the academy,

 

We have some fringe players in the youth set up, however none seem like they could pull up trees at league 1 level let alone championship/premiership,

 

With teams like Crystal palace, Southampton and smaller teams like leeds, churning out quality players, for the long term success of our club, we need to be putting more money into this?

 

Luckily pearson has been quite successful in finding young hungry players to bring into the first team, but that comes at a cost, I know potentially Knockaerts deal could rise to £2m+ on appearances etc, which is still relatively cheap, But I do not think personally we do enough at a younger age.

 

 

Apart from king/liam moore, who have we really produced in the last 10 years capable of getting us to the premiership and not having to be replaced when we get there?

 

Curious on opinions,

 

If we get success the way we are, then I'd take it, but I'd like to see us invest more into youth setups rather than buying 21 year olds at astronomical prices based on potential (although we have done well so far with cheap young acquisitions)

 

[Bert]

We've invested a lot into youth football, hence category 1 academy. This comes with a number of things that are on a certain checklist that the club has to pass.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong

[darko2k7]

Like bert says we invest alot already considering we are only a Championship side if/when we go up so will the investment .

 

Also 

 

" Smaller teams like Leeds  " please tell me that's a joke and not your true opinion .

[indierich06]

We've spent an absolute fortune on the academy bringing it up to Category One status. Not sure what more we can do?

 

As for Pier Laurrari, he's hardly played when he's been out on loan, has he? I'd hardly say he was one of our best prospects - seems like people just seem to rate him because he's foreign. There doesn't seem to be any genuinely exciting prospects in our youth ranks at the minute, but we need to give it time - you can't just expect to invest a shitload of money and for it to pay off immediately. We'll hopefully see the benefits over the next 5 or 6 years.

[Hungry Hungry Fox]

Has anyone seen enough of pier laurrari to give a verdict either way?

Hopper has been in and arround the first team squad, hopefully he will make the break through

[Monsell1976]

The only facilities the club should be concentrating on right now is the half time refreshments.

The bigger the crowds get, the clearer it becomes that there is no organisation and how poor the venders and facilities are.

Yes I am disabled but that's irrelevant, as due to the que's and volume of people down stairs at half time, it is more or less impossible to use the toilet, or get a drink unless you leave your seat 10 minutes before half time.

And as somebody with mobility issues this is a real problem, which could be rectified, or at least an attempt to organise the queuing system.

[Ric Flair]

Has anyone seen enough of pier laurrari to give a verdict either way?

Hopper has been in and arround the first team squad, hopefully he will make the break through

 

Seen him once and he had flashes of skill but no idea if he's cut out for it in England right now, hence why he keeps being loaned back to South America. He's made a few appearances for his current team this season so perhaps that's encouraging as he barely featured for the team he went to in Mexico lasts eason.

 

I think we've invested a huge amount in bringing the academy up to scratch for category 1 status, it takes a while for the work put in place to reap the rewards. The recruitment of players may well be happening aged 14-15 so realistically this higher calibre of player won't be seen in the first team squads for a few years. You can't go out overnight and pick up the best 17-18 year olds as they are already at bigger clubs or certainly in the first team set up at lower clubs and they cost big money.

[yorkie1999]

Do our facilities include the bars, cos if they do they ought to invest a bit more so i can get a pint at half time!

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

We are investing well in youth, hence our status.

[cityfanlee23]

We've spent an absolute fortune on the academy bringing it up to Category One status. Not sure what more we can do?

 

As for Pier Laurrari, he's hardly played when he's been out on loan, has he? I'd hardly say he was one of our best prospects - seems like people just seem to rate him because he's foreign. There doesn't seem to be any genuinely exciting prospects in our youth ranks at the minute, but we need to give it time - you can't just expect to invest a shitload of money and for it to pay off immediately. We'll hopefully see the benefits over the next 5 or 6 years.

I've just taken opinions from what I've heard, never seen the lad play myself apart from a few youtube videos and some old youth footage from the leicester player.

 

With regard to seeing the benefits straight away, We have had a very highly regarded youth set up for a number of years, So we are still waiting! IMO

 

Like bert says we invest alot already considering we are only a Championship side if/when we go up so will the investment .

 

Also 

 

" Smaller teams like Leeds  " please tell me that's a joke and not your true opinion .

Sorry, Was meant to say "Similar" typo 

 

We've invested a lot into youth football, hence category 1 academy. This comes with a number of things that are on a certain checklist that the club has to pass.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong

You are correct, However what I am saying is, I could go and spend £10,000 on a wooden shed, then put a £25 lawnmower in it, If the lawnmower is not worth its value, then I might aswell leave it outside.... and put something good in the shed,

 

We may have catagory 1 facilities, but we have catagory 4 youth players, can you honestly name a player in there who could be a future week in week out first team player?

 

That's why we will never get a zaha, or a sum even close to zaha (Unless liam moore is sold for an astronomical sum)

 

Look at the players in our youth teams, the majority are local born, Whereas the top youth setups like palace, southampton, leeds etc etc although local based, spend more funding on scouting youth players around the country. 

 

Source:  Cousin based in Brighton was spotted by a leeds scout in brighton about 5 years ago (He didnt make the cut) but they were down there!

 

I've not got any proof that we do not have youth scouts all over, but we do not produce the quality we could do with our fantastic facilities.

[Asherz]

Pier last year was unable to play as pachueta (sp) already had used up there alotted availible loan players so was used as a reserve player. It has been quoted he suffers home sickness hence why bayern munich released him.we have 1 quality player in under 15 catergory and he is in england under 16 also he is alao playing for the under 18s at times was bought in from oadby owls as a 7 year old iirc layton nwanku (sp)

[Asherz]

Here he is @mister_layton i heard and have read that the youth staff and management have never seen anyone with as much talent as this guy .... Wether he bears fruit or not is to be seen also a few others in our lowers age groups in england set up

[GingerrrFox]

You are correct, However what I am saying is, I could go and spend £10,000 on a wooden shed, then put a £25 lawnmower in it, If the lawnmower is not worth its value, then I might aswell leave it outside.... and put something good in the shed,

We may have catagory 1 facilities, but we have catagory 4 youth players, can you honestly name a player in there who could be a future week in week out first team player?

That's why we will never get a zaha, or a sum even close to zaha (Unless liam moore is sold for an astronomical sum)

Look at the players in our youth teams, the majority are local born, Whereas the top youth setups like palace, southampton, leeds etc etc although local based, spend more funding on scouting youth players around the country.

Source: Cousin based in Brighton was spotted by a leeds scout in brighton about 5 years ago (He didnt make the cut) but they were down there!

I've not got any proof that we do not have youth scouts all over, but we do not produce the quality we could do with our fantastic facilities.

We were restricted by our previous academy category rating as to how far and wide we were allowed to scout players. Now that we have the same rating as teams such as Man United/Chelsea/Man City etc we have more scope on who we are allowed to bring into the clubs academy. That's why they pursued category 1 status so aggressively.

[Bert]

Here he is @mister_layton i heard and have read that the youth staff and management have never seen anyone with as much talent as this guy .... Wether he bears fruit or not is to be seen also a few others in our lowers age groups in england set up

The same was said for Levi Porter, Jorrin John, Arran Butcher to name a few amongst many. It means nothing.

Just because we've not had many that have gone on to make it big, Max Gradel, Billy McKay, Ashley Chambers, Louis Dodds, James Wesolowski, Billy Kee, Lathaniel Rowe-Turner, Lee Cox, Joe Mattock, Cian Bolger, Tom Parkes, Ollie Norburn, have all gone on to make a career for themselves in the game after coming through our academy. I'm sure there are many more that I've forgot too.

The club are attracting younger players from bigger clubs now too. Look out for Michael Cain who is a great little footballer.

[cityfanlee23]

We were restricted by our previous academy category rating as to how far and wide we were allowed to scout players. Now that we have the same rating as teams such as Man United/Chelsea/Man City etc we have more scope on who we are allowed to bring into the clubs academy. That's why they pursued category 1 status so aggressively.

 

 

Ohhh I see, Thats quite interesting really, 

 

It's a bit unfair for lower league clubs surely? 

 

Basically, "Only the top teams with the best facilities can scout far and wide for players" 

 

If you are a low league club with poorer facilities you are restricted to who you can scout for your academy, thats madness?

 

It's good to know how it works though so thanks

 

 

 

Just seemed mad that with such good facilities, (For ages not just this year with cat1) we have never produced top quality players.

 

Reading up a bit more, we are one of the top rated facilities in the country and top 6 outside of the elite

[SystonFox]

George Taft

[sphericalfox]

We've spent an absolute fortune on the academy bringing it up to Category One status. Not sure what more we can do?

 

As for Pier Laurrari, he's hardly played when he's been out on loan, has he? I'd hardly say he was one of our best prospects - seems like people just seem to rate him because he's foreign. There doesn't seem to be any genuinely exciting prospects in our youth ranks at the minute, but we need to give it time - you can't just expect to invest a shitload of money and for it to pay off immediately. We'll hopefully see the benefits over the next 5 or 6 years.

 

We're waiting for his braces to come off. He'll be in the first team before you know it then.